Kick-Off: Gameweek 34 Fantasy Preview

Back with unstoppable form.

Overview
First of all, a big apology to fellow loyal readers for missing two consecutive previews for you all. I was very busy last week and therefore wasn't alert of the gameweek deadlines. Rest assured as FPLZ will continue as usual until the end of the season.

Some big news over the last week:

• Manchester United extended the lead to as much as 8 points but was closed down by City later thanks to their shocking defeat to Wigan.
• Keeper crisis at Liverpool as Brad Jones is the only available senior goalkeeper currently (the other two were suspended).
• Tottenham has only one win over the last eight league fixtures as Newcastle now goes level with them in points.
• Wolves is almost certain to book a place in League Championship with nine points away from survival zone.

About This Gameweek

There will be only six games (12 teams) playing this week due to FA Cup semifinals and those delayed fixtures will be replaced in gameweek 35 (1 game) and gameweek 36 (4 games). Plan your transfers well.

Game of the Week: Swansea v Blackburn

Operation Yakubu:
Survival from Relegation

Not really have any game with intense match-up this week, so let's stick to Blackburn who's eager to get a win to escape from relegation.

The Rovers almost defeated Liverpool last gameweek with one-man advantage, but somehow had squandered to comeback. Yakubu remains to be the team's top scorer with 16 goals on hand now. A great striker.

But his supremacy will be tested by Vorm, the most acrobatic keeper in the Premier League. The Swans has leaked for at least two goals per game for the last four games, but you just can't underestimate what this keeper can do.

Sigurdsson will be the man who cause the most threat again, but personally I think Blackburn will be more motivated to get three points.

Prediction: SWA 1-2 BLA

Pick: Yakubu, Sigurdsson

Fantasy Game of the Week: Norwich v Manchester City

Operation Kun:
Revival of title hopes.

Sure, Arsenal are facing Wigan at home. But resurgent City against leaky Canaries are much more appealing to me.

Aguero has found his early season dominance as he scored two and made two last gameweek. Splendid and definitely deserve a captain armband this gameweek. His compatriot, Tevez, started the game and scored one too. Too expensive to own but nonetheless deserves a mention.

In the middle I expect Silva to play the craftsman role again, supplying the creativity needed to breakdown the defence. City's defence has back to its usual resoluteness again, though Kompany is perhaps too expensive to own at the moment.

Should be a comfortable win for City.

Prediction: NOR 0-4 MCI

Pick and Captain: Aguero

Pick: MCI defence, Silva

Drop: NOR defence

Pick and Drop

Pick and Captain:

Van Persie/ Rooney - As always.

Sessegnon - Wolves might have probably given up by now.

Pick:

MUN defence - Villa are quite weak on offence.

ARS defence - Certainly more composed now.

Valencia/Young - The most threatening flanks across the league.

Walcott - RvP's best partner.

Taarabt - Finally shown his true potential.

SUN defence - Wolves have little to fight for.

Drop:

WOL players - It's only a matter of time to get relegated.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

Aguero - In form for City's final push.

Taarabt - The real playmaker has been unleashed.

Yakubu - With intense desire to take Blackburn to the shore.

Red light (sell):

LIV defenders - Not even paying attention to league.

TOT players - Totally disjointed.

Pogrebnyak  - Doubtful indefinitely.

Gameweek 34 Dream Team

De Gea

Evans -- Sagna -- Lescott

Valencia -- Walcott -- Silva -- Sessegnon

Yakubu -- Aguero (C) -- Van Persie (VC)

Subs: Mignolet -- Sigurdsson -- Turner -- A Ferdinand

Yak-Trick: Gameweek 14 Fantasy Review [Express Edition]

Yakubu's quadruple has earned Steve Kean vital three points.

Newcastle 0-3 Chelsea
Well Luiz's should have been awarded a red card in the early stage of the stage, and that have changed the whole complexion of the game.

It's good to see Drogba returning with a decisive opener, while Lampard will definitely considering his future knowing that his time with the Blues is coming short.

On the other side, Demba Ba continues to be threatening. Superb. However, 2 of their back four are now injured - might be a big hit to their rock solid defence. Nonetheless, Krul will still be magnificent despite that.

Pick: Krul, Ba, Sturridge
Watch: Drogba
Drop: Lampard, Luiz


Blackburn 4-2 Swansea
No one could have expect 4 goals from Yakubu. Splendid. A great result that come at right time.

