Scout Notes – Gameweek 36 – Wednesday

Chelsea and Tottenham share the spoils in a four goal thriller at the Bridge, with the hosts now two points clear of Arsenal in the race for third spot. With Gareth Bale, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard all drawing blanks, Oscar, Ramires and Emmanuel Adebayor plunder the points in the final match of double Gameweek 36:

Oscar in the Goals Again
The Brazilian headed into the double in the most attacking form of any Chelsea midfielder, with goals in each of his last two appearances prior to last weekend’s deadline. Oscar continued that form by grabbing the opener against Tottenham last night, taking his tally to three in his last four matches – compare that to Juan Mata, who has failed to score since Gameweek 25, and it’s obvious the Brazilian is flourishing within Rafa Benitez’s side. Oscar fully justified his selection as headline act in last week’s Spot the Differential article and, having remained in the shadow of Mata and Eden Hazard for much of the season, could benefit from a kindlier price in next season’s Fantasy games. If he continues in the same vein, Oscar looks a hugely promising option for the 2013/14 campaign.

Hazard’s owners were left frustrated last night after the Belgian produced a blank at the Bridge. Back in the side after recovering from the calf complaint that forced him out of Sunday’s win at Old Trafford, he lasted 72 minutes before being withdrawn. After the match, Benitez revealed the winger had “a small injury” but should be okay for the weekend trip to Villa – many will be contemplating a transfer out, though, with Benitez perhaps unlikely to risk the Belgian ahead of the Wednesday’s Europa League final with Benfica.

Benitez Hints at Weekend Rotation
In a week where Roberto Mancini’s eight alterations for City hit Fantasy plans hard, Rafa Benitez was an unlikely ally last night. Surprisingly, the Chelsea boss made just three changes to the side that got the better of United on Sunday, with fit-again Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres and Gary Cahill replacing Victor Moses, Demba Ba and Frank Lampard. The latter’s omission allowed David Luiz to return to central midfield, with Cahill partnering Branislav Ivanovic at centre-half in a Gameweek that intriguingly saw Benitez fail to hand John Terry a single minute’s action.

We’d highlighted Ramires as a “Cheeky Punt” in last week’s Scouting the Doubles mainly due to his security of starts and he vindicated our belief by grabbing his fifth of the season – he has now started 14 of the last 16 under Benitez, as good as it gets in terms of being classified a regular under the interim manager. More frustratingly for those holding City’s main assets, the draw leaves Chelsea six points behind Mancini’s men with just two games to go – given that City have a trip to Reading and home game against Norwich to see out the season, the likes of Sergio Aguero and David Silva could well be subject to rest and rotation over the last couple of games if Mancini looks to hand some fringe players game time.

After last night’s game, however, Benitez suggested that he could be set to make changes for Saturday lunchtime’s trip to Villa. With the clash four days before the Benfica showdown, the Spaniard conceded:

“We didn’t have the legs, we had some players tired and we had a problem with the full-backs going forward so we had to control them but in the middle also they had too many bodies, people that could hold the ball…We are managing the squad quite well but the tempo was too high so we needed to work hard and we were working hard in the first half but if we can manage with different players we will be fine. We have to think about winning the next game and being ready for the final. We have to manage players, manage the squad and find the balance.”

Rare Blank for Bale
A run of four successive double figure hauls came to an end last night as the Welshman suffered a rare off day. With Gylfi Sigurdsson and Lewis Holtby producing the points from midfield instead with a goal and assist respectively, Andre Villas-Boas went toe to toe with his former club and left with a draw in spite of a lack of input from his talisman. Bale now has a trip to Stoke on his agenda this weekend and with a home game against Sunderland on the final day of the season, he still has a chance of finishing the campaign as top scoring FPL player – a Gameweek 36 total of 12 points means he is just nine points behind Robin Van Persie at the top of the overall standings.

Adebayor the Tottenham Hero
Having missed the Gameweek 35 trip to Wigan through injury, the Togo international was overlooked last week as over 44,000 Fantasy managers turned to Jermain Defoe instead. After emerging from the bench to notch a superb goal in the Gameweek 34 win over City, there was a suggestion that Defoe could finally oust Adebayor from the lone forward role – two back-to-back 90 minute appearances prior to last night boded well but he was back on the bench last night as Adebayor stepped up to produce. The former Arsenal and City star grabbed a goal and assist for the second time in his last three starts and is finally starting to settle in a season that has proved a huge let down after last year’s exploits on loan at the club. Certainly, his starting price across the Fantasy games is likely to be kind next summer given this term’s struggles and, if can nail down a starting berth, Adebayor could be worth our consideration once again, with Bale likely to be slapped with a significant price hike for the north London outfit.