Liverpool 3-1 Cardiff City
With both sides having conflicting weeks, Liverpool had been buoyed by the contract extension of Luis Suarez whilst Cardiff had to endure the public outbursts of owner Vincent Tan, this game was set up nicely and we were not to be disappointed. The match was a lively, if one sided affair and the boys from Cardiff had effectively lost the game by halftime. It will come as no surprise that Suarez, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and the up and coming Jon Flanagan featured heavily in this game. Liverpool were rampant at times and could have been five up at halftime having scored three and been denied by the woodwork twice. Suarez was outstanding and is clearly the man of the moment, had he not unselfishly set up Sterling’s goal he could have had a hatrick in the first 45minutes. Malky Mackay to his credit rallied his Cardiff troops during the break and “The Bluebirds” responded well with a well taken header by Jordan Mutch on 58 minutes though Liverpool’s defending was nothing short of amateurish. Martin Skrtel was fortunate not to give away two penalties during the game. This result cemented Liverpools growing standing and could possibly be Malky Makays last one in charge at Cardiff. (It was ironic that Cardiff were in a blue strip today)
Bonus points: Suarez (3), Henderson (2), Whittingham (1)
Crystal Palace 0-3 Newcastle
The first twenty five minutes of this encounter at Selhurst Park were a scrappy affair with both sides conceding several free kicks and yet the only surprise was that no one was booked. Newcastle slowly started to take command of the match and they get their reward when Yohan Cabaye fired home from a deflection off Damien Delaney. The second on thirty eight minutes was an own goal when Danny Gabbidon turned in Mathieu Debuchy’s low cross. The second half was all action but no result until in the eighty sixth minute Hatem Ben Arfa completed the win when he converted from the spot after Jonathan Parr had needlessly fouled Shola Ameobi.
Bonus points: Debuchy (3), Cabaye (3), Coloccini, Krul (1)
Fulham 2-4 Man City
This turned out to be the game of the day with Man City hoping to carry on their current form with a win at second from bottom Fulham. One of their men of the moment got the ball rolling when Fulham’s Steve Sidwell upended David Silva, Yaya Toure stepped up to curl in the free-kick via the underside of the bar. That’s 11 for the season for the impressive Ivorian. City doubled their lead on forty three minutes when Vincent Kompany tapped in from close range after Martin Demichelis’s header was only parried by Maarten Stekelenburg. It was plain sailing for City but then Fulham did something we weren’t expecting, they put up a fight! Five minutes after the break Fulham pulled a goal back when Adel Taarabt found an unmarked Kieran Richardson, who calmly finished past Joe Hart from 12 yards out and then on seventy minutes Kompany scored an own goal when Sascha Riether drilled in a cross from the right and the City skipper sliced his clearance over Joe Hart and into the back of the net. Could this be another poor away performance from City? Alas, the comeback was to no avail as Jesus Navas converted David Silva’s pass to restore City’s lead and James Milner tapped in a fourth goal on eighty three minutes courtesy of an Alvaro Negredo assist to complete the win for city.
Bonus points: Toure (3), Silva (2), Demichelis (2),Navas (2)
Man Utd 3-1 West Ham
Manager David Moyes was glad to have Wayne Rooney in the starting eleven following a mid-week injury scare and twenty six minutes into the game following some excellent play from Rooney he found Danny Welbeck to score his first Premier League goal at Old Trafford since October 2012. Adnan Januzaj, who was fortunate to escape a booking for diving, scored the second when he curled home his first Old Trafford goal before substitute Ashley Young got Utd’s third. Those hoping for a United clean sheet were disappointed when West Ham’s Carlton Cole slotted in a consolation goal on eighty one minutes.
Bonus points: Rooney (3), Welbeck (3), Cole (1)
Stoke 2-1 Aston Villa
Aston Villas poor run continued as they lost this encounter at Stoke. Peter Crouch grabbed the winner as he helped Stoke extend their unbeaten home league run to six games. Captains Poll favourite(!) Charlie Adam gave the Potters the lead when he latched on to a Crouch knockdown just after halftime. Libor Kozak pounced on a poor headed pass from Erik Pieters to get the Villa equaliser. But, on seventy minutes when keeper Brad Guzan missed a right-wing cross, the ball fell for Crouch to score from close range.
Bonus points: Crouch (3), Adam (2), Kozak (1)
Sunderland 0-0 Norwich
The highlight of this fixture was the sending off of Sunderland’s Wes Brown. The first thirty minutes was drab until Lee Cattermole’s attempted drop goal, shame he was playing football and not Rugby! Norwich frontman Gary Hooper had a cracking effort from 25 yards that Vito Mannone had to parry away for a corner. Hooper, Norwich’s top scorer, with three goals in his past four games missed an opportunity when he had a free header at the back post only to nod wide. Sunderland continued to push forward, with Steven Fletcher shooting wide from Sebastian Larsson’s delivery. Ki Sung-Yueng missed a guilt edged chance when he chipped over from 25 yards with the goal at his mercy.
