Wayne Rooney returns as United edge past Newcastle at Old Trafford. Papiss Cisse and Olivier Giroud open their accounts for the season for Newcastle and Arsenal respectively. Liam Ridgewell limps off early in West Brom’s home clash with Liverpool, while Jam Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson are amongst the goals for Tottenham as Andre Villas-Boas racks up a third straight win…
Man United 2 Newcastle 1
United welcomed back Wayne Rooney for the visit of Newcastle last night. The forward was afforded 76 minutes by Sir Alex Ferguson before making way for Nick Powell and his return hands Fantasy managers a further headache ahead of next weekend. On Tuesday night, Carlos Tevez played 120 minutes for City – now Rooney is back and vying with Shinji Kagawa and Robin Van Persie for a starting role for Saturday evening’s home showdown with Spurs. All of a sudden, the Tevez-Van Persie front pairing is under real pressure and with both Sergio Aguero and Rooney currently sitting with under 6% ownership in FPL, the latter two look very enticing differentials as we look to freshen up our 15-man squads.
At the back, David De Gea and Alexander Buttner were handed starts, while the like of Javier Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverley and Anderson all figured in Ferguson’s XI. Anderson and Cleverley got the goals, Fletcher and Welbeck provided the assists.
Fergurson reserved a special mention for both Rooney and Fletcher in his post-match comments…
“Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher were excellent – Wayne understandably tired a little towards the end but that was to be expected. I’m really pleased for the both of them. They have all done really well. Some of them tired but that was understandable as it was a first game for some of them.”
Rooney, himself, was also relieved to be back in action…
“It’s just over four weeks now since I last played and I’m delighted to have the time on the pitch. It’s always difficult, your first game back after a few weeks out, but it’s great for me to get the minutes under my belt and hopefully that will benefit me. It was a good run out for me and I’m obviously delighted. Hopefully there’s a lot more games to come.”
For the visitors, Fabricio Coloccini made a welcome return to the heart of defence – the skipper has only played two league games this term due to a hamstring problem. Cheick Tiote started at Old Trafford, having climbed off at the bench at the weekend to end his own injury worries, while Alan Pardew gave the likes of Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa the night off ahead of the weekend visit to Reading. Papiss Cisse came on as a sub after 60 minutes and finally broke his scoring duck for the season – he nabbed his side’s consolation and also hit the bar with an overhead kick in a display that suggested his confidence may be slowly returning. After the game, Pardew talked up his forward’s display:
“Trust me, that goal was everything for him. You could see after he got it, his feathers went up. That exuberance came back to his game and I thought the overhead kick was in. It was a brilliant effort and that just sums him up. People keep telling me that Demba and Papiss never score at the same time – well they both scored this week, so we will take them both to Reading and see how they get on.”
Arsenal 6 Coventry 1
With the weekend game against Chelsea in mind, Arsene Wenger made 11 changes from the side that drew at City on Sunday. Olivier Giroud was handed the chance to lead the line, while Theo Walcott, Andrei Arshavin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all featured from the start. The quartet were the main protagonists in a one-sided encounter – Giroud finally broke his scoring duck for the Gunners and also chipped in with an assist, in addition to missing a penalty. Arshavin also grabbed a goal and assist, while Oxlade-Chamberlain scored once and Walcott twice as Wenger’s side romped into the fourth round.
Post-match, the Arsenal boss spoke about Walcott’s statement earlier in the week. The winger is intent on nailing down the central striking role and his manager admitted he will get his chance – just not yet, though.
“I am not against it, not at all. We will try. At the moment we have a big competition up front, we have a different formula and the team is doing well. His time will come for that and at the moment we have to be a bit patient. He is a great finisher now, Walcott, in front of goal he is absolutely amazing.”
Carlisle 0 Tottenham 3
Andre Villas-Boas rested the majority of his regulars for the trip to Carlisle. The Spurs boss made eight changes from the side that saw off QPR on Sunday, with only Jan Vertonghen, Clint Dempsey and Gylfi Sigurdsson keeping their places. Sigurdsson produced a goal and assist as the visitors won for the third match in a row, while Vertonghen’s threat from the back finally came to the fore as he grabbed Spurs’ opener to notch his first goal for the London outfit since arriving from Ajax this summer. Andros Townsend was the other scorer, with a superb run and long-range strike, while Kyle Walker climbed off the bench to supply the assist for Sigurdsson’s late third.
QPR 2 Reading 3
Mark Hughes rolled out a strong-looking side for the visit of Reading. With the out of sorts Londoners in need of a confidence boost, the likes of Julio Cesar, Esteban Granero, Stephane M’Bia, Ji-Sung Park, Djibril Cisse and Junior Hoilett all started – a sign of their manager’s intent. The latter two grabbed the goals for QPR, with Park supplying the assist for Hoilett’s early opener but despite going ahead twice, the hosts defensive failings came to the fore yet again; a worrying sign ahead of Monday night’s Loftus Road derby with West Ham. Hughes will also be concerned about the fitness of midfielder Ale Faurlin, he was withdrawn with a knock on 88 minutes, with Hughes playing down the injury post-match…
“Ale took a knock but it is nothing serious, we had to take him off as a precaution.”
Brian McDermott made seven changes from the side that lost narrowly at West Brom last weekend. Alex McCarthy remained in goal, while Nicky Shorey, Kaspars Gorkss and Pavel Pogrebnyak also kept their places. The latter three all had a major part in the 3-2 triumph. Shorey provided the assist for Gorkss to nod home and also rifled home a long-range free-kick to square matters at 2-2 with quarter of an hour remaining, while Pogrebnyak bagged the winner five minutes later to give the visitors a real shot in the arm ahead of Newcastle’s visit on Saturday. The game also saw Jimmy Kebe make his first appearance of the season for the visitors; the winger shrugged off a hamstring injury and was handed 69 minutes before making way for Garath McCleary. Brian McDermott reserved special praise for the returning winger in his post-match comments…
“Nicky’s goal was terrific, Sean Morrison’s block on Cisse’s shot at the end was one of the highlights of the night, Jimmy Kebe was exceptional for our team tonight – it was great to have him back.”
Norwich 1 Doncaster 0
Grant Holt returned for the hosts after warming the bench at Newcastle on Sunday. Indeed, Chris Hughton made 11 changes from the Magpies loss, with the likes of on-loan Harry Kane and Jacob Butterfield earning their first starts. It was another debutant who stole the show, however; Alex Tettey grabbed the only goal of the game for the Canaries, with Kane supplying the assist. The latter is a worry for Hughton ahead of Liverpool’s weekend visit, though; he was stretchered off with a foot problem and is set to be assessed. Chris Hughton brought us this on Kane’s injury…
“We’ll find out on Thursday about Harry Kane. It’s always concerning when somebody goes over, but we’re hoping it’s good news. It was a problem with his foot, he felt a pain in it and we hope it’s not too bad.”
West Brom 1 Liverpool 2
Steve Clarke made just one change to his back-four and kept Ben Foster in goal, while Romelu Lukaku led the line again for West Brom. Liam Ridgewell was in the headlines for the hosts. The left-back provided the assist for his side’s opener after his free-kick was dropped by Liverpool keeper Brad Jones, allowing Gabriel Tamas to slot home, but he lasted just 20 minutes before being subbed off for Craig Dawson – a real worry for his Fantasy owners ahead of the upcoming clashes with Villa and QPR. Steve Clarke had this to say on the Ridgewell setback after last night’s game…
“I’ve not had an in-depth analysis of Liam’s injury. He felt something on his calf and he went off. That left us a little bit short in the full-back areas because Reid and Popov were out. It would be a blow to lose Liam because he’s played every game for us and he’s one of the steady players in the team. It would be disappointing for Liam to miss the Villa game – and it would certainly be disappointing for us as well.”
With his side sitting in the bottom three ahead of a trip to Norwich, Brendan Rodgers took no chances with his regulars and made 11 changes for the Hawthorns clash. New boy Oussama Assaidi made his debut for the Reds, while the likes of Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson, Sebastien Coates and Jamie Carragher all started.
It was Nuri Sahin who was the star of the show for the cup holders; the Turkish midfielder scored both the Reds’ goals, though his opener was somewhat fortuitous after Foster fumbled a speculative effort from distance. With Jay Spearing suspended for the Carrow Road clash, Sahin’s display certainly puts him in the driving seat for a central midfield berth on Saturday – it will be intriguing to see whether Rodgers keeps Steven Gerrard in his recent deeper position if Sahin comes in, though the likely scenario will see the Liverpool skipper moved to a more attacking role once again. If Sahin is handed the advanced slot in the 4-3-3, though, he could be an intriguing differential, with home clashes against Stoke and Reading to follow. Not surprisingly, Rodgers was full of praise for Sahin in his post-match comments…
“He’s still getting up to speed. It’s been difficult for him because he was out for a long time and he’s come here having missed a big part of pre-season. But he’s getting better. He has great football arrogance – he’s terrific on the ball. You can see in his first goal that he has got great technique and he is not frightened to shoot. And for the second goal, he showed that he can arrive in the box and get a goal.”
