RandoEFC

Falkirk 0-0 at half time of course so it's a no. Watch them score 30 seconds into the second half and win 3-0 .

Welcome to the new season. Same as the old season.

Poor game as expected. Beto missing a penalty on the brink of half time. We are an absolute career ender for strikers. Typical us that last weekend we saw an opponent reduced to ten men for the first time all season and then can't see it out with 10 minutes left and then today we get our first penalty of the season and miss it. Hard, hard watch. Both teams there for the taking.

I think you'll be fine. Forest should be getting at least 6 points deducted so you'll be effectively 7 clear of them and 5 clear of Luton and you only have to keep ahead of one of them to survive. I think Luton's little purple patch is fizzling out as well.

Is there worry in the Brentford ranks? I was surprised to see Norgaard and Frank had commented on Everton getting points back. Still don't see a set of circumstances that sees you or Palace in real trouble with Forest having a sizeable deduction coming and Everton potentially as well.

Mine for the weekend.

My Hulkenberg slowest in Q1 prediction looking smart so far.

Good grief. How. The. Fuck. Have Alpine managed to build a slower car than Haas?

Free Practice today. I'm treating any challenge to Red Bull to be a bonus this season. Hopefully the Mercedes/McLaren/Ferrari/Aston Martin battle behind them provides the intrigue and entertainment like it did last year. Behind Verstappen, you could see Perez, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Sainz, Norris and possible Piastri be pretty interchangeable throughout the year.

Results - Gameweek Two Casualties (4) Another week, another thinning of the field. First to fall this weekend was @Rucksackfranzose after he backed Real Sociedad to beat Villarreal at home. He wasn't rewarded for avoiding the big guns as this visitors ran out 3-1 victors. Almeria, who are still yet to win a game in La Liga this season, have now hilariously taken 5 scalps off us in two weeks, this time due to a 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid, who were backed by title contenders @nudge and @Viva la FCB along with @CaaC (John). Unlucky folks, just one point in this round. See you in France! Survivors (7) We aren't miles away from tie breaker territory here after just two Gameweeks, but a select few have made it over two hurdles. Only two teams were backed with any success this week, and @Michael, @Lucas, @Stan and @Storts were made to sweat as it took over 80 minutes for Real Madrid to break the deadlock in their 1-0 win over Sevilla. It was a much more comfortable weekend for @6666, @Pyfish and @Tommy, who profited from Girona's 3-0 victory over ten-man Rayo Vallecano (although two of their goals didn't come to extra time either. That's 2 points guaranteed for you guys. All eyes now on @6666 to see if he can press home his advantage over @nudge and @Viva la FCB in the title race. Preview - Gameweek Three Below are the fixtures for Gameweek Three, starting on Friday. Celta Vigo vs Almeria Sevilla vs Real Sociedad Rayo Vallecano vs Cadiz Getafe vs Las Palmas Valencia vs Real Madrid Villarreal vs Granada Atletico Madrid vs Real Betis Mallorca vs Girona Athletic Club vs Barcelona Osasuna vs Alaves Good luck!

I won't lock anything in until Friday. I've got pre-season predictions and Bahrain predictions in now from 8 people which is good. I assume @MUFC is leaving it until after Free Practice. I'll give @DeadLinesman a message on WhatsApp.

Pole Position - Which driver will post the fastest lap in Q3? Verstappen Podium - Which drivers will finish the Grand Prix in the top three positions? 1. Verstappen 2. Leclerc 3. Perez Random Driver - Predict the finishing position of this week's random driver, Lewis Hamilton. 4th Bonus Question - A simple one to start off - which driver will qualify last/slowest (before grid penalties) for the first race? Hulkenberg

Predictions - Bahrain Grand Prix Look out folks, the first race bizarrely has qualifying on Friday and the race on Saturday. Therefore, the deadline for these predictions is qualifying on FRIDAY. This is also the deadline for the season predictions so make sure you've got those done as well if you haven't already! @RandoEFC @Stan @MUFC @Tommy @nudge @Whiskey @The Palace Fan @Coma @DeadLinesman @OrangeKhrush Pole Position - Which driver will post the fastest lap in Q3? [INSERT DRIVER] Podium - Which drivers will finish the Grand Prix in the top three positions? 1. [INSERT DRIVER] 2. [INSERT DRIVER] 3. [INSERT DRIVER] Random Driver - Predict the finishing position of this week's random driver, Lewis Hamilton. [INSERT POSITION] Bonus Question - A simple one to start off - which driver will qualify last/slowest (before grid penalties) for the first race? [INSERT DRIVER]

