Week 31 - Weekend Review

Once again, an amazing weekend in the Premiership as the title race took another massive twist. Chelsea looked to have the title sewn up a week ago, but Man United's last gasp win at Man City coupled with Tottenham's 2-1 win over the Blues has swung it right back round.

The Manchester derby was by no means a classic, but I felt City set up quite negatively & it always seemed United were in control. They also have this "never-say-die" attitude instilled by Ferguson, so it was actually no surprise when Paul Scholes popped up to win it in the 93rd minute.

I probably don't need to explain to you how delighted I am with the way Spurs have recovered from last Sunday's FA Cup disappointment vs Portsmouth. After extra time heartbreak, they bounced back vs Arsenal & then produced their best performance of the season to completely outplay Chelsea. All this with King, Woodgate, Corluka, Palacios, Kranjcar & Lennon unavailable; outstanding. I'm starting to believe 4th is possible - I know as a Spurs fan that hope is a dangerous thing to have, but with Gareth Bale in his current form I guess anything is possible.

These 2 results meant Arsenal could've been back in with a chance of the title had they sealed a routine win at Wigan on Sunday, but an unbelievable last 10 minutes saw Wigan turn around a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2, with the awful Fabianski at fault on numerous occasions. I know he's the back-up keeper, but those are basic school boy errors.

Everton kept up their impressive form by doing something nobody (including Man U & Chelsea) had been able to do since December, beating Blackburn at Ewood Park. I have to apologise if you dropped Arteta - I'd read reports that he was still injured & even Moyes said in his Friday press conference the game would come too soon for him, but he was lying - Arteta played & scored a penalty. I should've known - he did the same thing with Bily earlier in the season.

With Spurs winning & Everton closing the gap, Aston Villa had to win at Portsmouth to keep their slim hopes of 4th place alive & to ensure they don't slip out of the Top 7 to miss out on Europe altogether. This was also the game that interested us most from a fantasy stand point this week, with Villa players the most picked due to the double week. They went behind early but came back to win 2-1, Carew scoring 1 & missing a penalty too, handy points for Milner & Friedel doing well despite no clean sheet.

Sunderland sealed a 2-1 victory over a practically relegated Burnley, with goals from the usual suspects; Darren Bent & the improving Fraizer Campbell. Gordon & Hutton owners will be frustrated with the consolation goal that stole their clean sheet. Stoke threw away a lead in the final 5 minutes, with forgotten man Matthew Taylor popping up with a quick-fire brace to snatch a 2-1 win for Bolton.

Finally Birmingham v Hull & Fulham v Wolves were both fairly dull, ending 0-0, but some good clean sheet points about, which was especially pleasing for those of us who took the risk with Hull defenders.

I'm having a good week so far - 103.5 points thanks to Friedel, Warnock's assist, Bale's amazing 23.5, Dawson, Milner, Bullard, Young & Carew all performing decently. Adam Johnson & Agbonlahor were the only disappointments but I'm really pleased to have over 100 with 6 Villa & 2 Hull players still to go, back into the Top 300.

It's not all good news. I got completely hammered on Saturday & was too drunk to do any barndoor work, meaning I missed on players like Arteta & Matt Taylor, much to my annoyance when I awoke on Sunday morning. Luckily I grabbed Jussi, Jagielka & Malouda straight after the midday deadline but other than I'm going to have to pay top prices for some players.

Current team page for Week 32:

Jussi

Bale  Jagielka  A.Dawson

Malouda  Bullard  Henry (filler)  Pienaar  Taylor

Carew   Van Persie

It's a very early draft, but my keeper & defence will almost certainly stay the same. I also think I'll be keeping Malouda, Bullard & fullprice Matt Taylor. Pienaar is not so certain - I want an Everton middie but I'm not paying 19 for Arteta so it's possible he stays - and Karl Henry is just a filler for now.

Carew will probably stay, but I'm not even close to being comfortable about paying £20m for Van Persie, even though I think he may be ready to start. If I don't have the guts then I still hold Bendtner but would perhaps look to Kuyt vs Burnley or Carlton Cole at home to Wigan. I would also be able to upgrade Henry with the left over funds, probably shifting back to 3-4-3. Loads of time to decide though, so I'm not in a rush.

That's it - please let me know how the week is going for you so far. Who did you grab on the barndoor? Who do you think will win the title? Who will finish 4th?

Cheers,
AM

p.s. - I understand a Yahoo glitch has meant some people have lost their player discounts, which is not good at all. This isn't something I've experienced but my advice is to not change any of these players, contact Yahoo & hope they can correct it so you get your discounts back...my fingers are crossed for you.
UPDATE - Apparently if you've lost your discounts then click "undo changes" & you should get all your discounts back. Thanks to readers in the comment section for this - I can't check but it seems to be working for many of you...