Fulham 2-0 Aston Villa
The lunch time kick-off saw Fulham face Aston Villa, who had Christian Benteke back in their starting eleven. After a recent poor run of form Dimitar Berbatov had a point to prove to his doubters and Fulham’s new Boss Rene Meulensteen was looking to put an end to a run of six straight losses for “The Lilywhites”. Both sides came out in attacking mode and Villa’s goalkeeper, Brad Guzan, was forced into action early, producing a fine save from a Berbatov header who then had a penalty appeal turned down following a weak challenge from Ciaran Clark. Not to be outdone, Benteke, who looked desperate for a goal, forced Maarten Stekelenberg to parry an effort away. The deadlock was broken in the 21st minute when former Villain Steve Sidwell squeezed in a fine effort following good work from Ashkan Dejagah. Fulham were now full of confidence and continued to press forward and the lead was doubled on 30 minutes when Alex Kacaniklic was brought down by Leandro Bacuna and the resulting penalty was nonchalantly dispatched by Berbatov. Following the re-start, Villa brought on Aleksandar Tonev for the disappointing Karim El Ahmadi, but Fulham continued to dominate the play with John-Arne Riise, Philippe Senderos and Scott Parker all stepping up to the plate and Riise was only denied when he sent a header crashing off the bar. Villa’s Chris Herd let the dominance of Fulham get to him with a reckless challenge that earned him a yellow card and manager Paul Lambert replaced him shortly afterwards, but Villa could just not break Fulham down and when the home supporters started chanting “How bad must you be, were winning at home” he knew it wasn’t going to be Villas day.
So this was a first win for Meulensteen, who was hugely respected when he was a member of the coaching staff at Old Trafford under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson and judging by today’s result, he might just be the man to turn Fulham’s season around. Todays result showed what confidence can do to a side – Fulham bossed the play but on the flip side Aston Villa looked devoid of ideas, hitting long balls to the out of sorts Benteke.
Bonus points: Sidwell (3) Riether (2) Berbatov & Senderos (1)
Arsenal 1-1 Everton
Next up was a trip to The Emirates as the league leaders entertained an Everton side who have been playing well under Roberto Martinez. Both sides had their young England midfield stars on display, namely Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley and both sets of players set about with a determination to take the three points. The first half was a frantic, high tempo battle. The Toffees started at pace with attacking moves down each flank with Seamus Coleman and Brian Oviedo testing the Gunners defence. Arsenal were sharp with their passing, aware that a win would take them seven points clear of their rivals. To their credit Everton were not in awe of their opponents and Kevin Mirallas fired high after great work from Barkley. It was Arsenal though that had some of the best chances of the half, Santi Cazorla played in a lovely driven cross for Kieran Gibbs which the Arsenal man just failed to connect with and Tim Howard produced two great saves at the feet of Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey. The second half was a feisty affair and Referee Howard Webb had to be on his toes. Everton’s James McCarthy went into the book following a high challenge on Ramsey and will miss GW16 through suspension. Arsene Wenger decided to ring in the changes on 67 minutes in an effort to win the game, when a triple substitution saw the arrival of Mathieu Flamini, Thomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott for Cazorla, Ramsey and Wilshere. Everton responded with the arrival of Leon Osman for Steven Pienaar and Gerard Deulofeu for Miralles. It was the Gunners though that struck first in the 80th minute when Mesut Ozil converted a Walcott assist, but just four minutes later Romelu Lukaku was adjudged to have got the slightest touch to an Oviedo cross and the ball ran onto Deulofeu, who was on hand to smash it into the net. The final few minutes were frantic and Olivier Giroud nearly won it for the Gunners with a rasping 30 yard effort that had Tim Howard well beaten, but not the crossbar. All in all this was a fantastic game of football and both sides will surely look back at it and agree that a draw was a fair result.
Predicted Bonus points: Ozil (3) Deulofeu (2) Jagielka (1), Distin (1), Oviedo (1)
This article was written by Eddy
Hey guys!
