FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Sunderland A.F.C.

SUNDERLAND A.F.C.

Sunderland introducing their new away kit and new kit sponsor.

You can download the full analyzed squad data here.

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

Last Season: Decent
13th place is honestly a so-so position, but it is considered good enough in such a fiercely-battled Premier League environment. A string of good performances especially from Stephane Sessegnon, Nicklas Bendtner and James McClean have given Sunderland a respectable finish, though they could do a little bit better.

This Summer: Exit Wave
Carlos Cuellar is the only newcomer at Stadium of Light so far, while five players who include goalkeeper Craig Gordon and defender Michael Turner have gone the other way. Certainly very opposite from their usual activity in the transfer market.

Upcoming Season: Needs Magic
It looks like the Black Cats are in the bottleneck, and Martin O'Neill will need to do something to break that. He has a good crop of young players to utilize, and if he can grow them fast, Sunderland can well be in the position to push for a spot in Europe.

Sessegnon's stats
last season.

Pivotal: Sessegnon (FI: 0.622)
Stephane Sessegnon (£8.0m) was unarguably the most important chess piece of Martin O'Neill as he contributed 7 goals and 12 assists last season.

With no big guns upfront this season, the Beninese is expected to play in the advanced role again and be as productive as last season. Still a good pick in your midfield lineup.

Wanting An Injury-Free Season: Campbell (FI:0.217)
Fraizer Campbell's (£5.5m) has been constantly plagued with injury, but he is match-fit currently as he prepares for the new season.

The 24-year-old lad has some impressive footwork under his boots, and should be Martin O'Neill's current first pick in his forward lineup. So if Campbell can stay free from injury, he has the potential to become a fantasy hit.

Underpriced: Ji (FI: 0.270)
It's funny to see Ji Dong-Won (£4.5m) to cost as low as £4.5m, especially when he is now at worst the third choice forward of Martin O'Neill.

With Campbell very prone to injury and Connor Wickham (£5.5m) even younger than him, Ji can be a great fantasy prospect at times over the course of next season. The timing must be right though to reap a good value from him.

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Full-Time: Gameweek 1 Fantasy Review

Sebastian Larsson (no. 7) punished Liverpool's chance wastages with a wonderful  bicycle kick.

Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland
LIV: A lot of upside potential, as we can see from first half. Suarez's superb interception and run to earn a penalty (he missed it!), Adam's £10m worth of set piece which helped Suarez to score Premier League's first goal of the season, and Downing's fantastic 40-50 yards run before finding his shot rattling the bar have all shown how dynamic and unstoppable Liverpool's attack can become.

Unfortunately, Dalglish have gone all wrong about his tactics in this game. Henderson is awful playing at the right side. With Flanagan playing, Kuyt should play at the right to provide defensive cover for the young right back. Because of that mistake, 2 points gone.


Pick: Suarez, Downing, Adam, Enrique
Potential Pick: Carroll
Drop: Henderson (if you somehow picked him)


SUN: The Black Cats are pretty shaky in the first half, but fortunately Steve Bruce fixed the problem during half-time. Brown had done a good job in locking Carroll, making the latter hardly able to make a good shot.

Offensively it's all about the almighty Seb Larsson. A very, very solid performance by the ex-Birmingham player. A good direct replacement for Taarabt if you are fed up about the latter's performance against Bolton.


Pick: Larsson, Brown


Blackburn 1-2 Wolves
BLA: Debutant Formica scored a good first goal for the Rovers, but that was not enough for them to claim any points. The defeat is quite a good indication for them - they will be roaming at the bottom third of the league for most part of the season.

Potential Pick: Roberts, Formica, Dunn


WOL: Doyle missed a penalty which in no way was good. Ward's goal was brilliant, but you don't expect a defender to score beautiful goal week-in and week-out.

Potential Pick: Fletcher


Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
FUL: Pretty football by Martin Jol. Good stream of passes and chance creations makes Fulham players good fantasy options upfront. Still look solid in back despite more offensive approach. Could have won if not for Given's great performance.

Pick: Andy Johnson, Hughes
Potential Pick: John Riise


AVL: Created some good chances but failed to capitalise any. Was surprised to see Hesky start by sacrificing Albrighton. N'Zogbia and Bent didn't look too impressive. Given was superb - pick him.

