Torres and Gerrard draw a blank at home to a determined Stoke. Denilson stars as a fluid Arsenal sweep past a muscular Bolton at the Reebok. Elsewhere there are wins for Rovers, Sunderland and Zola’s Hammers as Di Michele fires a brace.

Here’s the note from yesterday’s games…

Sunderland 2 Middlesbrough 0

Keane kept an unchanged side following the decent performance at Wigan last weekend. Chopra returned from suspension and was on the bench along with Reid, Bardsley and Collins.

Southgate recalled Wheater to his defence with Hoyte and Riggott dropping to the bench. Taylor returned at left back with Pogatetz moving alongside Huth in central defence. More significantly, Southgate handed a start with Johnson, opting for a 4-5-1 with Mido up front. Alves dropped to the bench to make way but was then, brought into the side when Mido aggravated his groin injury in the warm-up.

The decision to drop Alves to the bench is an interesting one. Mido has flourished in recent weeks and, regardless of form, he is arguably more suited to a lone striker role. Southgate has been frustrated at Boro’s away form and it appears, a change in formation could be his proposed solution. That would appear to make Alves a real risk and further promote Mido in our thoughts – depending on his injury of course. It was thought to be a minor problem and the decision not to play him just a precaution.

Chopra’s goals in this one could make him a popular target but, given that Keane has plenty of options up front, he is only a very short term prospect. Sunderland players are rare amongst fantasy lineups and its doubtful whether that will change in the near future. They do seem to be tighter at the back with the introduction of Ferdinand and McCartney, so there could be some interest in their defence when fixtures look more favourable. In attacking terms, it’s likely that we’ll need to wait for Jones’ return and perhaps for Reid to make a return to favour before taking a look. It’s interesting that Reid earned a single FPL bonus point with just a 23 minute appearance as sub in this one.

For Boro their misery on the road continues and Downing is likely to be more miserable than anyone having skied a second consecutive penalty this season. The spot kick duties must surely be passed elsewhere now, reducing Downing’s likely output over the season. At the back meanwhile, it’s no clean sheet in five – Wheater’s stock is falling fast then – he needs a goal to avoid an avalanche of fantasy sales. Games against West Brom and Wigan could possibly offer some opportunity for improvement before they take on Chelsea.

Injuries and Bans
Mido aggravated a groin injury in the warm-up and was replaced in the initial lineup by Alves. Sunderland lost Tainio to a shoulder injury – he was replaced by Chopra at half time.

Blackburn 1 Fulham 0

Ince left Simpson at right back with Ooijer kept on the bench and he also gave a full debut to Treachy in midfield with Reid dropping out of the squad with an injury. Emerton shifted to central midfield to accommodate the change, while Pedersen started in the unfamiliar role on the right. He was later subbed just on the hour mark by Ince and looked none too happy – it’s been another frustrating season for him so far.

Hodgson kept an unchanged side after the win over Bolton last weekend. Andreasen did make a return to the bench however.

Ince won this with his substitutions – the introduction of Villanueva in particular, proving pivotal with his chipped ball helping to set up the goal. He looked lively on his Premiership debut and will surely push for a start next time out as Blackburn go to Newcastle. Villanueva is classed as a low-to-mid price midfield option and will certainly need to be monitored once he is established in the Rovers side.

Fulham were disappointing and are clearly still struggling for performances and results away from home – although it must be said that Robinson made some key saves in this one. Decent fixtures against West Ham, West Brom a Sunderland should be enough motivation for fantasy managers to consider their decent low-to-mid price options – Hangeland, Bullard and Zamora – in the coming weeks.

Liverpool 0 Stoke 0

Rafa had us worried for a while but started with both Torres and Gerrard in this one. He did make changes however – Keane returned up front, as did Alonso and Riera in midfield. Lucas, Mascherano and Babel all dropped to the bench. Dossena returned for the sidelined Aurellio at left back after being benched against United.

Pulis brought ex-Liverpool midfielder Salif Diao into his side, shifting Faye back into defence and dropping Cort to the bench. Surprisingly, Fuller also dropped to the bench with Sidibe’s extra height preferred up front.

Liverpool predictably dominated but the fact that they were left bemoaning Gerrard’s free kick goal, demonstrates that all is not well with the Anfield machine. The win against United last weekend hinted that they would kick on but its clear that Torres and Keane in particular, are struggling to get up to speed and settle so far this season. The blank for Torres here will no doubt see him sold en masse, as fantasy managers look to free the funds for Ronaldo. He will come good of course, but patience could be expensive with cheaper and in form options elsewhere.

