Our home has been transformed into a Santa Claus shrine, complete with 7.5ft Christmas tree, 100 baubels and enough tinsel to ensnare a small army of happy elves. Beer has been replaced by mulled wine, Radio 1 has been blasted away by old school Christmas classics and my fridge seems dangerously over-stocked with figgy pudding and pigs in blankets!! (that’s the cheese wrapped in bacon variety by the way, a little bit classier than the average sausage ones, I think you’ll agree!!)

On the football front, we had European and Cup games last week, the World Cup draw and a full weekend of Premiership drama. Interestingly it will be the first World Cup that has no debutants and has every single past World Cup winner in the mix. After a favourable draw, Englands odds of winning were cut to less than Brazil with only Spain considered more likely to lift the trophy. All I want now is another Tony Christie remix and I will be officialy pscyhed!!

There were crazy scenes on Sunday as Everton fought back from 2 nil down against Spurs to equalise with 5 minutes to go – only to have a penalty awarded against them in extra time – and to see their American keeper Tim Howard save Defoe’s spot kick. Meanwhile Adebayor went from villain to hero, as he gifted Chelsea an own goal in the 8th minute, before scoring for Man City in the 37th. Tevez sealed the deal in the 56th, as the gap at the top of the league continues to tighten. Man U had a fun away game with West Ham, as Scholes, Gibson, Valencia and Rooney all found the net. With only 10 points between 12th place Blackburn and 3rd place Arsenal, this season is wide open…

So in our little league, there is a similar story with just 100 points seperating 20th place and top spot (still held by Luan but with gap closing). Interesting a lot of the top 10 recorded low points for the week, with many of those in the 10 to 20 spots clocking up some hefty scores to apply the old pressre. All the transfers have come into effect for December, giving us a grand total of 243 made so far.

Until next time… don’t eat yellow snow.

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

funny christmas

Do I comment on Liverpool beating Man U… Stoke beating Spurs… or Villa, Arsenal and Man City all being held to disappointing draws?

Perhaps I should focus on the fact that 5 of our top 6 managers are ladies and that there are none in the bottom 10?

Or maybe you’d be more interested to know that in 1843, a Parisian street mime got stuck in his imaginary box and consequently died of starvation?

I thought so. Here are a few more amazing facts for you…

A cat’s purr has the same romance-enhancing frequency as the voice of singer Barry White.

Ben and Jerry’s sends the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff.

The original Sanskrit word for “war” means “desire for more cows”.

Babies are born without knee caps.

Almost a third of all people flush the toilet while they’re still sitting on it.

The Bible is the number one shoplifted book in America.

The commonly used @ symbol in email addresses is called a “chiocciolina” in Italy meaning “little snail”, a “klammeraffe” in Germany meaning “spider monkey” and a “‘kanel-bolle” in Norway meaning “a spiral shaped cinamon cake.

And just to prove that it’s not all non-football randomness…

Tottenham Hotspur didn’t have a single player sent off in a Football League match between October 27th 1928 and December 4th 1965.

Keep it real.

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

Again, it’s been a bit of a wait for this update as the International games got in the way – but the weekend saw normal service restored to the Premiership.

A late goal from Agbonlahor gave Villa a win away at Birmingham, whilst Fulham came from behind to beat Evertons early lead through Cahill. Diouf oponed the scoring for Blackburn during their 3 – 1 win over Wolves, whilst Benayoun fired off a hatrick during Liverpools 4 – 0 win over Burnley.

A six goal feast between Man City and Arsenal saw the likes of Van Persie, Bellamy, Adebyor and Wright-Phillips all score. A last minute goal from Cahill sealed a first win for Bolton away at Portsmouth, who still need to get off the mark.

Chelsea came from behind and needed a 4th minute of extra time goal from Malouda to continue their unbeaten start to the season. Spurs meanwhile lost their first of the season to Man U with an early bicycle kick goal from Defoe cancelled out by goals from Giggs, Anderson and Rooney. Wigan beat West Ham with Rodallega the only scorer.

In our league, (other than me) Tim Radford also had a good week with 72 points and up 43 places, as did Joanne Sheen, Dan Jones and Nathan Davies. Unfortunately this week saw two negative points movers in the form of Craig Robson and Adrian Till. Dark times indeed for these two managers.

In terms of positions, Chris Rawlings also had a good week, up 51 places – as did Jamie Keddle up 39 places. But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction and this week it was was Dave Heylings down 34 places who suffered the most.

It’s also time for everyone to pay… I don’t want everyone handing me five pound notes all over the place – as these never seem to make it to the bank – so instead can I ask that everyone do a quick transfer to me online. Details are:

Sort Code: 40 08 28
Account Number: 514 174 28
Please add your name in the reference so I know its from you and then I’ll mark you off.

I’ve also had a huge amount of feedback regarding transfers. And so here is how it’s going to work. As with previous seasons, each team will be allowed 4 transfers – which can be made at the end of any month – with effect from the start of the next. So feel free to start sending any transfer requests in and they will come in from the start of October.

Cheers

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

Ffffwwwoooooooo….

(the winds of change as Spurs won their first League game of the season)

ROAAAAAARRRRRRR….

(the reception that new manager Redknapp got as he came on to the pitch)

Aaaaahhhhhhh….

(the collective sighs of relief from thousands of supporters around the country)

Elsewhere in the league, Liverpool ended Chelsea’s monstrous unbeaten home record thanks to a 10th minute goal from Alonso. Man City saw their big money signing Robinho live up to his credentials with a hat-trick against Stoke. Adebayor’s injury time goal made it 2 nil for Arsenal against West Ham whist Aston Villa put 4 past Wigan away from home. Man U were held to a 1 all draw by Everton despite an eary goal from Fletcher, whilst sorry Newcastle suffered another defeat, this time to Sunderland. New boys Hull continued their blinding start to the season with a 3 nill win over West Brom, courtesy of Zayatte, Geovanni and King.

This is how some of the mini battles in the League are going…
- in the Lyons \ Brown \ Quirk battle – Chris has taken a commanding early lead with both his teams sitting in the top 30
- in the Ward \ Kingman \ Smith \ Groves showdown – it’s Emily who is calling the shots holding on to a top 30 spot
- in the Thomas \ Lloyd \ Kellman challenge – it’s Rich who has climbed one more place into 4th who is the man to beat
- in the Dennis \ Alexander \ Schleising \ Blackstock session – it’s Nick who climbs another 8 but closely followed by Jock in 13th
- in the Millo \ Wheeler \ Brean face-off – it’s Dave who’s top dog in 18th after a big drop of 27 places takes Kirsty down past Stacey
- in the Baker \ Edgerley \ Else rumble – it’s Scally who’s lording it up in the top 10 with the other two sitting in the 50′s
- in the Jones \ Graham \ Baber \ Radford wrestle – it’s Tim who has pulled clear of Ghosty with Neilos and Jack struggling lower down
…and it goes on…

The clocks might have been put back but there’s always time for a mexican wave…

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

If you had the top-scoring players in each position at this early stage – namely: Almunia (26pts), Carragher (41pts), Lampard (43pts) and Adebayor (44pts) – from those 4 players alone you would have 154pts and be sitting in 69th position out of our 162. Not bad.

Alternatively the best value players in each position are currently: Myhill (12pts\£m), Turner (18pts\£m), Koren (14pts\£m) and Mido (16pts\£m). