Team news available from 1:05pm depending on club announcement Liverpool Team Mignolet, Johnson, Flanagan, Skrtel, Sakho, Gerrard, Allen, Lucas, Coutinho, Sterling, Suarez Subs: Jones, Toure, Agger, Cissokho, Alberto, Aspas, Sturridge Chelsea Team Schwarzer; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Kalas, Cole; Lampard, Mikel, Matic; Salah, Ba, Schurrle. Subs: Hilario, Ake, Cahill, Van Ginkel, Baker, Willian, Torres […]
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The Off the Mark Awards 2013/14: Honouring the Premier League’s best and David Moyes
‘I used to manage Liverpool you know, Luis. Well, for a bit.’
With Luis Suarez having been voted the PFA Player of the Year and the title race entering the home straight, it’s certainly awards season in the Premier League.
But just who have been the best, worst, brightest and dimmest in the division? @Mark_Jones86 puts on his best tux and gets ready to dish out the gongs.
Best Game: There have been a couple of 6-3s, with Liverpool and Manchester City coming out as the victors of both, but for the best game you have to look at the meeting between the sides at Anfield earlier this month, which the Reds won 3-2.
It had everything. One of Liverpool’s trademark fast starts, City’s quality seeing them roar back into the game and then an error from the visiting captain which swung the match and title race in Liverpool’s favour, at least until a more recent mistake from the other captain saw it go back the other way.
Worst Game: Back in August no-one knew quite how bad Manchester United were going to be under David Moyes, and so Jose Mourinho thought he was being really, really ball-achingly clever when his Chelsea side turned up at Old Trafford, opted to play no forwards and bored his way to a goalless draw.
He wasn’t.
Best Player: During one four-game spell in December, Luis Suarez scored 10 goals. Ten in four. That’s ridiculous.
By far and away the best footballer in the Premier League, Suarez has been sensational this season. Ill-feeling and a morbid fascination in him may remain from some, but it’s called Player of the Year for a reason.
Best Young Player: How young is young? Eden Hazard and Daniel Sturridge were both brilliant but they are 23 and 24 respectively, so let’s go for Luke Shaw. Still only 18 and now considered good enough for one of those ridiculously over-priced transfers that English players specialise in.
Best Goal: A worthy late entry here from Jonjo Shelvey, and whilst Wayne Rooney’s goal at West Ham was truly special, the fact that goalkeeper Adrian was flapping around like a beached seal somewhat ruined it.
No, for sheer bloody-minded Jeeeeeesus Christ-ness its Norwich City’s Alex Tettey, with the type of goal that Norwich City’s Alex Tettey shouldn’t be scoring.
Luis Suarez’s best goal: Probably the third of his four against Norwich in December. The control, the flick, the unstoppable blast. Maybe that’s where Tettey got it from.
Best Own Goal: Nice try Everton, but John Terry was always going to clinch this award for his glancing header against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. It was the goal which ensured that Palace would improbably stay in the Premier League and that Chelsea probably wouldn’t win it.
Best Manager: Brendan Rodgers. Less soundbites, more scoring.
Worst Manager: Look Moyesy, you’ve won something! *waves* Sorry Pardew.
The bit where I state how well Tony Pulis did at Crystal Palace: Tony Pulis did incredibly well at Crystal Palace, and is finally getting the credit he deserved at Stoke. London bias?
Worst refereeing decision: Not so much Andre Marriner’s genuine error in mistaking Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Kieran Gibbs as a sea of red and white shirted Arsenal players surrounded him at Chelsea, but more the fact that Marriner didn’t sprint down the Stamford Bridge tunnel, grab Gibbs, haul him back on and dismiss Chamberlain once he’d learned of his error.
Do you not know what people are like on Twitter, Andre?!
Alternative, uncool team of the season: David Marshall, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, Joel Ward, Gareth Barry, James McCarthy, Jordan Henderson, Samir Nasri, Jason Puncheon, Wilfried Bony.
Best Signing: Romelu Lukaku was an unused Chelsea substitute in that aforementioned bore draw at Old Trafford, before Mourinho loaned him to Everton and then watched on as his forwards failed to hit several barn doors for much of the season. Meanwhile, the big Belgian was brilliant at Goodison.
Worst Signing: Roberto Soldado, Marouane Fellaini and Ricky van Wolfswinkel can rest easy, because we’re a little bit concerned that Tottenham might actually have killed the £30m Erik Lamela.
Actually lads, do you mind forming a search party? You’re not doing anything else.
Surprise of the season: Liverpool. Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool.
After years of in-fighting, grave off-field errors and mistakes at every turn, the Reds reinvented themselves as the Premier League’s great entertainers. Every match was an event. It might not be enough to secure league titles until they can back it up defensively, but it’s going to be fun watching them try.
Funniest Manchester United game: Loads to choose from here, but strangely we’re not even going to go for a defeat.
Fulham had barely ever scored a goal north of the Watford Gap until they went to Old Trafford in February, took the lead and then pinched a point through Darren Bent in stoppage time just as the ‘Moyes turns the corner’ headlines were being written.
He’d merely found another cul-de-sac.
The Arsene Wenger award for repeating the same season over and over again, although at least this time he’ll probably win the FA Cup, which will finally bring an end to that long trophy drought and give an admirably hard-working, respectable figure something to enjoy, although he must still have nightmares about the league collapse, I mean, they were top of the league before they went to Liverpool in early February and got battered 5-1, I hope he doesn’t leave though, because deep down I like him and wish him well: Arsene Wenger.
Yaya Toure rampaging run of the season: The one against Palace the other day? Or the one against, er… you know? And that other one. He does it every week. What a player.
Defining moment of the season: If Liverpool win the league then it’ll be Philippe Coutinho’s winner against Manchester City, but if, as now seems likely, they don’t then of course it is Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea which allowed Demba Ba to score.
It was a moment in time which ensures that, no matter how hard you work, how much you sacrifice, how much you long for success for your team, your fans and your city, you are still susceptible to the crazy storylines which run throughout football.
And we wouldn’t want it any other way would we?
GW35 Preview: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez is facing Norwich. You know what to do.
After the drama of last weekend, Liverpool’s title challenge rolls on to Norfolk this time around, and there’ll be at least one man who’ll be pleased it does.
Luis Suarez (£13.3m) has scored a staggering 11 goals in his last four matches against the Canaries, including hat-tricks on his only previous two visits to Carrow Road and four goals against the same opposition at Anfield in December.
The Uruguayan’s often jaw-dropping goalscoring rate might not be at the same level it has often been at the moment, with just one strike in his last four games, but as the Reds chase what would be a remarkable title success he is certain to be determined to fire them there.
You could argue that Suarez is fortunate to be facing Norwich at all after narrowly escaping a red card against Manchester City, but he could be coming up against them without his strike partner Daniel Sturridge (£10.4m) in tow after the forward limped off in the same game.
At the time of writing the extent of Sturridge’s injury isn’t known, but if he doesn’t play then that will only add extra attacking responsibility to the shoulders of Philippe Coutinho (£8.5m) and Raheem Sterling (£5.7m), but as both have shown in recent weeks they are more than capable of handling the pressure.
One man who definitely won’t be playing for Liverpool is the suspended Jordan Henderson (£6.5m), with his three-game ban for the red card picked up against City now ruling him out for until the final game of the season.
Speaking of City, they can’t be counted out of the title race at all just yet, especially now they’ve got Sergio Aguero (£12.2m) back from injury, a return which has soften the blow of losing the injured Yaya Toure (£10.5m) for a couple of games.
As they showed at Anfield though, the inspiration behind all of their good work at the moment is the brilliant David Silva (£9.9m), a player who has really found his form in the closing weeks of the season and one who should really have a higher Fantasy ownership percentage than 14%.
He’ll be vital as City host West Brom on Monday night in a match they simply have to win to stay in the title race, whilst Chelsea also face a similar must-win (and probably will win) match at home to Sunderland on Saturday.
As usual, the attention is on Chelsea’s forwards ahead of the contest, with that baton now passed to Demba Ba (£7.4m) following his crucial goals against Paris-Saint Germain and Swansea.
Elsewhere, perhaps the game of the weekend sees David Moyes return to Goodison Park with Manchester United, a match which Everton will fancy their chances in as they continue to chase the Champions League.
Young defender John Stones (£4.2m) has kept his place in the team despite the return to fitness of Phil Jagielka, whilst Steven Naismith (£4.7m) continues to make his presence felt upfront. United remain largely friendless in the Fantasy game, although at least Juan Mata (£9.1m) has started to shine.
Cardiff’s latest attempt at climbing out of trouble sees them host Stoke in what is simply a must-win game, and whilst Peter Odemwingie (£5.5m) will fancy getting one over the club he started the season at, the hosts will be looking to Jordon Mutch (£5.0m) to inspire them to a much-needed three points.
Fulham, another club in relegation trouble, may have picked up important points lately through the goals of Hugo Rodallega (£5.0m), but they face a tough visit to a Tottenham side who will be inspired by the recent performances of Christian Eriksen (£6.8m).
Off the Mark: Liverpool must seize the moment, because who knows when it’ll come around again?
As you’re probably aware by now, Liverpool haven’t won the league title for 24 years, with their most recent success confirmed with a 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers on April 28th 1990.
Raheem Sterling wouldn’t be born for another four-and-a-half years, Jon Flanagan for three, Philippe Coutinho for two and Jordan Henderson for another two months. Joe Allen was six weeks old, and Daniel Sturridge seven months.
No-one back then would have thought that Liverpool would still be waiting for another league title 24 years down the line, but then the same thing would have been said about Manchester United when they won the league in 1967. They had to wait until 1993 for their next one, and then it seemed like they never stopped winning for 20 years.
United have had a poor season by their standards this time around, but no-one is suggesting they’ll disappear from the title picture for the next two-and-a-half decades. Football works in cycles though, and Liverpool will be aware of that too.
Put simply, it is incredible that the Reds are in this position, top of the Premier League table and five games away from ending that 24-year wait.
The club’s supporters can often get ridiculed for their fanatical and devoted nature, but you wouldn’t have found one who believed that this was possible back in the summer.
Brendan Rodgers, for all of his positivity, was still viewed with suspicion, Luis Suarez had stayed but was just one more meltdown away from being shipped out – and plenty wanted him gone. Steven Gerrard was too old, the rest of them were too young, the new signings weren’t good enough, the best players had chosen to sign for someone else, and Kolo Toure had rocked up. Apprehension ruled over expectation.
But then the football started, and what great football it was.
Sturridge, in isolation at first, couldn’t stop scoring. Suarez hit the ground running and never stopped. Gerrard imperious, Henderson metronomic, Coutinho, Sterling relentless. They couldn’t defend their way out of a paper bag, obviously, but that only added to the fun.
Whenever someone scored against them (and I think a paper bag actually managed it at one point) you just got the sense that they were setting themselves up to be breached twice, three times at the other end.
More recently though, and as emphasised by the win at West Ham, there seems to be a steeliness added to Liverpool’s game, a ruthless streak has kicked in. They’ve won nine games in a row and they are aware of the consequences of what happens if they get to 14.
It is these qualities that they’ll need to show against Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
They aren’t going to blow City away like they have done the vast majority of visitors this season – although if they do? Wow – and so instead it is going to be grim determination which gets them through.
Every team who has gone through a long title drought has matches such as these.
For United it was the victory over Sheffield Wednesday 21 years ago this week which ended with a last gasp Steve Bruce winner and Alex Ferguson and Brian Kidd leaping onto the pitch. More recently, Manchester City beat United 1-0 thanks to a Vincent Kompany header in April two years ago. This is the game where suddenly everything crystallises and it all becomes real.
