The 
Premiership wraps up the month of August, heading into the one-week International break. We didn't have a full slate of games because of Manchester United's participation in last Friday's UEFA Super Cup exhibition game against Zenit St. Petersburg. So, those of you whetting their appetites over Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and erm, Darren Fletcher running wild on poor old Fulham would have to wait for another week. However, this week was a phenomenal week had you stuck with your preseason sleepers after two disappointing weeks.
MATCH OF THE WEEKEND: Hull City 0-5 Wigan Athletic
Newly promoted Hull City got their first rude awakening of the season as they were crushed at home by Wigan, a side that like Hull, could be struggling to stave off relegation. Hands up if you started Antonio Valencia. The Ecuadorean winger proved why the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool were looking to make a smart buy of Valencia in the transfer market, as he scored a goal and set up an assist on towards Wigan's romp. Yours truly drafted Valencia in the 10th round and I think he might be a bargain if he and his fellow winger Wilson Palacios could help keep Wigan in the top flight again. It was still Amr Zaki that was the star of Wigan's five-star performance, proving to be the biggest bargain striker after 3 weeks, ratcheting a two-goal brace. Zaki only costs 6.1m pounds in the Fantasy Premier League game and 7.9m pounds in Yahoo. I still think he should only be had as a #3 striker but if you want in on what could be the ground floor of an inexpensive 15 goals or so, Zaki is a strong buy.
Everton 0-3 Portsmouth
Portsmouth finally busted loose after two straight opening defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United, shutting out Everton, 3-0, making it a relatively lackluster start to Everton's year with two straight home defeats. Those of you who stuck with Jermaine Defoe after two difficult matchups in a row were rewarded graciously as Defoe bagged two goals. The Defoe/Peter Crouch experiment up front is still a work in progress but neither figure to be in a rotation system that made them fantasy non-factors over the past year. Defoe's price has shot up by almost 3 million pounds in the Yahoo game and he's a wonderful second striker for the price if you're splurging on a top striker such as Fernando Torres or Emmanuel Adebayor. It should be interesting to see how much of a load Defoe can shoulder with midfielder Niko Krancjar out for the foreseeable future due to injury. Another big benefactor from Pompey's rout was Glen Johnson who scored Pompey's third goal and added a clean sheet to boot. In the Fantasy Premier League game, it's a very good idea to buy a defender on the cheap that can post a good deal of clean sheets and Johnson fit the bill. It was a very good day if you spent a little more for a little security between the woodwork in Pompey's veteran keeper, David James. With Pompey's able defending, Everton's Mikel Arteta was a non-factor but don't fret, as he's still a stud midfielder who will have a big say in Everton's set piece game. Unfortunately, Everton have been a little soft in the back so far this year, which means the extra investment on Joleon Lescott hasn't been quite worth it yet.
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
There's no bigger fantasy tease today than Arsenal's Robin van Persie, who like Newcastle's Michael Owen is a bit notorious for having an injury prone reputation. Nonetheless, van Persie netted Arsenal a two-goal brace, showing he's well capable of a 20-goal season, much like his striker mate, Emmanuel Adebayor. Adebayor himself hasn't quite broken out yet and even though he was a risky investment for the 10-11 million pounds in the Premier League game with the rumors of heading off to Italy, the Togo striker has pledged his loyalty to the Gooners again. That can only mean that Adebayor could be a smart buy if you can afford him. In Yahoo, Adebayor costs 15 million pounds as of today and so, you'll have to fork up something substantial for him, but his value might spike up again. Cesc Fabregas had just an OK return fantasy-wise but I'm buying on the top 5 midfielder, who only costs just under 14m in Yahoo but hasn't lost much value in the Fantasy PL game for him to be counted as a bargain. How Cesc's return will affect Arsene Wenger's new starlet, Samir Nasri remains to be seen but under the Fantasy Premiership game, I'm not shelling out 7.5-8.0 for him still, on cash that could be used on Everton's Mikel Arteta or Spurs' David Bentley. Yahoo still has Nasri at a nice bargain and he's worth hanging onto. In contrast, Newcastle's Swiss cheese defense finally proved to be up to form and so the honeymoon might be over for Fabricio Coloccini.
Sunderland 0-3 Manchester City
The weekend probably belonged to the "Shaun-shank Redemption" as Citeh welcomed back one of their lost boys, Shaun Wright-Phillips and in his first game back with City, the midfielder responded with two goals separated by a few minutes as they put away Roy Keane's Sunderland quite easily. SWP could never find himself off Chelsea's bench for the last 3 years and is usually found at the butt of many Jose Mourinho jokes on a BBC radio show called Gift Grub. Now that he's back to where he started at the club where he experienced a breakout year his last time out, SWP could be a massive bargain at 7.87 million pounds in the Yahoo game. I wouldn't raise my hopes up completely especially with Martin Petrov being a DNP but SWP surely gives Citeh more offensive creativity which they've been in short supply of at times. Stephen Ireland bagged City's other goal and Citeh's #7 might be another good grab. As for Sunderland, it's usually not a good idea to start any of the Mackems, so I'll kindly pass for now.
Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
I enjoy the London derbies personally and one of the better ones in my opinion is the pride of the West End, Chelsea and Tottenham, one half of the residents from North London (the other is Arsenal). This is a rematch of last season's Carling Cup when Spurs upset Chelsea to win their first club honor in about 9 years. Had it not been for a home win the previous year, the plucky Spurs hadn't beaten Chelsea in over 15 years, I believe
That said, a good deal of pundits and fans in general thought this one would be a walkover for Chelsea. They weren't particularly impressive against Wigan last Sunday but with Spurs off to yet another disastrous start, Chelsea could savor taking the full 9 points from the first 3 games in the title race at the expense of their North London rivals. Spurs lucked out in getting a goal from Darren Bent and their backline, which has been relatively soft the first couple of games, held out and denied Chelsea the prospects of any comfortable home victory. A few thoughts:
The aforementioned Darren Bent finally got something positive after an impressive 13-goal preseason campaign, which had shown that with new signings David Bentley and Luka Modric running the flanks that the goals could come for Bent, who's looking more like a first-choice striker with Robbie Keane onto Liverpool, Jermaine Defoe at Pompey, and Dimitar Berbatov seemingly on his way to Manchester United. Bent is fairly cheap in the Premier League game (in the 7.5-8 range) and even cheaper in Yahoo (from 6.89 to 8.30 after today's goal). He started like a house on fire for Charlton Athletic a few years back when Charlton were in the top flight and has the pedigree of a 15-20 goal striker. The problem is Bent has had the reputation of folding like an accordion in the second halves of season. So, I do have some doubts over the kid's stamina but he could be an attractive sell-high come the end of the calendar year.
I hope you didn't buy high on Bentley to start the year. After last season, Bentley was in the top 3 of fantasy midfielders in the Yahoo game, registering over 400 points, with only Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo surpassing Bentley. He was a bit overpriced, even with the move from Blackburn to Spurs but given Spurs' penchant for lousy starts, he probably wouldn't be up to scratch. Bentley came into this season in the 17-18 million range, and is only priced for 16.13 as of now. Surely not cheap but you could've had a better play than Bentley for cheaper. Eventually, you should buy Bentley though. So, buy when appropriate.
On the Chelsea end, no worries about Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, John Terry, Deco, or Jose Bosingwa (albeit the latter two picked up yellow cards) but Chelsea badly needed to coax Robinho from Real Madrid. Didier Drogba registered his 3rd straight DNP and they're even thinner with Andriy Shevchenko transferring back home to AC Milan (granted Sheva has been rubbish in England). Nicolas Anelka hasn't quite looked right ever since moving from Bolton, where he was a terrific fantasy bargain for a quality player playing on a pub team. You can forget Salomon Kalou as a first-choice man in my opinion. It seems like it's not just their title rivals, Manchester United with a bit of a striker problem, as without a healthy Drogba, one of Chelsea's main pieces is out of the mix. With 7 points taken from the first 3 games, there's no headstart on champion Manchester United unless one can be made in their clash at Stamford Bridge this September.
Aston Villa 0-0 Liverpool
This one quite possibly could've had Fernando Torres going hog wild written all over this match with Villa's back four being a suspect bunch the first couple of matches but Torres had to leave early with a hamstring pull. Instead, it was a dire draw for a match that was overshadowed by the last leg of the Gareth Barry saga of possibly moving from Villa to Liverpool. With no Steven Gerrard pulling the strings with a groin problem, Liverpool lacked any real momentum or creativity and with Torres out, a stalemate could've sounded inevitable. Liverpool's staunch defense held Villa in check for the most part, having to control Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young among others from busting through the seams. So, Liverpool go through the first 3 games, lucky to win against two easy to moderate tests against Sunderland and Middlesbrough, and fight off a dire draw against top 6 contenders Aston Villa. It turns out it was a fine day to start a Villa defender, especially Martin Laursen and the same can be said for Liverpool. Torres and Keane are a work in progress and the need for a gifted winger hasn't quite been fulfilled for Liverpool to mount a serious challenge for the Premiership this Spring. Interestingly enough, Torres and Gerrard could be doubtful for the September 13/14 weekend clash at Anfield against hated foes Manchester United. I don't really advise Torres as a strong play for the 13/14 anyway and the same for Gerrard if he does return.
In other games...