World Drivers' Champion: Charles Leclerc World Constructors' Champion: Mercedes How many different drivers will win at least one race? 4 How many different constructors will score at least one podium? 7 Which driver will have the most retirements? Gasly Team-mate championship battles - which driver will score the most points from each team? Red Bull - Max Verstappen Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton Ferrari - Charles Leclerc McLaren - Lando Norris Aston Martin - Fernando Alonso Alpine - Esteban Ocon Williams - Alexander Albon VCARB - Daniel Ricciardo Sauber - Valtteri Bottas Haas - Nico Hulkenberg

6 points isn't irrelevant though. It just so happens because of the way this season has gone that those four points back change the table quite dramatically in our favour. We're still 15th when we would have been 13th without any points penalties. If we were only good enough to get 34 points this season then 6 points would be deemed equally severe to 10 points because either would probably have got us relegated. They have to draw the line somewhere. They've made their case for why there needs to be a points penalty because transfer bans and fines won't hack it, but 10 points was insane given that it's a heavier penalty than going insolvent. I'd rather it was less but 6 points seems like a reasonable middle ground and if we'd been docked 4-6 points in the first place, there would have been a very different reaction. The fans probably still protest and the club probably still appeals because you've got to try and get every inch that you can but I doubt it goes quite as far as Parliament and causes as much of a stink as 10 points did, and I don't think Everton would have had as much sympathy from the majority of the media if it had been 4-6 points to start with. Everton were guilty. They admitted it and most of our fans accepted it too. The debate was always about mitigating factors and the proportionality of the penalty.

That approach is just as made up as theirs though. Where does the 10 even come from in the first place? Plucked out of thin air.

I think the main thing is that they've realised they can't give Everton a 10 point penalty for this when it's only 9 points for going into administration, and that if Everton had done the same thing in the EFL then it would have been a 6 point penalty. Or something to that effect, I haven't read the full document. I don't think they have any qualms about sending us down. We should be 12th or 13th if we hadn't been docked points. Everton had already got out of the relegation zone before getting any points back and I think on the balance of probabilities that we'd likely have stayed up without getting any points back (provided there isn't another heavy slam from our second offence).

Why would you say that? If your interpretation of this whole mess is that the Premier League are out to protect Everton then that's an interesting interpretation to say the least.

Chelsea should have been able to go for the throat in extra time yesterday and Liverpool should have been the ones hanging on for penalties. Chelsea surrendered possession and territory and tried to hit Liverpool on the break. The risk then is you concede a corner or a wide free kick and then you're at the mercy of the goalmouth scramble. Poch is unlucky in a sense because Chelsea had their chances and it's on the players for not taking them. Kelleher did well in that one on one against Gallagher but Gallagher still has to score. There was the goalmouth scramble as well where the ball could go anywhere and Kelleher ended up catching it. It could very easily have gone the other way. But when push came to shove, Chelsea went into their shell and Liverpool continued to play the way they wanted to even with so many inexperienced players on the field. I think the point about Chelsea as a club losing their winning mentality is a fair one but I also think a lot of responsibility lies at the manager's door. Chelsea ultimately had the better and more experienced players on the pitch but it was Liverpool who had the backbone to take the initiative.

Of course it doesn't but I don't trust the Premier League to act in good faith after all of this.

Wouldn't be so bad. That would leave us above Luton as it stands and well clear of Forest who are likely to get more than 6 taken off them at least. Considering we finished 17th last season and survived on the last day, spent £3m in total over the last three transfer windows while selling/releasing half of our first team squad in that time (Begovic, Coady, Mina, Gordon, Davies, Gray, Iwobi), and we're the only club who will ever get charged twice in one season against a ruleset which is getting changed this summer to double the threshold for allowed losses to the point where we'd have been nowhere near any breach, and we don't have an owner, and there was talk of us even going into administration earlier this season, any outcome that results in Everton remaining a Premier League club into next season is an absolute fucking miracle.

