Kick-Off: Gameweek 34 Fantasy Preview

Back with unstoppable form.

Overview
First of all, a big apology to fellow loyal readers for missing two consecutive previews for you all. I was very busy last week and therefore wasn't alert of the gameweek deadlines. Rest assured as FPLZ will continue as usual until the end of the season.

Some big news over the last week:

• Manchester United extended the lead to as much as 8 points but was closed down by City later thanks to their shocking defeat to Wigan.
• Keeper crisis at Liverpool as Brad Jones is the only available senior goalkeeper currently (the other two were suspended).
• Tottenham has only one win over the last eight league fixtures as Newcastle now goes level with them in points.
• Wolves is almost certain to book a place in League Championship with nine points away from survival zone.

About This Gameweek

There will be only six games (12 teams) playing this week due to FA Cup semifinals and those delayed fixtures will be replaced in gameweek 35 (1 game) and gameweek 36 (4 games). Plan your transfers well.

Game of the Week: Swansea v Blackburn

Operation Yakubu:
Survival from Relegation

Not really have any game with intense match-up this week, so let's stick to Blackburn who's eager to get a win to escape from relegation.

The Rovers almost defeated Liverpool last gameweek with one-man advantage, but somehow had squandered to comeback. Yakubu remains to be the team's top scorer with 16 goals on hand now. A great striker.

But his supremacy will be tested by Vorm, the most acrobatic keeper in the Premier League. The Swans has leaked for at least two goals per game for the last four games, but you just can't underestimate what this keeper can do.

Sigurdsson will be the man who cause the most threat again, but personally I think Blackburn will be more motivated to get three points.

Prediction: SWA 1-2 BLA

Pick: Yakubu, Sigurdsson

Fantasy Game of the Week: Norwich v Manchester City

Operation Kun:
Revival of title hopes.

Sure, Arsenal are facing Wigan at home. But resurgent City against leaky Canaries are much more appealing to me.

Aguero has found his early season dominance as he scored two and made two last gameweek. Splendid and definitely deserve a captain armband this gameweek. His compatriot, Tevez, started the game and scored one too. Too expensive to own but nonetheless deserves a mention.

In the middle I expect Silva to play the craftsman role again, supplying the creativity needed to breakdown the defence. City's defence has back to its usual resoluteness again, though Kompany is perhaps too expensive to own at the moment.

Should be a comfortable win for City.

Prediction: NOR 0-4 MCI

Pick and Captain: Aguero

Pick: MCI defence, Silva

Drop: NOR defence

Pick and Drop

Pick and Captain:

Van Persie/ Rooney - As always.

Sessegnon - Wolves might have probably given up by now.

Pick:

MUN defence - Villa are quite weak on offence.

ARS defence - Certainly more composed now.

Valencia/Young - The most threatening flanks across the league.

Walcott - RvP's best partner.

Taarabt - Finally shown his true potential.

SUN defence - Wolves have little to fight for.

Drop:

WOL players - It's only a matter of time to get relegated.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

Aguero - In form for City's final push.

Taarabt - The real playmaker has been unleashed.

Yakubu - With intense desire to take Blackburn to the shore.

Red light (sell):

LIV defenders - Not even paying attention to league.

TOT players - Totally disjointed.

Pogrebnyak  - Doubtful indefinitely.

Gameweek 34 Dream Team

De Gea

Evans -- Sagna -- Lescott

Valencia -- Walcott -- Silva -- Sessegnon

Yakubu -- Aguero (C) -- Van Persie (VC)

Subs: Mignolet -- Sigurdsson -- Turner -- A Ferdinand

Kick-Off: Gameweek 28 Fantasy Preview

Are you ready for Liverpool's gameweek double?

Overview
A pretty catastrophic last gameweek for plenty of managers with fantasy favourites Sessegnon and Dyer being sent off and Ba missing a penalty. Coupled with Kompany's recent injury, a lot of changes will be needed for owners of them. Time for precious wildcard?

At European tournaments, we saw Arsenal being knocked-out gloriously from Champions League after managed to recover three of the four goal deficit against AC Milan at their home turf before half-time but unable to add anymore after that. Meanwhile, Manchester City suffered an away defeat at Europa League and more shockingly, Manchester United conceded three goals at home to fall 2-3 against Athletico Madrid.

Game of the Week: ARSENAL v NEWCASTLE

Oxlade-Chamberlain had a
fine game against AC Milan
in Champions League.

Revenge is a must for Wenger's lads as in form Arsenal strives to take down Newcastle at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are on a superbly fine run now, killing off both Tottenham and Liverpool in their last two league fixtures. Captain Robin Van Persie is on extraordinary form now. See how he scored twice against Liverpool with such limited chances.

Walcott, Arteta and Ramsey are all quoted as doubtful (75% playing) in FPL - expect some or all of them to play anyway as they combine with in form Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain to provide excellent supplies to their captain.

On the other side, the Ba-Cisse combination will continue to offer major threat, but I see a sweet revenge for Arsenal. Solid victory for Arsenal to put pressure on third-placed Tottenham.

Prediction: ARS 3-1 NEW
Pick and Captain: Van Persie
Pick: Walcott, Ba, Cisse
Drop: NEW defence


Fantasy Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL's Double (@ SUNDERLAND, EVERTON)

Time for Suarez to redeem
himself?

Liverpool will get their replacement fixture against Everton this gameweek and this make their players delicious fantasy commodities.

The away game at Stadium of Light against Sunderland will be a tricky one but Liverpool are lucky to face them at such timing. The Black Cats started their reign under Martin O'Neill brilliantly but failed to pick up any win in their last three games. Coupled with the suspension of the team's ace Stephane Sessegnon, the Reds should be able to pick up one point at least.

