Gameweek 31 Fantasy Preview

Robin van Persie
Sustained an injury but the club is optimistic that he will play this Saturday.

So the international games are over and we've lost one of the best fantasy commodity - Gareth Bale. Meanwhile, Liverpool has also confirmed the loss of Martin Kelly for the rest of the season. With Van Persie, Tevez and some other big names doubtful for the game this weekend, it will be a major headache for fantasy managers.

The Dutch were obviously the strongest team this week, with Premier League stars Dirk Kuyt and Van Persie both on the score sheet. Carroll has also scored his first goal since he left Newcastle. But can they bring their form back to their clubs? We shall see.

---

PART I: PRE-MATCH ANALYSES

Scott Parker
Can his form halt United's progress?

All Games

• West Ham v Man Utd (2-2) - United stumble at away. That's too usual.
• Birmingham v Bolton (1-0) - Bolton has nothing much to fight for. That's very opposite for the Brums.
• Everton v Aston Villa (2-1) - Everton has been pretty solid at Goodison Park recently.
• Newcastle v Wolves (3-1) - Big Mick will miss Kevin Doyle.
• Stoke City v Chelsea (2-3) - Carlo will certainly want to retain his chance to win the Premier League.
• West Brom v Liverpool (1-2) - The golden trio - Suarez, Carroll and Kuyt will outshine Roy Hodgson.
• Wigan v Tottenham (1-2) - Spurs must win this if they are to feature in the Champions League next season.
• Arsenal v Blackburn (3-0) - Obviously the match of the week. Unfortunately Van Persie is doubtful, and there will be a dilemma of whether or not to captain him.
• Fulham v Blackpool (2-1) - Charlie Adam has been declared fit to face Fulham, but I still expect a home win.
• Man City v Sunderland (2-1) - The Black Cats' form is too bad for Manchester City to lose.

---

PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Dirk Kuyt
Possessed by Superman recently.

Captain Picks

• Van Persie - Should bang in a couple of goals, if he features.
• Kuyt/Suarez - This partnership is in incredible form.
• Van der Vaart - Bale will out for this one, so it's all his show again.

Buys-In

• Kuyt/Suarez - Too great to miss.
• Lampard/Luiz - Easy games ahead.

Sells-Out

• Meireles - With the strikers on form, there's less reliance for his offensive service.

Squad of XV

GK: Foster

DF: Ridgewell, Coleman, Carragher

MF: Nani, Parker, Kuyt, Lampard, Van der Vaart

F: Van Persie, Suarez

Subs (in order): Almunia, Best, Jose Enrique, Aaron Hughes

Captain: Van Persie

ECS: Value

Dalglish's Nightmare Debut

Kenny Dalglish
No luck for him for his first game in charge.

It turned out to be a disaster for the new Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish as his side crashed out of FA Cup due to some controversial judgements.

Manchester United grabbed the lead in as early as 2 minutes after Berbatov's cheap dive was cheaply awarded a penalty by the one who we call United's lucky star, Howard Webb. Great decision by England's so called best referee.

Manchester United had more to celebrate with Steven Gerrard tackled Darren Fletcher two-footedly in 33rd minute. It effectively sentenced a death to Dalglish's debut game as the Reds' manager.

But still Liverpool were able to fight their best to at least prevent any more leakage at the back and the display by the players were obviously better than Roy Hodgson's era. A sign of relief to the fans.

Man Utd 1-0 Liverpool, but the battle between Dalglish and Ferguson was certainly a draw. Two exciting old men.

Goodbye Roy Hodgson, Officially

Roy Hodgson
He's impressed by his fantastic away record.

Finally.

The pain in every Liverpool supporters thus far, Roy Hodgson, has finally left the club on mutual consent. It was unusual for this club though - they had never sacked any manager at the middle of the season so far.

Kenny Dalglish - whom many Liverpool fans chanted for during Roy's reign - is appointed for the position of temporary manager until someone else takes his place. But will King Kenny of Anfield bring Reds out of misery? Time will tell.

