Review GW 13: Black Cats = Bad Luck for Chelsea (and ME!)

The Black Cats stole all the limelight.

Sunderland without Darren Bent? No problem, Asamoah Gyan recaptured his World Cup form and brought it here to the BPL.

Gyan's on-hot form. 4 goals in 3 games for Sunderland

Out of all clubs in the BPL, even Chelsea, it was Sunderland a.k.a. Black Cats who have the BEST RECORD THIS SEASON against the so-called TOP 7 CLUBS.

The win against Chelsea at Stamford Brigde really f**ked up my FPL team that happened only once in a blue moon caused my FPL team to suffer from terrible gameweek points as all my hope was on Chelsea players in GW 13.

My position in my mini league is the worst in my 5th season in the FPL and it dealt a blow for my FPL team to regain competitive edge as the leaders are leaving me far behind.

Sunderland's record against "Big" clubs this season:

• Sunderland 1 - 0 Manchester City
• Sunderland 1 - 1 Arsenal
• Liverpool 2 - 2 Sunderland
• Sunderland 0 - 0 Manchester United
• Sunderland 1 - 0 Aston Villa
• Tottenham 1 - 1 Sunderland
• Chelsea 0 - 3 Sunderland (totally unexpected and can't be accepted!)

This really demotivates me to continue my blog and my FPL team and game.


Others:


Manchester City 0 - 0 Birmingham City - I was wrong. Mancini definitely will rather to settle with 1 point with a club like Birmingham by removing Tevez and replaced him with Barry when goal is needed. (plus my Dann is kept at the last slot in the subs bench)


Stoke City 2 - 0 Liverpool -  Liverpool's win against Chelsea is just a smoke screen. Same to Lucas' performance too. Defence? Crappy.


Everton 1 - 2 Arsenal - Well, I was lucky to predicted correctly for this one as what written in my GW 13 preview for Everton vs Arsenal. Arsenal did win and Cahill did put one goal into the back of Arsenal's net.


Aston Villa 2 - 2 Manchester United - Unlucky for Houllier. Lucky for Ferguson.


Tottenham 4 - 2 Blackburn - No reason for Tottenham to lose points for this game right? As predicted. Van Der Vaart continues his FPL's great form and Bale finally scored and brought their happy owners 18 points!


Newcastle 0 - 0 Fulham - Draw as predicted.


West Ham 0 - 0 Blackpool - Another chance wasted by WHU to seize a win. Avram Grant in deep sh*t hot water.


Wigan 1 - 0 West Brom - A game that is hard to predict, anyway, congratulate to Wigan for a narrow win.


Wolves 2 - 3 Bolton - Bolton on hot form as well, Elmander too! Owen Coyle's management seems to bring result and they are in the 5th position now.

Some interesting facts after 1/3 of the season has gone..

What's are the some of the interesting statistics to all football clubs in the BPL so far after 1/3 of the season has gone?

Chelsea: The master in offence and defence this season

 1) Most goals scored by clubs so far:

1. Chelsea - 28 goals
2. Arsenal, Manchester United - 24 goals
3. Newcastle - 21 goals
4. Blackpool - 19 goals
5. Bolton - 18 goals

ManCity and Liverpool scored 15 and 13 goals respectively after 1/3 season gone. Surprised to see Newcastle, Blackpool and Bolton in the top 5.


2) Most goals conceded by clubs so far:

1. Blackpool - 26 goals
2. West Ham - 22 goals
3. West Brom, Wigan - 21 goals
4. Wolves - 20 goals
5. Stoke City - 18 goals

- Chelsea conceded least goals, only 5 up to now, and the second club is Arsenal, 11 goals conceded.


3) Most clean sheet - Chelsea  with 8 clean sheets


4) Least clean sheet - Wolves, ZERO clean sheet


5) List of top goal scorers - here


6) Top assists - here


7) BPL table with complete statistics - here

GW 13 - previews - They are back!

These fantasy hot prospect are all back from injuries and a few of them made surprise return too as earlier than predicted.


Manchester City vs Birmingham

Carlos Tevez is back from injury and Birmingham have bad records playing away. Take note of Tevez, the trouble maker, scorer and bonus point magnet when he is playing against smaller team.

What I think: Mancini said he'll be happy to settle with 1 point against ManUtd rather than nothing but won't be settling with 1 point against Birmingham



Tottenham vs Blackburn
 

Van Der Vaart made a surprise return from injury on Tuesday night and scored one too. He has scored in every home game for Tottenham this season and seems like to have become a master of tap-in (good in positioning or always lucky to be at the right place at the right time?)

Blackburn won against Newcastle at St.James Park but I don't see them to win two in a row. Sorry Blackburn. Tottenham will win this one for sure after four winless runs.

What I think: Play your Bale, Modric and Van Der Vaart!



Aston Villa vs Manchester United

Yea, Nani is back too and completed 90-minutes against Manchester City that ended 0 - 0. He is one of the best fantasy prospect this season's FPL.

But Aston Villa aren't easy at home. But I don't see them to be tough too to concede 2 goals from a Blackpool side with 10-changes made, not to say to need a 90th-minute goal from Collins to win the game 3-2 on Wednesday night.

What I think: Tough match. Aston without fit experienced strikers. Only Delfouneso available. ManUtd without Evra, Rafael, Hargraeves and Giggs. Berbatov & Hernandez seemed to lose their sparks.



