Here’s a quick look at the Mondays pre-season matches for West Ham and Fulham taking a look at form, line up issues, bargains and value
Sporting Lisbon 2 West Ham 3
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, O’Brien, Taylor, Tomkins, Reid, Noble, Morrison, Nolan, Cole, Jarvis, Maiga
Subs: Adrian, Potts, Rat, Demel, Ruddock, Collins, Diame, Lletget, Lee.
Goals: Nolan 58, Morrison 59, 79.
With a game tomorrow and another on the weekend this wasnt necessarily going to be the GW1 line up and with Taylor at LB it really isnt. The star of the show was undoubtedly £4.5m fantasy premier league bargain Ravel Morrison with 2 goals. One being a spectacular long range effort. This performance against a top quality team must really put him in the frame for a start in GW1. The game also confirmed that Kevin Nolan knows how to get in goal scoring positions and new LB Rat can create chances as he was involved in 2 goals. Both players are a little over valued in my mind at £7.0m and £5.0m respectively. Joe Cole provided the assist for Morrisons other goal. With another game tomorrow I expect the one on the weekend against Pacos De Ferrira at home to be as close as possible to a GW1 line up.
Fulham 1 Betis 1
Lineup:
Stekelenburg; Riether (Hughes 84′), Richardson; Sidwell; Amorebieta, Hangeland; Dejagah (Duff 64′), Derek Boateng (Karagounis 70′); Rodallega (Mesca 72′); Berbatov; Ruiz (Kasami 80′)
Unused substitutes:
Stockdale, Etheridge, John Arne Riise, Senderos, David
Jol played 4-4-1-1 formation unfortunately with Berba behind Rodallega and Ruiz on the flank. With Fulham having good fixtures Berba has to be within our thoughts. However in my mind it only works if he is up top with Ruiz behind him. Sidwell scored the goal from a Ruiz corner and the only other players of note were the GK Stekelenburg and right mid Dejagh .
The last game is on Wednesday at home to Parma. With Darren Bent possibly joining and Adel Tarrabt now joined on a season long loan the line up becomes even more unpredictable. Its possible Tarrabt could play behind Berba and Ruiz on the flank but I think its more likely that common sense and the obvious that we can all see will take over and Berba will take his rightful place leading the line in front of Ruiz with Taaabt on the left flank as he did for large parts of his QPR career
Thats it only 2 games today
Here’s the link to my GW1 fixture ease schedule:
http://www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-fixture-ease-schedule-gw1/