Even Wolves Can Defeat Chelsea Now

Carlo Ancelotti
Fearing the loss of his job?

Chelsea lost again yesterday after another disappointing display which reflected through Bosingwa's own goal. Total humiliation for Ancelotti and his squad.

Liverpool was another team which also underwent big humiliation yesterday after a 1-3 defeat to Blackburn. I wonder how long more must Liverpool fans suffer before Roy "only win once away" Hodgson is axed.

Manchester United is again the big winner this round as all four teams behind it failed to claim three points. Their 19th title is so so close.

Two fantasy hot cakes - Nolan and Coleman - scored 13 and 11 points respectively. Do you own them?

Glen Johnson Took A Revenge Against Silly Roy

Glen Johnson
"God damn you Uncle Roy! I'm good at going forward, not parking the bus behind!"

Following Roy Hodgson's public criticise against the English right-back, Glen Johnson returned a favour to him by complaining his boring tactics to the press.

I feel him. He is an offensive style defender and Hodgson's foolish middle-club tactics certainly doesn't suite him and Liverpool at all.

Roy Hodgson, unarguably, is the worst top-club manager I have ever seen since the Premier League era, both on and off the pitch. Pathetic.

Thursday Tale

Morten Gamst Pedersen
Scores 20 fantasy points in two games.

Here's some updates on the midweek fixtures which ended just now:

• Aston Villa finally found their gunpowder after scoring only once in their last four games. Downing and Young were the main casts yesterday, scoring 23 fantasy points together.
• Essien copied Balotelli's showdown by scoring the decisive goal for Chelsea and then got sent off. Fantasy managers who had just bought him will be pretty frustrated.
• Barton and Carroll combined again to provide a goal for Newcastle, but another brilliant game by Pedersen ensure a victory for the away side. Do monitor Pedersen as he starts to show the form he once possessed in 06/07 season.
• West Ham were denied a win once again as they held draw by West Brom. Odemwingie is back and converted a penalty for the Baggies.
• Torres scored again but Wigan only allowed Liverpool to carry one point away. Roy Hodgson once again commented like a middle-low club's manager. Courageously idiot.
• Chamakh scored Arsenal's fastest premier league goal as Arsenal won 2-0. Will that secure his starting spot?
• Beckford scored his first premier league goal, finally.
• The Manchester derby was rather disappointing with no goals to share.

The Fugly Fuss of Roy Hodgson v The Magnificent Minds of Carlo Ancelotti

Roy Hodgson
You are not the man...

The lights were supposed to be all focused on the Chelsea's victory this week, but Roy Hodgson is just so genius and managed to bring Liverpool onto the headlines. Now we will look at both teams in detail...

Liverpool: On The Stairways to Hell

When we talk about Liverpool we always expect Champions League, and even league title. Benitez failed last season so he left. But there came Roy Hodgson, who was far more mediocre. ME-DIO-CRE.

All right, he's the caretaker manager before the management shifts away from the two notorious bosses. But still, any man with decent football knowledge will expect that any manager of Liverpool should be able to at least qualify the club for Europa League next season. What Hodgson has done? 18th. The first time the club is at the relegation position over the past 26 years. The worst season start for Liverpool over the past 50 years. One victory over seven league games.

What causes this? Bad formation. AWESOMELY bad. At the end of Rafa's era people were furious with Lucas for his uncreative and sluggish style of play. But Hodgson still bought Christian Poulsen - one who plays an even fuglier football than the former. Lucas+Poulsen is unarguably the worst midfield combination in any top-flight league in the world. And this is the main reason why Liverpool always fails to dictate games.

Christian Poulsen
England is not a place for a pure defensive midfielder like him.

