Lampard's Return: Gameweek 7 Fantasy Review

Three goals - the perfect way to shut doubters' mouth.

Bolton 1-5 Chelsea
BOL: Another morale sapping defeat. Bogdan had a nightmarish game with several "state-of-the-art" saves. Several sparkling attacks from Petrov and Eagles, but in general they were overwhelmed.


CHE: Cool Lampard hat-tricked in style. Just when people (including me) started to forget him, the talisman of Chelsea made himself noticeable again in the most effective way. A display of great positioning.

Sturridge was the other architect who paved way for the emphatic win, who also almost hat-tricked. Great skill, great attitude to not celebrate against his former club. Chelsea did have abundance of attacking talents.

Defensively they need to improve on set pieces - certainly the dead spot of the Blues.

Pick: Lampard, Sturridge
Drop: BOL defence


Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal
TOT: Not a very convincing display, but good enough to win a derby game. I like the way Adebayor and Van der Vaart combined - lethal. In fact VdV's lovely goal was set by Ade. Given more time, I think both of them are fantasy musts given their superb figure of shots per game. Goal machines.

Kyle Walker scored a stunner, but as a defender I can't see how is he going to get a decent number of clean sheets from offensive-minded Tottenham.

ARS: Another sad case of complete control, and lost in the end. Arteta somehow played too deeply - hardly any offensive influence. It was Ramsey who surged forward more frequently, and shot a powerful equaliser. Good lad but not convincing enough as of yet, even with such low price (£6.3m).

I like the way Song played, but he is certainly not prolific enough to gain my love for him in my fantasy squad.

Pick: Adebayor, VdV
Watch: Ramsey, Walker


Everton 0-2 Liverpool
EVE: They certainly didn't deserve to lose under such unfortunate circumstances. Bad refereeing had costed them a player named Rodwell. Not quite impressive in terms of attack though.

I like Drenthe's potential. Given more playing time, he could produce some impressive feat.

LIV: Carroll broke his duck with a nice volley - still too early to say that he will return to his Newcastle's form though. Suarez continued to provide consistency despite limited upside potential.

The most impressive man was Enrique though who popped out with 11 points thanks to his good performance at both ends. Even if Liverpool can't keep too much of clean sheets this season, his good crosses will ensure that he will still score points that match his asking price.

Pick: Enrique, Suarez
Watch: Carroll, Drenthe, Kelly


Aston Villa 2-0 Wigan
AST: Gabby. You simply need to have him. Agbonlahor at Villa is like Rooney at Manchester United - ace status, prolific scoring, English. I love (seriously love) how he raped Wigan's defenders with his fastest legs of Premier League. At £7.0m it's a very ridiculous decision to not own him.

Bent scored too, but clearly at the moment people will only talked about Agbonlahor who is more all-rounded than him. The more interesting man is Bannan though - his long range bombs are threatening.

WIG: Simply got overpowered by Aston Villa. Defensively they are hardly trustworthy anyway averaging 2.5 goals conceded per game over the last 4 games.

Pick: Agbonlahor
Watch: Bannan
Drop: WIG defence


Blackburn 0-4 Manchester City
BLA: Blasted yet again as fans were holding "Kean Out" banner throughout the game. Nothing to be positive about as I place them in the first place to relegate this season.

MCI: Aguero was injured - BIG, BAD news. Fortunately it's international break coming right up and he should feature in City's next league game. The bigger concern for fantasy managers of course, is the possibility of his price drop.

Nasri dictated the whole game after replacing Kun. 1 goal plus 2 assists certainly proved to be too much for bench midfielder. Superb.

Balotelli's should had gotten 3-4 goals if he didn't waste those chances. Great prospect if Mancini decides to bring down Dzeko as third choice striker after the Serbian's dissent with his decision to sub him off during Champions League tie against Bayern.

Pick: Nasri, MCI defence, Silva
Watch: Balotelli
Drop: BLA players


Manchester United 2-0 Norwich
MUN: One of the luckiest game of the world as United opened their season with close to perfect 19 points out of possible 21. Team was rather disjointed. If not for Norwich's unbelievably poor decision making ability the Red Devils' exposed back should had lost. Credits to Welbeck though with his impact coming from the bench. He should pose huge threat to my favourite Chicharito.

NOR: Terribly terrible. They had about 4-5 clear cut chances and yet failed to score even one because of their amateur like judgement. It's a very simple philosophy: whoever is at a better chance to score, don't hesitate to pass. They didn't follow that, and thus the defeat. Paul Lambert should prepare for a big lecture to them.

Watch: Welbeck, Pilkington


Sunderland 2-2 West Brom
SUN: Nicklas Bendtner's game. Strong presence. If not for him, they wouldn't be able to level after a shocking 2-goal trail in the first 5 minutes. Not so sure about his value of money though with so many even better forwards to choose from.

WBA: They squandered a dream start. Long continued to impress though after scoring his third goal of the season. However, just like Bendtner, there're too many talents upfront.

Watch: Bendtner, Long


Wolves 1-2 Newcastle
WOL: Played well, but just couldn't penetrate five-star Krul. Just as usual, it was Doyle, Fletcher, Jarvis and O'Hara who manipulate the attacks.

NEW: Godlike Krul. Extremely entertaining just like how Begovic held off Liverpool few weeks ago. Stunning defence.

Offensive wise, Ba scored in two consecutive matches, with Cabaye the provider. Both are revealing more potential as the season progresses.

Pick: NEW defence, Ba
Watch: Cabaye, O'Hara

Fulham 6-0 QPR
FUL: Andy Johnson! 10 out of 10 for the English as he dictated the demolition after scoring a brace at Europa League just days ago. Swift run, great positioning, and most importantly, ruthless shots. He does intrigue me why Martin Jol buy Bryan Ruiz and Orlando Sa when he got one of the best local partnership already?

Not to be forgotten is Zamora who played the layman role perfectly. And I mean perfect. He just never got selfish throughout the game and always make chances for his teammates to score. Professional. Salute.

Dempsey also scored 1, but it was really aforementioned strikers who combined and took them to cloud nine.

QPR: Sluggish defending. Paddy Kenny certainly needs to be replaced with his amateurish display.

Pick: A. Johnson, Zamora
Watch: FUL defence
Drop: QPR defence


Swansea 2-0 Stoke City
SWA: Scott Sinclair scored once again through the spot - the first one to fly in the Prem against his Championship rivals Taarabt and Holt.

Danny Graham scored too, but I still don't see his value.

STO: Unlucky day for them as they were stopped by the post and Vorm.

Pick: Sinclair
Watch: Graham, Dyer, Walters

Reviews on Deadline Day Deals

Per Mertesacker is the best deadline day deal in my opinion.

Some reviews on notable deadline day transfers:

1. Arteta (£8.1m) - He actually took a pay cut to join Arsenal. Is expected to become the new playmaker of the team and steal some set piece duties of Van Persie. Pick.
2. Mertesacker (£6.0m) - A very solid buy by Arsenal. Should take defence to another level but is rather expensive. Watch.
3. Santos (£6.5m) - Too expensive for an Premier League unproven defender with a rather leaky side. Avoid until he shown great offensive capabilities. Avoid.
4. Benayoun (£6.9m) - Not too sure about his position as a starter or a benchwarmer. If it's the former, he will resemble a great fantasy bargain with his creativity. Watch.
5. Hutton (£5.0m) - Should become first choice RB of Villa, but with no discount compared to Stephen Warnock. Pick.
6. Jenas (£5.5m) - Pretty cheap for a midfielder who is capable of breaking 100-point ceiling. Watch.
7. Dann (£5.0m) - The former Birmingham defender joins Blackburn to bolster their defence, but it remains to be seen how is it going to be improved. Watch.
8. Yakubu (£5.5m) - He's getting older, but with limited options upfront at Blackburn, he can be a steal if he somehow finds his form. Watch.
9. N'gog (£5.4m) - Don't know how it he going to get his place with K Davies and in-form Klasnic upfront. Needs to wait for his chance. Avoid.
10. Meireles (£7.4m) - A surprise move. 50-50 on him whether to replace in-form Ramires or Mikel for a starting spot. Watch.
11. Drenthe (£6.0m) - Former Real Madrid left-back is expected to take a spot in midfield, but I don't see how is he going to contribute much in offence. Avoid.
12. Grygera (£5.0m) - An experienced defender who can play in both CB and RB. Pretty hard to predict where he stands in Fulham's defence. Watch.
13. Ruiz (£7.0m) - The new Fulham striker has some decent scoring record and is expected to share goal burden with Zamora and A Johnson. Watch.
14. Coates (£5.5m) - A big threat for Carragher's CB spot. Should replace him sooner or later. Watch.
15. Bellamy (£7.5m) - Expect a supersub role for him. Apparently overpriced. Avoid.
16. Hargreaves (£5.0m) - One of the worst deals in my opinion. Avoid.
17. Santon (£4.5m) - Surprisingly cheap for a former Inter defender. Expected to be a direct replacement for Jose Enrique. Pick.
18. Wright-Phillips (£6.4m) - May give immediate impact to QPR's attack. Pick.
19. Puncheon (-) - Great talent that should perform well alongside Barton, Taarabt and Wright-Phillips. Fantasy impact remains a question. Watch.
20. Crouch (£6.9m) - Fits nicely into Stoke's system but will not be too productive in my opinion. Watch.
21. Palacios (£4.9m) - Historically a good defensive midfielder but not a good fantasy midfielder. Avoid.
22. Bendtner (£6.4m) - Should be pairing up with Gyan to provide greater dimension to Sunderland's offence. Watch.
23. Parker (£6.5m) - Good time to arrive as Van der Vaart will out for some months. Pick.
24. Adebayor (£8.0m) - Has good scoring record and should shine with offensive-minded Tottenham. Pick.

