A busy night of European action then with a decent amount of success for our beloved Premiership stars. A Jo double fires City to victory in Cyprus. Bent and Bentley on target as Spurs sneak their first leg. Castillo’s blast earns Everton a draw with Liege. Defoe on target again as Pompey send Vitoria packing.

Here’s my notes on tonight’s Euro goodness…

Man City got their UEFA Cup campaign off to a winning start against AC Omonia, thanks to a double strike from Jo. The Brazilian wasted several gilt-edged opportunities, including one blinder of a miss, prior to bringing City level in the second half before sealing a win. Wright-Phillips and Zabaleta provided the assists for his brace.

Hughes made two changes from the side that lost to Chelsea – Elano and Garrido came in with Hamann and Ball dropping to the bench. That latter move will worry a few fantasy bosses, with Ball a popular purchase in the City defence.

The City boss has already stressed that he is set to rotate his troops so it will be interesting to see how he shakes things up for the visit of Portsmouth. Ireland continues to command starts and was bright again tonight, despite missing chances. His fantasy star continues to rise then, although he must surely be one of those under threat of rotation given Hughes’ options.

Darren Bent headed Spurs ahead in their tie with Wisla Krakow after Ramos’ side had earlier gone ahead with a Bentley goal – a lead they held for just 47 seconds.

Ramos made a host of changes from the side that faced Villa. Gunter, King, Bentley, Jenas and Giovani all started with Modric sidelined through injury, while Corluka and Pavlyuchenko were cup-tied. Dawson and Huddlestone dropped to the bench. Ramos went with a 4-4-1-1 with Giovani employed just behind Bent up front.

No doubt Ramos will ring the changes again for Wigan’s visit on Sunday. Frazier Campbell could push for a start having come off the bench to provide a superb assist for Bent’s winner but he’ll face stiff competition. Pavlyuchenko and Corluka are both likely to be recalled, although Bentley will surely keep his place after impressing tonight, employed in his familiar role on the right of midfield. King’s glass legs seem unlikely to help him to two consecutive games, so Dawson should earn a recall at the back.

At Goodison, another Yakubu goal and a stunning strike from Castillo earned Everton a hard-fought draw at home to Standard Liege. A few points to note here – once again the Everton defence looked vulnerable with Lescott failing miserably to live up to his bloated fantasy price tag so far this term. Elsewhere, Arteta was once again the creative force – he appears to be blossoming this term and has emerged as the must-have mid-price midfield pick of late.

Moyes made just one change to the side that saw off Stoke at the weekend – Osman returned from injury to replace the cup-tied Fellaini in midfield. He went with a 4-5-1, with Anichebe out on the right of midfield again, although he shifted up front as Everton chased the game.

Anichebe picked up a knock on the night – suffering what looked like a nasty ankle injury which apparently looked “worse than it was”. Regardless, he seems unlikely to start at Hull at the weekend with Moyes likely to shift Cahill further up the field in support of Yakubu, with Fellaini returning in the 4-5-1.

Over at Fratton Park, Lassana Diarra boosted his rep with fantasy managers by scoring a stunning opener for Pompey in their home first leg with Vitoria Guimaraes. Diarra has caught the eye of late, earning FPL bonus in his last two Premiership matches. This was his first goal of the season which will promote him further in the minds of many fantasy bosses looking to free up funds.

Defoe scored the second for Redknapp’s side after earlier missing a penalty. His stock continues to rise then, and is likely to continue to do so with Portsmouth’s fixtures looking nice and cuddly over the coming weeks.

Nadir Belhadj and Armand Traore are also players that continue to catch the eye. They started together for the first time tonight as Harry went with 4-4-2, bringing in Utaka on the right and dropping Diop and Kaboul to the bench. Both Belhadj and Traore are available as cheap-ish defenders and yet both are bombing forward on the left of midfield. Traore started in the midfield role although Belhadj was outstanding and provided the assist for Defoe’s goal. If Harry continues with a 4-4-2 then one or both of these two are looking very strong picks.

In today’s earlier kick-off Villa struggled to see of Litex Lovich but managed a 3-1 win over the Bulgarians who were reduced to nine men in the second half. You’ll find more notes on this game here.