Pick: Given


QPR 0-4 Bolton
QPR: Nightmare start for them. The Rs pretty much lost themselves after conceding the first goal. Nevertheless, it's better to lose 4-0 in your first game and realise how tough Premier League is rather than later when the season goes into the decisive part.

Drop: QPR defenders


BOL: Klasnic looks incredible in his first game of the season. He is more like a playmaker rather than a striker. Gary Cahill scored a goal, but you shouldn't be fooled to buy him - look at Bolton's fixtures!

Potential Pick: Klasnic (fixtures are too bad to consider)


Wigan 1-1 Norwich
WIG: The departure of N'Zogbia has given rise to two players - Watson and Moses. Both are decent picks considering the next two games Wigan are playing.

Pick: Moses, Watson


NOR: Good rebound by Hoolahan. They didn't look too bad at this game, but it's still too early to conclude about them.

Potential Pick: Hoolahan


Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal
NEW: Barton is easily my man of the match for taking Gervinho off the match. Doesn't have too much to comment about their game - it's so dull.

ARS: With no engines at the middle, they look like a mid-table team. Wenger better get this solved soon, or they might even fall behind of teams like Aston Villa and Everton.

Potential Pick: Ramsey
Drop: GERVINHO

Stoke 0-0 Chelsea
STO: Superb saves by Asmir Begovic. Easily the man of the match. Credits went to referee as well as he denied two penalty appeal from Chelsea. Unfortunate for Matt Etherington however for injuring his shoulder.

Pick: Begovic
Drop: Etherington

CHE: Not quite a good decision by AVB to start Torres instead of Drogba. The Spaniard looked much better than before, but still a distance away from Drogba's ultimate influence and is too expensive to hold unless his form starts to get hot. Held drawn due to some bad fortune sincerely.

West Brom 1-2 Manchester United
WBA: Great debut by Shane Long to score an equaliser as West Brom gave some hard time to Fergie's squad. Almost held United up until a moment of brilliance by Ashley Young.

Potential Pick: Long


MUN: A costly victory with Vidic and Ferdinand gone injured. Young was the decisive man, having scored one and set up another. De Gea almost costed United three points with his slow save against Long's attempt. The young team still look shaky, but fortunately the winners' mentality saved them this time.

Avoid United's defence as for now until De Gea starts to show some sharpness.

Pick: Young, Rooney
Potential Pick: Cleverly
Drop: MUN defence

Kick-Off: Gameweek 1 Fantasy Preview

North London in chaos.

Overview
Riots were all over England as Premier League begun its new season countdown. Fortunately the situation is controlled now, with only the game at White Hart Lane (Tottenham v Everton) being postponed due to its location which is very near to the origin of the riot.

9 games are expected to play this Saturday. Are you ready yet?

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

1. Aston Villa (@FUL, BLA, WOL, @EVE, NEW, @QPR, WIG) - Apart from away game to Fulham and Everton, these are pretty easy for the Villans. Bent, N'Zogbia and Given should be a part of your team if you want a good start for the next two months.
2. Chelsea (@STO, WBA, NOR, @SUN, @MNU, SWA, BOL) - What an easy start for AVB. Apart from the visit to Old Trafford and possibly Stadium of Light as well, the rest will most probably give them easy 3 points.

In hell run:

1. Bolton (@QPR, MCI, @LIV, MNU, NOR, @ARS, CHE) - Fighting 5 of the top 6 last season in two months is definitely a crazy task for Owen Coyle. They should feel proud if they are not at the bottom of the league after these 7 games.
2. Blackburn (WOL, @AVL, EVE, @FUL, ARS, @NEW, MCI) - The opening game against Wolves is somewhat crucial for them. For the next 6 games the Rovers are either visiting tough home teams or getting visited by tough teams.
3. Tottenham ( - , @MNU, MCI, @WOL, LIV, @WIG, ARS) - Packed against title rivals in their first 7. Home games will be crucial in deciding their target for this season.
4. Stoke (CHE, @NOR, @WBA, LIV, @SUN, MNU, @SWA) - The Potters are only good at home... Their first few visitors to Britannia are damn tough.

Jordan Henderson to face
his former club this week.

Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL v SUNDERLAND
Henderson will play against his old club as Liverpool plan to make a brilliant start for their new campaign.

