Gareth Bale returns a blank but does enough to comfort Fantasy investors. Al-Muhammadi claims a promising starting role, for now at least. Marc Albrighton builds on his pre-season form with an impressive Premier League debut. The service of Birmingham’s Seb Larsson and Wolves’ Matt Jarvis has them earning the plaudits and Bonus Points…
The weekend’s events gave us plenty to digest. Eat it up, it’s good stuff. Here’s a further collection of scribbles and musings from myself and Sir Paulos on gameweek one so far…
Carlos Tevez was City’s skipper at the Lane – that offers him greater security within City’s rotating lineup and should guarantee Tevez for 30+ starts. Mancini started with a 4-5-1 with Wright-Phillips and Silva in support. It will be interesting to see how that shape shifts for home matches. A 4-4-2 will be expected, perhaps with De Jong being sacrificed.
Gareth Bale started on the left of midfield, struck the post and provided several telling crosses that could and should have been converted. He also hogged Tottenham’s set-plays. There’s still a problem for Harry Redknapp in that he may want to field Wilson Palacios in midfield – that could see Bale shifted to full-back but given his attacking influence on show against City, it’s hard to imagine Redknapp shackling the swashbuckling Bale.
Joe Hart, having been given the nod as City’s keeper for the opener, defied Spurs time and again with a series of impressive saves, particularly in the first half. Perhaps City won’t be quite as slack at the back when the team has enough time to gel, but Hart’s performance certainly puts a question mark against Shay Given’s number of starts and, possibly, future at the club.
Charles N’Zogbia’s absence from the Wigan lineup surely confirms his departure from the DW stadium casting a doubt over his true Fantasy potential this term. Bonus points were key to his returns – it’s doubtful whether he’ll maintain the kind of Bonus returns we saw last season away from Wigan. Big sales are on the cards. N’Zogbia’s imminent departure will at least clear the way for Victor Moses to cement his starting role in the Wigan lineup. Moses put in 71 minutes of yesterday’s game and is available as a 5.0 midfield option. He put in 2 key passes and was the only Wigan midfielder to have an effort on goal – making two goal attempts, one on target.
Sunderland’s Al-Muhammadi started on the right-side of midfield to justify his inclusion in the Scout Picks. As we’ve documented many times previously, the Egyptian is classed as a Defender across the games and is available for just 4.5 in the Fantasy Premier League game. With Sunderland’s strong home form, that looks likely to represent strong value with potential returns at both ends.
Garry O’Connor’s pre-season form did the trick – he started alongside Cameron Jerome at Sunderland leaving the towering Nikola Zigic cramped under the Stadium of Light dugout. However, Zigic replaced him before the hour-mark and did enough to suggest that he’ll earn the nod for the Blackburn game coming next. Zigic had 3 attempts, 2 on target, in his 30 minute spell.
Seb Larsson (5.5) was the standout performer for Birmingham however. He earned two assists and 3 Bonus Points from the 2-2 draw with Sunderland. His delivery from wide positions and set-plays provided the route back into the game for Alex McLeish’s side. Larsson put in more successful crosses than any other player in yesterday’s matches.
Marc Albrighton was another to benefit from outstanding pre-season showings with a start in Villa’s lineup against West Ham. Considering that Kevin McDonald’s lineup included James Milner, there’s every chance that Albrighton will maintain his starting role for the time being.
Albrighton is available for just 4.5 in the Fantasy Premier League game and enjoyed an outstanding game in a strong attacking Villa performance. Albrighton contributed 4 successful dribbles (more than any other player yesterday) and made 3 key passes on the day, in addition to earning two assists.
Mick McCarthy’s positive decision to field a 4-4-2 formation proved fruitful from the outset. Wolves only scored more than one goal at home on four occasions last season, but with Steven Fletcher alongside Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, Wolves had bagged a brace at home to Stoke by half-time. Matt Jarvis (5.5) caught the eye with 3 Bonus Points awarded thanks to constant supply of crosses on the day. Only Villa’s Stewart Downing and Tottenham’s Bale attempted more crosses in Saturday’s games.
Ian Holloway’s attacking ethos suggests Blackpool’s front-men could just be worth a punt; the low pricing of the Tangerine strikers will certainly free up valuable cash in early-season Fantasy budgets. Charlie Adam was pulling strings and may justify investment that comes his way given his influence but Marlon Harewood (4.5) up front and Elliot Grandin (4.5) in midfield also came out of yesterday’s win with credit and blinked on our radars. Fixtures don’t fall in Blackpool’s favour however – they will face trips to Arsenal and Chelsea in the next four (ars FUL new che).
Didier Drogba picked up where he left off in Chelsea’s last league game, with a hat-trick against new boys West Brom. With two goals from Florent Malouda and one from Frank Lampard, along with an Ashley Cole assist, the champions already look like offering the same attacking threats (and points returns) as they did last season. Michael Essien, had over 100 touches, made 86 passes, including 37 in the opponents half. That kind of influence saw him amongst the Bonus Points in the opening day win and that is likely to continue.
In terms of Chelea’s team selection – Paulo Ferrira did gain a start at right-back with Alex coming back into the side alongside John Terry. Branislav Ivanovic did see action for Ferrira at right-back however and the Serb was believed to be carrying a knock. Expect Ivanovic and Alex to both start at Wigan next time out.
