After such a tumultuous Tuesday, we were always likely to be in for a limp, wet Wednesday. And so it turned out – Chelsea huffed and puffed but failed to blow Everton’s sturdy house down at the Bridge, while United eased past Portsmouth without providing the hefty returns that Ronaldo owners were holding out for.
Here’s some worthwhile points for us fantasy managers to consider…
After reaction to Sunday’s penalty miss, Ferguson kept Berbatov on the bench, opting instead to go with Rooney with Ronaldo in support up front. Berbatov’s opportunities for the rest of the season look likely to be hampered with constant rotation with Tevez, Giggs and Ronaldo looking likely.
United kept their first league clean sheet in 6 games. Confidence in their defence is improving and with a double fixtures to come in gameweek 36, interest in Vidic and Evra is set to pick up. Ferdinand, rested for this one – remains a risk giving his history of niggles this season.
On that front, United suffered injuries to both Neville and O’Shea. Both are foot injuries, with Neville’s suffering his early on, only to be replaced by O’Shea who suffered a similar fate. United have confirmed that both players will be sidelined for “weeks” as a result. This will presumably promote Rafael and fit-again Wes Brown as defensive options for Ferguson and us fantasy managers. Brown returned to reserve team action this week.
Portsmouth lost Nugent to a dead leg at half-time. He is now a doubt for the clash with Newcastle on Monday. Kranjcar and Kaboul will also be major doubts for this one, although Hart is suggesting that they have a chance of making the game.
Chelsea have scored 11 goals in their last 10 league games – 4 of those goals came in one game against Bolton. Clearly, Hiddink’s side are still struggling to break sides down, particularly at Stamford Bridge. Lampard owners should be a little worried by this statistic but what is perhaps more worrying is that Chelsea are not without any real motivation in the league. Fixtures do fall in their favour however (whm FUL ars BLA sun) and if Hiddink is true to his word when it comes to rest and rotation, there should still be some profit to be had from Chelsea’s squad.
Everton have kept 6 clean sheets in their last 9 league games. There fixtures look very strong in the run-in (MCY sun TOT WHM ful) and further fantasy investment in Lescott, Baines and Jagielka looks likely.
Fellaini was left out of the 18 by Moyes last night – he was apparently suffering from a slight knee injury. The awkward elbow-flinging midfielder is currently sitting on 13 bookings so, if he was to pick up two more yellows in Everton’s remaining 5 games, he would miss the FA Cup Final. That will surely be on Moyes’ mind and although we are likely to see him against City this weekend – if he gets booked, he’ll surely sit out the remaining games. Fellaini looks vulnerable to rotation – Cahill could still be worth investment in the final 5 as a result.