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).

Can't wait to get more? Like FPLZ official Facebook page to get the latest updates regularly!

Sunday Aftermath: Aguero Injury Woes

The most vice-captained fantasy player, Sergio Aguero, ended up with only 1 point.

After such a fascinating Saturday matchday, Sunday games came with equal excitements as well. Here are some big scenes:

• Sergio Aguero (£11.5m) went injured with only 11 minutes of action against Southampton (1 point). Big, bad news for about 30% of fantasy managers as they will need to make a forced transfer following his injury. A wildcard may as well ready to be used for some of the managers.
• Also failing to deliver was David Silva (£10.0m), who missed a penalty in a terrible fashion. He scored nothing for this gameweek, which is definitely a big butthurt to his owners.
• Meanwhile, Aguero's teammate and compatriot Carlos Tevez (£9.0m) proved to be as pivotal as before at Manchester City. He scored the opener goal against the Saints and with Aguero injured, his starting spot is pretty much secured for the next few weeks.
• Samir Nasri (£8.5m) was the star performer with 12 fantasy points (which include 3 bonus points). He might as well lock a place in Mancini's starting XI with such performance.
• I am greatly impressed by Nigel Adkins - he brought in 2 substitutes who brought immediate goals. Almost beaten the Premier League Champions last year. Splendid. Rickie Lambert (£6.0m) did not start, which surprised me, but scored a goal nonetheless.
• On the other game we saw Eden Hazard (£9.5m) provided all 2 assists in Chelsea's victory over Wigan. It's Hazard 1-0 Mata (£9.5m) then.
• Branislav Ivanovic (£6.5m) got 15 points thanks to his opening goal, while Frank Lampard (£9.0m) scored from the spot - he is still an important player for the Blues.
• As for the late Saturday game, Andre Villas-Boas had a poor start as Demba Ba (£7.5m) and Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.0m) combined to send Tottenham Hotspur in misery.
• Jermaine Defoe (£7.5m) scored only goal for the visitors though, and that is an encouraging sign to own him.

FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Newcastle United F.C.

Newcastle United F.C.

The Toons with their new away kit this season.

You can download the full analyzed squad data here.

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

Last Season: Flying High
Alan Pardew is building himself a fascinating resume as he led Newcastle to finish the season in such a marvelous fashion. Fifth place was simply wonderfully overperforming for a club that have such limited financial resources. The Senegalese duo, Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Cisse, deserve to take a huge share of credits for the Magpies' success for their superb goal rate.

This Summer: Some Changes
Romain Almafitano becomes the fifth French player in the current Newcastle line-up alongside Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sylvain Marveaux and Gabriel Obertan as he joins from Reims on a free transfer. Joining him at Sports Direct Arena (or St. James' Park?) is 18-year-old Gael Bigirimana from Coventry City and 19-year-old Curtis Good from Melbourne Heart.

The departure of Danny Guthrie is the more shocking news for me, as he played so well for the Magpies last season. Also left the club are Leon Best, Fraser Forster, Peter Lovenkrands and Alan Smith.

Upcoming Season: Flying Lower?
As of now Newcastle still offer a very competitive squad, but surely Ba and Cisse may leave anytime with their owner being very willing to let go of his players at good prices. They should still play in the upcoming season nonetheless, though I doubt the likelihood of reaching the height set during last season.

Cisse's goal rate.

Undisputed: Cisse (FI: 1.258)
It is hard to believe that he was a stranger for English football fans six months ago. Papiss Cisse (£9.5m) started his fantasy career at £7.0m, but it turned out to be such a big arbitrage opportunity - he just couldn't stop scoring goals. 13 Premier League goals in just 14 games (watch here) has made him one of the most incredible fantasy player ever, especially when he came with such a low price.

His price has shot high this season to £9.5m, but if Cisse can continue to score like nobody's business it is still a very profitable fantasy business.

Ba: Before and
after.

Sacrificed: Ba (FI: 0.739)
Demba Ba (£7.5m) had a wonderful season with the Magpies earlier last season, but that changed with the arrival of his compatriot Cisse. He had to played as a side player rather than his favourite central forward position, making his performance for the second half of the season deteriorated drastically.

With no major changes ongoing at Sports Direct Arena, it is hard to hope that Ba will revive this season, unless either other Premier League clubs can take advantage of his release clause or Cisse leaves Newcastle after just one half of fantastic season.

Anticipated: Ben Arfa (FI: 0.549)
Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.5m) always does very well when he is on the pitch - however he wasn't playing much last season.

He scored 100 points last season in just 1556 minutes (P90: 5.78, ranked second in Newcastle) - which indicates that he has got the potential to achieve a 200 point fantasy season if he can start regularly. Definitely one of the lad that you need to watch in this coming season, especially when he started regularly at the end of last season.

Can't wait to get more? Like FPLZ official Facebook page to get the latest updates regularly!