Happy New Year: Gameweek 19 Fantasy Preview

A fresh one-match ban for Suarez will prevent him
from facing Newcastle.

Overview
Further drama on Suarez's incident as he will be facing a one-match ban against Newcastle following the middle finger incident at Craven's Cottage. Just one thing to note: Fulham is neither fined nor warned about their fans misconduct to constantly attack Suarez through chants. Such a fair English Fools Association.

Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL v NEWCASTLE

Ben Arfa is one of the
cheapest fantasy commodity
with big gun prospects.

The battle for sixth. Two of the top tier defences across the league.

Liverpool has the worst home record among the top 7 despite being undefeated at Anfield, with draw rate as high as 66.7%. Certainly a stat that can boost Newcastle's morale. 11 home goals is also the worst of the top 7, so don't be surprised if the away team gets a clean sheet.

Suarez will not be available for this game (and perhaps the other 8 games to come) so expect at least one of Bellamy and Carroll to start upfront. The Geordie will face his old club again but it certainly won't be an easy game against the solid back four of Newcastle. Gerrard could also make it a start at Anfield - certainly the light of hope Liverpool needs.

On the other side, Demba Ba will continue to boss the front line and give Liverpool's defence a big test. Ben Arfa has played very well featuring from the bench last game and could as well start the game with Ba. Two delicious fantasy stocks.

Liverpool has historically done very well against the Magpies at home. The Reds should really end their unlucky streak already.

Prediction: LIV 2-1 NEW
Pick: Ba, Ben Arfa, Bellamy
Drop: Suarez


Fantasy Game of the Week: MANCHESTER UNITED v BLACKBURN

Valencia performs consistently
regardless of whether he is
playing as RW or RB.

Sure, Blackburn had managed to draw Liverpool, but blame Liverpool for their poor chance conversion. Against Manchester United, they have no chance.

Two straight 5-0 victories have surely rocketed the morale of fellow Red Devils sky high. Both Nani and Rooney didn't play for a full 90 minutes game against Wigan - superb captain choices. Berbatov might start too after a spectacular hat-trick, but just don't bet on him yet.

A big victory again might just send Steve Kean to execution and bring United to the summit. Sorry Blackburn.

Prediction: MUN 4-0 BLA
Pick and Captain: Nani, Rooney
Pick: Valencia, MUN defence
Drop: BLA players


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

1. Van Persie - Might be rested, but nonetheless presents great scoring opportunity against QPR.
2. Bale - Hot and unstoppable, though Michel Vorm might stand on his way.

Pick:

1. Gervinho - In good form.
2. S. Fletcher - Against poor Bolton he should be able to do it again.
3. Sturridge/ Mata - The usual performer at Chelsea.
4. Holt - Norwich will put hopes on him to rebound from a defeat.
5. STO defence - Wigan has only scored 6 goals on the road this season.

Drop:

1. QPR defence - Arsenal hardly fails to score.
2. BOL players - In confidence crisis.
3. SWA defence - Looks impossible to stop Bale, Adebayor and Van der Vaart altogether.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Bale - Fabulous and unstoppable.
2. Nani/ Rooney/ Valencia - United on fire.

Yellow light (watch):

1. Berbatov - His superb form might rekindle Ferguson's interest to start him.
2. Lindegaard - Started for 2 straight league games and kept 2 straight clean sheets.
3. Carroll - Suarez to start his suspension soon so he will get his chance.

Red light (sell):

1. BOL players - Whoever they are, sell. Second round of hellish fixtures is near for them.
2. Adam - Played terribly recently with Gerrard returning.
3. Suarez - Suspension begun.

Gameweek 19 Dream Team

Lindegaard

Shawcross -- Vermaelen -- Enrique
Nani (VC) -- Bale -- Mata -- Silva
Rooney (C) -- Van Persie -- Sturridge

Subs: Sorensen -- Hoolahan -- Walker -- R Martin

Man Utd's Season Begins: Gameweek 17 & 18 Fantasy Reviews

Ashley Young is expected to out until late January... Time to get
Valencia the super duper real deal guys.

Manchester United has scored 10 massive goals in just to games to close down the gap against Manchester City to just 5 goal difference. The real test for Mancini begins as the United's engine is officially ignited...

