Denmark-England stats

Head to head 

• Denmark have won the last two international matches against England – scoring seven goals and conceding three in the process. Both were friendly matches.
• The last time they met in August 2005, Denmark triumphed 4-1 in Copenhagen in one of only two occasions that England have conceded four or more goals since 1980.

Denmark 

• They have not won any of their last four friendly matches (2 draws, 2 defeats), since a 2-0 home win against Senegal in May 2010.
• Six players from their squad play in the PL - Thomas Sørensen (Stoke City), Anders Lindegaard (Man United), Lars Jacobsen (West Ham), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal), Daniel Agger and Christian Poulsen (both Liverpool).

England

• England have not won in their last 8 matches against Scandinavian opposition in Scandinavia (5 defeats). Their last victory was a 2-1 friendly win against Finland in Helsinki in June 1992. David Platt scored both goals.
• Fabio Capello has won 22 of his 33 matches in charge – the same number as Ron Greenwood won in his first 33 matches as England manager (1977-80). Only Walter Winterbottom (24 wins) from 1946-50 picked up more wins in their first 33 matches.
• If they lose today it will be the first time they have lost back-to-back international matches in almost 18 years – since a 2-0 WCQ defeat against Norway in Oslo and 2-0 defeat against USA in Foxboro in June 1993.
• They are one short of 150 clean sheets away from home in international football. They have currently kept 149 clean sheets in 417 away matches.
• If Rooney scores he will move into the top ten of goal scorers in England’s history with 27 goals – level with David Platt in 10th place. He has played twice against Denmark and scored once in both matches – but lost on both occasions.
• Won just four of their 14 opening games in a calendar year since 1997, with all four of those victories coming at home. 
• Conceded exactly one goal in six of their last seven friendly internationals and haven't kept a clean sheet in a friendly since a 4-0 win in Slovakia in March 2009.
• Lampard will captain England for the first time. Of the last six players to captain England, four have lost their opening match.

WestBrom v Wigan

A quick post tonight - both teams are in dire form so hopefully, using reverse sods law, this should be a cracker.

There could be a few goals tonight as the likes of Vela, Odemwinge and Rodallega will go up against two poor defences. I'll be basing my strategy on that assumption and going for goals.

McCarthy and Brunt should make up the goal of most Big Game teams. I'll then go for Mulumbu, Dorrans and/or Alcaraz leaving one place for a striker - I fancy Vela for a debut goal tonight.

Recommendations: 3 or 4 West Brom players as they keep the ball better than Wigan do. McCarthy & Brunt should be the bedrock of a good Big Game team.

Good luck!

by BensBulls
(Ben Wraith)

Arsenal v Ipswich

There's a good preview over at The Seventy Two for this match so I'll only add a few things to that.

Firstly, lots of people will have the same 5 players, as the other preview rightly points out, most pickers will have an all Arsenal Big Game team tonight. Almost everyone will have, quite sensibly, Fabregas and Nasri in their team. I expect the majority then to have 3 from Denilson, the full-backs, Wilshire/Arshavin/Rosicky and Chamakh/van Persie depending on who starts.

Looking at the averages Denilson and the full-backs would probably be my pick. I'm concerned though that I'll end up with a 10% share of the top prize as there'll be plenty of others with the same idea. So, here's a few scenarios that could give you an edge:

1. Pick a sub - it doesn't happen often but sometimes a sub can come on, score, and force themselves into the top 5. Fabregas did it against Leeds when he came on after 59 minutes and scored a late pen. He pipped both Schmeichel and Denilson by a point to be the 5th highest points scorer.
Imagine if Arsenal are 3-0 up after an hour and Wenger hauls off a few stars to rest them - could someone come off the bench, with the game stretched, and score?

2. Drop Fabregas - As mentioned above star players may get subbed if the game gets wrapped up early. This would give some of the 'boring' picks a chance to catch up. Or maybe a penalty miss and a yellow card? Or an injury? All of which have happened in the past.

3. Pick a centre back - often overlooked when the game is predicted to be one sided but they can pick up a steady amount of points. Djourou has got 3 of his highest 5 scores in comfortable victories, 4-0, 4-1 and 5-1. Admittedly he finished Arsenal's 5th, 6th and 8th top scorer but it would only take a yellow card or a sub or two (for someone else...) to get him in at 5th. Plus there's always the chance of a set-piece goal if Ipswich give plenty of free-kicks away.

Now I'm not strongly recommending any of the above as they're low probability punts. The best tactic is always to work out who the goalscorers will be and then add them to a Fabregas/Nasri/Denilson combo or similar. But then that's harder said than done.

My pick will probably be something like Sagna, Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie and Denilson with one of those probably swapped for someone more random just before kick-off.

Good luck!

by BensBulls
(Ben Wraith)

Bolton v Chelsea

Two out of form clubs meet at the Reebok tonight but Chelsea at least have history in their favour. The Londoners are unbeaten in Bolton for over 13 years and also won the reverse fixture 1 - 0 in December. However Chelsea have won only 2 from their last 10 and are vulnerable and again missing Picklive star Frank Lampard. Bolton haven't won in 2011 and are a pretty poor Picklive team to boot. Could the new scoring system or new signing David Wheater give them a lift?

Wolves v Liverpool

Wolves are unbeaten in 6 home games against Liverpool, have won 4 of their last 8 league games and are coming into this game off a comfortable 5-0 win over Doncaster in the FA Cup. Liverpool on the other hand have an atrocious away record, picking up just 5 points on the road, and are struggling to convert the Dalglish hype into results.

New Year. New Scores.

We've had 6 matches since the new scoring system was introduced and we're beginning to see the effects.


The first match was in the FA Cup, Arsenal at home to Leeds, and the highest 5 scorers were Arshavin, Eboue, Bendtner, Gibbs and Fabregas - which, barn-door Bendtner apart, wouldn't have been far off a strong Big Game before the changes. Fabregas sneaked into the top 5 with a goal but the next two, Denilson and Leeds keeper Schmeichel, were also unsurprising. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned from this first game under the new regime was that even woefully out of form players like Arshavin and Bendtner are worth a sniff as you still get 5 points if a shot hits the corner flag.
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Chelsea-Villa stats

• Villa have won only one of their last six against Chelsea - a 2-1 home win last season
• Chelsea won this fixture 7-1 last season - Villa's biggest PL defeat at the time (they also lost 6-0 at Newcastle since then). 
• Villa have won none of their last 8 at Stamford Bridge and lost six of them. 
• Lampard has scored 9 goals against Villa - more than against any other opponent in the PL
• The Villans have lost five of their last six away matches. They have only scored one goal in their last five league away matches. 
• After scoring 27 goals in their opening 10 matches, Chelsea have only scored six in their last nine.
• The Blues have not scored more than once in the league since October. 
• Chelsea begin the New Year in 4th place - their lowest position on January 1 in nine years since they were sixth in the table on New Year’s Day 2002.
• Chelsea have conceded only 4 goals at home this season - fewest in the division. 
• Villa  begin the New Year in 15^th place in the division – their lowest position in the PL on January 1 in 16 years since they were in 20^th place on New Year’s Day 1995.
• Villa are without a clean sheet in their last nine PL matches, conceding 14 goals in their last five.
• They have p
  icked up four away points this season – equal-fewest away points in the division with Wolves.