Better late than never, here’s Sunday’s games pulled apart from a fantasy perspective, with the focus on Van Persie, Adebayor’s injury and the evergreen Giggs…

Tottenham 0 Arsenal 0

Sunday saw Robbie Keane lead out Spurs at the Lane – he came in for the suspended Bentley and started up front with Pavlyuchenko in a 4-4-2. Jenas earned a recall to the midfield with Zokora dropping to the bench. Wenger made two changes to his starting lineup with Song returning to replace the suspended and injured Diaby, while Van Persie came back into to the starting lineup for Bendtner. Arshavin settled for a place on the bench with match fitness still a concern. Eduardo made another giant step towards a return to Premier League action with a place on the bench. He will apparently get half-an-hour for Croatia this week.

With those two in reserve, Wenger’s attacking options are increasing all the time and that’s bad news for us fantasy managers – particularly Van Persie owners. Eduardo will be a factor in the coming weeks and he will surely increase the chances of Van Persie rotation. As for Arshavin, he is not eligible for the FA Cup replay with Cardiff a week today. That could see him figure against Sunderland on February 21, four days before Arsenal’s Champions League tie with AS Roma. Arshavin is ineligible for Arsenal’s European campaign which could well see him featuring heavily prior the Arsenal’s European games – again handing Wenger a clear option should he look to rest Van Persie.

Bizarrely, while the in-form Van Persie looks at risk of rotation, Bendtner looks set to return to our fantasy radars. Adebayor’s injury in this one is likely to rule him out of league games with Sunderland, Fulham and perhaps West Brom. That seems set to hand further starts to the big Dane in the weeks to come although Wenger made it clear today that his options are plentiful…

“We have Carlos Vela, we have Nicklas Bendtner, we have Eduardo we have Andrey Arshavin and we have Robin van Persie. We have plenty of strikers.”

Indeed, while the fixtures look strong for Arsenal’s attacking players – there’s a lot of uncertainty building around Wenger’s lineup which is only compounded by their European ambitions. Personally, as a Van Persie owner, I’m looking at my options for the coming week.

With uncertainty in attack, it could be time to switch your attention to Arsenal’s defence. The Gunners have now conceded just two goals in the last six games. Djourou’s omission again here was a blow to those looking for a budget option. He could come back into the reckoning against Sunderland with the Roma tie in mind, but his long-term prospects look doubtful. That will mean you’ll have to shell out decent money to invest in the Gunners defence but, given their run of fixtures to come (SUN FUL wba BLA new), it still looks a good option for the coming month.

As for Spurs, they continue to struggle for goals, particularly at the Lane. Investment in their players is ill-advised right now, considering they miss fixture in gameweek 27 due to their Carling Cup Final appearance.

Injuries and Bans
As mentioned above, Adebayor’s hamstring has ruled him out for three weeks. Clichy suffered a head wound late on but that shouldn’t be a concern in the long-term. Eboue’s red card will see him miss the FA Cup tie with Cardiff next week. Spurs lost Lennon to an injury on 87 minutes.

West Ham 0 Man United 1

There were few surprises in the lineups here. Ferguson brought back Rafael at right-back to cover for the injured Neville, while Scholes and Giggs both started in midfield with Carrick and Ronaldo. Giggs occupied the right wing for much of the match and was often pushed up, almost as part of a front three. Ronaldo meanwhile, occupied the left flank and saw plenty of the ball. As for West Ham, they fielded an unchanged side with new signings Kovac and Nsereko on the bench.

Giggs grabbed the headlines and the attention from fantasy managers thanks to a typical jinking run and tidy finish past Green in the Hammers goal. This was the first strike of the season for Giggs, although he has also contributed five assists so far this term. That’s not a bad return given that he has started and completed just six league games. Indeed, his last two appearances for United have brought in 26 points in the FPL.

Available as a mid-price option in midfield (6.9 in the FPL), he will get some attention and there’s no doubt that he offers good potential when he plays. That’s the key factor however – just how many starts will Giggs earn in United’s remaining 14 games?

We can only speculate of course but the fact that Giggs started just two of United’s Champions League group games could be significant. That could indicate that Ferguson will leave him in reserve for the rest of their European campaign, which would obviously boost his potential as a starter in the league.

That campaign gets under way again on February 24 when United travel to Milan to face Mourinho’s Inter. Prior to that game, United take on Fulham in the second fixture of this gameweek and then three days later host Blackburn. Personally, I can’t see Giggs starting both those games. Investment in Giggs is clearly a risk then. While in the FPL you could have a bench to support any rest and rotation, he would be using up one of your three United player slots – slots that could be spent on more consistent starters.

Elsewhere United kept yet another clean sheet – their eighteenth of the season. I’ve wittered on enough about the importance of investment in United’s back four and in particular Vidic. Evra is soon to arrive back in that defence and should drop into the “untouchable” bracket at a considerably lower price (currently 6.2 in the FPL) than the big Serb.

Ferguson revealed today that both Rooney and Evra suffered slight setbacks in their return to fitness and were therefore not risked on Sunday. A return to action for the pair is being muted for Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Derby. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them on the bench for that game, with the midweek league game with Fulham in mind. That would mean that the likes of Tevez and O’Shea would likely be under threat.

A word on West Ham, who stretched United all the way here. Not only has Zola (or perhaps Clarke) turned Carlton Cole into a feared centre forward and a prime fantasy prospect, he has also transformed the Hammers as a defensive unit and at times in this one, it looked as though they were going to record their fourth consecutive clean sheets in all competitions. Giggs denied them but it should be noted that West Ham have discovered a new resilience at the back. While Cole remains a massive temptation for those yet to climb aboard his bandwagon, the likes of Green, Ilunga, Upson and Collins also appear to offer excellent value over West Ham’s forthcoming fixtures (bol MCY wig WBA bla SUN) which look far from daunting – particularly the games at Upton Park.

Injuries and Bans
Lucas Neill picked up his fifth booking in this one and he will now miss the trip to Bolton on February 21. Vidic is perched perilously on the suspension tightrope and has to get through the Fulham and Blackburn games without picking up a yellow to avoid a one match ban.