Week 4 - Saturday

Put simply, a fantastic day of football - the English Premier League may not be of the technical quality of La Ligua, but I still think it beats all others for pure excitement. For evidence look not further than Everton v Manchester United, the lunchtime kick-off yesterday.

It wasn't just the final 3 minutes that made the game, it was the entire 90 that proceeded it. It was cracking match, end to end, chances galore, tackles flying in, great goals, bad errors, fantastic saves and of course, an unbelievable comeback from the Toffees. 3-3, Alex Ferguson fuming as United blow a two-goal lead, Moyes fuming because Everton could've won it only for the ref to blow for full-time, outstanding drama, great stuff!

The only shame was a missing Wayne Rooney - I find it very sad that a 24 year old man is experiencing such turmoil in his private life that he can't do his job, no matter what he's alleged to have done. A young guy with a family who may or may not have made a mistake, trying to save his relationship with the British press splashing nonsense all over the front pages of the papers...isn't there real news for them to report on?

Anyway, I didn't have any players in that first game, but Arteta, Baines, Pienaar & Osman all scored good points as did Nani, Berbatov, Vidic & Fletcher. A special mention to Nani, who set up two goals and continues to improve after being written of by many (including myself) 18 months ago.

In the 3pm's Arsenal and Chelsea sealed routine victories vs Bolton & West Ham respectively, with 4-1 and 3-1 wins. Those of us who went with Koscielny and Chamkah were rewarded with a great return of 34 points for very little outlay, while Arshavin and Fabregas also scored well, and I must mention Fabregas's passing as it was absolutely unbelievable, with exquisite through-balls setting up numerous chances. Essien rocked up with two goals for Chelsea but Drogba was once again behind most of their good work, with an amazing 21 points without a goal. Malouda being benched was a real let down but Kalou's hilarious goal cheered me up, as Green & Upson combined to mess-up royally.

Dembele proved to be an outstanding pick as Fulham came from behind to win 2-1 vs Wolves. The boy is really good and I'm annoyed I didn't follow my own advice and bring him in for Week 4, but well done if you did take the leap...it's safe to say he came flying through the barndoor for Week 5! A word for poor Bobby Zamora, who broke his leg just as his career is really taking off, and looks set to miss most of the season, a real shame. What the bloody hell was the Wolves wall doing for Fulham's winner? My sunday league manager would've gone mental if we'd turned our backs like that!

Tottenham and West Brom played out a 1-1 draw, when all looked rosey for Spurs after 30 minutes. Modric put us ahead before being withdrawn with a bad leg injury, and Redknapp has suggested it could be a re-occurrence of the leg break that he suffered at the exact same stage last season. It completely disrupted the flow for Spurs and the Baggies got back in to it through Chris Brunt. It certainly was a game of two halves, as West Brom dominated the second 45, and a draw was fair. Van Der Vaart showed flashes but nothing more.

The biggest disappointment for fantasy managers was probably at St James' Park, as many of us had loaded up on Newcastle players for their home game vs Blackpool - it proved to be a mistake. Harper continued his poor form (and my bad record for picking keepers this season) with -2 , but he actually made some saves this week, so I guess it actually could've been worse! Barton proved the better pick v Nolan, but Carroll (over Dembele!) was a disaster...I'm just glad the damage done to Newcastle was by another of my players, Charlie Adam, whose 16 points for a goal and assist was a big bonus.

Joe Hart made an uncharacteristic error as Kalinic gave Blackburn the lead at Eastlands, with Patrick Viera popping up with a rare goal to level things up. Adam Johnson proved to be a decent pick with 13 points, but  City's defenders all scored poorly. The final game was Wigan v Sunderland, where the idiotic Lee Cattermole was sent off inside half an hour for the second time in 4 games. Despite this it looked like the away side would grab an unlikely win thanks to Gyan's debut goal from the bench, but Alcaraz equalised in the dying minutes.

So a great day of football, and not a bad fantasy day for myself...107 points, which considering Malouda didn't play & my keeper scored -2, was better than expected and I'm edging towards the top 1000. I was out yesterday so didn't have any time to do much barndoor work, but as mentioned I did get the chance to bring in Dembele and I bought Van Der Vaart right after the deadline. I might take the zero for Kirkland next week, Etherington may come in for Stoke's home game vs West Ham, which would leave my enough funds for Ashley Cole who should have a field day vs Blackpool

My team would be: Kirkland, Bale, Koscielny, Cole, Adam, Etherington, Malouda, Van Der Vaart,  Dembele, Chamakh, Drogba with 1.44 left over. If Boateng is back then he'll replace Koscielny.

A quick work on the blog team, which had a much better week with 113 points. Thanks to Mike & Hans for their continued help, hopefully we're now heading in the right direction!

I'll leave it there for now, but as always I'd like to know how you're getting on in Week 4? Got any players left today/tomorrow? Who came in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM