All the talk this morning surrounds the performance of Gareth Bale once more. The Welshman dismantled the Inter defence for the second time in a fortnight as Spurs ran out 3-1 winners at the Lane last night. Bale terrorised Inter’s Maicon throughout, providing two lung-busting runs and pinpoint crosses to set up decisive goals for Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Bale’s Fantasy owners will again be wondering when their man is going to translate his Champions League form to the domestic stage; one assist and just 3 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Bonus Points in his last 8 league starts simply does not reflect the kind of player we’ve seen against Inter over the two legs.
Harry Redknapp was, not surprisingly, gushing again following last night’s showing against Maicon; a player who was voted the Champions League’s best defender last season…
“Gareth’s done it again and in both games, no disrespect to the right-back, he’s given him the most torrid time you could wish to see…It was just amazing to see him do that to such a top player.”
Ironically Bale has suffered a large number of sales in the FPL as a result of the emergence of team-mate Rafael Van der Vaart. Bales’s price has duly dropped from 7.1 down to the current value of 6.8. A run of decent opponents to come (bol SUN BLA) could yet provide the platform for improved returns, although his Fantasy owners will have course be relying on Bale being played in three consecutive league matches in the space of seven days.
That threat of rotation is a major concern for all Fantasy Managers when assessing their squads over the next week. Certainly owners of Van der Vaart will be worried. The Dutchman appeared to suffer a recurrence of the hamstring injury sustained at Old Trafford in last night’s game. He was replaced at half-time, having given Spurs the lead from a Luka Modric assist.
Looking at Redknapp’s lineup, we have to assess who, if anyone, will be given another three starts in the next ten days. The trip to Bolton could see some light rotation with further changes in the starting XI for the home clash with Sunderland. The likes of Jermaine Jenas and Wilson Palacios will surely be used as midfield options, while Niko Kranjcar could possibly be utilised to hand Bale a rest in one of the next three. Equally, Pavlyuchenko, Robbie Keane and Crouch will surely be rotated up front, with the Russian perhaps favourite to start at Bolton this weekend after his goal from the bench last night.
The Spurs defence could attract some Fantasy interest in the next week, with cheap prospect Alan Hutton present in our Watchlist rankings. Younes Kaboul is also an option here, and interestingly Harry singled his partnership with William Gallas out for praise in his post-match comments…
“I thought Gallas was fantastic and young Kaboul is looking a real player. The two have come together as a pairing and they did great against top opposition.”
Again however, we have to consider whether Redknapp will use Sebastian Bassong as an option at some point in the next three league games. It seems likely.
We have to examine the Manchester United squad following their 3-0 win over Bursaspor in the same light. The injuries to Nani and Darren Fletcher of course remain the main concern. While United’s official site stated that Alex Ferguson “refrained from diagnosing the pair”, another report includes quotes from Ferguson that suggest that Nani has already been ruled out of the Wolves clash this weekend…
“Unfortunately, Nani has a groin injury and is out for Saturday… I think Darren will be out as well, so that part has been disappointing.”
As we discussed in our previous article, the loss of Nani would be a major blow to Fantasy Managers, while United would possibly face a run of games without the player that has so often picked the lock of defences so far this term. Gabriel Obertan and Bebe could now get the opportunity to translate some of the form they showed in last night’s tie, to the Premier League.
Elsewhere in the United lineup, we can expect returns for the likes of Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea, Paul Scholes and Javier Hernandez for the Old Trafford fixture on Saturday. We will surely see continued rotation over the next three however, with testing trips to City and Villa also to follow in the next ten days.
Given that it’s the Manchester derby a week today, it seems most likely that Ferguson will look to rest key players for that game, making his lineup against Wolves unpredictable to say the least. With the confidence flowing through Mick McCarthy’s camp after their win over City last time out, United really can’t afford to take that game lightly; it’s going to be an interesting week and a strong Fantasy bench looks set to be essential.
