Kick-Off: Gameweek 4 Fantasy Preview

How long will Van Persie be out?

The Premier League was absent last week with international fixtures taking over, with fantasy favourite Robin Van Persie limping off for Netherlands. Louis Van Gaal said it was only a precautionary measure, but we shall wait and see.

GAMEWEEK 3 TOP SCORERS

1. Robin Van Persie (£13.4m, 15 pts): A dramatic hat-trick from the Dutch had helped United to turn defeat into victory. People at Old Trafford have no reason to miss Wayne Rooney (£11.7m) for the time being.
2. Carlos Tevez (£9.8m, 15 pts): 3 goals and 3 assists already so far for the Argentine. A cheaper version of Van Persie, yet as productive as him.
3. Gareth McAuley (£5.1m, 15 pts): The defender is producing RVP-esque return so far, but that is hardly sustainable in my opinion in the long run.
4. Winston Reid (£4.6m, 15 pts): 5 bonus points already this season. Perhaps he will be the Shawcross of the season — super-budget defender who is good at both ends.
5. Santi Cazorla (£9.0m, 13 pts): Superb play which finally got converted into fantasy points. Great work.
6. Matthew Taylor (£4.9m, 13 pts): Might still has the ace quality he once got at Bolton, but nonetheless it's too risky to get him now unless he can confirm a firm starting spot at West Ham.
7. Steven Fletcher (£7.0m, 13 pts): Great debut as the forward netted both goals against Swansea. Still a long way to tell though whether he can become the Papiss Cisse of this season.

FEATURED: Everton v Newcastle @ Goodison Park
Arguably the most balanced match-up of the week as in form Everton face Newcastle at home after a long international break.

The Toffees are without any injuries currently, so one would expect Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m), Steven Pienaar (£6.6m) and Marouane Fellaini (£6.9m) to continue to star in offence. I doubt Fellaini's long-term prospect though with Kevin Mirallas (£7.5m) expected to gain more playing time, pushing the Belgian backward.

On the other side, both Demba Ba (£7.7m) and Papiss Cisse (£9.4m) are struggling to find their spectacular form last season, with only one league scored by them in total currently. Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.7m) led Newcastle's scoresheet instead, with 2 goals in his bag already and is ready to give more. It does seem that the French is a better pick than the former duo at the moment. Both right-backs of the Magpies — Danny Simpson (£5.0m) and Ryan Taylor (£5.3m) — are injured, so don't be hopeful that they will get a clean sheet away from home.

Not an easy game to predict, but I think Everton have the slight advantage to get 3 points at home.

Prediction: EVE 1-0 NEW

TEAM FOCUS: Arsenal
Yes, Southampton had been scaring both Manchester City and Manchester United a big time, but that does not stop me from giving my vote of confidence to Arsenal.

Arsenal is currently the only club that are yet to concede a goal across four divisions in England, with Thomas Vermaelen (£7.0m) and Carl Jenkinson (£4.8m) both performed stunningly well. One must really own at least one of them.

On the offence, Santi Cazorla (£9.1m) and Lukas Podolski (£8.4m) are the obvious picks after both of them broke their duck on their last fixture. Olivier Giroud (£8.8m) is still struggling to find his first goal, but his poor finishing should really end sooner rather than later with so many supplies going to him.

Arsenal should really win this one and start pushing themselves to the leading pack.

Prediction: ARS 2-0 SOU

PLAYER FOCUS: Torres and Hazard
With Robin Van Persie (£13.4m) seems to have a minor injury doubt, Fernando Torres (£10.1m) and Eden Hazard (£10.1m) seems to be the safer option. Queens Park Rangers have been conceding 9 goals already, and with Mark Hughes still figuring his best XI, I do not expect leakages to end soon. You can do much worse than picking (and captaining) the duo, especially when Torres had hat-tricked against the Rangers last season.

With Manchester United at home against Wigan, one just cannot simply ignore players from Old Trafford. But with Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa (£8.6m) both having an injury, Antonio Valencia (£8.9m) seems like the safest bet at the moment.

GAMEWEEK 4 DREAM TEAM

Szczesny

Rafael — Hangeland — Jenkinson

Hazard — Valencia — Cazorla — Nolan

Torres (C) — Van Persie (VC) — Tevez

Subs: Schwarzer — Duff — Bertrand — Demel

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Sunday Aftermath: Arsenal's Anfield Annihilation

Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski combined to score both of Arsenal's goals against Liverpool.

Great performance by Arsenal at Anfield as we saw Liverpool stuck deep in bottom part of the table. Here are some highlights:

• Lukas Podolski (£8.4m, 12 pts) and Santi Cazorla (£9.0m, 13 pts) combined for the victory at Anfield. Superb teamwork between the duo and you can expect them to continue to lead the club in offence.
• Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud (£8.9m, 2 pts) continues to struggle, failing to deliver any obvious threat to Liverpool's fragile defence.
• Carl Jenkinson (£4.7m, 6 pts) continued his class act, and was able to contain Raheem Sterling (£4.5, 2 pts) well. Sterling started and played exceptionally well again, and is on the way to become the best budget fantasy midfielder around.
• For one moment I thought Sterling and Joe Allen (£5.4m, 2 pts) are the Suarez and Gerrard of Liverpool. Allen was indeed the only other Liverpool player who played well, with exceptional pass completion percentage. He played too deep to be valuable fantasy wise.
• The rest of the Liverpool players are on a long road to adapt to tiki-taka play as of the moment, so stay away from them until the situation changes.
• At St. Mary Stadium, we saw Manchester United came back from a big scare, with Robin Van Persie (£13.3m, 15 pts) scored Premier League's first hat-trick this season. You have better take him in sooner rather than later as a pain reduction strategy.
• Anders Lindegaard (£5.4m, 1 pt) started ahead of David de Gea (£6.0m) this time, which effectively means that goalkeeper rotation is still pretty much happening at Manchester United. Stay away from the duo.
• As for Southampton, Rickie Lambert (£6.0m, 9 pts) was the man again as he scores against Manchester clubs since 2012. The man to pick from the Saints, though Gaston Ramirez could change the situation.
• On the other venue, Aston Villa snatched their first league point this season with Ciaran Clark (£4.4m, 11 pts) scored the only goal for away team. Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.7m, 9 pts) scored for the other side.
• On late Saturday game, we saw Carlos Tevez (£9.7m, 15 pts) on his way to become the fantasy most wanted player, as he participated in all 3 goals that City scored against Queens Park Rangers.
• Yaya Toure (£8.1m, 9 pts) also scored once again as he continues to prove that he is more valuable than David Silva (£9.9m, 2pts).

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Sunday Aftermath: From Hero to Zero

Martin Skrtel was influential on both ends of pitch... One of the ends was a wrong end unfortunately.

Dramatic game at Anfield on Sunday as we saw Liverpool fantastic offence got jeopardized by their shabby defence. Here's my notes on yesterday's game:

• Martin Skrtel (£6.0m). The defender got all the flashlights as he dictated the game with one atomic header and one assist — to Carlos Tevez (£9.4m) unfortunately.
• Tevez once again became the hero for Manchester City, capitalizing both defensive errors of the Reds and recorded one goal and one assist. Great, great underpriced fantasy acquisition, especially when Sergio Aguero (£11.2m) is injured and QPR are the next team on City's fixtures.
• Brendan Rodgers started Raheem Sterling (£4.5m) instead of Stewart Downing (£6.4m) on the left flank surprisingly, and that has paid great dividends. The 17-year-old winger played as if he's a Premier League veteran — calm, composed, and low on errors. Might be the best £4.5m player to own if he can squeeze Downing away from starting XI.
• Luis Suarez (£9.5m) scored the first direct free-kick goal (watch here) of Premier League this season. A very beautiful goal. If and only if he can be more accurate in shooting on open play and provide more in fantasy terms...
• Yaya Toure (£8.0m) continued his spectacular and scored 9 fantasy points. The lad seems to be a better pick than David Silva (£10.0m) at the moment, who only featured as a substitute and broke his fantasy managers' heart.
• As for Arsenal, they failed to grab a goal once again and stuck 0-0 against Stoke City. Thomas Vermaelen (£7.0m) continued to shine though, getting yet another clean sheet and 2 bonus points. Still one of the most productive defender in the luxurious line.
• Meanwhile, Carl Jenkinson (£4.6m) continued to provide super-productive fantasy return for his price, scoring 16 points in aggregate — on par with his new captain Vermaelen. But can he maintain his position when Bacary Sagna (£5.5m, expected to return on 02 September) returns? Big question mark to answer.
• Michael Kightly (£5.5m) of Stoke also continued his fine form, scoring 5 bonus points in 2 games. Looks like the killer-passer in League Championship years ago (check his historical stats here) is getting back his magic feet.
• As for late Saturday game, Eden Hazard (£9.8m) combined with Fernando Torres (£10.1m) for both of Chelsea's goals in their win over Newcastle. The duo are attaining the "must have" status in FPL, with fantasy managers continue to jump into the bandwagon to get him despite Chelsea having no game in gameweek 3.
• Juan Mata (£9.4m), on the other hand, continued to disappoint fantasy wise, having played too deep to contribute any goals or assists.

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