United opened up a five point gap, as Hodgson’s Fulham were rolled over with ease at Old Trafford. Berbatov maintained his scoring form, Rooney came back into the picture and Ronaldo prompted more disappointment and “told you so” nods…
Ferguson’s lineup was reassuringly predictable. The likes of Vidic, Van der sar, Carrick, Berbatov and Tevez all made returns. Giggs meanwhile, was rested from the squad and Rooney made a comeback from injury on the bench. Neville and Brown both missed out – Neville through illness, Brown through a general lack of match sharpness as he returns from long-term injury.
As for Fulham, Hodgson had concerns over the fitness of both Konchesky and Johnson and there was a risk that if they played in this one, they would be ruled out of the home encounter with West Brom at the weekend. Not surprisingly, the Fulham boss kept both in reserve then and started with Kallio at left-back and Zamora up front in a 4-5-1 formation. Baird came into the midfield to add more cover.
The match itself had more than a whiff of inevitability about it. United were rarely tested, cruised to a first-half lead and never looked back as they earned their fourteenth consecutive Premier League clean sheet. Scholes continued where the old boys revival, taking the lead from Giggs by firing his first goal of the season. Berbatov then added the second – his fifth goal in the last 8 Premier League starts. Rooney came off the bench after an hour to cap the win with a third goal.
The fact that Rooney replaced Berbatov for the final half-hour is possible good news for the Bulgarian’s fantasy owners. United go to Inter on Tuesday and with Blackburn at Old Trafford this weekend, rotation is on the cards. This week’s podcast goes into more detail on this, in a nutshell though, the likes of Berbatov, Ferdinand, Evra and Carrick are all at risk. Berbatov’s withdrawal indicates that he was being preserved to play some part against Rovers but the others still remain minor doubts to start with Evans, Rafael, O’Shea, Fletcher and Giggs all likely to come into the frame. Dare I say it, there’s even a chance that Ronaldo – who drew a blank again here – could be under threat.
Ronaldo contributed just 12 points in the Fantasy Premier League game over the double gameweek – disappointing returns considering he had notched 22 points in the two previous games. With United’s missing fixture in gameweek 27 to come, many fantasy managers will be looking at the United players in their squads with a view to swapping them out in the short-term and it will be interesting to see how many keep faith with Ronaldo. Clearly recent investors with little to lose in terms of FPL funds, will consider the Gerrard for Ronaldo option for gameweek 27 and maybe beyond. Having had investment from over 70,000 FPL managers in the last two gameweeks then – we could see another major shift away from Ronaldo and that’s likely to be a major differential come gameweek 28, when United travel to Newcastle.
As for Fulham, they will certainly have far better days. Their away form continues to flounder but at the Cottage they are a force. Five home games in the next seven and a double fixture in gameweek 28, should be enough to see considerable investment in their players in the next two gameweeks. Expect Murphy, Johnson and Hangeland to earn plenty of attention and at least one FPL price rise. Paintsil has also been a fantasy favourite – he picked up his fifth booking last night though and will miss the trip to Arsenal in gameweek 27.