The Merseyside derby will take place on Tuesday at Anfield. Everton are slowly picking up as the season progresses and they have shown some good results recently. While the Toffees are as mighty as the title contenders, they are tough to be taken down.

Defenders Skrtel and Enrique are must have players as usual, while Suarez should be given the fantasy captain armband for his explosive performance. You never know if he could break the goalpost jinx this week and score a couple of goals this week.

Prediction: SUN 0-0 LIV, LIV 2-1 EVE
Pick and Captain: Suarez
Pick: Skrtel, Enrique, Adam, Bellamy


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Young/ Rooney  - Expect them to rip off West Brom.

Pick:

• Pogrebnyak  - He just don't stop scoring.
• Mata  - Time for him to lead Chelsea away from slump.
• Yakubu - Wolves defence shouldn't be a problem for him.
• Osman  - The first man you should consider for Everton's double with Pienaar being ineligible to face Tottenham.
• Holt - Should score against Wigan.

Drop:

• Kompany - Injured.
• Sessegnon/ Dyer - Suspended.
• Aguero - Rotation risk.
• WBA defence - Expect demolition by Manchester United.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Suarez/ Enrique/ Skrtel  - Good to hold for at least this week.
• Pogrebnyak/ Dempsey  - Superb form.
• Young - Replacing Valencia's importance.
• Van Persie - Captain supremo.

Yellow light (watch):

• Adam  - Not so good for long term holding.
• NEW defence  - Not so resolute recently.
• Aguero - His production hardly meets his price.

Red light (sell):

• Kompany - Injured.
• Sessegnon/ Dyer - Suspended.
• Ba - Pogrebnyak and Papiss Cisse seems to give similar production and are much cheaper.

Gameweek 28 Dream Team

Szcznesny

Enrique -- Skrtel -- Evans

Young -- Silva -- Walcott -- Mata

Suarez (C) -- Progrebnyak -- Van Persie

Subs: Mignolet -- Pilkington -- Bosingwa -- O'Shea

Kick-Off: Gameweek 26 Fantasy Preview

Rafa Benitez: Man in favour to replace Andre Villas-Boas should
Roman Abramovich decides to sack the young manager.

Overview
Champions League quarter-finals are set to be without Premier League clubs this season after Arsenal's humiliating 0-4 defeat and Chelsea's 1-3 loss against Italian sides AC Milan and Napoli respectively. Chelsea's gaffer Andre Villas-Boas will receive even greater pressure as Champions League knock-out will surely make his job even close to its end. He's on 1/2 now to be the next Premier League manager to go.

Do be reminded that League Cup final between Liverpool and Cardiff City will take place this weekend so there will be no league fixture for the Reds. Bench Liverpool's players or sell them if necessary. You should also be alerted (if you did not get informed earlier) that Valencia is injured, while super defender Assou-Ekkoto is doubtful for this week's match.

Game of the Week: ARSENAL v TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Big hopes on
Oxlade-Chamberlain again.

The Gunners will host Tottenham this week as it looks like only Champions League qualification can salvage the club's terrible season.

Arsenal has already been knock out from both local cup tournaments (Carling Cup and FA Cup), and it seems inevitable that they will exit Champions League after being swept down 0-4 by AC Milan. Though they are now sitting fourth in the league, they only led fifth placed Chelsea via goal difference and thus cannot afford to lose more points.

Henry has returned to United States so the team will continue to rely on captain Robin van Persie and bright starlet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to do wonders in offence. Assou-Ekkoto might be absent so Walcott might have the chance to dominate through Arsenal's right flank.

Their London derby rival meanwhile, is not without problems. Rumours of the club's manager possible employment as England's manager never stops circulating around. As for the players, ex-Gunner Adebayor should be available along with Van der Vaart, but how is the offence is going to be setup remains unknown with Saha around.

Considering Arsenal's rather stable home form, the Gunners should be capable of holding Tottenham off. Not so positive for a home win though.

Prediction: ARS 1-1 TOT
Pick: Van Persie, Adebayor
Drop: ARS defence


Fantasy Game of the Week: MANCHESTER CITY v BLACKBURN ROVERS

Yaya Toure is pivotal in
both City's attack and defence.

Blackburn - the side which never fails to leak goals. What could possibly better for City than to face them at home?

Amazingly the Rovers are yet to collect their first Premier League clean sheet this season. That's a great news for City's attackers, who should be pretty much back on track in offence after crushing Porto 4-0 in Europa league.

Tevez will be back in 2-3 weeks according to Mancini but the return of Yaya Toure serves more importance. It was no coincidence that City won easily with the Ivorian player around as his absence to play African Cup of Nations was reflected in City's recent mediocre results. Now that he's back, City should once again shows better form in league games.

Not to show disrespect Blackburn, but even with Yakubu around, City with Toure is just too tough for them to face.

Prediction: MCI 4-0 BLA
Pick and Captain: Aguero, Silva
Pick: Dzeko, MCI defence, Yaya Toure
Drop: BLA players


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Ba - Very reliable and clinical.
• Rooney - More responsibility with in-form Valencia not around.

Pick:

• Sturridge - Mata has a suspected finger injury going on, so Sturridge is apparently the safest pick.
• NEW defence  - Should be able to get a good result this time.
• Zamora - Should be motivated to score against Martin Jol's team.
• McClean/ Sessegnon - Sunderland now plays like a top four side, and the duo are the leading casts.
• Nani/ Young  - The duo should operate the flanks in the absence of Valencia.

Drop:

• BOL defence/ WOL defence - Both having tough tests this week.
• NOR defence - Rarely any team can withstand Manchester United's offence.
• EVE players/ LIV players - Not playing this week.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Sessegnon/ McClean - Buy in trend continues to bloom.
• Yaya Toure - £7.5m is a very enticing price for his quality.
• Ba - Very loved by fantasy managers.
• MCI defence - Clean sheet probability should increase thanks to Yaya Toure's return.
• Aguero - Back in form.

Yellow light (watch):

• Cleverley - It remains to be told whether he will be as productive as before he was injured.
• Pogrebnyak - Seems to be effective in Martin Jol's strategy.

Red light (sell):

• Valencia - Injured.
• Terry - Injured.
• LIV players - Not playing this week, Arsenal next week.
• Major League Soccer loaned players (Keane, Henry, Donovan) - End of contract.

Gameweek 26 Dream Team

Hart

Simpson -- O'Shea -- Shawcross

Silva -- Nani -- McClean -- Sessegnon

Ba (VC) -- Aguero (C) -- Rooney

Subs: Sorensen -- Moses -- G Cahill -- Caldwell

Kick-Off: Gameweek 25 Fantasy Preview

The handshake routine will not be cancelled for Man Utd-Liverpool encounter.

Overview
A pretty two poled feelings last week with Van Persie's owners laughing happily and the rest left stunned. Can RvP repeat the feat? Not so positive against in-form Sunderland.

The shocking news this week is no other than Fabio Capello's resignation. The Italian coach is not happy with FA's decision to strip Terry's captaincy and thus decided to leave. Harry Redknapp tops the list to replace him.

Game of the Week: MANCHESTER UNITED v LIVERPOOL

Can Berbatov get a start
and hat-trick again?

Old Trafford will surely welcome Suarez with a great deal of abusive chants as Liverpool travel to Manchester for this number one rivalry in English football.

The usual handshake routine will not be cancelled according to FA and it will be interesting to see how Evra and Suarez react to each other. Strong personal rivalry. Luis Suarez will be eager to pay a revenge through his fancy footwork so expect tough times by defensive partnership of Evans and Ferdinand. In form Carroll could also be a big threat if he can get good aerial supplies by his teammates. Two big man to watch.

On the other side, all key players including the long missing Cleverly could be available for this game. It would be hard to predict the starting midfielders and forwards correctly, but I believe both Valencia and Rooney would still get the right to start and produce some havoc to one of the best defensive line (which might be without Jose Enrique) in the Premier League.

Surely it would be an intense game, but Liverpool's poor away attack (14 away goals only this season) will hinder their chances at Old Trafford. Expect good performances by the Red Devils.

Prediction: MUN 2-1 LIV
Pick: Valencia


Fantasy Game of the Week: SWANSEA v NORWICH

Sinclair has been pretty
impressive this season.

Spurs are welcoming the challenge of Newcastle, while City's away form has been mediocre recently, so I will change my focus to the battle between the two promoted teams this season. The Canaries beat the Swans 3-1 earlier this season, but we all know how different it will be at Liberty Stadium.

Sigurdsson has a flying start in the Premier League, while both Sinclair and Dyer are very threatening in the flanks. Up front they have Danny Graham who does a decent job as a forward. Expect goals from this quartet of attackers.

I will not be surprised if Norwich can score past the rubber hand Michel Vorm, but Swansea should really get a victory here.

Prediction: SWA 3-1 NOR
Pick: Sigurdsson, Sinclair, Dyer, Graham
Drop: NOR defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Aguero - Broke his goal drought and that might be the opening of floodgate.
• Mata - Very pivotal in Chelsea's offence.

Pick:

• N'gog - Should score against Wigan.
• Zamora - Samba-less Blackburn will not have the quality to stop him.
• Van Persie - Always start him regardless of his opposition.
• Sessegnon/ McClean - Arsenal's defence is weak.
• Jarvis - Played well last week and should continue to perform.

Drop:

• NEW defence - Against Tottenham, clean sheet is hardly likely.
• AST defence - City's blades are sharp.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Richards - Good fixtures oncoming.
• Oxlade-Chamberlain - Sensational form.
• Demba Ba - His price sky leaped by £0.4m since his return.
• Van Persie - Get him before his price reaches a prohibitive level.
• McClean - Superbly cheap and in form.
• Sigurdsson - The bandwagon should start in the next few gameweeks.

Yellow light (watch):

• Yakubu - Observe Blackburn's performance before getting him in.
• Assou-Ekkoto - Fantasy managers are overly optimistic on him.
• Mata - Chelsea's form is quite unstable at the moment.
• Kompany - Still not sure whether he will play this week.

Red light (sell):

• LIV players - United this round, League Cup final next round (no league fixture), and Arsenal after that.
• Adebayor  - Terribly out of form.
• D Cisse - Red carded.

Gameweek 25 Dream Team

Vorm

Ekkoto -- Richards -- Senderos

Bale -- Sessegnon -- Silva -- Sigurdsson

Aguero (C) -- Ba -- Van Persie (VC)

Subs: Hennessey -- McClean -- Knight -- Bassong

Rise of the Anfield Cat: Gameweek 24 Fantasy Review

"Pass me the ball, I am free!" spoke The Anfield Cat while waiting for the killer pass.

Chelsea 3-3 Manchester United
Howard Webb once again went into United's favour as the two penalties awarded were proven crucial to snatch one point for the Red Devils. 17% of Howard Webb's Premier League penalties were awarded in favour of Manchester United. I shall let you judge this unusually high statistic yourself.

Rooney played an okay game but his owners would be happy as long as he takes penalties when they come. On the other side, Torres made a fantastic cross but otherwise did terribly as a striker (crossing is a winger's role by the way). Mata was the star of the game obviously with yet another five-star performance.

