FA Cup Semi-Finals and Premier League – Matchweek 33

I think the best team to play against on Sunday will be West Ham, but I hope I’m wrong for obvious reasons.

I was tempted to get a ticket for Watford v Brentford but need credits for next month.

Today is one of those days I dread. Living at the end of the M40 and on the Metropolitan Line direct link to Wembley Park, we tend to be a faoured staging post for North West teams.

At least Man City should counter the balance and will reduce the pain of that lot ruining my lunchtime drink.

It's started already. Head-to-toe clad reds starting to appear and I only popped out to the supermarket.

Long day ahead…

Good lord give me strength. Uxbridge infiltrated.

My poor landlord Tony (lifelong City fan) had invited 2 coach loafs of City fans but they got turned away by the police because the red mist had booked all the hotels.

This is torture. Same City. Different breed.

I see very fierce and determined protests by Man Utd fans today. Clappers take note when a gob comes up on screen. Time to follow suit big time.

Good game by Brighton kept Spurs down to 0 shots at goal and a nice reply by Tossard to give Brighton 3 points.

Wonder if we will get a surprise away result. Other teams seem to do it…

Our boy, Kieran Dowell pulls a goal back for Norwich.

Man City making it easy for the other lot.

What's happened to Man City – they look like they've no belief. Pep/s made some strange selections today.

Key players rested or injured but their keeper looks like he's bottled it again, like last seasons semi v Chelsea.

Given this one to the RS on a plate.

Everton to stick one on Leicester next Wednesday, and edge closer to safety.

I think City spent a lot of their energy in Madrid on Wednesday night while Liverpool ambled to a 3-3 draw at Anfield, Liverpool are bullying a sleepwalking City and look likely to really rub City’s noses in it.

Great result for Brentford.

That Brentford - Watford result is big. Over to you Everton next week.

I'm dreading later with the red masses due back in town. Can't deny them but despite his achievements, how stubborn is Guardiola in his tactics? A sign of believing in your own hype?

Bloody useless that Sterling today. City didn't look interested.

I wonder whether Pep wished he'd spent that £100M on Kane rather than Grealish?

Nice to see that Dowell both scored & assisted for Norwich City today, not too sad that they lost in the end though.

At 1-1 Watford miss a sitter in injury time then Brentford go down and get a winner at the other end!

Now for West Ham to get it done tomorrow…

I am well publicised in being a promoter of German football but Klopp makes me feel sick.

Dreading tonight. I'll no doubt have some interesting debate with the red shower that are infiltrating my local.

Kopites are gobshites. Every fucking one of them.

Anyway, Leicester next. Come on Everton.

Danny, Grealish is shite and more interested in being a prick and a poser, the type that gives players a bad name.

Yes, Neil @16, I was sweating on that Watford result. Just hoping West Ham can batter Burnley tomorrow.

Danny, tell them all to fuck off. Probably spent all afternoon in there anyway.

Man City bottling it again.

They should put Liverpool to the sword every time given the monies available. Nothing but gobshites under pressure, Pep included.

Watch them fold in the Champions League and the Premier League title race. No wonder they can't make a dent in the tourist trade a la Utd and Liverpool.

Us with money, they are.

It's wonderful to see the streamlining of English football and the demise of the four also-rans. Now we can enjoy simply watching The Big Two.

It's the recipe for success that has made Scottish football the envy of the world and will in no way further encourage the formation of a Super League as the other major leagues are so unpredictable and competitive, there is no way you could pick out one German or French team and say with justification “I think they may just win the league this year.”

Competitive sport has never been healthier.

Kieran,

Very well written and I salute your sarcasm. (It was sarcasm?)

Two points: Hard to criticise a side like that lot (easy to despise, mark you) across the park. They are superbly well run and have the simple goal, which is to succeed.

My other point is the Super League. Bring it on and feck them off to it.

Cracking shot from Ellis Simms for Hearts’s opening goal today. A Scottish Cup Final will not be the worst entry on a young player’s CV.

Does anyone know when was the last time that EFC didn’t have a fixture during Easter (other than the Covid season)?

Neil was it 1877?

Geoff, probably mate yes!

Wait until the shit hits the fan about the UEFA proposals for the Champions League from 2024.

Super League Lite, sponsored by UEFA!

They are still here. Lingering like a bad smell.

That shot from Ellis Simms – no way our supposed back-up striker Rondon would even attempt that. Same goes for our England striker.

