Unbeaten Got Beaten: Gameweek 15 Fantasy Review

Both Nani and Rooney returns with 2 fine goals each.

Chelsea 2-1 Man City
Well, no more unbeaten teams in the league after this game. Pretty shocking to see how fast and easy Balotelli scored the opener. Silva should had got a penalty but wasn't awarded. Big decision that turned the game around.

The king of all volleys a.k.a. Raul Meireles returned with a jumping tap-in. Great goal. Lampard was brave enough to take the penalty but nonetheless is still a fantasy player to be avoided with his little playing time.

Sturridge once again stole the limelight with a brilliant assist for Meireles' goal. Superb fantasy acquisitions.

Pick: Sturridge
Drop: Clichy


Man Utd 4-1 Wolves
Perfect response by United after a shocking Champions League exit. Both Nani and Rooney scored a brace to prove the fact that they are not fantasy flops, they are just out of form. And now they have found the form. Beware.

Interestingly, Valencia started ahead of Young and got 3 delicious assists. Let's see how the competition for place between Valencia and Young develop and if the former wins, he will become a great fantasy stock costing only £7.8m currently.

Encouragingly for Wolves despite the defeat is the fact that Fletcher scored yet another goal. Superb form. Mick McCarthy's ace.

Pick: Rooney, Nani, Fletcher
Watch: Valencia


Arsenal 1-0 Everton
The gunners had a hard time testing Everton's defence but Van Persie's fantastic volley made sure they took three points in front of their seniors such as Henry and Pires to celebrate the club's 125th anniversary. It certainly is RvP's era now and I can imagine the next statue to land at Emirates would be his.

I am fascinated with Walcott's growth and you can seriously see how much more he has now other than his speed. I am really in love with his vision and unselfishness.

Amazingly, the four centre backs of Arsenal, namely Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou and Mertesacker combined to give their club a clean sheet. Not bad.

Pick: Van Persie, Arteta, Walcott
Watch: ARS defence


Liverpool 1-0 QPR
For some reason Liverpool tend to make their oppositions keeper in godlike mode. Cerny certainly is far away from Krul and Vorm's class but somehow he made sure the result was respectable for QPR. Jinx?

Suarez played a fine game as usual but his selfishness at times didn't impress me. Good goal anyway.

Meanwhile, Maxi continues to attract my attention with his poaching instinct and I for one hope that he can start all the remaining league games for Liverpool.

And Adam, as predicted, was pivotal as he assisted for Suarez's header. His fantasy scores over the past weeks are consistent as well, making him a quite decent pick for your squad.

Pick: Adam, Maxi
Watch: Suarez


Bolton 1-2 Aston Villa
Guzan played a solid game with 7 saves. A good keeper to consider for rotation strategy if Given is out for a prolonged period.

Offensive wise, Agbonlahor provided an assist but will be suspended for the next game after accumulating five yellow cards. Might just be the right time to jump across Ba's bandwagon.

As for Bolton, Klasnic scored his seventh goal of the season. A good figure.

Watch: Guzan, Klasnic, Agbonlahor


Norwich 4-2 Newcastle
Great formation by Paul Lambert as he totally capitalised Newcastle's aerial weaknesses without Coloccini and Steven Taylor in the middle of the defence. 3 goals of Norwich were scored through direct headers and another through a rebound after a header - that explains all.

While the likes like Holt, Morison and Hoolahan all got home with good fantasy points, it's quite surprising to see Crofts with double digit scores. He has never failed to record 1-2-2-1-2-2 kind of scores for all previous gameweeks he had played. Certainly needs more observations to see whether that's a fluke or a sudden burst in form.

On the other side, Demba Ba showed some great first touches to score a brace. Truly incredible.

Pick: Ba, Morison
Watch: Holt, Crofts
Drop: NEW defence


West Brom 1-2 Wigan
So the best performer of Wigan during pre-season finally broke his goal drought after attempting his 46th shot of the season. Great present to his birthday and I believe the floodgate will be lifted soon. Be aware of his performance.

I thought West Brom played horribly at home. The penalty was unnecessary and Long wasted a seriously good chance.

Pick: Moses


Swansea 2-0 Fulham
Dempsey is the man in black as his deflection caused a goal for Sinclair and his equalising penalty well saved by Vorm. Formless poor lad.

Vorm mind games certainly worked for the penalty. 1 yellow card point for 5 save points... Worth it.

Pick: Vorm
Watch: Sinclair
Drop: Dempsey


Stoke 2-1 Tottenham
Two fine goals by Etherington has notified fantasy managers that it's not only about Walters at Stoke's offence. In fact, Crouch has also been pretty consistent over the weeks, though Walters will still be my first pick of Stoke's offensive department.

The ref has pretty much gone against Tottenham and it so ridiculous to see how Adebayor's equaliser was ruled off side. The Togolese had been magnificent in the second half and it was a shame that his brilliant work wasn't fairly rewarded.

Pick: Walters, Adebayor
Watch: Etherington, Crouch


Sunderland 2-1 Blackburn
A good comeback by Sunderland to get a sweet victory for O'Neill's first game in charge for the Black Cats. Two superb goals that came from Vaughan and Larsson. The latter's set piece dominance has once again shown its value following a wonderful free kick goal which hit the post before bouncing into the net. Great one from a great player.

