Adam Johnson lays on both goals for James McClean as Sunderland ease past Morecombe. Pavel Pogrebnyak scores for Reading as Brian McDermott keeps a 4-5-1 formation, Shane Long bags a brace for West Brom, Bobby Zamora pick up a goal and assist for QPR, while Danny Graham strikes again as Swansea rack up another win. Twelve Premier League teams were involved in last night’s action – here’s the scribbles on each of those games…

Sunderland 2 Morecambe 0
The Black Cats eased to victory at the Stadium of Light with Martin O’Neill naming a potent attacking line-up. Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher both made their debuts and, with James McClean on the left and Stephane Sessegnon tucking in behind the former Wolves man, Seb Larsson was fielded in central midfield – perhaps a sign of things to come and a worry for his Fantasy owners, with the Swede’s regular right flank delivery key to his source of assists. While Fletcher failed to flourish, Johnson had an immediate impact – the winger provided assists for both McClean’s goals.

Aston Villa 3 Tranmere 0
Paul Lambert fielded a strong-looking side as Villa registered a badly-needed win at the expense of their Merseyside visitors. Darren Bent was partnered by Andreas Weimann in attack and opened his account for the season with the third, while Enda Steavens, Stephen Ireland and Brett Holman all chipped in with an assist apiece.

Reading 3 Peterborough 2
Intriguingly, Brian McDermott named the same starting XI that lost 4-2 at Chelsea in Gameweek 1. This meant Reading kept a 4-5-1 formation – something of a surprise bearing in mind that had rolled out a 4-4-2 in their league opener at the Madejski against Stoke. Pavel Pogrebnyak was the lone striker, while Danny Guthrie was the most advanced central midfielder for the Royals and both played a part in the win, with a goal and assist respectively. From Brian McDermott’s post-match comments, it appears that Guthrie could maintain that role behind the striker, compounding his value as a 4.5 option in the FPL..

“I thought Danny was terrific, Pavel too and their link up play was very good, they worked really hard. Garath McCleary is an exciting player to watch, we’ve got Jason and Jimmy to come back, we’ve got wingers with pace, good set plays, we have a lot of good stuff going on, we need to work well every day and we will.”

Reading’s top performer, however, was Chris Gunter – the right-back picked up a goal and assist to demonstrate his attacking potential to Fantasy managers, though the Royals’ habit of leaking goals may well limit his Fantasy potential.

Norwich 2 Scunthorpe 1
With a trip to Spurs on the horizon, Chris Hughton took no chances with his starting line-up and made 11 changes from the side that drew at home to QPR on Saturday. Simon Lappin opened the scoring from an Andrew Surman assist, while Wes Hoolahan slotted home a spot-kick in the absence of regular taker, Grant Holt.

Nottingham Forest 1 Wigan 4
Mauro Boselli led the line for the Latics in a game that also saw Jean Beausejour make his first start since overcoming a hamstring problem. Boselli opened the scoring for Roberto Martinez’s side, while both Maynor Figueroa and Jordi Gomez grabbed the headlines with superb long range efforts. Ryo Miyaichi – on an as an 80th minute sub – needed just nine minutes to make an impact, setting up Callum McManaman for Wigan’s fourth. Antolin Alcaraz was dismissed after receiving two yellows and will now miss the weekend home clash with Stoke. That will likely see Beausejour earn a start at left wing-back with Figueroa shifting to the back three in the 3-5-2.

QPR 3 Walsall 0
Mark Hughes named a strong starting XI for last night’s win. The QPR boss rolled out a 4-4-2 with Andy Johnson partnering Bobby Zamora up front, while Jose Bosingwa and Fabio were handed the full-back roles. Alejandro Faurlin and Kieron Dyer were both given opportunities to impress after injury, while Ji-Sung Park and Junior Hoilett also featured in a match that saw Zamora grab a goal and assist, perhaps furthering his inclusion for a starting role for the weekend trip to City. Bosingwa and Shaun Wright-Phillips were the other scorers in a comfortable stroll.

Yeovil 2 West Brom 4
Steve Clarke made 10 changes for the trip to Yeovil ahead of the Baggies clash with Everton. Shane Long was the only survivor from the side that drew at Spurs and he was partnered by new boy Markus Rosenberg up front. The pair both produced as the Baggies unbeaten start to the season continued – Rosenberg provided an assist while Long found the net twice but it was Chris Brunt who stole the show with a goal and a pair of assists for the midlands outfit.

