GW15 Match Centre

Great  performance from Chelsea here, taking full advantage of Chelsea's current plight.  The visitors could have been ahead and in full control of the game by half time though but failed to capitalise on Mata's opener, assisted by Torres for his first attacking points for an ages.  Andy Carrol looks likely to miss up to 8 weeks of football now in the winter period where West Ham's direct style of play should prove advantageous. In his absence it will be up to Cole, Nolan and Maiga to find the goals.

 
This result and performance is the final seal on Everton's form this season. They are the real deal and Fellaini is a colossal threat to any team.  City's home defence has been goodt this season, one of the league's best, so Everton's 4 shots on target is impressive, plus their shape in defence is much improved with Gibosn back in the centre of midfield. Carlos Tevez was City's busiest attacker but other threats in Silva and Nasri were kept very quiet.

 
A tremendous all round display by Swansea who bested Arsenal.at their own game.  Laudrup's men showed harmony in attack and defence to wrack up the chances and prevent them at the other end, with Michu once again the man to benefit with another big points haul in the Fantasy Premier League.  The Spaniard is now joing top scorer with Van Persie and Suarez.  Arsenal's front three lacks energy and Wegner's decision to play Gervinho over Giroud back-fired.

 
Much fancied Liverpool here put in the kind of performance that looks great on paper but does not put the ball in the back of the net.  They dominated another game, limiting Southampton to just 1 SoT.  Luis Suarez would have been heavily captained this weekend but despite numerous chances reverted to type and only hit the target the once. He did hit the crossbar though,the rebound from which led to the goal.  Glen Johnson and Enrique both provide great attacking potential from the full back position to add to their clean sheet appeal. 

 
I had expected Fulham to do well in this game and they started the brighter.  The injury to Ruiz has seen Berbatov deployed in a withdrawn role supporting Petric and hence a lack of any shooting chances for the Bulgarian and an overall lack of quality for Fulham.  Tottenham showed their superiority here and were very effective in turning this into scoring goals, something which Jermaine Defoe has always pretty good at.

 
More goals scored in this one than either team are used to although both teams performed below their oppositions average rates.  A low overall shot total too, with majority of these coming from set pieces. There's little to get excited about to be honest.  Sessegnon is starting to get himself into shooting chances, Pilkington too, but for their price tags I'd look elsewhere.  Sessegnon would be my one week punt for the double gameweek though, if you are so inclined.  

 
Alex Ferguson's men rarely fail to create headlines, whether it's getting beat by an underdog or putting out crazy scorelines like this one.  Looking at the shot totals both teams put in average overall performances, doing particlarly well at hitting the target, and then even better at  scoring.  Two of Reading's three came from Nicky Shorey corners with Rooney's first from the spot resuting from a foul after a corner.  Van Persie notched his 10th league goal this season, had another wrongly ruled out, and was United's focal point in attack again.

 
Redknapp's much sought after first win of the season for QPR did not materialise here, partly due to a stout pefromance from Villa and goalkeeper Brad Guzan, but also a lack of quality at the cutting edge of the home team's attack.   They created enough chances but the likes of Park, Taarabt and SWP are not goal scorers at this level. Aston Villa settled for a point and offered very little going forward, fair enough.

 
West Brom perhaps desereved a point out of this game with Dorrans providing goal threat and creativity in good measure but the Baggies don't have have enough attacking flair or the style of play to pick apart a defence as solid and as organised as Stoke's.  Steve Clarke's team have excelled on the counter-attack many times this season but that's not a strategy that's going to work against a team like Stoke who don't attack in numbers.  This should not diminish West Brom's appeal this season but does add futher value to the Stoke defence.