Saturday Review Gameweek 17 – FPL Fantasy Premier League

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