Oh, how far Manchester United have fallen
Richard Lenton is an experienced journalist and broadcaster. He won Best Sports Presenter at the 2013 Asian TV Awards, and, despite being in his late 30s, still believes that he can make it as a professional footballer. www.richardlenton.co.uk Twitter: @richardlenton
What I learnt last weekend…
IT’S WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT AT UNITED
Manchester United were damn lucky to nick a point at the Stadium of Light last weekend, which shows how far they’ve fallen. United had won nine and lost none of their previous dozen visits to Sunderland so it should have been a walk in the park for Louis van Gaal’s men. The MK Dons defeat was a new low. Best of luck, Angel…
ARSENAL DO HAVE A BACKBONE
To come back from 2-0 down in the final ten minutes against a vibrant Everton side at Goodison Park is no mean feat. In previous years, especially during the nine-year trophy drought between the 2005 and 2014 FA Cup triumphs, it would have been difficult to envisage such a reaction from Arsene Wenger’s men.
POCHETTINO CAN LIFT SPURS INTO THE TOP 4
It’s a bold statement I know, and yes, it was only QPR they were hammering, but Spurs have been transformed from the one-paced, cautious team of last season, to a vibrant attacking outfit that’s packed with quality. Like Southampton last season, but better.
THERE’S NO RHYME OR REASON TO THE TRANSFER MARKET
I didn’t just learn this last weekend, but it was brought into sharp focus when Liverpool agreed a fee of £16m for a fully-fledged Italian international striker who is unplayable at his best, just a few days after Southampton had parted with £12m for Shane Long – a hard-working journeyman who scores a goal every four games on average. And don’t get me started on Ross McCormack of Fulham. £11m? Really?
Pick of this weekend: Tottenham versus Liverpool to end in over 2.5 goals
Making sense of the statistics to come up with a Premier League dead cert
I don’t normally brag about my previous week’s exploits – after all, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. But… I’m pretty chuffed that I tipped Stevan Jovetic to be the star man and that his Manchester City side’s home game against Liverpool would yield plenty of goals. I hope you all got on board. Jovetic bagged 26 points to see his price tag on Yahoo Fantasy Football rocket by £3.91 to £9.78m, which still looks like a snip.
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Anyway, moving on to this week, and again I’m looking at a Liverpool encounter and again I fancy plenty of goals. Liverpool have won their last three EPL games against Spurs, scoring an eye-popping 12 goals in the process, so a Reds win looks like a no-brainer.
However, Spurs look much improved under Mauricio Pochettino, and their pacy pressing game overwhelmed QPR last weekend. The Reds will obviously provide much sterner opposition, but it’s impossible to see them hammering five unanswered goals past Hugo Lloris as they did last season.
I’m actually tempted to go against the recent stats and back Spurs after how they performed last weekend against the Hoops, but over 2.5 goals looks like the safest option. It should be a cracking game.
Selection dilemmas
Helping you choose the right players for your Yahoo! Fantasy Premier League team
If you’re looking for a player to choose for your Yahoo Fantasy Premier League team from the Spurs versus Liverpool clash, then two of Tottenham’s reborn attacking midfielders look like great value.
Nacer Chadli and Erik Lamela are two of the Premier League’s form players, and are both still available for cut-price fees.
However, there’s a large discrepancy in popularity between the two, so you have to make a decision whether or not to take Lamela (26.31% of players have him) as a blocking move against your opponents, or Chadli (2.09% of players have him) as someone more unique to your squad. Or you could take both of course.
At £5.25m and £8.48m respectively, Lamela and Chadli are well worth a place in your 15. The two players, who were written off last season after failing to command regular first team football at White Hart Lane, have already amassed 45 points between them, and were both in scintillating form in the 4-0 drubbing of QPR.
