Valencia will be out for the season..

(Valencia - suspected broken leg ruled him out for the season)

One of ManUtd's winger was injured in the clash with Ranger (UEFA Champions League) earlier this morning, and might be possibly out for the season. Well, this narrows down Ferguson's selection of wingers down to Giggs, Park J.S. and Nani only.. well I can say that Nani might be the hot pick due to his role to take corners and free kicks. He is involved in most of United's attacks due to his dribbling skills and ability to send accurate crosses and passes that resulted in goals.

Nani ($8.1 now!) is not prone to SAF's rotation as Valencia is out now. I did brought him into my squad but sold him off in the 3rd GW and swapped him for Malouda.. which has proven to be a bad choice as Nani performed well starting from GW 3 onwards. Well... United next match is against Liverpool at home and they won 2-1 last season at the Old Trafford. We'll see..

Review GW 4

Okay, I scored the least points among all of us in this week's FPL and I deserved it by under rating Blackpool and chose Carroll ($5.6 now!!) as my captain.

Back to the results. (I did not post GW 4's Preview back last week due to some matters)


EVERTON 3-3 MANUTD


(Devastated Devils)

See the reactions on the ManUtd's players when they are leading 3-1 in the game with 2 minutes to go and out of a sudden the game ended 3-3 with both goals scored by Everton's Cahill and Arteta in injury time. Everton even make a breaking counter-attack which was considered to be the final touch of the game before referee Martin Atkinson blew the whistle and ended the game when Everton was already in front of ManUtd's goal. Manager Moyes and assistant Round were both fined by FA due to their protests and comments on the referee's action.


ARSENAL 4-1 BOLTON


(Vela's finishing was way way better still than Chamakh's)

Quite an expected result, which earlier I predicted the game would ended 3-0. Same goal difference though, with Arsenal's attacks became more effective with the dismissal of Cahill after a tackle on Chamakh. The referee should not stop the game after Chamakh was brought down as he did a nice flick back to Arshavin which might has the advantage to carry on the game and score the goal.


Birmingham 0-0 Liverpool


(It was Birmingham vs Reina on this day)

Thanks to Pepe Reina, Liverpool were able to spare the blushes from being 2-0 down in the first half of the game. Reina really was on top form on this day and you must watch on your on to see how magnificent he was on this matchday. Birmingham 0 - 0 Reina


180 millions 1 - 1 Blackburn Rovers


(GK Hart did a rookie mistake today)

The bad communication between GK Hart and Kolo Toure gifted Blackburn's Kalinic a free goal that sees Blackburn grabbed a rare draw at the Manchester City's homeground. Last season Blackburn was defeated 4-1 here. Well, money just doesn't bring instant success. Again, Manchester City were humiliated even with a draw AT HOME.

WEST HAM 1 - 3 CHELSEA

(Green continues his blundering form)

Nothing much to say as this is another predicted result. One thing went out of prediction is Malouda was benched and only scored 1 point which dissapoint up to millions of managers in the FPL. Well, Parker did score a beautiful consolation goal.


STOKE CITY 2 - 1 ASTON VILLA



Tony Pulis was absent in the 1st half of the game due to his mother's passing away. Down 1-0 at half time after a Downing's goal, Pulis cannot stand watching and present himself at the stadium which saw Stoke turned the deficit and won the game 2-1 with an injury time goal from Huth. Stoke's record signing Jones scored his 1st goal.


WIGAN 1 - 1 SUNDERLAND


(Best debut goal for club record signing Gyan)

Gyan was only brought on during the 2nd half and he made an immediate impact. He scored Sunderland's first goal despite playing with 10 players. Wigan get an equalizer though through Alcaraz.


NEWCASTLE 0 - 2 BLACKPOOL

Football is round. Statistic showed that Blackpool lost 4-1 here earlier in the Championship Division and Newcastle was predicted to score at least 2 with Carroll tipped as the leading goalscorer. Everything went out of prediction.


WEST BROM 1 - 1 TOTTENHAM

Can Tottenham handle the pressure and challenges to play both EPL and UCL with that depth of squad? We will see. Bale grabbed 3 bonus pts despite a draw with no goal or assist.


FULHAM 2 - 1 WOLVES

Dembele has caught many FPL managers' eyes after his performance in his last 3 games. Add him to your watch list.

Injuries news.. after the international break..

I freaking hate international break as hot stars are normally picked by their countries and many ended up returning with injuries.

• WALCOTT - is injured and carried off by a stretcher and might be out for 2 weeks.. I JUST bought him for god sake!! I gotta waste another 4 pts for nothing.. I believe many players will swap him out for in-form Adam Johnson ($6.4) who has scored twice in two England games.
  


• Defoe - Defoe's scored a hat-trick for England against Bulgaria and that made him the hot pick for the away game against newly-promoted West Brom. Too bad he is injured when playing for England against Switzerland.

• RVP - is also will be out injured and might only return in 6 weeks time. So Chamakh (who is not so classy but still have some quality) will be Arsenal's main striker.

• Dirk Kuyt - shoulder injury will rule him out for 4 weeks. He did assist Torres who scored the only goal in 1-0 win over West Brom.

• Dawson - Tottenham's main center-back will be out up to 8 weeks!! He is owned by almost 23% of the fantasy managers in the game.

Latest transfers after the window closed~

Let's start on two big stars who have arrived to the EPL at the edge of the closure of the transfer window....

RAUL MEIRELES - LIVERPOOL

Portugal is one of the world's leading footballing nation with great players like Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, you can find Portuguese players in Chelsea (Bosingwa, Ferreira, Carvalho (left), Deco (left)).. ManU (Nani, CR7 (left)).. and even Liverpool now!