Pick: Rooney, Mata
Watch: Sturridge, Gary Cahill


Liverpool 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Poor conversion continue to dent Liverpool's Champions League hopes. 17 shots, 0 goal. How pathetic.

Suarez returned with his usual trick but still, his shooting accuracy was far from his best. Carroll failed to shine this time, while Bale wasn't sharp enough to get one pass Reina.

Watch: Suarez, Enrique (injury)

Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn Rovers
RvP did it in the MVP way again, scoring three and made two. 23 points is by far the second best fantasy score this season (Ekkoto's 24 points in gameweek 20 is the highest but that was accomplished in a gameweek double).

Oxlade-Chamberlain was given a start again and he didn't disappoint Arsene Wenger. Equipped with speed, technique and vision, the future of England scored 14 points. His teammate Theo Walcott also played very well with a hat-trick of assists.

It's hard to be positive about Blackburn and if Samba continues to sulk, they can say goodbye to Premier League.

Pick: Van Persie, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott
Drop: BLA players


Manchester City 3-0 Fulham
It's glad to see Aguero to score finally despite the fact that it was only a penalty. Silva had a rare unproductive game but in long term, he's still the one of the best buy around. A clean sheet without the command of Kompany is pretty encouraging too.

Chris Baird proved to be a calamity in the back and it is expected that Riise will return and take that left back spot. Still, avoid Fulham's defence which failed to secure a clean sheet for eight consecutive games.

Pick: Aguero, Dzeko
Drop: FUL defence


Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa
Say hi to the Senegalese duo. The senior, Demba Ba, scored a wonderful rebound opener; the junior, Papiss Cisse, scored a screamer to take three points for the Magpies. Such a wonderful combination. With this kind of strike force don't be surprise if Newcastle took the ticket to the Champions League.

Robbie Keane continues to impress with yet another goal. This makes me wonder why he was doing so bad during his time at Liverpool.

Pick: Ba, Papiss Cisse, Keane


Norwich 2-0 Bolton
The Canaries continue to secure their spot in Premier League next season. Russell Martin played surprisingly thanks to Daniel Ayala's injury and proved to be pivotal after providing an important assist.

Richard Surman played pretty well recently. At the price of £4.4m, you can do much worse than to pick him as your fifth midfielder.

Watch: Martin, Surman


QPR 1-2 Wolves
Djibril Cisse almost became the hero again but all turned to zero thanks to his overreaction. That red card certainly butthurted many fantasy managers to bring him in after his wonder last midweek.

Zamora scored a debut goal nevertheless, but in the end it was Jarvis and Doyle's day as both of them played very well. With O'Hara returned expect better performance from Big Mick's squad.

Watch: Zamora, Jarvis, Doyle, O'Hara


Stoke City 0-1 Sunderland
Sessegnon has collected 71 points in 11 games from the time where Martin O'Neill appointed as the new manager - impressive stats. Obviously a fantasy must own now given his unstoppable form. Youngster James McClean is even more impressive, scoring 44 points in his last 6 games. The defence has also collected 3 consecutive clean sheets. At this rate it's silly not to own any Sunderland key players.

On the other hand, The Potters became increasingly poor. 4 clean sheets only at home at this stage. Britannia Stadium has lost its fearful aura.

Pick: Sessegnon, McClean, SUN defence
Drop: STO defence


West Brom 1-2 Swansea
All is going well for Swansea's new boy Gylfi Sigurdsson. The lad has scored 25 points in just four fantasy gameweeks, making him a decent midfield pick.

West Brom is another disappointing team apart from Stoke City, and Odemwingie has not scored any goal in his last 6 Premier League matches. Where's the prolific Peter we all knew before?

Pick: Sigurdsson
Drop: Odemwingie


Wigan 1-1 Everton
Phillip Neville deflected the ball into his own net unfortunately. Thankfully, substitute Anichebe equalised. He deserves to get more playing minutes in my opinion.

Kick-Off: Gameweek 24 Fantasy Preview

Djibril Cisse scored his first goal on his debut for QPR.

Overview
Gareth Bale continued his C. Ronaldo-esque performance after bagging 15 fantasy points last gameweek, while Fraizer Campbell's return provided immediate effect as he led Sunderland to a 3-0 victory. Manchester City's surprise defeat took the title race back to square one for the Manchester clubs.

Transfer Deadline Day Deals
Some significant deadline signings are as follows:

• Djibril Cisse - Obvious enough. The former Liverpool and Sunderland man scored his first goal on his debut for QPR.
• Zamora - While he should become automatic selection at Loftus Road, you should also notice that Bryan Ruiz should play further upfront for Fulham.
• Jelavic - One of the rare "big" spends by Everton. He is expected to improve the offence upfront.
• Saha - The Frenchman is moving to Tottenham to rediscover his long lost form.
• Pogrebnyak - Replacing Zamora is this 28-year-old Russian who came from Vfb Stuttgart. With the height of 188cm one would expect him to play the targetman's role.
• Bridge - The almost forgotten man in the Premier League will now play at Sunderland on a loan basis. Interesting to see whether Bridge has forgotten his footwork or not.
• Kyrgiakos - The former Liverpool giant will also join Sunderland, which will definitely boost the Black Cats' defence to another level.
• Miyaichi - Bolton wrapped up the deal for the young Japanese. We shall see whether he could make great impact in Owen Coyle's team.
• Pizarro - Quite a surprise move in my opinion. But Pizarro is experienced and should be capable to take over Yaya Toure's void before he comes back, at least.

Game of the Week: CHELSEA v MANCHESTER UNITED

Can Torres score this time?

Time for a revenge at Stamford Bridge?

The Red Devils took down the Blues 3-1 at Old Trafford earlier in this campaign, with Torres missing the miss of the century. The Spaniard should still start though, given the fact that Andre Villas-Boas is short of strikers.