Sunderland had a massive call for a penalty when Adam Johnson’s cross struck Sebastien Bassong on the hip, despite the home team’s claims of handball. Immediately afterwards, Brown jumped into a challenge with substitute Ricky van Wolfswinkel close to the corner flag, earning himself a red card and a three-game ban. Enjoy Christmas and New Year off Wes!
Bonus points: Mannone, Bardsley& O’Shea (3)
West Brom 1-1 Hull City
This game was a lively affair and following end to end action Hull took the lead in the twelfth minute when they scored on the counter-attack. David Meyler picked up the ball just outside of his own area, fed Danny Graham who picked out the run of Jake Livermore, who obliged by sliding the ball into the net from a tight angle. The Baggies took control of the second half but Hull stuck to their task and nearly came away with all three points, however, with only four minutes remaining, Czech striker Matej Vydra, a sixty ninth minute substitute, levelled with his first goal since joining. It was enough for the Baggies to claim their first point in five league games. A draw was probably a fair result.
Bonus points: Livermore (3), Vydra (2), Ridgewell, Brunt & Morrison (1)
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all our fantastic community for their continued support, without you the site would not have grown into what it is now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
This article was written by
Eddy
Evening, how did we all get on today?
60 pts from 6 players. hazard, terry, coleman, ramsey and lukaku to go. pretty good considering verage is 30, how about you??
Haz double city midfield got me 20 points …….
alright fair enough!!!
not bad going haz. Got 54 myself with hazard, ramsey, walcott, lukaku, jagielka and gazzzzingaaaa to play. Suprised the average is so low
looking good then!! yeah so was I, thought over half of fpl captained suarez!!
I think it’s because lots of people had only a small amount of players playing today? just a thought, coz I would reckon most people have Suarez Captained at this stage.
My favourite part of today by far has to be Rooney playing
Not only starting, but bagging 11 points. To think I almost took a hit to take him straight back out for Negredo… happy with that
Jamesimmo
Paid off for me too. I never considered dropping him, just fancied he would be ok for today.
Decent fixtures on the horizon too.
Good stuff TGP, I know they look promising
Let’s hope for more RoonPig xmas presents over the coming weeks
Anyone else worried about how deep Rooney is playing? Is he just a bloody expensive Mid and doesn’t even benefit from a CS point?
If he can consistently get double fixtures then no, I’m not worried
Man United need a decent midfielder after all! Haha
Besides, I’ll get Walcott next week, and he may as well be a forward…
Ha jamesimmo, I like you’re thinking!! I’ve been wanting to bring in wally but with Ramsey in my team haven’t wanted double coverage in the midfield but with that brilliant logic I can justify it, haha! thanks.
Herewegoagain,if Welbeck is injured as reports are suggesting I would imagine Rooney may well play in a more advanced role until either Welbeck or RVP return from injury!!!!
Haha herewego no problem, happy to find excuses to bring Walcott in for you anyway! 😉 I’m waiting til the match in Monday at the earliest of course, as after, I will need to decided whom to take out for him – either Özil or Oscar… out of interest, who would you take out for Wally from those two?
Hi peakydave, ah right thanks for that, I haven’t heard anything about Welbeck that could be good news for Rooney but obviously wish no injury on Welbeck. Any news on what his injury could be?
Having just looked at this move myself I would be getting rid of Oscar which isn’t ideal as I have stuck by him and not brought in Hazard in for him as much as I have wanted to, which I assume you have to? I haven’t hadn’t Ozil all season but think he is a consistent point scorer and pretty much nailed on for every game considering Wenger actually splashed some cash. Still lets wait and see Monday, anything could happen in between, maybe a cheeky Oscar hat trick or is that just very wishful thinking?
Very wishful indeed, but great as long as Özil bags 4 the great! Haha that’s EXACTLY the position I’ve been, I’ve stuck by Oscar all this time so it would be a shame to let him go, but he does have tough fixtures… …we shall see indeed
All I can find about it is he hobbled off after 54 minutes with a ‘knee injury’ pretty vague I know buts all I can find!!! With fixtures fast and furious over next few weeks even a minor knock might put someone out for 2-3 gameweeks!!! 😉
Yeah wait and see if Oscar can do anything this week, sort of feel he owes me a good gw and all that have stuck by him, haha! Chelsea haven’t looked overly convincing to be honest either of late so could be a good time to get rid?!
