Heres my first review of the game week by match and then a summary of the leading data. BTW I wont mention shooting stats or chances created if the player did less than 3 of either in the match
Heres the structureby game:
1. match line ups
2 possession stats
3. match shot stats
4. Barclays fantasy premier league goals assists and bonus ‘
5. a short paragraph re the game
6. shooting stats by player
Then to wrap it up at the end I will give the top 10 shooting stats for the game week for midfielders and forwards. I will aggregate them when we get to GW4. Just because they are in the top 10 stats means they wont necessarily be in the 12w list. That will depend on game time and positional prospects plus upcoming fixtures. its a mammoth read so hope you find it usefule
Arsenal 0 v 0 Sunderland
Arsenal
01 Szczesny
04 Mertesacker
05 Vermaelen
25 Jenkinson
28 Gibbs
02 Diaby (Ramsey – 69′ )
08 Arteta
14 Walcott (Arshavin – 77′ )
19 Cazorla
09 Podolski (Giroud – 64′ )
27 Gervinho
Sunderland
22 Mignolet
11 Richardson
16 O’Shea
24 Cuellar
06 Cattermole
07 Larsson (Meyler – 78′ )
08 Gardner
14 Colback
23 McClean
28 Sessegnon (Saha – 63′ )
09 Campbell (Elmohamady – 68′ )
match stats
Possession: Arsenal 52% Sunderland 48%
Shots: Arsenal 14/4 Sunderland 3/2
Arsenal lined up without Song who’s now left and surprisingly with Giroud with Gervinho being the surprise inclusion. Diaby looks to be the replacement for Song
Sunderland started with Oshea and Cuellar as CBs and richardson at LB and Gardner at RB. Sessegnon played up front with Campbell on the flank.
Shooting stats
Best were from walcott and gervinho although neither sowed any shooting accuracy. carzola was streets ahead of in creating chances which shows the fruitlessness of Assist based midfielders where you rely on others to get your points.
No one of any note shooting or creating chances for sunderland.
Fulham 5 v norwich 0
Fulham 4-4-1-1
01 Schwarzer
03 JA Riise
05 Hangeland
18 Hughes
27 Riether
16 Duff (Kasami – 74′ )
19 Diarra
31 Kacaniklic
30 Dembele
11 Ruiz (Sidwell – 81′ )
10 Petric (Rodallega – 68′ )
Norwich City 4-4-1-1
01 Ruddy
02 R Martin
06 Turner
23 Tierney
24 R Bennett
04 Johnson
08 Howson
11 Surman (Morison – 46′ )
12 Pilkington
07 Snodgrass (E Bennett – 56′ )
09 Holt (Hoolahan – 77′ )
Match Stats
possession: Fulham 56% Norwich 44%
Shots: Fulham 11/9 Norwich 4/2
fantasy premier league stats
Goals scored
Sidwell
Duff
Kacaniklic
Petric (2)
Assists
Riise
Duff
Ruiz
Petric
Rodallega
Saves
Schwarzer (2)
Ruddy (4)
Bonus
Duff (2)
Kacaniklic
Petric (3)
20 shots to 6! A good old fashioned pummelling. Norwich for all their good defensive efforts in pre-season were awful.
shooting stats
surprisingly the most umber of shots came from Pilkington although none on target.
It was 3 shots 3 goals for petric so lets not get too carried away just yet.
£4.5m cheapie kakaniklic had the next est stats after Petric with Ruiz also looking positive although all outside the box.
In chances created Ruiz and Holt lead the way
QPR 0 v Swansea 5
QPR 4-4-1-1
01 Green
05 Ferdinand
06 Hill (Wright-Phillips – 64′ )
15 Onuoha
20 Fabio Booked
02 Diakite Booked (Derry – 86′ )
07 Park Ji-sung
12 Mackie
23 Hoilett
10 Taarabt
09 Cisse (Johnson – 77′ )
Swansea City 4-4-1-1
01 Vorm
03 Taylor
04 Chico
06 Williams
22 Rangel Booked
07 Britton
12 Dyer (Sinclair – 77′ )
15 Routledge
20 De Guzman Booked (Agustien – 70′ )
09 Michu (Gower – 84′ )
10 Graham
match stats
possession: swansea 62% QPR 38%
Shooting QPR 20/11 Swansea 12/8
Goals scored
Dyer (2)
Sinclair
Michu (2)
Assists
Routledge (2)
Agustien
Michu
Bonus
Williams
Dyer (3)
Michu (2)
A counter attacking master class especially from 12w Michu. The possession stats belie that though and show an improved swansea of old. cant wait for the saturday home game against west ham
shooting stats
Taarabt will always lead the shooting stats but again far too many outside the box and far too many off target. The amount inside the box and on target suggests he should have scored. hes worth monitoring
Michu was next with a masterclass of accurate shooting inside the box. Cant be faulted.
hoilett showed some shooting form inside the box just not on target
12w graham didnt register
Park and Taarabt lead the way in chances created
Reading 1 stoke city 1
Reading 4-4-2
01 Federici
02 Gunter
05 Pearce
17 Gorkss Booked
23 Harte
08 Leigertwood Booked
11 McAnuff
19 Robson-Kanu (McCleary – 67′ )
20 Guthrie
07 Pogrebniak (Hunt – 77′ )
09 Le Fondre
stoke 4-4-2
01 Begovic Booked
04 Huth
12 Wilson
17 Shawcross Booked
28 Wilkinson Booked
06 Whelan (Palacios – 86′ )
18 Whitehead Dismissed after an earlier booking
21 Kightly (Jerome – 75′ )
26 Etherington (Delap – 80′ )
19 Walters
25 Crouch
Match stats
possession: reading 59% Stoke 41%
Shots: Reading 9/3 stoke 6/3
Goals scored
Le Fondre
Assists
McCleary
Goals scored
Kightly
Assists
Whelan
Bonus
Whelan (2)
Kightly (3)
Crouch (2)
12w cheapies Guthrie and Gorkks both played but made little contribution and le Fondre scored despite me recommending Pog. 12w stoke Cheapie Whitehead got sent off.
shooting stats
Le fondre lead the way in shooting stats for reading walters for stoke. Crouch was the only one that registered in chances created
WBA 3 Liverpool 0
West Bromwich Albion4-4-1-1
01 Foster
02 Reid
03 Olsson
06 Ridgewell
23 McAuley
05 Yacob
21 Mulumbu
09 Long (Lukaku – 68′ )
22 Gera (Fortune – 68′ Booked )
07 Morrison (Brunt – 82′ )
24 Odemwingie
Liverpool 4-3-3
25 Reina
02 Johnson Booked
05 Agger Dismissed
34 Kelly
37 Skrtel
08 Gerrard
21 Lucas Booked (Cole – 68′ )
24 Allen
19 Downing (Carragher – 60′ )
07 Suarez Booked
29 Borini
match stats
possession WBA 43% liverpool 57%
shots WBA 15/10 liverpool 14/7
Goals scored
Gera
Lukaku
Odemwingie
Assists
Ridgewell
Morrison
Long
Penalties missed
Long
Bonus
Ridgewell
Gera (2)
Odemwingie (3)
Penalties saved
Reina
The expectation that the liverpool defence wuld be improved by the possession game couldnt have been any further than the truth. Liverpool were awful defensively. at the other end how Suarez didnt score is beyond me. Jury still out on WBA as Liverpool were just awful
shooting stats
Suarez dominated the shooting stats where on paper you would have thought he would have got a hat trick until you saw that only 1/4 were on target. How could you put this guy in your team after this. He looks world class until he shoots.
Gerrard and Mulumbu were the only others who registered but both were outside the box dominated.
