Benjani and Sibierski are at the top of the scoring charts while Ronaldo can’t even pick up an assist. He can however, help himself to a 3-match ban. It’s not going according to the script so far. Get my notes on Wednesday’s games here…

David Healy and Michael Chopra continued their fine starts to the season. Healy turned and fired Fulham’s equaliser against Bolton while Chopra volleyed Sunderland level at Birmingham. Both can be found at a budget price in most Fantasy Games and will doubtless be massively popular transfer targets prior to the weekend.

Benjani isn’t likely to prove as popular a target, although there’s no doubting his early season form. The Portsmouth striker buried his second goal of the season against United, despite starting the game out wide on the right. He looks set to keep his place in the Pompey lineup as they face Bolton at the weekend.

Wigan’s Sibierski got his second in two games and is another who has emerged as an early season bargain, particularly as he’s classed as a midfielder in most Fantasy games. The only consideration with him is that Henri Camara is now back to fitness and could threaten to break into the side in the next few weeks should Sibierski hit a dry spell.

The bigger names didn’t fair quite so well. Tevez earned an assist on his debut but lacked the sharpness to capatilise on a few chances tonight and, understandably, began to tire late on. Yakubu was reportedly non-existant for Boro against Wigan and clearly seems distracted by all the transfer talk. Bolton produced few clear cut chances, although Anelka was denied a second goal of the season by a smart Warner save against Fulham. It was left to Drogba to fly the flag for the big name forwards, showing his class in his first start of the season, cracking Chelsea’s winner.

As predicted there were few clean sheets about with only Man City and Wigan managing shut-outs. That’s two clean sheets in a row for Sven’s defenders and their appeal as transfer targets will only be limited by the fact that they face United at the weekend, but, given the injury to Rooney and Ronaldo’s suspension, that may not be such a negative.

Chelsea’s indecision on set-pieces without Terry was there for all to see as Reading took the lead through Bikey. That particular symptom should be cured if Terry returns to their lineup at Liverpool as expected.

Team news wise tonight it was interesting that Sidwell got the nod over Mikel in the Chelsea side following Essien’s absence through injury. He actually played beyond Lampard, pushing up on Drogba and Kalou. However, significantly Sidwell was replaced by Mikel in one of two substitutions made at half-time, pushing Lampard further forward which proved the catalyst for Chelsea’s second-half revival.

Derby manager Billy Davies clearly fancies Craig Fagan over new signing Robert Earnshaw with Fagan offering the option for him to play a 4-5-1. It could be then that Earnshaw is destined for appearances from the subs bench, something he suffered previously in the Premiership with West Brom.

Looking at the possible absences as a result of tonight’s games. There is Ronaldo who, as I posted earlier, is now banned for the next 3-games following his red against Portsmouth. In the same match Muntari gained a red for 2 bookings and so will miss Portsmouth’s game against Bolton at the weekend. Reading’s Kalifa Cisse also got two yellows against Chelsea and will miss this weekend’s game against Everton.

Injury wise, Reading’s Duberry went off early in the first-half with a groin strain and must be a doubt for the weekend. In the same match, Carvalho had to be replaced after half an hour with a knee injury and seems likely to miss the Liverpool game.

Carlos Edwards had to be removed for Sunderland against Birmingham, leaving them with 10 men on the field. He suffered a hamstring injury after a magnificent run and cross which began from his own half, leading to John hitting the bar. Edwards must therefore be a major doubt for the game at Wigan which is a big blow for Sunderland given that he was their star performer on the night.

Noe Pamarot also picked up knock for Portsmouth in the game against United. Stewart Downing appeared to twist a knee in the game at Wigan but completed the 90-minutes. He could be sore approaching the weekeend game at Fulham though so his situation is worth monitoring.

As always, I’ll have updates on all these injuries with team news for the weekend’s matches in the next 24 hours.

Finally, outside of tonight’s Premiership games it was interseting to see that Hleb hit his second goal of the season, from his new role just behind Van Persie, as Arsenal beat Sparta 2-0 in their Champions League qualifier. Could Hleb provide a stop-gap option for those looking to replace Ronaldo over the next 3-weeks?