The bottom three all lose as the pressure at the foot of the table heats up, while at the top, Man United go ten points clear. Roy Hodgson continues to work wonders at West Brom, with the Baggies now unbeaten in seven. Chelsea again stutter and scrape a single goal win at Wigan’s expense, though on-loan Blues player Daniel Sturridge grabs the headlines with a brilliant double for Bolton. Here’s the notes on yesterday’s action…
Wolves went into the home game with Everton full of confidence, having taken ten points from their last five matches at Molineux, in a run that saw them beat the likes of Chelsea and Man United and drawing with Spurs along the way. The Toffees showed little fear of this recent home form, though, and Big Mick McCarthy will be worried at the toothless performance by his troops. The Wolves defence, in particular, was abysmal throughout and it’s no real surprise that they have now conceded three or more goals in three of their last four games.
With Sylvan Ebanks-Blake limping off at half-time due to a hamstring injury, and with Kevin Doyle already sidelined, Steven Fletcher is the only fit first-team forward for the Midlanders. The recent 4-4-2 formation looks likely to be ditched, then, and replaced by a 4-5-1, which could open the door for Nenad Milijas in a role behind the front man.
McCarthy’s side have no match next week, but their remaining fixtures still seem relatively appealing, when they resume action in double gameweek 34 (blank, FUL & stk, bir, WBA, sun, BLA).
There seems to be something inherent in the DNA of David Moyes’ side that sees each league campaign start off poorly, yet finish so strongly and prompt the question of “What if?”. Sitting just one point off sixth now, the Toffees arrived at Molineux with their most injury-ravaged line-up of the season yet blew away their hosts with an emphatic 3-0 performance.
Despite PFA Young Player of the Year nominee Seamus Coleman joining the likes of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill, Louis Saha and Marouane Fellaini on the sidelines, Everton stretched their unbeaten run to six league games this weekend and approach the remainder of the season as one of the league’s in-form teams.
The Goodison injury list has at least cleared the way for Jermaine Beckford to find his feet at the top level. The former Leeds hitman earned his seventh goal of the season at Molineux and coupled it with an assist and 2 Bonus Points. Beckford’s form is sketchy but he presents a regular starter at just £4.7m in the FPL – a worthy consideration, despite the fact that he is without a double gameweek on the horizon.
Subject of yesterday evening’s Knee Jerk, the on-loan Chelsea man is proving to be a pivotal part of Owen Coyle’s team and wasted little time in justifying his place both in this week’s “Scout Picks” and “Spot the Differential” by firing the Trotters ahead against West Ham within quarter of an hour. Sturridge added another later in the game, making it six goals in just eight league games in his loan spell at Bolton. His performance was outstanding, as he managed nine shots at goal, with five on target.
The Trotters have an FA Cup semi-final next weekend so will miss out on league action, but Sturridge and co then have a double gameweek the following week to keep him firmly on our radars. His fixtures from now till the end of the season read (blank, ARS & ful, bla, SUN, blp, MCY).
Last week, West Ham walked in at half-time 2-0 up on Man United but since then have conceded a worrying seven goals without reply. Avram Grant’s side were clearly still suffering a hangover from last week’s 4-2 Upton Park reverse and were never in the races yesterday as Bolton put them to the sword with an almost embarrassing ease.
Up front, Robbie Keane got his first full game since moving on loan from Spurs and Frederic Piquionne lasted just 45 minutes before being replaced by Carlton Cole but the Hammers failed to find the net for the second game on the road in succession.
Avram Grant remained optimistic after the game, saying:
“There are a lot of positives things to take and also a lot to learn. There are six games to go and we can stay in the league. That is our target.”
With eight goals in their last three home games, their Upton Park form will be essential to their survival. Up next, a home showdown with fellow-strugglers Aston Villa before they hit the road for visits to Chelsea and Man City.
Gone are the days where Frank Lampard was nailed-on for the Bonus, there’s a new favourite in town; in his three home starts, David Luiz has picked up nine FPL Bonus Points. The January buy has racked up 32 FPL points in those 3 Stamford Bridge games and while the Chelsea forwards struggle to get definite minutes, nevermind goals, Luiz is currently the best bet for picking up those Fantasy points.