Johnson the only one to register on chances created
West Ham 1 Villa 0
West Ham 4-3-3
Jaaskelainen
02 Reid
03 McCartney (O’Brien – 71′ )
19 Collins
20 Demel
04 Nolan (Tomkins – 73′ )
16 Noble
21 Diame
14 Taylor
09 Cole (Maiga – 81′ )
12 Vaz Te
Aston Villa 4-4-1-1
01 Given
04 Vlaar
06 Clark Booked
32 Baker
34 Lowton
14 Holman (Weimann
08 El Ahmadi
10 N’Zogbia (Gardner – 74′ )
16 Delph (Bannan – 77′ )
07 Ireland
09 Bent
match stats
possession: West Ham 49% Villa 51%
shots: West Ham 8/4 Villa 10/6
Goals scored
Nolan
Assists
Vaz Te
Bonus
Collins (3)
Reid (2)
Nolan (2)
Paul Lambert made no attacking impact and 12w recommened NZog and Bent got no returns together with 12w noble. 12w cheapie Demel played and got a clean sheet although obviously he was on my bench! 12w cheapie stevens was surprisingly on the bench in favour of baker which came from nowhere in pre-season. i should have none better than to give any selection recommendation from lambert so apologies to anyone who had him
Shooting stats
Nolan lead the way here. 12w villa players NZog and Bent failed to register and have to be on the question mark list for the home game against Everton. Only new boy Vlaar registered with a few outside the box shots.
Ireland lead the way on chances created
Newcastle 2 tottenham 1
Newcastle United 4-4-2
01 Krul
03 Santon
05 Simpson Booked
14 Perch
27 S Taylor
04 Cabaye Booked (Anita – 71′ )
10 Ben Arfa
18 Gutierrez
24 Tiote
09 Cisse
19 Ba (Obertan – 85′ )
Tottenham Hotspur 4-2-3-1
24 Friedel
04 Kaboul
13 Gallas
28 Walker
32 Assou-Ekotto
29 Livermore Booked
30 Sandro Booked (Kane – 85′ )
07 Lennon
11 Bale
22 Sigurdsson (Van der Vaart – 68′ )
18 Defoe
match stats
possession: Newcastle 60% Spurs 40%
Shots: Newcastle 6/4 spurs 12/6
goals scored
Ben Arfa
Ba
Assists
Simpson
Bonus
Simpson
Ben Arfa (3)
Gutierrez
Ba (3)
Goals scored
Defoe
Assists
Lennon
Some Ben Arfa and Ba magic saved Newcastle when as usual they should lose. Newcastle lined up as they would have been expected before the Pardew smoke screens about half the squad. Spurs didn’t play VDV which was the big shock. Sigurdsson was a first half revelation although his substitution for Sigurdsson was a little of a worry. Im seeing what happens this week before I start taking VDV out of my teams
Shooting stats
Defoe led the way here with an excellent stats performance. however adebayors signing will change all that
Sigurdsson then followed but again his shooting is mainly outside the box. 12w Bale was dissapointing and didnt register. he never doesnt register! this is a worry with great fixtures coming and Spurs captain armband opportunities coming.
sigurdsson lead the way on chances created
None of the Newcastle players featured statistically
Wigan 0 Chelsea 2
Wigan Athletic 3-4-3
26 Al Habsi
03 Alcaraz
05 Caldwell Booked
21 Ramis
17 Boyce
31 Figueroa
04 McCarthy
10 Maloney (Gomez – 48′ )
11 Moses
16 McArthur Booked (Watson – 80′ )
09 Di Santo (Kone – 67′ )
Chelsea 4-2-3-1
01 Cech
02 Ivanovic
03 Cole
04 David Luiz Booked
26 Terry
08 Lampard Booked
12 Mikel
34 Bertrand
17 Hazard (Oscar – 64′ )
10 Mata (Meireles – 82′ )
09 Torres
match stats
possession: Wigan 44% Chelsea 56%
shots: Wigan 12/4 chelsea 5/3
Goals scored
Ivanovic
Lampard
Assists
Hazard (2)
Bonus
Ivanovic (3)
Lampard (2)
Hazard
I was going to go for Ashley Cole as my Chelsea defence cover but changed it for the attacking instincts of Ivanovic and because long term Bertrand is starting to look as viable cover for him. Ivanovic repaid that faith with a goal and a clean sheet. The same can’t be said for Torres who was everything I knew he was but hoped he wouldn’t be. Mata also flattered to deceive and my decision to swap him for Hazard for his supposed central position was a mistake. Mata again showed why I don’t like assist based players and showed no goal threat. Ironically hazard and Mata swapped positions so much there was no Mata central bias.
In terms of “one to watch” (12w) players Hazard and Ivanovic succeeded but Mata and Torres flopped. Got to hope that the home game over Reading improves their performances
Shooting stats
Interestingly 12w Hazard, Mata and Torres didnt even come close to registering statistically on shooting or chances created despite Hazards returns. Di Santo and Gomez lead the way statistically with figueroa on chances created
Manchester City 3 Southampton 2
Manchester City 4-4-2
01 Hart
04 Kompany
05 Zabaleta
06 Lescott
22 Clichy
08 Nasri Booked
17 Rodwell
21 Silva (Balotelli – 72′ )
42 Y Toure
16 Aguero (Dzeko – 14′ )
32 Tevez (Kolarov – 87′ )
Southampton 4-5-1
01 K Davis
02 Clyne
05 Hooiveld
06 Fonte
13 Fox Booked
04 Schneiderlin Booked
16 Ward-Prowse (S Davis – 65′ )
20 Lallana
21 Guly
42 Puncheon (Sharp – 86′ )
09 Rodriguez (Lambert – 55′ )
match stats
possession: Manchester City 64% Southampton 36%
shots: Manchester City 20/15 Southampton 9/6
City lined up in 4-4-2. Nasri and Silva both started and Nasri was deservedly MOM with a goal and assist. My reasoning for not having him in is I just cant see Mancini starting away games with both players and Nasri after last year, you think will be the most dispensable although he was light years ahead of Silva today. 12w player Zabaleta started as did cheapie 12w players Clyne, Schneirderlin and Fonte. Another cheapie who started was Jason Puncheon who showed good attacking intent. The city strikers were indeed Tevez and Aguero although Aguero went off after 14 minutes with an injury. Apparently out for a month although with the international break this is quite short term. It may give a short term opportunity for £7.5m Dzeko to get some game time at least until Ballotelli becomes match fit after Euro 2012 and an injury. Tevez scored and looked well worth his place. Aguero’s injury would also cement his place.
The City defence didn’t warrant the faith I had in it looking fairly vulnerable all round and especially to the counter attack which does not bode well for clean sheets.
shooting stats
Great stats all over the place from Tevez especially as well as Silva Nasri and Dzeko. The only question re Nasri is whether he will start away games. Away to Liverpool this week will be interesting. Nasri YYT and Silva all rolled up on the chances created front but YYT not on the shooting front.
Everton 1 Manchester United 0
Everton 4-4-1-1
24 Howard
02 Hibbert
03 Baines
06 Jagielka
15 Distin
18 Neville
04 Gibson Booked
21 Osman (Coleman – 80′ )
22 Pienaar
25 Fellaini (Heitinga – 90′ )
07 Jelavic (Naismith – 89′ )
Manchester United
01 De Gea
03 Evra
15 Vidic
07 Valencia
16 Carrick
22 Scholes Booked
23 Cleverley (Anderson – 85′ )
26 Kagawa
17 Nani Booked (Young – 78′ )
10 Rooney
19 Welbeck (Van Persie – 68′ )
match stats
possession: Everton 44% Man U 56%
shots: Everton 16/7 Man U 12/7
Goals scored
Fellaini
Assists
Gibson
Bonus
Jagielka
Baines (3)
Fellaini (2)
How did Fellaini not get the 3 bonus points? Although Utd had a lot of early possession Everton came in to the game especially in the 2nd half. For Everton Fellaini was an absolute menace as a goal threat and as a provider although it was primarily as a provider with Osman and Pienaar benefiting rather than Jelavic who spent the whole time occupying Vidic. The goal resulted unsurprisingly from a header from a Gibson corner and he missed nothing in the air the whole game. Gibson and Neville offered no goal threat. Fellaini offers a real alternative to Osman and Pienaar. He’s the same price as the other 2 at £6.5m. For me I have a lot of faith in the other 2 alternatives and I would like to see Fellaini consistently play in this position behind Jelavic in the next couple of games before I would consider ditching Pienaar or ignoring Osman as an alternative. He wont always play against a defensive liability like Carrick as well. Its possible he could revert to Gibsons position and Naismith plays behind Jelavic or the new Belgian striker plays in a 2 up top.
For Utd the Kagawa was excellent and his role was defined quite neatly swapping positions with Rooney and consistently being the most forward midfielder. The Carrick Scholes pairing still remains the barrier to consistent game time to him though especially now with RVP and Rooney effectively forcing SAF to play 4-4-2 but there is no doubt that if this conundrum were removed as this formation does then he would be a real asset at £8.5m in fantasy premier league.
Nani was disappointing which gives further prospects of game time to Valencia and Young assuming Rafael returns to RB.
RVP came on for about 25 minutes but the tide had turned at this stage and he didnt get a shot on goal. Its hard to establish a pattern in that time and in that game and circumstance but it seems he will play further up than Rooney although he too was involved in the position swapping. Rooney unfortunately was poor which makes the captain choice even more difficult next week. Rooney has that ability to be poor but still score further adding to the conundrum.
shooting stats
Fellaini monstered these with Pienaar Osman Rooney and Welbeck also registering. On the chances created front Baines lead the way with kagawa fellaini and evra close behind. 12w jelavic was very quiet. villa will be an interesting monitor this week
Chelsea 4 Reading 2
Chelsea 4-2-3-1
01 Cech
02 Ivanovic
03 Cole
24 Cahill
26 Terry
08 Lampard
12 Mikel (Sturridge – 68′ )
07 Ramires (Oscar – 57′ )
17 Hazard
10 Mata (Meireles – 84′ )
09 Torres
Reading
01 Federici
02 Gunter
05 Pearce
17 Gorkss
23 Harte
04 Karacan Booked (Le Fondre – 71′ )
08 Leigertwood
11 McAnuff
McCleary (Robson-Kanu – 86′ )
20 Guthrie
07 Pogrebniak Booked (Hunt – 77′ )
match stats
possession: CHelsea 53% Reading 47%
shots: Chelsea 23/11 Reading 7/5
Goals scored
Cahill
Ivanovic
Lampard
Torres
Assists
Cole A
Hazard (3)
Bonus
Cahill (3)
Ivanovic (2)
Torres
Goals scored
Guthrie
Pogrebnyak
Assists
McAnuff
McCleary
Mcleary and cheapie karacan came in for robson kanu and Le fondre. Cahill replaced the injured Luiz and fit Ramires came in for Bertrand. In truth Chelsea always looked like they would overcome Reading in the end . Neither GK looked covered themselves in glory and even Federici should be looking over his shoulder.
shooting stats
Torres by far and away had the best shooting stats with hazard next. Mata had some stats but too much outside the box and off target
Hazard Cole and Mata led the way on chances created
LEADING 10 FORWARD SHOOTING STATS
1. Tevez
2. Defoe
3. Suarez
4. Torres v Reading
5. Petric
6. Di santo
7 Le Fondre v Stoke
8. Rooney
9. Dzeko
10. Welbeck
LEADING 10 MIDFIELD SHOOTING STATS
1. Fellaini
2. Taarabt
3. Hazard
4. Michu
5. Pienaar
6. Nasri
7. Silva
8. Gomez
9. Osman
10 Walters
