Gameweek Preview - GW 12

 
Congratulation to Liverpool as they beaten Chelsea 2-0 which made the headline in last weekend (other than Arsenal's loss at home to Newcastle which was one of the top headline too)

Since this is a midweek game, I will cut the preview short and simple.


1) Manchester's derby:

MC: Tevez is back. Silva and Milner is not on hot form, but not in dip form either. With Mancini's defensive approach, this might be hard for ManUtd to score with their current squad.

MU: Without Nani, United's offence are weak. Let's assume Berbatov is back (which is a doubt), he will be leading the attack with Hernandez and Park Ji-Sung. I don't think they can make it through MC's defences easily.

Will be a low-scoring game, perhaps, a narrow MC win. Look out for Tevez who loves to score against his old club.



2) Chelsea vs Fulham

Chelsea will not suffer back to back defeat in the BPL, at least under Ancelotti. Drogba is reported to be suffering with malaria but this will not keep him out from this game. Anelka, Malouda will be the usual studs to lead the attack. Essien might return but Lampard is still out, so Drogba will still be taking penalty and free-kicks. Perhaps a 2-0 win for Chelsea?



3) Wigan vs Liverpool

If Liverpool can bring on their momentum from the previous 3 back-to-back wins in the BPL to this game, I can see no reason for Liverpool to not win this one, with Torres on-hot-form. Kuyt has returned and Meireles played extremely well too in the right midfield.

Let's say another 2-0 win for Liverpool?



4)  Tottenham vs Sunderland

Bent is out and will not face his ex-club. So Gyan will lead Sunderland's attack. But Sunderland's pretty weak at away, a narrow win for Tottenham perhaps?

Bale, Modric played quite well and even Hutton participated alot in attacks. I might get it wrong but it seems Pavluychenko will be the one taking penalty if he does play.




5) Newcastle vs Blackburn

Three back-to-back wins for Newcastle as well, the win against Arsenal was totally unexpected and it proved Hughton really has some quality. But he is still not awarded a new contract.

Anyway, back to the game, Blackburn will make it hard again for Newcastle as I think Big Sam will play some hard-ass defending again. But Carroll does sure want to impress as he is called up for the England team by Capello. Hope he does not injured himself while trying to impress Fabio Capello.

So, what about Newcastle to continue their momentum to win this game? The other 2 Englishmen looked good too. Nolan and Barton.




6) Aston Villa vs Blackpool

Aston were so close to an away win last week after being denied by Hangeland in the last kick in the injury-time. Too bad.

However, Aston will do their best to win this one. Albrighton played so well and Ashley Young is still menacing from the flank.

What about 3-1 to Aston Villa? Cool?




7) Everton vs Bolton

Cahill and Arteta again to win this for Everton.

Bolton's Davies and Elmander are on-form but Goodison Park is not a place for them to score for fun.




8) Stoke City vs Birmingham

I can see a boring draw coming. Or a narrow win for Stoke City is possible.




9) West Ham vs West Brom

Avram Grant was so close to win his first away game for West Ham last weekend, so this will possibly be his second win for West Ham United. Go Obinna and Piquionne!




10) Wolves vs Arsenal

Arsenal disappointed many FPL managers last weekend fantasy wise, as all the hot studs scored like 1 or 2 points maximum.

Wolves played quite well this season at home, so Arsenal can expect a tough match but I believe they can pull something out to make this into a victory to compensate their fans over the embarassing defeat to Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium 2 days ago.

GW 10 - reviews

Newcastle 5 - 1 Sunderland


Nolan: Scored the 1st goal with the net behind him and his butt on the ground

  

Instead of Manchester United's victory over Tottenham, Newcastle stole the headline by thrashing Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday. Newcastle's really unpredictable aren't they? Nolan scored a hat-trick and earned him 20 points including 3 bonus points. Ameobi aren't bad too on 2 goals & 2 assists (18 points). Even Carroll grabbed 2 assists and 8 points.