Not saying he's the answer but surely worthy of a squad place for now. Hopefully the next window will be more creative and inspired with this proper DoF as well.

Can't believe I'm rooting for West Ham. They also, 10 minutes in, look like they're throwing the game they're playing so poorly.

Happy Easter to all.

Is the WHU vBurnley game being televised in England?

Horror injury Vlasic was involved in. Leg thing - I get seriously squeamish with legs bending in a way they shouldn't, so I didn't rewatch and won't. But it supposedly was an awful injury - purely accidental I'd add! - for Westwood of Burnley.

And Burnley score

Dave, No.

But it is in Amerika. They are all shown on telly in Amerika.

Go Figure.

Let’s hope West Ham, can turn this game around and beat Burnley.

Burnley 1-up, that's all we need.

Moyesie – sort it out!

No Passover wishes, Jamie?

Happy Easter to you too.

Fucking West Ham in 2nd gear. Infuriating.

Fucking AWFUL defending, penalty, shoulda been a red, West Ham are playing awful footy we'll be getting no help from them today, cunts.

Holy shit – Cornet missed the entire fucking net on a penalty kick!!! Hahaha, oh my God!

Michael,

I live in Canada and can watch every premier league game, for either a monthly or yearly fee and Burnley have just been given a penalty and missed. 1 point behind.

Bill – adjust your TV.

West Ham are knackered from Thursday night. I always fancied Burnley for this one…. The agony goes on.

Meant to be relaxing here with family, but impossible with the WHU v Burnley game. Missing that pen could be huge but WH need to get going. It was never going to be straightforward was it !!

Thought they would have scored. I turned over and watched some of the Newcastle v Leicester game.

MIke Gaynes - Sure, why not? Happy Passover!!

So weird the Ing-lish can't watch the games in-country. Why don't they televise and black out in and around Burnley and London? Weird to me.

HT. 1-0 Burnley

You can never rely on Moyes.

Jamie, regional blackouts are an American phenomenon.

I still remember climbing up on the roof with my dad as a kid to turn the TV antenna when the Bears games were blacked out in Chicago, hoping to catch a snowy signal from Milwaukee.

Twat Moyes loves a glass ceiling and some of our clappers yearn for his return. Gets a job done and stability is his limit.

Mike that's classic.

When I was a kid, we moved to Indiana when I was 6 years old. I used to pick up Bruins games on the AM radio on WBZ. Could barely hear it but tuned in nonetheless.

Picking a Milwaukee feed is brilliant, only 70 miles north or so, surely could be done. Your Dad was an outside the box genius. 😂👍🏻

I really thought there was a foul on Fabianski on the Burnley goal but West Ham need a good shake at half-time.

Burnley have got Southampton, Wolves, Aston Villa at home and Watford away in their next four games. Leeds have got Palace and Arsenal away, Man City and Chelsea at home.

I'm wondering if it might be us and Leeds battling it out for the 3rd relegation slot, rather than Burnley?

Watching West Ham is exactly like watching Everton under Moyes. So frustrating, crap football.

Glass ceilings indeed. Moyes is just "rubbish". Owners at West Ham will love him, safely keeping them up there, protecting their investment, winning the sum total of shit.

Jamie
I think they black out around the home team premier league games even if it is a sellout. Everton's home game against Leicester will most probably be blacked out on Merseyside, unless they have changed it.

We've really progressed since Moyes left, haven't we?

I think it is pointless blaming Moyes and West Ham. We had our chances against them a couple of weeks ago when they were there for the taking but we blew it and blew it again at Burnley.

We have only ourselves and the players who turn out for us. They have cocked it up game after game this season, especially away from home, but there is still time for them to turn it around starting on Wednesday night.

jamie #50, it never really worked. We couldn't even make out which team was which. And one puff of wind and we lost the signal.

Re Moyes and Hammers, gotta disagree. Obviously playing like shit today, but they've scored 51 goals and played with speed and flair. They score great goals. Hard as it is to give, Moyes deserves credit.

Bill #54, didn't know that. Even if it's a sellout? THAT's odd.

Dave #56, amen. Falling apart in the second half at Burnley is the single biggest reason for this mess.

Dave - You're 100% accurate. We totally blew it at Burnley and only have ourselves to blame.

Bill - Why would they blackout a sellout?? If all the tickets are sold and the stadium full, televise the games! That's nonsensical to me.

