Jamie Carragher Sidelined for Three Months

Jamie Carragher
Now who will become the temporary captain for Reds?

Liverpool's spiritual leader, Jamie Carragher, has to go for a surgery after dislocated his shoulder on the game against Tottenham. It will take approximately three months for him to recover.

This means that the Merseysiders will play without both captain and vice captain up to one month.

Of course, Carra's injury doesn't cause much concern to fantasy managers, although he is owned by 6.3% of over two million managers. What I do concern more is the opportunity that his absence provides - Kyrgiakos to partner Skrtel over the next three months?

We all know how effective Kyrgiakos is in set pieces, and that is proven by numbers - 4.8 points per game is the highest for Liverpool players. Managers could get well rewarded for taking him in now over the next one to two months as the Reds' fixtures get easier.

On the other hand, Van der Vaart is set to absent until the next year, with Bale the obvious replacement.

The Crazy Premier League Weekend and El Clasico

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid
Ronaldo will regret for what he said before the game.

Unbelievable. The strongest ever Real Madrid in history under the hands of Jose Mourinho still couldn't handle Barcelona. Goals from Xavi, Pedro, Villa (2) and Suarez ensured a perfect victory for the Catalans.

Meanwhile, the Premier League weekend is as entertaining as El Clasico with all 20 teams scored for the first time in the Premier League history. Here are the highlights:

• Arshavin finally found some great form with a stunning display against Aston Villa. On the other side, Clarke almost made himself the man of the match as he led the Villans to reduce the three goal deficit into one.
• Big disappointment towards Elmander and Davies as they failed to scored against Blackpool at Reebok Stadium. M. Davies should really pass all his fantasy points to K. Davies since there are only 0.1% of managers benefiting from his 10 points.
• Everton gave us a big shock to lose 1-4 against West Brom at home. Disgrace. Tim Cahill however continued his consistency with his header goal.
• Dempsey and Larsson scored one for each side as Fulham and Birmingham held draw at Craven Cottage.

Luis Nani and Dimitar Berbatov
The Bulgarian scored a whopping 25 fantasy points while the Portuguese contributed 12.

• Who else can be the star of the week other than the five-goal-Berbatov? He became the fourth player and also the first foreign player to score five goals in one game. Fantastic display after a nine match goal drought. Anyway, Blackburn playing style has been awful this season against superior oppositions.
• Congratulations to Manchester United as this win cemented them two points above Chelsea and also wrote off all the goal difference deficits against the defending champion.
• Manchester City painfully lost two points after a last-gasp equaliser by Stoke City.
• West Ham finally escaped from the curse of draws, beating Wigan 3-1. Piquionne, Parker and Obinna were the heroes, as usual.
• I had correctly predicted one goal each for Bent and Welbeck but Sunderland lost 2-3 to Wolves.
• Snow didn't manage to halt Chelsea's game against Newcastle but the Blue Lions' lost their lead after another disappointing offensive display by them. Drogba has now goalless for 10 hours and 36 minutes on the pitch - the second worst record of his career.
• Liverpool got punished for their failure to capitalise golden chances before Lennon scored a stoppage time goal. Johnson did well to control Bale, but Konchesky is just no match for Lennon in terms of speed. Tottenham had once again recovered three points from losing position, accounting for a total of 16 this season.
• Van der Vaart is injured once again. He will be sidelined for longer this time with his hamstring problem.

Gameweek 15 Fantasy Preview

Wayne Rooney
Climbing up hard.

Yes, Wayne Rooney is back but how about his form? Certainly looking good in the Champions League game. Also, Van der Vaart's condition remains unknown so choose Bale if you haven't get both Bale and VdV and decide to get one of them.

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PART I: PRE-MATCH ANALYSES

Ashley Young
Marked as £80m by Gerard Houllier after being pursued by Man Utd and Liverpool.

Aston Villa v Arsenal
Another frenzy Saturday opener as Aston Villa face Arsenal at the unbeatable Villa Park.

The Villans are yet to lose at their home ground, with a proud record of holding Chelsea and drawing Man Utd after a two goal lead. Things may go pretty tough for them though, with the absence of several key players including captain Stiliyan Petrov (long term knee injury) and Marc Albrighton (appendicitis). However, the arrival of ex-Gunners Robert Pires certainly helps them, both experience and tactics to play against the Frenchman's former employer.

On the other hand, Arsenal continues to miss Thomas Vermaelen and captain Cesc Fabregas for their title conquest. Koscielny is still very unreliable and this big hole may be greatly exploited by Gabriel Agbonlahor. Arsenal will have to rely on Fabianski and Nasri's marvel in both ends to get something from Villa.

I think Villa should be able to at least continue their unbeaten record at Villa Park.

Prediction: AST 1-0 ARS

Gareth Bale
Needs to keep his mind cool after missing a penalty in the Champions League clash against Bremen.

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool
Well rested Liverpool is set to snatch something from White Hart Lane as the home side celebrates for their Champions League progress.

Van der Vaart remains a doubt for Tottenham but I don't think that would matter much as they now have a fit Defoe to lead the line. The latter will definitely reduce the number of chances wasted by the team with his clinical strikes.

On the other side, the skipper Steven Gerrard remains injured, but Lucas will be released from suspension to lock Modric's passes. However, it remains a concern whether Carragher and Skrtel/Kyrgiakos can guard Defoe and Crouch/Pavlyuchenko well and whether Glen Johnson can keep up with Gareth Bale's speed.

Liverpool's away form is too pathetic to win this, but I think there's a high chance of drawing. Expect goals from both sides.