With no guarantees up front and Lampard’s £12.9m price showing little real value for money, Luiz could even be a viable captaincy option for the upcoming double gameweek, which sees Carlo Ancelotti’s side take on wba & BIR. With WHM, TOT in the two weeks after, Luiz continues to look a strong candidate for most FPL teams as the season enters the home run.
Carlo Ancelotti’s coyness over his first-team selection in Friday’s press conference meant the resultant omission of Fernando Torres for Wigan’s visit to Stamford Bridge was something of a shock. Earlier in the season Ancelotti was, arguably, the Fantasy Manager’s dream, announcing virtually his entire weekend starting XI every Friday but the arrival of Torres, coupled with the club’s current Champions League run, means the Chelsea frontline is becoming impossible to second-guess. Frank Lampard, on the other hand, has played the whole 90 minutes in Chelsea’s last eight league games and with his spot kick duties factored in, will be heavily transferred in before next week’s above-mentioned double gameweek.
Roberto Martinez’s side drew a blank at Chelsea, meaning they have failed to score in four of their last five league matches. With one clean sheet in their last fifteen games, there’s little at the back to be positive about, either. Wigan remain firmly rooted to the foot of the table with the games running out fast, though up next are away trips to (blp, sun), two teams with similarly poor form, which may offer a crumb of comfort to Martinez. The form of Charles N’Zogbia and Hugo Rodallega must be called into question right now, too; both were substituted just after the hour mark at Stamford Bridge. If Wigan are to stay in the top-flight, good performances from the pair are essential.
One point in eight games. Relegation form. Fingers point to the departure of Darren Bent as an over-riding factor but that doesn’t explain the dreadful displays of a back-four that -outwith that one point (a goalless draw at Arsenal)- have conceded an average of three goals per game in a run that sees them sit just six points off the drop zone.
Sunderland may have scored for the first time in five games yesterday but Roy Hodgson’s West Brom put three past them to further heap pressure on the Black Cats. The fixture list offers hope (bir, WIG, FUL, bol, WOL, whm) but as Bruce himself admitted post-match:
“It’s a big worry for us. We’re in the worst form of any team in the division and are sadly lacking confidence.”
For those who plumped for the services of Asamoah Gyan ahead of this run of games, the Ghanaian did, at least, grab an assist, which perhaps offers hope for both Fantasy owners and Sunderland fans, as Bruce’s side look to address their alarming slump with immediate effect.
On the other side of the form scale, West Brom’s win at the Stadium of Light took their unbeaten run to seven games under Roy Hodgson and saw them scale the heady heights of tenth as the threat of relegation becomes a distant memory. The Baggies seem unable to chalk up any clean sheets, however, and are increasingly reliant on finding the opposition’s net to aid their ascent up the table.
Luckily for Hodgson, the taste for goals is spread throughout his team right now; last week it was Chris Brunt who bagged a double, this time round the central-midfield pairing of Paul Scharner and Youssouf Mulumbu helped the Baggies cause with a goal apiece and have now netted two each in the last four games.
The Nigerian is on top of his game at present and grabbed a goal, two assists and the three Bonus Points at the Stadium of Light to return 15 Fantasy Points for his owners. Having previously mustered two assists all season, Odemwingie has grabbed six assists in the Baggies seven match unbeaten run, as well as two goals and 7 Bonus Points as his contribution to the team cause seems to flourish with every passing game.
The next four gameweeks will prove testing for Hodgson’s side, with (Che, tot) followed by a couple of Midlands derbies (AVL, wol) but if the current form continues, a place in the top-flight next term looks more or less secure.
When Manchester United signed Anderson and Nani almost four years ago now for a reported combined fee of £45m, questions were asked of the investment. Then the players started to make appearances for United and none of those fears of money squandered were abated any time soon.
