Odds or Evens: Odds Edition 2023/24 | The winner(s) have been announced.

[Damien]

See last year's Odds Edition for a glimpse of how the competition went.

Here are new changes for this year's competition:

• Picks to be sent via private message rather than posted in thread.
• One allowed substitute in case of injury. If one of your eight players is injured, you can submit the pick for substitute at any time and that player replaces the injured one for the remainder of the competition. If InjuredPlayer scores 5 goals prior to be injured and ReplacementPlayer scores 6 goals for the remainder of the duration of the competition, you'll get 11 points total.

Simply:

• Pick eight Premier League players with odd numbers on their jerseys - one pick per Premier League side. So you could have, say Jadon Sancho for Manchester United (#25 shirt) but you can't have Anthony Martial too (#9).
• You can't choose the same shirt number twice - so if you pick Anthony Martial (#9), you can't have Gabriel Jesus (#9) too.
• You gain one point for each Premier League goal your players score (nothing for assists).
• The following players are banned:
  • Mo Salah
  • Harry Kane
  • Erling Haaland
• This runs until Christmas. Person with most points wins and then in the new year there will be a new competition with even numbers only.
• Deadline for submitting your list of eight odd-numbered players is Friday 11th August 8:00pm and you must send your list of eight to me via private message. After the deadline, everyone's picks will be revealed. This list can't be changed afterwards and you have to take the rough with the smooth, but if one of your players gets injured you can change them out.
• If there are 20+ entries, the winner will get a tagline and an award.

If one of your players gets injured, you can sub them out (one time only).
If your player changes club to one that another of your picks is at, that player will be ineligible with no replacements.
If your player changes shirt number to an even one, that player will be ineligible with no replacements.

Spreadsheet of picks

 

[Damien]

7 in so far, thanks everyone.

 

[Damien]

Up to 11 now

 

[Damien]

Up to 14

 

[Damien]

Up to 18 now, thanks again everyone.

 

[Damien]

Over 20 in now, so the winner will get a tagline and award (the star thing in the corner of my post)

 

[Damien]

Chelsea squad numbers now confirmed: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/chelsea-squad-numbers-23-24-confirmed

 

[Damien]

27 in so far, two days left to submit picks. Impressive amount of variety in choices.

 

[Damien]

36 in.

 

[Damien]

Hey everyone. Been a fun couple of weeks chasing everyone up, sorting out the Chelsea numbers and Maddison situation. Hope you're all happy. Been agreed that if Maddison does change to #10, which is likely, those who've picked him can pick alternatives and most have already sent the alternative choice to me.

One entrant did select both Haaland and Salah. I messaged back to them saying they couldn't be picked as they're banned, but they've not been on to change them so they'll only have six players. A couple of people did pick Ivan Toney despite him being banned from playing football until next year and this competition ends at Christmas. Tough luck in those cases.

I'll post all picks shortly.

 

[Damien]

Spreadsheet of all picks here (let me know if any data is wrong, there was a lot of PM activity today so might have missed something)

Out of 55 picks, only two are identical - @RonaldoVII and @Ted1985, though this could increase if Maddison changes to #10

