Kick-Off: Gameweek 24 Fantasy Preview

Wilfried Zaha to join Manchester United in a £15m move from Crystal Palace.

So Wilfried Zaha confirms his move to Manchester United, though the 20-year-old winger/forward will stay at Crystal Palace in a loan deal until the next summer. Meanwhile at neighbouring city Liverpool are on the verge of getting Inter Milan 20-year-old midfielder Philippe Coutinho. Not quite a silent transfer window.

The FA Cup is producing lots of surprises last weekend, including Tottenham's shock defeat to Leeds United and Oldham's even more incredible victory over Liverpool. Shocks.

GAMEWEEK 23 HIGHLIGHTS

• Arsenal players flourished in this double gameweek following a 5-1 maul over West Ham in the replacement fixture. Theo Walcott (18 pts), Lukas Podolski (17 pts), Olivier Giroud (15 pts) and Santi Cazorla (12 pts) were the outstanding performers.
• Clint Dempsey scored a last-gasp equaliser to cut down Manchester United's lead over Manchester City to five points.
• Liverpool produced another magnificent victory over their favourite prey Norwich as Daniel Sturridge scored 3 in his first 3 appearances with the Reds.

GAMEWEEK 23 TOP SCORERS

1. Theo Walcott (£9.4m, 18 pts): Not only that the forward is brilliant, but he is also consistent recently. Definitely my first pick from Arsenal.
2. Lukas Podolski (£8.3m, 17 pts): Lacks the consistency despite looking brilliant. Will need to do more to impress fantasy managers.
3. David Silva (£9.4m, 16 pts): Can the midfield maestro kick-start his season with this kind of performance? His price is definitely not bad for now.
4. Olivier Giroud (£7.8m, 15 pts): He improves steadily and certainly looks better to own now than before, though still not that value to money when there are cheaper candidates around such as Steven Fletcher (£7.1m, 13 pts).
5. Jonathan De Guzman (£5.8m, 15 pts): A rare striking performance from the midfielder. His price is not at the competitive range though so I do not recommend him.

FEATURED: Arsenal v Liverpool @ Emirates
Both sides are only 3 points away from each other and it's expected to be a tough match-up.

The Gunners are slowly following the footsteps of declining Liverpool, with Top 4 looking to be a not-so-easy task for them this season with Tottenham and Everton in front of the pecking order. But Liverpool are even worse as they are yet to beat any top 10 sides this season.

Theo Walcott will continue to be the greatest threat for Arsenal and is set to create havoc in Liverpool's defence which usually fails miserably against the top offensive sides. This should open up some decent chances for Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud — who scored twice against Brighton last weekend — to score as well.

Meanwhile it will be up to the S.S. partnership — Luis Suarez (£10.5m, 9 pts) and Daniel Sturridge (£7.4m, 6 pts) — to deal some wound to the Gunners' defence. Philippe Coutinho could already be a Red by then, but I don't expect him to get deployed immediately in Brendan Rodgers' system.

Certainly an interesting brawl, but Swansea are the only lesser side to have won at Emirates this season, and so I am going for a home win.

Prediction: ARS 2-1 LIV

TEAM FOCUS: Manchester United
It's too enticing to not go for Manchester United this week, with Southampton the visitors to Old Trafford.

The Red Devils have only lost once this season at home, and won the rest. I have no reason to believe why they will lose points against the side who are just four points away from relegation zone.

Robin Van Persie (£14.1m, 9 pts) continues to be the most trusted fantasy forward with 45% of ownership and should definitely be your first captain choice this week. I still don't see any other good offensive fantasy assets for United anyway so I will stick to Patrice Evra (£7.2m, 1 pt) or Rafael Da Silva (£6.0m, 1 pt) as the second player to own from the Red Devils.

Should not have a hard time dealing with the Saints.

Prediction: MUN 4-0 SOU

PLAYER FOCUS: Silva
With Yaya Toure (£7.7m, - pts) left the team for African Cup of Nations and Samir Nasri (£8.0m, 1 pt) going out of form, David Silva (£9.4m, 16 pts) is the most reliable man from City's midfield and should play a pivotal role against Queens Park Rangers.