The current City vintage will head to Anfield with confidence. They are still the title favourites and rightly so. A draw would put them firmly in the driving seat and in charge of their own destiny.
But there’s a feeling that this is the game, this is the time for those Liverpool players. And if they’re not going to do it now then will they ever?
Two-and-a-half decades worth of footballers have gone before them, and none of them won the club a league title.
If that run is going to end, then it ends here and now. Well, on Sunday anyway.
But what’s a few days when you’ve been waiting 24 years?
Play the name and shame Arsenal game
I’ve got a game for you to play.
I want you to look through the Arsenal teamsheet from Sunday’s non-performance at Everton and choose how many of the XI you’d keep at the club next season. Given who was out injured and that Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were only on the bench, when in a particularly ruthless mood I’ve ended up with two.
It’s clear that the Gunners need an overhaul, and it is probably time that it comes from the very top.
Arsene Wenger has been a fantastic figure at the club and deserves immense respect, but you just wonder if a parting of the ways is now what’s best for everyone.
Back the Baggies to boing
West Bromwich Albion are just starting to show a little bit of the fight they needed to demonstrate much earlier in the season, and suddenly look a lot more likely to stay up.
That escape act can continue on Saturday when they host a Tottenham side who managed an impressive win over Sunderland but have been disappointing on the road of late, with the Tim Sherwood situation hardly helping.
Liverpool v Sunderland: Lineups and Preview
Mar 26
Liverpool Team: Mignolet, Flanagan, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Gerrard, Allen, Henderson, Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge Subs: Jones, Sterling, Aspas, Sakho, Lucas, Cissokho, Moses Sunderland Team: Mannone, Bardsley, Dossena, Brown, O’Shea (c), Vergini, Cattermole, Bridcutt, Giaccherini, Altidore, Wickham. Subs: Ki, Larsson, Johnson, Colback, Roberge, Scocco, Ustari. If Liverpool can beat Sunderland at Anfield […]
Off the Mark: Tim Sherwood does his best, but Tottenham deserve a manager not learning on the job
Mar 26
To become a top level football manager you have to have a relentless belief in yourself, in your own ideas and your ability to execute them. You need leadership skills and enough of an ego to stand by your methods when things aren’t going to plan. Crucially though, you need to have those methods in […]
Fantasy Football GW31: Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Man United ALL play twice!
You’ll have had your eye on it for a while, but Gameweek 31 looks like one to separate the men and the women from the boys and the girls.
Ten teams face two matches over the next week, and the points on offer in them could be the difference between a strong finish to your season or petering out amongst the also-rans.
In honour of the Double Gameweek, we’ve taken a look at all 10 teams and highlighted players who you should consider for your teams.
Off we go:
Arsenal (Chelsea away, Swansea home)
The opening game is obviously the tougher one here, especially given Chelsea’s strong defensive record at home. Tomas Rosicky (£5.5m) impressed in the North London derby, but if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£6.6m) had sharpened up his finishing skills there the win could have been more emphatic. With the Gunners’ defence and attack set for a tough game at Stamford Bridge, the England man could be the way to go.
Swansea (Everton away, Arsenal away)
Undoubtedly dealt the toughest hand in Gameweek 31, Swansea’s players don’t really appeal at all. If you had to pick one, Michu (£8.4m) returned for 28 minutes in the West Brom game and should feature again.
Manchester United (West Ham away, Manchester City home)
After going from bad to worse against Liverpool, Manchester United face another tough couple of matches. No-one at the club is in any sort of form at all, and so with a daunting meeting with rivals City on the horizon not to mention a tough examination at West Ham, their players might be best avoided. Adnan Januzaj (£4.9m) remains the best value though.