Team by Team Round-Up

• MCI: Failed to score for the first time this season against one of the worst defence of the league. Big shock. Three straight clean sheets nonetheless suggests that they're still one of the most reliable defence in England. Kompany remains the best bargain of all given Richards' absence due to injury. Offensively they're less consistent nowadays so don't put your shoes in yet if you haven't.
• MUN: 5-0 followed by another 5-0. The real season begins for them as Berbatov scored 4 goals in 2 games. A guy of pure class but certainly needs more playing time to gain a place in any fantasy team. Valencia is the real deal of the team given Young's absence and his ability to play as both winger and full back. One to watch. Evans is out due to injury as the cheapest access point to United's clean sheets is gone. Both Evra and Jones are pretty expensive while the rest are just so uncertain about their playing time.
• TOT: Speedy speed boy Gareth Bale crushed Norwich while Adebayor continued to show consistency scoring 6-5-7-5 over the last four games. Both are great buys.
• CHE: The fantasy points are still pretty widespread across players. Sturridge and Mata remain the "good but not great" buys, while Torres continues to be gloomy on the final third. Stay away from their shabby defenders.
• ARS: Van Persie is still the ace of the team, while Gervinho is starting to get some serious form when he is just days away from playing African Cup of Nations. Not so good. I like Benayoun's creativity but it looks like he's not fit enough to play 90 minutes.
• LIV: Charlie Adam single-handedly handed four league points away after failing to score a penalty against Wigan but scored an own goal against Blackburn. Two bottom three clubs. Great. Chance conversion is still terrible for the team. Lots of silly attempts going wide, lots of shots going too straight to the keeper, and when it's on target, opponents' keeper went into godlike mode. From De Gea to Hart, from Hart to Vorm, Ruddy and Bunn. Great keepers were all born at Anfield.
• NEW: It's great to see Ben Arfa scored his second goal for Newcastle after more than one year. The Magpies have now a second ace to rely on apart from Ba. I can see better attacking display from them.
• STO: Failed to score in both games but defensively it's still solid as long as they're playing with Shawcross. Nothing really sparkling to comment about.
• WBA: Hodgson's defensive tactics worked against City despite such a poor group of defenders. Odemwingie looks to rediscover his fantastic form. Certainly a man to watch.
• EVE: Saha and Cahill continues to stuck deep within scoring drought. Deep frustration. Osman is the only man who functions properly in offence.
• NOR: The results they got is just so predictable with the same usual bunch of players who perform.
• AST: Agbonlahor has lost his hot foot and we wouldn't know whether he will return to the Agbonlahor of last season.
• FUL: Dempsey is showing some consistency at the moment and is a good option for a mid-price midfielder.
• SWA: Nothing much to catch my eye except that Danny Graham has a nice footwork.
• SUN: A pretty much resurrected team under Martin O'Neill. It's still not so convincing offensively anyway.
• QPR: Mackie scored two games in a row. A man to match as we see how his partnership with Helguson develops.
• WOL: It's all about Steven Fletcher offensively. Best budget striker at the moment.
• WIG: Still the same old story of defeats and defeats. Poor sent off of Sammon though.
• BOL: Only 3 goals in last 6 league games as Owen Coyle's position is surely insecure now.
• BLA: Yakubu has gotten his tenth goal of the season but Blackburn is still rocking at the bottom of the league.

Kick-Off: Gameweek 12 Fantasy Preview

Michael Owen to out for six weeks... Little fantasy relevance, no?

Announcements
Due to personal reasons, they will be no reviews for the next two gameweeks. Previews might be squeezed into simpler version as I try my best to make them a worthy read. A deep apology to all my fellow readers.


Overview
Congratulations to Portugal, Ireland, Czech Republic and Croatia for winning the play-offs and through the Euro 2012 Finals. With all these strong teams going through, expect a intense tournament next summer.

Back to the fantasy world, here's a list of major international casualties occurred in this recent internationals week:

1. Van der Vaart
2. Suarez
3. Aguero
4. Leon Best

Also, Suarez is now charged with racism allegations so stay away from him if you do not have him yet.

All the players above are suffering from minor injuries, so you might need to monitor again on Friday/Saturday to see whether it's necessary to make a transfer or two.

Game of the Week: CHELSEA v LIVERPOOL

Frank Lampard on fire.

The rivalry that formed in the last decade since Mourinho-Benitez era. Chelsea against Liverpool.

The Blues are suffering a bit at the moment and only managed to climbed out from back-to-back defeats with a sluggish victory against Blackburn. Defence has been a serious problem for them currently as last game was their only second clean sheet of the campaign, and that's due to Blackburn's ridiculous chance wasting ability.

Surprisingly, Lampard has started to find some extraordinary form which saw him climbing fast to the second spot of the fantasy midfielders table after a slow start in this fantasy season. Definitely one for the Reds to fear.

On the other side, Liverpool are struggling to score with 11 reflected off the goal frame already this season. Their finishing certainly needs to improve significantly if they were to snatch anything away from Stamford Bridge.

Should be a close call due to Liverpool's norm of getting stronger against stronger teams, but this time I think Andre Villas-Boas should earn his first victory against Liverpool.

Prediction: CHE 2-1 LIV

Pick: Lampard

Fantasy Game of the Week: NORWICH v ARSENAL

The return of Vermaelen has
boosted Arsenal's strength
on both ends significantly.

Well Manchester United are visiting the almighty Vorm at Liberty Stadium, while their noisy neighbours are hosting formidable Newcastle... So let's switch to Gunners, who aim to get five-in-a-row victories.

