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.

Gameweek 10 Fantasy Preview

Theo Walcott
Will he run to the top spot in FPL?

My life is getting busy recently and I would like to apologize for the reduced number of posts in the coming month. Anyway, let's review the recent League Cup tourney:

• Theo Walcott scored a brace which will certainly draw plenty of managers into the fantasy bandwagon.
• Javier Hernandez scored in three consecutive matches as Manchester United marched forward.
• West Ham progressed through the next round thanks to Obinna and co.
• Downing scored an extra time winner for Aston Villa.

Also remember that Carlos Tevez will out for the next one or two gameweeks so hold on before you buy in.

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PART I: PRE-MATCH ANALYSES

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez
Will his scoring streak end?

Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur
This match-up at Old Trafford often ends with a total domination by the home side, but things may get different this time as Tottenham reaches a new level in offence piloted by Bale and Van der Vaart.

There are a lot of negative factors of United to be exploited by Tottenham, particularly:

• United played a Carling Cup fixture during this midweek whilst Tottenham had a full week of rest.
• Nani will have more difficulty guarding Bale than the other way round.
• Modric-Huddlestone CM combination is as solid as, if not better, than Scholes-Fletcher partnership.

However, I don't think that's enough for Tottenham to make up a victory at Manchester. United's defence is unarguably one level higher than Tottenham and Berbatov-Chicharito combination will possibly destroy away's defence. Crouch will need to double up his accuracy if they are to grab points from Manchester United, in my opinion.

Prediction: Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham

The Rest

• Arsenal v West Ham (3-1) - Captain Fabregas, captain Nasri, captain Chamakh.
• Blackburn v Chelsea (0-2) - Samba is back, but that won't change the outcome much.
• Everton v Stoke City (2-0) - The Toffees are back on track and shouldn't lose this one.
• Fulham v Wigan (1-1) - The cottagers are losing themselves and Wigan should be able to sneak in.
• Wolves v Man City (0-2) - No Tevez but does that matter? No.
• Aston Villa v Birmingham (2-1) - Zigic starts to find his form but Birmingham can't be trusted at away, yet.
• Newcastle v Sunderland (2-2) - Newcastle are still short of home wins other than the 6-0 demolition of Villa.
• Bolton v Liverpool (1-2) - Victory shouldn't be a problem for the Reds if they can play like how they play against Blackburn.
• Blackpool v West Brom (2-3) - The Baggies are quite familiar with their former Championship opponent and should be able to outplay the Seasiders again.

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PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Marouane Chamakh
A good chance for goals.

Captain Picks

• Fabregas/Nasri/Chamakh - It's quite hard to guess who will cast the main character, but he should be one of them.
• Brunt - A good gambling pick.

Buy-Ins

• Bosingwa - His price should rocket the next 2-3 weeks.

Sell-Outs

• Tevez - Keep if you believe that he'll only out for one week; otherwise sell.

Squad of XV

GK: Howard

DF: A Cole, Coleman, Warnock
MF: Nasri, Fabregas, Brunt, N'Zogbia, Nolan
F: Chamakh(C), Torres

Subs (in order): Friedel, Richards, Bosingwa, Carroll
Captain: Chamakh
Emergency Captain: Value
Starting XI Value: £80.2m
Total Team Value: £103.0m

RIP, Paul

Paul the Oracle
All the best in your afterlife.

The hottest commodity of World Cup - yes, not Muller, not Villa, not Sneijder - Paul the Octopus, has passed away.

In case you can't remember, this miraculous creature has recorded a 100% prediction record in FIFA 2010 South Africa.

Paul died much earlier than its life expectancy, but don't you worry Paul, you will always be remembered.

Have anything to say to Paul? You can leave your comments at the link below.

Sunday Sparks

Sotirios Kyrgiakos
Fantastic performance at both ends on the pitch.

Congratulations for Manchester United for recording their first away victory this season and Liverpool for securing their second victory of the season. Here are some highlights:

• Javi Hernandez scored both goals of United. The lad is still far from becoming a sure-fire fantasy pick as Rooney will soon be back, but he might be able to squeeze Berbatov out should the latter dips his form.
• Both Nani and Berbatov failed to provide any fantasy returns this week and this frustrates a lot of managers including me.
• Liverpool overpowered a game for the first time this season, against Blackburn. Kyrgiakos has been superb all the while and Hodgson should list him as the first choice centre back of Liverpool as the Greek's reward.
• Liverpool's midfielders has been combining brilliantly during the first half and it was no surprise that Cole and Gerrard were on the assist sheet.
• Torres finally scored his second league goal (and smiled).
• A silly foul by Dedryk Boyata costed Manchester City a possible three points. Joe Hart owners will not be sad though as he caught five points with a precious penalty save.
• Nasri scored again! That is his six out of seven games. Magnificent.
• Tevez limped out with an injury. Stay updated with his status, fantasy managers.

