A stunning victory at Anfield for Villa. A first win for QPR. A Felliani headbutt and not a single clean sheet in sight; at least Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney provided the predictable. Here’s the Stock Check on Saturday’s events…
On the Up
Adel Taarabt
The Moroccan delivers at last. After generating some superb performance statistics, QPR’s mercurial talent delivered a telling brace in the win over Fulham – the R’s first victory of the season. At 5.5 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and with strong fixtures to come, Taarabt could yet start to deliver on his potential as a midfield acquisition and will surely collect some investment, particularly if Marouane Felliani picks up a retrospective red.
Christian Benteke
His fourth and fifth league goals of the season, coupled with the assist for Andreas Wenmann’s strike, ruined the Liverpool clean sheet and boosted the Belgian’s growing reputation further. Available at 6.5 in the FPL and with his pivotal role in the Villa attack undoubted, Benteke is another contender for that third striker spot. It’s Chelsea away next, with three home games in four to follow, as the resurgent form of Villa’s fledglings continues to flourish.
Robin Van Persie & Wayne Rooney
We discussed the merits of pairing the two in our forward lines and today they both delivered with Van Persie opening the scoring before delivering the assist for Rooney’s fifth goal in three league matches. Van Persie has now scored in his last four league matches: both look to be in relentless form with favourable fixtures to come. It seems only rest and rotation can de-rail them.
Demba Ba
An eleventh goal of the season provided little than a consolation for the Magpies but underlined Ba’s case for a place in our forward lines once again. At 8.2 in the FPL, Ba is presenting strong value in the same bracket as Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov and with QPR at home next, he could enjoy another surge in ownership.
Yaya Toure
A second goal in consecutive matches, the Ivorian has rewarded those who have kept the faith after going 12 without registering a strike. Toure is ranked second only to Carlos Tevez in the City squad for overall FPL points but, with the African Cup of Nations absence looming from Gameweek 22 onwards, his potential is limited to the next few weeks. Toure could possibly miss up to six league matches from January.
Anthony Pilkington
It was Robert Snodgrass who sparkled at the Liberty stadium last weekend but, typically, it was Anthony Pilkington’s turn to come to the fore for Norwich this time around. The winger provided the opening strike and added to his tally with the assist for Wes Hoolahan’s winner. A clear-cut target in Chris Hughton’s in-form squad remains fuzzy.
Going Down
Maraoune Fellaini
An alleged headbutt on Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross was seemingly missed by the matchday officials but, judging by the reaction to the incident in the Sky studio and David Moyes’ post-match comments, we look set to see retrospective punishment for the Belgian with an automatic three-match ban for violent conduct beckoning. Monday will doubtless bring further news. The template could be breaking, then; we can only hope that Michu escapes his White Hart Lane clash without a yellow.
Luis Suarez
It looked as though the Uruguayan was turning in performances this season that hinted at a new level of consistency, but, having notched in four consecutive matches, Suarez has now drawn a blank in his last four. With other forwards flourishing, we could now start seeing a decline in Suarez ownership, despite his promising Christmas schedule.
Rafael
With Chris Smalling and Phil Jones available as options, it seemed only a matter of time before Rafael became subject to rotation. Having provided an assist in an impressive showing at City last time out, the decision to rest the Brazilian today was down to a tight hamstring, with Sir Alex Ferguson confirming that he’ll be available for next weekend’s trip to Swansea. Regardless, with Jones and Smalling able deputies, Rafael could be prone to rest and rotation over Christmas.
The Norwich Defence
Shaun Maloney’s strike for Wigan shattered the Canaries clean sheet at Carrow Road and means that they have now gone five without a shut-out. Mark Bunn has kept goal in all five of those matches: clearly John Ruddy’s influence is considerable and badly missed. Sebastian Bassong was the most popular transfer in going into the Gameweek; as we mentioned in this week’s ScoutCast, he may have to maintain his goalscoring rate to repay that investment.
Grant Holt
Having returned to the scoresheet last weekend, the Norwich skipper drew a blank and hobbled from the field with a hamstring injury late on to make him a potential doubt for the festive programme.
Dimitar Berbatov
The Bulgarian has now gone six league starts without a goal, while Martin Jol’s side have scored just four goals in that six game spell. We’ve seen Berbatov’s stock and ownership decline steadily in recent weeks and, despite his undoubted talent and favourable fixtures to come, we could yet see that trend continue after today’s Loftus Road defeat.
