A week of misery for England as they were crushed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a friendly. Ibra scored an unbelievable bicycle kick as well (view video above). Great, great player.
GAMEWEEK 11 TOP SCORERS
- Dimitar Berbatov (£7.4m, 16 pts): Another bombastic performance from the Bulgarian forward. One of the best in terms of value for money.
- Javier Hernandez (£7.6m, 15 pts): Almost guaranteed to start again this week with both Wayne Rooney (£11.8m , 2 pts) and Robin Van Persie (£13.6m, 5 pts) in doubt after such a stunning performance last week.
- Marouane Fellaini (£7.6m, 13 pts): Rose £0.6m in price in just 2 weeks time. Get him fast if you plan to.
- Olivier Giroud (£8.4m, 12 pts): Two goals were certainly good, but unless Arsenal can get more consistent it's a huge gamble to get him.
- Andreas Weimann (£5.2m, 12 pts): The youngster capitalised his chance well, but as a fourth-choice striker his playing minutes is hardly guaranteed.
It's a do or die game for Arsenal as they face Tottenham who are one point ahead of them in the league table this Saturday.
The Gunners are on a very shaky form recently, having grabbed only 7 points from a maximum of 18 in their last 6 league games. The fans surely have started to miss Robin Van Persie, where the team showed much consistent form last term with the Dutch talisman around.
Arsene Wenger will have to continue to rely on Olivier Giroud who delivered 2 goals last weekend to launch attack to Tottenham's goal line, with Santi Cazorla (£9.4m, 2 pts) and Lukas Podolski (£8.3m, 6 pts) providing the required support.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will be ready to exploit Arsenal's dip of form, although their form is even more terrible than the Gunners after suffering 2 consecutive league defeats. Steven Caulker (£4.8m, 8 pts) is the hot man recently, with the young defender already registered 2 league goals this season since playing his first game on gameweek 5. Nonetheless, it will be up to Gareth Bale (£9.7m, 2 pts) and Jermaine Defoe (£8.0m, 1 pt) to penetrate the defence.
Close call, and I think neither side can score 3 points.
Prediction: ARS 2-2 TOT
TEAM FOCUS: Liverpool
Manchester United against Norwich might be the more fantasy friendly match-up, but with several key players (Rooney and Van Persie) on doubt, I will stick to Liverpool, who hosts Wigan this Saturday.
Luis Suarez (£10.0m, 9 pts) is in a rich vein of form and has attracted £50m interest from Manchester City, having scored once each in his last 3 Premier League fixtures. With such form, he is simply a man that you can't resist. Expect him to score again and maybe even register one or two assists.
Steven Gerrard (£9.4m, 1 pt) could also break his silence and score some good fantasy scores, while Raheem Sterling (£5.3m, 2 pts) is the budget alternative from Merseyside as usual.
Defensive wise I remain skeptical about their ability to earn clean sheets, but of course they are more likely to get one in this game than the last three (Everton, Newcastle and Chelsea).
Prediction: LIV 2-1 WIG
PLAYER FOCUS: Hernandez
With Rooney and Van Persie in doubt, it is more likely than not for Javier Hernandez to start this week against Norwich City.
Chicharito's "hat-trick" is Premier League's hot topic last weekend, which not only shows his superb instinct as a forward but also how wasteful it is to make him warm the bench.
Sir Alex Ferguson definitely have no reason to bench him and risk further injuring his two senior forwards, so let's enjoy another great show from the Mexican.
GAMEWEEK 12 DREAM TEAM
Jaaskelainen
Johnson — Hughes — Baines
Nolan — Fellaini — Mata — Bale
Hernandez (VC) — Berbatov — Suarez (C)
Subs: Cesar — Sterling — McCartney — A. Ferdinand
