UPL PREDICTOR MATCHDAY 1
It’s almost upon us. After two months away, the UPL returns on Sunday. Due to the Super Cup taking place on Saturday between Shakhtar and Dynamo in Odesa, the first round of top flight matches will stretch all the way into midweek. As with most football leagues across the world, the first few games are always the hardest to predict. With a lot of personnel changes occurring across the Ukrainian Premier League, Zorya Londonsk Weekly’s in house ‘football expert’ will just have to go with his gut when it comes to predicting this week’s results. As we all know pre season friendly games don’t really show us anything worthy of note, in relation to how the rest of the season will truly play out!
Andrew Todos of Zorya Londonsk Weekly will be making predictions for every UPL game this season, against a variety of guests.
Our first guest of the 2018 – 19 campaign is Vasyl (Vasya) Maksymiv from Брутальний Футбол, the popular Ukrainian football site which can be also found across all social media platforms. Famous for its funny sport related memes, posts, news and videos it’s no wonder Брутальний Футбол / @BrutFoot has amassed over 118,000 followers on VKontake and over 38,000 followers on Instagram, alongside well supported pages on Facebook and Twitter. Being an avid follower of the UPL himself, Vasya supports both Karpaty Lviv and Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Top Division.
With Zorya Londonsk Weekly being a London based blog we also asked Vasya who he follows in the English Premier League. He told us that currently he’s most intrigued by Manchester City. He’s a fan of their playing style and has been drawn in further by their world class talent. However, he does also admit that the Oleksandr Zinchenko factor also plays a role in his regular following of the Mancunian club.
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| Andriy Yarmolenko |
Through Брутальний Футбол (Brutal Football) Vasya also keeps a close eye on Ukrainian players across Europe’s top leagues. With one of those players being Andriy Yarmolenko, who recently moved to London to play for West Ham, we asked Vasya what his views were on the move and how he thought the winger would adapt to the Premier League. Vasya told us “Yarmolenko moved to West Ham at his own risk. He’s a top player. West Ham are a mid table Premier League side. As a result, I believe he’ll play an important role for them and I hope he will show his true ability when playing against all the top sides.”
BF SOCIAL LINKS:
Go and give Vasya Maksymiv and Брутальний Футбол (Brutal Football) a follow or like by clicking the links to their various social media pages found below and also check out the BF website for loads of Ukrainian language football related content:
⚽Брутальний Футбол (BF) Website
⚽Брутальний Футбол (BF) on IG
⚽Vasya Maksymiv on IG
⚽Брутальний Футбол (BF) on Twitter
⚽Брутальний Футбол (BF) on VKontakte
⚽Брутальний Футбол (BF) on Facebook
A correct result (WIN / DRAW/ DEFEAT) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns an extra 40 points.
MD 1 HEAD TO HEAD WINNER: VASYA MAKSYMIV
SUNDAY
Zorya Luhansk v Mariupol
Todos’ prediction: Zorya should edge this one comfortably with Mariupol having one eye on their midweek Europa League qualifier. 3-1
Vasya’s prediction: 2-1
RESULT: 2-1 – Gordienko (50′), Karavaev (85′) / Churko (P) (10′)
Karpaty Lviv v Oleksandriya
Todos’ prediction: Karpaty should start the season off strongly with their new signings after a relatively non chaotic summer against an indifferent Oleksandriya side. 2-1
Vasya’s prediction: 1-0
RESULT: 0-2 – TSURIKOV (72′), PONOMAR (81′)
Arsenal Kyiv v FC Lviv
Todos’ prediction: I’m still sceptical about the appointment of Fabrizio Ravanelli as the new Arsenal Kyiv manager as he’s still a relatively inexperienced coach. As a result I think the solid core of last season’s Veres team that has since moved to FC Lviv will just edge out the newly promoted side. 0-1
Vasya’s prediction: 1-1
RESULT: 0-2 – VORONIN (28′), Zapadnya (50′)
MONDAY
Chornomorets Odesa v Olimpik Donetsk
Todos’ prediction: I’m predicting a relatively non eventful game but after the woeful season Chornomorets had last time out, I don’t see them starting this one off with any points. 0-1
Vasya’s prediction: 0-0
RESULT: 2-1 – RYZHUK (9′), TATARKOV (65′) / DEHTYAREV (70′)
WEDNESDAY
Dynamo Kyiv v Vorskla Poltava
Todos’ prediction: Taking into account Dynamo’s starts to recent seasons gone by, it’s usually a labored narrow victory that gets them over this first hurdle. Vorskla are a decent side so I am going for a narrow Kyivan win. 2-1
Vasya’s prediction: 3-0
RESULT: 1-0 – DALLKU (OG) (33′)
Desna Chernihiv v Shakhtar Donetsk
Todos’ prediction: Shakhtar have quite a few new players in their squad but I’m expecting them to gel quickly and start strongly with a comprehensive victory. 0-3
Vasya’s prediction: 1-4
RESULT: 0-2 – MORAES (31′), MARLOS (55′)
FOLLOW ZORYA LONDONSK WEEKLY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
GUEST LEADERBOARD
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Total scores after week 1
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Todos
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40
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Guests
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70
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Todos v Guests
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P1
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W0
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D0
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L1
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GUEST LEADERBOARD
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SCORE
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GUEST LEADERBOARD
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70
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Vasya Maksymiv (@Brutfoot)
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40
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Todos (average after 1 week)
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ZORYA LONDONSK 