Three weeks after the redemptive win over Oxford, courtesy of two performances in which our brief flashes of flair made the inevitable outcomes all the harder to take, the Damoclean sword hangs again over Ryan Mason, as it was always liable to. The Baggies boss isn't yet in the kind of territory that made Steve Bruce's position untenable three years ago, and a seven-point cushion from the relegation zone more or less spares him getting there this side of Christmas, but as against Oxford, Mason tomorrow finds a hefty weight of expectation falling on one game in which anything short of a win would feel like a significant nail in the coffin of his tenure.

Swansea are the visitors, currently six games winless in all competitions and on a four-match losing streak. New head coach Vitor Matos failed to re-Vitor-lise their fortunes in his first match against Derby, but is now urging the Swans to treat Saturday's game as a cup final, and it's just Albion's luck that new manager bounce might kick in ninety minutes late. I can't see it being anything except a close match and result one way or another, so it's down to Mason to prove - not for the first time, and probably not the last - that he's got the answers.

Into South Yorkshire for our first of two trips this season, off to Hillsborough for what is likely to be our last visit for possibly a couple of seasons due to situations caused by a dodgy ex foreign owner. Sadly this is still happening around the league but at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the Owls

https://www.swfc.co.uk/

MANAGER

Henrik Pedersen (born 2 January 1978) is a Danish football manager who is the manager of EFL



Photograph attribution Maniacofsport


FORM GUIDE

WEDNESDAY
DDLLL

OWLS 3 PNE 12

Watched their game at the Den on Wednesday night, battled hard nearly had a wonder goal by Bannon, they also hit the bar the lad should have scored.

Newbies and hot shots

Loanees only for the Owls Amass loiks useful
Top Scorer

Barry Bannan 3 goals

Team News

Ben Whiteman will return to the squad after serving a one-match suspension, meanwhile fellow midfielder Harrison Armstrong is also likely to be back involved, having missed the last two matches through injury.

It seemed like North End picked up a few bumps and bruises on Tuesday night, however everyone has come through unscathed and should be in contention on Saturday.

Ali McCann, Andrija Vukčević, Brad Potts, Lewis Gibson, Robbie Brady and Theo Carroll will all miss out again.

The Hosts

Sheffield Wednesday head into the weekend sat bottom of the table, but that by no means tells the full story.

It’s been a tumultuous time for the Owls who entered administration in October and were deducted 12 points, leaving Henrik Pedersen with the difficult task of retaining their Championship status.

The team and supporters have really stuck together through difficult times, though, and as Paul Heckingbottom spoke about in his pre-match press conference, they are proving really competitive and fighting for every point.

Match Officials

Referee: Oliver Langford
Assistant Referees: Mark Stevens and David Harrison
Fourth Official: Matthew Russell

Experienced official Oliver Langford will take charge of Saturday’s fixture.

The referee was the man in the middle for North End’s season opener against QPR and so far this campaign has shown 34 yellow cards and one red in ten matches.

Langford, may the Lord have mercy on our souls

We’ve Met Before
An Emil Riis brace and a penalty from Sam Greenwood earned North End a 3-1 win in the final match of 2024.

Group A

Minizin 18
Stairs 18
Zimnan 18
B.B.B. 16
A.A.A. 11
BaggieOne 9
Twerton 4
BaggieVicar 0

Pretty good week for most in Group A and the 4th best weekly score of the season so far. If you were in the bottom 2 or top 2 in the league table then you will be happy with the results, if you are mid-table, not so happy!!

There is a 3 way tie for the top score this week between the top two in the table - Minizin & Stairs, and bottom dweller Zinman, who all scored 18 points but got there in different ways. Zinman actually scored on the most games - 7 in total, but Minizin and Stairs managed a maximum on the Gamball to boost their scores. Minizin added one CS, whereas the other two didn’t, and Zinman and Stairs managed a CR on the Bonus whereas Minizin got his wrong.