This is potentially good news but as things stand, 777's exclusivity agreement is still in place. The Premier League has handled this absolutely terribly as well though. It's been about 5 months now since the "fit and proper" test got underway with this lot. If they haven't provided evidence that they're fit and proper by now then they should have been rejected. The Premier League have left us in limbo with no choice but to be funded in the interim by 777's loans so now we're either going to have those cunts as owners or we're going to have no ownership and owe 777 their money back. Being an Everton fan is an absolutely miserable experience at the moment. Money has absolutely ruined football and it's not talked about enough because until it affects your club you can just live in ignorant bliss and tell yourself that other clubs deserve to get in trouble when they've been run badly. The reality is that any football club with hundreds of staff and thousands of loyal supporters can just be ripped to shreds on the whim of a Middle-Eastern billionaire or an American hedge-fund consortium. Shite.

Four points to be given back to us on appeal. That's the minimum I think I could have taken on the chin. Regardless of Everton's guilt, it's absolutely scandalous how this has been handled and has definitely affected our season. Recent games against Palace and Brighton where we've been cagey because we're 1 point either side of the relegation line and it's arguably contributed to us dropping points in those games. The league table has been effectively incorrect for 3 months. Four points puts us back up to 15th ahead of Brentford on goal difference, 5 points clear of Luton in 18th and crucially a point ahead of Forest whose breach is supposed to be bigger than either of ours. If our initial offence is 6 points, you could see Forest getting docked about 8 points, and while I hope that common sense prevails on our second breach and we don't get punished twice for the same three-year period, if we do get charged with points again it should be less than 6 points as this time around it's apparently "less serious" but I don't know the figures.

Constructors' Championship - Teams Red Bull - @nudge & @Tommy Mercedes - @The Palace Fan & @MUFC Ferrari - @Whiskey & @Stan McLaren - @DeadLinesman & @RandoEFC Aston Martin - @OrangeKhrush & @Coma Yes, I've signed everyone up even if they haven't responded. If we get no-shows (hopefully an even number) then I'll merge two teams like I did last season. Below is a reminder of the scoring for the whole-season predictions: However, this year I'm introducing a "Verstappen rule". If you choose Verstappen or Red Bull for your Drivers' or Constructors' Champion, you will only get half points. So Verstappen bags you 10 points if he wins the title and 5 if he finishes in the top three. Anyone else gets you 20 points for the win and 10 points for 2nd or 3rd. Same with Red Bull. I reserve the right to implement a similar rule for the race-by-race scoring throughout the season if it looks really boring but not yet. Below are your predictions for the season. Please fill them out before the start of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. You can edit them up until that point. The race predictions for Bahrain will be up within 2-3 days so best get these ones done sooner rather than later! World Drivers' Champion: World Constructors' Champion: How many different drivers will win at least one race? How many different constructors will score at least one podium? Which driver will have the most retirements? Team-mate championship battles - which driver will score the most points from each team? Red Bull - Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez? Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton or George Russell? Ferrari - Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz? McLaren - Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri? Aston Martin - Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll? Alpine - Esteban Ocon or Pierre Gasly? Williams - Alexander Albon or Logan Sargeant? VCARB - Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo? Sauber - Valtteri Bottas or Zhou Guanyu? Haas - Kevin Magnussen or Nico Hulkenberg? Good luck!

Liverpool deserve this. It's an absolute embarrassment for Chelsea though I'm afraid. I know they're a mid-table team in reality and you could just about forgive them losing in normal time but Liverpool have brought half their youth team off the bench and Chelsea have had a host of big-money players and they've completely surrendered the initiative and been outlasted in extra time. After the original VAR reprieve as well, it's really inexcusable not to convert against such a young Liverpool side. Like Chelsea, Sky Sports have no excuse to continue putting Carragher on the commentary for Liverpool, especially in big games. He's absolutely incapable of being impartial, constantly loses his head and starts screaming down the microphone. That screech he goes into is absolutely horrific. I imagine even Liverpool fans have trouble listening to it. It's really poor from a supposedly neutral broadcaster. I imagine Neville would be just as bad to be fair if Man Utd were ever any good.