Now let's look at the back line. Carragher? Slow and sloppy. Skrtel? Sloppy as well. The two subs at the centre, Agger and Kyrgiakos, are the better combo in my opinion. They will provide better aerial defence and offence which obviously are Liverpool's fatal weaknesses. Another questionable decision by Roy is the departure of Emiliano Insua. This youngster is too good to be let gone and while Konchesky looks good in defence, I am certainly curious why Hodgson couldn't accommodate Insua for backup.

The above two major tactical failures had brought Liverpool down to 18th and I will not surprise if the Reds sit at the bottom of the table in a week or two by now if Roy still stick to his mid-table team approach and is not fired. Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool at Anfield? That's way way way out of any Liverpool fan's imagination. When you have two five star players like Torres and Gerrard and yet the team failed to perform, it's certainly the manager's problems - either tactical or man management impotencies.

Chelsea: The Efficient Lions

It's no surprise that Chelsea out-muscled  Arsenal for a fifth consecutive victory against the Gunners. Both Drogba's and Alex's goal can be listed for nomination for goal of the season and you really have to admit that Chelsea's attack is terrifically effective.

You have to admire Carlo's vision. At the very moment he came Chelsea he has effectively induced offensive mentality to his players. The 1-0 idealism disappeared, and the Blue Lions will attack as hard as they can until victory is assured. Beautiful, effective, and confident style of play.

Carlo Ancelotti
He has successfully trained some brave lions.

Unlike the boring combination of Lucas-Poulsen, Chelsea's defensive midfielder are all daring to roam forward and feed good passes forward. Essien, for example, has already got three goals in his pocket currently.

Upfront we see Drogba who is still in his best at the age of 32 and Malouda who is in an incredible form. It is their efficiency that has made the team managed to score numerous goals in limited attempts.

With Ancelotti, every player in the team is transformed into a lethal killer capable to score. And that's the reason why Chelsea is on the summit with an incredible goal difference figure.

Shocks (Saturday Quick Review)

Steven Gerrard feat. Fernando Torres
Two men is certainly not enough.

Certainly a bad day for all the big teams as none of them managed to snatch three points other than Manchester City which played Chelsea which is a bigger team. Here are the highlights:

• Samir Nasri caught the spotlight but nonetheless he was firing too late and Arsenal lost 2-3 at home to West Brom. Those who captained him should be more than happy though.
• Hodgson played some ****ing formation again as Liverpool held draw by Sunderland. Darren Bent provided two goals for the Black Cats, but look at Gerrard and Torres. Both are in form and you should certainly get one of them if you can afford to.
• Tottenham gave West Ham its first victory of the season, and I was furious about that. A fun fact - 39 shots throughout the game and only one goal scored!
• Blackburn won Blackpool, as expected. Unfortunate for Charlie Adam's owner though as he own goaled in the expense of -2 points.
• Both Birmingham v Wigan and Fulham v Everton ended goalless. Those who own Birmingham's and Fulham's defensive line should be happy enough.

The League Cup Miseries

Roy Hodgson wonders what's wrong with his team.

League Cup was in action on the last two days and quite a lot of Premier League teams were left out on their first game. Pretty unusual for me. Here are some of the big ones:

• Chelsea got knocked out by the old time giant Newcastle. The Blue Lions were forced to play with 10 men in the last 20 minutes because of Benayoun's injury and there were no more substitutions available. Pretty sarcastic though, as Drogba had just released the statement of aiming quadruple a day before.
• What's worse than got sliced by a team three leagues below of you? Northampton finished off Liverpool in penalty shootout. This is such a humiliation when there were half of the first team playing. Disgrace.
• Accompanying Liverpool on the exit is their Merseyside counterpart Everton. The defeat leaves Moyes on big pressure, as his best result so far were only two draws.
• Manchester City is another who got kicked out of the Mickey Mouse tournament. Interestingly they have only three fit defenders currently to face Chelsea this week.
• On a different fate with them is Manchester United. Despite Ferguson's absence, their side was able to win comfortably against Scunthorpe. Joining them are the Gunners who had swept Tottenham with the same three goals margin.