As for Stoke, what can you say? None of the promoted sides are looking whipping boys but I for one, certainly didn’t see a clean sheet at Anfield as a possibility, given their goals conceded stat going into this one. Fixtures don’t get any easier for them – it’s Chelsea at home next, followed by a tricky trip to Portsmouth. After that, interest in their budget players may increase.

Injuries and Bans
Sonko picked up an injury for Stoke in the first half and was replaced by Cort.

West Ham 3 Newcastle 1

Zola handed Di Michele his full debut up front with Ashton sidelined. He also recalled Ethrington and Behrami to wide midfield roles – shifting Faubert back to right back and Lucas Neill to centre back. That meant that Davenport dropped to the bench – a major disappointment for fantasy managers who have looked to exploit his promising start to the season.

Hughton brought Cacapa and Duff back into the Newcastle lineup. Cacapa took up a holding midfield role, while Duff returned to a wide role with Ameobi dropping to the bench to make way.

West Ham appeared to employ a 4-3-2-1 formation with Faubert and Illunga pushing forward into midfield when on the attack. Despite this, owners of Faubert will be concerned that he could be fulfilling a right-back role, albeit an attacking one, from this point on.

Zola promised attacking football and he delivered and West Ham are now the leading scorers at home in the Premiership. That will doubtless attract some attention for the likes of Cole and Ashton once fit, although it will be interesting to see how Zola incorporates these two in his side given that Di Michele played himself firmly into the reckoning with a brace in this game. There is also Bellamy to consider eventually of course.

Newcastle’s defence hardly put up much resistance so we perhaps shouldn’t get too excited about West Ham’s attacking prospects on the back of this performance. The next three fixtures do offer great promise however – it’s Fulham, Bolton and Hull to come next.

Not a lot to say on Newcastle. Until a new boss is installed, their players are not options that many fantasy managers will want to explore.

Injuries and Bans
Scott Parker picked up an injury and was replaced by Mullins on 71 minutes. Carlton Cole picked up a knock late on and was replaced by Sears on 86 minutes.

Bolton 1 Arsenal 3

With Elmander still sidelined, Megson made just one change to the side that lost at Fulham, Smolarek coming in for McCann. He was employed on the right of Davies up front with Gardner again operating on the left in Matt Taylor’s absence. Joey O’Brien played in front of the back four with Nolan and Muamba in front of him.

Wenger rested Walcott as expected but perhaps not in the way we anticipated. Although Song came in for Denilson in the holding midfield role, Denilson switched to the right and Eboue occupied the left midfield position. Van Persie was also rested to the bench as suggested, with Bendtner coming in up front.

What’s worrying for fantasy managers is that Wenger’s changes paid off and actually contributed to the win. Bendtner scored and was more than effective up front, while Eboue scored his first goal for the club from a left midfield role. Denilson meanwhile, after a stuttering start, just looked comfortable drifting right across the midfield and notched a goal and an assist.

In a nutshell then, Wenger will have left this game with the notion that he has a lot of flexibility and options with the players he has which is lilkely to spell rotation trouble for us. Remember, the Reebok is not a ground he would normally take risks at – the fact that his rotation paid off will certainly give him the confidence to try it more regularly.

That puts Van Persie, Walcott, Nasri and perhaps even Adebayor under increased threat from rotation for the coming games. Would for example, Wenger contemplate playing Bendtner and Van Persie against Hull with the Champions League game with Porto on the Tuesday? It’s certainly a possibility – despite a decent showing by Adebayor in this game.

As for Denilson, he currently looks an outstanding option at his price across the fantasy games – he now stands on 3 assists and 2 goals so far this season. Fabregas in contrast, has struggled to get amongst the goals and assists in his 3 appearances since returning from injury. He has however, continued to be an FPL bonus point darling and has earned 2 bonus in each of his appearances so far.

Perhaps caution is still required on Denilson. The fact that Wenger brought Song into the holding role demonstrates that he knows he has an alternative to Denilson in that position. Then, in wider positions he has Nasri, Walcott and Eboue who would threaten a Denilson start. The 20-year-old looks a certain starter at this point but the threat of rotation could increase with one or two less effective appearances.

Injuries and Bans
Clichy was on the wrong end of strong challenge from Davies and was taken to hospital for an x-ray at half time. The x-rays revealed only bruising and no fracture.