Norwich has been playing some fine football in the top-flight league and is currently standing higher than their promoting counterparts. They've been providing some great offensive sparks with Morison, Holt and Pilkington leading the casts.

But their defensive fragility is all for Arsenal to take advantage of. Captain Robin van Persie is scoring goals for fun at the moment and has collected 68 fantasy points from last 7 games. 68. Fantastic form.

With the players gelling nicely and their morale on high, Arsenal should win again and get closer to the top four.

Prediction: NOR 1-3 ARS

Pick and Captain: Van Persie

Pick: Gervinho, Vermaelen

Drop: NOR defence

Pick and Drop

Pick:

1. Bendtner/ Sessegnon - Fulham's defence is much fragile than last season.
2. STO defence - Should be strong enough to hold QPR.
3. Hoilett/ Formica - They should be able to convert something against the worst team in the league.

Drop:

1. FUL defence - Not reliable especially on the road.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Van Persie - Instills fear to any defence.
2. Eagles - On form to terrorise from the flanks.

Yellow light (watch):

1. Formica/ Hoilett - Good run of fixtures for them to take advantage from.
2. Bale - Showing some kind of consistency.

Red light (sell):

1. Bosingwa - Out of starting XI.
2. A Young - Out of form with price dipping fast.

Gameweek 12 Dream Team

Begovic

Woodgate -- Vermaelen -- Kompany

Lampard (VC) -- Brunt -- Walters -- Ramsey -- Sessegnon

Van Persie (C) -- Hoilett

Subs: Vorm -- Vellios -- Jagielka -- Brown

Kick-Off: Gameweek 11 Fantasy Preview

Yaya Toure got a brace in Champions League match but hardly
sparkle in Premier League, yet.

Overview
Mixed fortunes in the Champions League as the Manchester (City and United) duo won comfortably while the London duo (Chelsea and Arsenal) had to satisfy with a draw. So no English clubs will get through early.

A couple of fantasy friendly matches will be commenced in this coming gameweek so make sure that you have enough coverage of Liverpool, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City players. Might be a gameweek with sky high average.

7-Gameweek Fixtures Analysis (Published Monthly)
In heaven run:

1. ARS (WBA, @NOR, FUL, @WIG, EVE, @MCI, @AST) - Easy enough for Van Persie to climb himself to the summit of fantasy.
2. BLA (CHE, @WIG, @STO, SWA, @SUN, WBA, BOL) - Pretty crucial for them to perform well in this coming run of fixtures to avoid relegation.
3. EVE (@NEW, WOL, @BOL, STO, @ARS, NOR, SWA) - Time for their redemption after being caught stuck at the bottom half of the table.
4. MUN (SUN, @SWA, NEW, @AST, WOL, @QPR, @FUL) - Nothing too tough for the defending champion.
5. TOT (@FUL, AST, @WBA, BOL, @STO, SUN, CHE) - Considerably easy especially when Van der Vaart is on red hot form.

In hell run:

1. CHE (@BLA, LIV, WOL, @NEW, MCI, @WIG, @TOT) - Playing against four of the top seven in the next 7 games is really a tough test for Andre Villas-Boas.
2. MCI (@QPR, NEW, @LIV, NOR, @CHE, ARS, STO) - As tough as Chelsea. Further worsened with some crucial Champions League games (especially the one against Bayern Munich) sandwiched in between.
3. FUL (TOT, @SUN, @ARS, LIV, @SWA, BOL, MUN) - Martin Jol will have to give some emphasis to defence to survive through this period.
4. NEW (EVE, @MCI, @MUN, CHE, @NOR, SWA, WBA) - Back to back games against the leading pack? They will need to play with 120% to record some impressive results.

Game of the Week: NEWCASTLE v EVERTON

With R Taylor's value rocketed
to £5m, Simpson is the only
defender at Newcastle who's
easily accessible (£4.2m).

Two interesting teams to play against each other. Newcastle, which don't look so good on paper but play extremely well at the moment; Everton, which has the quality but not the form.

The Toon Army is now on an unbelievable form, standing proudly on the third place of league standings. Resolute defence, coupled with a great striking pair - namely Demba Ba and Leon Best - are consistently bringing Alan Pardew the right results. Everton, on the other hand, didn't play as poor as their league points shown. However, poor goal poaching ability are constantly dragging them behind, as what we saw last week against Manchester United.

Newcastle defenders are certainly worthy to be considered against such poor scoring Everton, which failed to score 4 times this season. Proceed with caution though, as Newcastle will be facing the Manchesters and Chelsea for the next 3 gameweeks.

In terms of offence it will be up to Ba, Best as usual and possibly Cabaye to break through Everton's defence with tough players like Jagileka, Distin and Fellaini providing the cover.

As for the Toffees, Drenthe's speed will be one powerful weapon to penetrate the solid defensive unit of Newcastle. Players like Cahill and Saha will definitely need to improve their shooting accuracy though if they want to win at St James' Park.