Given forthcoming fixtures, he's a good short term pick.

Pick: Yakubu


Man City 5-1 Norwich
Aguero should really did better. While his goal was a brilliant magic, the chances he squandered had frustrated a lot of fantasy managers. Maybe it's the right time to jump across the ship for Van Persie.

The points distribution are really too widespread this time around, making City players less attractive.

Watch: Aguero


QPR 1-1 West Brom
Helguson was once again the scorer for QPR. Pretty amazing given that he was only the Neil Warnock's third choice at the beginning of the season.

On the other side, Long scored again. Very prolific at such young age.

Pick: Helguson
Watch: Long


Tottenham 3-0 Bolton
The flanks are functioning fantastically for Tottenham at the moment. Bale and Lennon are simply too swift to handle. Could have won by 7-8 goals if not for Jaaskelainen's greatness.

Gary Cahill was unlucky anyway to concede such an terrible red card decision.

Pick: Bale, Lennon
Drop: Cahill


Wigan 0-4 Arsenal
Nothing too surprising. Van Persie continues to dominate the offence, and Vermaelen's offensive ability as a centre back is just supreme.

Pick: Van Persie, Vermaelen, Walcott
Watch: Gervinho, Arteta
Drop: WIG players


Aston Villa 0-1 Man Utd
Hernandez was injured - the only striker with his scoring boots on is down. Bad news.

The win was yet again unconvincing and I really wonder how possibly can they continue to pick up points with such terrible form.

Drop: MUN offence


Everton 0-1 Stoke City
Disappointing result for Moyes. It does wonder me why were Everton trying non-stop to attack via crosses when Stoke players are all so tall.

Drop: EVE players


Wolves 2-1 Sunderland
Fantastic acting by Larsson but he inability to score the penalty has brought a calamitous result to Martin O'Neill's debut.

Fletcher and Doyle played together again finally and the results? Perfect.

Pick: Fletcher


Fulham 1-0 Liverpool
Lucas out for season, two shots reflected off the frame (again), Spearing sent off, Suarez investigated for his middle finger... Nothing's really going for Liverpool.

At this stage, the Reds still didn't managed to play like a team with free-flowing passes. Pretty hard to believe they can achieve their Champions League aspirations.

Watch: Murphy
Drop: LIV offence

2011/12 Fantasy Season Preview - Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers FC

Last Season Summary

League ranking: 15th (43 pts)

Points per game (home: away): 1.47: 0.79

Goals per game (for: against): 1.21: 1.55

Number of clean sheets: 8

Top league scorer: David Hoilett, Jason Roberts, Nikola Kalinic (5 goals)

Top league assister: Morten Gamst Pedersen (6 assists)

Transfers

In: -

Out: Phil Jones, Zurab Khizanishvili, Frank Fielding, Aaron Doran, Jason Brown

Predicted Season Finish: 16th

It has been pretty silent for Blackburn. Playing pretty inconsistently, you can hardly expect good results from them. The biggest obstacle for them to reach a better ranking is the lack of a star player - one who can give a strong leadership and motivation for them to perform.

Fantasy Ace?: Morten Gamst Pedersen (£6.5m)

I don't feature MGP in one of my posts for nothing.Although he's still a distance away from his best, the Norwegian Beckham is the only one who can instill some excitement to watching Blackburn's play. He's very good in crosses, and has been one of best performer of Blackburn in recent years.

Unfortunately though, he form is rather volatile and thus not so reliable.

Decent Picks: Paul Robinson (£5.0m), Christopher Samba (£5.5m)

It's not a surprise both jewels in defence are good selections for any fantasy team. Robinson, despite his age, is still very good with his acrobatic saves. Added with the fact that he actually provided three assists from his penalty box last season, at the price of £5.0m he's still a good choice as keeper.

Samba is one of the tallest centre-back in the league, and he has been using his height to his advantages. Four goals a season for a defender is a pretty outstanding figure, especially when those who scored more than him as defenders all come with expensive price tags. He couldn't score more due to the fact that he plays for a mid-table club, but at the age of 27, you can expect his best to come sooner than later.

Worth Scouting: David Dunn (£6.5m)

It's a shame that Dunn's frequent injuries is stopping him from becoming a good fantasy bargain. While he has never played for more than 2000 minutes on the course of his career with Blackburn, he is the main set piece taker whenever he's fit. A good scout on him definitely won't harm you.

Phil Jones The First to Initiate Manchester United's Promised Mega Transfer Project

Phil Jones
A big raid from Liverpool by Man Utd.

Short after the move of Jordan Henderson to Liverpool, Manchester United has successfully negotiated for the purchase of Blackburn's 19-year-old defender Phil Jones.

The English future star was sold for a fee of £16.5m, and that would pretty much frustrates Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli as they see their almost addition "stolen" by their arch-rivals.

Pretty good business then, I suppose.

Gameweek 38 Fantasy Preview

So fast, we're reaching the end...

The end is so near, indeed. So how's your position currently? You've only one last week to improve your rankings, it might not help much, but it's better than nothing. At least make sure that there's a good ending will you?

Much drama are still going on at the final gameweek of the season, this includes:

• Race for third / Champions League direct qualification (Man City v Arsenal)
• Race for fifth / Europa League qualification (Tottenham v Liverpool)
• Survival battle (Blackburn v Birmingham v Blackpool v Wolves v Wigan, three spots for five)
• Golden boot battle (Carlos Tevez v Dimitar Berbatov)

These will guarantee excitements and goals galore during this weekend. Invest more on the front!

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PART I: PRE-MATCH ANALYSES

Tevez and Van Persie
Photoshop makes the impossible possible.

Battle for Third (Man City v Arsenal)
Both sides will travel as the Gunners make a visit to Craven's Cottage whilst the new FA Cup champions make their way to Bolton.

Arsenal's form recently has been very dismal, managing to win only twice since March. Terrible defence and mentality has caused the team to suffer heavy slip-ups despite stunning form of Robin van Persie. That is also the reason why Manchester City has gone one point ahead of the London giants despite falling far far behind them for a major part of the season.

Speaking of their opponent, Fulham have been enjoying steady form recently. Barring the 2-5 defeat to Liverpool, the Cottagers have only conceded two league goals at home this year. Not a good news for Wenger.

Arsenal will desperately need three points to avoid cancellation of their pre-season revenue-generating tours, but with the current squad morale, I am very negative about that.

On the other hand, the Manchester Blues are on G6 currently after adding another trophy to their cabinet since 35 years ago. Coupled with Carlos Tevez's equaliser against Berbatov on the Golden Boot race, City are certainly high on morale to finish their season in style. More importantly, City's defence are more solid than the Gunners.

Bolton have good results at home just like Fulham, but defensive wise I'd say City should get at least the same point(s) from Bolton as Arsenal get from Fulham.

Prediction:
Fulham 2-1 Arsenal
Bolton 1-1 Man City
Man City secures third place.

Liverpool are outnumbered in terms of league points.

Battle for Fifth (Tottenham v Liverpool)
Europa League seems pretty slim for the Reds as they travel to Villa Park for a hard battle when Tottenham will sit comfortably at home playing against Birmingham.

Kenny Dalglish's legendary return was spoilt last week with a defeat at Anfield to Tottenham. The result has effectively give way for the latter to fifth, which means that Liverpool will need to pray that Tottenham will drop points in order for them to progress to the Europa.

Needless to say, Aston Villa is always a tough team to beat. Houllier will continue to absent, but still with the likes such as Ashley Young and Darren Bent, there will be great pressure for Liverpool's defenders.

On the other hand, Birmingham are well known for their stunningly poor away form, and it is quite a humiliation should Tottenham fail to bag three points on the closing game at White Hart Lane.

Prediction:
Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool
Tottenham 3-0 Birmingham
Tottenham through to Europa.

Mick McCarthy
Looks forward to stay for another year.

Battle for Survival
Wolves v Blackburn: Head to head fight for survival. The victor will surely stay, while a draw will most probably make at least one of them stays. The Rovers have problems to score, so I think Wolves will have a very positive chance to stay.

Birmingham: As written above, the Brums are stunningly poor on the road. Pretty negative on their survival, unless the two clubs just below them suffer defeats.

Blackpool: It's one of the club that I wouldn't want them to relegate. Blackpool has been showing some pretty attractive football with their offence. People like Charlie Adam and DJ Campbell give Premier League some fresh breath. Unfortunately, their sluggish defence won't help them. Their opponent, Manchester United may have already won the league title, but the Red Devils still have reason to play their best. The starters want to warm up for Champions League final; the benchwarmers want to prove something to Sir Alex Ferguson. Goodbye Blackpool.

Wigan: Tide changes pretty quick. The comeback victory against West Ham has given them some momentum  this week, and given Stoke's collapse in the recent showdown against Manchester City, Wigan will have quite a chance to sneak away with at least one point for survival. Don't be too confident though, as Stoke rarely  give points to their visitors.

Prediction:
Wolves 2-1 Blackburn
Tottenham 3-0 Birmingham
Man Utd 2-1 Blackpool
Stoke City 1-1 Wigan
Blackpool and Birmingham relegates.
Wolves, Blackburn and Wigan stays.


The Rest
Prediction:
Everton 2-2 Chelsea
Newcastle 1-2 West Brom
West Ham 2-1 Sunderland

Dimitar Berbatov
Desperately needs a start to fight for golden boot.

Golden Boot Battle
There might be two golden boots this season, and that's interesting.

Carlos Tevez plays on the road, but his home-away goal of 13-8 shows that his away goal efficiency is only slightly lower compared to home. And given City's determination to protect their third position, Tevez should score at least one.

Dimitar Berbatov plays at Old Trafford. He picked 17 of his 21 league goals here - obvious home advantage. But he rarely plays since April, losing his place to Chicharito - a major doubt. However, he's very prolific in bullying the weak - one of the good captain this week. The Bulgarian should definitely get a starting position this time, but whether or not he will get quality support from second string players remains a question.

Pretty unpredictable in my opinion, I give up on predicting this and it's up to you guys.

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PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Carlos Tevez
Just goals away to enjoy his best Premier League season.

Captain Picks

• Berbatov, Tevez - Fights for golden boot.

Buys-In

• Berbatov - Flies high.

Squad of XV

GK: Gomes

DF: Dawson, Hangeland, Fabio

MF: Modric, Dempsey, Malouda, N'Zogbia

F: Berbatov, Tevez, Odemwingie

Subs (in order): Begovic, Adam, Huth, Walker

A Day (Year) for Manchester

Giggs, Ferdinand and Vidic
Celebrate the day in history for United.

Balotelli and Yaya Toure
Celebrate for the latter's trophy-lifting goal.

It must be a year for Manchester. Manchester United, after securing a 1-1 draw against Blackburn, has officially claimed the 19th top-flight league trophy for the club and become the most successful club in England's history. Chelsea must have thought that they still have chance when Blackburn led by 1-0, but a late penalty has ensured that the Red Devils take what that's required to drive the trophy back to Old Trafford.

On the other hand, Manchester City claimed a must needed victory against Stoke in the FA Cup final after quite an exciting game at Wembley. This ended their trophy drought for 35 years. Coupled with a ticket to UEFA Champions League, this is such a fantastic year for the Manchester Blues.

It's all but Manchester. Congratulations for both sides and celebrate the day!

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.

Thursday Tale

Morten Gamst Pedersen
Scores 20 fantasy points in two games.

Here's some updates on the midweek fixtures which ended just now:

• Aston Villa finally found their gunpowder after scoring only once in their last four games. Downing and Young were the main casts yesterday, scoring 23 fantasy points together.
• Essien copied Balotelli's showdown by scoring the decisive goal for Chelsea and then got sent off. Fantasy managers who had just bought him will be pretty frustrated.
• Barton and Carroll combined again to provide a goal for Newcastle, but another brilliant game by Pedersen ensure a victory for the away side. Do monitor Pedersen as he starts to show the form he once possessed in 06/07 season.
• West Ham were denied a win once again as they held draw by West Brom. Odemwingie is back and converted a penalty for the Baggies.
• Torres scored again but Wigan only allowed Liverpool to carry one point away. Roy Hodgson once again commented like a middle-low club's manager. Courageously idiot.
• Chamakh scored Arsenal's fastest premier league goal as Arsenal won 2-0. Will that secure his starting spot?
• Beckford scored his first premier league goal, finally.
• The Manchester derby was rather disappointing with no goals to share.

Fantasy Pit Stop 1: Part Two

To start reading from PART ONE, click here.

As a reminder, for this pit stop I am going to write about:

1. Some major news/events related to the team;
2. Predicted season finish; and
3. Top three rated fantasy players along with their ratings.