Burnley clearly not dead yet.

Our game on Wednesday night is another huge one, taking into account the two games against Liverpool and Chelsea that follow.

Newsflash. We haven’t progressed since Moyes left because of bad choices of management due to the never ending buffoon given the task in hand. No other reason.

Totally agree, Dave.

If we had beat Burnley we would have been 10 points ahead today after squeezing past Utd and Burnley getting beat by Norwich. It's not over yet, but I did expect Burnley to get a result at West Ham today.

At the very least, we simply have to win our home games. Lookman will be looking forward coming to Goodison! Murphy's law… right!

Commentator said that was Burnley's first penalty of the season. April 17th.

Typical EFC. Here I am sitting listening to Burnley v WHU and fretting because Burnley are winning. Typical Moyes. Every time you want him to win, he fucks up.

Thank God. 1-1

1-1

1-1. That's better. One more coming.

1 - 1 come on West Ham

Come on, West Ham!

What a chance for the 2nd. Benrahma thought he was offside. He wasn't.

Jamie # 58.

Had to look it up but the answer was, The blackout rule was introduced in the 1960s, when Football League chairman believed, televised matches had a negative effect on attendances at matches being played at the same time.

West Ham levelled it now, Soucek.

We can end all this anxiety though by a Hammers winner and a win against Leicester on Wednesday.

Can’t believe I’m sweating on Burnley away at West Ham, for fuck's sake!

Bill, that's amazing. 60 years ago and it's still in force.

Two great saves. I would have bet big on Antonio scoring there.

Incredible save by Pope. Bastard

We play Leicester on Wednesday night and they've just lost in injury time at Newcastle, no doubt we will offer them comfort.

That's an absolute huge game for us yet again.

1-1 ain't bad specially if we win Wednesday. 6 points is a big enough gap too see us safe.

And the Barcodes win it with the last touch of the game. Guess that makes it official for them.

Massive game on Wednesday night.

I say that because we are gonna get our arse split open next Sunday while Burnley could well beat a schizophrenic Southampton team at Turf Moor.

We need three points against Leicester bad style!!!!

You would think Newcastle won the fucking league the way they are celebrating down there – they have had some fucking good luck since they played us at their place.

Agree, massive opportunity for us to go 6 clear of Burnley – let's hope we can do it!

The three teams below us secured one point, so up to us now to win on Wednesday.

Could have been much much worse, happy Burnley only picked up the one point.

A win on Wednesday would be ideal, a point keeps us 4 points clear, so less pressure now of at worst getting a point Wednesday.

You would need men in white coats to suggest anything from next Sunday, but absolutely no pressure at all on Everton.

We on paper do not have a cat in hells chance, but been a funny old season, to take a point there would be huge and would be typical Everton to cause an upset.

Okay, full disclosure.

You Yanks/Canucks are conflating two entirely separate and unrelated blackout concepts:

1) In the UK, there has been a longstanding blackout preventing any broadcast of live football games anywhere in the UK between 2:45 pm and 5:15 pm on a Saturday in order to protect attendances at traditional 3 pm kick-offs throughout the UK football pyramid.

2) In North America, they do some weird regional blackout thing for American Football games that are not fully sold put by a certain time pre-match. Nothing to do with, and not in any way applicable to Premier League football.

Bill:

"I think they blackout around the home team Premier League games even if it is a sellout."

No, they do not blackout around the home team Premier League games – that's just not true.

"Everton's home game against Leicester will most probably be blacked out on Merseyside, unless they have changed it."

Everton's home game against Leicester will absolutely not be blacked out on Merseyside; however, it will not be televised anywhere in the UK because it has not been selected for broadcast by any of the TV companies (Sky, BT, Amazon); furthermore, it is illegal for anyone in the UK to watch it on any unauthorized foreign feed.

Micheal,

So are you saying that, if you can't get a ticket for the Everton game, you can watch it in the pub on TV, or is it you have to subscribe to a Sky app?

"...furthermore, it is illegal for anyone in the UK to watch it on any unauthorized foreign feed."

Of course many of us here on TW realize this and therefore receive the game via radio commentary while discussing it on the live forum.

Bill:

Pubs, bars, commercial places, homes, mobile phone apps etc... have all in theory subscribed to Sky by one method or another in order to watch live.

Pubs pay a commercial version of that paid by homes.