Nani has since come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so and it was he and fellow Portuguese speaking Brazilian Anderson who shone in Manchester United’s 2-0 victory over Fulham. The latter provided some promising passing movement and attacking momentum in his return from injury if profligate in front of goal, as he so often is. Despite being displaced to left of a front three by the return of Antonio Valencia, Nani still shone and set up both of United’s goals -one for the aforementioned Ecuadorian, who himself earned 3 bonus for his efforts- and one for Dimitar Berbatov, who, making his first start in a month, picked up 2 bonus points to rack up his seventh double points score at home this season.
While Michael Jackson was left back stood atop his £100k perch outside of Craven Cottage the Fulham side ultimately didn’t provide much more movement themselves following a bright start at Old Trafford. Mark Hughes’ unit won’t be too dispirited to walk away with a loss from the likely Champions in waiting, as Fulham are left to stand still for a week before they return in gameweek 34 with a double header against Wolves and Bolton.
Public enemy number one in the North London regions on Tuesday evening, Peter Crouch began to make amends with a brace at home to Stoke, as Harry Redknapp’s side got back on track in their attempt to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a fourth-placed finish. The brace from Crouch helped Spurs see off a spirited Stoke and also doubled his fairly meagre Premier League goal tally this season.
Spurs’ ethereal midfielder Luka Modric provided another superb performance in front of the White Hart Lane faithful and topped it all off with a rare goal himself. The Croatian midfielder is often the pivot of all things which are good that come through Harry Redknapp’s side, but was this time on the end of things feeding off, finishing a neat piece of play with Roman Pavluychenko.
Modric’s rate of Bonus Points awards remains incredible. Having walked away with at least one extra token in nine of the last ten times he has appeared at White Hart Lane -with an unprecedented return of 19 from a possible 21 in his last seven appearances- his talents are being recognised regardless of goal and assist returns. With three home games in the next four gameweeks, Modric looks set to continue returning and Rafael Van der Vaart owners must be fidgeting as they consider a straight swap to the Croat. Van der Vaart completed the 90 minutes against Stoke – his first in four league matches, but again drew a blank. The Dutchman has failed to return in his last three league appearances for Spurs.
With Stoke having scored just one away goal (Dean Whitehead at Old Trafford at the start of the year) in their last seven games, it perhaps isn’t surprising that they came away from White Hart Lane empty-handed. Stoke did however score twice in yesterday’s encounter – Matty Etherington converting a ‘Bale-esque’ run and goal against his former club, while Kenwyne Jones blasted one in from outside the box. If the Potters can maintain this kind of attacking threat then they will surely arrest their dreadful away form.
One unfortunate minute of action -probably even less- was all it took for Birmingham to squander a lead and Blackburn to capitalise and earn themselves a draw in this scrap for survival down at the bottom of the table. Roger Johnson took a blow to the head which upset the run of play (he was subsequently removed at half time but should be fine for next week) then just as he was returning to the pitch, his defensive partner Liam Ridgewell was caught dawdling by young Canadian Junior Hoillett (providing a successful punt for myself) to grab the equaliser and earn himself another 3 Bonus Points.
Hoillett didn’t come through wholly unscathed as he was withdrawn with a tight hamstring alongside another injury victim – Ryan Nelsen. Further prognosis will expected later in the week but Kean gave us this on his walking wounded post-match…
“We’ve got a little knock on Ryan Nelsen’s knee a couple of weeks ago. He had some fluid drained off of that and he was feeling it a little bit, it was a little bit painful so we had to bring him off…Samba battled on but he’s got a swollen ankle, Junior Hoilett’s feeling a tight hamstring and Roque Santa Cruz on Thursday was feeling a tight hamstring – we took him off as a precaution before he suffered anything more substantial.”
Those holding firm on the towering Serbian striker won’t have been enthused by his no show at Ewood. The target man is still struggling with a groin injury and is a concern ahead of Birmingham’s gameweek 33 double. Kevin Phillips and Cameron Jerome hold the striking roles right now and, given that Phillips will be facing his former club Sunderland next and Jerome played a key part in Birmingham’s goal yesterday, the chances of a Zigic start look remote. Alex McLeish had this to say on Jerome’s showing in his post-match comments…
“It was a terrific goal after some really good subtlety from Cameron Jerome and that shows that he’s improving in every game. He cut it to the back for Bow who was there in between the defender to get a tap in.”
