Aston Villa 0-3 Man Utd
Man Utd were dealt a huge blow midweek with the news that Robin van Persie would be side-lined for about a month with a thigh injury. Aston Villa were without the influential Fabien Delph who was serving a one game suspension and the Villains were hoping to end their abysmal home run against Utd, their last league win against Utd was 18 years ago. Sadly for Villa after just 18 minutes of play they found themselves two nil down thanks to Danny Welbeck. The first came after Adnan Januzaj had hit the post and Welbeck was first on hand to slot home, the second came three minutes later following great work from Antonio Valencia down the right who produced a pinpoint cross into the path of Welbeck to convert. Man Utd keep up the pressure in the first half and both Welbeck and Wayne Rooney came close to increasing the lead. Villa on the other hand failed to test David de Gea. The second half was a feisty affair, de Gea and Gabriel Agbonlahor had a handbags moment shortly after the re-start which resulted in both being booked. Agbonlahor will therefore miss Villas next fixture away at Stoke. Utd kept up the pressure and were rewarded on 52 minutes when Tom Cleverley (yes that is correct!) finished off a Wayne Rooney assist to make it three nil. Mathew Lowton was the next name in the referee’s book when he caught Januzaj and shortly afterwards Utd supporters rose in unison to welcome the return of Darren Fletcher following serious illness. Rooney was unfortunate when he found himself clean through only for the referee to bring play back following more handbags by Welbeck and Nathan Baker. The remainder of the match just petered out with no more clear cut chances, Villas Ciaran Clark was booked and Christian Benteke was missing in action again and is clearly short of confidence. Man Utd will take some positives from this result, three crucial points, a comfortable win and signs that when they attack down the flanks the Red Devils can be a handful, Villa though will be very concerned with their poor run of form.
Bonus points: Welbeck (3) Cleverley (2) Jones & Valencia (1)
Norwich 1-1 Swansea
This intriguing encounter at Carrow Road saw Swansea without the industrious Chico Flores who was suspended and the home side were without their influential midfield pair of Robert Snodgrass and Anthony Pilkington due to injury. Fantasy managers were hoping this game would be as action-packed as the previous six meetings which have produced 25 goals and the signs at first were promising when Nathan Dyer put Swansea ahead on 12 minutes following a great passage of play from Ashley Williams. Michu should have doubled the lead but took a wild stab and saw his effort sail over the bar. The turning point in the first half came shortly after Dyer was stretchered off the field with a nasty ankle injury, when deep into stoppage time Johan Elmander found Gary Hooper and the former Celtic Forward unleashed a 25 yard volley that gave Michel Vorm no chance. The second half was a messy affair, Swansea were frustrated by The Canaries and picked up silly yellow cards, Angel Rangel, Michel Vorm and Jose Canas were all booked by the referee. Hooper was denied late on following great work by Leroy Fer and Michael Turner headed against the bar. Norwich will be disappointed not to have taken all three points, they were denied by the woodwork and outstanding goalkeeping by Vorm.
Bonus points: Hooper (3) Dyer & Williams (2)
Tottenham 0-5 Liverpool
Sundays stand out game was the visit of Liverpool to White Hart Lane who had their captain Steven Gerrard missing due to injury. Spurs had enjoyed a small run of form but have won only one of their last five home league matches. The first 45 minutes showed a side to Liverpool that has been lacking away from Anfield. They were relentless at times against Spurs, Phillipe Coutinho had a great chance after just 2 minutes following good work from Liverpool’s Stand in Captain Luis Suarez but the Brazilian scuffed his shot. Liverpools passing was played at a high tempo and was slick and they broke through the Spurs defence on 18 minutes when, following a period of extended pressure, Michael Dawson lost possession to Jordan Henderson and his pass found Suarez who obliged with a brilliantly well placed finish. Liverpool now had the bit between their teeth and Coutinho saw an effort hit the crossbar and Spurs were then forced into an early substitution when Sandro retired injured. To compound his departure more sustained pressure from Liverpool saw Henderson calmly volleying into the goal for Liverpool’s second after an effort by Suarez had been saved. Just before the break Simon Mignolet was fortunate when an effort by Roberto Soldado was disallowed following a shoulder barge. The second half performance by Liverpool showcased their potential, and the result was devastating to Spurs. Goals from Jon Flanagan, Raheem Sterling and Suarez were no more than Liverpool deserved and Spurs’ job was made all the harder when Paulinho was red carded in the 63rd minute for a foul on Suarez. The standout performance has to go to Suarez, 2 goals and three assists says it all, the home fans had long gone as the sound of You’ll Never Walk Alone reverberated around White Hart Lane. The result moves The Reds up to 2nd place, just 2 points off top spot. Sensational!
