Never Captain Nicky Butt

Bale is a doubt with an ankle problem, but will fantasy managers regret transferring him out if he plays & torches Norwich?

Arsenal took down Manchester City, and some interesting refereeing decisions helped Manchester United beat QPR and Chelsea beat Wigan, respectively…

Now the games come thick and fast and while the race for third and fourth is WIDE open (Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle gunning for just two spots) it looks like Manchester United will stroll to another title…

That said, while Manchester City may not get the “real life,” points, don’t count them out for “Fantasy Points” in the coming weeks – the schedule looks pretty tasty. Here we go…

I. Chelsea @ Fulham:  A fun London derby as Chelsea may rotate the squad a bit (with FA Cup, Champions League, and league obligations) while Fulham and Clint Dempsey are only 2 points off a place in Europe. Massive stuff, this.

Dempsey, of course, is the highest scoring midfielder in the entire fantasy game. Yes, you read that correctly. The American has 181 fantasy points. Gareth Bale is next with 172 – more on the Welshman later in the column. Dempsey is the third highest scoring player in the entire game. Only RVP and Rooney have had better seasons, statistically. Just a big “Wow” all around.

Kudos to Dempsey, who has 15 league goals this year. He had 3 strong seasons where he scored 6 goals, 7 goals, and 7 goals, and then blossomed last season – finishing with 12. He won’t reach 20 from midfield in the league this year, but he’s already eclipsed 20 in all competitions. I can’t say enough about Dempsey. And I’m surprised to be honest by his production. Most impressive – is that he’s played 2,874 minutes this year out of a possible 2,880. The most minutes by any midfielder or forward in the Premier League. He’s only missed 6 minutes of action in 32 games. 6 minutes. Yup, it helps when you’re on the field when it comes to picking up extra fantasy points… Just wow.

Anyway – back to the derby. Chelsea were in control against Wigan but fortunate to scrape by with the 2-1 win. Ashley Cole and Ramires missed out against Wigan and if they play against Fulham, that will be a massive boost for Chelsea. John Terry seems a doubt again but with the recent play of Ivanovic, and to a lesser extent Cahill and Luiz, Chelsea should be OK defensively.

It’s up front that will be interesting. Sturridge, Lampard, Drogba, Torres, and Mata will all be hoping to make an impact.

Fulham are normally sound at Craven Cottage, but I think Chelsea will have too much and despite Dempsey’s fine form, I don’t think the Cottagers win this one.

Prediction: 1-2 Chelsea away in

II. Arsenal @ Wolves: There are quite a few intriguing ‘fantasy friendly’ games this week. Manchester United are at Wigan. Manchester City could start Carlos Tevez at home to West Brom. And Tottenham are poised to put a few past Norwich at home. But we’ll stick with RVP and company.

Arsenal looked in complete control for long stretches against Manchester City. It’s amazing how far they have come after the 8-2 loss earlier in the season against Manchester United. This team would be contending for the title had they not lost Fabregas & Nasri. That said, they aren’t, but they should still take care of Wolves.

Arteta, Walcott, and RVP are the options up front – all studs. Sagna is a good one at the back, and with Koscielny injured, the Swiss stopgap Johan Djourou (5.8M) is a potential 2-week play. Many teams have a blank game week in 34, but Arsenal don’t, so investment in the Gunners for this week’s games looks sound.

Prediction: 1-3 Arsenal away win

III. Studs & Duds: On paper, Gareth Bale is out of form. But the games aren’t played on paper. On the pitch, if you’ve been actually watching the games (and we have) he has been as dangerous as ever. A nuisance. Strong, powerful, fast, just lacking that final touch – but the scores don’t show it: 2-5-3-5-3 in his last 5 games. No goals. No bonus points since January. And now, news has emerged that Bale is a doubt for Tottenham’s game with Norwich. With a blank week in game week 34, Bale could be let go by many fantasy managers. But if he plays, I predict he scores well. Bale could have the last laugh, so while he’s on the stud/dud fence as an injury risk, fantasy managers will be sweating the Tottenham – Norwich game if they do drop him.

Bale’s teammates are studs. That’s Adebayor, VDV, and Lennon.

Rooney, Valencia, Young (and to a lesser extent Nani – if he steals playing time from Young or Valencia) are studs at Wigan. Evans, it goes without saying, is a stud.

Everton are at home so Jelavic and former Funny Feeling Friday Pienaar are studs. Baines too.

Newcastle’s Cisse and Ba continue as studs. Throw Krul and Cabye in there as cheap stud options, too. Cisse is obviously the most in-form player in the league. Ignore him at your own risk.

And let’s give Swansea a shout-out. Yes, they lost 0-2 at home to Newcastle on Friday but they had the ball for like 99% of the match. It was pretty Barcelona-esque. They lacked that finishing touch, but perhaps they’ll find it at QPR. Sigurdsson and Graham will look to bounce back. Both are cheap and both play in gameweek 34.

Luis Suarez also deserves a mention. He looked dangerous against Aston Villa and was rewarded with all 3 fantasy bonus points. Blackburn are far from organized, so you have to bet that Suarez can keep it going. Stud.

IV. Gameweek 33 Best Eleven:

GK: Friedel

D: Evans – Baines – Kompany

M: Van der Vaart – Walcott – Gerrard – Nasri

F: Cisse – Aguero – RVP

Subs: Krul – Cabaye – Djourou – K. Walker