Post-match, Baggies assistant boss, Keith Downing, confirmed that the likes of Peter Odemwingie, Romelu Lukaku and Jerome Thomas all missed the tie through injury. While Thomas would appear to remain a major doubt for the weekend clash with Everton, Downing was optimistic on the chances of both Odemwingie and Lukaku being available.

West Ham 2 Crewe 0
Sam Allardyce clearly had one eye on the weekend clash against Fulham when naming his side for the visit of Crewe. The Hammers boss kept just one player – Kevin Nolan – from the XI that began the game at Swansea last Saturday lunchtime. This meant a start for Ricardo Vaz Te and Modibo Maiga up front, while the likes of Matt Taylor and Gary O’Neil were handed roles in midfield. Vaz Te teed up Nicky Maynard for the opener before Maiga made sure of victory, with Nolan supplying the assist.

Swansea 3 Barnsley 1
Michael Laudrup made seven changes from the side that saw off West Ham at the weekend – only Danny Graham, Angel Rangel, Nathan Dyer and Jonathan De Guzman remained. Kyle Bartley and Ki Sung-Yeung were both afforded debuts but it was a fringe player who hogged the headlines; Luke Moore, playing in the “Michu” role, had a hand in all of the Swans’ goals, finding the net twice and providing an assist for Graham to continue his goalscoring form.

Stoke 3 Swindon 4
Thomas Sorensen replaced Asmir Begovic between the sticks but Stoke failed to repeat the clean sheet accrued against Arsenal on Sunday by shipping four to Paulo Di Canio’s side. Tony Pulis named many of the side that drew with the Gunners – Robert Huth, Michael Kightly, Geoff Cameron and Jermaine Pennant were all amongst the first XI and Kightly (who has accrued 16 FPL points in the first two Gameweeks) continued his recent good form by supplying an assist for Kenwyne Jones on 62 minutes. Two-one down and staring defeat in the face, Pulis sent on regular front two Jon Walters and Peter Crouch on 77 minutes and, within eight minutes, the Potters were level thanks to the Irishman. Walters then set up Crouch for his side’s third but the visitors clinched a famous victory to raise further questions over Stoke’s backline ahead of a trip to Wigan.

Stoke lost midfielder Jamie Ness to a groin injury in extra time, leaving them with 10-men. With a history of injury problems, Pulis didn’t sound too optimistic on Ness in his post-match comments…

“It’s a cruel blow for the lad because he has come through all the pre-season work and was desperate to get out there…We are concerned about the nature of the injury because of the problems the lad has had in the past so we didn’t want to take any risks with it.”

Sheffield Wednesday 1 Fulham 0
Martin Jol will be far from happy after a lame performance saw the Cottagers fall at the first hurdle. Wednesday’s win takes their unbeaten run to 18 games under David Jones – the home side restricted their visitors to just four attempts all game, with a single shot on target. At the back, Jol retained the likes of Mark Schwarzer and Brede Hangeland, while Damien Duff and Alex Kacaniklic were again handed the wing roles. Mladen Petric was given the night off, while Bryan Ruiz suffered an injury in the warm-up and missed out – perhaps the reason as to why Jol’s side were so toothless in attack. With news that the club have accepted a bid from Spurs for Moussa Dembele and with Clint Dempsey’s future still undecided, Jol will doubtless be scouring the market ahead of Friday night’s deadline.

Stevenage 1 Southampton 4
With back-to-back defeats in their opening two Gameweek, Nigel Adkins made 11 changes to his side ahead of the Saints’ showdown with United at St Mary’s on Sunday. Billy Sharp was the stand-out performer in the comprehensive victory – he grabbed a goal and assist, while Jason Puncheon also notched after rifling home a long range free-kick. Japanese striker, Tadanari Lee, earned a much needed start as he builds his fitness and claimed a goal playing on the left of the front three. Adkins was particularly pleased with the contribution of the striker, perhaps indicating that Lee will soon be knocking on the door for inclusion in his first team plans…

“He’s had 90 minutes which was very pleasing…He’s had to graft very hard and we’re pleased that he’s got that under his belt now…It was a good goal and good pass that put Billy Sharp in down the side of the centre half and fizz it across – and it was a good finish.”