Daniel Sturridge looked sharp on the midweek game but was lack of any shooting accuracy. Meanwhile, it remains clueless whether Gary Cahill was brought in as Terry's partner or as a benchwarmer. It should be revealed this week.

For the red side, Nani and Rooney should be fit to play in this tie, while Lindegaard is expected to out for four weeks. That means David de Gea will have yet another chance to prove himself despite poor performance against Liverpool.

Personally I think Ashley Cole's suspension will provide the edge for United. Valencia should take full advantage of that and United is going to frustrate Chelsea again.

Prediction: CHE 1-2 MUN

Pick: Valencia

Fantasy Game of the Week: MANCHESTER CITY v FULHAM

Time for Aguero to end his
goalless streak.

Mancini will not allow his team to make mistake again as City hosts Fulham.

Aguero has not scored any goal in his last three league games, but that should end against Martin Jol's Fulham. Expect him and Silva to combine and perform finally.

The addition of Pizarro should provide the creativity to compete deep in midfield, though it remains to be seen whether he will make a start.

It's time for City to end the embarrassment and continue to move forward and lead the pack.

Prediction: MCI 2-0 FUL
Pick and Captain: Aguero, Silva
Pick: MCI defence
Drop: FUL defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Van Persie - With Samba refused to play, Blackburn's defence is worthless.

Pick:

• Ba - Return to take charge of Newcastle's offence.
• Suarez - Freed from "jail" and should be full of power.
• Djibril Cisse - Looking forward to continue his fine form against woeful Wolves.

Drop:

• Ashley Cole - Suspended.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Ba - The super striker returns.
• Sessegnon - Unstoppable.
• Assou Ekkoto - His price rises without limit.
• Suarez - Reunites with better Liverpool.

Yellow light (watch):

• Cisse - See whether it's debutant's luck or his real class.

Red light (sell):

• Van der Vaart - Limped off last game.
• Ramires - Won't be back soon.

Gameweek 24 Dream Team

Krul

Kompany -- Simpson -- O'Shea

Sessegnon -- Silva -- Valencia (VC) -- Bale

Aguero (C) -- Ba -- Cisse

Subs: Szczesny -- Dyer -- Martin R -- Shorey

Kick-Off: Gameweek 23 Fantasy Preview

Both Dempsey and Zamora led the demolition of Newcastle.

Overview

The title race has reduced down to two-horse race again after Tottenham's defeat at Etihad Stadium enlarged their trail to Manchester City to eight points. Tottenham should still at least sit a comfortable third at the end of this season anyway, with Chelsea starting to secure the last spot of Champions League football.

Liverpool has knocked out both Manchester clubs out of Carling Cup (City) and FA Cup (United) respectively. Carling Cup looks to be on the hands of the Reds already and that title could be a boost for them to end their trophy drought of six years.

The transfer market is creepily silent this year. Even rumours seem to be very little and it is increasingly likely that Gary Cahill's move would be the biggest action this time compared to Torres' and Carroll's mega buck moves last year.

Game of the Week: SWANSEA v CHELSEA

How will SuperVorm fare
against Chelsea?

Interesting meet up as Chelsea will visit one of the hell arena in Premier League - Liberty Stadium.

Swansea has been incredible at home and has only lost one on their territory to Manchester United. They scored clean sheets in 6 of the 11 home games they had played this term, though they did not collect any in their last three home games. Tough task to score for Chelsea.

Drogba is still progressing with Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations so Chelsea will need to continue to rely on £50m striker Fernando Torres to apply offensive pressure. The Spaniard is on a three month goal drought and I am quite negative on his possibility of breaking the duck. Defensive wise, Gary Cahill did not feature on his first league game at Chelsea and it remains to be seen where he fits in Andre Villas-Boas' tactics.

Given that Chelsea's inconsistent away form, I believe Swansea can frustrate the Blues and make the battle for fourth more interesting.

Prediction: SWA 0-0 CHE
Pick: Vorm


Fantasy Game of the Week: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR v WIGAN

It's time for Adebayor
to end his scoring
drought.

Harry Redknapp will seek to turn the tide in their title hunt as they host Wigan at White Hart Lane.

Gareth Bale is a slight doubt for this game - quoted as "75% playing" for this encounter. Adebayor is available again - a great chance to end his goal drought. Both are great captains for this gameweek.

Hugo Rodallega fired a screamer last week... Well that doesn't happen every week. My vote goes to Tottenham for a strong response after a defeat.

Prediction: TOT 3-0 WIG
Pick and Captain: Bale, Adebayor
Pick: TOT defence
Drop: WIG players


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Valencia - He doesn't promise you great fantasy score but he is consistent.
• Sessegnon - Plays exceptionally well since Martin O'Neill's takeover.
• Van Persie - A suspension doubt, but you should captain him if he plays.

Pick:

• Carroll - Fits into Liverpool's system finally.
• Aguero/ Silva - Still the reliable combination.
• Walcott - On form recently.
• Keane - Made a spectacular Premier League return.
• Dempsey/ Zamora - Both should combine again.
• Kompany - The captain is back to strengthen the back line.

Drop:

• NEW defence - Blackburn scores in almost every game.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Kompany - The captain returns (clean sheet returns too).
• Lindegaard - For sure De Gea will be benched more often after his terrible performance against Liverpool. Out in crutches during training.
• Sessegnon - His fantasy score is rocketing. Same goes to his price.
• Valencia - Nani's injury made him an even solid selection.
• Keane - His influence is obvious.

Yellow light (watch):

• Van Persie - Suspension doubt.
• Carroll - Looks to finally fits into the system but Suarez will be released from "jail" soon.
• Oxlade-Chamberlain - Played fantastically well but god knows what Wenger is thinking.