Just behind the top three is BBB on 16 points. He was one of 4 players to get a maximum on the Gamball and help set a record score of 33 for a single Gamball game. AAA is 5th with 11 points, he scored on 6 games but wasn’t able to get any CSs and missed on the Gamball. BaggieOne ended on 9 points in 6th place and was the 4th one to get a spot on Gamball but he was only able to add 2 CRs and missed on his bonus so failed to add much to his Gamball success. Twerton in 7th place with just 4 points was one of the few players to get a CS but missed on all his balls to stunt his total score.

BaggieVicar had a mare!! He missed on all his balls and managed just 2 CRs to wipe out the negative on his balls and finish on zero points! That is his third zero points week of the season and highlights his inconsistency overall.

157 Minizin
152 Stairs
125 BaggieOne
122 Twerton
115 A.A.A.
109 BaggieVicar
109 B.B.B.
96 Zinman

5 positional changes this week!! The top two stay the same but increased their lead over the chasing pair. BaggieOne moved back up to 3rd, dropping Twerton to 4th. AAA climbed above BaggieVicar, and BBB is now level on points with him!! Zinman is still last but he is now just 13 points from catching the others, the closest he has been for weeks!!

Cheers
SCO

Group B

Themaclad 22
Lady Jane 18
4eva 12
Derby 9
Amelia 7
Salop 6
Snooty 3
SCO 3

The second highest total of the season and a wide spread of scores should see some movement in the overall table. Themaclad seems to have become Mr Inconsistent - his season has seen a run of good scores followed by a run of poor scores and he's now back on a good run, securing top spot, equalling his highest score of the season, achieved in week 1, and gaining his 3rd consecutive double figure score. Two other players matched his 5 correct predictions but nobody came close to his total of 3 correct scores, and with one of those being his gamball (he also scored with the other balls), it isn't surprising to see him on top of he table.

Lady Jane had been on a bad run - just 9 points from the last 3 weeks - but she returned to form scoring 18 points from 5 correct predictions. She only got 1 correct score but it happened to be the gamball and that will always help! 4eva was the third player in double figures. He missed out on the gamball but made amends with a spot-on bonus.

Last week I mentioned Derby's problem in failing to turn correct results into correct scores and once again that issue came back to haunt him. He matched the top 2 in terms of correct result predictions but failed to get any correct scores - it shouldn't be a surprise as he's only secured 4 of them all season (Themac has 16!). Amelia had a dreadful Saturday - just 1 point scored, but scored on both of Sunday's matches to gain some respectability and 5th place. Salop is a point adrift with a similar breakdown to Amelia, just missing out on the scoreball point, leaving Snooty and SCO at the foot of the table with just 3 points. Both of them only got one correct result but at least they were their bonuses and they also scored on the scoreball.

129 4eva
109 Themaclad
108 SCO
104 Snooty
104 Lady Jane
86 Derby
84 Salop
74 Amelia

4eva did enough to extend his lead to 20 points, helped by SCO's poor week which sees him drop to 3rd place. 2nd place is taken by Themaclad jumping from 4th on the back of his high score and moving above 100 points. Lady Jane also breaks that barrier and catches Snooty to share 4th place. At the bottom, Derby climbs just ahead of Salop with Amelia still trailing.

13 weeks into the season and I've decided to delve into the balls. This week saw both Themaclad and Lady Jane score their first gamball maximums and that leaves Derby (no surprise!) as the only player yet to get the 8 points from this selection. Interestingly, nobody's yet got more than 1 maximum. A similar tale with the bonus ball although this time Derby is joined by both Lady Jane and Amelia in failing to get a correct score on the bonus. Themaclad, Snooty and 4eva have 2 bonus maximawith SCO and Salop 1 each.

The scoreball is closer- Themaclad and Amelia both have 7 points from it (Amelia has only missed out on 2 weeks since she joined) while SCO is languishing with just 2 points.

Zin

Apologies for being late with this, I am traveling this week for work so been a bit busy!!

