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conjecture

Fantasyland: Back on your feet, time to do it all again

One gameweek ends, another is just a day away. You can’t stop the world turning, and you can’t stop Liverpool disappointing.

BLOW ME DOWN with a Flymo.

It seems Manchester City are not going to hand United this title after all.

City showed real guts in their Wednesday night win over Chelsea.

After Gary Cahill’s fortunate strike gave them a game to chase (and once Fernando Torres was taken off) there only ever looked like being one winner as City patiently probed and prodded Chelsea, knowing their was a weakness just under the surface.

On Saturday evening Roberto Mancini. Carlos Tevez and the rest of the merry crew can retake the summit with just a point at the Britannia Stadium.

Tony Pulis’ men have pretty much nothing to play for having been dumped out of the FA Cup by Liverpool. Therefore, they will naturally hit this game all guns blazing, knowing their viewing figures have been multiplied ten-fold.

United will get a chance to either retake or extend a gap at the top of the table on Monday night, so you’ll have to wait until then to see your points updated.

While United end the gameweek, Chelsea and Spurs begin it. Now, that looks like a fairly tasty way to spend your Saturday lunchtime.

Two players to pick this week:

Carlos Tevez: (We’re tempted to pick Fernando Torres, but choose to reserve judgement…) If you think Man City are going to topple the apple cart and win the league, this is the guy you need to pick. It’s as simple as that.

His pricing is a little bit skewed (at £11.7M he costs more than both Aguero and Balotelli) but he’s had a nice long rest and lowered his handicap by (hmm, a rough guess?) four, so the goals are bound to flow.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: By now, everyone has Robin Van Persie in their team, those who don’t are wondering how they can afford him. Oxlade-Chamberlain is your value option this week. With Arsenal in good form, they’ll be itching to open up their home pitch.

Villa are ripe for the picking.

Two players to avoid this week

James Collins: Collins’ Villa side travel to the Emirates to face an Arsenal side looking relieved to have all that bothersome pressure of Champions league expectation lifted from their shoulders.

Tomas Vermaelen has chipped in with the late goals for the gunners of late, but with momentum behind them, we reckon he’ll let some of the strikers take the glory for a change.

Gareth Bale: Whatever happened to that free-flowing Spurs side we used to love way back in 2011? England job, burnt out or found out. Whatever the issue, it won’t be fixed by a trip to Stamford Bridge. The Welshman had an assist last week, but that was a rare one and he has not scored since January.

Predictions

Chelsea 2 – 0 Spurs

Arsenal 4 – 1 Aston Villa

Bolton 2 – 0 Blackburn

Liverpool 2 – 1 Wigan

Norwich 2 – 0 Wolves

Sunderland 2 – 1 QPR

Swansea 0 – 0 Everton

Stoke 1 – 2 Man City

West Brom 0 – 1 Newcastle

Man Utd 3 – 1 Fulham

How my team got on this week.

Eh, *cough! 36 points *cough. Next.

Who’s leading TheScore.ie league?

The gap ebbs and flows but Paudie O’Neill and his Deceptively Slow team just cannot be caught. He did almost as bad as me (38) and ceded 12 points to second place, but the gap is still a solid 13 points. Not insurmountable, but can anyone catch him?

Top scorer of the week was somebody calling himself ‘Sir Alex Cahill’ not sure who he supports but his Devils Reds side amassed 77 points thanks to solid innings’ from Jonny Evans, Antonio Valencia and a stroke of genius by picking Junior Hoilett as his captain.

Onwards.

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