Gameweek Six wove a “tale of the unexpected” which began with City somewhat surprisingly halting the Chelsea juggernaut and went on to treat us to blunders by Atwell, Almunia and some bizarre decisions from the Fantasy Premier League’s Bonus Point judges. Let’s lay the weekend bare with the Scout Notes…
West Brom showed they have the stomach for a fight this season with a spirited performance at the Emirates. Thanks to some appalling goalkeeping from Manuel Almunia and another eye-catching performance from Peter Odemwingie, the Baggies could even afford to miss a penalty and still come away with victory against a poor Arsenal side. The much-fancied Graham Dorrans was again benched for the away trip, coming on with 13 mins left. Despite a somewhat fortuitous goal, Gonzalo Jara continues to present strong value for a £4.0m FPL defender and his goal is likely to fire up his bandwagon in the coming weeks.
Samir Nasri continued the good form that saw him On the Radar earlier in the week, but his goals were not enough to save Arsenal. While his team mates flopped badly in a game many Fantasy Managers were expecting a substantial haul from the home team, only Nasri managed to show his class; he’s now grabbed 2 goals in each of his last 2 games for the Gunners. Investment will come his way, although there will be some concern on whether his performances will be subdued by the return of Cesc Fabregas.
Fulham carried on their unbeaten start – only Manchester United also remain – with a fifth draw in six, goalless at home to Everton. Mark Schwarzer put the transfer window stories behind him to pull off a couple of key saves to keep his team in the game while new signing Carlos Salcido drew praise from team-mate Aaron Hughes for how well he has adapted to the team. Right-back Stephen Kelly was substituted half an hour into the game – as yet there’s no confirmation of any injury.
Everton meanwhile gave Yakubu his first start of the season but, with concerns still surrounding his fitness, he was unable to breakdown a stern Fulham defence. Mikel Arteta once again put in a commanding display and duly earned his second maximum Bonus Points haul of the season. Seamus Coleman, a £4.4m defender in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), was given a chance to start on the right side of midfield with Leon Osman recovering from injury and put in a performance that would have given Moyes food for thought for the games ahead.
West Ham picked up their first victory of the season as they managed to get the better of old coach Harry Redknapp for the first time in 10 attempts since he departed Upton Park. Recent highlight of our ‘The Numbers Game’ article, Victor Obinna, attracted the bonus judges with his display as he earned the maximum, while his team-mate head Frederic Piquionne duly obliged to win the game when headed in Mark Noble’s corner. This new strike pairing look to be establishing themselves leaving Carlton Cole frozen out – he started on the bench against Spurs. Avram Grant confirmed that Kieron Dyer had to be substituted due to illness, and not injury.
Spurs put out a strong attacking side that saw Luka Modric return to the fray while Rafael Van Der Vaart played behind lone striker Peter Crouch. Gareth Bale was required to fill in at left-back with fitness doubts surrounding Benoit Assou-Ekotto. With Bale somewhat subdued It was Van der Vaart who drew the praise in an otherwise frustrating day for Tottenham as Redknapp rolled out his silver tongue to say…
“He really does look like a top player, top-quality, world-class, he was on another planet.”
. He also took the time to confirm William Gallas was laid low with after tearing his groin in training on Friday. It’s reported that Gallas will face at least three weeks out – deepening Tottenham’s injury woes at the back.
Birmingham took their unbeaten home record to over a year now as they fought out a combative, if a little unexciting, nil-nil draw with Wigan. The talking point of the day was a red card received by Craig Gardner for a reckless challenge which will see his bandwagon screech to a halt after a good start to the season. Gardner will now sit out the next three league games, allowing McLeish to bring Jean Beausejour into the starting lineup.
Ian Holloway conspired to play as he promised upon promotion to the Premier League by attacking opponents Blackburn, but he was undone by an own goal from his captain Charlie Adam who’s risky header back eluded his goalkeeper. Matt Phillips, a young winger signed from Wycombe over the summer, provided the brightest point as he jinked by Gael Givet and scored on his Premier League debut in a 7 minute cameo.
Chris Samba – as he seems to do every game – posed a serious threat from set-pieces once more and gathered up 2 bonus points for his efforts, which even included a disallowed goal. Sadly the FPL Bonus judges seemed to get their Diouf’s mixed up as Mame was awarded the maximum 3 points for one sub-par half whilst El-Hadji picked up 0 points for a more impressive full 90 minutes. Right now that has yet to be corrected.
Darren Bent continued to prove himself to be one of the fixture proof players as he bagged himself 2 more goals for the season away at Anfield. Even if his penalty was slightly woeful it snuck in the net. At £8.5m perhaps you can’t find much better for that kind of long term consistency, as in last season the striker is vital to Sunderland’s returns as he’s bagged 5 of their 7 goals to date this term. Malbranque and Cattermole were both outstanding in the engine room whilst Elmohamady also caught the eye, earning the assist for the Bent penalty courtesy of a handball from Liverpool’s Christian Poulsen. Elmohamady’s fixtures will keep him under the radar for a while longer (he faces United at home next) but his statistics show he will likely have a strong influence on Sunderland’s attacking play once they have kinder opponents.
