Kick-Off: Gameweek 13 Fantasy Preview

Roman Abramovich certainly loves the personnel from Merseyside.

A week of sackings as Roberto Di Matteo became the first Premier League manager to be discharged from his job this season following a 0-3 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League. Shocking. Replacing him is ex-Liverpool gaffer Rafael Benitez, until the end of the season.

The Blues of London certainly need a miracle to progress to the next round now, while the Blues of Manchester — Manchester City — are officially out of the tournament. Both Manchester United and Arsenal have secured their progress though.

Also being sacked is Queen Park Rangers' ex-manager Mark Hughes, after such a horrible season with only 4 points despite having a more than decent squad. He is then quickly replaced by Harry Redknapp, one of the best manager since Premier League's establishment 20 years ago.

Let's see how these sides respond in the Premier League as we head into the 13th gameweek of the season.

GAMEWEEK 12 TOP SCORERS

1. Carlos Tevez (£9.4m, 19 pts): Explosive. The Argentine is now leading the fantasy scoreboard and looks set to become the first player to break the 100-point milestone.
2. Jose Enrique (£5.7m, 18 pts): Looks superb to play out of position. If he can lock down the left wing spot he could be the next fantasy hot cake.
3. David Silva (£9.3m, 16 pts): And finally the Spaniard scored something which tallies with his price. Needs a few more of such performance to regain fantasy managers' confidence though.
4. Santi Cazorla (£9.4m, 13 pts): The expected one to perform when Arsenal perform.
5. Adam Le Fondre (£4.8m, 13 pts): A good, low-cost benchwarmer in your fantasy team considering his penalty duties.

FEATURED: Chelsea v Manchester City @ Stamford Bridge
Rafa Benitez will have a tough start at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea face league leaders Manchester City.

The Blues have gone four matches without a win and will definitely hope for a change under the new gaffer. Fernando Torres (£9.5m, 2 pts) is the man on the radar now as he had flourished well under the leadership of Benitez and will hope to replicate the same thing again.

Frank Lampard (£8.4m, - pts) and John Terry (£6.6m, - pts) will continue to spend time with the physios, and thus offensive burden will continue to lay heavily on Juan Mata (£9.6m, 1 pt) and Eden Hazard (£10.1m, 7 pts) while defensively it will continue to leak in my opinion.

Roberto Mancini certainly has huge pressure after witnessing the sack of Roberto Di Matteo and will go all out to deliver the necessary result to avoid following Di Matteo's footsteps. Carlos Tevez (£9.4m, 19 pts), David Silva (£9.4m, 16 pts) and Sergio Aguero (£11.0m, 11 pts) will continue be Mancini's main weapon to rely on if they are to get something from London this Sunday.

Tough one to call given the uncertainty that new manager gives, but I believe City should be able to knock down unsettled Chelsea.

Prediction: CHE 1-2 MCI

TEAM FOCUS: Manchester United
A managerial change at Queens Park Rangers, but I don't think that will change Manchester United status as the most fantasy friendly team this week.

United went for a full rotation in Champions League defeat against Galatasaray and will have their elites fully prepared for a full scale demolition. Wayne Rooney (£11.7m, - pts) will be fit for the clash, though Robin Van Persie (£13.7m, 2 pts) remains the best pick of the team and perhaps across the league as well for this week's FPL captain.

The Rangers don't score a lot of goals, so it's likely for Rafael Da Silva (£6.4m, 1 pt) and co to get some good returns.

Prediction: MUN 3-0 QPR

PLAYER FOCUS: Kone
Wigan will host Reading who have only kept one clean sheet so far this season, so I think Arouna Kone (£6.5m, 2 pts) has quite the chance to get something from the game and become a decent pick for this gameweek.

Luis Suarez (£10.3m, 11 pts) continues to get popularity among fantasy managers as well as with his unstoppable form, scoring 5 goals in last 4 Premier League games.

GAMEWEEK 13 DREAM TEAM

Al-Habsi

Rafael — Shawcross — Enrique

Adam Johnson — Cazorla — Sterling — Bale

Tevez (VC) — Van Persie (C) — Suarez

Subs: Begovic — Pablo Hernandez —  Mertesacker — Cuellar

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Sunday Aftermath: No Ban

A big relief for Robin Van Persie's owners after FA's decision to not take action against his elbow towards Yohan Cabaye.