Both clubs have splashed significant amount of money in the transfer market. However, compared to the signings of Liverpool, it is obvious that Sunderland's newcomers are one level below of Liverpool's.

I am not seeing a clean sheet here, but at Anfield, the Reds should open their season with 3 solid points.

Carroll and Downing are the safest fantasy picks for Liverpool currently; as for Sunderland, take Larsson or Gyan if you are expecting away goals.

Prediction: LIV 3-1 SUN
Pick as captain: Carroll
Pick: Downing, Larsson, Gyan
Drop: SUN defenders


Fantasy Game of the Week: MAN CITY v SWANSEA

Goals or reds from Balotelli?

A super tough game to begin the Premier League journey. Swansea, the newcomer, will visit to Manchester to fight the best defence in the Premier League.

Compared to the mega budget City, Swansea's squad is as thin as paper. It looks like a mission impossible for them to beat City on the road.

It is obvious to start all City players you have. Aguero is still lack of match fitness, so stay away from him as for now. The only man at Swansea worthy for a fantasy start this gameweek is Scott Sinclair.

Prediction: MCI 3-0 SWA
Pick as captain: Balotelli, Silva, Yaya Toure
Pick: MCI defenders, Dzeko
Drop: SWA players


Pick and Drop

Nani should get a head start in
fantasy scoreboard.

Pick as captain:

1. Rooney, Nani, Young - Man Utd visits WBA, the poorest defence unit of last season, this week.
2. Van Persie - Confirmed to be available after all the injury doubts. Fabregas and Nasri's transfer sagas should not affect him.

Pick:

1. Malouda, Lampard - Chelsea is in spectacular form throughout pre-season.
2. Taarabt, QPR defenders  - They are facing much deteriorated Bolton at home. Wait to see Neil Warnock's preferred forward selections though.
3. Rodallega - Norwich shouldn't be too tough for him.

Drop:

1. BOL defenders - Away clean sheet seems impossible.
2. Torres - AVB is more keen to use Drogba currently.
3. David Luiz, Ivanovic - Both not fit for this week.
4. Fabregas, Nasri - Goodbye soon.
5. EVE and TOT players - How to score points with no games to play?

Transfer Traffic

GW 1 special: recommended initial squad

Given -- Al-Habsi

Kompany -- Rafael -- Enrique -- Hughes -- Gabbidon

Nani -- Yaya Toure -- N'Zogbia -- Taarabt -- Sinclair

Drogba -- Bent -- Holt

Budget: £99.0m

*It is advised to left some extra money in the bank for acquisition of expensive, on form players without taking any penaltied transfers.

Gameweek 1 Dream Team

Hart

Kompany -- Alex -- Gabbidon

Malouda -- Nani (VC) -- Downing -- Yaya Toure -- Taarabt

Carroll (C) -- Balotelli

Subs: Al-Habsi ---- Rodallega -- Samba -- Briggs

2011/12 Fantasy Season Preview - Sunderland

Sunderland AFC

Last Season Summary

League ranking: 10th (47 pts)

Points per game (home: away): 1.37: 1.11

Goals per game (for: against): 1.18: 1.47

Number of clean sheets: 13

Top league scorer: Asamoah Gyan (10 goals)

Top league assister: Asamoah Gyan, Jordan Henderson (4 assists)

Transfers

In: Ahmed Elmohamady, Sebastien Larsson, Kieren Westwood, Connor Wickham, Dong-Won Ji, Craig Gardner, Wes Brown, John O'Shea, David Vaughan

Out: Jordan Henderson, Liam Noble

Predicted Season Finish: 8th

It's crazy to see how Sunderland fosters their squad depth this season. After such a big improvement in all areas, you can only expect them to perform better.

Fantasy Ace: Asamoah Gyan (£8.0m)

With so many new signings coming on, it's pretty hard to determine who's the boss. But I'll stick with Gyan.

The rapper has slowly adapted to the Premier League tempo and looks more and more promising to takeover Darren Bent's role.

Of course, it's very entertaining to see him dancing on the pitch too.

