Neil

I've been a big critic of Lucas in the past and while I still don't think he's as good as many will have you believe, the role he plays for Liverpool is vital and without him playing that role, they look completely and utterly vulnerable with those 2 goons in the middle. Gerrard is careless/reckless to the extreme while Henderson just isn't very good full stop (albeit he's improved in the past 6 months, and may continue to).

Great flick from Henderson, that.

Boo hiss.

Worse? He's been laughably bad in this game and in 45 minutes has summed up his decline. Absolutely no way Gerrard should be playing regularly if Liverpool have aspirations of getting near the leaders.

When it was 2-0 Arsenal and 4-1 Man City, things were looking rosy. Now, all I can hope for is Liverpool to score twice. Thankful my earlier bets came in as otherwise I'd be staring at a heavy loss. They're still total cunts either way.

Unbelievable, this. Fucking steamroller teams for fun, I roll up, 0-2. Knew they were all cunts.

3 chances.

Gerrard has single-handedly gifted Villa 2 chances so far. I'm also undecided on Coutinho. Similar to Mirallas. He should be better than he is.

Added Man City -2/Liverpool -2 double to this. Last time I really focussed on 2 or 3 teams and was very confident, I lost £150. Just think the sheer regularity of which these teams are winning by 2 goals and more / the weakness of the opposition, it's worth getting on. Wouldn't be surprised to see a really solid performance out of the blue by 1 or 2 of the away teams, as that's just what happens sometimes. We'll see. Seriously man, that Cardiff goal has really fucked me off. Anyway, shockingly enough it's the 2 more likely bets that roll over to the Liverpool game. Liverpool over 1.5 and Liverpool -1 required. Unfortunately want Liverpool to score goals.

Fuck off Cardiff. Seriously, what's the point?

^^ good prediction. Bent misses an open goal.

Reverse psychology.

Right on cue.

The Man City hcap looks like screwing a few people over. They should be way in front, but now are in danger of not winning the game at all.

Cardiff, who should be dead and buried by now, are giving this a right go. Can see them getting something.

Demichelis is truly a shambles of a defender.

Finally 1-0 Arsenal. Edit: 2-0. Keep going Man City. They should have had 5 already.

A Fulham goal might not even be a disaster - Arsenal need something to get them into gear and fast.

Right, Arsenal. Start doing stuff ffs. Think my pre-match nerves with them were justified, they're really labouring.

Man City decide today is the day they're going to miss loads of chances.

The Bale drought is over, thank fuck.

Head over to the match thread now folks: http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,95007.0.html

Little bit on there to be over 4.5 in this game. Really hope at least one of my bets come off later. Will be very disappointed if over 1.5 for Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal doesn't come through.

As Alan Partridge would say, AND ANOTHER!

Pleased with that. Nice little boost before the main course.