Gameweek 5 preview – surely Rooney can’t do it again?
- By Aaron Clements
- 15/09/11
- Opinion
- 16 Comments
- Add a comment
Firstly, sorry for the recent lack of new articles. A disappointing start to my fantasy season has left me cursing my luck, while I’ve been distracted with other things too.
Fear not, I’m now raring to go with renewed optimism ahead of what could be an interesting Gameweek. Here’s my thoughts on the upcoming weekend.
Let’s start with the heavyweight clashes. Chelsea travel to Old Trafford and face a Man United side that have scored 18 goals in their first 4 matches.
Can they stop Rooney and co? It seems unlikely, despite having Cech and Luiz back from injury.
Rooney intrigues me here. Fantasy managers, particularly the ones at the top of their leagues, have captained Rooney every week, so I’m interested to see their next move. There aren’t too many obvious captain choices.
Chelsea are no Arsenal. They’ll be well organised and have been one of the best defensive teams so far.
Tottenham face Liverpool at White Hart Lane. Big game. Spurs already need the points, while Liverpool need to bounce back from their defeat at Stoke.
Adebayor and Suarez are the men to keep an eye on here. There’s a bandwagon going already for Adebayor, after his debut goal at Wolves, while Suarez’s recent blanks have seen surprising sales and he’s suffered a price drop.
I fancy Liverpool to narrowly win this one. Spurs have conceded the most shots on goal of any team (and are missing Michael Dawson), while Liverpool look tight and will be rested after no European football midweek. A 1-0 or 2-1 win for Liverpool with Suarez involvement would not surprise me.
Adebayor is definitely one to watch at £8m, although I’ll be waiting for this fixture to pass before considering him.
The weekly Man City headache mainly revolves around the strikers again. Aguero played the full 90 minutes against Napoli in midweek, while Dzeko was replaced on 80 minutes by Tevez.
Aguero looks favourite to be rested here, despite his hat-trick last weekend. After all, 4 goals wasn’t enough to save Dzeko from the chop, and Mancini recently said he’ll constantly rotate Aguero, Dzeko and Tevez. It’s a lottery!
Fulham looked average against Blackburn at Craven Cottage last weekend, and I think Man City will win this at ease. A 3-1 victory seems likely to me, but it’s anyone’s case who’ll come away with City’s attacking points.
Arsenal go to Blackburn and fantasy managers will be hoping Robin van Persie can redeem himself after last week.
The Dutchman has scored 8 goals in his last 10 games against Blackburn, while he’s also scored in 11 of his last 12 away games, including a midweek goal at Dortmund. Encouraging signs.
Blackburn won’t be easy on their own patch, especially with Samba (if fit) and Dann in the heart of their defence. They’ve not been conceding too many shots on goal, and I think this could be a draw or a narrow Arsenal win.
Bolton and Everton will be desperate for 3 points this weekend as both sides have hard matches to follow.
I fancy Everton to beat Wigan. I’m not convinced of a clean sheet but Leighton Baines looks a very good option here.
If you’re tempted to sign him up, take a look at the fixtures first. Everton next face Man City (away), Liverpool (home), Chelsea (away), Fulham (away) and Man United (home), so I’d question his value at £8m, even though he’ll be on penalties, free kicks and corners.
I also fancy Bolton for a comfortable victory over Norwich. Norwich are all over the place defensively and Martin Petrov and Ivan Klasnic are my picks here.
Petrov has started the season on fire, bringing back memories of his form for Man City. He’s actually created 11 goalscoring opportunities for Bolton in their first 4 games, and looks good value at £5.7m, especially as he’s on set pieces too.
If Chris Brunt fails his Friday fitness test, Petrov could be an option for my Alicante XV side!
Can Swansea score their first goal of the season against West Brom? Scott Sinclair has rattled the woodwork in the last couple of games so he’ll be one of the favourites to score if Swansea break their duck.
Aston Villa v Newcastle, Wolves v QPR, and Sunderland v Stoke could all be tight affairs. If there is to be a winner, I’d back those 3 home teams.
Charles N’Zogbia loves playing against his former club Newcastle and this might just kick start his Villa career!
Here’s my predictions then.
Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle
Bolton 3-1 Norwich
Everton 2-0 Wigan
Swansea 1-2 West Brom
Wolverhampton 1-1 QPR
Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool
Fulham 1-3 Man City
Sunderland 0-0 Stoke
Man United 2-1 Chelsea
16 Comments
Quick go, not much thought, just totally off the top of my head!
Blackburn 0-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle
Bolton 2-1 Norwich
Everton 3-0 Wigan
Swansea 2-2 West Brom
Wolverhampton 2-1 QPR
Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool
Fulham 0-2 Man City
Sunderland 1-0 Stoke
Man United 2-1 Chelsea
Great article!
I wonder if i should drop aguero.. you guys have convinced me hes going to be rested this weekend and City can afford to drop him too against Fulham.
Im still not convinced with Arsenal, even with their new signings.. Blackburn are at home too, im guessing a draw there.
when it comes to the game of the week, United vs Chesea. I dont see Chelsea winning this at all. Sure chelsea are undefeated so far but a lousy draw at stoke, barely fended off West brom and Sunderland very nearly salvaged a point last week with a late comeback.
