It’s almost over. The last match of gameweek 37 saw a Carlo Tevez-inspired Man City hammer Stoke to leapfrog Arsenal into third place in the race for automatic Champions League qualification and bring further cheer to the blue half of Manchester, still basking in the glory of a weekend FA Cup win. Onwards, now, to what is being termed “Survival Sunday” as the season is set to culminate in a nail-biting finish this upcoming weekend. Here’s the notes from last night‘s game…
Carlos Tevez
A stunning brace from the Argentine last night means he is now joint-top with Dimitar Berbatov on 21 league goals for the campaign and puts an interesting spin on this Sunday‘s games. Both will surely be transferred-in by tens of thousands before the weekend, with the title of Premier League top scorer 2010/11 up for grabs.
With Man United facing Barcelona in the Champions League Final next weekend and the title already in the bag, Berbatov is strongly fancied to start at home to Blackpool, while Tevez heads to Bolton looking to fire City to that all-important third place. It will be far from straightforward, though; Roberto Mancini’s side have lost four of their last five on the road and the Trotters are particularly strong at home. Tevez is on both free-kicks and penalties, giving him a definite advantage; if United get a spot-kick, will Fergie let the Bulgarian step forward and get one over the “noisy neighbours”?
Joe Hart
Hart is now assured of the Golden Glove award, having picked up his 17th clean sheet of the season last night but -as our Keeper of the Season poll shows- the lower-priced Ben Foster has proven to be the better Fantasy pick this term.
Mancini’s inconsistency of selection amongst the City back four is a real bone of contention with Fantasy Managers; Pablo Zabaleta is their top-scoring defender with just 96 points, a ridiculously low tally for a side that have almost one clean sheet every other game. Having taken part in Saturday’s FA Cup Final, Aleksander Kolarov was dropped to the bench last night, much to the chagrin/amusement of Fantasy Football Scout users, depending which side of the fence you sit on. A rest last night, however, may suggest he’ll take to the field this Sunday, as Mancini rotates at the back yet again.
Stoke on their Last Legs
The season’s end can’t come soon enough for Stoke now. Last night saw Robert Huth, Jermaine Pennant and Matt Etherington all miss out, despite the trio’s participation in the FA Cup Final. Having lost out on silverware to the very same opponents only three days earlier, it was a cruel twist of fate that saw Tony Pulis’ side travel to Eastlands so soon after their Wembley woe, with the crowd’s celebratory mood throughout a reminder of what could have been.
Wigan head to the Britannia looking for a win that may well save them from relegation and if such key personnel continue to be missing this Sunday, Roberto Martinez’s men may well be in with a better than usual chance of escape, given that Stoke haven’t been beaten at home since gameweek 20.