Manchester City (Fulham home, Manchester United away)
The Fulham game certainly offers up the potential for another City scorefest, and to be honest the trip to Old Trafford does too. David Silva (£9.2m) got an all-too-rare goal at Hull, but Samir Nasri (£8.1m) is more likely to find the net, whilst Edin Dzeko (£6.7m) did so last weekend and could be the one to profit if Sergio Aguero’s lack of fitness and Alvaro Negredo’s poor form continues.
Newcastle (Crystal Palace home, Everton home)
It’s a pity that Loic Remy is injured as these games would have been perfect for him, but instead it looks like being Luuk de Jong (£5.9m) who’ll lead the line for the Magpies. Fabricio Coloccini (£4.8m) will be important as the hosts seek to keep things tight at St James’s Park, but the value could be with Moussa Sissoko (£5.8m) as he continues in a slightly more advanced midfield position to the one he adopted in the first half of the season.
Everton (Swansea home, Newcastle away)
Seamus Coleman (£6.7m) got his customary goal late on in the Cardiff win and the Irishman remains a must-pick for your team, even if Everton have shipped goals away lately. Kevin Mirallas (£7.5m) has gone off the boil recently and whilst Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m) promises much he’s only completed 90 minutes once all season. All of which points emphatically to Romelu Lukaku (£8.5m).
West Ham (Manchester United home, Hull home)
Andy Carroll (£7.1m) scored his first goal of the season against Stoke last time out, and the forward is a great differential choice here. The former Newcastle and Liverpool forward knows that he’s in the last chance saloon with regards to selection for the World Cup, and he’ll be desperate to impress in front of the television cameras against a dodgy Manchester United defence on Saturday night. Then on Wednesday its Hull at home.
Hull (West Brom home, West Ham away)
Curtis Davies (£4.7m) has been in the goals recently and looks a good shout as a cheap defender for your team, but all of Hull’s power lies with the attack. The club as a whole might have on eye on their upcoming FA Cup semi-final, but both Shane Long (£5.7m) and Nikica Jelavic (£6.7m) are cup-tied for that fixture, and the latter should be backed to fire against West Brom at least.
Liverpool (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)
The team on everyone’s lips at the moment looks to be the ones to back here. Daniel Sturridge’s (£10.5m) emphatic scoring run may have stalled, but that only seems to have started another one for Luis Suarez (£13.1m). The Uruguayan should be your captain this Gameweek but also look out for useful midfield contributions from Jordan Henderson (£6.4m), Raheem Sterling (£5.9m) and of course Steven Gerrard (£9.2m).
Sunderland (Norwich away, Liverpool away)
Getting anything from Anfield will be tough, especially given that forward Fabio Borini (£6.2m) will be unable to face his parent club. The Norwich game could be a different matter though, and whilst Adam Johnson (£6.5m) excites as a potential addition, midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng (£4.3m) is surprisingly cheap and useful if you need someone to pad out the squad.
Off the Mark: Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers has to be named Manager of the Year, whatever happens now
The man with a plan is often a difficult man to take to, so engrossed and devoted to his own ideas as to frequently border on arrogance.
When that plan goes wrong the man is often left looking foolish, too obsessed with himself that he can’t see the bigger picture, stuck in a rut, one-dimensional.
It takes great strength, then, to persevere with that plan, to see it through to the end and to both adapt and improve upon it. In the Liverpool renaissance being masterminded by Brendan Rodgers, that is exactly what we are seeing now.
In his first year at Anfield it was easy to mock the Northern Irishman, to bring up quotes from his past when he was a younger coach, more naïve, perhaps covering up for his lack of experience and knowledge in a certain area by spouting a buzz-word or a phrase straight out of a managerial handbook.
When Liverpool were losing home and away to West Brom, at home to Aston Villa, away to Stoke and Southampton, at Oldham in the FA Cup it was easy to quote these words back at Rodgers, to make fun of him and to dress him up as some kind of egotist with a mistaken belief in his own importance. The first four letters of his first name are the same as the first four letters of the surname of a Ricky Gervais character too, and people noticed.
Yet despite all of that, and despite the setbacks which still ensure that really only one of the four transfer windows he’s presided over at Liverpool have been successful ones, look where he is now.
