An extraordinary day that could well shape the destination of the Premier League could also have been one of sheer frustration and disappointment for Fantasy Managers. It didn’t quite turn out that way, despite the best efforts of Arsene Wenger and Carlo Ancelotti…
The early kick-off at Old Trafford began with the news that Didier Drogba had been left on the bench by Carlo Ancelotti. Bench-warming duty wasn’t enough to stop the Ivorian continuing his astonishing run of goals and maintaining his status as an essential purchase up front whilst Rooney keeps his ankle propped up amongst the corporate boxes amongst the prawn sandwiches. Drogba emerged from the bench to notch Chelsea’s second to the audible relief of his owners and investors, although the cries of “offside” almost drowned them out.
It was similar story at the Emirates where Wenger shuffled his pack in advance of Tuesday’s Champions League second leg in Spain, resting the much-fancied Samir Nasri and leaving Nicklas Bendtner on the bench, along with a good number of Fantasy Premier League armband hopes. Not to be denied though, Bendtner sprung from the timber and got his often inflated head on the end of a Sagna delivery right at the death. Game very much still on in the title race then.
This tale of two strikers is nothing compared to the day that Darren Bent kind of enjoyed. Opening the scoring in the first minute against his former club, Bent then went on to seal a brace but missed a pair of penalties in the process. His owners went home with just six points then (with FPL bonus to come) while Gomes in the Spurs goal can be most satisfied with his 12 point haul, despite being on the end of a 3-1 defeat.
Defences have very much been on top so far, with the stubborn Stoke defence recording a third clean sheet in four games against lowly Hull and Blackburn coming away from Fratton Park with a second consecutive shut-out on the road. Even the Villa defence, smarting from the seven goal drubbing at the Bridge last weekend, kept Bolton at bay at the Reebok.
As this is typed City are preparing to take on Burnley at Turf Moor with a good deal of FPL managers looking to Carlos Tevez to turn a rather meagre gameweek, into a semi-spectacular one. I’m still going for a 1-0 Burnley. Enjoy the game -as ever, the Dugout Discussion remains ticking away right here.
*edit* I really must stop predicting scores