Steve Bruce who said earlier that he was right to turn down the Newcastle job earlier really got his team's asses kicked in front of his own eyes. Bent's consolation goal meant nothing, many might even hated him for costing Newcastle's defenders a clean sheet. Too bad for players who owned Newcastle's defenders.

5-1, amazing for a club that are just promoted back to the top flight to bring out such scoreline. Do remember Sunderland already held Arsenal, ManUtd, Liverpool to a draw and eventually defeated Aston Villa and ManCity earlier. Newcastle did it earlier against a tough team too, Aston Villa, 6-0.

Manchester United 2 - 0 Tottenham



He did handled the ball!

Nani's controversial second goal ended Tottenham's hope to get back into the match. Although Gomes and all other players protested fiercely, nothing can change the referee's decision. Well, Sir Alex said it's Gomes' error, and in the other way round, Redknapp and Gomes slammed the referee hard. Who's wrong? Who's right? Well, this is football and 2-0 it is. Nuff' said.

But Nani's fluke goal also earned him 3 bonus points, which does not make sense to me.

Anyway, Van Der Vaart has proven himself even against a big team like ManUtd. He is the type of player that can simply end the season with 180+ points.

Wolves 2 - 1 Manchester City

Adebayor's price tag can possibly equal the 11 first-team players of Wolves and a week of Yaya Toure's wages can possibly pay out the whole Wolves' squads' salaries. But 2-1 is the final result. Wolves win.

Imagine what Mick McCarthy can do if he is given the resources like Mancini? LOL

Bolton 0 - 1 Liverpool 



A rare goal from a rare source.

Maxi Rodriguez helped Liverpool to jump to 12th spot and out of the relegation zone. A nice and neat backheel by Torres found Maxi who is on run perfectly. The finishing is not very convincing though.

This is an equal match as Bolton's display aren't bad either. Anyway, congratulation to Liverpool for winning back to back since April.

Arsenal 1 - 0 West Ham



10 saves, 3 bonus points

Robert Green's performance only allow Arsenal to win by a goal margin through Alex Song's header few minutes before full time. Why didn't he perform like that during World Cup in South Africa? 

Fulham 2 - 0 Wigan

Both goals from Dempsey is enough to seal Fulham's win against Wigan. Dembele has returned too.

Blackpool 2 - 1 West Brom 



Another penalty and 2 bonus points



Even with 2 men down, Blackpool only managed to win the match by a goal margin. Anyway, congratz to Adam's owners as he net a penalty and scooped up 2 bonus points.

Blackburn 1 - 2 Chelsea

Chelsea won unconvincingly. Thanks to Anelka for the leveller and Ivanovic for the winner.

Everton 1 - 0 Stoke City

Yakubu scored once in a bluemoon. Cahill and Arteta each grabbed 6 points. Stoke are having difficulties to keep clean sheets this season. Sorenson isn't the Sorenson last season anymore.

Aston 0 - 0 Birmingham

Bore draw.

GW 9 - review and statistics

The jinx continues as Torres scored once I sold him. Really frustrated.

Anyway, lets look at MC vs Arsenal match as Arsenal is the ONLY TEAM that scored 3 goals in gameweek 9 in the BPL last weekend.

Manchester City 0 - 3 Arsenal

Walcott returns, Bendtner scored the third goal too after returning from an injury. Nasri continues his run of good form, scored a well constructed goal by Arshavin and made the third for Bendtner.

Boyata is the culprit here due to his inexperience being a young defender. A 4th-minute red card is enough for Arsenal to take the advantage and kill the game.

Nothing Adebayor can do despite scoring a hat-trick in midweek. Tevez was substituted at the 57th-minute.

Nasri's price rose up to $7.5 now, grab him faster as he will be facing West Ham at home that might be another match for him to snatch some points and possibly bonus points too.

