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| Samir Nasri Is the burden of leading Arsenal's offence too heavy for him? |
It was Berbatov who led the gameweek score last week, but still, Chelsea's trio of Drogba, Malouda and Kalou are on the top three fantasy podium and they constitute six of eleven of dream team. Spectacular. Here is my last gameweek's score. I am improving fast, don't I?
PART I: PREVIEWS
Can Joe Hart repeat such an ultimate performance against Chelsea?
Manchester City v Chelsea
The true test for Chelsea begins with a visit to the Eastlands this Saturday.
Chelsea, the old time big money spender, experienced almost the same of the new millionaire army. They both got knocked out from the League Cup and suffer from injury crisis. Ancelotti's side is offensively impaired with the absence of Lampard, Kalou and Benayoun, while Mancini's side is even worse with only three healthy defenders ready for action on Saturday.
We all know how unstoppable Chelsea is currently. The defeat to Newcastle is a misfortune rather than a panicky sign as the Blues were downed to 10-men due to unforeseen injury. While the absence of Kalou will certainly hit them in terms of goals, they will still have too much of offensive quality to not score.
City, on the other hand, has been far from impressing this season. David Silva has a long way to adapt to English football, while the likes like Kolarov, Boateng and Balotelli have yet to show their abilities due to their injuries. Joe Hart has been a genius up till now, but you can't expect the English stopper to perform godly saves week in week out.
While both sides have quite the similar fate this week, the difference between them is Chelsea still has their top scorers Malouda and Drogba healthy, and they have big advantage in charging against the defensively weakened City. They need to beware on Nigel De Jong though.
Prediction: MANC 1-3 CHE
The Rest
- Arsenal v West Brom (2-0) - Arsenal will experience some difficulty in offence in the absence of Fabregas. It should not be tough though. Nasri is the clear first choice from the team.
- Birmingham v Wigan (2-0) - Hleb has a good start with the Brums, and I expect him to repeat the feat again.
- Blackpool v Blackburn (1-2) - I think Blackburn's defence is brutal enough to stop Blackpool.
- Fulham v Everton (1-0) - With Everton's poor season start, I doubt if they can score any goals.
- Liverpool v Sunderland (1-0) - I don't have much confidence on the Reds. Torres is one of the good captain this week.
- West Ham v Tottenham (1-2) - Tottenham is still pretty unpredictable but I think Van der Vaart should be able to offer some stability to the Spurs' performance.
- Bolton v Man Utd (0-2) - The Red Devils should have no problem of winning this one but do expect for rotation as soon as they achieve a two-goal lead.
- Wolves v Aston Villa (0-1) - All I can predict from this game is it should be a low-scoring one.
- Newcastle v Stoke City (2-1) - Another tight match-up which I have no clue.
PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS
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| Fernando Torres Can you afford to have him given that Drogba is the clear first choice forward? |
- Nasri - He takes over Fabregas role temporarily.
- Torres - The Premier League top star is starting to find back the best of him.
Buy-Ins
- Torres/Gerrard/Konchesky - The next five games of Liverpool are relatively easy with three games at home.
- Berbatov/Nani/Scholes - Despite mostly away, Man Utd also has a good run of fixtures.
Sell-Outs
- Baptiste - Haunted by injury.
Squad of XV
GK: Foster
DF: Dann, Konchesky, Clichy
MF: Hleb, Nani, Nasri(C), Malouda, Van der Vaart
F: Torres, Chamakh
Subs (in order): Robinson, O'Shea, Luke Young, Carroll
Captain: Nasri
Emergency Captain: Value
Starting XI Value: £78.5m
Total Team Value: £99.6m