Decent Picks: Phillip Bardsley (£5.0m), John O'Shea (£5.0m), Simon Mignolet/ Craig Gordon (£4.5m), Sebastian Larsson (£6.5m), Craig Gardner (£6.0m)

Phillip Bardsley had been awesome last season, 3 goals and 2 assists coupled with Sunderland's impressive 13 clean sheets, Bardsley got more than 100 points for the first time in his fantasy career. You can only expect that to improve with the addition of two veteran defenders from Manchester United.

Being able to play at all defensive positions, John O'Shea is definitely a great addition to the squad. As he will get all the playing time he wants at Sunderland as opposed to Manchester United, he is set to reach a new height of his career.

It's still unclear whether Mignolet or Gordon will get the #1 spot, but with a new bunch of experienced defenders, they will be less busy - expect more clean sheets.

Addicted to buying players in a pair, Sunderland gets Larsson and Gardner from Birmingham. Both of them have respectable statistics. Gardner could be scoring almost the same number of fantasy points as Larsson if not for his red cards.

Worth Scouting: Connor Wickham (£6.0m), Fraizer Campbell (£6.0m)

It's crazy how football clubs nowadays are willing to splash big money for an 18-year-old footballer. Wickham scored  9 goals last season for Ipswich, but whether he will be as effective in the Premier League is still a question.

Fraizer Campbell has always had limited chances to perform, and it will be the same this season. If he can make a breakthrough into the starting XI, I believe he can actually become a decent fantasy forward.

O'Shea Joins Wes Brown - Will Sunderland Do Great This Season?

John O'Shea
Another big deal by Sunderland.

Shortly after the arrival of Wes Brown, Sunderland has managed to sign another Manchester United defender - this time by the name of John O'Shea.

O'Shea was another utility man at Old Trafford, being able to play at various defending positions. To secure his service is a very good business for the Black Cats.

Now let's see the list of signings by Sunderland - United duo, O'Shea and Brown; Connor Wickham, star striker from Ipswich; Craig Gardner, Birmingham's top-scoring player last season; Dong-Won Ji, a South-Korean forward... If they can't achieve a good result this season, I'm sure that Steve Bruce will be axed.

Wes Brown Transforms Himself From a Red Devil to a Black Cat

Wes Brown
He won't have to warm a lot of benches again, will he?

Sunderland are gaining themselves a good portion of transfer headlines as they confirmed the signing of Manchester United's utility defender Wes Brown.

Brown, 31, was with vanishing importance at Old Trafford due to the purchase of promising defenders such as Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. His move for Sunderland is definitely beneficial for all three parties involved.

May he find his second spring at the Stadium of Light. Your contribution to United will not be forgotten, Mr. Brown.

Henderson Joins Liverpool

Jordan Henderson
The first signal from Liverpool to challenge for a better position for this coming season.

Rumours, rumours and rumours were what we heard from the past few weeks. De Gea to Man Utd? Mata to Liverpool? Neymar to Chelsea? Hiddink to take charge of Chelsea? But rumours remain rumours until they're confirmed.

Now that's one. SUNDERLAND AGREED A DEAL FOR JORDAN HENDERSON. It will be a £13m + N'gog deal, which valued to be a deal of £20m. It's interesting how they rate David N'gog.

Fantasy relevance? N'gog might be a good bargain next season if he manages to grab a starting spot. Interesting.

Tottenham Won the Battle for Pienaar as Bent Joined Villa

Steven Pienaar
Tottenham edged over Chelsea to get him surprisingly.

The transfer market finally got heated up a bit with two famous names on the tabloid - Everton's Steven Pienaar and Sunderland's Darren Bent.

Pienaar has joined Tottenham Hotspur for a fee around £3m. This deal kind of surprised me as I thought that Chelsea was the one closer to the South African hero of World Cup 2010. A good deal for Harry Redknapp for such a low price.

Meanwhile, Sunderland's star Darren Bent is now hired by Aston Villa to solve their finishing problems. Bent, who sold for initially £16m and potentially racking up to £24m, is expected to improve Houllier's report book at Villa.

Interestingly, Bent's exit from Sunderland will make Gyan become the main target in fantasy transfer market. Don't you agree?

Onuoha Scored A Messi Style Goal

Nedum Onuoha
How the hell did he do that?

Splendid. Onuoha dribbled past several players before shooting comfortably past Cech. A very classic Messi like attempt.

Chelsea are now trailing in the end of first half, conceding for the first time in Stamford Bridge this season. Take note that if Cech wasn't the man protecting the square, the Blues would have trailed by more than one goal.