Stoke City 1 - Manchester United 2

As mentioned in my GW 9 preview, you might wanna bet on Hernandez @ $6.9. Well, he proved to be a winning bet, scoring 2 goals and 3 bonus points at Stoke on Sunday.

An awkward back-header and a simple but precisely timed tap-in by Hernandez a.k.a Chicarito made him the player under the spotlight as he only cost $6.9 being a Manchester United first team striker (as long as Rooney stays injured).

Tuncay's wonder goal pulled them back into the game but Chicarito opted to spoil the joy of Stoke's players and fans by scoring the winning goal for MU (which he did as well in MU's Carling Cup against Wolves on Tuesday's night)

Rooney might be possibly out for another 2 weeks, so, Chicarito at $6.9, it's your decision.

Liverpool 2 - 1 Blackburn - All 3 goals happened in 6 minutes in the 2nd half. Krygiakos' display was superb. Torres scored the vital winning goal again. But Robinson isn't bad either. Still a long way to go, Hodgson.

Chelsea 2 - 0 Wolves - Drogba is awful. Nuff' said. However, Bosingwa's return and display caught my eyes. I'll put him on my radar.

Tottenham 1 - 1 Everton - will Everton start their unbeatable run? Anyway, Van Der Vaart scored again and cost $8.1 now. Still worth it as he plays like a $11 player and take free kicks + penalties too. Grab him while he's still hot.

Birmingham 2 - 0 Blackpool - Zigic the tallest player in the BPL did the damage to Blackpool. Blackpool talismanic captain did a silly mistake by sending the ball into Zigic's path and gifted him a free poke-in goal.

Sunderland 1 - 0 Aston Villa - Awful Dunne own goal. Both side's attacks and defences are equally match, thus, an own goal is proved to be fatal enough.

Wigan 1 - 1 Bolton - Elmander did it again! So did Rodallega. Both of them are the obvious and predictable players to be on the scoring chart in such game.

West Ham 1 - 2 Newcastle - Newcastle's inconsistency is what I am angry about as they will lose the game you expect them to win and win a game that you expect them to lose. Sorry Avram, it's Hughton's day.

West Brom 2 - 1 Fulham - I noticed that everytime West Brom wins, opponents' defenders did some silly mistakes or playing out of form (look at Arsenal's and ManUtd's errors). Luck or what? West Brom scored both goals on occasions where Fulham have only 3-4 defences in the box and leaving a huge space for West Brom players to roam and create free spaces for themselves. Rare scene to see West Brom to occupy the top half of the table after 9 games into a new season in BPL.

Gameweek Preview - GW 9

Well, the Rooney saga has ended when all of a sudden he wanted to stay at ManUtd instead of leaving and has signed a new 5-year contract. So, big clubs that have eyes on Rooney can keep their cheque books and looking for other "world class" alternative.

Stoke City vs ManUtd


(He is looking forwards to future with ManUtd instead with other clubs now)

ManU will be playing away at Stoke City this week. Although Stoke's playing hardball defences and hard to break down especially at home, but ManU should have no problem breaking their defences with Nani and Berbatov that are on-form.

Just play your Nani, Berbatov, or if you want to take a bet, Hernandez can be a cheap striking option from ManU as Rooney will be out for another 2-3 weeks.

Looking for cheap ManU defender? O'Shea's your man, as he is rested during midweek's UCL game and mostly will be playing against Stoke City.


Chelsea vs Wolves


This will be a free-pointer game for Chelsea's players. Play all your Chelsea's attacking players; Drogba, Malouda, Essien, even defender Ashley Cole loves to attack from the left flank. Chelsea will definitely take advantage against Wolves after draw at Aston Villa and lost at Manchester City.

As Alex is injured, Ivanovic possibly will be moved to central position and the right back will be open to Bosingwa vs Ferreira (i am backing Bosingwa to start though).


Tottenham vs Everton



VDV is suspended in midweek's UCL game and he should be FRESH in this coming match against Everton. He is in good form since joining Tottenham and adapted well for the BPL games.