Rodgers has almost certainly guided the Reds to a top four finish this season, something that even the most optimistic of Liverpool supporters only dared to dream of in August, and it could yet get even better than that.
It is right that Rodgers’ side are still only considered as third favourites for the Premier League title behind the enormous strength of Chelsea and Manchester City’s squads and ahead of an Arsenal side who are about to enter some difficult fixtures, but even being there is a staggering enough achievement in itself.
Had you told those same Liverpool fans in August that this is where their team would be, and more importantly that the likes of Jon Flanagan, Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson would be playing starring roles within it, then you’d have been laughed out of Merseyside.
Less than a year ago Flanagan’s career seemed to have irreparably stalled. He’d picked up a serious injury and when Liverpool tried to farm him out on loan they were getting the brush off from League One clubs. He came in from the cold to start a match at Arsenal in November and plenty of fans groaned.
Sterling’s rapid rise in the first half of last season, when he was played more out of necessity than anything else, had ground to a halt. He put in an extremely nervy display at right wing-back against Crystal Palace in October and didn’t play again for two months. When he did at Hull he was awful. He’s been utterly fantastic ever since.
Henderson’s transformation has perhaps been the most staggering. From being a big money flop he has evolved to become one of the first names on the teamsheet behind the obvious ones. Actually, he probably is now one of the obvious ones. At Old Trafford on Sunday he bossed the midfield in a 3-0 win. Sterling was playing intelligently in the No. 10 role, Flanagan was tackling anything that moved.
Make no mistake, all of this is down to Rodgers.
The manager himself has had to learn from his mistakes and adapt and improve.
In September he made the bizarre choice to field four recognised centre-backs at home to Southampton and a defeat followed. The three-man defence should have been dispensed with earlier than at half-time in the Arsenal loss in November. Hull away in December was probably the club’s worst display of the season, whilst as recently as Aston Villa at home in January – probably Liverpool’s last bad game – he got his midfield shape wrong and had to bring on Lucas Leiva at half-time.
Yet he’ll have learned from all of that, and it will have made him a better manager.
Whatever happens to Liverpool between now and the middle of May, he deserves to be recognised for that improvement with the Manager of the Year award.
Who knows, it might not be the only trophy he’s seen lifting soon.
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Moyes has to go before more damage is done
It’s staggering that there are people claiming that tonight’s Champions League result against Olympiakos could make-or-break David Moyes’ Manchester United career. What difference should it make?
Even if they scrape through United are destined to lose to the first decent side they come up against, with the thought of what a Bayern Munich or a Barcelona could do to Moyes’ rudderless, confidence-free team barely worth thinking about for the club’s supporters.
Whether it’s now or in the summer Moyes needs to go in order for United to try and re-establish themselves amongst the elite of the modern game, and whatever happens tonight should have no bearing on that.
Hammers worth a punt to nail United
The Manchester United misery goes on, and ensures that this weekend’s trip to West Ham is far from a simple one.
Andy Carroll scored at Stoke last weekend and he is just the type of forward who can make things difficult for the visitors’ dodgy defence.
Manchester United vs Liverpool: Preview and LINEUPS
Mar 16
Manchester United welcome Liverpool to Old Trafford trailing their rivals by 11 points in the league Manchester United Team: De Gea; Rafael, Jones, Vidic, Evra; Mata, Fellaini, Carrick, Januzaj; Rooney, van Persie Subs: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Cleverley, Kagawa, Valencia, Young, Welbeck Liverpool Team: Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Flanagan, Gerrard, Allen, Henderson, Sterling, Suarez, Sturridge Subs: Jones, […]
GW29 Preview: No Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City…No Chance?
It’s a slightly different week in Fantasy Premier League, and so we’re bringing you a slight different type of preview.
Instead of our usual offering we’re going to run through the five matches taking place this weekend, picking out players that you should consider for what is likely to be a severely shorthanded team.
