Whilst one team in west London continues to misfire, another one could well be on the end of the latest battering administered by their rivals’ best forward. Yes, it remains a curious fact in this Premier League season that Chelsea’s most effective frontman is currently being seen in the blue of another club, not that […]
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GW17 Preview: Man Utd’s Danny Welbeck can step in for Sergio Aguero and nail Hammers
The calf injury sustained by Sergio Aguero in Manchester City’s madcap 6-3 win over Arsenal will have given plenty of Fantasy bosses a dilemma over this week, but the answer could be lying on the other side of the city.
Obviously every Fantasy boss who has any ambition of doing well this season needs to have Luis Suarez (£12.9m) in their team – more on him later – but if Aguero’s injury has left you one South American down in your strike force, then replacing him with one of England’s forward might well be the way to go.
Fresh from scoring twice in a morale-boosting 3-0 win at Aston Villa – and that League Cup win at Stoke’s Winter wonderland – Danny Welbeck (£7.0m) and Manchester United head into a festive run of fixtures which looks as though it’ll be kind to them, starting with the visit of West Ham to Old Trafford on Saturday.
Wayne Rooney (£11.1m) registered an assist in that Villa game, and he did look to be the logical choice to replace Aguero until injury made him a doubt for the weekend, ensuring that Welbeck is currently considered to be United’s only fully-fit forward.
In the continued absence of the injured Robin van Persie, the doubt over Rooney and also problems with Javier Hernandez (£7.2m), then United will be looking to Welbeck for inspiration ahead of a match that they will expect to win as they chase the teams above them in the table.
West Ham have drawn one and lost three on the road since their memorable 3-0 win at Tottenham in October, a run which culminated in them shipping four goals at Anfield in their last away game.
Scoring goals is also a problem for them, with just six netted in the nine games since that Spurs win – three of which coming in one match against struggling Fulham. Such a record means that the likes of Phil Jones (£5.8m) and Jonny Evans (£5.0m) should also come into your considerations this weekend.
Anyway, what were we saying about Suarez?
Ah yes, Liverpool’s main man continues to score goals and rack up Fantasy points for fun, with his tally of 61 in the last three games alone proving more than all but 11 of the other forwards in the game have managed all season, with the likes of Roberto Soldado (£8.6m), Dimitar Berbatov (£7.0m) and Christian Benteke (£8.8m) all amongst those outside the 11.
Suarez’s next opponents – or should that be victims? – are Cardiff City at Anfield, and whilst he should obviously take your captain’s armband, Jordan Henderson (£5.9m), Raheem Sterling (£4.9m) and defender Jon Flanagan (£4.5m) could be worthy additions after their Spurs heroics. Liverpool do go to Manchester City and Chelsea next though.
The Blues face Arsenal in a huge clash on Monday night, and although the Gunners will still be licking their wounds following the six-goal mauling by City, they will at least welcome the return to goalscoring form of Theo Walcott (£9.1m), who registered his first two goals of the season last weekend.
Aguero’s absence might mean a chance for Edin Dzeko (£6.7m) as City go to Fulham, whilst there will be even more emphasis on Everton’s Romelu Lukaku (£8.6m) at Swansea following a hamstring injury to Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m) in the victory over Fulham.
The sacking of Andre Villas-Boas following Tottenham’s heavy loss to Liverpool will put even more pressure on Spurs as they go to Southampton, and a Saints side containing the talents of Jay Rodriguez (£5.9m) are likely to cause them problems. The England forward has scored three goals in his last four games.
The most recent of those came in the draw at Newcastle, and the Geordies will expect to get back to winning ways as they go to Crystal Palace, where they’ll be helped by the return of the influential Yohan Cabaye (£6.5m) from suspension.
Off the Mark: Manchester United fear factor proving too much for David Moyes
Dec 11
The sight of a forlorn, almost apologetic David Moyes taking part in a post-match interview has been seen far too often for Manchester United fans’ liking already this season. There was, however, something which stood out about the Scot’s thoughts following the 1-0 defeat at home to Newcastle last weekend, something which made this particular […]
GW15 Preview: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez simply has to be backed to nail Hammers
We’ll make no apologies for failing to be very original, but after urging you all to make Luis Suarez (£12.4m) your main man for Gameweek 14, we’re going to do so again.
Suarez’s stunning display and four goals – three of which will surely be contenders for Goal of the Month – in Liverpool’s 5-1 victory over Norwich City on Wednesday will live long in the memories of all who were fortunate enough to witness it, and ahead of the visit of West Ham United to Anfield on Saturday there simply isn’t a better captain choice than the Uruguayan.