He should grab some points against Everton.

Anyone noticed Bale that scored a hat-trick against Inter Milan anyway?

For Everton, I don't think they can make it at White Hart Lane this time.


Liverpool vs Blackburn



Liverpool drew again against Napoli. They are still searching for a win since the game against West Brom.

In this game versus Blackburn, the attacks might not be ignited yet but I think a clean sheet is possible at Anfield. Konchesky will be the cheapest option at only $5.1.

If you are still backing Liverpool to grab their second win, stick with Torres and Gerrard.


Manchester City vs Arsenal



MC is on hot form. Adebayor scored a hat-trick at in Europa league on Thursday night, and he will take this form to play against his ex-employer and ex-teammates.

Tevez's now is the highest goal-scorer in the BPL now. Silva has adapted well too to the squad and to the game (he has the advantage to be chosen over Adam Johnson too). Arsenal's players might find it hard even with the return of Fabregas this week.

Play all your MC's attacking options, but if you have Arsenal's players too, don't hesitate, play them all, they can get something out of nothing sometimes.


Wigan vs Bolton



The only player I can notice in this match up is Charles N' Zogbia. He is a fantasy selection at some time last season. He scored 2 well taken goals against Newcastle last week and he might bring that form to this home match against Bolton, who are not quite good in away matches.

However, Wigan's defence are still prone to goal leakage. Play Elmander, Lee Chung Yong and Petrov if you have them.


Birmingham vs Blackpool


(he is the highest paid player at Blackpool at £10k per week)

I really would like Birmingham to have a clean sheet this game but I just can't ignore Adam's good form recently. I am backing Blackpool to get a goal or two and points from Charlie Adam even they lose at Birmingham.


West Brom vs Fulham

West Brom are in good form aren't they? But Fulham who suffered their first defeat of the season last week might get things right here as I think Mark Hughes will take advantages against 'smaller' team like West Brom who are newly promoted. I am backing Dempsey to grab some points in this match.


West Ham vs Newcastle

Bad news for Newcastle's defenders owner such as Williamson and Perch but West Ham will take the advantage to win this game. Obinna will be the usual suspect to grab points as he will be there whenever West Ham build up attacks.


Sunderland vs Aston Villa

Can't predict this match but a draw is possibly the end result.

GW 8 - review and statistics

Blackpool 2 - 3 Manchester City

Blackpool was among the candidate for relegation but after 8 games into the new season, the other 'pool' (Liverpool) was in the relegation zone instead. Blackpool's build up in attacks and defences are way better and entertaining than Liverpool.

Fighting against a club with £133 million annual wages bill (Blackpool only have £6 million wages bill annually), the Tangerines will just not give up and fight to the last minutes of the match. If it wasn't for Silva's classy goal, this match will end with both teams grabbing a point each.

Congratz to Tevez who performed so well and now the leading BPL goal scorer with 7 goals. Ferguson must be banging his head against the wall as he claimed the guy is not worth £25 million.

Fulham 1 - 2 Tottenham

Although Huddlestone's controversial goal was debatable, nevertheless this game resulted in Fulham's first defeat of the season.

Van Der Vaart continues his fine form. He cost $7.9 now.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Birmingham

Zigic started as Jerome was injured. The tallest striker in the BPL scored his first BPL goal with a nicely guided header with little jumping effort, due to his 6'8" height.

Chamakh, despicable - although he scored the winning goal, he dived to get a penalty which later converted by Nasri. So, where's Wenger now as everytime other clubs' players did something despicable he is the first one to come and criticise.

Manchester United 2 - 2 West Brom

Another relegation candidate shine in big matches against the "Big Four". After the victory against Arsenal in GW 7, West Brom grabbed a point away at Old Trafford due to some schoolboy error from Van Der Sar. Pathetic goal keeping.

ManUnited threw away another 2 goals lead and get their 5th draw of the season.

Nani and Berbatov continue their fine forms, but so do Brunt from West Brom.

