The first round of EPL games have been concluded with a big Chelsea win. Needless to say, the biggest disappointment was Liverpool being held to a draw at Sheffield United!
They might have done little to suggest that they can challenge for the title, and with the gap 2 points from Chelsea, the race might be over already. But many fail to note that Liverpool weren't playing their top strength team - probably with the Champions League qualifier against Macabi Haifa in sight. With Gerrard playing on the right where he is much less effective - evident with his surging run which lead to the (arguably controversial) penalty when he was playing in the centre - Liverpool also lost top players Carragher and Riise early in the game. That means that very few tactical changes can be made. Also, Finnan, Xabi Alonso and Peter Crouch were missing from the starting line-up. But whether or not they were on the bench is not important because they never made it to the field. I wouldn't write off Liverpool's chances just yet!
Arsenal struggled too against Aston Villa. But they were at home! It can be said, it's not really their home ground because it's a new stadium, and that's the first time they are playing there as well! For Arsenal, I was glad to see Theo Walcott make an appearance. Arsenal played a pretty much full-strength team. With Campbell out of the club, and Swiss Senderos still injured from the World Cup, they had to play Johan Djourou in defence with Kolo Toure. Worse still, Ashley Cole still refuses to sort out his future and so Wenger wouldn't play him yet - Justin Hoyte fills his big boots. Arsenal had full strength in midfield and attack with names like Fabregas, Helb and Henry filling the team sheet. For Vila, Lee Hendrie had an aweful game again - just coming off the bench to receive a yellow card and doing pretty much nothing else. I'm a fan of the old Lee Hendrie and hope he gets more match practice to dispell his poor run of form. And by the way, what's the news on Baros? He is loaned out? Is he injured?
And the rest...
Everton beat Watford with AJ scoring. If you been following this blog, you would know I'm a fan of Andy Johnson - always quoting his stats. Well, he proved he can score in any level! Great buy Everton!
Reading provided the somewhat shock of the round by beating Southgate's Middlesborough 3-2 after coming from 0-2 down. I don't want to talk about this match because I bet on it to end as a draw. Also, I removed Kitson from my fantasy league team just a day before the season started and he scored!
West Ham hammered Charlton with Troare showing exactly why Liverpool sold him. Darren Bent got his season off to a scoring start though. But Zamora and Carlton Cole upstaged last-season's top scorer Marlon Harewood.
Newcastle had a useful win over Wigan at home. Ameobi was having to fill big shoes, and he did by scoring the winner. I've been a fan of Ameobi although he gets alot of stick from the media as not being a good enough Alan Shearer replacement.
Pompski got off to an excellent start with Kanu the hero (and villian at the same time) scoring 2 goals but missing a what-could-have-been-a-hat-trick penalty. Todorov tapped in the other goal in a 3-0 victory over poor Blackburn (with had two players - Lucas Neil and Andy Todd - sent off). Their not going to repeat their 6th in the league with that performance! Though Brad Friedel made 8 saves, he still let in 3 goals, goes to show the domination as a result of the Pompski Revolution under Harry Redknapp (and Russian money spinner).
Bolton beat a poor Tottenham 2-0 with Ivan Campo scoring a fluke goal. Well, I think he did intend to try to strike it from 40 yards out, but he was lucky that England keeper Robinson was caught by surprise. It wasn't a good result for my yahoo fantasy team because I had Berbatov in it. Neither was it for my money as I bet on a draw.
Chelsea had a thumping victory over Man City and the scoreline should have been much more really. I did have Distin in my yahoo team - but good thing he didn't earn me negative points. Terry was a star in defence (and getting a goal as well) while Lamps and Drogba finished the job.
Lastly, is the biggest victory of the first round were Rooney, Ronaldo and Saha were on form firing Manchester United to the top of the league with a 5-1 win over Fulham. Saha showed us exactly why he left Fulham - to score goals past them! Christanval and Ian Pearce absolutely had no answers to the Manchester forwards' questions. Anyone with Rooney and Cris Ron in their fantasy team would have done well this week.
To conclude, I would access my yahoo! fantasy team
Forwards
Rooney - awesome with 33.5 points! Only problem is his value shot up so much, I don't want to sell him though he is suspended for the next 3 games in case I can't buy him back!
Sheva - didn't do anything, so at least his price dropped.
Berbatov - didn't do much but still got 5 points from drawing fouls.
Mids
Gerrard - a disappointing game by his standards, but he can only improve.
Phil Neville - if they allowed me, I might as well have left it blank. He brought in a miserly 0.5 points. Don't buy defensive midfielders, they can't score points - though they are really cheap
Ballack
Rosicky - both didn't play, what a waste. Anyone knows if Rosicky is injured?
Defence
Terry - was a star in the game against City, raked in loads of points!
Distin - was average considering his team got whacked 3-0 by the champions
Carragher - unfortunate to be stretchered off around just 20+ minutes. He did manage to block two shots before that though - earning some points. His price went up, so I can't sell him too though he might be injured for next week.
Keeper
Reina - 0 saves, let in a goal. That's all there is to say.
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