Saturday Roundup

Pretty quiet fantasy day today despite 15 goals being scored in 5 games. Goalscorers like Yebda (0.0%), Vennegoor of Hesselink (0.3%) and Fletcher (0.5%) ensured that most teams will have failed to score too many points, as will the fact that the only clean sheet was kept by Portsmouth, on the road! The only fantasy star to register a goal for the week was the impressive Darren Bent who was also credited with a man of the match award of 3 points. Having missed out through the first 6 games, Bent now seems to have got the pundits attention having notched back-to-back clean sheets, despite the fact that Cana or Cattermole were widely praised as the dominate players in the fixture. This added scoring category makes Bent even better and the fact he went to Old Trafford and scored makes him not only a guaranteed every week play, but also a captain candidate if the matchup looks good.

The biggest game in fantasy terms was Sunderland's surprise draw at Old Trafford which reaffirms my high regards for Steve Bruce's side. I am also further convinced that United hold very little fantasy value right now as the majority of their team is either overvalued or at risk of rotation. Having assumed Giggs would keep his place in the side and that either of Carrick and Anderson might be rested, I was shocked that all three missed out, and worse for fantasy owners, Carrick and Anderson came on and contributed nothing thus sentencing their managers to a 1 point haul. Of the United midfield I think only Fletcher warrants consideration, and even he is at risk of rotation due to Ferguson's hesitance to drop the Scottish terrier in midweek European ties. Up front, Berbatov has shown some signs of life but is grossly overvalued at 9.5m while Rooney's display of petulance and sulking today show why he isn't - and never will be - in Torres' class in both reality and fantasy terms.
The real surprise though is United's frailty at the back, which was underlined again today. With just three clean sheets this season (Birmingham, Wigan and Stoke) United defenders are not worth 6.7m+ as similar points hauls can be found from Villa (4.5m+), City (5.5m+) and Stoke (4.5m+) players. Foster is still okay value at 5.1m but there is no way he keeps his place when van der Dar returns and with Liverpool and Chelsea on the horizon it might be worth shopping for his replacement sooner rather than later.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring more fantasy excitement and I am relying on Arsenal - Song, Cesc and Van Persie (c) - to rescue me after a poor Saturday on which just 13 points were scored.