Kick-Off: Gameweek 30 Fantasy Preview

Get well soon Muamba!

Overview
Some meaningful football moments that happened in past hectic week:

• The cardiac arrest of Muamba definitely tops the list. The 23-year-old English is slowly recovering but God knows whether he will be able to get back to pitch. All the best Fabrice as you united the football arena!
• Lionel Messi becomes Barcelona's top scorer (234) after surpassing Cesar Rodriguez. The wonder man still has years to break the record again and again and at this rate, don't be surprised if he breaks the 400 goal milestone before he retires.

Game of the Week: Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur

Can Lampard push on for 150
fantasy points this season?

One of the famous London derby will take place at Stamford Bridge as struggling Tottenham tries to find a way to escape from their misery.

Tottenham has been performing very awfully since the mid of January, winning only two out of the last nine fixtures. Players have been performing very inconsistently and that makes fantasy selections from Tottenham very difficult. Adebayor could stay silent for a month or two, and then suddenly blasted a 20 point gameweek when you sold or benched him.

Meanwhile, Chelsea has regroup themselves under caretaker manager Di Matteo. The Blues' last game against Manchester City was their first ever defeat under the Italian coach. Senior players who got abandoned by Andre Villas-Boas such as Lampard and Drogba are all performing greatly ever since their manager has been changed.

Expect strong performances by the aforementioned players plus Mata at home. Torres should still be avoided despite man of the match performance at FA Cup quarter finals. Tottenham could give Chelsea a goal or two, but I think the Blues will leave the pitch happily after the game.

Prediction: CHE 2-1 TOT

Pick: Lampard, Mata, Drogba

Drop: TOT defence

Fantasy Game of the Week: Manchester United v Fulham

Valencia - the super consistent
value buy.

Liverpool might have a game against second-last placed Wigan, but we all know how unpredictable the Reds are at league. United's game against Fulham will be the safest bet.

Nani, along with Jones, is expected to be available in this game. I expect him to feature on bench, so start your Valencia, and Young, who missed out last game, with confidence. Rooney is a strong captain choice here - grab him if you can afford to.

Defensively Evans continues to be the most economic choice, though less economic now - he scored on last game and hence has a price bloom this week. Fulham has been shut for two games, but you can't ignore how threatening Dempsey and Pogrebnyak are.

Should be a comfortable win by again by United, but you never know...

Prediction: MUN 3-0 FUL
Pick and Captain: Rooney, Valencia

Drop: FUL defence

Pick and Drop

Pick and Captain:

• Van Persie  - Villa has only conceded more than two goals once this season, but Van Persie is most capable in handling tough defences.
• Suarez/ Gerrard  - Even tough they are very inconsistent, it's still a good bet to hold on to.

Pick:

• ARS defence  - I don't see Villa's sharpness.
• LIV defence - Wigan is one of the poorest converter apart from Liverpool.
• Sigurdsson  - You never know when he will score a brace again.
• Yakubu  - Bolton might not be in mood to play.

Drop:

• BOL players  - High degrees of uncertainty.
• WIG defence - Unless Liverpool hit posts and bars again.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Valencia - Sits on top of Ferguson's winger pecking order.
• Sigurdsson  - Best low cost buy of the season.
• Rooney  - Final quarter of the season is always United's best.

Yellow light (watch):

• A Young - You never know what will happen when Nani is fit for full game.
• Dempsey/ Pogrebnyak  - Been shut for two games.

Red light (sell):

• Silva - His production is far from promising.
• Ba - Less sharp after went for African Cup.
• Adebayor/ Bale  - The whole team has been under par.

Gameweek 30 Dream Team

Szcznesny

Skrtel -- Evans -- Taylor

Valencia -- Gerrard -- Sigurdsson -- Mata

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

Subs: Vorm -- McClean -- McAuley -- Martin

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.