Tottenham’s form transforms Darren Bent to a fantasy hot property. City and Villa’s form leave Young and Wright-Philips in the wilderness. Fantasy football is a fickle game. Here’s the notes from Sunday’s Premiership capers…
The Lineups
Starting at Ewood Park and there were no major surprises in either lineup. Ince went with a 4-5-1 as expected, with Roberts leading the line and Villaneuva playing in support just behind. Olsson once agian started at left back with Warnock in a midfield role. Pedersen also came into the midfield to replace the injured Emerton. One slight surprise in the Blackburn lineup saw Khizanishvili come in alongside Nelson as Samba dropped to the bench.
There was no sign of Drogba in Scolari’s squad, despite the media expectation that he would start this one. Ashley Cole remained sidelined so Bridge started at left back, while Joe Cole missed out through a hamstring injury sustained at Roma on Tuesday. Kalou came into the eleven then. Alex remained in the back four – he’s probably got a couple more games in him before Carvalho makes his return from injury.
O’Neill made a host of changes from the side that took to the field in the UEFA Cup on Thursday. Friedel, Laursen, Barry, Milner and Reo-Coker all made returns to the starting lineup. Davies and Sidwell retained their places however as Cuellar remained at right back with Luke Young out of the squad. Carew failed a fitness test before the game and missed out.
Southgate, in contrast, was conservative with his changes, although Hoyte started as expected, with Wheater benched. Mido missed out with his troublesome groin.
Over at Eastlands, City boss Hughes kept Benjani in his starting lineup with Jo left on the bench. Kompany missed out through suspension so Fernandes kept his place in midfield. Garrido started at left back once again – a relief for his owners, although given City’s defensive fragility right now, it’s hardly a major bonus.
Redknapp restored Corluka to right back after he was cup-tied in midweek. Hutton dropped out then. Jenas recovered from his toe injury to take a place in midfield with Lennon making way, while King came in alongside Woodgate in defence. Assou-Ekotto also made a return to the back four with Bale and Dawson both suspended.
No major lineup changes of note at the Cottage – Fulham kept the same eleven for the fifth game running. Kinnear lost Taylor to a groin injury in the week so Cacapa came into the defence.
The Form
For the second time in a week, it’s the name of Darren Bent that will be foremost in the minds of fantasy managers. His two goals at City today were yet more evidence that the striker is in the form of his life right now – he has hit seven goals in the last five games for Spurs.
His form has coincided with the revival under Redknapp of course, and, looking forward, he appears to have the kind of fixtures to help him grow his goal tally and fantasy reputation still further. Pavlyuchenko is a threat to his starting role, but, in his current form, Bent is surely assured of starts. Spurs visit Fulham next weekend, which won’t be easy against their tight defence. After that however, their schedule looks very kind aside from the home game with United in gameweek 17.
Expect massive interest in the former Charlton striker – and a couple of price rises in the FPL. The likes of Modric and Bentley also look likely to get plenty of attention. As I’ve mentioned before, both look established in the Spurs lineup and with the defence still conceding goals, Spurs will remain an attacking side and regular points from Bentley and Modric should be on the cards.
It’s very close run thing between the two with Bentley perhaps the more reliable investment, although Modric has the potential to catch fire – particularly when it comes to FPL bonus. The Croatian is playing just behind the striker and is beginning to have a marked influence on games. He had a couple of good efforts on goal at City and was very instrumental in the UEFA Cup win against his compatriots Dinamo Zagreb last Thursday.
Modric is slightly cheaper than Bentley in the FPL at 6.9 compared to Bentley’s 7.2 (and very soon 7.3). Despite Bentley’s dominance at set pieces, if Redknapp keeps faith with one up top with Modric in support, I’d go for the Croatian, particularly if you can use the price differential to benefit the rest of your squad.
Chelsea’s form on the road continues to flourish. It’s six wins out of six and a staggering fourteen goals scored and just one conceded. It was an eighth clean sheet of the season today then with Bosingwa also contributing an assist for his owners.
Along with Liverpool, Chelsea are pulling away in defensive terms and with West Brom, Newcastle and Bolton in three of the next four, you can only see that continuing. The rest of the Premiership is now lagging well behind in this department with just Wigan, Stoke and Bolton recording clean sheets this weekend. Finding mid-price or budget clean sheets is looking increasingly difficult then, making at least one Chelsea and Liverpool defender essential over the month ahead.
In attacking terms, Lampard continued his strong season with an assist for Anelka’s second goal. He’s now returned either a goal or an assist in six of his last seven games. A record that is pushing Ronaldo all the way in terms of consistency for the FPL captain role.
Team-mate Anelka is now the Premiership’s top scorer – moving on to ten goals for the season. That’s bound to see further interest in the striker, although the threat of Drogba appears to offer enough uncertainty in the mid-term to question his potential beyond this month’s games.
Stock in both Villa and City players is falling rapidly. Villa slumped to a second successive defeat at home to the ever-inconsistent Boro. Without Carew through injury, Villa’s performances continue to stutter and Ashley Young in particular, has been hugely disappointing of late. To compound things, he picked up his fourth booking of the season and is now just one away from a one match ban. Expect plenty of managers to be shipping him out in the coming week. Defensively, Villa remain unstable and interest in Laursen must also be falling away with Arsenal and United next – he’s not providing the goals to compensate for Villa’s lack of clean sheets.
As for City, they had a nightmare on the other end of the Tottenham revival. Dunne and Fernandes saw red and although Robinho scored his seventh of the season, their attack was muted by the first sending off and their defence remained shaky under severe examination from Bent and his pals. They’ve lost three of the last four Premiership matches and it’s Hull, Arsenal and United next – hardly opponents that will help City’s current run of form. Wright-Phillips has been sold on for the last couple of weeks and Ireland must now be under pressure for his role in fantasy sides as Modric and Bentley keep their profiles on the rise.
Not too much of note in the Fulham vs Newcastle clash, although Johnson continued his recent showing of form with a goal and an assist. Along with Cisse, he is beginning to offer mid-price potential up front, although Bent is overshadowing both with his bandwagon now running on full speed.
Injuries and Bans
Fernandes and Dunne will both face one match bans for their dismissals against Spurs. Fernandes acquired two bookings, while Dunne saw red for denying a goalscoring opportunity. Both will miss the trip to Hull next weekend.
Assou-Ekotto also saw red for two bookings in the game but he will sit out the Carling Cup tie with Liverpool in midweek as a result.
Kalou suffered a knock in the second half for Chelsea and was eventually replaced – this didn’t look at all serious and shouldn’t keep him out for any period of time.
Grella aggravated his hamstring injury in the same match and will be a doubt for the weekend as a result.
Stephen Warnock picked up his fifth booking of the season against Chelsea. He will be eligible for the home game with Sunderland next Saturday (due to the seven day rule) but will miss the trip to Spurs the week after.
Ashley Young moved onto the suspension tightrope with his fourth booking of the season against Boro.