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 29TH NOVEMBER KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



We went down to our 3rd straight defeat, despite putting in an improved performance from the Derby game. Bannan had a couple of chances saved, the latter a shot from about 40 yards which was tipped over. The Lions had a few chances but we managed to go in level at the break. Onto the 2nd half and McNeill nearly opened the scoring but his effort hit the bar. Millwall then went close twice before they eventually took the lead when Azeez headed in past Horvath after some sustained pressure. We nearly got a point when Lowes effort struck the post but Millwall managed to see the game out and climb to the dizzy heights of fourth place

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and back to Hillsborough as Preston make the journey across the Pennines. Preston have made a good start to there campaign and currently lie in the last playoff spot. If they can keep it going and with the Championship not being very good this season, they have a good chance of taking part in the end of season party, although they haven't won in 3 games. They are managed by Paul Heckingbottom who took charge in the summer of 2024 and also played for us for a few seasons 20 years ago. There leading scorer is Mulitin Osmajic who has 4 goals so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 45
PREST 47
DRAW 26

CURRENT FORM

OWLS    L L L D D L                                                             

PREST D L D W W W

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

OLIVER LANGFORD
Mark Stevens and David Harrison
Fourth Official: Matthew Russell

THE TEAM

Horvath
Fusire Palmer Iorfa M Lowe Amass
Valery Ingelsson Bannan
McNeill Cadamarteri

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Cadamarteri

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

24512

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 10
Maddix 8
Imre 4
SCO 4
Washington 3

BMPL

Stateside 6
Pei -4
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Sunderland v Bournemouth
Millwall v Southampton
Luton v Bolton
Chesterfield v Swindon
York v Aldershot

DAHDH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

Middlesbrough have appointed Kim Hellberg as their new head coach.

The 37-year-old who had been in charge of Swedish side Hammarby, replaces Rob Edwards, who left for Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month.

This is a first job for Hellberg outside his native Sweden, although he had been in talks with Championship rivals Swansea City earlier this month.

Hellberg will take over officially later in the week, with Adi Viveash remaining in interim charge for the home game against Championship leaders Coventry City on Tuesday.

Boro remain in second, seven points behind the Sky Blues after only losing two of their 16 league games this season.


Hellberg is Boro's second managerial appointment in five months, with Edwards departing for Wolves just 14 games into his tenure at the Riverside.

Having been in charge at Hammarby for the past two seasons, Hellberg led the Stockholm-based club to successive second-placed finishes in Sweden's top-flight Allsvenskan.

Hellberg, who spent his playing career in the Swedish lower leagues, had a year to run on his deal with Hammarby.

He began his coaching career in the Swedish lower divisions with Kuddby IF and later IF Sylvia before joining the staff at top-tier club IFK Norkopping in 2020.

His first head coach role in the Allsvenskan came at IFK Varnamo, where two impressive seasons led to his move to Hammarby.

"A lot of things make Boro the perfect choice for me," said Hellberg. "The way they play and want to play, together with the crowd, suits me and how I want to work."

He will be accompanied to Teesside by his assistant David Selini, with Viveash remaining part of the backroom staff.

While unknown to the vast majority of English audiences, Boro's director of football Kieran Scott had Hellberg's progress at Hammarby on the radar, and he believes the the club have recruited a head coach whose stock is on the rise.

"Kim is someone I've been monitoring for a while," Scott told the club's website., external

"He's well known in the circles of European football as an up-and-coming head coach that was catching a lot of people's eye and was doing really well at Hammarby.

"We met a few candidates, but Kim was high on my list of people I wanted to speak to."

Ex-Wolves first-team coach Ian Burchnall is in the running to replace Hellberg at Hammarby.

Burchnall, a former Forest Green and Notts County manager, has previously managed in Scandinavia having taken charge of Viking in Norway and Ostersunds in Sweden, when he succeeded Graham Potter in 2018.

Burchnall had been working with Jamaica under Steve McClaren for their last six World Cup qualifiers before McClaren stood down last week following the Reggae Boyz's failure to seal automatic qualification.

Swansea City have appointed Vitor Matos as their head coach on a four-year contract.