I am expecting a home win anyway for the zebra stripes to maintain their third position for another week before they march into the hellish fixtures.

Prediction: NEW 2-0 EVE
Pick: NEW defence, Ba, Best, Cabaye
Drop: EVE defence




Fantasy Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL v SWANSEA

Can Carroll score two match in
a row?

Three points will be crucial for Liverpool in order for the Reds to play the next two games after this (Chelsea and Man City) with confidence.

Suarez has started to find his form, and his miraculous runs can give fantasy managers a blazing trail of points. Surely a strong captain choice this week. Adam should also take advantage of Gerrard's latest injury and become the primary set piece taker of the team.

Defensively Enrique is still the best candidate so far with the lowest price of Liverpool's back four and his ability to surge forward. Stud.

Swansea might have been pretty good defensively, but bear in mind that all of that performances were at Liberty Stadium. 14 goals in 5 away games conceded suggests that they might suffer a heavy defeat at Anfield.

Scott Sinclair might be able to take away one goal or assist from here, but I think it's all about the Reds at their home ground.

Prediction: LIV 3-0 SWA
Pick and Captain: Suarez, Adam
Pick: Enrique, Carroll
Drop: SWA defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

1. Robin van Persie - Ultimate form and is unstoppable.
2. Agbonlahor - Against newcomers' defence it should be easy for him.
3. Torres, Mata - Their pace and footwork should be able to slice the worst defence of the league into pieces.
4. Aguero - QPR's defence is too far away from his class.

Pick:

1. Gervinho, Ramsey - They are the main suppliers and receivers to and from RvP.
2. MUN defence - The return of Vidic should provide the stability on the back.
3. Van der Vaart, Adebayor - Solid pick for every gameweek.
4. Doyle - Looks good and should create lots of troubles inside of  Wigan's penalty box.
5. Sturridge - Severely underpriced.

Drop:

1. WBA defence - Hardly believable to a keep clean sheet.
2. NOR defence - Agbonlahor is too fast.
3. BLA defence - One of the worst league defence.
4. QPR defence - Poor coverage.
5. Gerrard - Injured.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Adam - The key playmaker and set piece taker as Gerrard continues to be sidelined.
2. Van der Vaart, Adebayor - Smooth easy fixtures coming ahead.
3. Van Persie - A no-brainer.
4. Gervinho  - From zero to hero.
5. Walters - Low price, great role.
6. Mata - Complete player who can both score and assist.

Yellow light (monitor):

1. NEW players - Hellish fixtures ahead. See how they cope.
2. Carroll - Picking up some form.
3. Bale - Gaining form or just 1 week marvel? Time will tell.
4. Sessegnon - Against Man Utd it might be wiser to hold on for another week.
5. Kompany - One week suspension. Whether it's worth to hold him or sell him instead is a pretty subjective matter.

Red light (sell):

1. Rooney, Young - Massive sell trend. Sell to preserve your team value.
2. Gerrard - Constantly plagued by injuries.
3. CHE defence - Have not kept any clean sheets after gameweek 1.

Gameweek 11 Dream Team

Given

Simpson -- Jones -- Enrique

Ramsey -- Mata -- Adam -- Van der Vaart

Van Persie (C) -- Suarez (VC) -- Agbonlahor

Subs: Krul -- Eagles -- Ward -- Knight

Prince of Persia Overkilled Chelsea

He crushed Stamford Bridge with his own feet.

8 goals were recorded at Stamford Bridge as Van Persie claimed the match ball in Chelsea's humiliating defeat. Some points worth noting:

• Van Persie's hat-trick. Simply at a different level. The best striker in the world with unbeatable form. Christiano Ronaldo-esque in fantasy as mentioned before. See his third goal of the game, you'll be left stunned. Surely clubs which aim for him will need to fork out at least £60-70m if Fernando Torres worth £50m.
• On the other side we saw Mata who performed his playmaker role to the very best. Precise cross for Lampard's opener. Freaking incredible long distance shoot which saw him evade both Song's tackle and Szczesny's hands. Stylish. Pure class.
• Walcott's speed had maximum utilisation in this game where Chelsea's defensive line was highly pressed up. A power shot which saw Arsenal led for the first time in the game. Good job but his volatility will scare fantasy managers away.
• Defensively both sides were terrible, although Chelsea's defence is pretty much useless compared to Arsenal's. Walcott running like no one's guarding him for the third goal, Van Persie's hat-trick was due to Terry's ridiculous slip... Just sell Bosingwa and any other Chelsea's defenders.
• Gervinho is forming an incredible partnership with captain RvP. His unselfishness for Arsenal's first goal deserves a big applause.

Surely now the league will slowly become a two-horse race between the Manchesters, and the last two tickets to Champions League will be wide open with Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle all aiming for the hot seats.