Sunday Sparks

Asamoah Gyan
The hero for Sunderland after Darren Bent's absence.

Here's some of my views on premier league games that have finished this week up until now:

• Kevin Davies led Bolton to victory with his 16-pointer. Tottenham just aren't strong enough to play two games a week without Van der Vaart.
• Birmingham survived with a point after trailing two goals behind West Ham. Zigic, the tallest player in EPL, is looking more and more influential in offence.
• Morten Gamst Pedersen, once known as the Norway's Beckham, scored his first goal of the season to help Blackburn to get their third league victory of the season.
• Seamus Coleman, the best fantasy defender under £5m category in my opinion, snatched a handful of eight points with his goal and bonus points. His Tim-mate Tim Cahill is also on the radar with nine points.
• A last minute goal by Hangeland has earned his manager 11 points. On the other side of the pitch Albrighton, whom I had just transferred out this week, scored 9 points.

Ji-Sung Park
"No Nani? Then let me be!"

• Superb Park played one of the best games in his life to prevent United from a draw with a brace of goals, one of which came in the final minutes.

• Asamoah Gyan scored twice to preserve an embarrassing record for Sunderland - none other than Bent and him has scored this season.
• A single goal by Andy Carroll has pulled Arsenal three points behind in the title race. I was watching the game and got impressed how "Arsenalised" Newcastle style of play is.
• Balotelli has already scored a double against West Ham, with Tevez playing.

Sunday Sparks

Maximiliano Rodriguez
Says welcome to fans who thank him for the decisive goal.

Here's some brief words about what happened in the past 30 hours in English top-flight football:

• Arsenal only managed to score in final minutes for a win. Quite a sad case for me as I was captaining Chamakh. Song scored in three consecutive games. Looking good.
• Chelsea wasn't much better than their London counterpart, won by the same margin. Both Malouda and Drogba are much less striking as compared to them in the first five games. Bosingwa didn't play at all, which was another sad case for me.
• Everton won Yakubu's once-in-a-blue-moon goal. Arteta and Cahill once again gained their owners six points each.
• Dempsey fired two to become Saturday's top pointer, sitting on top of fluke-goal scorer Nani.
• Wolves shocked us with a comeback victory. Adebayor goaled through a penalty anyway.
• Nani made one and fired one to give three points to Manchester United. A quite exciting match-up with Park and Van der Vaart making on-post attempts. VdV might be out for a week or two with his in-game injury. On a side note, Berbatov also lost his sparks like Malouda and Drogba.
• Aston Villa and Birmingham played a goalless draw. Awesome for Foster-and-co owners.

Kevin Nolan
Meet the king of St James.

• Newcastle thrashed Sunderland. Amazing. Nolan wore the hat but take a look at Ameobi. Two goals and two assists. Looked much better than the consolation man (he always made an assist for me when I needed it the most) two years before. However, he will need more playing time before you can consider him.
• Liverpool won a 50-50 game. Torres was lost until the moment when N'gog was brought on. The trident of the former two and Maxi was great and it was no coincidence that the latter scored. Great job by Maxi and as usual, Kyrgiakos the tower of set pieces.

Fantasy Pit Stop 1: Part Two

To start reading from PART ONE, click here.

As a reminder, for this pit stop I am going to write about:

1. Some major news/events related to the team;
2. Predicted season finish; and
3. Top three rated fantasy players along with their ratings.

The arrangement of teams will be according to current league rankings, in reverse order.

---

Currently in 15th

Newcastle United

News
Ben Arfa out for six months but Nigel de Jong escapes from any FA punishments - Bad, bad tackle. Poor Ben Arfa.

Predicted Season Finish: 15th

Newcastle is a team with a rich history. It's squad isn't that rich though. The team is still backboned by the old faces like Nolan, Barton and Gutierrez, while the news faces don't have much calibre to make some big differences aside from Hatem Ben Arfa - who is currently suffered from a serious injury.

However, I don't think the team will repeat their fortune two years ago - where they were relegated. Newcastle is in a better shape now - most notably the vast improvements of Carroll. The 6-0 victory against Aston Villa doesn't have much element of fluke. They might struggle in the relegation zone for a small part of the season, but at the end they should be able to reach the shore.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Andrew Carroll (8/10) - Great third striker with high potential.
2. Joey Barton (7/10) - The "bad boy" has been less violent and more effective on the pitch.
3. Kevin Nolan (6.5/10) - One of the important force in the Magpies' attack.

