Kick-Off: Gameweek 25 Fantasy Preview

The handshake routine will not be cancelled for Man Utd-Liverpool encounter.

Overview
A pretty two poled feelings last week with Van Persie's owners laughing happily and the rest left stunned. Can RvP repeat the feat? Not so positive against in-form Sunderland.

The shocking news this week is no other than Fabio Capello's resignation. The Italian coach is not happy with FA's decision to strip Terry's captaincy and thus decided to leave. Harry Redknapp tops the list to replace him.

Game of the Week: MANCHESTER UNITED v LIVERPOOL

Can Berbatov get a start
and hat-trick again?

Old Trafford will surely welcome Suarez with a great deal of abusive chants as Liverpool travel to Manchester for this number one rivalry in English football.

The usual handshake routine will not be cancelled according to FA and it will be interesting to see how Evra and Suarez react to each other. Strong personal rivalry. Luis Suarez will be eager to pay a revenge through his fancy footwork so expect tough times by defensive partnership of Evans and Ferdinand. In form Carroll could also be a big threat if he can get good aerial supplies by his teammates. Two big man to watch.

On the other side, all key players including the long missing Cleverly could be available for this game. It would be hard to predict the starting midfielders and forwards correctly, but I believe both Valencia and Rooney would still get the right to start and produce some havoc to one of the best defensive line (which might be without Jose Enrique) in the Premier League.

Surely it would be an intense game, but Liverpool's poor away attack (14 away goals only this season) will hinder their chances at Old Trafford. Expect good performances by the Red Devils.

Prediction: MUN 2-1 LIV
Pick: Valencia


Fantasy Game of the Week: SWANSEA v NORWICH

Sinclair has been pretty
impressive this season.

Spurs are welcoming the challenge of Newcastle, while City's away form has been mediocre recently, so I will change my focus to the battle between the two promoted teams this season. The Canaries beat the Swans 3-1 earlier this season, but we all know how different it will be at Liberty Stadium.

Sigurdsson has a flying start in the Premier League, while both Sinclair and Dyer are very threatening in the flanks. Up front they have Danny Graham who does a decent job as a forward. Expect goals from this quartet of attackers.

I will not be surprised if Norwich can score past the rubber hand Michel Vorm, but Swansea should really get a victory here.

Prediction: SWA 3-1 NOR
Pick: Sigurdsson, Sinclair, Dyer, Graham
Drop: NOR defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Aguero - Broke his goal drought and that might be the opening of floodgate.
• Mata - Very pivotal in Chelsea's offence.

Pick:

• N'gog - Should score against Wigan.
• Zamora - Samba-less Blackburn will not have the quality to stop him.
• Van Persie - Always start him regardless of his opposition.
• Sessegnon/ McClean - Arsenal's defence is weak.
• Jarvis - Played well last week and should continue to perform.

Drop:

• NEW defence - Against Tottenham, clean sheet is hardly likely.
• AST defence - City's blades are sharp.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Richards - Good fixtures oncoming.
• Oxlade-Chamberlain - Sensational form.
• Demba Ba - His price sky leaped by £0.4m since his return.
• Van Persie - Get him before his price reaches a prohibitive level.
• McClean - Superbly cheap and in form.
• Sigurdsson - The bandwagon should start in the next few gameweeks.

Yellow light (watch):

• Yakubu - Observe Blackburn's performance before getting him in.
• Assou-Ekkoto - Fantasy managers are overly optimistic on him.
• Mata - Chelsea's form is quite unstable at the moment.
• Kompany - Still not sure whether he will play this week.

Red light (sell):

• LIV players - United this round, League Cup final next round (no league fixture), and Arsenal after that.
• Adebayor  - Terribly out of form.
• D Cisse - Red carded.

Gameweek 25 Dream Team

Vorm

Ekkoto -- Richards -- Senderos

Bale -- Sessegnon -- Silva -- Sigurdsson

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

Subs: Hennessey -- McClean -- Knight -- Bassong

Gameweek 13 Fantasy Preview

Joey Barton
Punched Pedersen in his last game and banned for three games.

The Premier League will back on action again this weekend with fatigue a major concern for fantasy managers. Be prepared for some unexpected drop-offs and a big number of clean sheets.

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PART I: PRE-MATCH ANALYSES

Robin Van Persie
Deserves a close monitor by fantasy managers.

Everton v Arsenal
The Gunners will face a tough challenge this week facing the Toffees who is undefeated for seven games.

It's pretty interesting to see how Liverpool and Everton managed to fall into the relegation zone together and then bounce back in style but Everton has been solid recently. Tim Cahill, as always, will be the main threat for Arsenal's defence with his ultimate headers.

As for Arsenal, Fabregas will continue to lead the attack and may as well find himself some goals and assists. Arsenal's second ace, Van Persie is now fit but it's still unknown that whether he will start with or without Chamakh or won't start at all.

I think Tim Cahill will score another header but it will be the Gunners who smile when the match ends.

Prediction: EVE 1-2 ARS

Patrice Evra
Has the possibility to join C-Ron at Real if the Glazers refuse to make sound investments on the squad.

Aston Villa v Manchester United
The Red Devils will have to travel to Villa Park without a big number of injured players.

Evra (ankle) and Rafael (dead leg) are the latest to join Manchester United's red cross army which already contains Rooney, Owen, Hargreaves, Valencia and Giggs. This certainly gives a lot of reasons for the Villans to fight for point(s) against United.

Villa, on the other hand, have Agbonlahor recovered from injury as the home side finally have a fit senior striker available. He may as well lead the line with Young and Downing to breakdown the away side's defence.

With Berbatov losing his form and Nani having just recovered from an injury, I think United will drop more points away. After all, they have only won once on the road this season.

Prediction: AST 0-0 MANU

The Rest

• Man City v Birmingham (2-0) - Tevez to lead the line and crush the Brums.
• Newcastle v Fulham (2-0) - Barton will miss the game but Nolan and Carroll will provide the Magpies the edge.
• Tottenham v Blackburn (2-0) - Van der Vaart scored in every league game played in White Hart Lane and I expect that to continue.
• West Ham v Blackpool (2-2) - Avram Grant has a lot to think about his side's defence.
• Wigan v West Brom (1-2) - Odemwingie is back and he should make a difference.
• Wolves v Bolton (1-2) - I will stick with Bolton, Davies and Elmander who are more consistent.
• Stoke City v Liverpool (1-2) - It will be disastrous for the Reds to waste their victory against Chelsea.
• Chelsea v Sunderland (2-0) - Chelsea is still unbeatable at home.

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PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Didier Drogba
"@*#$ you, malaria!"

Captain Picks

• Drogba - "Malaria will not stop him," claimed Kalou.
• Tevez - Two-third of City's league goals are either scored or made up by him.
• Van der Vaart - Still leads the line before Defoe recovers.

Buy-Ins

• Gyan - Bent will still out and Steve Bruce may be convinced to play 4-4-2 when he recovers.
• Tevez - On a very strong position for Golden Boot.

Sell-Outs

• Barton - Suspended for three games.

Squad of XV

GK: Hart

DF: Hutton, Bosingwa, O'Shea
MF: Van der Vaart, Nolan, Adam, Fabregas
F: Drogba, Tevez(C), Piquionne

Subs (in order): Krul, N'Zogbia, Konchesky, Luke Young
Captain: Tevez
Emergency Captain: Value
Starting XI Value: £83.4m
Total Team Value: £103.2m