Liverpool continue to be a side playing on the wrong side of trouble, even if Stuart Atwell was well within his remit to award the first goal it’s not the greatest sign that it was needed to get a result. Steven Gerrard can consider himself lucky to have stayed on the pitch to some eyes as his assault on Danny Welbeck looked like it could have easily warranted more than the yellow card it earned. By that time the club captain had already bagged himself a third goal in two fixtures while star striker Fernando Torres failed to score again, but made up for it somewhat with assists on both goals in this 2-2 draw. Paul Konchesky picked up a hamstring injury and was replaced mid-way through the first-half. Roy Hodgson later confirmed that he’ll miss the meet with Blackpool next weekend but does at least have the international break to rest the injury.
Man City’s 1-0 victory over league leaders Chelsea saw them rack up their fourth clean sheet in six games, the same number as Carlo Ancelotti’s men, with only one goal conceded in open play so far. City have a kind run of fixtures ahead and the likes of Joe Hart (top scoring keeper) and Kolo Toure (third top scoring defender) definitely look attractive propositions. These two look certain starters right now, whilst the City full-back situation remains clouded by injuries – Jerome Boateng emerged from the bench on Saturday and will come into the reckoning at right-back from this point on. Carlos Tevez continues to get amongst the goals and Bonus Points; he’s either scored or assisted in all of City’s home games this season, and with (NEW, blp) up next, expect a bandwagon to start this week.
Chelsea failed to stand up to their first real test of the season as the free-scoring champions were unable to find the net against a weakened City rearguard at Eastlands. Both teams managed just four shots each on target all game, but, surprisingly, it was City who proved the more clinical of the two, as Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba (who Ancelotti subbed on 74 minutes when pushing for an equaliser) had particularly bad days at the office. While Chelsea swat aside almost every team in the league with alarming ease, City continue to have the beating of them, three times on the trot now.
Aston Villa granted Monsieur Houllier all his wishes on Sunday as he lead his team to a debut victory, as in the Carling Cup during the week. Following his performance in that game and with Agbonlahor still recovering from injury, it was up to Emile Heskey to lead the line, and he took his chance by climbing high to head home the winner late in the second half. £4.6m value prospect Marc Albrighton chalked up another assist by teeing up a ball into the box which Stewart Downing duly obliged by scoring his third of the season, putting him just a single point behind Fantasy favourite Ashley Young who claimed the 3 Bonus Points.
Hosts Wolves put up a spirited – but evidently fruitless – display with the partnership of Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher impressing but unable to have any great impact on the scoreline. A Matt Jarvis cross-shot provided scant consolation as Wolves registered their third defeat on the trot. McCarthy has work to do – a trip to Wigan next may provide Wolves with the perfect platform to get their season back on track.
Kenwyne Jones inspired a second half revival for Stoke at St James’ Park having scored his fourth goal in four games for the Potters. He can count himself unlucky not to have come out of the Newcastle game with more, having struck the woodwork twice in the minutes leading up to his goal. The big Trinidadian striker has clearly found a home and style that suits him at Stoke, and while a £6.8m outlay isn’t necessarily cheap, with fixtures against Blackburn and Bolton next, we’re likely to see Fantasy investment come his way.
Newcastle played a strong passing game but were ultimately undone by one of their own players; James Perch bagging himself an own-goal to compensate for the fact he played through his first ever Premier League fixture without picking up a booking. Cheick Tiote put in a spirited performance that saw him collect 2 bonus points while Joey Barton picked up the full 3 for the second game in a row. Kevin Nolan also solved a puzzle that had been left open to interpretation until now by seemingly stepping up as Newcastle’s new designated penalty taker this season.
Manchester United were the most successful of last season’s top four this weekend when they came home from Bolton; the result owed a lot to the contribution of Luis Nani. As dissected in the “Knee Jerk”, the Portuguese winger kicked United on by scoring a wonder goal and then turning provider for Michael Owen to emerge from the bench to get on the scoresheet. Ryan Giggs looks set for a spell on the sidelines having injured his hamstring. Ferguson confirmed after the game that he would face at least two weeks out. Wayne Rooney also suffered an ankle injury in this one but is expected to be in contention for the Champions League tie with Valencia in midweek.
Bolton had their own inspiration from the wing with Martin Petrov contributing a goal and an assist on the day – finally repaying some of the pre-season faith that was put on his shoulders around these parts. Bolton’s fixtures are now a lot kinder and with three home games in the next five, Petrov should be back on our radars as a mid-price option – he easily tops the rankings for both crosses and goal attempts within the Bolton midfield. That didn’t help him earn FPL Bonus Points however – bizarrely Paul Robinson was somehow awarded the maximum ahead of the Bulgarian.
