Sundat Aftermath: What's the MATA?

Juan Mata is responding after Eden Hazard's marvel earlier this season.

Interesting Saturday fixtures as we saw Chelsea bagging-in 3 points from Emirates Stadium while Tottenham Hotspur got their first win at Old Trafford since 1989. Here are some notes:

• Juan Mata (£8.8m, 13 pts) returned in style. 1 goal + 1 assist + 3 bonus points made the Spaniard one of the top scorers of the week in Chelsea's victory over Arsenal. With Eden Hazard (£10.3m, 2 pts) totally out of form, fantasy managers may get tempted to switch to Mata and use the extra money elsewhere.
• And just when people are jumping on the sell bandwagon of Fernando Torres (£9.9m, 11 pts), the striker came back with a tough goal and an assist. He is the only available forward that Chelsea have currently, so he should still give you at least some consistent returns, if not spectacular.
• At the back of the Blues defence Petr Cech (£6.6m, 3 pts) had a wonderful performance and is definitely the only luxury-line keeper I would recommend at the moment.
• On the other side, Yao Gervinho (£7.4m, 8 pts) scored another goal and seems to secure one of the starting position at the moment with his fine form.
• Laurent Koscielny (£5.4m, 1 pt) on the other hand was disastrous at the back and was the main culprit for the Gunners' home defeat.
• At Old Trafford, Gareth Bale (£9.3m, 16 pts) was involved in all the 3 goals as Tottenham won 3-2 against Manchester United.
• Jan Vertonghen (£6.4m, 9 pts) scored a beautiful opener for Spurs, while Clint Dempsey (£9.2m, 7 pts) wasted no time to show his skills by tapping in the third goal of his side.
• Wayne Rooney (£11.7m, 4 pts) made an influential return for the Red Devils, but the defence was really too calamitous for them to earn a victory. They have at least 1 legitimate penalty claim denied though.
• A tough game for Manchester City but they eventually overcame it with a comeback victory at Craven's Cottage. Carlos Tevez (£9.8m, 4 pts) continued to be under-productive this time, but nonetheless got 2 bonus points for his performance.
• Meanwhile, captain Vincent Kompany (£7.4m, 1 pt) struggled a lot during that game as City still fail to capture their first clean sheet.
• 7 goals were scored at Carrow Road as it has become Luis Suarez's (£9.4m, 20 pts) most favourite ground, as he completed 2 hat-tricks in as many games there. Superb one-man show.
• Another man on fire for Liverpool was Nuri Sahin (£6.7m, 15 pts), who seems to click into Liverpool system already.
• Interestingly the Reds' young revolution are beginning to take shape with Raheem Sterling (£4.7m, 17 years old), Andre Wisdom (£4.5m, 19 years old) and Fernandez Saez (£5.0m, 18 years old) all on the starting line-up against Norwich.
• 5 goals in 3 games for Demba Ba (£8.1m, 13 pts) as Newcastle took 1 point away from Madejski Stadium. What an incredible form for the Senegalese forward.
• Also scoring a brace on Saturday were Everton's Nikica Jelavic (£8.4m, 16 pts) and Stoke City's Peter Crouch (£6.6m, 13 pts) in their respective wins over Southampton and Swansea.
• Another man on fire was Steven Fletcher (£7.4m, 8 pts) as he scored all of Sunderland's Premier League goals since his arrival. A cautious trend for Martin O'Neill, but that is really a happy signal for Fletcher's fantasy managers.
• Shane Long (£6.0m, 9 pts) scored a fine opener for West Brom only to be equalised by Darren Bent (£8.2m, 5 pts) from the bench as points were shared at Villa Park.

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Kick-Off: Gameweek 6 Fantasy Preview

John Terry quits England national team as a means of protest towards FA racism hearing.

John Terry quits England, Nuri Sahin (£6.7m) scored a brace with a very young Liverpool squad, Rooney returns in fine form and Manchester City got eliminated in League Cup surprisingly. What a week as we proceed to gameweek 6 of our favourite Fantasy Premier League.

GAMEWEEK 5 TOP SCORERS

1. Ashley Cole (£6.6m, 15 pts): Responded to Branislav Ivanovic's (£7.0m, 6 pts) supremacy as the gap between them is closed down into just 3 points. He is the cheapest among Chelsea's regular starting defenders and should really be your first consideration should you decide to get one of the Blues' guard.
2. Rickie Lambert (£6.1m, 13 pts): The man of ultimate influence at St. Mary's Stadium as he becomes one of the joint runner-ups for Golden Boot after scoring 2 goals last gameweek. The first man to pick if you are interested to invest in Southampton.
3. Marouane Fellaini (£7.2m, 12 pts): So Mr. Afro continued to dominate in offence even under the 4-4-2 system. The Belgian is simply a magnificent figure for the Toffees
4. Rafael Da Silva (£5.7m, 11 pts): The right-back in on a goal streak at the moment. Good offensive potential, only to be flawed by United's rather porous defence.
5. Joleon Lescott (£6.4m, 11 pts): Strong display, but I see no value in any City defenders yet as they are yet to collect their first clean sheet of the season.
6. Leighton Baines (£7.2m, 11 pts): Fine form for the left-back, who scored 7 points or more in 4 of his first 5 games of the season. But is that sustainable in the long run?

