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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Saturday Screamers: Cottagers Got Hammered

Kevin Nolan scored the first of the 3 goals against Fulham.

A not so expected Saturday match day with numerous surprising results. Here are some highlights:

• West Ham 3-0 Fulham. Big shock, as Fulham has shown great offensive prowess in the last 2 games but failed to score any goals this time.
• As for the Hammers, Matthew Taylor (£4.9m, 11 pts) and Kevin Nolan (£6.0m, 8 pts) led the show upfront, with Winston Reid (£4.5m, 12 pts) scoring one from behind.
• Andy Carroll (£8.4m, 2 pts) made an instant impact for the Hammers, but did not contribute any fantasy points other than playing minutes and limped off with an injury.
• Stoke City came from behind twice to salvage one point from DW Stadium. Jonathan Walters (£6.4m, 10 pts) and Peter Crouch (£6.0m, 9 pts) led the show with 1 goal and 1 assist.
• Michu (£7.1m, 7 pts) stroke a goal for Swansea yet again, but it was new signing Steven Fletcher (£7.0, 10 pts) who starred the match, scoring 2 goals for Sunderland to snatch 1 point away from Liberty Stadium.
• Everton failed to maintain their momentum as they lost 0-2 to West Brom. Gareth McAuley (£5.0m, 12 pts) scored a goal and maintained a clean sheet, which was great.
• On a side note, it's seems like Shane Long (£6.0m, 6 pts) will continue to lead West Brom's forward line despite Romelu Lukaku's (£6.5m) presence.
• Meanwhile, Andre Villas-Boas continues to disappoint as his side squandered yet another lead at White Hart Lane. New arrival Moussa Dembele (£6.0m, 6 pts) impressed the home crowd with a debut goal, only to be leveled by Robert Snodgrass' (£5.9m, 7pts) marvellous equaliser.
• Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.6m, 1 pt) did not start again, but I expect that to end sooner rather than later as he is a more complete package than Jermaine Defoe (£7.6m, 5 pts) despite the fact that Defoe delivered one assist today.

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FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City F.C.

The Potters new away kit in conjunction with the club's 150 years celebration.

 You can download the full analyzed squad data here.

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

Last Season: Quiet
Compared to the time where they have just joined the Premier League, Stoke City really looked anonymous last season. They played boringly, and had always been in the "unfocused" region of the league table (they finished the campaign 14th). Their trademark long throws were not as "fresh" as before as well.

This Summer: Quiet
The Potters signed Michael Kightly from Wolverhampton Wanderes and 21-year-old former Rangers midfielder Jamie Ness joined as a free agent, but otherwise things have been very quiet at Britannia, with no other new signings going in and only fringe and young players heading out. Ricardo Fuller is possibly the only man that Premier League fans may know in Stoke's exit list.

Upcoming Season: Quiet?
There aren't any big changes happening at Stoke City, so it's really hard to expect something special to happen there next season. With more and more midtable clubs spending money like nobody's business, the Potters have to be careful to not fall into the quicksand of relegation.

Walters' historical stats.

Gun In the Hole: Walters (FI: 0.506)
Being just a semi-starter two seasons back, Jonathan Walters (£6.5m) was fully entrusted by Tony Pulis to play in the hole last season. He did not disappoint, and went on to become the team's second top scorer with 7 goals, behind Peter Crouch (£6.5m).

With Crouch remain to be the only reliable striker they have, Walters should continue to play at his best position behind the towering lad. He may be the next Dempsey in the making - the American also start his career at Fulham from zero to hero.

Bright Start: Kightly (FI: N/A)
Michael Kightly (£5.5m) was tipped by FPLZ as the next fantasy hot pick during when Wolves first promoted to the Premier League, but things had gone oddly and he failed to shine, registering not even 2000 minutes over the last 3 seasons.

He only needed 134 seconds on the pitch to declare himself as a Stoke City player though, as he scored his first goal for his new club against SpVgg Greuther Furth in pre-season friendly. It's still hard to say how he will do in the league this season, but as one of the Championship best player seasons ago, he surely has the quality to shine.

Source of Creativity: Etherington (FI: 0.475)
Although not showy, Matthew Etherington (£6.5m) has been very consistent in FPL for the last 3 seasons, thanks to his high quality passing especially in set pieces. In fact, becoming the primary set piece taker of the team is a big factor for him to score for at least 120 points for the last 3 seasons.

With not much of good firepower upfront, the Potters will need to continue to rely on him to deliver. A dependable man who can deliver a good amount of fantasy points.

Tough Man: Shawcross (FI: 0.443)
Ryan Shawcross (£5.0m) was a hit when Stoke first joined the Premier League, but his price surge have made him a less popular figure in FPL.

The English defender is an tough man to beat, and is good at winning headers to score goals. Stoke will need to better their defensive record though, to make Shawcross a good fantasy defender to own.

Towering Presence: Crouch (FI: 0.467)
Peter Crouch (£6.5m) has always been a iconic figure in the Premier League ever since his time at Southampton, thanks to his height. Though not at a very prolific rate, the lad has a dependable goal record at every club he has played for, which is what Stoke sickly need.

Crouch ranked 10th last season in terms of fantasy points in the list of forwards. Not too bad with his price, but with the front pack of forwards all scoring crazy amount of points, fantasy managers may not feel comfortable to satisfy with a budget performer in their line-up.

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