Spoiler: table of most picked players

# of Picks	Player	Shirt #	Team
41	Watkins	11	Aston Villa
37	Jackson	15	Chelsea
34	Saka	7	Arsenal
27	Nunez	9	Liverpool
24	Mbeumo	19	Brentford
23	De Bruyne	17	Manchester City
21	Antony	21	Manchester United
19	Foden	47	Manchester City
17	Maddison	71	Tottenham Hotspur
17	Wilson	9	Newcastle United
15	Groß	13	Brighton & Hove Albion
12	Son	7	Tottenham Hotspur
11	Alvarez	19	Manchester City
10	Barnes	15	Newcastle United
10	Garnacho	49	Manchester United
10	Sancho	25	Manchester United
9	Højlund	17	Manchester United
9	Kulusevski	21	Tottenham Hotspur
9	Martinelli	11	Arsenal
8	Guimaraes	39	Newcastle United
7	Havertz	29	Arsenal
6	Diaz	7	Liverpool
6	Elanga	21	Nottingham Forest
5	Diaby	19	Aston Villa
4	Mitrovic	9	Fulham
4	Trossard	19	Arsenal
3	Amdouni	25	Burnley
3	Bailey	31	Aston Villa
3	Gallagher	23	Chelsea
3	Mount	7	Manchester United
3	Pedro	9	Brighton and Hove Albion
2	Billing	29	Bournemouth
2	Elliott	19	Liverpool
2	Iwobi	17	Everton
2	Lewis-Potter	23	Brentford
2	Richarlison	9	Tottenham Hotspur
2	Toney	17	Brentford
1	Awoniyi	9	Nottingham Forest
1	Coutinho	23	Aston Villa
1	Dunk	5	Brighton & Hove Albion
1	F.Silva	29	Wolverhampton Wanderers
1	Gray	11	Everton
1	Gueye	27	Everton
1	Kluivert	19	Bournemouth
1	Maupay	13	Everton
1	Mubama	45	West Ham United
1	Murphy	23	Newcastle United
1	Nakamba	13	Luton Town
1	Nunes	27	Wolverhampton Wanderers
1	Obafemi	45	Burnley
1	Outtara	11	Bournemouth
1	Ramsey	41	Aston Villa
1	Schlupp	15	Crystal Palace

 

[SirAnderson]

Ivan Toney, darn...don't read my football news...

 

[AnotherLondonManc]

I'm so ready to be hyped for this before one person pulls away and I never check it again.

 

[V.O.]

How are 17 people picking Maddison when he has a placeholder squad number?

Is there an obvious number he'll likely be moved to (like Hojlund)?

 

[altodevil]

Surprised no-one picked the same as me. I simply went by sharps odds

 

[Swarm]

How are 17 people picking Maddison when he has a placeholder squad number?

Is there an obvious number he'll likely be moved to (like Hojlund)?

Hm, didn't think to check Hojlunds number at Bergamo

Maddison has been wearing the #71 in friendlies, with Kane heading out I would assume that he will take his #10 shirt, as he has been wearing at Leicester.

 

[Samid]

Surprised no-one picked the same as me. I simply went by sharps odds

You picked a crook who went off injured after 20 mins and Havertz so those odds were probably a bit shite

 

[altodevil]

You picked a crook who went off injured after 20 mins and Havertz so those odds were probably a bit shite

Enjoy Foden and Darwin

 

[Samid]

Enjoy Foden and Darwin

You also have him

 

[altodevil]

You also have him

Yes, that's correct, but I don't have Foden in addition

 

[whitbyviking]

Enjoy Foden and Darwin

You also have him

Banter in here going well already

 

[paulscholes18]

Bollocks was waiting to Chelsea to release their shirt numbers, then completely forgot about it.

 

[Scriblerus]

Apologies to City fans. I have de Bruyne. The hamstring is all my fault.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Wow, 23 players onto their sub after one match! Serves all you right.

 

[AnotherLondonManc]

How bad is the De Bruyne injury? Since it's week 1, can we shuffle things around or can we only pick a straight swap?

 

[Bogga]

@Damien if I look at the spreadsheet my picks are wrong. I swapped Maddison ahead of the deadline... this is my team I sent to you

7 - Bukayo Saka - Arsenal
9 - Callum Wilson - Newcastle
11 - Ollie Watkins - Aston Villa
13 - Pascal Gross - Brighton
15 - Nicholas Jackson - Chelsea
17 - Rasmus Höylund - Man Utd
19 - Bryan Mbeumo - Brentford
47 - Phil Foden - Man City

 

[Damien]

How bad is the De Bruyne injury? Since it's week 1, can we shuffle things around or can we only pick a straight swap?

You can sub him out for another player of your choice as long as it fits the rules - unique number and club (City player is still fine given they directly replace KDB)

@Damien if I look at the spreadsheet my picks are wrong. I swapped Maddison ahead of the deadline... this is my team I sent to you

7 - Bukayo Saka - Arsenal
9 - Callum Wilson - Newcastle
11 - Ollie Watkins - Aston Villa
13 - Pascal Gross - Brighton
15 - Nicholas Jackson - Chelsea
17 - Rasmus Höylund - Man Utd
19 - Bryan Mbeumo - Brentford
47 - Phil Foden - Man City

I thought that was the team you was going with if Maddison did change to 10 (you sent it after I sent the message to everyone to submit alternative picks if Maddison changed), didn't realise you were going with it regardless. Will fix now.