So Chelsea continued to hold their 5-point lead after a handsome victory over Norwich. Here are some highlights:

• Branislav Ivanovic (£7.2m, 12 pts) continues to fire after recording yet another goal and assist. The Serbian defender has already got 3 league goals this term, and looks unstoppable at the moment.
• Meanwhile, Juan Mata (£8.9m, 8 pts) continued his supremacy but Eden Hazard (£10.3m, 9 pts) gave a timely response with his second goal of the season. Still too early to tell who is the king at Stamford Bridge.
• Fernando Torres (£10.0m, 12 pts) was the man who claimed 3 bonus points nonetheless as the Spaniard starts to show some ruthless form. Looks to have the best value among those luxurious forwards.
• Manchester City got their first clean sheet of the season as defender Aleksandar Kolarov (£5.7m, 20 pts) blasted home with 20 fantasy points. Still as efficient as always. Still not getting the required playing time to unleash his fantasy potential yet as well unfortunately.
• The London derby between Arsenal and West Ham saw Olivier Giroud (£8.4m, 12 pts) scored his first Premier League goal in his career as the Gunners inflicted a comprehensive defeat to the Hammers. Theo Walcott (£8.7m, 10 pts) made a wonderful feature from the bench — he has not started for 6 Premier League games already.
• Defenders went on rampage at Tyneside as Newcastle succumbed to a 0-3 defeat to Manchester United. Jonny Evans (£5.8m, 14 pts) represents a good buy from United's defence following Nemanja Vidic's (£6.8m) medium-term injury.
• Wayne Rooney (£11.7m, 11 pts) continues to be influential, while Rovin Van Persie (£13.5m, 4 pts) was lucky to not being suspended after an elbow to Yohan Cabaye (£6.8m, 2 pts).
• At White Hart Lane we saw Tottenham getting their clean sheet with Hugo Lloris (£5.9m, 7 pts) getting his first cap at the Premier League. A coincidence?
• 3 straight league starts for Clint Dempsey (£9.2m, 6 pts) as his assist surely further piles Glyfi Sigurdsson (£8.3m, 1 pt) on the bench.
• Miguel Michu (£7.2m, 6 pts) and Wayne Routledge (£5.1m, 13 pts) as Swansea ended their consecutive defeat streak by sharing 1 point apiece with Reading. Pavel Pogrebnyak (£4.7m, 8 pts) was the influential man from the other side.
• James Morrison (£6.0m, 12 pts) continued his fine season in style as West Brom made sure that Queens Park Rangers continue to root on the bottom of the table.
• Defender Jose Fonte (£4.0, 15 pts) scored both goals for Southampton including one last-gasp equaliser to secure 1 point for the Saints.
• Arouna Kone (£6.5m, 11 pts) was the man at DW Stadium for the home side, while Steven Pienaar (£6.8, 8 pts) had a lively combination with Leighton Baines (£7.4m, 6 pts) to secure a point from Wigan.
• Liverpool hit the frame thrice at home as they suffered a goalless draw against Stoke City, which eventually means they still have only won twice at Anfield this year.

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Saturday Screamers: RVP Strikes!

Robin Van Persie grabbed his first goal for the Red Devils.

Another great Saturday night with comprehensive victory by Swansea, Everton and Manchester United! Here are some highlights:

• Robin Van Persie (£13.0m) scored his first goal for Manchester United in his first shot for the team through a wonderful volley. Class.
• His teammate Shinji Kagawa (£8.5m) also scored his first goal for United with an unmarked rebound. Two men to monitor.
• Wayne Rooney (£12.0m) only featured as a sub disappointingly and ended the game on a stretcher. The striker is expected to out for 4 weeks. A good news for Van Persie and Kagawa's owners and prospective owners though as it will remove rotation fears.
• David de Gea (£6.0m) continued to show good form between the post, but porous defence continues to hinder him from reaping good points.
• Damien Duff (£6.0m) made it 2 goals in 2 games for Fulham, which tallied his record last season. The winger is showing some form lately - a good short-term choice, perhaps.
• As for Swansea, Michu (£6.8m) did it again and leads the Golden Boot race with 3 goals. His price has already hiked by £0.3m in just one week, and I expect at least another £0.2m increase before gameweek 3's deadline. Grab him fast if you plan to get the highest goalscoring midfielder of La Liga last season.
• Danny Graham (£6.0m) opened his account for Swansea too as predicted. Most of the Swans' goals will share between Michu and him - a decent third forward pick in my opinion.
• A surprisingly flying start for Everton, scoring 6 league points out of possible 6. Maruoane Fellaini (£6.6m) scored again, which surprised me. Also on the scoresheet are Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m) and Steven Pienaar (£6.5m) - the usual suspects.
• Meanwhile, goals from Franco Di Santo (£5.5m) and Arouna Kone (£6.5m) helped to secure victory for Wigan over newcomers Southampton. Victor Moses (£7.0m) is leaving Wigan for Chelsea, so one would expect the duo to take over the offensive burden of the club.
• Tottenham failed to hold on their lead by Benoit Assou-Ekkoto (£6.5m) at White Hart Lane. Gylfi Sigurdsson (£9.0m) made an assist, but the rest of the attacking pack just didn't look sharp.
• Norwich and QPR, who both lost by 5 goals last week, shared one goal apiece at Carrow Road.
• And finally, Reading will have another double gameweek soon as the game between Sunderland and them was postponed because of waterlogged pitch.

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