Missing some? Kindly inform me. Thank you.

Gameweek 29 Fantasy Preview

Martin Kelly
Guess that he's not lonely with so many players such as Van Persie, Fabregas, Cahill etc. accompanying him on the sidelines.

Thank you for staying loyal with FPLZ as we now enter the decisive period of the season. The following weeks will be very crucial in determining your fantasy excellence.

February has been a fantastic fantasy month for me as I am scoring a hefty 338 points in this single month, resulting a February rank of 548. My overall ranking has also rocketed from 218,183 to 27,445. It must be the best fantasy position I have ever achieved ever since I played FPL.

But there will be hell lots of headaches in managing my fantasy team in March, with the number of injuries and suspensions. And I believe it will cause a lot of trouble to you as well. Now let's see some of the best fantasy commodities who are with the red cross army currently:

• Van Persie (six weeks)
• Kelly (three weeks)
• Tim Cahill (three weeks)

Combined with the suspension of Adam and Vidic, those who own plenty of them must be feeling the pressure of doing multiple transfers. Do remember that Everton and Birmingham are playing twice this week. Good luck.

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PART I: PRE-MATCH ANALYSES

Dimitar Berbatov
Will he score goals start?

Liverpool v Manchester United

Kenny Dalglish will like to seek for a revenge for the defeat his suffered from his debut return as Liverpool manager this week against Manchester United.

Numerous big stars will miss out on this grand fixture including Kelly, Agger, Ferdinand and Vidic. Carroll is expected to feature on this game and it is sure that he will capitalise on the absence of United's best centre backs if he does feature.

Meanwhile, the one and only player who has hat-tricked Liverpool this season - Berbatov is doubted to get a spot to play against Liverpool. United is expected to play with five midfielders and if that's the case, I have to say that Rooney who's in better form should start.

In the absence of Vidic and Rio, I think it's hard for United to get away from Anfield with any points. Neither Smalling/O'Shea nor Smalling/Brown combination makes me feel confident.

Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Man Utd

The Rest

• Birmingham v West Brom (2-1) - The Brums to win. A solid one.
• Arsenal v Sunderland (3-1) - With Bendtner on form, the Gunners can forget about Van Persie now.
• Bolton v Aston Villa (2-2) - The Villans clearly have better form, but remember that Bolton is fighting for a Europa spot currently.
• Fulham v Blackburn (1-0) - Time to escape from draw streaks for the Cottagers.
• Newcastle v Everton (1-0) - Somehow I feel that Everton will fall on this one.
• West Ham v Stoke City (3-0) - Demba Ba and Hitzlsperger are too strong at the moment.
• Man City v Wigan (4-0) - Clearly the most fantasy friendly match of the week. But it's still unsure who will lead the line.
• Wolves v Tottenham (1-2) - It will not be easy for Tottenham against a team that fights for survival.
• Blackpool v Chelsea (2-3) - The win against United will give the Blues a lot of confidence to win this one.
• Everton v Birmingham (1-1) - It's expected to be a narrow scoreline.

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PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Nikola Zigic
The tower is on red hot form.

Captain Picks

• Tevez/Balotelli - Obvious choices this week. Of course, Tevez is always the safest bet.
• Bendtner - Arsenal's supply will focus on him.
• Zigic - Huge potential with a gameweek double.

Buys-In

• Everton players - Good run of fixtures ahead.
• Birmingham players - Same reason as Everton.
• Bendtner - Leading the line for Gunners.
• Hitzlsperger/Demba Ba - On their highs.

Sells-Out

• Van Persie/Kelly/Tim Cahill - Injured.
• Kolo Toure - Suspended due to drug violation.

Squad of XV

GK: Foster

DF: R Johnson, Baines, Zabaleta

MF: Arteta, Hitzlsperger, Lampard, Nasri

F: Zigic, Tevez, Bendtner

Subs (in order): Szczesny, Coleman, Dempsey, Djourou

Captain: Tevez

ECS: Value