Golden Boot Game Latest Web Log

INTRODUCTION

As well as the usual reviews of the Golden Boot Game and our final Hot Spot Game, this Week we have to preview the Final of the Golden Boot Cup between Alabangers and Magic Eight Balls. I guess we had better get on with it.

REVIEW OF WEEK #31

There were sixteen scoring strikers selected for this Week’s Golden Boot Game and, for the second Week in a row, one of them scored four times. As well as Mateta’s double double, four other strikers scored twice. Of those two-goal men Havertz was selected eight times and Foden four. Both Fernandes and Mateta had three selections while Trossard appeared just once. The Week’s biggest points contribution came from Solanke’s seventeen selections, while Jota was the second most selected scorer with just nine picks. Of the other nine scorers, only Eze with seven picks had more than a handful. Three teams failed to find a scorer this Week.

PJ Auxerre got maximum value from Mateta’s four goals and doubles from Havertz and Fernandes, to give them 48 points from just three scorers. Cheshire Town needed six scorers to get 38 points, Fernandes and Foden providing 22 of them. OneunitedfanTrev posted the third best score with 26 points. Eight Wizards and Bury Wanderer were the only other teams to reach twenty points, with the former getting sixteen points from Foden while the latter needed twice as many goals (six) to reach the same score.

In contrast to last Week, the top six teams were all non-movers this time. Leaders Upforthecup had their lead over Magic Eight Balls cut to just three points. Team Of The Weak in third are now twelve points further back and thirteen ahead of fourth placed Sofy. If we continue to get plenty of goals, we may well see these sort of gaps closed.

THE FINAL FINAL FIVE GAME

In common with most of our Hot Spot Games, the first Week of the Final Final Five Game simply reflects this Week’s scoring in the Golden Boot Game. PJ Auxerre have a ten point lead over Cheshire Town with OneunitedfanTrev, in third place, some 22 points behind the leaders. I can remember a previous occasion when a team took a big lead in the first Week of the Final Five Game in similar circumstances. The bad news is that they held on to win, though with a much smaller margin of victory. Maybe, this time it is a two-horse race as ten points doesn’t seem too big a gap to close over four Weeks. However, those who are further back should not despair. Already this season we have seen a couple of unlikely comeback wins in our Hot Spot Games. For many teams this is the last chance ever, so you might as well give it a go.

GOLDEN BOOT CUP FINAL PREVIEW

Magic Eight Balls must be favourites to win the Golden Boot Cup Final and become the third team to have both a Golden Boot Game championship and a Golden Boot Cup win on their record. In some ways Magic Eight Balls have not really been tested on their way to the Final. They have come up against teams they would be expected to beat and, obviously, beaten them. Despite losing the lead in the Golden Boot Game, they are still in with a great chance of the double which could be seen as a fitting climax to 21 successful seasons playing the Golden Boot Game.

For Alabangers, however, it has been a different story. They scraped through the first two rounds by a single point but improved to come through the later rounds more comfortably. In the process they treated all opponents just the same. The draw has thrown up some significant tests for Alabangers but, whether from the top five or the bottom half, it did not seem to make any difference. In general, they seem to have improved through the rounds. The further we have gone into the season, the better they have played in the Golden Boot Game too. The stats are massively in favour of Magic Eight Balls, of course, being eleven places better off with almost a hundred more points but I feel they will need to be at their best to beat Alabangers and take the trophy.

COMING UP IN WEEK #32

Week #32 has eleven Premier League fixtures scheduled with Tottenham and Chelsea playing both home and away matches. The Week starts with a Saturday lunchtime match between West Ham and Liverpool. This means the Week #32 selection deadline for the Golden Boot Game is at 11:00 am on Saturday 27th April.

There are six later matches being played on Saturday, with another three matches on Sunday afternoon. The Week’s final match is on Thursday evening when Chelsea host Spurs. We will update our website shortly after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge.

If the Golden Boot Cup Final doesn’t go to a replay, we should be able to announce the winners on our home page and Facebook on Thursday night. We will be trying to publish our next weblog around lunchtime on Friday 3rd May. We will have news from the Final of the Golden Boot Cup along with all the usual updates from the Final Final Five Game and the Golden Boot Game.