Here’s my GW3 fantasy premier league analysis for the GW3 games of Palace v Everton , Man City v Hull and Cardiff v Everton I’ll be giving views from a fantasy premier league perspective on the lineups, the game itself and the “winners and losers” in terms of players from the game.
Crystal Palace 3 Sunderland 1
Goals: Gabbidon O’Keefe Gayle pen. assists: Campana Goals: Fletcher Assist Colback
Line ups: Lineups and ratings from the Daily Mail football
Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Speroni 6, Ward 6, Gabbidon 7, Delaney 6, Moxey 5, Dikgacoi 6, Jedinak 7, Campana 6 (Williams 54 5), Puncheon 8, Gayle 7 (Wilbraham 83), Chamakh 7 (O’Keefe 83)
Subs not used: Alexander, Ramage, Dobbie, Phillips
Sunderland (4-4-2): Westwood 6; Celustka 5, Colback 6, O’Shea 3, Diakite 5; Larsson 5, Vaughan 5, Johnson 6, Giaccherini 5 (Mavrias 61 5); Dong-won 4 (Fletcher 46 7), Wickham 5.
Subs not used: Mannone, Cuellar, Cabral, Karlsson, Roberge.
The match:
A fast paced match which could have gone either way and really in the end Palace had the more chances and in the end took them to win. Palace also made less defensive errors. Sunderland match the personality of the manager with a energetic pressing game but failed to create anything and just defended poorly at crucial times. The pressing game which was focused high up the pitch also led to alot of Palaces best chances on the break
Winners
Gayle – if for no other reason than he took the pen. His finishing was appalling but with pens (although his one today was hardly convincing) he may provide an alternative to Chamkh, Anelka Aluko and Graham of similar price. That assumes you’re just looking for a filler
Jonathan Williams – definitely not a buy at the moment so don’t think I’m crazy but showed alot of forward intent even though his finishing was poor at best. However if he can break into the side £4.5m midfielders who attack don’t grow on trees so worth monitoring. Also took a few corners.
Losers
Chamakh – created a few chances but no goal threat whatsover. There’s little alternative in this price range and no one standing up but Chamakh certainly did nothing for his case as a cheap forward
The Sunderland defence – The underlying stats actually weren’t that bad but the errors were poor and the set piece problem continues. 3 goals to a pretty limited attacking team like Palace just isn’t on though
Giaccherini – got forward and drifted in centrally but limited goal threat and creativity and at £7.0m way too expensive for that output against Palace.
Man City 2 Hull 0
Line ups; Lineups and ratings from the Daily Mail
Manchester City: Hart 7, Zabaleta 7, Lescott 5, Kolarov 5, Nastasic 6, Navas 6, Aguero 5 (Milner 76, 6), Silva (Nasri 66, 6), Fernandinho 6, Toure 6, Dzeko 5 (Negredo 46, 8).
Subs not used: Pantilimon, Clichy, Garcia, Jovetic.
Goal: Negredo 65, Toure 90.
Booked: Nastasic, Fernandinho.
Hull: McGregor 7, Figueroa 6, Chester 6, Davies 7, Elmohamady 6, Huddlestone 7, Brady 6, Livermore 6, Aluko 7 (Quinn 70, 6), Graham 6, Koren 7 (Boyd 75, 6).
Subs not used: Harper, Rosenior, Bruce, McShane, Meyler.
Booked: Figueroa, Koren.
Manchester City: Clichy surprisingly left out. Dzeko started instead of Negredo
Hull: No surprises.
The match
A game of chances being taken. Steve Bruce is no defensive mug and Hull were terrific defensively. Even with YYT dropping deep to help out the defence, practically as another CB, the defence was still very shaky. The Nastasic/ Lescott partnership was dreadful and Hull had some great chances to score which they didn’t take and that was the outcome of the game. Hull dropped deep and minimised the space between the lines that players like Silva and Aguero exploit. They also packed the central areas and when City tried the intricate passes to break them down they were just defeated by numbers. However a great cross from Zabaleta to Aguero finished well by the sub Negredo went in and after that the result never looked in doubt
Winners
Negredo
Not sure why he didn’t start. Was fantastic and deserved the goal. Could well now be the starting CF. He’s dropped to £9.3m (cheaper than Silva) and looks good value.
The Hull defence
Steve Bruce at Wigan organised them in to a very tight defensive unit and it looks like he’s replicating that again at Hull. Chester is a great £4.0m cheapie.
Losers
Natasic and Lescott
Both were awful today and will be nervously keeping an eye on the transfer window. Kompany can’t come back quick enough. 0.9 goals per game conceded with Kompany and 1.3 games without. Nearly 50% more. Says it all.
Dzeko
The problem as the CF is that you can often be hostage to the service you get (just ask RVP after today). Dzeko’s not the most mobile and doesn’t go looking for the ball and today the Hull defence didn’t give him any room and he ended up without a shot. After Negredo’s performance has to lose his place. There will be mass sales from fantasy premier league managers
Silva
After playing so well in the first 2 games he was very disappointing today. No shooting output at all and created very little. Still got into the box but it just didn’t happen for him today. Subbed early. Hard to see if this is any sign. I don’t think so as Nasri also didn’t contribute much and is the only natural replacement.
Cardiff 0 Everton 0
Lineups: From Daily Mail including ratings
Cardiff: Marshall 6, Connolly 7, Taylor 7, Caulker 6, Turner 7, Whittingham 7, Medel 7 (Mutch 89), Kim Bo-Kyung 7 (Maynard 82), Gunnarsson 6, Bellamy 6 (Cowie 79), Campbell 6.
Subs not used: Lewis, Hudson, Noone, Gestede.
Booked: Connolly.
Everton: Howard 6, Baines 7, Jagielka 6, Distin 6, Coleman 7, Mirallas 6 (Deulofeu 86), Barkley 8, Osman 7, Pienaar 7, Fellaini 7, Jelavic 5 (Kone 68).
Subs not used: Robles, Heitinga, Oviedo, Stones, Naismith.
Booked: Barkley.
No surprises in either teams line up
The match
A game really that Everton should have won. They dominated in all departments. Possession, shots and territory but like the WBA game just couldn’t score
Winners
The Everton defence
I’m officially convinced. Another strong defensive performance and even though the opposition hasn’t been top quality the stats have been overwhelming. Interesting that Distin got 3 bonus points. The Chelsea GW4 game will be the true test. Distin may have a threat from Alcaraz but at £5.0m he’s now the best value and has proved he can attract the bonus points.
Other comments
Barkley
No return but overall good contribution. I still think he will hold his place
Mirallas
Ok shooting stats again and I would keep patience until the GW5 home game against Newcastle. He’s still getting in to the box getting the goal scoring chances and playing in an advanced position. Still that will count for nothing if there’s no return after GW5.
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