Cruising City: Gameweek 9 Fantasy Review

"Why always me?" Balotelli just never stops creating chaos. Both on
and off the pitch.

Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City
MUN: Never can I imagine there'll be worse loss than Liverpool 4-1 demolition of Old Trafford to United. BUT the calamitous performance by United defenders has successfully renewed such embarrassing record.

The biggest question is of course "Why Johnny Evans but not Vidic or Jones?" Always and always I rate Jones as the best youngsters on the back among the young blood of Red Devils. Evans? Obviously the worst. And he just did it again.

The decision to not sub Phil Jones in immediately after Evans' red card is yet another disastrous decision. No matter how good Ferdinand is it's impossible for him to guard two forwards altogether - and Ferdinand was poor, if not terrible. That's just ridiculous.

To sum it up it's really the rare bad tactical decisions by Sir Alex Ferguson that made the team looked awfully awful.

MCI: Play calmly and shown resolute defence before the red. Tackles were timed to perfection and Richards has really locked Young very well. He did well up front too.

All three of Aguero, Dzeko and Balotelli scored. The latter is showing some exceptional form despite having just burned his home recently. However, with the habit of Mancini to keep his forwards when he's sure of victory, their fantasy ceilings will be affected.

Silva as usual is the most consistent and important performer for the team, so grab him quickly before he becomes unaffordable.

Pick: Aguero, Balotelli, Silva, Richards
Drop: Ferdinand, Evans


QPR 1-0 Chelsea
QPR: Surprise surprise! QPR won but did they really play well? For sure not!

They are up by two men before half time and yet? It was Chelsea who's more adventurous and nearer to the second goal of the game.

All I can say is disgrace to Neil Warnock's team. When you are two men more than you opponent you should attack like a monster. Not only the didn't, they are struggling to defend in the second half.

Worth noting though is the fact that Helguson somehow squeezed through the starting XI and is capitalising his chances well.

CHE: Nothing much to comment as two red cards had effectively limited their performance.

Drogba's red pretty much mean that Sturridge's position in starting XI is almost certain, while Bosingwa's red should give chance to Luiz. Unfortunately, the Blues are struggling to keep a clean sheet lately and thus making Luiz not worthy as a fantasy defender.

Pick: Sturridge
Watch: Helguson
Drop: Bosingwa, Drogba


Liverpool 1-1 Norwich
LIV: They got 20+ shots and yet only a goal - finishing ability remains a big problem for Dalglish to be solved. Suarez just never stops wasting chances - that has to be stopped.

The team certainly needs a layoff man like Zamora and Carroll's inability to blend into the team certainly won't help.

NOR: Pilkington assisted this time as the young man continued to impress. Holt scored his second goal of the season surprisingly and I do wonder whether he is a big game guy.

Watch: Suarez, Pilkington


Arsenal 3-1 Stoke City
ARS: It's really all about Van Persie at this team. The captain came from the bench to decide the game with two goals. Incredible. Unbelievable. C Ronaldo-esque fantasy performance.

Ramsey is as productive as always and should be bought as direct replacement for Arteta who played to deep to score. Gervinho is good as well up front for setting up both Van Persie's goals. Great attacking selections at Arsenal.

STO: The team just never stops revolving around Walters in offence. Their sluggish away form just couldn't improve, however.

Pick: Van Persie, Ramsey, Gervinho, Walters


Fulham 1-3 Everton
FUL: Not their day really with Zamora missed a golden chance.


EVE: 16 points from Drenthe from his first Premier League start. He certainly looked must more offensive than I had imagined and is set to become a hot fantasy bargain.

Pick: Drenthe


***I am not giving full game by game reviews as I am very busy recently.

Kick-Off: Gameweek 6 Fantasy Preview

Stuart Holden back to Bolton's rescue.

Overview
There are plenty of actions in Carling Cup on the midweek as we saw fellow benchwarmers like Owen and Oxlade-Chamberlain shone. The more important news are of course the return of Stuart Holden (Bolton) and Hatem Ben-Arfa who both recovered from long-term injuries. Two fantasy players to watch.

Game of the Week: STOKE CITY v MANCHESTER UNITED

Phil Jones is a versatile beast.
Strong and determined.

Pretty surprised to feature here? Too bad but this is the most anticipated one in my opinion as the sentinel of Britannia will try to hold the trident of Red Devils.

Stoke suffered a 0-4 defeat away to Sunderland last week, but at Britannia Stadium it's going to be a different story. The Potters are still yet to concede any goal at home in local fixtures including the Carling Cup tie against Tottenham where they won by penalties.

On the other hand, Man Utd continued their to record their best league opening for tens of years as they beat old-time rival Leeds 3-1 in the Carling Cup encounter. Michael Owen scored a brace but it will be too much for him to knock both Chicharito and Berbatov out to start with Rooney.

