Sunday Aftermath: The 12th Man

Mark Halsey: The game spoiler.

Poor officiating had once again spoiled the game as Manchester United won controversially at Anfield. Here are some highlights:

• If Mark Halsey is listed in Fantasy, he should have gotten all the points that Robin Van Persie (£13.5m, 6pts) and Antonio Valencia (£8.8m, 5 pts) got this gameweek. Controversial judgement by him in my opinion as he awarded United for such a soft penalty but denied Liverpool's more legitimate penalty claim earlier.
• Rafael da Silva (£5.6m, 11 pts) scored a unbeatable goal at Anfield and is the man you should closely monitor from the Red Devils as he scored a sky high 6.75 points per game.
• Anders Lindegaard (£5.4m, 3 pts) performed superbly well yesterday and with that kind of performance, expect David de Gea (£5.8m, 0 pts) to rot longer on the bench.
• Steven Gerrard (£9.4m, 9 pts) scored the only goal for Liverpool but  I still don't see any value from Liverpool players yet, though the next few fixtures can be the time for them to start performing.
• Meanwhile at Etihad Stadium, Manchester City squandered their lead to share a point with Arsenal. Defenders Joleon Lescott (£6.4m, 11 pts) and Laurent Koscielny (£5.4m, 9 pts) scored one each for respective teams.
• Santi Cazorla (£9.2m, 7 pts) delivered yet another assist as he shows that he is really not far away from Eden Hazard (£10.3m) in terms of class.
• Sergio Aguero (£11.0m, 2 pts) made his return and pushed Carlos Tevez (£9.9m, 1 pt) back on the bench. Tevez's potential could get severely dented as Mario Balotelli (£8.8m, 1 pt) is also back in action to compete for a starting spot.
• At Sports Direct Arena Demba Ba (£7.8m, 9 pts) combined with Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.8m, 8 pts) to score the only goal of the game. Ba is definitely on fire and is one of the best forward to get in £7-8m band.
• On the contrary, Ba's compatriot, Papiss Cisse (£9.2m, 0 pts), missed a penalty and is out of form at the moment. Stay away from him indefinitely.
• Gareth Bale (£9.3m, 8 pts) carried forward his stunning form as Tottenham won at home against Queens Park Rangers. The same applies on Jermaine Defoe (£7.7m, 8 pts), who scored yet another goal to extend his fine goal run.
• Steven Fletcher (£7.2m, 9 pts) scored in all games he had played for Sunderland this season after yet another goal against West Ham this time. Scoring on the other end is Kevin Nolan (£6.2m, 7 pts) as both represent good offensive acquisitions from respective teams.
• Dimitar Berbatov (£7.2m, 8 pts) is unstoppable at the moment as he delivered a 1 assist plus 3 bonus points performance in Fulham's victory over Wigan. Damien Duff (£6.2m, 8 pts) is doing pretty well currently with 33 points already this season.
• Romelu Lukaku (£6.5m, 9 pts) scored as expected as West Brom recorded a narrow win against Reading. A man to monitor.
• Southampton recorded their first victory of the season as Rickie Lambert (£6.1m, 13 pts) scored  2 goals. One superb striker in the budget category.
• At Stamford Bridge Chelsea almost lost 2 points to Stoke City but Ashley Cole (£6.5m, 15 pts) prevented that with a last minute goal. Finally he is responding to Branislav Ivanovic's (£7.0m, 6 pts) dominance on the right.
• Marouane Fellaini (£7.1m, 12 pts) and Leighton Baines (£7.2m, 11 pts) led the show at Liberty Stadium as Swansea sufferred a terrible 0-3 defeat to the Toffees.

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Kick-Off: Gameweek 24 Fantasy Preview

Djibril Cisse scored his first goal on his debut for QPR.