Honourable mention: Hatem Ben Arfa (8/10) - A very talented winger. Very unfortunate for him to be sidelined.

---

Currently in 14th

Wigan Athletic

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 19th

I like how Roberto Martinez implements his offensive team play, but that doesn't always work out especially against a much superior opposition. The Latics have only two victories up till now - one against the so fluctuating Tottenham and another against the poorer Wolves - none are convincing.

While they do have some great additions this season - particularly goalkeeper Al Habsi and defender Alcaraz, I don't think that will be enough for them to stay. Barring N'Zogbia, the rest of the midfielders are particularly weak in terms of Premiership standards.

As their fixtures get tougher and tougher in the final third of the season, I think Wigan will eventually collapse and the lads will meet Wolves next year in the Championship.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Hugo Rodallega (7/10) - A quite productive strike force.
2. Charles N'Zogbia (7/10) - Had some furious times with the club but things should start settle and he should start performing.
3. Antolin Alcaraz (5.5/10) - One of the quality signings of Wigan this season. However, you need to be wary of the number of emphatic defeats that Wigan will face.

---

Currently in 13th

Blackburn Rovers

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 13th

They don't play pretty football, but it's fine as long as they get the results. Blackburn is a tough opposition no matter what team you are due to their aggressive approach in defence. They have all the chances to sneak away with points against tougher oppositions.

With a pack of quality defenders with offensive capabilities, added with some evenly matched strikers in a strong competition, I predict that the Rovers will end the season quite comfortably.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Christopher Samba (7/10) - A decent defender with a decent scoring record.
2. Paul Robinson (5.5/10) - Not the best keeper in the league, but he'll give you quite an amount of saves.
3. Nikola Kalinic (5.5/10) - Has a steady start this season.

---

Currently in 12th

Bolton Wanderers

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 11th

Bolton might have almost the same team from last season, but still it's much better. Owen Coyle coaches the team right from start of the season, Elmander on form, Martin Petrov activating the attack... all these signs show that the club is in a good shape.

The club has all the strength to remain on the Premier League and finish with a good ranking.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Johan Elmander (7.5/10) - A sudden burst of form has made him the top fantasy choice of Bolton.
2. Martin Petrov (7/10) - He's capable of doing a lot of damage from attack.
3. Kevin Davies (6.5/10) - Still the leader of Bolton with potential to grab plenty of bonus points.

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Currently in 11th

Sunderland

News - N/A

Predicted Season Finish: 9th

It's interesting to see that five out of six Premier League goals of Sunderland were from Darren Bent, with another from new signing Asamoah Gyan. But will that pose a threat for Sunderland's survival? Absolutely not.

The Black Cats is still the team who can frustrate any tougher opponents. They actually get better with the arrival of Elmohamady. The Egyptian defender is very proactive in surging forward and has become the "Glen Johnson" of the season. Combined with the usual faces like Bent and Henderson, Sunderland will enjoy their best top-flight finish over the past decade.

Top Three Fantasy Players:

1. Ahmed Elmohamady (8.5/10) - A constant threat from the back of the flank. Has been impressive so far.
2. Darren Bent (8/10) - One of the all time fantasy favourite that you should start against any opposition.
3. Jordan Henderson (7/10) - The 20-year-old midfielder is a promising gem.

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To be continued in PART THREE.

News Updates: Martin O'Neill RESIGNED while Darren Bent INJURED

What is he thinking?

What a shocking day at Aston Villa as Martin O'Neill resigned without any hint for that.

It might be caused of the war of James Milner between MON and the board. Milner is said to be very close to the deal with Manchester City with a fee of £18m plus Stephen Ireland. Pretty tempting don't you think?

The only riddle now is where will he go. Scottish League again?

To be replaced by a balloon.

Meanwhile, our fellow fantasy favourite Darren Bent was injured during his training his England international squad.

This news pains my ass pretty much as I will have to make a big change to my fantasy squad in order to account for this loss. Take note that Darren Bent is a super value striker at a price of £8.5m. He can easily score at least 15 goals a season at Sunderland.