Vukcevic earned two 8 points in a row and is only owned by close to 0% of fantasy managers. Certainly a gamble that wouldn't cause a drop in team value at the moment.

Pick: Larsson
Watch: Vukcevic

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

Kick-Off: Gameweek 1 Fantasy Preview

North London in chaos.

Overview
Riots were all over England as Premier League begun its new season countdown. Fortunately the situation is controlled now, with only the game at White Hart Lane (Tottenham v Everton) being postponed due to its location which is very near to the origin of the riot.

9 games are expected to play this Saturday. Are you ready yet?

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

1. Aston Villa (@FUL, BLA, WOL, @EVE, NEW, @QPR, WIG) - Apart from away game to Fulham and Everton, these are pretty easy for the Villans. Bent, N'Zogbia and Given should be a part of your team if you want a good start for the next two months.
2. Chelsea (@STO, WBA, NOR, @SUN, @MNU, SWA, BOL) - What an easy start for AVB. Apart from the visit to Old Trafford and possibly Stadium of Light as well, the rest will most probably give them easy 3 points.

In hell run:

1. Bolton (@QPR, MCI, @LIV, MNU, NOR, @ARS, CHE) - Fighting 5 of the top 6 last season in two months is definitely a crazy task for Owen Coyle. They should feel proud if they are not at the bottom of the league after these 7 games.
2. Blackburn (WOL, @AVL, EVE, @FUL, ARS, @NEW, MCI) - The opening game against Wolves is somewhat crucial for them. For the next 6 games the Rovers are either visiting tough home teams or getting visited by tough teams.
3. Tottenham ( - , @MNU, MCI, @WOL, LIV, @WIG, ARS) - Packed against title rivals in their first 7. Home games will be crucial in deciding their target for this season.
4. Stoke (CHE, @NOR, @WBA, LIV, @SUN, MNU, @SWA) - The Potters are only good at home... Their first few visitors to Britannia are damn tough.

Jordan Henderson to face
his former club this week.

Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL v SUNDERLAND
Henderson will play against his old club as Liverpool plan to make a brilliant start for their new campaign.

Both clubs have splashed significant amount of money in the transfer market. However, compared to the signings of Liverpool, it is obvious that Sunderland's newcomers are one level below of Liverpool's.

I am not seeing a clean sheet here, but at Anfield, the Reds should open their season with 3 solid points.

Carroll and Downing are the safest fantasy picks for Liverpool currently; as for Sunderland, take Larsson or Gyan if you are expecting away goals.

Prediction: LIV 3-1 SUN
Pick as captain: Carroll
Pick: Downing, Larsson, Gyan
Drop: SUN defenders


Fantasy Game of the Week: MAN CITY v SWANSEA

Goals or reds from Balotelli?

A super tough game to begin the Premier League journey. Swansea, the newcomer, will visit to Manchester to fight the best defence in the Premier League.

Compared to the mega budget City, Swansea's squad is as thin as paper. It looks like a mission impossible for them to beat City on the road.

It is obvious to start all City players you have. Aguero is still lack of match fitness, so stay away from him as for now. The only man at Swansea worthy for a fantasy start this gameweek is Scott Sinclair.

Prediction: MCI 3-0 SWA
Pick as captain: Balotelli, Silva, Yaya Toure
Pick: MCI defenders, Dzeko
Drop: SWA players


Pick and Drop

Nani should get a head start in
fantasy scoreboard.

Pick as captain:

1. Rooney, Nani, Young - Man Utd visits WBA, the poorest defence unit of last season, this week.
2. Van Persie - Confirmed to be available after all the injury doubts. Fabregas and Nasri's transfer sagas should not affect him.

Pick:

1. Malouda, Lampard - Chelsea is in spectacular form throughout pre-season.
2. Taarabt, QPR defenders  - They are facing much deteriorated Bolton at home. Wait to see Neil Warnock's preferred forward selections though.
3. Rodallega - Norwich shouldn't be too tough for him.

Drop:

1. BOL defenders - Away clean sheet seems impossible.
2. Torres - AVB is more keen to use Drogba currently.
3. David Luiz, Ivanovic - Both not fit for this week.
4. Fabregas, Nasri - Goodbye soon.
5. EVE and TOT players - How to score points with no games to play?

Transfer Traffic

GW 1 special: recommended initial squad

Given -- Al-Habsi

Kompany -- Rafael -- Enrique -- Hughes -- Gabbidon

Nani -- Yaya Toure -- N'Zogbia -- Taarabt -- Sinclair

Drogba -- Bent -- Holt

Budget: £99.0m

*It is advised to left some extra money in the bank for acquisition of expensive, on form players without taking any penaltied transfers.

Gameweek 1 Dream Team

Hart

Kompany -- Alex -- Gabbidon

Malouda -- Nani (VC) -- Downing -- Yaya Toure -- Taarabt

Carroll (C) -- Balotelli

Subs: Al-Habsi ---- Rodallega -- Samba -- Briggs