FEATURED: Arsenal v Chelsea @ Emirates
Confident Gunners will face Chelsea at home as they hope to continue their unbeaten streak in the expense of their derby rivals.

Laurent Kosciely (£5.4m, 9 pts) replaced sicked Thomas Vermaelen (£7.1m, 0 pts) on last game and performed brilliantly against Manchester City. Not so sure he will start though with Vermaelen expected to return, though it is quite probable that he will replace Per Mertesacker (£5.1m, 2 pts) in the starting line-up.

Upfront it will be all up to Santi Cazorla (£9.2m, 7 pts) and Lukas Podolski (£8.6m, 2 pts) to threaten Chelsea's defence. As for the Blues, both Eden Hazard (£10.3m) and Fernando Torres (£10.0m) are both out of form since returning from international break. They did play well against Wolves in League Cup though, with 6 players scoring 6 goals against them. Juan Mata (£9.3m, 6 pts) deserves a mention as he was the hero for both the League Cup tie and the league victory against Stoke City on last gameweek. Definitely a man to watch.

Not to underestimate Roberto Di Matteo's squad but Arsenal currently are on their highs and don't look like they will be beaten. My vote of confidence goes to the Gunners.

Prediction: ARS 2-1 CHE

TEAM FOCUS: Everton
Sure, Southampton won their first league game in style last week, but to play Everton still seems like a very tough task for them.

Nikica Jelavic (£8.4m, 0 pts) should return for this game after showing up in their defeat against Leeds United and is one of the favourite to perform alongside Steven Pienaar (£6.7m, 6 pts), Baines, Mirallas and also the unstoppable Fellaini. You should definitely own at least one of them for this fixture as Southampton are one of the sides who concede the most, averaging 3 goals per game.

PLAYER FOCUS: Fletcher
Steven Fletcher (£7.2m, 9 pts) is gaining serious interest from fantasy managers after scoring 4 goals in as many games. A home game against Wigan gives him yet another great chance to reinforce his reputation as a clinical finisher.

Demba Ba (£7.8m, 9 pts) continues to gain my preference as he will play against leaky Reading this Saturday.

GAMEWEEK 6 DREAM TEAM

Howard

Johnson — Rafael — Baines

Cazorla — Fellaini  — Nolan — Ben Arfa

Fletcher (VC) —  Van Persie (C) — Ba 

Subs: Jaaskelainen — Sterling—  Bramble — Demel

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Monday Mirror: Ba's Brilliance

Demba Ba on fire with 2 goals in just 45 minutes of action.

Interesting game at Goodison Park as we saw Demba Ba equalised twice to earn a point for Newcastle. Here are some of my notes:

• Demba Ba (£7.7m, 12 pts) blasted both goals for Newcastle and responded perfectly to Alan Pardew's decision to bench him. The striker is clearly furious though with his agent threatened to take Ba away from Newcastle if he continues to sit on the bench.
• On the other hand, Papiss Cisse (£9.3m, 2pts) continued his goalless streak, and made Alan Pardew's decision to start him instead of Ba a ridicule.
• Meanwhile, Leighton Baines (£7.1m, 9 pts) scored his second goal of the season and accumulated 7 bonus points already this season, as he highlighted to us the benefits of owning a high-end fantasy defender. Solid.
• Also on the scoresheet was Steven Pienaar (£6.6m, 7 pts), who shows good value to money so far and is capable to provide consistently in offence.
• Marouane Fellaini (£6.9m, 1 pt) on the other hand has reduced fantasy potential as predicted with Kevin Mirallas (£7.4m, 2pts) started alongside Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m, 1 pt) on yesterday night. Jelavic was subbed out with an injury nonetheless, so Fellaini could still play in an advanced role for a few gameweeks more.
• On Sunday we saw Gareth Bale (£9.3m, 11 pts) went on full throttle as Tottenham claimed their first victory of the season, crushing Reading 3-1.
• Jermaine Defoe (£7.6m, 9 pts) got the nod to start again ahead of Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.4m, 0 pts) and repaid Andre Villas-Boas' faith handsomely with 2 goals. Does Adebayor still have value fantasy wise? Pretty negative at the moment.
• Brad Friedel (£5.5m, 2 pts) continued to start ahead of Hugo Lloris (£6.0m, 0 pts), and it surely left us wondering why the French keeper was being bought at the first place.

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Saturday Screamers: RVP Strikes!

Robin Van Persie grabbed his first goal for the Red Devils.

