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.

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

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

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

Kick-Off: Gameweek 3 Fantasy Preview

Can Carlos Tevez continue to fire?

It was Chelsea and Swansea players who bossed the gameweek again with Hazard, Torres, Rangel and Michu all scoring double digit scores. Interestingly though, fantasy managers continue to jump into Hazard and Torres' bandwagon, despite Chelsea will take no part in gameweek 3 due to European Super Cup fixture against Athletico Madrid. Will the price rises worth more than the points sacrificed? Time will tell.

Do take note that Reading will play no part in gameweek 3 as well. My advice: plan your transfer wisely.

GAMEWEEK 2 TOP SCORERS

1. Angel Rangel (£5.1m, 14 pts): Scored a rather lucky goal and secured yet another clean sheet. Not bad to own though I believe Ashley Williams (£5.0m) will be a better pick in long run with his tendency to collect higher scores in EA Sports PPI than his defensive teammates (which means higher chances to claim bonuses).
2. Eden Hazard (£9.9m, 13 pts): Recorded his sixth assist and first league goal. This lad simply dominates and is on his way to become the next C. Ronaldo — the automatic fantasy captain — in FPL.
3. Carlos Tevez (£9.6m, 12 pts): Continued to dominate in Sergio Aguero's absence. A wonderful pick as I mentioned earlier this week.
4. Fernando Torres (£10.1m, 11 pts): Hazard simply made him alive. Great great stuff from El Nino.
5. Benoit Assou-Ekkoto (£6.5m, 11 pts): Pretty good offensively, but I still cannot trust Andre Villas-Boas yet especially in defence.

TRANSFER UPDATES

• Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos to Everton): Had a dream debut for Everton against Leyton Orient in Capital One Cup fixture. Worth scouting with his price of £7.5m.
• Cesar Azpilicueta (Marseille to Chelsea): Could challenge Branislav Ivanovic's (£6.7m) position as right-back. Priced £6.0m.
• Nuri Sahin (Real Madrid to Liverpool): Great addition for Liverpool, though it remains unknown how effective he will be.
• Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea to QPR): Available at £5.0m, he will need to deliver offensively to compensate for QPR's fragility in defence.
• Julio Cesar (Inter Milan to QPR): Another ambitious signing. Perhaps he can give more clean sheets to QPR.
• Adam Johnson (Manchester City to Sunderland): He will get good playing minutes to show his fantasy effectiveness. Good fantasy price at £7.0m.
• Ki Sung-Yueng (Celtic to Swansea): Second Asian to join Premier League this season. Hopefully his footwork is as handsome as his k-pop face.

FEATURED: Liverpool v Arsenal @ Anfield
I was wrong last week about Liverpool's chance against Manchester City. They played pretty well offensively, only to be pulled down by their defensive errors. This week they will continue to play at home against Arsenal, who are both yet to score and concede any goals this season.

Nuri Sahin is still not listed in FPL — until we know his price only can we determine his value. He is good in long pass though. Luis Suarez (£9.5m) and Steven Gerrard (£9.5m) continue to be Liverpool's main fantasy force, though their value can only be justified if Brendan Rodgers' tiki-taka starts to flourish.

As for Arsenal, their defence are reaping a lot of points for fantasy managers. Thomas Vermaelen (£7.0m) is the usual luxurious pick to own, while Carl Jenkinson (£4.6m) has provided a super value alternative to fantasy managers. Both are good picks.

While in offence, Olivier Giroud (£8.9m), Lukas Podolski (£8.4m) and Santi Cazorla (£9.0m) should be able to take advantage of the Reds' porous defence, though I believe Liverpool should also make Arsenal concede with home advantage.

Prediction: LIV 1-1 ARS

TEAM FOCUS: Manchester City and Manchester United
Both clubs in Manchester have great fixtures this week, but let's talk about City who will play at home first. Against Queens Park Rangers who are notoriously poor on defence, they have all the chance to score. You can do much worse than getting Carlos Tevez (£9.5m), David Silva (£9.9m) and Yaya Toure (£8.0m) and play them.

Meanwhile, Manchester United will travel to St. Mary's Stadium in their attempt to take 3 points from Southampton. Robin Van Persie (£13.2m) and Shinji Kagawa (£8.6m) are two obvious picks given Wayne Rooney's (£11.9m) injury which will ruled him out for 8 weeks. Not so hype on their defenders though, given their shaky performance against Fulham.

Prediction: MCI 3-0 QPR, MUN 3-1 SOU

PLAYER FOCUS: Adebayor, Ba, Cisse and Michu
Tottenham are going to face Norwich at home this week, so one would expect their attacking pack to shine. I like the prospect of Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.6m) more though, as Rafael Van der Vaart (£8.9m) and Gylfi Sigurdsson's (£8.9m) roles are still relatively unknown in Andre Villas-Boas tactics and Gareth Bale (£9.5m) is struggling to find his form.

Newcastle will deal with Aston Villa who struggle under Paul Lambert's reign, so one would expect the front duo — Demba Ba (£7.7m) and Papiss Cisse (£9.5m) — to contribute fantasy points. Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.6m) should also perform.

Michu (£7.1m) continues to be my weekly pick meanwhile, until his performance suggests otherwise.

STATUS UPDATES

• Wojciech Szcznesny (£5.5m): Unknown (75% playing).
• John Terry (£6.9m): Muscle injury (75% playing).
• Rio Ferdinand (£5.9m): Groin injury (50% playing).
• John Arne Risse (£5.5m): Knock (75% playing).
• Younes Kaboul (£5.4m): Knee injury (unknown return date).
• Lucas Leiva (£4.9m): Thigh injury (unknown return date).

GAMEWEEK 3 DREAM TEAM

Hart

Rafael — Williams — Coloccini

Michu — Kagawa — Ben Arfa — Yaya Toure

Adebayor — Van Persie (VC) — Tevez (C)

Subs: Al-Habsi — Hangeland — Kacaniklic — Figueroa

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