Everton vs Arsenal

Yeap, Van Persie is back too and he is lethal when he is fit. With Fabregas, Walcott and Song added to the squad, a win can be possible for the Gunners. Chamakh might hold his starting place as he scored twice against Wolves on Wednesday night.

Anyway, Cahill might head one in with the fragility of Arsenal's defences.

What I think: I am backing Arsenal to win this one.



Stoke City vs Liverpool

Torres isn't injured actually but I listed him in "They-are-back"- category as Torres is really back to his old-self. No kidding, the goal against Wigan is just awesome to watch, watching Torres to outpace the defender and poke in the goal after Gerrard's perfectly weighted pass created the path for him.

What I think: Liverpool to win if their defences work real hard. Liverpool are not in a position to score 3-4 goals like Chelsea and only able to win narrowly with a Gerrard-Torres combination, so the defences really need to give their best.

Extra: Kelly might establish himself as the preferred right-back choice in the absence of Johnson and at a super bargain price at $4.2



Chelsea vs Sunderland

                                               

Lampard is tipped to be back by Ancelotti yesterday but from the updated news, he will be out for another 3 weeks. Drogba under-performed again due to his illness, affected by malaria. Recently, Chelsea's attacks are really disappointing as the returns for Drogba, Malouda and Anelka are really low value for money. Drogba's $13.1 price is not returning what we paid for.

However, Chelsea's back four are the most reliable in the BPL as Chelsea only have conceded 5 goals this season after 12 games! Take note on Ivanovic, Bosingwa and Ashley Cole (Cole's return on the past 6 games is better than Drogba's)

What I think: Chelsea to win? Of course.


Others:


West Ham vs Blackpool - Avram Grant's side failed to take advantage to clinch their second win against West Brom, but this is another chance against Blackpool. However, Blackpool won't not held back and love to play attacking games. West Ham do need to improve on their defence.



Newcastle vs Fulham - Newcastle still can't make their home a fortress, their inconsistency are giving me big frustration. One week they can win away against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and 3 days later they can lose to Blackburn at home. However, this can be a tight match, expect a draw maybe?



Wigan vs West Brom - Both have the chance to get a win out of this game, but I would like to see West Brom to continue their dream start in the BPL under Roberto Di Matteo. Odemwingie is back and he is a promising striker.



Wolves vs Bolton - Bolton are playing good this season, home and away. Wolves are still lying in the relegation zone with only 9 points from 12 games. I think Wolves will need to do something against Bolton if they want to enjoy another season in the top flight or else. However, Bolton's Davies and Elmander are playing pretty well at the moment, a fact that we can't defy, sharing 9 goals between them. (Bolton's 6th in the table, this explains all)

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 11 - The week of two-goals heroes

Torres 2 - 0 Chelsea

2-goals hero no.1

Torres is back. He found back his soul that is long gone since the injuries suffered before World Cup. Two classic, superb goals with perfect touch and finishing is enough to defeat Chelsea at Anfield.

The atmosphere at Anfield rocks. Despite Torres' two-goals, Lucas grabbed the spotlight by grabbing all bonus 3 points, being so influential in midfield this night, possibly the best performance in his career so far.

Kuyt's return made an immediate impact as well, as he is the one that lofted a perfectly weighed pass to Torres to score the first goal.


West Brom 0 - 2 Manchester City

2-goals hero no.2

From zero to hero to zero. This young dude here turned from zero to hero after scoring 2 goals in the first half after back from injury and trying to prove himself. He succeeded, scoring 2 goals in the time frame of 6 minutes. But 1+1 yellow cards = 1 red card caused him to be sent off. Nevertheless, MC won 2-0 where both goals are scored by Balotelli

Bolton 4 - 2 Tottenham

2-goals hero no.3

Playing 2 matches in a row is too hard for Tottenham. Davies scored 2 goals and assisted 1, that is enough to win the game 4-2 despite Hutton's beautiful left-footed curler and Pavluychenko's superb mid-air volley.

Hot prospect fantasy striker Elmander made 2 assists as well.

Sunderland 2 - 0 Stoke City



2-goals hero no.4

Darren Bent is absent and Asamoah Gyan steals all the limelight. He scored 2 goals and gained 3 bonus points. He is the striker tipped by NCNB's blog for this week by the way. Sunderland won 2-0

 

Manchester United 2 - 1 Wolves

2-goals hero no.5

Despite his small eyes, he has a great vision for goal. He scored two goals, including the injury-time winner against a Wolves team that played so well and do not deserved to be beaten on this day.


Others:-

• Arsenal were humiliated again, what a shame, to be defeated by another newly-promoted team at home after West Brom. Carroll scored the winner before half-time due to a misjudgement made by goalkeeper Fabianski.

• Birmingham drew 2 - 2 at home to West Ham. I got this right. West Ham will get something out of this match.

• Blackburn won 2 - 1 over Wigan. Pedersen scored a screamer from a free-kick, where no one will expect him to score from there. Wigan's N'Zogbia scored from a free-kick as well.

• Blackpool drew 2 - 2 at home to Everton. Still enjoying the Tangerine dream start in the top flight.

• Fulham's 94th minute equalizing goal scored by Hangeland from a set-piece. What a heart-breaker for Aston Villa and Gerard Houllier after Marc Albrighton's goal and Villans think they should have won the game.