Another great Saturday night with comprehensive victory by Swansea, Everton and Manchester United! Here are some highlights:

• Robin Van Persie (£13.0m) scored his first goal for Manchester United in his first shot for the team through a wonderful volley. Class.
• His teammate Shinji Kagawa (£8.5m) also scored his first goal for United with an unmarked rebound. Two men to monitor.
• Wayne Rooney (£12.0m) only featured as a sub disappointingly and ended the game on a stretcher. The striker is expected to out for 4 weeks. A good news for Van Persie and Kagawa's owners and prospective owners though as it will remove rotation fears.
• David de Gea (£6.0m) continued to show good form between the post, but porous defence continues to hinder him from reaping good points.
• Damien Duff (£6.0m) made it 2 goals in 2 games for Fulham, which tallied his record last season. The winger is showing some form lately - a good short-term choice, perhaps.
• As for Swansea, Michu (£6.8m) did it again and leads the Golden Boot race with 3 goals. His price has already hiked by £0.3m in just one week, and I expect at least another £0.2m increase before gameweek 3's deadline. Grab him fast if you plan to get the highest goalscoring midfielder of La Liga last season.
• Danny Graham (£6.0m) opened his account for Swansea too as predicted. Most of the Swans' goals will share between Michu and him - a decent third forward pick in my opinion.
• A surprisingly flying start for Everton, scoring 6 league points out of possible 6. Maruoane Fellaini (£6.6m) scored again, which surprised me. Also on the scoresheet are Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m) and Steven Pienaar (£6.5m) - the usual suspects.
• Meanwhile, goals from Franco Di Santo (£5.5m) and Arouna Kone (£6.5m) helped to secure victory for Wigan over newcomers Southampton. Victor Moses (£7.0m) is leaving Wigan for Chelsea, so one would expect the duo to take over the offensive burden of the club.
• Tottenham failed to hold on their lead by Benoit Assou-Ekkoto (£6.5m) at White Hart Lane. Gylfi Sigurdsson (£9.0m) made an assist, but the rest of the attacking pack just didn't look sharp.
• Norwich and QPR, who both lost by 5 goals last week, shared one goal apiece at Carrow Road.
• And finally, Reading will have another double gameweek soon as the game between Sunderland and them was postponed because of waterlogged pitch.

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FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Everton F.C.

Everton F.C.

The Toffees with their new home kit. Noticed the sleeves?

You can download the full analyzed squad data here.

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

Last Season: Low Budget Miracle, Again
I simply have to salute the way the Toffees have survived in Premier League so far: low budget (in fact very low budget) yet managed to consistently place themselves in the upper half of the league table. After starting off their season terribly, they slowly progressed throughout the season, which ended with a 9-game unbeaten run. The impressive run was largely influenced by winter signing Nikica Jelavic.

This Summer: Attacking Reinforcements
Surely Everton would need to bolster up their offence to complement their impressive backline, and that is what they are doing right now. They have already signed forward Steven Naismith from Glasgow Rangers and also Steven Pienaar, who returned to Goodison Park after a poor spell at White Hart Lane.

On the other hand, Tim Cahill was sold to New York Red Bulls for a ridiculous price of £1m. What is Moyes thinking? Definitely a poor, poor business.

Upcoming Season: Same Story, Again?
I believe Everton will again be in a class of their own. They do not have enough strength and depth to challenge the big clubs, nor have any troubles to stay firm on the top half of the table. It is likely that they will sit above of their local rivals Liverpool for 2 consecutive seasons.

Jelavic's stats last season.

New Jewel: Jelavic (FI: 0.909)
Everton have only scored 25 goals in the first 23 gameweeks of the season, and managed to double that figure in the remaining 15 gameweeks. And the reason is no other than winter purchase Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m).

Goodison Park has never been short of excitements ever since the Croatian joined from Rangers. Jelavic is a very complete targetman - tall, calm and clinical. Although his price surged a lot this season, still he is one of the forward that you should consider getting, given the fact that he actually scored 9 goals in 10 games he started last season.


Second Spring: Pienaar (FI: 0.535)
Welcome home, son. Moyes took Steven Pienaar (£6.5m) back last winter after the South African failed to breakthrough into Tottenham Hotspur's starting XI, and he did not disappoint. 4 goals and 7 assists in just 1237 minutes of action was a fantastic return for the lad.

Given his budget price, Pienaar is one of the best budget pick you can get. You can really do much worse by spending your £6.5m on someone else.

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FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Individual Data Summary

Papiss Cisse is the scorer of goal of the season for last season.
What can FPLZ indices possibly tell you about his performance last season?

After going through with the team data, it's now the time to look at the overall individual data. Before we start, you are welcomed to download the Microsoft Excel sheet (password: "http://p-fplz.blogspot.com/", without the quotation marks) which I have compiled in these few days which contained both the team and individual data summary for your reference. You are advised to read my previous post titled "FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Introduction" to learn about the glossaries that I will mention below to avoid confusion.

For your information, only players from unrelegated clubs with at least 15 points and players from relegated clubs with at least 70 points in Fantasy Premier League last season are classified in the list. Also, bear in mind that these indices take last season's price as the basis of calculations, so adjustments would need to be made to determine players' value this season.