This was written before the international fixtures, so forgive us if anyone has picked up an injury, and we’ll start with the early game at The Hawthorns:
West Brom v Manchester United
Previously such messy weeks in the Fantasy game would see you place your trust in the men from Old Trafford, but their unconvincing season makes them less enticing now.
Robin van Persie (£13.6m) has been surpassed by better and cheaper forward options, whilst Wayne Rooney (£11.1m) has suffered far too many injury problems to warrant complete trust.
West Brom will be tough opponents too. They’ve drawn all four of their home games under Pepe Mel 1-1, including matches against Everton, Liverpool and Chelsea – all of whom are above United in the table.
Yet although Chris Brunt (£5.0m) will offer his usual threat from midfield, they don’t really convince at the moment and could struggle.
FPL key man: Adnan Januzaj (£4.8m): Cheap, and likely to start after missing out on the internationals, the youngster can be his side’s spark in the Midlands.
Cardiff v Fulham
This basement battle of the bottom isn’t likely to be one for the faint-hearted, with a defeat perhaps spelling relegation for one of the two sides.
In truth there shouldn’t really be a rush to pick anyone from two such out of form teams, but Cardiff’s Declan John (£3.9m) is a good, cheap defender who has started eight of the last 10 games, whilst Fulham’s Dan Burn (£4.0m) has come into the Cottagers’ side of late, too.
Cardiff have won just two of 10 home games since they beat Swansea in November, and so although Fulham’s away form is usually woeful it is tempting to side with them here. Darren Bent (£6.0m) should start upfront.
FPL key man: Steve Sidwell (£5.3m): Capable of scoring goals from midfield, Sidwell’s total of six this season is more than he has ever managed in a Premier League campaign before.
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Despite their improvement under Tony Pulis, Crystal Palace still sit just three points above the relegation zone and will know that matches such as these will be vital.
The return of last season’s top scorer Glenn Murray (£5.2m) has come at a good time for them however, and he’s likely to start after coming off the bench to score a late penalty at Swansea, whilst new signing Scott Dann (£4.0m) has seemingly taken Danny Gabbidon’s place in defence.
Southampton didn’t deserve to lose to Liverpool by a three-goal margin, but with little left to play for bar preserving their bodies for the World Cup, some of their England stars have gone off the boil a little.
FPL key man: Thomas Ince (£5.5m): Replaced by Murray at half-time at Swansea, Ince will nonetheless be vital to the Eagles at home, where his incisive running could hurt the Saints.
Norwich v Stoke
Norwich got their semi-regular ‘big win for Chris Hughton’ in their last home match against Tottenham, only to follow that up with anaemic display and defeat at Aston Villa.
The potential absences of both Robert Snodgrass (£6.0m) and Leroy Fer (£5.4m) could hit them hard here, especially with Stoke buoyed by last weekend’s win over Arsenal as they chase a top half finish.
Mark Hughes will turn to Peter Crouch (£5.6m) against one of the forward’s former clubs, and with Charlie Adam (£5.9m) now banned for three matches, Marko Arnautovic (£5.1m) could assume greater importance.
FPL key man: Jonathan Walters (£6.1m): The former Fantasy favourite netted the winner from the spot against the Gunners, and could be required to stand up and be counted again.
Chelsea v Tottenham
The standout clash of the weekend in the glamour stakes could see Chelsea move a massive seven points clear of second-placed Liverpool by Saturday night.
The Blues are in the groove and it will certainly be difficult for an injury-hit Spurs to live with them, despite Roberto Soldado (£8.4m) finally returning to goalscoring form in the edgy win over Cardiff.
The problems are in their defence though, and could be exploited by Andre Schurrle (£6.9) following his hat-trick at Fulham, where Fernando Torres (£8.1m) started and earned an assist and a bonus point.
FPL key man: Eden Hazard (£11.1m): Your most likely captain this weekend, the Belgian assisted two of Schurrle’s goals at Craven Cottage and will be a vital influence on his side once again.
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