A night that got off to to dodgy start with more teamsheet surprises, ended with some achingly predictable scores. Not too much to shout about for fantasy managers – we will have to hope for fireworks from Fulham and the rest tomorrow. Fireworks from Fulham? Has it really come to that?

Here’s the notes from Tuesday, including thoughts on the bench-warming Van Persie, the match-winning Drogba and why you should sign any centre-back over six foot who happens to be playing against West Brom…

Liverpool 2 Sunderland 0

A real Lawrenson-friendly scoreline from Anfield – in what was a horribly predictable outcome. Sunderland came with a 4-5-1; surrendered possession; were caught on the hour-mark and then conceded a second shortly after. Painfully predictable stuff.

That’s more than you can say for Rafa’s lineup which again surprised us. Benitez this time shuffled Mascherano to right-back in the absence of Arbeloa. Skrtel had successfully untied the knots knitted in to him by Downing at the weekend to take his place alongside Carragher at centre-back. Insua arrived back at on the left of defence. Interesting one this – could he be in line for another run in that position? He had a run of 4 out of 5 starts in December and looked set to nail down a starting role before joining up with Argentina’s U20 squad in January. At just 4.9 in the FPL, he could be useful as a bench player to auto sub on those occasions when Aurellio or Dossena get the nod. Let’s face it though – the left-back role at Liverpool is a lottery. I’m pretty sure Rafa picks balls out of a velvet bag the night before.

Elsewhere in Rafa’s lineup Ngog was handed a start with Kuyt playing just off him and Benayoun out wide on the right. Riera took the left wing role. This all meant that Alonso and Gerrard sat in deeper central midfield roles.

Bad news for Gerrard owners that. He did make an impact with a superb bit of vision to set up Ngog’s goal, but his participation in the match was mainly just in front of the halfway line rather than in the Sunderland penalty box. That situation will need monitoring if Rafa persists with Benayoun and Kuyt in a 4-4-2. Certainly it will be hard to drop Benayoun after his man-of-the-match display in this one.

Nothing to report from Sunderland. Jones started, Cisse was benched as expected. Ben Haim kept his place at right-back with Bardsley benched.

West Brom 1 Arsenal 3

Rafa wasn’t the only one testing fantasy lineups this evening with Wenger dropping/resting Van Persie to the bench and robbing him of a run-out against surely the most charitable defence in the league. Bendtner profited in his place, celebrating his recall to the Scout Picks squad with a smart brace of goals, sandwiched between a Toure header. There was nothing for Nasri, my pick in midfield. He will surely find himself rotated out of the side with injuries clearing up for Wenger.

Elsewhere Djourou was recalled to the defence with Gallas sidelined with an ankle knock. Gallas should be back for Sunday’s cup tie but Toure will now be a doubt having been subbed in this one with a calf strain. Djourou might stick around for another league game or two then. I’ll keep an eye on that one. Diaby was back on the bench but profited from Toure’s withdrawal at half-time. Arshavin completed the 90 minutes in a central attacking role.

The Van Persie situation is getting critical. Bendtner has shown his ability tonight. Arshavin played in the Van Persie role. Adebayor is nearing fitness. All the factors suggest that Van Persie will continue to be rotated in the coming weeks. In the longer term, much depends on how Arsenal fair against Roma on March 11. Three days later they host Blackburn at the Emirates. Van Persie will surely play in Rome, so there’s every chance he will be rested against Blackburn. We know Arshavin is ineligible for Europe, so he will play against Rovers and with Walcott in line for a return, it seems likely that Arshavin will be used in the Van Persie role alongside Adebayor or Bendtner. It looks pretty grim then for Van Persie owners.

Moving briefly on to West Brom and Mowbray made changes but I can’t imagine they are of much interest to fantasy managers. Greening was recalled to the midfield – he took a central role with Koren as Valero dropped to the bench. Moore came in up front for the ineligible Simpson.

Once again West Brom were dreadful at the back – conceding again from a set-piece and allowing Bendtner far too much space and time to run off the ball. It appears it’s worth backing any centre-back or set-piece threat against West Brom right now so get on Upson against them next week and after that they face Bolton and Stoke who will surely mug them at set-plays. Enter Cahill and Shawcross.

Injuries and Bans
Toure suffered a calf injury and will doubtless be assessed tomorrow prior to Sunday’s FA Cup tie.

Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 1

Runner-up in the “most predictable scoreline of the night contest” was Chelsea with their 1-0 win at Portsmouth. Few surprises of any kind here with Hiddink bringing in Malouda for toe injury victim Anelka. Paul Hart made one change to his lineup – Mullins coming in for Basinas in midfield.

Drogba will have edged himself onto a few radars with his winner. He could provide a strong differntial and a good trade for Berbatov/Van Persie/Robinho owners. He looks safe from rotation and with 10 games left, he should be good for at least 5-6 goals. Right now though Chelsea are still doing just enough to win games rather than put opponents to bed. The question is then, does Drogba (MCY tot new) at 10.3 in the FPL, offer a stronger alternative to someone like Carlton Cole (WBA bla SUN) at just 6.2? To my mind, Chelsea need to be putting two, three and four goals past teams before the extra outlay is justified.

It’s certainly worth taking a look at the Chelsea defence again in the mid-term. They’ve conceded just a single goal in the last four league games. While United have tough fixtures (LIV ful AVL), as do Liverpool (mun AVL ful), Hiddink’s side have a decent run in the same spell (MCY tot new) which should bring them a couple of cleanies. Carvalho is due a return and could present an FPL bargain at just 6.3 although there could be rotation with the Champions League still a factor. Ashley Cole might be a safer bet for those who can’t shell out for Bosingwa or Terry.

As for Portsmouth, they are clearly a strong proposition under the guidance of Hart. Fixtures do get better for them now and they have a decent looking run from gameweeks 29-34 (mid EVE hul WBA BOL new). There’s a lot of crucial games in that run and the likes of Johnson, Crouch and Kranjcar will have to play their part. They could well be decent differentials for those playing mini-league catch-up.