Red light (sell):

• Jones - Injured again.
• Ramires - Injured.
• Sturridge - His consistent "one game one goal" trend disappeared into nowhere.

Gameweek 23 Dream Team

Lindegaard

Kompany -- Assou-Ekkoto -- Enrique

Silva -- Sessegnon (VC) -- Valencia -- Bale

Adebayor (C) -- Van Persie -- Keane

Subs: Vorm -- Evans -- Dyer -- Tate

Kick-Off: Gameweek 12 Fantasy Preview

Michael Owen to out for six weeks... Little fantasy relevance, no?

Announcements
Due to personal reasons, they will be no reviews for the next two gameweeks. Previews might be squeezed into simpler version as I try my best to make them a worthy read. A deep apology to all my fellow readers.


Overview
Congratulations to Portugal, Ireland, Czech Republic and Croatia for winning the play-offs and through the Euro 2012 Finals. With all these strong teams going through, expect a intense tournament next summer.

Back to the fantasy world, here's a list of major international casualties occurred in this recent internationals week:

1. Van der Vaart
2. Suarez
3. Aguero
4. Leon Best

Also, Suarez is now charged with racism allegations so stay away from him if you do not have him yet.

All the players above are suffering from minor injuries, so you might need to monitor again on Friday/Saturday to see whether it's necessary to make a transfer or two.

Game of the Week: CHELSEA v LIVERPOOL

Frank Lampard on fire.

The rivalry that formed in the last decade since Mourinho-Benitez era. Chelsea against Liverpool.

The Blues are suffering a bit at the moment and only managed to climbed out from back-to-back defeats with a sluggish victory against Blackburn. Defence has been a serious problem for them currently as last game was their only second clean sheet of the campaign, and that's due to Blackburn's ridiculous chance wasting ability.

Surprisingly, Lampard has started to find some extraordinary form which saw him climbing fast to the second spot of the fantasy midfielders table after a slow start in this fantasy season. Definitely one for the Reds to fear.

On the other side, Liverpool are struggling to score with 11 reflected off the goal frame already this season. Their finishing certainly needs to improve significantly if they were to snatch anything away from Stamford Bridge.

Should be a close call due to Liverpool's norm of getting stronger against stronger teams, but this time I think Andre Villas-Boas should earn his first victory against Liverpool.

Prediction: CHE 2-1 LIV

Pick: Lampard

Fantasy Game of the Week: NORWICH v ARSENAL

The return of Vermaelen has
boosted Arsenal's strength
on both ends significantly.

Well Manchester United are visiting the almighty Vorm at Liberty Stadium, while their noisy neighbours are hosting formidable Newcastle... So let's switch to Gunners, who aim to get five-in-a-row victories.

Norwich has been playing some fine football in the top-flight league and is currently standing higher than their promoting counterparts. They've been providing some great offensive sparks with Morison, Holt and Pilkington leading the casts.

But their defensive fragility is all for Arsenal to take advantage of. Captain Robin van Persie is scoring goals for fun at the moment and has collected 68 fantasy points from last 7 games. 68. Fantastic form.

With the players gelling nicely and their morale on high, Arsenal should win again and get closer to the top four.

Prediction: NOR 1-3 ARS

Pick and Captain: Van Persie

Pick: Gervinho, Vermaelen

Drop: NOR defence

Pick and Drop

Pick:

1. Bendtner/ Sessegnon - Fulham's defence is much fragile than last season.
2. STO defence - Should be strong enough to hold QPR.
3. Hoilett/ Formica - They should be able to convert something against the worst team in the league.

Drop:

1. FUL defence - Not reliable especially on the road.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Van Persie - Instills fear to any defence.
2. Eagles - On form to terrorise from the flanks.

Yellow light (watch):

1. Formica/ Hoilett - Good run of fixtures for them to take advantage from.
2. Bale - Showing some kind of consistency.

Red light (sell):

1. Bosingwa - Out of starting XI.
2. A Young - Out of form with price dipping fast.

Gameweek 12 Dream Team

Begovic

Woodgate -- Vermaelen -- Kompany

Lampard (VC) -- Brunt -- Walters -- Ramsey -- Sessegnon

Van Persie (C) -- Hoilett

Subs: Vorm -- Vellios -- Jagielka -- Brown

Kick-Off: Gameweek 11 Fantasy Preview

Yaya Toure got a brace in Champions League match but hardly
sparkle in Premier League, yet.

Overview
Mixed fortunes in the Champions League as the Manchester (City and United) duo won comfortably while the London duo (Chelsea and Arsenal) had to satisfy with a draw. So no English clubs will get through early.

A couple of fantasy friendly matches will be commenced in this coming gameweek so make sure that you have enough coverage of Liverpool, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City players. Might be a gameweek with sky high average.

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

1. ARS (WBA, @NOR, FUL, @WIG, EVE, @MCI, @AST) - Easy enough for Van Persie to climb himself to the summit of fantasy.
2. BLA (CHE, @WIG, @STO, SWA, @SUN, WBA, BOL) - Pretty crucial for them to perform well in this coming run of fixtures to avoid relegation.
3. EVE (@NEW, WOL, @BOL, STO, @ARS, NOR, SWA) - Time for their redemption after being caught stuck at the bottom half of the table.
4. MUN (SUN, @SWA, NEW, @AST, WOL, @QPR, @FUL) - Nothing too tough for the defending champion.
5. TOT (@FUL, AST, @WBA, BOL, @STO, SUN, CHE) - Considerably easy especially when Van der Vaart is on red hot form.