GAMEWEEK 24 DREAM TEAM

Begovic

Azpilicueta — Zabaleta — Evra

 Mata — Silva (VC) — Fellaini — Walcott

Van Persie (C) — Tevez — Fletcher

Subs: Guzan — De Guzman —  Wilkinson — Clark

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Kick-Off: Gameweek 5 Fantasy Preview

Michael Carrick celebrated the only goal against Galatasaray.

European fixtures took place this midweek and players who played will certainly face stamina problems. Be prepared for unanticipated squad rotations.

GAMEWEEK 4 TOP SCORERS

1. Alexander Buttner (£5.5m, 17 pts): Great game by the Dutch as Patrice Evra's (£7.0m, 0 pts) position is threatened much earlier than expected. One of the man to scout but it is quite risky to own him at the moment.
2. Yao Gervinho (£7.3m, 15 pts): A sudden bombastic performance by the Ivorian. Doesn't look like a good fantasy prospect yet, especially when he only did averagely last season.
3. Matthew Lowton (£4.5m, 14 pts): Another erratic score like Gervinho. I do not recommend any Aston Villa defenders  at this moment unless they can tighten up the back line a bit.
4. Dimitar Berbatov (£7.1m, 13 pts): The new ace at Craven Cottage. One of the best third fantasy man up front at the moment.
5. Demba Ba (£7.7m, 12 pts): Man in fury. His potential will pretty much depend on Alan Pardew's tactical plan though.

FEATURED: Liverpool v Manchester United @ Anfield
Liverpool aim to get their first victory of the season as they await Manchester United's challenge at Anfield.

Justice seems to reach the doorsteps of Hillsborough victims finally after latest release of evidence last Wednesday, claiming that part of the deaths could be avoided if the police and emergency services authorities were more efficient. Definitely a very emotional moment for the players and supporters.

Jonjo Shelvey (£5.3m) scored a brace in Liverpool's 5-3 victory over Young Boys and could push for a start against Manchester United but Luis Suarez (£9.4m) and Raheem Sterling (£4.6m) should be the main threat of Liverpool again. The back-line seriously needs to be tightened up though if they are to sustain United's extravagant offence led by Robin Van Persie (£13.5m) and co. Big, big challenge.

Alexander Buttner (£5.5m) may start ahead of Patrice Evra (£7.0m) — who did poorly in Champions League — again. He certainly needs to do more to get good fantasy points again though. Shinji Kagawa (£8.6m) assisted Michael Carrick (£5.9m) in the Red Devils' Champions League win against Galatasaray — a man to watch.

As exciting as always despite the increased gap between them. Nonetheless, I don't think United can grab a win here as Liverpool always play at higher levels against greater oppositions.

Prediction: LIV 1-1 MUN

TEAM FOCUS: Tottenham
Tottenham will be hoping to get start their winning streak after breaking their victory duck against Reading, and a home game against Queens Park Rangers presents a great opportunity to do so.

Jermaine Defoe (£7.6m) should be the first pick against with Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.4m) suffering an injury. Great chance for a brace of goals again for the English. Another man who is expected to perform is Gareth Bale (£9.3m), who finally opened his goal account last gameweek against Reading.

Defensive wise they are also quite probable to get their first clean sheet of the season, so while I am not encouraging you to get their defenders (especially when they face Manchester United next gameweek), you should play them this gameweek if you have any of them in your fantasy team.

PLAYER FOCUS: Ba
Demba Ba (£7.7m) is certainly the man to watch, having scored both goals in the Magpies draw against Everton. A little bit risky with him missing the Europa League tie against Maritimo possibly due to recent disputes, but nonetheless a risk worth to be taken in my opinion.

Also on my radar is West Brom's Romelu Lukaku (£6.5m), who should start following Peter Odemwingie's suspension. He definitely has the quality to shine, just like what he had shown against Liverpool.

GAMEWEEK 5 DREAM TEAM

Foster

Walker — Ivanovic — Demel

Hazard (C) — Morrison — Ben Arfa — Bale

Torres — Defoe (VC) — Berbatov

Subs: Jaaskelainen — Puncheon —  McAuley — Santon

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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.