Manchester City, Chelsea still in pursuit

Game-week 22 -

                 Arsenal are still on the top of the league table after Carzola's brace helped them to beat Fulham 2-0 at Emirates stadium. Manchester city too won easily at Etihad where we saw 6 goals and 4 of them were city goals. But most anticipated encounter of this game-week was Chelsea vs Manchester United and Chelsea's Eto'o was in top notch form to score a hat-trick against former champions. There is very tough competition this season for top four as well as for avoiding relegation. First three team are separated by just a point whereas at the bottom all three teams have same points even after 22 game-weeks. But my favorite United looks in a very bad shape this season after the departure of Legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. Rooney is the only player who continued his heroic form this season. Hope he gets more goals in the upcoming fixtures.

       Liverpool are slowly getting carried away after the fantastic start to the season. Thanks to Gerrard's penalty they were able to draw against Aston Villa this game-week. Everton had a chance to enter in the top 4 but they couldn't win their encounter against West Brom away from home. Tottenham easily won their match against Swansea to hold their 5th position.

Game-week 23 -

                Arsenal will want to continue their fantastic run when they will meet Southampton on 28th Jan away from home. Chelsea will host West Ham and Manchester City will face Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Manchester City must win to keep their position as Chelsea are hot on their tail. There is one more exciting match this week, Liverpool against Everton. Both teams are desperately trying to get into top 4 and this is the best chance for them. Manchester United are facing Cardiff at home. I hope Rooney makes a comeback and scores.

Nike-store is a great way to shop online some soccer stuff.

Fantasy -

             This game-week was horrible for my FPL team. Injured Rooney, Huddlestone red card and once again Jaaskelainen failed to make into starting eleven. Thanks to Yaya, Suarez and Rodriguez i earned respectable points. Big names like Hazard, Ozil, Coleman failed to make impression this game-week and i dropped 100k postions in overall rankings. Now i have 2 free transfers but i couldn't decide what to do with them until now. Hope i will make a good purchase. I wanted to replace Rooney but he will be available against Cardiff so i wont replace him. Aguero is a good choice but i don't have enough funds to get him in. I might transfer in Howard for Jaaskelainen and save 1 transfer for next game-week.

Fantasy Advantage -

 Ozil, Wilshere, Cazorla, Hart (Vs Southampton),
 Hazard, Eto'o, Cech, Terry (Vs West Ham),
 Rooney, Evra, De Gea (Vs Cardiff),
 Suarez, Gerrard, Sturridge (Vs Everton),
 Yaya, Aguero, Negredo (Vs Tottenham).

Boxing day premier league - FPL Cup race to start

26th Dec -Boxing Day. 10 exciting Christmas encounters in the premier league. What a day!

Also Fantasy Premier League(FPL) Cup will start today. Our first managerial encounter of this season. I was expecting a tough opponent but unfortunately i have got an inactive FPL manager(what a waste of cup qualification!). As usual i gave an armband to Luis Suarez. Most people are saying that it wont be easy for him to score against strong opponent (Man City in this case). But i have done that mistake before when he scored 2 and assisted 3 against Tottenham.
Click here to view my FPL team.

Liverpool Vs Manchester City - I think this match will have a significant impact on the Title race. Both teams are in sublime form, scored lot of goals and are in top 4. Becuase of injury to Ageuro, Negredo and Dzeko will start, backed by Silva, Toure and Nasri. And Sturridge still recovering from injury so Suarez will take the lone forward position for Liverpool.
Liverpool will try at least to draw this match because they will face Chelsea in the next game and they cant afford to lose these crucial matches.

Arsenal who are 2nd(on goal difference to Liverpool) in the league table will face West Ham. West Ham defended quite well this season. This is tough one to call but arsenal might win with small margin. And my favourite Manchester United are facing Hull City. I hope Rooney plays an important role in their win away from home. United are certainly struggling without Sir Alex Ferguson, but still they are capable enough to overcome their current situation and move into the top 4.

4th placed Chelsea are facing Swansea. They started this season as favorites for title but the unexpected performances from Arsenal and Liverpool made this title race wide open. Swansea might give them a little headache, but still i'm rooting for Chelsea win. I predict small margin wins for Everton and Tottenham but they are playing tricky opponents this week. So if they win there will be chaos in the top 5.

FPL Advantage -  
               
Rooney, Evra, Welbeck (away-Hull), Walcott, Ozil, Mertesacker, Ramsey (away-West Ham), Howard, Lukaku, Coleman (Sunderland on Home). Lallana (away-Cardiff), Terry, Hazard (Swansea at Home).

So, lets hope for a fantastic Festive week in the premier league. Cheers!!!

Premier League 2013-14 Statistical Season Preview - Part 2

Manchester United
Last Season Finish : 1
Played : 38  Won : 28 Drawn : 5 Lost : 5 Points : 89
Manager : David Moyes (Replaced Alex Ferguson)


The Red Devils manager Alex Ferguson retired after lifting premier league trophy for the record 13th time. Manchester United had an unforgettable season last time. From the start of season they were favorites for the title and they finished 11 points ahead of their rivals Manchester City.
        
Manchester United were defeated only 3 times at Old Trafford this season which included thriller against Tottenham (2-3), Manchester City (1-2), and chelsea(0-1). But their away record was rather better than home as red devils were only defeated by Everton(0-1) and Norwich(0-1).

Their Biggest win by goal margin came against Wigan [both away and home] (4-0) and Norwich(4-0). United scored 86 goals (highest in 2012-13 season) and conceded 43.

Robin Van Persie was Premier League Top Goal scorer with 26 goals. David Moyes, former Everton manager, replaced Alex Ferguson as a manager of Manchester United when Ferguson retired after completing 26 glorious years at Old Trafford.

20-year old Right-back Guillermo Varela from Atletico Penarol was Moyes' first signing at Old Trafford. Red Devils will start their season campaign against Swansea City at Liberty Stadium and it will be interesting to see how United reacts to the departure of Alex Ferguson.

Manchester City

Last Season Finish : 2
Played : 38  Won : 23 Drawn : 9 Lost : 6 Points : 78
Manager : Manuel Pellegrini (Replaced Roberto Mancini)


The Citizens were title defenders last time but they could not defend it and finished on the 2nd place. City's home record was excellent. They only lost 2 matches at Etihad Stadium those included thriller against Manchester United(2-3) and Norwich (2-3). They were defeated 4 times in away matches against Sunderland (1-0), Southampton (3-1), Everton(2-0) and Tottenham (3-1).

Citizens' biggest win by goal margin was against Aston Villa(5-0). City netted 66 goals in total and conceded only 34 lesser than any other team in the premier league.

Edin Dzeko with 14 goals was Manchester City's top goal scorer last season. Midfielder Fernandinho is the first signing of Manuel Pellegrini this season who replaced Roberto Mancini as a manager of City. He also signed Right-winger Jesus Navas and strikers Alvaro Negredo and Steven Jovetic.

Citizens will start their season at Etihad Stadium against Newcastle United and hoping to lift premier league trophy under the realm of Pellegrini.

download/read premier league season review 2012-13.