In hell run:

1. CHE (@BLA, LIV, WOL, @NEW, MCI, @WIG, @TOT) - Playing against four of the top seven in the next 7 games is really a tough test for Andre Villas-Boas.
2. MCI (@QPR, NEW, @LIV, NOR, @CHE, ARS, STO) - As tough as Chelsea. Further worsened with some crucial Champions League games (especially the one against Bayern Munich) sandwiched in between.
3. FUL (TOT, @SUN, @ARS, LIV, @SWA, BOL, MUN) - Martin Jol will have to give some emphasis to defence to survive through this period.
4. NEW (EVE, @MCI, @MUN, CHE, @NOR, SWA, WBA) - Back to back games against the leading pack? They will need to play with 120% to record some impressive results.

Game of the Week: NEWCASTLE v EVERTON

With R Taylor's value rocketed
to £5m, Simpson is the only
defender at Newcastle who's
easily accessible (£4.2m).

Two interesting teams to play against each other. Newcastle, which don't look so good on paper but play extremely well at the moment; Everton, which has the quality but not the form.

The Toon Army is now on an unbelievable form, standing proudly on the third place of league standings. Resolute defence, coupled with a great striking pair - namely Demba Ba and Leon Best - are consistently bringing Alan Pardew the right results. Everton, on the other hand, didn't play as poor as their league points shown. However, poor goal poaching ability are constantly dragging them behind, as what we saw last week against Manchester United.

Newcastle defenders are certainly worthy to be considered against such poor scoring Everton, which failed to score 4 times this season. Proceed with caution though, as Newcastle will be facing the Manchesters and Chelsea for the next 3 gameweeks.

In terms of offence it will be up to Ba, Best as usual and possibly Cabaye to break through Everton's defence with tough players like Jagileka, Distin and Fellaini providing the cover.

As for the Toffees, Drenthe's speed will be one powerful weapon to penetrate the solid defensive unit of Newcastle. Players like Cahill and Saha will definitely need to improve their shooting accuracy though if they want to win at St James' Park.

I am expecting a home win anyway for the zebra stripes to maintain their third position for another week before they march into the hellish fixtures.

Prediction: NEW 2-0 EVE
Pick: NEW defence, Ba, Best, Cabaye
Drop: EVE defence




Fantasy Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL v SWANSEA

Can Carroll score two match in
a row?

Three points will be crucial for Liverpool in order for the Reds to play the next two games after this (Chelsea and Man City) with confidence.

Suarez has started to find his form, and his miraculous runs can give fantasy managers a blazing trail of points. Surely a strong captain choice this week. Adam should also take advantage of Gerrard's latest injury and become the primary set piece taker of the team.

Defensively Enrique is still the best candidate so far with the lowest price of Liverpool's back four and his ability to surge forward. Stud.

Swansea might have been pretty good defensively, but bear in mind that all of that performances were at Liberty Stadium. 14 goals in 5 away games conceded suggests that they might suffer a heavy defeat at Anfield.

Scott Sinclair might be able to take away one goal or assist from here, but I think it's all about the Reds at their home ground.

Prediction: LIV 3-0 SWA
Pick and Captain: Suarez, Adam
Pick: Enrique, Carroll
Drop: SWA defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

1. Robin van Persie - Ultimate form and is unstoppable.
2. Agbonlahor - Against newcomers' defence it should be easy for him.
3. Torres, Mata - Their pace and footwork should be able to slice the worst defence of the league into pieces.
4. Aguero - QPR's defence is too far away from his class.

Pick:

1. Gervinho, Ramsey - They are the main suppliers and receivers to and from RvP.
2. MUN defence - The return of Vidic should provide the stability on the back.
3. Van der Vaart, Adebayor - Solid pick for every gameweek.
4. Doyle - Looks good and should create lots of troubles inside of  Wigan's penalty box.
5. Sturridge - Severely underpriced.

Drop:

1. WBA defence - Hardly believable to a keep clean sheet.
2. NOR defence - Agbonlahor is too fast.
3. BLA defence - One of the worst league defence.
4. QPR defence - Poor coverage.
5. Gerrard - Injured.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Adam - The key playmaker and set piece taker as Gerrard continues to be sidelined.
2. Van der Vaart, Adebayor - Smooth easy fixtures coming ahead.
3. Van Persie - A no-brainer.
4. Gervinho  - From zero to hero.
5. Walters - Low price, great role.
6. Mata - Complete player who can both score and assist.

Yellow light (monitor):

1. NEW players - Hellish fixtures ahead. See how they cope.
2. Carroll - Picking up some form.
3. Bale - Gaining form or just 1 week marvel? Time will tell.
4. Sessegnon - Against Man Utd it might be wiser to hold on for another week.
5. Kompany - One week suspension. Whether it's worth to hold him or sell him instead is a pretty subjective matter.

Red light (sell):

1. Rooney, Young - Massive sell trend. Sell to preserve your team value.
2. Gerrard - Constantly plagued by injuries.
3. CHE defence - Have not kept any clean sheets after gameweek 1.

Gameweek 11 Dream Team

Given

Simpson -- Jones -- Enrique

Ramsey -- Mata -- Adam -- Van der Vaart

Van Persie (C) -- Suarez (VC) -- Agbonlahor

Subs: Krul -- Eagles -- Ward -- Knight

Wide Race for Third: Gameweek 10 Fantasy Review

Demba Ba is the first player who scored his second hat-trick in Premier
League this season.

Another frenzy Premier League weekend with 35 goals recorded. Splendid. Still the best league in the world.

Chelsea's defeat certainly made the race for third wide open with the Blues, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle all aiming for the precious Champions League ticket. Intense competition to be expected.

Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal

See here.