A classic sword and shield encounter. Tony Pulis' team might be able to shock us, but most probably it will be Sir Alex Ferguson's side to extend their record run of 6 straight league victories. United players will continue to shine.

Prediction: STO 0-1 MUN
Pick: Rooney, A Young, Jones
Drop: STO defence except Begovic


Fantasy Game of the Week: CHELSEA v SWANSEA

Hopefully not another
miss of the century.

Manchester City are facing tricky Everton, while both Arsenal and Liverpool are not in their very best form despite racing rather easy oppositions. So let's stick with Chelsea - the team who host themselves at Old Trafford even though they lost it.

Scott Sinclair will face his old club but it will be too much for him to lead Swansea sinking Stamford Bridge. Maybe a surprise goal, but certainly not a victory.

Another sign for Torres resurrection - he's spectacular last week despite the miss of the millennium. I believe this time it's not false positive though compared to the first gameweek - as long as it's the pack of fast players like Ramires, Mata and Meireles who will be pairing up with him.

Shouldn't be too hard for Chelsea, so start your Torres, Mata, Meireles, Ramires and Bosingwa if you own them.

Prediction: CHE 3-0 SWA
Pick and Captain: Torres
Pick: Mata, Meireles, Ramires, Bosingwa
Drop: SWA defence except Vorm


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

1. Suarez - Liverpool are more consistent at Anfield. Perhaps the last chance for Suarez to prove himself.
2. Van Persie - The Gunners will learn from their mistake and improve on.
3. Adebayor - On fire and cannot be stopped.
4. Best - A differential captain pick if you're willing to risk.

Pick:

1. Man City players - Not an easy game against Everton, but home advantage should bring them through.
2. Wright-Phillips, Barton - Should be able to get something at home.
3. Gervinho - Should get a lot of chances.
4. Van der Vaart - Returns to take set pieces.

Drop:

1. WIG defence - I can't see a clean sheet against Adebayor and Van der Vaart.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Adebayor - Expect huge bandwagon soon.
2. SWP, Barton - Two productive players from QPR.
3. Aguero, Agbonlahor, Best - Productive players at different tiers.
4. Jones - Can play everywhere in defence and hence less rotation fears.

Yellow light (watch):

1. Torres - Looks like he has discovered his form...
2. Ben Arfa - Returned and should be under your radar.
3. Holden - Will provide good supplies for Bolton in the center of midfield.
4. Enrique - Short of clean sheets and you should be prepared for a contingency plan to sell him.
5. Gerrard - Might bring direct impact to Liverpool's play.

Red light (sell):

1. ARS defence - Too mistake prone.
2. EVE players - Tough series of fixtures.
3. Klasnic - 3 match ban.
4. Moses - Not performing.

Gameweek 6 Dream Team

Krul

Bosingwa -- Kompany -- Enrique

Arteta -- SWP -- VDV -- Mata

Suarez -- Adebayor(C) -- RVP(VC)

Subs: Kenny -- Cabaye -- R Taylor -- Jones

Nasri Left for Manchester City - What's Left At Arsenal?

Nasri to follow the footsteps of his ex-captain Fabregas to quit Arsenal.

Done deal. Nasri is going to Manchester City following a £24m bid from the Eastland club.

The attacking midfielder is having a great season last year with Arsenal, but a contract breakdown with the club has angered the French to head for an exit. Not really a good news for fantasy managers though, as he will disrupt the current "comfortable" midfield order at Manchester City. Who will become the scapegoat of bench with Nasri's arrival? Or will he be benched as supersub instead? We'll know that for the coming weeks.

His departure will further worsen Wenger's squad crisis. With players including Song, Wilshere, Rosicky, Diaby, Frimpong, Gibbs, Koscielny, Djourou and Gervinho all either unavailable or doubtful, it seems impossible for them to escape from a defeat at Old Trafford on this coming Premier League weekend. Manchester United players should become super stud picks.

Kick-Off: Gameweek 2 Fantasy Preview

One for two: Joey Barton (right) will be hated by all Arsenal fans following his great
"performance" for making both Alex Song and Gervinho match-banned for three games.

Overview
Only three games ended with difference on gameweek 1 and that was a rather boring season opener for Premier League. It was also a very turbulent fantasy season opener as well due to the massive technical problem and also the lack of production in terms of goals.

One thing worth noting is that two Arsenal players involved in Barton's incidents will be banned for next three games, namely Song and Gervinho. Be sure to KICK THEM OUT of your squad.

Also, The Scout at FPL official website now offers some good piece of information - it is now a very helpful guide compared to past pundits which have little use. Be sure to read that apart from fantasy blogs.

And most importantly, remember that you have UNLIMITED TRANSFERS this week so utilize this to your very best.

On EA Sports Index
Still has little information about the distribution of points, but it does seem like goals have a strong weight in determining the points. My assumption is that each goal gives approximately 10 EA points or even more - otherwise Aguero won't be sitting at the top comfortably.