The arrangement of teams will be according to current league rankings, in reverse order.

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Currently in 15th

Newcastle United

News
Ben Arfa out for six months but Nigel de Jong escapes from any FA punishments - Bad, bad tackle. Poor Ben Arfa.

Predicted Season Finish: 15th

Newcastle is a team with a rich history. It's squad isn't that rich though. The team is still backboned by the old faces like Nolan, Barton and Gutierrez, while the news faces don't have much calibre to make some big differences aside from Hatem Ben Arfa - who is currently suffered from a serious injury.

However, I don't think the team will repeat their fortune two years ago - where they were relegated. Newcastle is in a better shape now - most notably the vast improvements of Carroll. The 6-0 victory against Aston Villa doesn't have much element of fluke. They might struggle in the relegation zone for a small part of the season, but at the end they should be able to reach the shore.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Andrew Carroll (8/10) - Great third striker with high potential.
2. Joey Barton (7/10) - The "bad boy" has been less violent and more effective on the pitch.
3. Kevin Nolan (6.5/10) - One of the important force in the Magpies' attack.

Honourable mention: Hatem Ben Arfa (8/10) - A very talented winger. Very unfortunate for him to be sidelined.

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Currently in 14th

Wigan Athletic

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 19th

I like how Roberto Martinez implements his offensive team play, but that doesn't always work out especially against a much superior opposition. The Latics have only two victories up till now - one against the so fluctuating Tottenham and another against the poorer Wolves - none are convincing.

While they do have some great additions this season - particularly goalkeeper Al Habsi and defender Alcaraz, I don't think that will be enough for them to stay. Barring N'Zogbia, the rest of the midfielders are particularly weak in terms of Premiership standards.

As their fixtures get tougher and tougher in the final third of the season, I think Wigan will eventually collapse and the lads will meet Wolves next year in the Championship.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Hugo Rodallega (7/10) - A quite productive strike force.
2. Charles N'Zogbia (7/10) - Had some furious times with the club but things should start settle and he should start performing.
3. Antolin Alcaraz (5.5/10) - One of the quality signings of Wigan this season. However, you need to be wary of the number of emphatic defeats that Wigan will face.

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Currently in 13th

Blackburn Rovers

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 13th

They don't play pretty football, but it's fine as long as they get the results. Blackburn is a tough opposition no matter what team you are due to their aggressive approach in defence. They have all the chances to sneak away with points against tougher oppositions.

With a pack of quality defenders with offensive capabilities, added with some evenly matched strikers in a strong competition, I predict that the Rovers will end the season quite comfortably.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Christopher Samba (7/10) - A decent defender with a decent scoring record.
2. Paul Robinson (5.5/10) - Not the best keeper in the league, but he'll give you quite an amount of saves.
3. Nikola Kalinic (5.5/10) - Has a steady start this season.

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Currently in 12th

Bolton Wanderers

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 11th

Bolton might have almost the same team from last season, but still it's much better. Owen Coyle coaches the team right from start of the season, Elmander on form, Martin Petrov activating the attack... all these signs show that the club is in a good shape.

The club has all the strength to remain on the Premier League and finish with a good ranking.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Johan Elmander (7.5/10) - A sudden burst of form has made him the top fantasy choice of Bolton.
2. Martin Petrov (7/10) - He's capable of doing a lot of damage from attack.
3. Kevin Davies (6.5/10) - Still the leader of Bolton with potential to grab plenty of bonus points.

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Currently in 11th

Sunderland

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 9th

It's interesting to see that five out of six Premier League goals of Sunderland were from Darren Bent, with another from new signing Asamoah Gyan. But will that pose a threat for Sunderland's survival? Absolutely not.

The Black Cats is still the team who can frustrate any tougher opponents. They actually get better with the arrival of Elmohamady. The Egyptian defender is very proactive in surging forward and has become the "Glen Johnson" of the season. Combined with the usual faces like Bent and Henderson, Sunderland will enjoy their best top-flight finish over the past decade.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Ahmed Elmohamady (8.5/10) - A constant threat from the back of the flank. Has been impressive so far.
2. Darren Bent (8/10) - One of the all time fantasy favourite that you should start against any opposition.
3. Jordan Henderson (7/10) - The 20-year-old midfielder is a promising gem.

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To be continued in PART THREE.