Three games. It's all that stands between Newcastle United and Champions League qualification, and all that's keeping Rockets4LIFE from hoisting the first ever CHN Predictions League trophy. R4L stands 12 points ahead of second place, and with a strong showing this week, he can effectively end the title chase. I don't know where the blognoscenti stand on Rockets4LIFE - are they rooting for him, or against him? I like to think that they are on his side, since he almost always picks a convincing win. What I do know is that if resident pessimist wuds100 wins the day like he did Saturday, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Rules

• Before the game, predict the winner (or you can predict a draw), the final score, and goalscorers. The deadline will be 5 minutes before kick-off (1940 BST on Wednesday).
  
• Predicting the outcome correctly will give you 1 point.
• Predicting the exact score will give you 5 points. Failing to predict the exact score but getting the total number of goals correct will give you 1 point, as will predicting one half of the score. If you predict a total of 6 goals or more, you are ineligible to receive points for predicting the correct goalscorers (see below). However, if 6 goals or more are actually scored, the ineligibility will be lifted. This rule is designed to prevent people from predicting an abnormally high score in order to better their chances of earning the bonus for predicting the scorers.
  
• For each goal scorer you pick correctly, you earn 2 points. You may not pick more scorers than you did goals in order to hedge your bets. (In other words, if you predict a 1-0 score, you can only choose one scorer.)

This week's table after the jump.

Rockets4LIFE – 58 points
Other Side of the Pillow – 46
Robert L. Bishop – 40
BetterDeadThanRed – 38
bcschles – 32
wuds100 – 32
lowellthehammer – 20
johnjmurphy17 – 17
51dimes – 16
RealDealNeal – 13
MychalShannon1 – 12
Pradajames – 12
Coldson – 8
johnjahafanclub – 8
Ricoz – 6
sniperinthemist – 2