The former Liverpool elite development coach joins from Portuguese second-tier club Maritimo, where he only took his first senior managerial role in June.

Swansea sacked Alan Sheehan earlier this month and, after missing out on Middlesbrough-bound Kim Hellberg, the Championship strugglers turned to Matos.

The 37-year-old was at Ashton Gate on Saturday to watch the Swans' 3-0 defeat against Bristol City, leaving them 20th in the table.

"We spoke to a range of candidates and Vitor was the clear stand-out with a cohesive plan of how to take our squad forward," said Swansea chief executive Tom Gorringe.

"Vitor has spent over a decade working at elite clubs, and has been a trusted figure for some of the best coaches operating in the modern game.

"He is committed to playing an attacking brand of football, and to developing players technically and tactically, and we are sure supporters are going to enjoy watching his Swansea City team in action."

Sheehan's former assistant boss Darren O'Dea, who was in temporary charge last weekend, along with fellow coach Richard Stearman, will leave Swansea following Matos' appointment.

In a statment the club said they are working with Matos on finalising a backroom staff that "provides the support and expertise to give him the best chance of being successful".

Club legend Leon Britton has joined the coaching team on a short-term basis, while Joe Allen will also assist with the transition.

Fresh from Friday nights defeat, we are on the road to Watford, will Elton be there, one thing for sure the destroyer of the Hornet's twice last season, Osmajic won't, also captain Whiteman is suspended. Who is going to win the ball in midField, I hear you say, well er probably no one. Bit stretched squad wise at the moment but that's the way the croissant crumbles anyway.(10cc lyrics)

https://www.watfordfc.com/

MANAGER

Javier "Javi" Gracia Carlos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxaβiˈɣɾaθja];[a] born 1 May 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the head coach of EFL Championship club Watford.

He totalled 430 matches across both major levels of Spanish football, in a 15-year professional career. After retiring he began working as a manager, going on to coach several clubs in Spain, Greece and Russia before being appointed at Watford in January 2018.[2]

Gracia led Watford to their second FA Cup final in their history in 2019, but was sacked later the same year.[3] From June 2020 to May 2021 he worked with Valencia, and a year later he won the Qatar Stars League during a brief spell at Al Sadd before managing Leeds United for three months in 2023.



FORM GUIDE

Last 4 games
Derby A 2-3 W
Bristol City H 1-1
Ipswich A 1-1
Boro H 3-0 W

MYSTICS MACS FORM RATING

HORNETS 11 PNE 13

Hornets good attacking side although they appear to be a bit suspect at the back, especially at dead balls, let in 10, moral, don't let your balls die

Hot shots and newbies

Irankunda
Petris
They paid fees for these two

Louza 6
Kjeerumgard 5

OTHER CHAMPO FIXTURES

Hull v Tractors
Boro v Coventry
Stoke v Charlton
Swansea v Direby
Canaries v Oxford

PNE play the first part of an away double-header on Tuesday as they face Watford at Vicarage Road.

Team News

Harrison Armstrong, who missed Friday’s Lancashire derby with a groin issue, is progressing well but manager Paul Heckingbottom is not prepared to risk the midfielder unless he is 100% ready.

Pol Valentín and Will Keane both returned to the matchday squad last time out after spells on the sidelines and they’ll be hoping to get some game time in this one.

North End are still without Ali McCann, Andrija Vukčević, Brad Potts, Lewis Gibson, Robbie Brady and Theo Carroll.

The Hosts

Watford head into Tuesday following a terrific away victory over Derby County at the weekend, as they scored three goals in the final half-hour to overturn a two-goal deficit.

The Hornets have seen an upturn in form since a change of management, with Tom Cleverley being replaced by Javi Gracia, who had a previous spell at Vicarage Road between 2018 and 2019.

They’re unbeaten in their last four and sit just two points outside of the top six heading into this round of fixtures.

Match Officials

Referee: James Bell
Assistant Referees: Matthew Smith and Shaun Hudson
Fourth Official: James Linington

James Bell will referee this fixture. Incidentally, the last time he was the main official for a PNE match was for the Gentry Day fixture at Vicarage Road in April 2024.