I have a friend who watches all Everton games on mygoaltv.org, he says it's very good and HD. I refuse to watch illegal channels. I just sit in the dark in absolute silence and pray.

Bill, the huge difference here in the UK is only 200 of the 380 Premier League games in the season are allowed to be broadcast live by either Sky (128), BT Sport (52) or Amazon (20). 180 of the games are not broadcast at all in the UK by anyone.

Everton vs Leicester City on Wednesday is one of those 180 that is not being broadcast to UK rights holders.

However, USA, Canada and the rest of the world have different agreements, with USA (and Canada?) showing every single one of those 380 Premier League games throughout the season.

What Will says @86 applies to those 128 games shown on Sky; what he said @85 applies to the 180 games not shown. We are reduced to listening to the radio commentary from EFC or sometimes BBC Radio 5Live and, for those of us so endowed, resorting to 'remote viewing'.

Leicester have an away record that is nearly as bad as ours. Let's hope we're not saying “Everton that” after Wednesday.

A win and a 6-point gap would alleviate the pressure and give us a boost going into the derby.

We can only hope and pray.

Thanks Michael

I read all that but what I am wondering is the games that are allowed to be seen on TV, are they chosen at the start of the season or through the season.

I mean 20 teams in the league so TV showing is 10 games on average each weekend so bring in midweek games later on doesn't seem to last long. How do they determine which games have priority or is this were the comments of Sky favorites come in.

Or is the TV money divided equally to all the clubs.

"...with USA (and Canada?) showing every single one of those 380 Premier League games throughout the season."

Well, you learn something new everyday - and this was it. Strange old world, with the US having full access whilst the "Home" of the sport does not.

Easter Greetings to all TWrs and let's hope for an Everton rising from the drop zone from now till the end of this season.

I watched some of the Skunks' game, and I see a great chance to put more clear blue water between us and Burnley on Wednesday night.

Call out to Darren H, and best wishes and hopefully you'll be back on the TW soon, as your football views and insight in the game are an asset to the TW forums.

Some great questions, Bill.

First off, the fixtures for each weekend are set by the Premier League computer. Then the TV companies come in and choose usually 5 of the 10 games to show on UK television across the weekend. They do this a month or two in advance, in theory, so they can choose the more interesting games as the season develops. But yes, there's a bias toward the Sky Favourites.

Because of Blackout #1, the times of those games selected for UK broadcast get shifted into some now fairly standard UK timeslots: Friday 20:00; Saturday 12:30 and 17:30; Sunday 14:00 and 16:00; Monday 20:00. The rest of the games kick off at 15:00 on Saturday (except for any teams in the Europa League who have played on the previous Thursday; their games are usually moved to Sunday). Even so, such manipulation of the fixtures is still anathema to a great many matchgoers (eg, Rob Halligan).

A portion of the UK TV money depends on the number of times each club is featured in those chosen TV games.

This is the way it has evolved. You'd think it would be simple in the 21st Century for them to provide some kind of streaming membership for UK fans of each club who can't get to the game to at least pay and watch online. But they are expected to instead go and watch their local Conference team.

I can't imagine that's really worked all that well, somehow.

Quick question, clearly not wanting this particular thread to die.

I'm Rob Halligan. I follow home and away. Two months in advance I get a great deal on a train ticket and lodging in London to see us play Chelsea on a Sunday.

Sky / BBC have the rights, and move the game to Monday night.

Am I screwed? Or is it a cultural norm for the transportation and lodging facilities and companies to "work with you" to move your travel and lodging?

Jamie, couldn't happen. Sky/BBC and the Premier League would check with Rob first for his approval before moving the game.

Burnley drop 5 points from 6.

We beat Leicester and get a point at Anfield.

Burnley lose to Southampton on Thursday and Wolves on Sunday.

This time next week could look very different.

Leeds are still not out of it in my opinion.

Danny, agreed on Leeds.

Their next 5 games are;

Palace (A)
Man City (H)
Arsenal (A)
Chelsea (H)
Brighton (H).

Brighton have just beaten Spurs and Arsenal away, so how many points will Leeds collect from those 5 fixtures?

Danny 96,

Burnley have Southampton and Wolves at home and Watford away, all 3 are very winnable games and I expect them to win 2 of these games. We have to win on Wednesday night.

David yes,100%, Everton must beat Leicester on Wednesday, and as it’s the next game is the most important.

Seeing Leicester v The Skunks, yesterday, in my view Everton can beat them.