Bonus points: Suarez (3) Henderson (2) Flanagan (1)
This article was written by Eddy
Guys now that GERRARD out what about a punt on Henderson did really well against Tottenham but there fixtures look really bad is everyone going (c)SURAEZ away to City & Chelsea ?
depends who everyone else has. rooney has a couple of easy games, so if i transfer him in for sergio then ill probably capt him
Hey fellas quick help for Swiss Chocks. He wants to know if a 4 point hit is worth it. Dropping Kun to Negredo and upgrading Amalf to Silva, problem is he has Nasri already?
Here is his team
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/entry/363096/event-history/16/
No point taking a 4 point hit for that and it’s a Bit risky mito IMO, especially this time of the season with 3 from one club.
Mito – Not for me,Aguero > Negredo/Rooney & Amalfitano > Walcott next week is better i think,his squad is good enough so he can avoid the hit in my opinion.
Mito – While you’re there mate,do you have the figures for the projected rank drop for a -4,i’m at 93k overall so say 100k rank to make it easier,i’m thinking about 8k..??
@NiN think more about 11k spots dropped if you are lucky. This is the first page where 984 score shows up > http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/303/standings/?ls-page=2079
if you are extremely lucky you will be placed 103930 like this guy, but you could also be placed 107212 the tail end of the 984 scores like this guy > http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/303/standings/?ls-page=2145
This what I hate about the overall, you could have the same score and be ranked 4000 spots lower. So anywhere from 103912-107212 you would start the GW. So if we give you a middle of the road landing spot like 105k, you would lose about 12k for a 4 point hit.
Mito – Thanks mate,much appreciated,that’s a little more than i expected but not bad either,i’ve taken the hit already and i think i can handle that drop,providing Walcott does the business of course,i fancy Arsenal to do Chelsea though so it’s all good..i hope!!
I agree. Is not like Nasri and Silva are Bale and Walcott. They are steady stream of points but neither tends to be explosive, where you could not avoid a hit. Like Eddy said, a bit too risky. I rather go sideways from Nasri to Silva for free at some point and Amalfi to Theo like you said.
Magic advice. Many thanks. My cunning plan is thus: Aguero > Negredo (GW17 which frees up some cash). Amalfitano > Walcott (GW18). If all goes well Nasri > Silva (GW19).
SwissChocks – The word ‘ideal’ springs to mind..these moves sound bang on to me.
Pottys Lunchtime..
So catching up on things.
Great article Eddy.
Potty
Cheers Potty lad
and aguero has gone from orange to red
Good afternoon all , how was everyone game-weeks ? i just i to congratulate these teams that have secured qualification into the next years Shield with a game-week to spare, Shield to start on January 11th 2014, So well done to Cookie’s Monsters, Arsene’s Boys, Park Bench Exports (Premier), Gallowgators, James 101, (Championship), Monty (Caz Daz), CFC(Awesome), Powerful Potty Fc, we love manchester (league 1) 4th Place Trophy (league 2)
Best of luck all
Bench
Howdy Bench – I faired decently,77 after my hit,Lukaku(c) didn’t help haha,how’d you get on??
I kicking myself as was going DDG, Turner, for Boruc, Chico for a 4 point hit , but changed my mind at last minute and when Ruddy for Boruc and lost my h2h by 2
Bench – Bleh..that’s shit,just 2 points haha that’s sick..what score did you finish up with?
a very average 66 with Ramsey & Januzaj on my bench
Bench – One of those weeks man..pants,still a respectable score though
Hi all,
Loving the new site, great job by all envolved to get it up and running and great to have all the articles back.
So Aguero is out for at least a month so he has to go right ?
Question is, is it a straight swap like for like or time to downgrade and use money to upgrade elsewhere ?
If anyone could advise me on my team it would be most appreciated.
Mignolet, Davies
Mertesacker, Azpilicueta, Turner (Cardiff) Davies (hull) Bardsley,
Hazard, Silva, Ramsey, Morrison (w ham) Brady,
Aggy, Bitey, Shrek.
Team should be linked so thanks in advance.
Hi Bongo,
Glad to hear that you like the new site…now hopefully we can be of some help to you
In your situation no matter who you bring in you are going to free up some cash, as you already have Rooney & Suarez. Imo the obvious candidates for you to bring in are either Lukaku or Negredo. You currently have no Everton coverage so my suggestion would be Lukaku. This will free up a significant amount of cash allowing you to replace either Morrison or Brady.
Hi Kop, thanks for the reply :thumbup:
Sound advice mate, your suggestions were the exact same transfers I had in mind
My funds would allow Lukaku and a £8.4m mid to replace Aggy/Brady or if I brought in Negredo I could have Mirallas and 0.5m spare, still giving me Everton coverage and with Deulofeu injured should see Mirallas playing a forward role…
Decisions decisions…
Thanks again, and good luck with your season