Sunday Quick Review

Dmitar Berbatov
"Why? Can't believe?"

Berbatov was once again on the score sheet this week as Tottenham and Manchester City made up the week with two shocking defeats. Luke Young saves my day with a goal!

• Arsenal managed to win Blackburn but Van Persie was injured. Luckily you need not to send him out as he will have sufficient time to recover thanks to international breaks. Fabregas was not brilliant, but still decent.
• Carroll scored again! Get in the bandwagon quick before he becomes expensive.
• Zamora scored as well but you will not want to own him as he is injured.
• Lampard missed a penalty and will undergo groin surgery. Still own him? Change him with Malouda or Fabregas.
• Tottenham lost! What's wrong? Bale was a disappointing investment.
• Scholes finally stopped producing but Rooney scored for the first time thanks to a penalty.
• Birmingham led by two goals and one man but ended up with a draw. So frustrating.
• Sunderland pawned Manchester City! Who will expect that when the latter had just overpowered Liverpool with three goals? David Silva is out of the first team again.
• Liverpool won sloppily but Torres scored a beauty. Lucas was very bad.
• Villa is still leading Everton up till now.
• There will be an international break next week so wait before you change!

Raul Meireles And Konchesky: Two New Reds

Raul Meireles
A replacement for Mascherano?

Paul Konchesky
A reunion with his former manager.

Liverpool has been very active in the last week of the summer transfer market and had officially signed Raul Meireles from Porto and is near to pen Paul Konchesky from Fulham as well.

The two of them were found to sit together on the clash against West Brom just now, so both of them should be a part of the Reds by now.

Meireles is a Portuguese international and had been brilliant on the World Cup tournament. He is rumoured to fill in the place of Mascherano as the Argentine monster is expected to join Barcelona. Konchesky, on the other hand, wasn't a part of Capello's World Cup plan but nevertheless is a decent left-back.

It's also rumoured that Hodgson is going to get M Diarra from Real Madrid. What a big renovation for the club.

Hatem Ben Arfa Flies Like A Magpie

Hatem Ben Arfa
A new fantasy force alongside Carroll?

Great signing by Newcastle. The Tunisian-French is loaned by the Magpies from Marseille and should play his first Premier League match after the international break.

He's a winger and he's talented, but he's also hot-tempered. Can Chris Hughton tame him? Let's wait and see for his debut excitingly.

Gameweek 3 Fantasy Preview

Theo Walcott - 21 points
First twenty-pointer of the season. Surprised me actually.

Three six-nils. Two hat-trickers. City thrashed Liverpool. So unusual. That's gameweek two of EPL. Carroll was another sparkling star last gameweek with 17 points. Great bargain don't you think? And here's my score last gameweek. Improved, but not that good since I've used my wildcard.

---

PART I: PREVIEWS

Richard Dunne
Needs to fortify Villa's defence.

Aston Villa v Everton

An encounter at such pathetic time. The Toffees are yet to record their first single win but the Villans are worse. A 0-6 humiliation by Newcastle has completely erased their morale gained from the beautiful victory at their first game.

At Everton we got our mid-priced favourite Cahill who's as good as ever. In fact, they aren't playing that bad actually. They controlled the game against Wolves well but one mistake plus zero in luck equals to one point.

As for Villa, I seriously don't know what are they playing. It's unacceptable to lose 0-6 away, given that they have the best Premier League away record last season and are renowned for defence.

But this time, they will return to their home ground again, against their Europa spot rivals. Since there is no Martin O'Neill, I will reckon a draw.

Prediction: AST 1-1 EVE

The Rest

• Blackburn v Arsenal (1-1) - The Gunners fear brutal plays. And Blackburn is. A good game to observe Fabregas anyway.
• Blackpool v Fulham (1-3) - Fulham looking good, Zamora looking good. The more Blackpool attacks, the more they doom themselves.
• Chelsea v Stoke City (3-0) - Three 6-0s in a row? I bet not. Still should be an easy win for the Blues.
• Tottenham v Wigan (5-0) - Wigan doesn't own Hart. It's impossible for them to hold down Tottenham's attack. Captain Bale anyone?
• Wolves v Newcastle (1-1) - Should be close and tight. I believe Carroll will score again though.
• Man Utd v West Ham (3-0) - Avram Grant is struggling to manage his squad. Will Rooney find back his form?
• Bolton v Birmingham (2-0) - Birmingham weak at away.
• Liverpool v West Brom (2-1) - Time for Liverpool to claim their first victory. Will Torres shine?
• Sunderland v Man City (0-3) - A lot of problems for Steve Bruce's squad. Time to check up who's the primary point scorer for City.

---

PART II: SQUAD SELECTIONS

Captain Picks

• Bale - Impressive volley last week. More than 50% of Tottenham's goals in official matches this season are related to him, and Tottenham had thrashed Wigan before.
• Drogba - Didier all the way!

Buy-Ins

• Carroll - England's new hope has both body and technique. Should give you a lot of points and an extra £1m of team value at the end of the season.
• Richards - A cheap clean sheet collector with Joe Hart behind him. Expires in one month (when Jerome Boateng recovers) though.

Bad Bargains

• Wigan players - It's almost impossible for them to survive Tottenham's attack.
• Koscielny - Squillaci coming soon. Wait for Wenger's finalized best XI.

Squad of XV

GK: Gomes

DF: Dawson, Alex, Richards

MF: Bale(C), Malouda, Chung-Yong Lee, Scholes

F: Drogba, Berbatov, Zamora

Subs (in order): Jaaskelainen, Duff, Steinsson, Jones

Captain: Bale

Emergency Captain: Value

Starting XI Value: £78.7m

Total Team Value: £98.7m

Squillaci to Lead Gunners' Defence?

Sebastien Squillaci
Last season's Champions League Fantasy favourite.

Yet another French to join Wenger's army. Yes, it's former Sevilla defender Sebastien Squillaci.

I personally thinks that this is a very good bargain as Squillaci got the experience which Arsenal heavily lacked  in defence. He's a leader type player and I expect him to become a good commander.

But it's still a doubt whether he can squeeze Koscielny out of starting XI. Too bad we'll have to wait until next week as he won't be on time to face Blackburn.

Mark Hughes Frustrates Sir Alex Ferguson

Brede Hangeland
Flew from hell to heaven.

Fulham 2, Manchester United 2.

Not quite a score that Ferguson wanted as they are now two points and nine goal differences behind Chelsea. They don't deserve a win however, with those shaky defences and the pathetic decision of letting Nani to take the penalty. You have Scholes, you have Giggs, and you let Nani? What a joke.

Hangeland scored two but it was one for each side. Still, he should be happy as he scored for the opponent first. If it was the other way round, he will suffer.

Mark Hughes looked great in managing the team. Very fluent exchanges and no sole reliance on any of his players. He does look suitable to manage a middle table club rather than clubs made up by filthy money.

One more thing, it was Berbatov and Scholes again who took the team. You know who to buy from United, don't you?

6-0 x3

Andrew Carroll
Makes the Magpies look as strong as Arsenal and Chelsea in terms of scoreline.

AMAZING! The third 6-0 was produced just now. Not the usual strong against weak occasion, but the north derby of Newcastle versus Aston Villa!

What's more? The expected newcastle star Andrew Carroll became the third hat-tricker this season! That really dropped my spectacles as I have never ever expect him to hat-trick against teams as decent - if not strong - as Aston Villa.

Was Villa's first game a mirage? Or this game was? Still, this season is ridiculously imbalance. It's not fun to watch lots of 6-0s every week.