Cornish Steve

Change first scorer to be Barkley.

The fourth playoff spot is looking interesting. Derby are in freefall, so one of Brentford or Wolves have a chance of pipping them at the post.

Everton 2-2 United Mirallas

That's the one tough thing about having dogs. We had to have one put down a couple of years ago. My oldest son flew in from Denver just to be there. My wife and two of our adult children came along as the dog went under. I was the only one not in tears. It was sad but it had to be done. Pets become such an important part of the family. Sorry for the family's loss, Louis.

It's because of the lower voltage. It takes about 3x longer to boil a kettle of water here. I notice it every time I return to Britain. Mind you, it's a small price to pay for not having deadly voltage. I grabbed a live wire once and it was no problem. My cousin did that in Britain and it killed him.

It's like an airline company running 737s suddenly replacing their fleet with 767s. It's a numbers game. Their costs will go up with the bigger stadium, so they need bums on seats. The only way to achieve that is through lower prices. The headlines are making them sound like a generous, magnanimous team that's rewarding their fans for the increased TV revenues. This is not the case at all. They can't afford to have empty seats. There are costs associated with those seats, and a half-empty stadium looks terrible on broadcast games. Frankly, it was a risky decision to move into such a larger stadium. What if they can't fill the seats? A 10 percent reduction in seat prices will need a 10 percent increase in attendance (give or take a few) just to break even. Are there really that many new potential fans out there to be tempted by a 10 percent discount? I doubt it.

But why are West Ham lowering their prices? You can only do that if you end up with more revenue, which means selling more seats. Do they have spare capacity to sell more seats? Is this just a clever way of filling their new stadium? One thing we can be sure of: They are NOT reducing prices because they're nice people. The only reason, in the end, is that it will guarantee them more money. For Everton to do the same, we'd need a larger stadium.

But just look at their final fixtures. That's a tough finish for them.

"Outgoing Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp, 47, has turned down an offer to take over at West Ham." Hilarious! It's like asking Daniel Craig to play the lead in Dumb and Dumber.

After the impact the Europa had on our league form? Let Liverpool play the Europa next year, having to qualify from the first round. (Tongue in cheek, because I do believe that playing in Europe is a positive thing.)

So I've followed through to see what it means in terms of final position. 8. Swansea 47 points, -4 GD, @Newcastle (draw), Stoke (lose), @Arsenal (lose), ManCity (lose), @Palace (lose) 9. Stoke, 46 points, -3 GD, Sunderland (win), @Swansea (win), Spurs (draw), @Burnley (win), Liverpool (draw) 10. WHam, 43 points, 0 GD, @QPR (lose), Burnley (win), @Villa (lose), Everton (lose), @Newcastle (win) 11. Palace, 42 points, -3 GD, Hull (win), @Chelsea (lose), ManU (lose), @Liverpool (lose), Swansea (win) 12. Everton, 41 points, -2 GD, ManU (draw), @Villa (draw), Sunderland (win), @WHam (win), Spurs (draw) Final positions? 8. Stoke 57 points 9. Everton 50 points 10. WHam 49 points 11. Palace 48 points 12. Swansea 48 points

Then why have so many insisted we play unproven youngsters in these final games? The exact same logic. For the record, I've made clear elsewhere that we should NOT be using games to experiment right now because millions depend on our final position. I'm simply pointing out the inconsistency of people's arguments.

From FA Cup to Sweet FA. From fireworks at Wembley to fireworks at Balotelli's.

Exactly. West Ham are failing now, and Crystal Palace have hit a bump in the road. We have an excellent shot at 10th. It will be more difficult to move ahead of Stoke and Swansea to clinch eighth, but it's definitely a possibility. I would point out that 10th is around about where most said at the start of the season, and 8th would mean we exceeded most people's expectations.

How many people on the forum have been saying "bring in some of the youngsters, give them a shot since it won't matter too much, now is a period when we can be learning"? So, we do that with penalty-takers and "it astounds me." At this point in the season, why not allow others to take a couple of penalties?

Are you organizing a collection?

Derby played a nerve-wracker today. 4-4 final. Just goes to show that games against teams with no supposed interest can be tricky. Teams, thankfully, play for pride if nothing else.

Yes, the 10-pointer definitely helped me! It's put me at the top of the monthly totals, and I'm now tied with MikeO for the season. Romey still leads for the season, though, and by a whisker for points per prediction. Frankly, it's wide open with only a few weeks to go. Other than a 10-pointer, the unusual thing this week is that everyone scored at least one point - even Matt for predicting just one goal for Everton.

No conspiracy here. Mirallas caused the controversy. His tackle was also cynical, and he should have had a red card. Not one of his better games.

Baines played very well in the second half. Gave it to him.

Disagree. They have little quality and struggle to score. They're going down.

Whether his gesture was meant at the media, fans, or Father Christmas, Mirallas was stupid to make it. It was childish and impetuous, and he must have known it would be misinterpreted. If you want to criticize the media, do it in the interview after the game. He did himself no favors today. Yes, he scored, but the big picture is more important.

Bit of a let-off there.

This game should have been put away. So many chances missed. Baines has really stepped up this half.

Actually, I think Kone's had a solid game. Was involved in the goal and has created a few chances from clever play.