Sunday Aftermath: Mata's Madness

After a disappointing start this season, Juan Mata is just 7 points away from FPL leader Eden Hazard (60 pts).

So Juan Mata (£9.0m, 18 pts) continued his scintillating form at White Hart Lane! Here are some highlights:

• Gareth Bale (£9.5m, - pts) missed the game to witness the delivery of his first child. Unfortunate timing, otherwise Tottenham should have a fair chance to win it.
• Eden Hazard (£10.3m, 9 pts) continued to deliver consistency with 2 assists, though at the moment Mata is definitely the better of the two with both greater form and cheaper price.
• Two defenders — namely Chris Baird (£4.4m, 15 pts) and John Arne Riise (£5.5m, 10 pts) — combined to help Fulham to win against Aston Villa. Riise has 4 assists already this season, which is not bad for his mid-range price.
• Raheem Sterling (£4.9m, 11 pts) delivered his first goal of the season, and was well rewarded with 3 bonus points as Liverpool won their first home game of the season. Luis Suarez (£9.5m, 5 pts) was the contributor, but wasted tons of chances in the game against Reading.
• Interestingly, Liverpool have collected 2 consecutive clean sheets. Not quite expected, really.
• Else at Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney (£11.7m, 14 pts) scored a "hat-trick" (2 goals plus an own goal) as he completed his 200 Premier League goal milestone and Manchester United won 4-2 against Stoke City. His strike partners Robin Van Persie (£13.4m, 11 pts) and Danny Welbeck (£8.0m, 10 pts) also scored double digit points — all three are great buys if Sir Alex Ferguson sticks with the current formation.
• At Liberty Stadium we saw Miguel Michu (£7.2m, 8 pts) back with his magic feet as Swansea recorded their first league victory since August. Pablo Hernandez (£6.1m, 9 pts) showed his class with a goal as well, but Jonathan de Guzman (£5.7m, 11 pts) was the true hero, having provided the assists for both goals of the Swans.
• James Milner's (£6.1m, -2 pts) red card almost costed City some league points but Edin Dzeko (£7.5m, 11 pts) made sure that it's 3 points in City's hands in just 11 minutes of action. Another frustrating story in FPL — superbly effective yet having his talent wasted on bench.
• Carlos Tevez (£9.4m, 7 pts) continued to provide, but can that stop his sale bandwagon?
• West Ham hammered Southampton 4-1 with club captain Kevin Nolan (£6.4m, 12 pts) continued to deliver super value performance with a goal and an assist. The man of the match was Mark Noble (£4.8m, 15 pts) though, scoring 2 goals.
• At Carrow Road we saw Arsenal getting a shock defeat as Grant Holt (£6.0m, 8 pts) scored in 3 consecutive league games. A man to monitor.
• Demba Ba (£8.3m, 3 pts) assisted for Yohan Cabaye's (£6.8m, 9 pts) but scored an own goal later as Newcastle have to satisfy with a draw at Stadium of Light against Sunderland.
• Junior Hoilett (£5.8m, 10 pts) was lively throughout the game but QPR have to satisfy with a draw after yet another sloppy defensive performance, despite playing with one man more for half an hour.
• Steven Pienaar (£7.0m, -1 pt) was the victim of harsh officiating, and will miss the Merseyside derby next week.

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FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Norwich City F.C.

Norwich City F.C.

Norwich's new kit is almost the identical to last season's one.

You can download the full analyzed squad data here.

Password: http://p-fplz.blogspot.com/

Last Season: Splendid
Compared to last time where Norwich were at the Premier League, this time around they were performing much better. A 12th placed finish have certainly surpassed people's expectations on them a lot, especially when they were freed from relegation so early last season.

This Summer: New Manager
With Paul Lambert decides to try his luck at Aston Villa, Norwich have brought former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton as his replacement. Hughton has a pretty decent record at Newcastle and Birmingham, so fans can expect some solid performance from him.

As for player changes, the Canaries are taking in 22-year-old Jacob Butterfield, 24-year-old Robert Snodgrass, Rangers' defender Steven Whittaker and Sunderland's centre back Michael Turner; going the other way are Zak Whitbread and Aaron Wilbraham, both being released.

Upcoming Season: Hopeful
With club's ace Grant Holt penned a three-year contract extension with the club recently, things are looking good at the moment. Hughton has been very good in managing small to medium sized club, and their new additions look solid too. Survival should not be a problem honestly.

Holt's and Pilkington's stats last
season.

Needs More Playing Time: Holt (FI: 0.645) and Pilkington (FI: 0.599)
Grant Holt (£6.5m) is really good in converting chances, but his playing time was hurting fantasy managers who owned him last season. The captain scored P90 of 5.52 last season, which is good for a player of any price. But to sit on the bench frequently meant that he played only 2249 minutes last season and scored a mediocre score of 138. If he can play somewhere near 3000 minutes this season, he can really become a great bargain as long as he can maintain his efficiency.

Besides Holt, Anthony Pilkington (£6.0m) is another productive player of Norwich City in fantasy terms who was limited by his playing time. His FI of 0.599 was second behind Holt last season, and playing minutes of 1975 only last season suggests that he can achieve much more if more time is given.

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