Thanks for looking peakydave, as you say any sort of knock can you put you out for a couple of weeks. Apart from obviously when Wayne picks up an ‘injury’, he can play a couple of days later.
Lol I know what u mean herewegoagain!! And tbh if Rooney keeps scoring 11 points from a deeper position he can stay there mate!!!
65 PTS with 5 players still to play
Evening all, so far having a pretty good GW, looking to next GW though think the time has finally come to get shot of migs, thinking Szczesny is the best bet but what does everyone think? Whose the best keeper for their money? Not overly keen on spending too much in defence.
Herewego
Howard probably.
Snap,
Hi Gallant thanks, I have Coleman already and don’t really want double Everton coverage and to be honest I feel even though Everton have been great in defence so far I am not sure they can keep it up. 5.9 seems a little overpriced maybe as well?
Me too Migs is on the list to go but I got boruc who is injured,
Hi mate, yeah my second keeper isn’t playing atm either (Harper) but think that sort of thing can be sorted with the Jan WC along with pretty much my whole defence. Who are you thinking to bring in?
Howard best shot
Ive got Mannone as a second keeper now since he’s started playing again (had him all season as he was playing pre-season and then got dropped) but I keep benching him for Migs. He even got the 3 bonus today just to rub it in! :cuss:
I had that the other week when Harper had a blinder and migs scored 2, always the way! Are you looking to get rid of migs or just wait till Jan WC if at all?
You all gonna sell Migs now then with their tough fixtures coming up?
Hi Cookie, I am looking at it as I have no other urgent pressing moves I feel I need to make as it currently stands and its something I have been wanting to do for maybe the last 5 weeks or so. Their obviously tough set of fixtures over the coming weeks help in making the move though.
herewegoagain, as well as they are playing (well, Goofy) it’s amazing they can’t keep a clean sheet
I know its very frustrating especially for me as I am a Liverpool fan, anyone know anything of Enrique, how long is he out for? The defence has been very changeable all season which I think is the main factor in their lack of cleansheets
I’ll wait on that now until the WC. I’ve got 2 playing keepers now so that’s all I need to know. Other priorities over choosing a keeper and I always pick the wrong one anyway!
Secretly, you’re jealous of Gazzaniga
Speroni is the way to go. Apparently 😉
With Gabiddon and Ward also, I assume?
I’ll have 4 of the buggers if I can
I had him too, way back. Took him out when i played WC.
Oh man freakin Red Arrows all over me!!!
B, you’re such a drama queen. You have 46pts from 4 players!!! You know you’ll have green arrows at the end of the GW
Queen Beeeee .Lol
Haha that’s you told B!
Which midfield trio looks the best for the next few weeks? Out of:
Current: Özil Silva Oscar
Potential 1: Walcott Silva Oscar —–> spread coverage and more money
Potential 2: Özil Silva Walcott —–> x2 for Arsenal’s great fixtures, no Chelsea players
I’ll be back soon after the first few MOTD games, please let me know what you think
I like option 1 james. Maybe Hazard instead of Oscar. But 2 has legs as well with the fixtures as you say.
2nd
Option 2 but you have just talked me round to that!
Jamesimmo – option 2 for me, mate…
Thanks all! I shall look ahead to Monday which should help me decide…
Definitely 1.
Im a huge believer in diversification of risk. The thing is, there is no good striker at Chelsea to choose from, and this makes Hazard/Oscar essential.
Chances of Arsenal failing to score is higher than chances of Arsenal and Chelsea failing to score. Basic math.
B – as an A level further mathematician I believe you’re correct 😉
I appreciate your point: I could do Walcott Silva Hazard for a 4pt hit too
Either that or even wait an extra week then go Oscar —–> Hazard
BUT Chelsea haven’t scored as many as Arsenal in recent times, and they have tougher opposition, whereas Arsenal have a dream 7 weeks. If I kept Özil and took out Oscar. I’d also have the power to instantly take him out for Hazard if owning him looked like a better option too.
What do you think to that? Both Özil and Wally, for WHU at least…
The B – c’mon I put effort in to this.. 😉 your thoughts?
Okay man dont put a gun on my head
I wouldnt suggest taking a hit at any cost.
I think having Walcott – Ozil for coming weeks could work, hell, many are even thinking of having 3 man Arsenal midfield. So yeah, makes sense. But i dont like making my team dependent on just one EPL team. So thats like putting 20% of funds in one team.
But Chelsea has good fixtures too. Swansea, SOTON, Hull and WH cannot be ignored.
I was kidding don’t worry
but thanks, I’ll take their fixtures in to consideration when I come to decide
Not necessarily B…
farqs, care to expand?