Phew. What a day eh? With Mark and Granville living the highlife away at a festival this weekend, there’s an absolute bucket load of games to dissect – so here’s my rundown of what we can take from Saturdays action…
Yossi Benayoun must surely be a starter…
With Javier Mascherano picking up a knock on international duty both Steven Gerrard and Lucas had to step back one position. In stepped the Israel captain to fill the void left by Gerrard, and boy did he fill it. Benayoun finished last season in scintillating form, and many have been perturbed to see him one the bench in two out of Liverpools five Premier League games so far. Well, today he started and boy did he make use of it – Benayoun scored 3 goals and got 1 assist in Liverpool’s 4-0 rout of Burnley – that’ equates to 24 fpl points when you add his bonus in too. Even with Babel and Riera in contest for places, he must surely have now once again proven to be front runner for a place in the starting line-up.
Darren Bent can score, but the bonus judges don’t care…
Once again following the pattern set out with his last two goals, the bonus judges just don’t seem to be too enamoured with one striker I personally love. Darren Bent scored 2 goals in Sunderlands 4-1 roasting of Hull, a bonus point reward in tandem seems almost compulsory – but alas, no. When Kenwyne Jones scored a brace against Blackburn he got 3 points, but Bent has not even notched a sole bonus point to date. Leaving poor Darren, much like Oliver to be asking the question “please sir, can I have some more sir?”
Chelsea just won’t give up…
Chelsea sure know how to leave it late. Against Hull in their first game of the season it took a mishit cross from Didier Drogba to snatch a victory from the traveling Tigers. Despite peppering Simonsen (Thomas Sorensen left the pitch injured) in the Stoke goalmouth all game, it took until the 94th before Chelsea managed to get that vital winning goal once more – Florent Malouda this time fizzing one in from the edge of the box. Dare I say it, but even so early in the season – this is the kind of form a championship winning side shows.
Jermain Defoe sure can score a goal…
Carrying on in the form of his life, this time Defoe only took 37 seconds to score against Champions Manchester United. And boy oh boy what a wonderful goal it was, a perfectly taken bicycle kick on the edge of the six-yard box was too much for Ben Foster to handle. Those fantasy managers who questioned Defoe’s potential in Spurs’ games against United and Chelsea must so far be eating their words.
Tony Pulis might be the worst culprit for rotatation these days…
We all know and fear about rotation in the squads of the big four (and maybe even those teams that closely follow), but nobody would have expected Stoke to be one of the biggest offenders this year, but by jove they sure are. Today Pulis gave full debuts to new signings Roberth Huth and Danny Collins in a 5-3-2 formation. That’s all well and good, but the results of this are that Tuncay, Arismendi, Fuller, Lawrence & Etherington all started on the bench or sat out completely. Looks like we need a new pun to join Rafatation and Ancelottery folks.
Fantasy island pick number one doth sparkle…
Scoring twice as many goals today as they had previously done in their first four games of the season, Paul Harts pretty much brand spanking new Portsmouth side might find the net on a few occasions this season. Younes Kaboul once again leapt like a gazelle to score just like he did against Arsenal, and ex-Tottenham flop Kevin Prince-Boateng also scored on his debut. Speaking of ex-Tottenham, Marks very own fantasy island pick Jamie O’Hara began his loan spell with assists for both of the aforementioned goals. at £4.5m in Fantasy Premier League, the lad could be a bargain. I just wish I had listened to my own early advice and signed him myself. They certainly don’t look so resolute at the back – having conceded 3 to goal-shy Bolton today – so O’Hara might be essential if Portsmouth want to score their way to safety.
Rosicky makes his first Premier League appearance in 20 months…
Arsenal may have been on the receiving end of a 4-2 loss at Eastlands today, but I certainly must say how happy I am to see Tomas Rosicky once again playing competitive football for Arsenal. I wrote a piece about the Czech star as part of my Scout job application, one of just many reasons I have an affinity for the man. He didn’t do too badly either – in 39 minutes on the pitch he managed to set up Robin Van Persie as well as score the other Arsenal goal. Welcome back Tomas Rosicky.
Adebayor and Man City came out contentious victors over Arsenal…
And as for the game itself, well there certainly are talking points. Man City have been able to make their first substantiated claim for a top four place with a victory over Arsenal. Shaun Wright-Phillips also continued to impress with a goal and an assist – but most people will be discussing a certain Emmanuel Adebayor when they talk about this game. The Togolese striker certainly left a mark (some more physical than others) on the visiting Arsenal side.
Continuing his sparkling form in front of goal, Adebayor headed in to make it 4 goals in 4 games now. However it was the aftermath that was more interesting – running back the whole length of the pitch, Ade decided to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters, much to their unsurprising ire. This might not be the last we have heard of events that transpired today once the tapes have been reviewed. I certainly thinks it looked like he intended to stamp on Robin Van Persie today, if I had the choice myself I’d certainly say he is deserving of a ban for his actions – we shall see.