There were plenty of astonishing statistics doing the rounds on Wednesday night – Suarez has now scored 11 goals in his last four games against Norwich, something that could only bring a rueful smile and a shake of the head from John Ruddy when he embraced him at full-time – but there are others to consider ahead of the weekend too.
After missing Liverpool’s first three home league games of the season through suspension, Suarez has now scored an incredible 10 goals in his four Anfield appearances during this campaign.
Having only scored twice as a team in those three home games their star forward was absent for at the start of the campaign, Liverpool have now hit 16 goals in their last four games on their own turf, something that is sure to worry a West Ham side who lost at Crystal Palace last time out and have only won once away all season.
Another huge blow to the Hammers will be the absence of midfielder Ravel Morrison (£5.1m) through suspension.
The former Manchester United man would have been looking forward to taking on the Reds, but without him and with Suarez in this kind of other-worldly form, there only looks to be one result on the horizon at the weekend. And one man whose goals will provide it.
Elsewhere, there is a former Liverpool player who might just help to fill the Morrison-sized hole in your team.
Swansea’s Jonjo Shelvey (£5.3m) was terrific in racking up 14 points in the 3-0 win over Newcastle on Wednesday, and with three goals and three assists this season he is certainly a player to be keeping an eye on.
The Swans face a home game with Hull on Monday night and then go to a Norwich side who will potentially still be dazed from the Suarez show, and Shelvey can take advantage as his team try and break into the top half.
That Swansea-Hull game at the Liberty Stadium is the last of the weekend, but you could argue that the most important will be the first.
Manchester United have slipped to ninth following three winless games, and after the defeat to Everton the bad news keeps coming for David Moyes, who’ll be without the suspended Wayne Rooney (£11.2m) for the home clash with Newcastle.
The Scot will be desperate for Robin van Persie (£13.8m) to return to fitness for that game, which could see Danny Welbeck (£7.0m) make a third start in a row.
There will be plenty of people who fancy Everton to get a result at Arsenal following their win at United, and unlikely Old Trafford hero Bryan Oviedo (£4.3m) will surely keep his place for the trip to the Emirates.
However, the final say there is more likely to come from Mesut Ozil (£10.3m), who scored his first goal in six in the Hull win. Nicklas Bendtner (£6.5m and selected by a huge 0.0% of teams) will drop back to the bench.
Chelsea and Manchester City will be seeking to keep pace with the Gunners at the top as they face two more tricky away games having come through Wednesday night unscathed.
City go to a Southampton side who are suddenly falling away a little, and Alvaro Negredo (£9.3m) will surely return to the visitors’ team in place of Edin Dzeko (£6.8m), whilst Yaya Toure (£9.6m) will be as crucial as ever.
Chelsea are at Stoke, and although that will bring familiar challenges they are likely to be overcome if Eden Hazard (£9.6m) demonstrates the brilliant form he showed in the win at Sunderland.
He didn’t quite reach the levels set by Suarez on Wednesday, but frankly who can?
Off the Mark: Why Manchester City could be four days away from becoming champions
Even the most one-sided Premier League title races were never won in December, but each and every winning team will always be able to point to the month as a key one.
Fixtures come thick and fast and there is no international break or FA Cup weekend to get in the way, and as such the momentum that you pick up now can prove to be crucial later on in the season.
But for Manchester City – who are 13/8 to win the title with Coral – it isn’t so much the next month that will be important, but more the next four days.
A real Jekyll and Hyde team, City’s home league record of played seven, won seven, scored 29 is in stark contrast to form on the road which features four defeats and just four points.
Losses at Cardiff, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Sunderland are what leaves Manuel Pellegrini’s side six points off the top of the table going into these midweek round of fixtures, but the next four days would appear to offer City the perfect chance to get their away hoodoo over with.
The 3-0 weekend win over Swansea was a fifth success in the last six games in all competitions for Pellegrini’s side, with all of those wins coming at home and featuring a grand total of 25 City goals. Now though, they head for the relative discomfort of The Hawthorns and St Mary’s.
Tonight’s fixture at West Bromwich Albion would appear to be the perfect test of City’s resolve, so much so that it might not be too over the top to bill it as one of the most important matches of the season so far.
Win it, and the Blues will have a spring in their step heading into Saturday’s meeting with Southampton, another huge test and one that passing will create elevated levels of confidence that Pellegrini’s men might not ever come down from.
If they can pick up six points out of six over these next four days then it is not difficult to imagine City never looking back, and springing into their next fixtures with the swagger of potential champions. And following hot on the heels of those West Brom and Southampton games is the small matter of the visit of table-topping Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium.