(14 mil euros signing from Porto)

Raul Meireless is one great box-to-box midfielder and has been capped 38 times for his country, featuring all World Cup's qualifiers and final matches until they are eliminated by Spain in the recent World Cup.

He is said to be replacing Mascherano who has left for Barcelona. But, he cannot to be compared to Mascherano as he is a totally different player which I think that can complete the Roy Hodgson's Liverpool squad.

Nevertheless, Mascherano is a great defensive midfielder with great tackling techniques and defensive midfield runs and positionings. He has great dynamic and engine too which make him to appear so energetic and powerful during gameplays and performed consistently. But his abilities are very limited due to his bad-passing and lack of goal-scoring ability. He has only scored TWO goals in the EPL in his entire EPL career with Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Raul Meireless might be playing the defensive midfield role that is left vacant by Mascherano, but he is a box-to-box midfielder that can spark some creativity while playing the defensive role. Let's compare him to ManU's Michael Carrick, they are quite similar, while defensing, they can be creative and create chances, sometimes score as well. Meireless will be a good player to be paired with Steven Gerrard in the midfield. Please do not write Liverpool off too early.

RAFAEL VAN DER VAART - TOTTENHAM


(8 mil euro signing from Real Madrid)

Being forced out from the star-studded Real Madrid's squad, RVDV has left Real Madrid to look for more regular football and ended up in Tottenham. Well, Real Madrid do really overcrowd their midfield with great vast selections to choose from with talents like Kaka, CR, Alonso and new signings Khedira, Ozil, Leon, Canales and the highly rated Angel Di Maria as well. It is wise to leave thou.. at least, RVDV can play Champions League Football too with... TOTTENHAM!

Tottenham is grouped with other European elites like Internazionale and Werder Bremen and RVDV really do have the vast experiences that can help Tottenham to play and compete in the Champions League under Harry Redknapp. RVDV also can provide the creativity in the midfield and will be good to be paired with Tom Huddlestone, keeping Bale and Lennon on each flanks. When Tottenham is to switch to a full attacking mode, pairing RVDV with Luka Modric in the middle can bring devastating damages, however, it's better to be safe with the conventional formation, not to sacrifice defence.

Nevertheless, another good signing to the EPL and add up the spice in this new season's top 4 contenders. He definitely can excel in Tottenham with his experiences and creative play.


Other transfers:-

• Konchesky has joined Liverpool from Fulham

• Former Wigan utility player Paul Scharner has joined West Brom

• Birmingham has completed signing of trio - Hleb (former Arsenal, Barca, Stuggart), Beausejour and Jiranek

• Stoke has signed - Pennant(former Liverpool and Arsenal), Wilson and Gudjohnson (loan)

• Blackpool has signed Ghana's international goalkeeper Kingson

• Squilacci has confirmed joining Arsenal

• Newcastle acquired Ben Arfa on loan

• Wigan signed Cleverly (from MU on loan) and Di Santo (Chelsea on loan)

• Ghana's star Gyan has joined Sunderland in 13.24 mil deal, pairing with Bent that can create a terrifying striking partnership

For complete and detailed listing of transfer news - please visit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/transfers/index?cc=4716

GW 3 - review and statistics

Fantasy Shocker of GW 3 - Wigan and Hugo Rodallega!!

• Never expected that Wigan will stun Tottenham and all pundits and fantasy players with the 0-1 win at White Hart Lane. Rodallega who was a hot pick to sink Blackpool in GW 1 has dropped price to $ 6.1 from $6.5 but scored the never expected winner at Tottenham and bonus 3 pts too. I captained Bale $6.8 who was expected to shine but did badly with only 2 pts in this game.

Humiliation of the week - Sunderland 1 - 0 $180 million

• Tevez ($10.4) missed an early chance firing blank facing an empty net with the GK already distracted to the other side of the goal. He will regret that miss.

• Money really can't buy instant success?? Maybe.. $180 mil worth of squad and talents lost to a last minute penalty from $10 mil bargain signing Darren Bent ($8.5). David Silva ($8.8) can only sit on the bench watching the game... what a waste of talent.. he should opt for Liverpool (even only if Liverpool can afford him)

Others performed as expected, some below par, some just average...

• Carroll (OMG $5.4 now!!) scored again as predicted

• Liverpool will not be an attacking football team under RH. Torres bagged his 1st goal as predicted.

• Chelsea were over rated as they are predicted to thrash Stoke again. Drogba ($12.9!!!!) was too bugged to score 3 bonus pts with only 8 passes made and a goal from penalty..

• Bolton has great spirit at home to fight back from 1 man down, 2 goals behind to draw the game at 2-2.. Blake's free kick was curled nicely.

• Walcott ($7.2) did score again and same to Arshavin ($9.5) who both scored last week. VPS ($9.9) and Fabregas ($11.9) did not really shine in that game. Blackburn's rugby tactics has failed.

• Aston 1-0 win over Everton did surprise me. Young (Luke) scored the winning goal that is assisted by Young (Ashley). Will the Youngs secure the job for Kevin MacDonald? We will see.

• Fulham threw away a goal lead and have to worked themselves after falling behind 2-1 down at the second half to score a 80-minute equalizer from Etuhu.

• Manchester United? Bah.. Avram Grant just cant get the chemistry out of West Ham. Anyway congratz to Rooney ($11.9) that broke his goal drought and I just sold Nani ($7.9) when he scored 14 pts this week. Great...