Bolton 2 - 1 Stoke City



Nothing much to say in this game, it's a very close game for both team. The only thing that caught the headline is Ivan Klasnic, who scored the winning goal, then get booked twice in the injury time and get sent off.

Everton 2 - 0 Liverpool

Cahill and Arteta, the usual studs of Everton that perform consistently. Arteta's rocket ended Liverpool's hope for a come back and resulted Liverpool looming in the relegation zone at 19th place.

Roy Hodgson is a downgrade and all players he brought in are downgrades! (Out: Aquilani, Mascherano, Insua... Replacements: Poulsen?, Meireles?, Konchesky?).

You don't offload your playmaker who just got fit and wanted to prove himself in the BPL off for a £4.5 million Poulsen and dynamo powerhouse midfielder Mascherano who is SO VITAL to the team's midfield. Konchesky for Insua is a joke.

Aston 0 - 0 Chelsea

Without Drogba, Chelsea aren't threatening. Anelka can't do it by himself. Aston Villa's defence are getting tougher with the arrival of Houllier. No more 6-0 thumping will ever happen again.

Newcastle 2 - 2 Wigan

N'Zogbia came back to haunt his ex-club. Newcastle made it very late to grab a draw. Bad runs for Newcastle at the moment. Wigan show some recovery after a terrible start into the new season.

Wolves - West Ham

A fair result though. Nothing much to say.

Blackburn - Sunderland

Another fair result too. Blackburn's defensive tactics are tough to break. Sunderland's Elmohamady is another great addition to the club too.

Quick Review for GW 8 (Sunday's matches)

I think among all matches in GW 8, the match between Blackpool vs Manchester City was the most entertaining game among all... ManCity won 3-2 thanks to 2 goals from Tevez and a superb solo performance from David Silva that sealed ManCity's win over Blackpool.

Tevez's the man, but who really caught my eye in this match is David Silva


(I really thought he will be a high-profile fluke in BPL)

Tevez scored a brilliant first touch goal assisted from a cross by David Silva, scored another deflected goal and David Silva scored the third goal with a superb solo performance which is really top class, superb footwork that led all Blackpool's defenders tackling air and finally drilled a curving shot into the left of the goal.

The first thing in my mind when Silva played his first few match for ManCity in the BPL is, will he be another fluke like many foreign players did, where they excelled superbly in their previous clubs but can't adapt to the pace and playing style of the BPL (eg: Shevchenko, Robinho, etc)

Silva wasn't cheap, signed for 24 million Euros from Valencia during the summer. I really think that he will be a fluke as he seems ineffective and his fantasy value dropped $0.5.

But since the game against Red Bull Salzburg where ManCity won 2-0, Silva seems has started to adapt Mancini's tactics and ManCity's playstyle. He contributed regularly in attacks and finally he scored his first BPL goal in such a classy way (plus an assist too)

If he continues to play like that, with a starting place guaranteed, he definitely will be filling one of my midfielder slot with a price tag of $8.5 only, as ManCity are playing regularly with a sole striker (Tevez) and Silva is like a second striker that plays behind the main striker and sometimes outwide (like he did in Valencia behind David Villa)

Meanwhile for Blackpool, have produced some entertaining and constructive playstyle too. They did try hard to come back but it was too late and ManCity are too rich to lose a game against a newly-promoted team with that amount of money invested into the squad. However, if Blackpool continue to play like this, it will NOT BE A PROBLEM for them to survive in the top flight. (Hey, Adam is a bargain buy too!)

Everton 2 - 0 Liverpool (New owner, same old problems)

(He is in deep sh*t as Liverpool are in 19th place now after 8 games)

While Spaniard like Arteta and David Silva shined in Sunday's matches, Torres can't produce like he did in the past two seasons. He really tried hard, but Everton's defence are too tough for him to handle alone with minimum supports.

Cahill and Arteta each scored one. Both's goal are piledrivers, too fast even for a world-class keeper like Reina to stop in time.

