Recently in the CPL, the old onion sack has been bulging at an absurd rate, with three strikers firing trifectas last week as three of the four matches saw five or more goals scored

The first of these sharp-shooters to take to the pitch this coming Sunday will be the Red Lions' Alex Haughton. After dropping more than 15 Kilos in his brief stint with the Lions, Alex has begun finding the back of the net on a more regular basis. The Lions will be looking to build on their 4-1 thrashing of the Celts last week when they meet the Japanese this week. Their most recent three points saw the Lions scramble their way back into the top half of the table, while a victory this week could see them vault as high as fourth. The Japanese, who drew one all with Shane last time out, will be hoping to take full advantage of the current congestion in the undesireable half of the table.  Should they sneak one out against the the Lions this week, they could catapult from one off of the foot of the table to as high as fifth.

Sunday's second scuffle sees two sides, which both lost ground in the table last week, travel to XinZhuang in search of redemption.  Since their last triumph in the league, which occurred way back on July 26th, the Black Stars have lost one, drawn one and had two weekends off.  As a result, they have fallen from the top of the table and now sit in third, behind the Animals and DaAn. The hard-nosed Black Stars side will find solace in the fact that they are a mere three points behind the league leaders with an equal number of games played and will surely be well up for this one. TFC on the other hand, look to be in absolute shambles right now. After losing by forfeit a couple of weeks ago to DaAn, David's boys again struggled for numbers last weekend.  Starting and finishing the match with only ten men left them without a chance as they succumbed to Carnegies 7-0.  Hopefully this side, which challenged for the title a couple of seasons ago at ShiPai, will find a way to reignite their morale and at least get eleven players out for the match this week.

Sunday's third match features two of last week's hat trick heroes in a battle of third versus fourth. Carnegies' striker Dan Calvert, who happens to be the inspiration for women's masturbatory fantasies worlwide, has been absolutely on fire recently. His treble last Sunday gives him five goals in two games and he will be looking to add to his tally again this week against DaAn.  As fine as Dan has been though, DaAn's Steve Reymond has been finer, posting hat tricks in consecutive weeks against JFC and the Eagles. Should Steve be able to work his magic once again this week against the league's stingiest defense, the Cartel could find themselves, albeit temporarily, at the top of the table. 

How can this humble scribe be so sure that any move by DaAn to the top of the table will last for no longer than two hours you ask?  The answer, my friends,  lies in the day's final fixture.  After enjoying a week off to rest any nagging injuries, the league leading Animals return to the pitch this week against the less than intimidating Celts. Having dropped only one point thus far this season, the Animals are once again odds on favorites to lift the crown.  The Celts find themselves on the complete opposite end of the footballing spectrum.  Having managed only a point in six matches so far this campaign, it seems implausible that the spirited boys in green will be left with anything other than another loss when the final whistle blows this Sunday.

Carl's Picks:

Lions 3-1 JFC

Black Stars 4-0 TFC

Carnegies 3-2 DaAn

Animals 5-0 Celts

Last week Carl was 2/4