The prospect of shooting down the Gunners will already have excited Pellegrini’s players, but if those players can come through this week with a couple of wins then they’ll enter that game in even higher spirits.
For Arsenal – who face home matches with Hull and Everton over this period that City will be on the road – the sight of a revved up and fully-charged Manchester City in their rear view mirror is sure to see the nerves kick in, and they more than anybody will have one eye on events at The Hawthorns and St Mary’s over the next few days.
Neither are easy fixtures of course – West Brom drew at home to Arsenal and won at Old Trafford this season, whilst Southampton’s quality has been there for all to see throughout the campaign, and they stuck a knife into City’s title ambitions with a 3-1 home win over them last February – but there is little doubt that a team with the quality Pellegrini has at his disposal can collect maximum points.
With Sergio Aguero as dangerous as ever, Alvaro Negredo looking as though he was born to score goals in England, Jesus Navas having got over a difficult opening few months, Samir Nasri repeating the form that made him such a hit at Arsenal and Yaya Toure still a dominant force, City have plenty to be proud of this season.
But the fact remains that all of their best moments have come in Manchester.
If that can change over the next four days, then we could be looking at the 2013/14 Premier League champions.
***
City 1 Tigers 0
A month isn’t allowed to pass by without someone in a position of power at a football club doing something which makes the rest of us wonder if they actually understand the game at all.
Assem Allam, the Hull CITY owner, is the latest to take the prize after he slammed the club’s fans for their protest over Hull CITY’s potential rebranding.
Those Hull CITY fans were as terrific as their team Hull CITY were in their deserved 3-1 victory over Liverpool, and seeing as those Hull CITY supporters will still be there whatever happens to the club in the future – whether they are beating Liverpool or Lincoln – then they should be the ones consulted on any potential name change, not that there’s anything wrong with Hull CITY in the first place.
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Backing the Mackems
Sunderland have only picked up one point and haven’t even scored a goal on the road under Gus Poyet, but at home it’s been a different matter.
A win in the derby against Newcastle and against Manchester City set them up nicely for a tough home double header against Chelsea and then Tottenham, and although the Blues might prove to be too strong they could heap the pressure on Andre Villas-Boas with a win on Saturday.
GW14 Preview: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez to torture Canaries again
Don’t be alarmed by the headline, this isn’t the story of the latest misdemeanour from a player who has had a chequered history in England, but rather about what he’s going to do to his favourite opponents.
Liverpool’s Luis Suarez (£12.3m) might have struggled along with the rest of his teammates in Sunday’s defeat at Hull City, but that will be meaningless when Norwich City come to Anfield on Wednesday night.
The forward has scored seven goals in his last three matches against the Canaries, and as Chris Hughton’s side come to Merseyside the Uruguayan has scored six goals in the three home league matches he’s played this season.
That kind of form is impossible to ignore ahead of a match which Liverpool will need to win following their weekend setback in Yorkshire, where the absence of Daniel Sturridge was keenly felt.
But with five wins from six Anfield assignments this season, 13 goals in their last three matches against Norwich, 11 strikes in their three most recent home games and Suarez in such form against these opponents, Brendan Rodgers will expect to see his team return to winning ways in the quickest possible time.
The Reds boss might well decide to change things around for the contest, but one constant in his team this season remains Jordan Henderson (£5.9m). The midfielder scored in the 5-0 win over Norwich last season, and has played in every minute of every one of Liverpool’s league games during this one.
https://twitter.com/ZOO/statuses/407525115463602176
Elsewhere during this midweek programme of fixtures, two of the weekend’s happiest teams will meet at the Emirates Stadium.
With the spectres of Chelsea and Manchester City lurking behind them, Arsenal will expect nothing less than a win as Hull come to North London.
When they’ve got a player such as Aaron Ramsey (£7.4m) in their team though, that victory could well be assured.
It is highly likely that the Welshman will have gone up in price by the time the match at the Emirates kicks off on Wednesday, ensuring that he will have risen by a staggering £2m since the opening weekend of the season. Six in every 10 Fantasy Premier League teams include him, and with his two goals in the victory over former club Cardiff last Saturday it is easy to see why.
Tuesday’s only match is a London derby between Crystal Palace and West Ham at Selhurst Park, where Mohamed Diame (£4.7m) will be seeking to build on his weekend performance and goal against the league’s bottom club.
Further up the table, Manchester City go to West Brom fresh from a 3-0 victory over Swansea that was inspired by two goals from Samir Nasri (£8.1m).