Prediction: TOT 1-1 LIV

The Rest

• Bolton v Blackpool (3-1) - Captain K. Davies or Elmander again everyone?
• Everton v West Brom (3-0) - Captain Tim Cahill. Quite a big shock if he fails to give us something.
• Fulham v Birmingham (1-0) - Fulham needs to collect points against weak-at-away Birmingham.
• Man Utd v Blackburn (2-0) - Those with United's defender should prosper.
• Stoke City v Man City (0-1) - Tough match-up for City but they shouldn't slip.
• West Ham v Wigan (2-1) - May be the last game for Avram Grant so he should make it a happy ending.
• Wolves v Sunderland (0-2) - One goal each for Welbeck and Bent?
• Newcastle v Chelsea (0-2) - A great opportunity for Drogba and co to signal their return. UPDATE: Heavy snow at Tyneside so expect the game to be postponed.

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PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Tim Cahill
I strongly believe that he will do this in the match against WBA.

Captain Picks

• Tim Cahill - WBA is totally out of form.
• Elmander/K. Davies - It's so hard to believe Blackpool defence can hold them up at Reebok Stadium.
• Nani - Despite Rooney's return, he will still play the most important role at United until the former reaches his prime.
• Drogba/Malouda - Newcastle's defence is too fragile for them.

Buy-Ins

• Elmander/K. Davies/Lee - They lead Bolton's in-form attack.
• Rafael - Cementing a strong starting position at Man Utd.
• Rooney - If you believe that he will find his form fast.

Sell-Outs

• Fabregas - Injured.
• Gyan - Doubtful and lost his position to Welbeck.
• Elmohamady - Lost his starting position surprisingly.

Squad of XV

GK: Van der Sar

DF: Vidic, Baines, Ivanovic

MF: Cahill(C), Nani, Dempsey, Lee

F: Elmander, Davies K., Drogba

Subs (in order): Green, Hughes, N'Zogbia, Coleman

Captain: Cahill

Emergency Captain: Value

Starting XI Value: £84.1m

Total Team Value: £104.4m

Fabregas OUT

Cesc Fabregas
Arsenal's captain will join Gerrard on the sidelines.

Arsenal failed to secure an early progress in the Champions League group stage after a 0-2 defeat to Braga. What's worse? Their emperor on the pitch, Fabregas, was injured.

Fabby will be out for two to three weeks and may miss the important clash against Manchester United. Bad news for his owners.

On the good side, this means Nasri will once again take the central role in Arsenal and bang in lots of points. Time to jump into the bandwagon.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Morten Gamst Pedersen
He is more than his handsome look.

The middle-low price fantasy players steal all the limelight at the middle part of the season. The latest one? Morten Gamst Pedersen, who just scored two against Aston Villa.

MGP was one of the fantasy hotcakes during 06/07 season, ending up with 155 points. He takes brilliant free kicks with Beckham-esque curve. He even scored directly through corners during his younger life before playing at the premier league. His form, however, dipped for the next three years, and also the first ten gameweeks of the season.

His last four games? 10-10-2-16, averaging a handsome 9.5 points per game.

Looks like we finally have somebody reliable in Blackburn's offence. Morten Gamst Pedersen.

Things That You Can Do By Selling Drogba

Didier Drogba
"What's wrong? Why are we keep losing?"

Drogba has been the most terrible investments over the past two months - costing £13m but hardly contributed any. His has been goalless over the past six premier league games he was playing, with fantasy returns of 2-6-1-2-2-2, barely passing two points per game on average. What's worse? Awaiting Chelsea are seven tough games, which in order are:

• Newcastle
• Everton
• Tottenham
• Man Utd
• Arsenal
• Bolton
• Aston Villa

The Ivorian will still have a fair chance to score in the first three coming fixtures, but I'm not so positive that he will score more than one each. With the aforementioned factors, I think it's time to end the misery of owning Drogba and change him to someone else.

With £13m you can continue to hold an out of form Drogba or:

• Own the best striker partnership in the Premier League currently - K Davies and Elmander. And you can still have a small change for that.
• Change Drogba for the in form luxurious striker Fernando Torres, and spend the additional £1.1m on other areas.
• Change him for one middle price striker (Gyan, K Davies, Elmander, Carroll etc.) and upgrade one £4m defender into a £7m one. Or even two.
• Change him for one middle price striker as above and make one of your midfielder to become Fabregas.
• Buy two luxurious goalkeeper (Hart, Cech, Van der Sar, Reina).

There's so much you can do by selling Drogba. So what's your choice?

Saturday Stage

Kevin Davies (13 pts) and Elmander (13 pts)
United they FLY.

A big feast for fantasy managers as most of the fantasy key men have a point burst this weekend. Here are the highlights:

• Chelsea stumbled again. Birmingham got it right with only one shot and that made it very difficult for the away side. Don't tell me I didn't tip you about this as I even listed Foster as the first choice keeper. Well rewarded with eight points. Surprisingly, Alex started the game.
• Bolton overpowered Newcastle with both Davies and Elmander scoring two goals and one assist. The duo have been spectacular under Owen Coyle this season. With easy fixtures ahead, grabbing both of them is not a stupid choice.
• Jonathan Walters came from the bench and returned home with two goals. He may secure a starting spot in the next two to three games so continue to monitor him.
• Nani didn't reward his fantasy managers despite a 2-0 victory for Manchester United. Rooney was back for the game but didn't make enough impact for the Red Devils.
• The injury news look like a cheat as Charlie Adam played as for Blackpool as well. Varney again recorded his name on the score sheet.