Please help me with transfers for next week. My team is:
Mignolet Vorm
Lovren Zabaleta Coleman Dawson Gabbidon
Whittingham R.Morrison Ozil Oscar Ramsey
Lukaku Aguero Suarez
2 FT and 0.2 in the bank.
Thanks :bounce:
Veer
How about doing what I plan and getting Mirallas in? Would look to have to be Oscar to make way
I don’t want to triple up on Everton or not have any Chelsea coverage! Thanks for your help though. Can somebody suggest two transfers to get in united coverage and still have some Chelsea coverage?
Veer
My opinion for what it is worth, is that only RVP or Rooney are worth having. The rest are too inconsistent and the defense isn’t keeping clean sheets.
The only one for his attacking prowess would be Evra but Zab might need to go to get him in.
And of those two, one is too expensive and gets injured too much…
Marshall (Boruc)
Coleman Fonte Gabbidon (Pieters Brayford)
Lallana Özil Hazard Ramsey (Morrison)
Suarez Agüero Giroud
2 FT, £0 Bank and I’ve been thinking:
Giroud -> Lukaku ?
Coleman -> Zabaleta ?
Any suggestions?
Cliffy
Leave Coleman well alone is my advice. Everton have some excellent fixtures ahead. Considering that, your second transfer may well be a masterstroke. But time will tell.
I’d aim to get Brayford out for Chester.
I owned Lukaku for a good few weeks, before swapping him out. He has some good fixtures coming up too. I think it’s worth a punt.
No need to get rid of Coleman for Zab
Agree with you, I’m leaning more towards keeping him and he’s served me well plus has some good fixtures. Need to stop tinkering!
No need to get rid of Coleman for Zab
Right
Morning all, bought myself a mufc sledge, i’ve never gone downhill so fast. :big-lol:
Great stuff Elle – though if I’m honest I’m surprised you have the time for sledging – thought you’d be too busy celebrating your winning the league, given the rubbish I had to listen to Saturday afternoon from some of your fans !!!
Evening cookie, sorry avn’t replied been out all day, us win the league ? You must be joking, still some players short in the squad mate, people giving you jipp obviously don’t go the game + see whats going on, i said at the start of the season i’d be happy with a top 4 finish, think we are looking ok for that still, a lot depends on stevie + sturridges fitness, plus some tough games coming up.
This week my plan is to save my FT, so Im giving Cahill 1 last chance against Palace. Having said that, heres my preliminary GW 16 team:
Myhill (Boruc)
Coleman, Cahill Ridgewell (B.Turner, Rat)
Ozil, Hazard(c), Ramsey, Ravel (Lallana)
Aguero, Lukaku(vc), Suarez
HELP! Stuck with transfers!
Cech (Given)
Williams, B.Turner, Distin, (Olsson, Fonte)
Shelvey, Ramsey, Hazard, Toure (Bacuna)
Suarez, Aguero, Remy
0.1 in the bank and 2 FT. Thinking of maybe downgrading Remy to improve defence, maybe worth trying Rodriguez or even Chamakh?
Any thoughts?
Cheers
Whats wrong with that def? You can upgrade Given by going for Rodriguez or better yet downgrading Cech
Just struggling for points there lately haha! Who would you suggest instead of Cech? Thanks
as93
I would hold Cech for this weekend but after that I would change Cech and Given for Guzan and Myhill. They rotate perfectly and gives you lots of interesting options across your defense.
Brilliant, thanks!
Hey GP, just an observation but Myhill’s spot will be under threat with Fosters impending return. He has been a solid deputy and I’m sure Foster will need to fight for his spot but with the world cup just around the corner you can bet he’ll be gunning for it.
http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/west-bromwich-albion-fc/2013/12/06/west-broms-ben-foster-may-return-within-two-weeks/
Elmer
Thanks. I hadn’t picked up on this report – he could always upgrade him if he gets his place back – there is only 0.3M of a difference between them.
My point was that generally WBA and Aston Villa rotate perfectly so its whoever becomes or remains, the WBA No. 1.
Completely agree GP, nothing wrong with either. Since Boruc’s injury I’ve looked at overhauling my goalies as my other is Vorm who’s either not returned the points, benched or injured. For what it’s worth I chose to drop both in favour of Howard who has a scrumptious fixture list and Mcgregor who rotates nicely on his tricky ones pretty much till the end of the season. The only caveat being Howard bizarrely is on 4 yellows.