Review GW 15 - unexplainable BPL season

Luis Nani - The first player to hit 100 Fantasy Points this season. Anyway, back to the results.

Tottenham 2 - 1 Liverpool

Skrtel scored at both ends. The wrong end's proved to be costly as Lennon leave it late to scored his first goal of the season which also is the winning goal for Tottenham. VDV limped out after 9 minutes, bad news for his owners.

Newcastle 1 - 1 Chelsea

Andy Carroll's price rocked up to $6.1 now, a $1.1 increase from his base $5 price tag. Yea, he scored his 9th goal of the season, 9 goals from a $5 base price striker. The difference between him with Rooney, Drogba, Torres? He is $5 + cheaper.

And Carlo Ancelotti is about to hide in the snow as Chelsea stumbled again, Drogba is totally ineffective. Who says Newcastle is fragile without their two main center-backs?

Aston Villa 2 - 4 Arsenal

Arsenal won the game, yea, but my eyes are on future BPL stars of Aston Villa such as Clark, Bannan, Herd and Albrighton (he did not feature in this game). Chamakh showed how unsportmanship he is although he scored 1 and assisted 1. Wilshere is a bright prospect too.


Manchester United 7 - 1 Blackburn

Blackburn who are known for their tough defensive play are thumped 7-1 by the Red Devils. Put aside 5-star Berbatov, which all goals were scored with his right foot, Rooney and Nani look sharp too. Vidic is the only player with a "virtual clean sheet" this gameweek.


Stoke 1 - 1 Manchester City

Manchester City's multi-million strike force are useless as they need a defender to score the opening, which is struck quite beautifully, and conceded in the 90th minute that resulted a draw. Clueless attacks and defences from ManCity.


Bolton 2 - 2 Blackpool

Ian Holloway has bring on a new wave of attacking playstyle into the BPL even with his players who most of them are mainly from lower league. No kidding, the orange armies are threatening and dangerous. Sorry for Elmander, Lee and K.Davies owners as someone name M.Davies stole the limelight instead.

Everton 1 - 4 West Brom

Talking about Blackpool, West Brom's Roberto Di Matteo did the similar things that is done by Ian Holloway too, also with a squad with players from lower league and limited budgets, but they successfully stunned Everton 4-1 at Goodison Park. Beckford = Fail.


Fulham 1 - 1 Birmingham 

The American did it again when Fulham need rescue. Mark Hughes' side yet to kickstart. Birmingham are still good at their defences and a point from Craven Cottage is considered a good result.


West Ham 3 - 1 Wigan

Avram Grant just love pressure. He won't perform until he is told he will be sacked if the team don't start winning. As usual, Obinna, Piquionne and Parker (I missed him as I did not realize he is back from injury, or I definitely will bring him back into my squad as I sold him last week)


Wolves 3 - 2 Sunderland



Sunderland who won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge last week are beaten 3-2 by lowly Wolves. What is happening in this season's BPL? Nobody can explain.

Preview GW 14 - The North London Derby

The north London derby: Arsenal vs Tottenham

Definitely will be a fiery match, with the addition of Van Der Vaart
and current's Bale, the derby is never the same again

Gonna be a fiery match. A golden change for Arsenal to occupy the top of the table with a win. But Tottenham aren't gonna let these young Gunners go through easily. Play every attacking players of both team you have. Just see how Bale torture Sagna, and Fabregas at the opposite side, penetrates Tottenham's defence with his through passes.


Liverpool vs West Ham

Gerrard's injury: Liverpool will get some handsome payment from FA

Yea, Gerrard is hamstrung and will be out for four weeks, injured during England's friendly against France. The only fire power left is Torres. Nothing much to say, God bless Torres and keep him safe from injuries as he will be marked real tight as he is the lone target man.


Blackpool vs Wolves

Captain Adam will be out, who will be taking spot kicks and penalties?

Charlie Adam set to miss this week's game against Wolves at home. Awww.. what a wonderful chance and match for the Blackpool's captain to grab some points. He is one of the best bargain buy under $6 category, the 5th leading scorer in the midfielders' section, owned by 19.2%.

Wolves will take the advantage to do something after some awful results in the past 2 months and without Charlie Adam, how will Blackpool be doing?


Birmingham vs Chelsea

Drogba: Did not score since GW 7

Chelsea aren't the same again, seems to lost their momentum, not a free-scoring side anymore. 3 losses so far, the humiliating defeat to Sunderland at home is the hardest to accept and forget. Away at Birmingham? Might be boring, even Birmingham might have some chances bringing them down with the absence of Terry and Alex.

Fulham vs Manchester City

Mancini: The master of bore game tactician

What can I say? Continue to fire blank and the blue/white stripes scarf surrounding your neck can be the same scarf to be used to hang yourself soon. Go go Mark Hughes!

Others:

• Manchester United vs Wigan - sorry Wigan is all I can say and have to say.

• Sunderland vs Everton - Gyan is on hot form. Do you realised that Sunderland only lost 1 game this season beside MU who have not lose a single game so far.

• Bolton vs Newcastle - Both teams are bold and dare to play attacking formations despite their average defences. Will be a nice game to watch. Still, look out for Elmander.

• Blackburn vs Aston Villa - Hmm, a tight match, might be a low-scoring match. Downing and Young in my radar.

• West Brom vs Stoke City - It's time for West Brom to grab a win after winless for 4 games. Odemwingie is back and he is performing well.

MIdweek studs and updates

Some updates on the BPL players that played in the midweek UEFA Champions League:

Nani suffered an injury and he will definitely missed the Wolves game at home on Saturday. He is not faking an injury this time.

Obertan scored. With Valencia, Nani and Giggs out, he has a good chance to start on Saturday.

Malouda is ruled out for the midweek game against Spartak Moscow. He has a chance to return on Sunday against Liverpool at Anfield as said by Ancelotti.

Ivanovic continues his scoring form AS A DEFENDER. He scored twice against Spartak Moscow. Chelsea won 4-1.

Both Drogba (penalty) and Anelka scored as well in the 4-1 win against Spartak Moscow.

Lampard did not play in the midweek UEFA Champions League game but will definitely be playing against Liverpool. Can he perform right away after long absense due to injury?

Walcott scored the opener for Arsenal against Shakhtar Donetsk. But an own goal from Eastmond and a goal from former Gunners Eduardo resulted a 2-1 defeat for Arsenal in Ukraine.

Van Der Vaart's display is superb against Inter Milan. He did scored a goal as he said in his Twitter earlier where his message was pointed towards Sneijder.

Bale's display is the most eye catching on this matchday and can be one of his best performance so far by seeing him "killing" Maicon. He totally outplayed Maicon with his pace and lightning speed. He provided two well assists where Crouch and Pavluychenko only have to tap in the ball. Amazing young lad.

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.

Latest news - GW 8, Drogba will not feature...

Drogba's will not feature against Aston Villa...



Drogba's fever will keep him out of the match against Aston Villa. With Lampard still yet to be fit, it seems that Anelka is Chelsea's only fit striker. This also means that Anelka will be the one taking penalties as Drogba and Lampard are not playing. Other Chelsea's attacking players are Malouda, Essien and even Ashley Cole that can bring threats at the left flank.



Blackpool vs ManCity


(Adam Johnson: Will he feature in the starting eleven?)

Tevez can be a good captain pick due to his free-kicks, corners, penalty responsibilities. Yaya Toure is a good cheap midfielder option if you can't afford anymore higher than $6 from ManCity. Silva and Milner are most likely to start again despite Johnson's good form.



Arsenal vs Birmingham



Fabregas might not be back in time due to his hamstring injury. Walcott and Bendtner will be back into the squad but center-back Koscielny and Sagna will be out too. Seems like Nasri will continue to play in his favourite central position...

After the international break - GW 8 is coming

OK, put aside the Liverpool saga as it's super frustrating to see a club to fight from within in the Board of Directors. Sale or no sale? Anyway let's just leave these fussy stuff to the management level as we ARE focused on the players and manager (although the instability and internal problems greatly affected the team's performance, but Gerrard is still Gerrard, Torres is still Torres, aren't they?)

Match of the week, the same old Merseyside derby...




Everton vs Liverpool



News: Torres passed the fitness test and will be included in the squad against Everton, Kuyt will be sidelined due to the ankle injury suffered when playing for Holland in midweek. Gerrard will still be leading Liverpool in searching for the tonic to kickstart their season (it's into the 8th game and yet Liverpool still need a so-called "kickstart")


In the last meeting between these two side, the game ended 1-0 thanks to a winning header from Dirk Kuyt despite playing 10-men most of the time at Anfield. But the dynamic Kuyt is out injured for some time as the ankle injury he suffered is quite serious.


However, Liverpool is boosted by the return of Torres and Konchesky. Thanks to the international break that allowed Torres to rehabilitate and recover, but how well he can do as he has just returned once again from injury and yet to find his touch and consistency since World Cup. The burdens are once again on him and Gerrard. (I hold the faith in Torres and did not sell him as I believed that he will recover in time, he still cost $11.6 despite being injured in Blackpool match)


Everton are strong at home (looked at the 3-3 draw against ManUtd, they just won't give up). Arteta, Cahill, Pienaar and Baines all looked good. A hard match to predict and a game worth dying for for both teams.


Hmm...: Try to avoid placing both team's defenders as both team are still shaky and doing badly since the new season began.





Manchester United vs West Bromich Albion



News: Rooney is back and seems there's a rift between him and SAF as he claimed he did not suffer from ankle injuries as told by SAF (everytime when Rooney did not feature)


Although Nani and Berbatov started greatly this season and totally shadowed Rooney (plus all the scandals and medias surrounding him), I put my focus on Wayne Rooney this weekend. His form has dipped greatly with only 1 goal (from a penalty) since the start of the new season. But, he only cost $11.4 now and with the penalty-taker responsibility still with him, why not gamble on him?


I know I know (I did not mention about Nani right?), Nani did greatly for both club (since start of 10/11 season) and country (scored twice and assisted 1 for Portugal against Denmark) and everyone is taunting him to be the new Ronaldo, he has since became a favourite choice in FPL (since Valencia was injured and Nani became indispensable). With the free-kick and corners taking responsibility, $8.6 is the best deal ever for a ManUtd player who is guaranteed a starting place and involved in attacking build-ups.


Hmm...: Captain Rooney this week and expect a surprise in return.



Arsenal vs Birmingham




News: Fabregas is back!


Fabregas is back and only cost $11.8 now. But he still needs time to gain back his touch and consistency. The Spaniard who is also bothered by injury and fragility (oh, the other Spaniard is Torres, who suffers from the same problem), have one of the best average points per game if you did notice (22 pts in 4 games for Arsenal)


But Nasri is out there to voice out and claim that he is better playing in central position than playing out wide, meaning that it will be back to Wenger to decide whether to put back Fabregas into the central position, who has super vision and passing accuracy, or sticking with Nasri in that position, who is so on-form right now (20 pts in his last 3 games playing in central position)


However, Fabregas is still the stud as he will be taking free-kicks, corners and penalties if he is playing, so, in a team like Arsenal, $11.8 is definitely worth it. He is a must-buy when Arsenal have a good run of fixture, but, but... I still need to observe him for a little bit longer. Be patient...


Hmm...: Arsenal are good at home and Birmingham s*cks at away games. Do I need to elaborate further?



Aston Villa vs Chelsea



News: Benayoun will be out for 6 months (WHO CARES!!?)


Drogba can't stop scoring. Malouda is enjoying his football and currently the highest scoring midfielder in BPL. Ashley Cole is the only defender that worth his value in FPL at $7.9... (Bad for those who bring in Alex as he was injured after the game against Arsenal.. HEY!! remember a guy called Ivanovic!?haha)


How many teams that score 23 goals in just 7 games into a new season? You'll be stunned if you looked at the goal differences at the BPL table and compare Chelsea's against all 19 other teams. Don't be surprised if they are tipped to retain the BPL title just after 7 games into the new season.


Aston Villa? Gerard Houllier? Yea yea, they are strong at home, they beat Chelsea 2-1 at home last season, but I don't see that coming again.


Hmm...: Aston Villa's defenders are not worth the value at all this season, except for Luke Young. Marc Albrighton is the best choice to fill in your midfield slot with a price tag of $4.6 if you need a cheap and guaranteed starting place player.



Van Der Vaart... a phenomena?




News: price shooting up!!


Since joining Tottenham, he adapted to English football at a very swiftly. The spot kicks, corners and penalty all belong to him. Why not, at only $7.8, playing in a team of Champion League calibre?


Hmm...: Tottenham will meet some tough teams in the next 4 games, so don't be surprised if he does not deliver. Fulham under Mark Hughes have a total different approach and do not expect to beat them easily at Craven Cottage.

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..