Liverpool really failed to threaten the Everton goal line and Howard looked pretty comfortable, saved some well attempted shots from Torres. New signings like Joe Cole, Raul Meireles, Paul Konchesky all are so-so only. N'Gog, Babel and Jovanovic were subbed into the game between 70th-80th minutes but nothing they can do to save the game. (They aren't any high-profile supersubs either)

New owner for Liverpool, great news! Same old problems for Liverpool, bad.. bad news!! Since the arrival of Roy Hodgson (which I consider is a downgrade compared to dictator Benitez), all his signings aren't high profile as well other than Joe Cole and Raul Meireles. The worst signing definitely will be Poulsen!

Review GW 7

Shock of the week: Liverpool 1 - 2 Blackpool


(You better think hard how to turn things around)

Liverpool's nightmare continues, what can be more worst now; 6 points in 7 games into the new season, dropped to 18th place in the table and Torres is out after 10 minutes on the pitch. (For those who captained Torres, just accept that it is a bad day)

At first Steven Gerrard & Co. said they are aiming top four, then Roy Hodgson who deployed some sh*tty formation again said they will go as far as possible in Europa League (then crashed out in Carling Cup by Northampton at Anfield)

Now Liverpool is in 18th placed and facing relegation crisis, what can be more worse? When will Liverpool regain their feet on ground?


And the trend continues: Drogba's 13th in 11 games against Arsenal


(Alex scored a stunner+clean sheet+2 bonus, congratz to FPL
managers who have them both)

Drogba's scoring run continues against the Gunners; 13 goals now in 11 encounter against Arsenal. He just love to score against them, he can score even by not looking at the goal.

Alex took the free-kick and scored a stunning goal that swinged outwards the goal, making it too fast and powerful for Fabianski to stop. I really thought Drogba will take that, but Alex's a talented free-kick taker too when it comes to long-range free-kicks.

Nuff' said, 2-0 to Chelsea in an interesting match with many efforts in building up attacks in both teams...


And, it ended out as MC's cheapest signing (£8 million from Middlesbrough) is the most prolific and effective one....


(He scored in the last 2 games for England and last 2 games for MC)

Adam Johnson did it again like what he did against Sunderland last season, where he scored a stunner and save a point for MC. But this time, he scored a beauty to salvage all 3 points for MC.

19 minutes on the pitch only, came out as a substitute and scored a beauty; after dribbling pass Williamson and drilled in a left-footed shot pass Joey Barton into the left end corner of the goal. Grabbed 9 pts including 3 bonus pts.

Despite his talents and goal creating/scoring abilities, he is still a pain-in-the-ass fantasy option as he is prone to rotation and not an automatic starter in the multi-million MC squad.

Hey, since when Mancini turned to attacking football to turn things around? It paid off didn't it? (He swapped Yaya Toure and Barry out and brought in Adebayor and A.Johnson to turn things around and it worked)


Others:

• Sunderland 0 - 0 MU - Sunderland held another big team again, this time is the Red Devils who are away at Sunderland.

• Birmingham 0 - 2 Everton - Everton grabbed their first win of the season in an away game, which is unpredicted as Birmingham is normally strong and tough at home.

• Wigan 2 - 0 Wolves - There are not much team that Wigan can beat, and they did take their chance to do all they can in this match.

• Tottenham 2 - 1 Aston - As predicted, Tottenham is too tough for the current Aston Villa team to play against. Van Der Vaart anyone?

• Stoke 1 - 0 Blackburn - Walters who? Nevercaptainnickybutt's author is a great predictor..

• West Brom 1 - 1 Bolton - Odemwingie and Elmander continue their great forms.. Cheap options and bargain buy..

• West Ham 1 - 1 Fulham - I expect West Ham to win this one though, anyway, West Ham started to gain momentum. Avram Grant brought Piquionne to Portsmouth and now West Ham for some reasons..