So far this season, Bell has shown 30 yellow cards in eight matches.

We’ve Met Before
Milutin Osmajić’s brace earned Preston North End a 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road back in January.

WATFORD BUILDINGS

St Mary's Watford is a Church of England church in Watford, Hertfordshire, in England. It is an active church situated in the town centre on Watford High Street, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) outside London. St Mary's is the parish church of Watford and is part of the Anglican Diocese of St Albans. Thought to be at least 800 years old, the church contains burials of a number of local nobility and some noteworthy monumental sculpture of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.

THE MATCH

WEDNESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH

The first Steel City Derby didn't go well as the Blunts cruised to an easy win. We conceded early again as Valery was robbed of possession and the ball was played to Campbell who slotted it into the corner of the net. We nearly conceded again when Iorfa played an awful pass and Ings was denied by Horvath. Onto the 2nd half and deja vu as we conceded early again. Peck intercepted a pass which went straight to Campbell who again found the corner. We huffed and puffed but never really looked like scoring. United rubbed it in when in stoppage time Cannon's shot was deflected past Horvath as we went down to our biggest margin of defeat in a home derby.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and a midweek trip to take on Millwall. Millwall are having a surprisingly good season and currently reside in 7th place in the table. I would be surprised if they could stay in that lofty position, but with the Championship being weak this year they might have a chance of making the playoffs. They are managed by Alex Neil who took charge in December of last year and took them to 8th in the table, just missing out on the playoffs. There leading scorer is Femi Azeez who has 4 goals and 1 assist.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 20
MILL 18
DRAW 17

CURRENT FORM

OWLS    L L D D L L                                                             

MILL L D L D W W

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

JACOB MILES
George Byrne and Carl Fitch-Jackson
Fourth Official: Josh Smith

THE TEAM

Horvath
Fusire Palmer Iorfa M Lowe Amass
Valery Ingelsson Bannan
McNeill Cadamarteri

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Cadamarteri

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 10
Maddix 8
Imre 4
SCO 4
Washington 3

BMPL

Stateside 6
Pei -4
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Blackburn v QPR
Sheff Utd v Portsmouth
Wrexham v Bristol City
WBA V Birmingham

AHHDD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830

Division One table after Matchday 17:

1. jjamez = 313 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 299 pts
   
3. neonfoxinthebox = 262 pts
   
4. ritchiebaby = 231 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 229 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 137 pts
   

Saturday November 29th:
League One:
Town v AFC Wimbledon
Town scorers:
AFCW scorers:

Blackpool v Reading (12:30)
Lincoln City v Port Vale
Luton Town v Bolton Wanderers
Plymouth Argyle v Northampton Town
Rotherham United v Wycombe Wanderers
Wigan Athletic v Stevenage

Championship:
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City

Sunday 30th November:
Scottish Premiership:
Hibernian v Celtic (12:00)

Tuesday 2nd December:
EFL Trophy 2nd round:
Lincoln v Town (19:00)
Town scorers:
Lincoln scorers:

League One:
Wigan Athletic v Burton Albion

Premier League:
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur (20:15)

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. theo_luddite = 290 pts
   
2. themaclad = 288 pts
   
3. Devongone = 270 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 227 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 217 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 208 pts
   

Saturday November 29th:
League One:
Town v AFC Wimbledon
Town scorers:
AFCW scorers:

Stockport County v Barnsley (12:30)
Bradford City v Exeter City
Burton Albion v Leyton Orient
Cardiff City v Mansfield Town
Doncaster Rovers v Peterborough United

Championship:
Sheffield Wednesday v Preston North End

League Two:
Chesterfield v Swindon Town

Sunday 30th November:
Premier League:
West Ham United v Liverpool (14:05)
Chelsea v Arsenal (16:30)

Tuesday 2nd December:
EFL Trophy 2nd round:
Lincoln v Town
Town scorers:
Lincoln scorers:

League One:
Wigan Athletic v Burton Albion

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***