Good night.

A Sweet Dilemma?

Chelsea got another clean sheet yesterday, and that left me a big dilemma - dilemma to pick whether Ashley Cole, Yuri Zhirkov or Jose Bosingwa as one of my fantasy defender (Yes, I'm still not exposed to any Chelsea defender until now). Now let's compare the pros and cons between them:

Ashley Cole, £8.1m
Enjoying a spectacular season at Stamford Bridge.

Pros:

• Sure starter
• Adventurous in attack
• Bonus magnet

Cons:

• Expensive
• Indifferent to your competitors

Yuri Zhirkov, £6.2m
Enjoying more playing time recently.

Pros:

• More and more playing time.
• Has been decent in attack all the while when he's playing.
• Proven in Champions League Fantasy.

Cons:

• Most susceptible to rotation.

Jose Bosingwa, £5.6m
Recovered and looking good.

Pros:

• Incredibly cheap for a Chelsea defender who can surge forward.
• Fantasy proven two years before.

Cons:

• Might be struggling to find his form.
• Might need to compete with Ivanovic when Alex recovers.

Personally I will pick Ashley Cole if I have the cash; otherwise I will stick with Bosingwa. How about you?

Wayne Rooney to Stay At Manchester United

Wayne Rooney
Looks like he will still wear the red jersey next season.

Amazing. Days before he said he will definitely leave Manchester United, and days after he penned a five-year contract. Is this real?

Yes. And I wonder why is he changing his mind in the "speed of light". Maybe this is Ferguson's strategy to divert public attention away from his prostitution scandal? God knows.

Gameweek 9 Fantasy Preview

Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney
Duo to reunite at Manchester in blue?

Wayne Rooney steals all the media attention this week with his intention to leave Old Trafford. It is predicted that his next destination will be out of these four: City, Chelsea, Real and Barca.

Gareth Bale
A fantastic hat-trick.

Meanwhile, Bale produced a terrific solo performance to avoid a humiliating defeat to the defending Champions League champion Inter Milan. The 21-year-old should have already rose his market price to more than £20m with that play.

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PART I: PREVIEWS

Emmanuel Adebayor
The notorious ex-Gunner will face his former employer again.

Manchester City v Arsenal
The Gunners is quite unfortunate to travel to Eastlands in such time when Manchester City is on their best.

Tevez has been in a thunderous form and it's no surprise that he is leading the golden boot hunt currently with seven goals. Meanwhile, his substitute, occasionally his strike partner, Adebayor, has just hat-tricked on a Europa League match yesterday and is set to preform his best against the club he left. Not to be forgotten of course is the Silva-Johnson competition where both are playing very well to snatch a long term starting position for themselves.

On the Gunners side, Fabregas has returned to action with a solid performance in the 5-1 rampage against Shaktar Donetsk. Walcott is ready to play this week but his form is pretty unsure. Chamakh and Nasri should be the more assuring picks than the former two.

I think Arsenal's defence will continue to pull the team down with the absence of Vermaelen and Koscielny and City will record a four consecutive victories against the London club.

Prediction: MANC 2-0 ARS


The Rest

• Tottenham v Everton (2-1) - Everton's unbeaten streak will come to an end at White Hart Lane with the magnificent Rafael Van der Vaart on the score sheet again.
• Birmingham v Blackpool (1-1) - Blackpool will have another solid performance to snatch a solid point.
• Chelsea v Wolves (3-0) - Heavily one-sided on the paper but Chelsea's form has not been that good recently.
• Sunderland v Aston Villa (0-0) - Houllier will play it patiently to find a chance but the game will end with nothing.
• West Brom v Fulham (2-1) - Odemwingie is struggling to fit but Premier League veteran Chris Brunt should be able to sort things out.
• Wigan v Bolton (1-0) - N'Zogbia has been spectacular and that form should continue.
• West Ham v Newcastle (2-2) - Things have not been right for the Magpies recently.
• Stoke City v Man Utd (2-2) - The Red Devils is still struggling to defend when they are leading.
• Liverpool v Blackburn (0-1) - Liverpool sucks a big time under Roy Hodgson.

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PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Charles N'Zogbia
Will he become the superstud again?

Captain Picks

• Drogba/Malouda - Who wouldn't take advantage against Wolves?

Buy-Ins

• Chelsea players - Round two of long easy fixtures for them.
• Arteta/Cahill - Quite an easy going fixtures for long term hold.

Squad of XV

GK: Kirkland

DF: A Cole, Alcaraz, Elmohamady

MF: Malouda, Nani, N'Zogbia, Van der Vaart, Brunt

F: Drogba(C), Tevez

Subs (in order): Robinson, Dann, Varney, Jara

Captain: Drogba

Emergency Captain: Value

Starting XI Value: £83.4m

Total Team Value: £101.2m