Is Modric suffering from a groin
injury or forcing a transfer?

Game of the Week: MAN UTD v TOTTENHAM
In any ordinary day I would put Arsenal v Liverpool as the game of the week, but I guess all of you know how much of disadvantages Arsenal is having at this time.

That's why I am more interested in Tottenham's upcoming first Premier League game of the season - a visit to Old Trafford. Spurs have been historically poor against the Red Devils, losing all 6 past meetings with the Manchester side at Old Trafford. However, following United's injury crises at the back and De Gea's dismal display, the London team starred by Van der Vaart has the chance to break the duck.

Offensively I think both sides will leak - stay away from defenders. Van der Vaart is the obvious and the safest pick from Tottenham, followed by Bale. Playmaker Luka Modric is doubtful due to groin injury - stay away from him.

As for the Red Devils, Rooney, Young and Nani are still the best selections from the team, with Cleverly the cheap access point from the defending champions. I am looking for a goals galore here, with the home side the victor.

Prediction: MUN 3-1 TOT
Pick and captain: Rooney
Pick: Young, Nani, Cleverly, Van der Vaart
Drop: Modric, ALL defence

Much expectations on Fernando
Torres after the Spaniard have a
good game finally with Chelsea.

Fantasy Game of the Week: CHELSEA v WEST BROM

After a disappointing Premier League debut at Britannia Stadium, Andre Villas-Boas is surely determined to get three points this weekend at Stamford Bridge against West Brom.

AVB made a surprising decision last week against Stoke by dropping Drogba and starting the "thought-to-be-out-of-form" Torres. More surprisingly though was the fact that Torres actually played pretty well despite not scoring any goals. If you want some fantasy differential I think he is the man for you this week. I just have a feeling that he will score.

Mikel is expected to be out following the kidnap of his father - it remains a mystery who will fill his spot. There is also a big question mark on the defending line: will AVB favour for Bosingwa for his offensive ability from the back and sacrifice Ivanovic/ David Luiz for him? I expect this to be answered this week with Ivanovic deemed to be fit (Luiz is still unavailable by the way). As for the moment, stick with Ashley Cole or Terry if you have money to splash or wait for another gameweek to determine which player has the cheapest access to Chelsea's clean sheet points. Malouda continues to be the safest selection with no competitor to challenge his LW/ LAM spot.

UPDATE: Cech injured himself during training and is expected to out for 4 weeks. Stay away from him as Hilario and Turnbull (both at £4.5m) look to be decent fantasy picks for the next few weeks.

West Brom had an okay game against Manchester United last week, but I don't think the worst defence last season can hold the marching Blues - bench the Baggies if you happen to own them.

Prediction: CHE 2-0 WBA
Pick and captain: Torres
Pick: CHE defence, Malouda
Drop: WBA players, Cech

It seems like McLeish's rather
unnatural formation is limiting
Bent's goalscoring potential.

Pick and Drop

Pick and captain:

1. Bent - Looks good on paper against Blackburn, but be wary after his disappointing first game.
2. Carroll - Yes it's at Emirates, but I found it hard to resist him due to the fact that the Gunners have been very poor in dealing with tall players.

Pick:

1. Holt - The leadscorer of the Canaries has a point to prove with traditionally poor at away Stoke City to "help" him.
2. Saha, Tim Cahill  - With QPR shadowed by a 4-goal defeat, they could add salt to their pain.
3. Larsson - A home game will help Sunderland's new ace to extend his supremacy.
4. Sinclair - If he fails to impress this game, you can drop him for the rest of the season.

Drop:

1. BLA players - Villa's defence is fundamentally solid, which is the opposite of Blackburn's.
2. ARS defence - I expect the naked Arsenal squad to be oppressed by Liverpool throughout the game. Expect leaks with Song not around as the first defensive line.

Transfer Traffic

GW 2 special: recommended squad revamp

Given -- Al-Habsi

Kompany -- De Laet -- Enrique -- Hughes -- Brown

Young -- Silva -- Larsson -- Moses -- T Cahill

Torres -- Suarez -- Holt

Budget: £100.0m

Good alternatives

GK: Hart, Vorm

DF: Luiz, Simpson, Shawcross

MF: Van der Vaart, Downing, Adam, Malouda, Sinclair, Yaya Toure

F: Aguero, Rooney, Carroll, Bent, Fletcher

Gameweek 2 Dream Team

Given

A Cole -- De Laet -- Jagielka

Malouda -- T Cahill -- Larsson -- Sinclair

Torres (C) -- Rooney (VC) -- Bent

Subs: Vorm -- Jarvis -- J Evans -- Ward

Full-Time: Gameweek 1 Fantasy Review

Sebastian Larsson (no. 7) punished Liverpool's chance wastages with a wonderful  bicycle kick.

Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland
LIV: A lot of upside potential, as we can see from first half. Suarez's superb interception and run to earn a penalty (he missed it!), Adam's £10m worth of set piece which helped Suarez to score Premier League's first goal of the season, and Downing's fantastic 40-50 yards run before finding his shot rattling the bar have all shown how dynamic and unstoppable Liverpool's attack can become.

Unfortunately, Dalglish have gone all wrong about his tactics in this game. Henderson is awful playing at the right side. With Flanagan playing, Kuyt should play at the right to provide defensive cover for the young right back. Because of that mistake, 2 points gone.


Pick: Suarez, Downing, Adam, Enrique
Potential Pick: Carroll
Drop: Henderson (if you somehow picked him)


SUN: The Black Cats are pretty shaky in the first half, but fortunately Steve Bruce fixed the problem during half-time. Brown had done a good job in locking Carroll, making the latter hardly able to make a good shot.

Offensively it's all about the almighty Seb Larsson. A very, very solid performance by the ex-Birmingham player. A good direct replacement for Taarabt if you are fed up about the latter's performance against Bolton.


Pick: Larsson, Brown


Blackburn 1-2 Wolves
BLA: Debutant Formica scored a good first goal for the Rovers, but that was not enough for them to claim any points. The defeat is quite a good indication for them - they will be roaming at the bottom third of the league for most part of the season.

Potential Pick: Roberts, Formica, Dunn


WOL: Doyle missed a penalty which in no way was good. Ward's goal was brilliant, but you don't expect a defender to score beautiful goal week-in and week-out.

Potential Pick: Fletcher


Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
FUL: Pretty football by Martin Jol. Good stream of passes and chance creations makes Fulham players good fantasy options upfront. Still look solid in back despite more offensive approach. Could have won if not for Given's great performance.

Pick: Andy Johnson, Hughes
Potential Pick: John Riise


AVL: Created some good chances but failed to capitalise any. Was surprised to see Hesky start by sacrificing Albrighton. N'Zogbia and Bent didn't look too impressive. Given was superb - pick him.

Pick: Given


QPR 0-4 Bolton
QPR: Nightmare start for them. The Rs pretty much lost themselves after conceding the first goal. Nevertheless, it's better to lose 4-0 in your first game and realise how tough Premier League is rather than later when the season goes into the decisive part.

Drop: QPR defenders


BOL: Klasnic looks incredible in his first game of the season. He is more like a playmaker rather than a striker. Gary Cahill scored a goal, but you shouldn't be fooled to buy him - look at Bolton's fixtures!

Potential Pick: Klasnic (fixtures are too bad to consider)


Wigan 1-1 Norwich
WIG: The departure of N'Zogbia has given rise to two players - Watson and Moses. Both are decent picks considering the next two games Wigan are playing.

Pick: Moses, Watson


NOR: Good rebound by Hoolahan. They didn't look too bad at this game, but it's still too early to conclude about them.

Potential Pick: Hoolahan


Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal
NEW: Barton is easily my man of the match for taking Gervinho off the match. Doesn't have too much to comment about their game - it's so dull.

ARS: With no engines at the middle, they look like a mid-table team. Wenger better get this solved soon, or they might even fall behind of teams like Aston Villa and Everton.

Potential Pick: Ramsey
Drop: GERVINHO

Stoke 0-0 Chelsea
STO: Superb saves by Asmir Begovic. Easily the man of the match. Credits went to referee as well as he denied two penalty appeal from Chelsea. Unfortunate for Matt Etherington however for injuring his shoulder.

Pick: Begovic
Drop: Etherington

CHE: Not quite a good decision by AVB to start Torres instead of Drogba. The Spaniard looked much better than before, but still a distance away from Drogba's ultimate influence and is too expensive to hold unless his form starts to get hot. Held drawn due to some bad fortune sincerely.

West Brom 1-2 Manchester United
WBA: Great debut by Shane Long to score an equaliser as West Brom gave some hard time to Fergie's squad. Almost held United up until a moment of brilliance by Ashley Young.

Potential Pick: Long


MUN: A costly victory with Vidic and Ferdinand gone injured. Young was the decisive man, having scored one and set up another. De Gea almost costed United three points with his slow save against Long's attempt. The young team still look shaky, but fortunately the winners' mentality saved them this time.

Avoid United's defence as for now until De Gea starts to show some sharpness.

Pick: Young, Rooney
Potential Pick: Cleverly
Drop: MUN defence

Gervinho Red Carded - Say Hi to Joe Cole v2

Gervinho in red shirt card.

Much surprises in the first day of 2011/12 Premier League season, but I'll leave it for later.

Let's talk on this. GERVINHO, Arsenal's best signing so far, is set to repeat Joe Cole's tragedy - RED CARD on his first official game for his new club.

The Ivorian dived, and was successfully provoked by Joey Barton. Yellow for the latter, red for Gervinho.

The former Lille player will now face three match suspension. Hopefully he won't become a mega flop like Joe Cole when he returns.