Tottenham’s stunning victory in Milan riled Gennaro Gattuso to the point of head-butting a 59-year-old and completely overshadowed Newcastle’s fine 2-0 win at St Andrews. Well almost. European matches make lovely distractions but it’s events on a damp evening in Birmingham that really matter to us Fantasy Managers…

Jonas Gutierrez was undoubtedly the star performer on show. Picked out in our Scouting the Doubles article as a possible punt and subject of recent attention in our Members’ Numbers Game articles, the Argentinian came good with two superb assists which help to earn him 3 FPL Bonus Points for the first time this season.

Leon Best is beginning to emerge as an extremely viable third striker option. His fifth goal of the season saw him out-jump Birmingham’s Roger Johnson on the far post and was enough to earn him Bonus recognition. Best’s starting role in Alan Pardew’s lineup looks assured and at just 4.3, he looks a strong bench forward selection to free up cash elsewhere in our squads.

The Newcastle back four kept its second consecutive clean sheet having claimed a 0-0 at Ewood at the weekend. Their defence looked a shambles in the first-half against Arsenal but Pardew’s rearguard has suddenly discovered some resolve. The likes of Danny Simpson and Mike Williamson are offering value at the very bottom of the price scale, with Jose Enrique and Fabricio Coloccini also options for those looking for the chance of stronger attacking and Bonus returns.

The potential of Best of other Newcastle assets is improved markedly but a run of fixtures that has them face three of the next four at St James’ Park with Bolton, Everton and Wolves all presenting beatable opposition. A trip to Stoke slotted in at Gameweek 30 also offers opportunity for returns. The Magpies have lost just one of their last eight matches.

Alan Pardew kept faith with the same starting lineup that earned him a point a Blackburn. He does now have concerns on the fitness of striker Peter Lovenkrands however. The Dane opened the scoring in the first minute of last night’s encounter but suffered a thigh injury that forced him off on 77 minutes.

Alex McLeish also kept an unchanged side – with Obafemi Martins starting up front against his former club. He was replaced early in the second-half by Cameron Jerome, as the Nigerian again struggled to make an impact. McLeish is likely to rotate his options somewhat for the FA Cup tie at the weekend with the Carling Cup Final to follow. While Birmingham have a blank in Gameweek 28 then, they do face a double fixture against West Brom and Everton immediately after. That is likely to see Fantasy Managers hold their Birmingham assets, although further investment in the likes of Ben Foster, Roger Johnson and Craig Gardner could be called into question following last night’s result.

Tottenham’s superb 1-0 victory in the San Siro set things up beautifully for the second-leg on March 9. That game follows the away trip to Wovles in Gameweek 29 which comes after the Spurs blank in Gameweek 28. Rest and rotation will be a concern then – particularly for owners of Rafael Van der Vaart. The Dutchman returned to action in last night’s victory and should play some part in the visit to Blackpool next Tuesday. Harry Redknapp does have options however and, with the Milan second-leg in mind, we may well see Van der Vaart and certainly Gareth Bale, kept in reserve with the likes of Niko Kranjcar and Roman Pavlyuchenko presenting options for the trip to Wolves. Redknapp will likely be forced into changes to his back four for the trip to Blackpool next week with Vedran Corluka leaving the San Siro on crutches last night following the “challenge” from Mathieu Flamini.

City’s 0-0 draw in Greece with Aris Salonika saw Edin Dzeko draw a blank and miss further opportunities to settle himself in sky blue. The Bosnian earned a recall to a strong City starting lineup with James Milner and Pablo Zabaleta making way for Dzeko and the return of Shaun Wright-Phillips. Roberto Mancini was quick to offer reassurance for his new striker and hinted that he is looking to give Dzeko time to form his partnership with Carlos Tevez…

“This was only the second time Tevez and Dzeko had played together and they need time to gel. They need more games together”

The appearance of Mario Balotelli from the bench however, indicates that Mancini now has options to rotate his troops up front and we can expect to see a few shuffles over City’s next few league games. City play their FA Cup tie with Notts County and the second leg with Aris before returning to Gameweek action against Fulham at Eastlands.