Middlesbrough eased past new boys Stoke City, 2-1 but the biggest disappointment in fantasy terms was Boro's Stewart Downing. A peach matchup for the England lad but all he could show for it was a missed penalty kick. I had him on 3 of 4 of my fantasy teams and can surely comisserate. It was a good day if you had Afonso Alves and Tuncay Sanli from the Boro camp.
West Ham trounced Blackburn with a 4-1 home victory at Upton Park. Craig Bellamy might have scored his last-gasp glory for West Ham if the minute transfer rumors are true but the only thing that counts for the Irons in fantasy terms is Dean Ashton and there wasn't a Dean Ashton sighting this time around up front for the Irons. England manager still thinks Ashton is a bit porky and needs to lose the love handles. No big day for Blackburn's stud ace, Roque Santa Cruz but with no Bentley around to feed him the ball, he'll have these days too.
Finally, Bolton and West Brom slugged out a nil-nil tie which I'm sure left nothing to the imagination.
Transfers at the death...
Tottenham have confirmed that Roman Pavlyuchenko, the Russian national forward who plays for Spartak Moscow and was one of Russia's heroes in Euro 2008, will be transferred to Spurs. What does that mean in fantasy terms? Pavlyuchenko might have some trouble adapting to England football which moves at a faster pace and the referees take a laissez-faire approach to non-calls. The Spartak man also can be wasteful in front of goal, especially as evidenced in Russia's quarterfinal upset victory of the Netherlands in this Summer's Euro 2008 tournament. I expect Pavlyuchenko to be more of an in-box asset, especially with his height being an advantage of balls through the air.
The biggest ramification of this is that it frees a transfer move for Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham to Manchester United, who are probably more willing to pay the 30 million pound transfer fee to bring "The Berba King" to Old Trafford. For over a year, Berbatov has been infamous for being far from the consummate professional for Spurs and hasn't featured in any of the Spurs Premiership games this season. Berbs is essentially the Premier League's version of Manny Ramirez, in short. In fantasy terms, I thought he was a risky high draft pick and risky for the big money given the idea that if he stays at Spurs, he might be a bit of a liability and if he goes to United, his role though more defined, might be a bit different. I don't think this downgrades him from being a top 10 fantasy player because 1) Berbatov did well for Spurs amid the speculation after a lousy start last year, and 2) United are likely to make him a pure striker.
When Cristiano Ronaldo comes back, I can see Sir Alex Ferguson possibly flirting with the 4-2-3-1 formation that AS Roma uses quite a bit. Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and Cristiano Ronaldo could play up to support Berbatov in front as their lone striker. Given Berbatov's more clinical in-box finishing over Rooney or Tevez, as more of a pure #9 than either of them, Berbatov will see his goal chances, making him a worthy replacement to a United legend, Ruud van Nistelrooy. The thing that differs Ruud from Berbatov is that the latter can be a little more mobile (Ruud didn't need to be but in his last year, he stunted the attack flow somewhat) while still adding good passing skills that a Rooney or Tevez already possess. However, if Sir Alex plays 4-4-2, this might make Tevez a sub in some instances, while playing Rooney and Berbs up front unless he decides to play Tevez as a winger-slash-forward (Sir Alex usually doesn't deploy a 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 anyway).
Lastly, Andrei Arshavin of Zenit St. Petersburg is still a long shot to be transferred to Tottenham and so, it seems like there should be a Pavlyuchenko-Bent partnership up front with new signing, Giovanni dos Santos possibly moving back to a forward role.
Week 4 Preview
The big showdown after the International break will be Liverpool v Manchester United, the Derby of England at Liverpool's ground, Anfield, with both sides possibly missing a key component or two. Cristiano Ronaldo is surely ruled out for this one for United as he heals from ankle surgery and is pushing for a late September return. Gerrard and Torres could each be a doubt for Liverpool. Play United defenders Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and Patrice Evra with confidence.
Manchester City will host Chelsea at Eastlands and I'm not expecting fireworks here and if there is, it will come off the Chelsea end. Blackburn play host to Arsenal which might be a signal to load up on Fabregas and Adebayor. If you like stacking the table against the new boys, then you'll want Everton away at Stoke, West Ham away at West Brom, and yes, break out Michael Owen right away when Newcastle play host to Hull. You don't want to get rid of your Wigan boys just yet as they have a rather favorable matchup at home against Sunderland. Tottenham and Aston Villa aren't on the slate for September 13/14 for reasons I forget right now (Carling Cup?) but basically, just make sure you have capable subs on the bench or especially in Yahoo, trade them away momentarily to play the matchups.
Chasing the Treble will be posted this Tuesday...
Lastly, a short reminder that this week's Chasing the Treble blog entry will not be posted tomorrow at its regular day but will be posted the following day on Tuesday. Yours truly will be gone for much of the day on Labor Day. Until then, keep your clothes on...
-Ray