Pick: Van Persie, Gervinho, Mata, Lampard, Ramsey

Watch: Arteta, Lampard (overpriced)

Drop: CHE and ARS defence

Everton 0-1 Manchester United

EVE: Good play, but failed at the front as usual. Unlucky as well as Baines' free kick was close to perfect but hit the bar.

Seamus Coleman had an extraordinary game in a game which shown  that he has pace and he has skills. But he is still overpriced and is short of playing time.

MUN: Played four consecutive poor Premier League games, yet picked up 7 points from a possible of 12. But that just tells us something: Champions need not to play well every time. They just need to get the right results.

Chicharito as usual shown his extraordinary goal poaching skills. He is definitely on the course of becoming the next Inzaghi for this whole decade. Solid, solid player.

Pick: Chicharito

Watch: Coleman

Manchester City 3-1 Wolves

MCI: Struggling to get the first goal but Hennessey sent them a big gift. Aguero continued to be influential upfront. A season long hold and one must own either one of Rooney, Van Persie and him.

In the middle it's always Silva. Super consistent and leads the midfielders table. Another season long hold.

Worth mentioning is Kolarov who got ahead of Clichy for a start and bagged 11 points. Definitely more offensive oriented than the latter who is good at set piece as well.

Kompany got a red and should be banned for 3 games. A long ban and certainly should be sold. 1 game. Won't be too costly to hold him, unless you are planning to convert him to Richards who is more offensive oriented (thanks to Moe Vawda for pointing out the error).

WOL: It's just too hard to sustain bombardments from Citeh so the defeat was expected.

Defensively they had failed to keep any clean sheets since gameweek 3. Avoid.

Pick: Aguero, Silva

Watch: Kolarov

Drop: WOL defence, Kompany

West Brom 0-2 Liverpool

WBA: Harsh penalty against them but they were too contained either to win. Nothing sparkling about them.

LIV: Suarez was yet again the influential man to create one penalty for Adam and assist one for Carroll. Good to see the striking partners start to gel.

Downing hit the post once again as Liverpool accounted for 10 shots on the frame this season, averaging 1 per game. Poor luck?

Enrique's consistency both up front and at the back has earned him 1 bonus points apart from 4 clean sheet points. Cool enough as a season long hold.

Pick: Suarez, Enrique

Watch: Adam, Carroll

Stoke 1-3 Newcastle

STO: Walters scored from the spot again as he has become the ace of the team. Solid third/fourth midfielder of any fantasy team.

NEW: Demba Ba scored his second hat-trick faster than Rooney, Aguero and RvP. Incredible form in an incredible low budget team (thanks to Moe Vawda again).

Best's provided two assists for him, but fellow fantasy managers should certainly go for Ba as long as you have the money.

Defence is still solid as the goal was conceded through a penalty.

Pick: Walters, Ba, Best

Tottenham 3-1 QPR

TOT: Solid display yet again by Van der Vaart. His superb positioning will ensure that he will poach more goals and squeeze Defoe away from starting XI.

The man of the match is certainly Bale who finally bursts this season. A very volatile player to own though with 2-1-2-10 trend of gameweek scores. I will opt for VdV at any time.

Adebayor didn't score this time, but don't worry, he has class.

QPR: Never really has any stand in the game. Helguson performed in 3 successive games and is a good choice for your third forward.

Pick: Van der Vaart, Helguson

Watch: Bale

Others

Pick:

1. Sessegnon: Found the form which pundits predicted on him before the season starts.
2. Sinclair: Hogs set pieces and has some good chances upfront.

Watch:

1. Holt: Looking good since his return from bench.
2. Dempsey: Dominates for Fulham.

Saturday Stage

Fernando Torres

Broke his duck with a goal and an assist from the bench.

A pretty entertaining Saturday with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all winning their games. Here's some highlights:

Maxi Rodriguez
Only the best coach can lead a second-string player to score a hat-trick.

• Liverpool won their biggest margin game of the season after demolishing Birmingham 5-0, breaking their record of nine winless games against the Brums. Maxi, surprisingly, claimed the match ball with his wonderful hat-trick. With yet another clean sheet, you really have to admire the brain and wisdom of Kenny Dalglish. As long as he stays, Liverpool have a fair chance of winning the title next season!
• Also spectacular for Liverpool are Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez. Do you know Kuyt has scored 63 fantasy points from the last six games?!! That's averaging 10 for each! Suarez was not lucky for not scoring the second goal himself, but as long as he plays, he will create enough troubles for others to score.
• The Reds' arch-rivals, Manchester United, decided the game in the final minutes again as Javier Hernandez scored the victory goal. He may had blocked Nani's shot with his butt, but then, his goal compensated that. Chicharito, too good for his age.
• Of all, Chelsea fans' should be the happiest ones yesterday as Mr 50mil finally broken his duck and scored his first goal for Chelsea. A good goal I shall say. In addition, he has also provided an assist for Malouda! But will he open his floodgate now, as what he has promised?
• Meanwhile, Malouda and Lampard were on the score sheet again as they return to their prime. It will make the title race interesting if they manage to beat United at Old Trafford.
• David Luiz almost scored a long range cannon yesterday. Still, his great display - both attack and defence - earned him another bonus point.
• West Ham has made Chelsea's day tough - unlucky for them for not scoring.
• Tottenham failed to take down West Bromwich Albion and they will suffer from the consequences. Liverpool are now only three points behind and Spurs are yet to battle Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool!
• Odemwingie is really red hot now after collecting 50 fantasy points from his last six.
• Sunderland finally got their last needed victory to safety zone as Henderson and Sessegnon starred the game.
• Wolves v Fulham, Blackpool v Newcastle and Aston Villa v Stoke all ended 1-1. The only thing that concerns me though, is that Adam has finally contributed something more than two points after three average games.