 

[Damien]

In other news:

• RedPed has understandably withdrawn from the contest for having six eligible picks.
• Ted1985 has decided to swap De Bruyne out for Foden - that is their injury sub for the contest used. If anyone else wishes to swap De Bruyne out for another player, let me know but remember if you do you have no more injury subs for the rest of the contest.

 

[Swarm]

I assume subs will only score for you from the next matchday? So assuming Foden had scored yesterday, Ted1985 would not get the point, correct? Otherwise there is the chance for someone picking up an injured player towards the end of the contest and they will just pick someone that has already scored a boatload of goals.

 

[Damien]

I assume subs will only score for you from the next matchday? So assuming Foden had scored yesterday, Ted1985 would not get the point, correct? Otherwise there is the chance for someone picking up an injured player towards the end of the contest and they will just pick someone that has already scored a boatload of goals.

Correct. Says in the OP too:

• One allowed substitute in case of injury. If one of your eight players is injured, you can submit the pick for substitute at any time and that player replaces the injured one for the remainder of the competition. If InjuredPlayer scores 5 goals prior to be injured and ReplacementPlayer scores 6 goals for the remainder of the duration of the competition, you'll get 11 points total.

 

[P-Nut]

Need to see how long De Bruyne is out for before deciding whether to change him or not

 

[Swarm]

Correct. Says in the OP too:

I'm pretty sure I meant to check the OP at some point during my thought process

 

[Bogga]

You can sub him out for another player of your choice as long as it fits the rules - unique number and club (City player is still fine given they directly replace KDB)


I thought that was the team you was going with if Maddison did change to 10 (you sent it after I sent the message to everyone to submit alternative picks if Maddison changed), didn't realise you were going with it regardless. Will fix now.

Ohh ok, misunderstanding... I went with that pick because Maddison getting #10 felt like quite certain...

 

[Damien]

Ohh ok, misunderstanding... I went with that pick because Maddison getting #10 felt like quite certain...

All good. Pretty sure he will pick 10. Hopefully next season's competition will be smoother with fewer number changes by players late on

 

[DarnleyDevil7]

Hi everyone

I had misunderstood and pre selected my substitute/reserve.

Didn't realise I could replace a player with someone from the same team or same number.

 

[Damien]

Hi everyone

I had misunderstood and pre selected my substitute/reserve.

Didn't realise I could replace a player with someone from the same team or same number.

It is fine - you're not the only one who did it and it won't count. Just submit a name when/if you do decide to make a sub

 

[Swarm]

So Maddison has indeed taken over the #10 shirt, I assume the prepicked alternatives are going into effect. Are you just going to put that into the spredsheet @Damien?

 

[Damien]

So Maddison has indeed taken over the #10 shirt, I assume the prepicked alternatives are going into effect. Are you just going to put that into the spredsheet @Damien?

Yeah. Mostly sorted, I'll post the replacements when it is all done. For now I've got the spreadsheet hidden while I amend it to include subbed players in a different column so we can see at a glance who has used their sub and who hasn't. Another thing to add: If a player gets injured in game and someone uses their sub before the matchday is over and the sub they choose is someone who hasn't played yet that matchday, if they score it won't be counted - only stats after that matchday will be counted. If a player gets injured before the games start and someone uses their sub, then their goals that matchday will be counted.

• @P-Nut has decided to swap De Bruyne out for Foden - that is their injury sub for the contest used.

 

[antohan]

54 competitors

27 picked Nuñez

27th spot guaranteed already, wahey!

 

[Damien]

• @AnotherLondonManc has decided to swap De Bruyne out for Foden - that is their injury sub for the contest used.
• @Stevondo8 has decided to swap De Bruyne out for Foden - that is their injury sub for the contest used.

Table for the weekends games is pretty much done, just waiting on one person who hasn't been on the caf since Thursday.