Whereas United have been epic, even for a united fan such as myself i dint see this coming. An 8-2 mauling of sorry Arsenal and two Wazza hat tricks says it all.
Liverpool and Spurs will be tight game.
Predictions:
Blackburn 1-1 Arsenal
Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle
Bolton 2-0 Norwich
Everton 2-0 Wigan
Swansea 1-2 West Brom
Wolverhampton 1-0 QPR
Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool
Fulham 0-3 Man City
Sunderland 0-0 Stoke
Man United 3-0 Chelsea
I will also be sticking with Captaining Rooney and backing him to score against Chelsea. 
Which would you guys pick from Klasnic and Agbonlahor for this week?
I know Klasnic is a heavy favourite for this week, but I just have this feeling that despite his efforts he’ll come away empty handed and/or get subbed around 70 mins.
The Villa-Newc game looks a tight affair and it’s a good bet to end goalless, but the plus for Agbonlahor is that even if he doesn’t score, he’ll get bonus points for trying.
So I’m in a bit of a dilemma here, your views are appreciated.
Hi Inoue, I’d go Agbonlahor because he has a nicer couple of games after this weekend (qpr WIG whereas Klasnic has ars CHE).
Thanks for the feedback guys! Good predictions and thoughts here. Dudu, I’d stick with Aguero personally. 
Thought I’d have a punt at predictions although I’m fairly useless at these:
Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 3-1 Newcastle
Bolton 2-0 Norwich
Everton 2-1 Wigan
Swansea 0-1 West Brom
Wolverhampton 1-0 QPR
Tottenham 2-2 Liverpool
Fulham 0-3 Man City
Sunderland 0-0 Stoke
Man United 2-1 Chelsea
It’s going to be a difficult choice for my captain this week, could use a defender…
Here’s another one doing my head in – Danny Simpson or Shawcross for this week?
Who’ll score higher do you guys think?
BTW I’ll have a go as well I guess:
Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle
Bolton 3-1 Norwich
Everton 1-0 Wigan
Swansea 1-1 West Brom
Wolverhampton 2-0 QPR
Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool
Fulham 1-3 Man City
Sunderland 0-0 Stoke
Man United 2-0 Chelsea
@inoue, I’d go both of them. I don’t know how your defensive line goes like, but I’d really have them both in the starting XI myself.
Captaincy?
I’ve failed in this since the start of the season thanks to Taarabt GW1, Torres GW2, Suarez GW3 and Ashley Young GW4. It felt like I’d never get a good decision re who I should go for as my captian.
I’m probably going for Rooney this weekend, so fingers crossed he’s going to break my duck.
@mesh
My defense consists of Ward and Kompany as the other two. Not keen on dropping Ward, so the other possible stinker is Dzeko, but as long as he starts or not play at all, he should be fine.
As for this week’s captaincy, I’d personally go for Rooney as well – in top form, at home, against a Chelsea defense who’s been conceding uncharacterisically. The other safe bets, on the face of it, are maybe Silva or Klasnic.
I respect your view mate, but I really fancy QPR to score this weekend. Ward is a great choice though when it comes to his attacking flair, and as long as you’ve to decide on one of the two, Shawcross and Simpson, I’d go for Shawcross. He is in my team and I’m playing him ahead of Jonny Evans.
Man City will drop points at Fulham this weekend. I also think Man Utd-Chelsea will be a draw. Brazilian press are commenting on Man City as being ‘the new Chelsea’ and favourites for the EPL title…. Very early to make such calls in my opinion.
It’s very early to make calls on anything really.. What the past couple of seasons have taught us is how unpredictable the league is. The media will make any obvious predictions based on the present and quote themselves later if they transpire. They also love to provoke readers to garner hits and sell papers, so whatever they write is purely within their interest.
Hi Inoue, did you go with my suggestion and pick Agbonlahor instead of Klasnic? Agbonlahor goal and Klasnic red card!
Gread read. I’m actully one of those who fancy Aguero being rested this weekend though hope not. He’s been used much of late, and it’s probably the best game where he gets a rest and comes on in the scond half, though I’d like to think he might get a start and come off early on in the second half.
I also doubt Chris Brunt would make it to Wales. Roy might think it’s not the toughest game where he must take the lad over there with him as they won the last game with Brunt benched, and let’s not forget Gera is back so he’s got good options there in midfield.
On United front, Fergie rested 6 players ahead of the big game on Sunday and that probably says it all in terms of how much he’s looking forward to winning it. Chelsea have not been in a great form of late, but they still didn’t lose as they managed to win all thier games following a disappointing draw at Stoke. It won’t be easy for United, but they’ve got a bigger chance of winning it as far as I’m concerned.
Finally, I must say that I’ve been very impressed with the defensive form of Stoke City and Newcastle. They’ve both kept 3 clean sheets in four games, which is brilliantly impressive honestly. And I fancy them to keep a clean sheet this week as well.
Predictions?
Blackburn – Arsenal < Blackburn win.
Aston Villa – Newcastle < Draw
Bolton – Norwich < Bolton win.
Everton – Wigan < Draw
Swansea – West Brom < Draw
Wolverhampton – QPR < QPR win
Tottenham – Liverpool < Tottenham win.
Fulham – Man City < City win.
Sunderland – Stoke < Stoke win.
Man United – Chelsea< United win.
Cheers!