Having been regarded as merely a squad player for much of his time at City, the Frenchman is blossoming under the tutelage of Manuel Pellegrini and the continued absence through injury of David Silva.
It might surprise many to find out that Nasri has figured in every one of City’s league games this season, starting nine of the last 10 after coming off the bench in the first three. After his two strikes against Swansea and a goal in the Champions League last week, he can punish a West Brom side who’ve conceded 10 goals in their last five games.
The game of the week probably comes at Old Trafford, where Manchester United boss David Moyes faces up to Everton for the first time since leaving the club in the summer.
Plenty will dub the contest as a battle between Wayne Rooney (£11.1m) and Romelu Lukaku (£8.0m), but United winger Antonio Valencia (£7.1m) has started the last four in the league and could enjoy himself down the right flank in the absence of the injured Leighton Baines from the Everton side.
Injuries have also affected Swansea recently, and as they welcome an in-form Newcastle to the Liberty Stadium their lack of firepower could be punished against a side who’ll include the in-form Loic Remy (£8.1m) and Yoan Gouffran (£6.3m).
GW13 Preview: Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker makes BFG case for the defence
This week we’ve once again decided to shun the glory seeking midfielders and forwards and give you a preview focused entirely on improving your team’s defence (Andre Villas-Boas, take note).
Clean sheets and bonus points are up for grabs over a Fantasy weekend which features winnable games for plenty of the division’s elite, and although Arsenal might find it tough as they go to a Cardiff side who’ve beaten Manchester City and drawn with Manchester United at home this season, with a defender such as Per Mertesacker (£5.6m) in their team they’ll head to South Wales with confidence.
The big German registered a huge 11 points in the victory over Southampton last weekend thanks to being fouled for a penalty and keeping a clean sheet, feats which made him eligible for two bonus points from the Fantasy gods.
Mertesacker took a while to settle into the English game after he joined the Gunners from Werder Bremen in 2011, but he is now seen as his side’s main man at the back, and will be crucial to his team’s hopes of registering more points as they seek to prolong their time at the top of the table.
Cardiff may have scored twice in their draw with Manchester United, but prior to that they’d registered only one goal in their previous three games, and the likes of Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny (£5.3m) and Kieran Gibbs (£5.4m) will be targeting another clean sheet.
It’s hard to make it out from this picture, but the BFG is actually trying to tell people to join the FY Mini-League!
Elsewhere, Manchester City’s stellar home form has made their defence feel extremely comfortable when they play at the Etihad Stadium, where they’ve kept four clean sheets in six home Premier League games this season.
Pablo Zabaleta (£6.0m) played a part in all of those shutouts, whilst the signs are that Costel Pantilimon (£4.9m) will continue in goal for City in their domestic matches at least.
The latest one of those sees them host Swansea on Sunday, a match that is likely to see many Fantasy bosses lose faith in full-backs Angel Rangel (£5.4m) and Ben Davies (£5.0m), with the pair set for a torrid afternoon.
Better full-back choices are likely to come from Liverpool, who go to a goal-shy Hull City side who’ve scored just once in their last three home games this season.
An injury to Reds left-back Jose Enrique (£5.8m) has opened the door for the interesting (and cheap) youngster Jon Flanagan (£4.5m), but it might pay to go with the more established Glen Johnson (£5.7m) for this contest in which the England man is going to be looking to get forward at every opportunity.
Manchester United’s trip to Spurs has the potential to be a goalfest and so we’re going to overlook that particular fixture this week, and instead look at Chelsea’s home test against a Southampton side who are suddenly running into some tricky fixtures.
The Saints’ previously sturdy defence is going to come under pressure at Stamford Bridge, when Chelsea’s John Terry (£6.4m) and Branislav Ivanovic (£6.4m) will fancy keeping a clean sheet against an attack that, for all Southampton’s success, have still only scored four goals on the road all season.
At the other end of the country, a resurgent Newcastle go in search of a fourth straight victory when West Brom come to St James’s Park, and they’ll be helped in that quest by the return of full-back Mathieu Debuchy (£4.9m) from suspension.
The Baggies could only draw 2-2 with Aston Villa last time out despite leading 2-0, and Paul Lambert’s side will hope to build on that comeback as they host struggling Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.
Despite a couple of notable home wins during his time in charge, Gus Poyet hasn’t yet seen his team pick up a point or even score a goal away from the Stadium of Light, a run that Aston Villa captain Ron Vlaar (£4.5m) will be determined to see continue.
Off the Mark: Gareth Bale’s brilliance used to save Tottenham, now it’s the team’s turn
Spot the odd one out in this sequence.
Sergio Aguero: 11 games, 10 goals. Luis Suarez: Seven games, nine goals. Daniel Sturridge: 12 games, nine goals. Tottenham Hotspur: 12 games, nine goals.
That’s right. Three are individuals, one is an entire football club, a world-renowned football club who are expecting to challenge the elite teams at the top of the Premier League table and not have goalscoring records that would only stack up to the individuals who play for them.
The goalscoring problem at Spurs has been highlighted throughout their decidedly mixed start to the season, but at the weekend we saw a far more alarming concern come to light.
Granted, they were facing a trip to Manchester City – probably the toughest assignment in the Premier League just now – but their meek surrender and almost acceptance of a 6-0 hammering must be tough to take for Spurs fans, whose team are now priced at 4.60 to make next season’s Champions League with Bwin.
Those same supporters spent the summer putting on a brave face over the departure of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, and perhaps understandably looked towards the huge influx of players brought in with the money from his sale with expectation more than hope.
These players seemingly have it all.
There is Roberto Soldado’s excellent La Liga goalscoring record, Erik Lamela’s series of eye-catching displays in an entertaining Roma side, Christian Eriksen’s performances for Ajax which had scouts heading over to Amsterdam in their droves, Paulinho’s increasing importance for Brazil.
It is all there, and all of them are clearly fine players, but none of them is Bale.
Time and time again last season, the Welshman would ride to the rescue for Tottenham and Andre Villas-Boas with a timely intervention usually taking the form of a spectacular goal. “Where would they be without him?” we often wondered, and the answer was here.
But “here” isn’t actually that bad.
Spurs are ninth going into the weekend, but that is only four points off second placed Liverpool in this increasingly condensed Premier League table.
Following on from Thursday night’s Europa League distraction against Tromso in Norway, they welcome Manchester United to White Hart Lane on Sunday afternoon in what could just be the perfect game for them.
David Moyes and his men have hardly been impressive on the road this season, with their latest slip-up coming in the dying moments at Cardiff, and this could just represent the perfect chance for Spurs to inject some life into their season.
As well as the City drubbing, the recent home reverses against West Ham and Newcastle are likely to be on the minds of plenty of home fans who attend the game early on Sunday, but the players must sense that this is an opportunity for them to get back on track.
Win, and it will have been the perfect start to a week which also includes trips to struggling Fulham and Sunderland, matches in which it will be the team ethic that gets them over the line as opposed to any form of individual brilliance from one of their stars.
It was always going to be difficult for Tottenham at the beginning of this season due to the sheer number of new faces who had entered the building and were playing on the same pitch as each other before really introducing themselves, but a little more trust in one another could go a long way.
Soldado isn’t going to score the same amount of goals as Bale.
Lamela isn’t going to sprint at defences in the same manner that Bale did.
Eriksen isn’t going to score free-kicks like Bale.
And Paulinho isn’t going to dominate games like Bale.
Bale is gone, but Tottenham live on, and it’s about time that the team acted like it.
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We need to talk about Kevin(s)
It is all well and good claiming that referees need more help and would benefit from a greater use of technology, but when they make errors as glaring as the ones that Phil Dowd and Kevin Friend made on Saturday it is hard to have any sympathy for them.
Kevin Mirallas’ lunge on Luis Suarez in the Merseyside derby wasn’t just a red card it was about three of them, whilst what an earth possessed Friend to dismiss Wes Brown in Sunderland’s clash at Stoke is beyond all rational observers.
So give referees help if they need it, sure, but make sure they get the basics right first, and if they don’t then ban them until they do.
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Bluebirds can silence Gunners
Manchester City obliged last week, and this weekend’s best bet would be one that they’d welcome as well.
Title rivals Arsenal go to a Cardiff side who’ve already beaten City and drawn with Manchester United on their own patch this season, with another draw here looking like the way to go.
Off the Mark: Why the Merseyside derby will matter again on Saturday. Everton vs Liverpool
Nov 20
There was a time when a search for the best two teams in England wouldn’t have needed to take place outside of a park on Merseyside. Ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal, and far better than Chelsea and Manchester City, were Everton and Liverpool, the two clubs separated by a stretch of grass known as […]
GW11 Preview: Suarez and Liverpool to bite back against Fulham
Nov 7
Liverpool’s apparent title aspirations might have been given a reality check with their defeat to Arsenal last weekend, but as long as the Reds keep beating the teams that they are supposed to beat then this can still be a successful season for them. The top four is still a realistic aim, and likely to […]
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