Overview
Gareth Bale continued his C. Ronaldo-esque performance after bagging 15 fantasy points last gameweek, while Fraizer Campbell's return provided immediate effect as he led Sunderland to a 3-0 victory. Manchester City's surprise defeat took the title race back to square one for the Manchester clubs.

Transfer Deadline Day Deals
Some significant deadline signings are as follows:

• Djibril Cisse - Obvious enough. The former Liverpool and Sunderland man scored his first goal on his debut for QPR.
• Zamora - While he should become automatic selection at Loftus Road, you should also notice that Bryan Ruiz should play further upfront for Fulham.
• Jelavic - One of the rare "big" spends by Everton. He is expected to improve the offence upfront.
• Saha - The Frenchman is moving to Tottenham to rediscover his long lost form.
• Pogrebnyak - Replacing Zamora is this 28-year-old Russian who came from Vfb Stuttgart. With the height of 188cm one would expect him to play the targetman's role.
• Bridge - The almost forgotten man in the Premier League will now play at Sunderland on a loan basis. Interesting to see whether Bridge has forgotten his footwork or not.
• Kyrgiakos - The former Liverpool giant will also join Sunderland, which will definitely boost the Black Cats' defence to another level.
• Miyaichi - Bolton wrapped up the deal for the young Japanese. We shall see whether he could make great impact in Owen Coyle's team.
• Pizarro - Quite a surprise move in my opinion. But Pizarro is experienced and should be capable to take over Yaya Toure's void before he comes back, at least.

Game of the Week: CHELSEA v MANCHESTER UNITED

Can Torres score this time?

Time for a revenge at Stamford Bridge?

The Red Devils took down the Blues 3-1 at Old Trafford earlier in this campaign, with Torres missing the miss of the century. The Spaniard should still start though, given the fact that Andre Villas-Boas is short of strikers.

Daniel Sturridge looked sharp on the midweek game but was lack of any shooting accuracy. Meanwhile, it remains clueless whether Gary Cahill was brought in as Terry's partner or as a benchwarmer. It should be revealed this week.

For the red side, Nani and Rooney should be fit to play in this tie, while Lindegaard is expected to out for four weeks. That means David de Gea will have yet another chance to prove himself despite poor performance against Liverpool.

Personally I think Ashley Cole's suspension will provide the edge for United. Valencia should take full advantage of that and United is going to frustrate Chelsea again.

Prediction: CHE 1-2 MUN

Pick: Valencia

Fantasy Game of the Week: MANCHESTER CITY v FULHAM

Time for Aguero to end his
goalless streak.

Mancini will not allow his team to make mistake again as City hosts Fulham.

Aguero has not scored any goal in his last three league games, but that should end against Martin Jol's Fulham. Expect him and Silva to combine and perform finally.

The addition of Pizarro should provide the creativity to compete deep in midfield, though it remains to be seen whether he will make a start.

It's time for City to end the embarrassment and continue to move forward and lead the pack.

Prediction: MCI 2-0 FUL
Pick and Captain: Aguero, Silva
Pick: MCI defence
Drop: FUL defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Van Persie - With Samba refused to play, Blackburn's defence is worthless.

Pick:

• Ba - Return to take charge of Newcastle's offence.
• Suarez - Freed from "jail" and should be full of power.
• Djibril Cisse - Looking forward to continue his fine form against woeful Wolves.

Drop:

• Ashley Cole - Suspended.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Ba - The super striker returns.
• Sessegnon - Unstoppable.
• Assou Ekkoto - His price rises without limit.
• Suarez - Reunites with better Liverpool.

Yellow light (watch):

• Cisse - See whether it's debutant's luck or his real class.

Red light (sell):

• Van der Vaart - Limped off last game.
• Ramires - Won't be back soon.

Gameweek 24 Dream Team

Krul

Kompany -- Simpson -- O'Shea

Sessegnon -- Silva -- Valencia (VC) -- Bale

Aguero (C) -- Ba -- Cisse

Subs: Szczesny -- Dyer -- Martin R -- Shorey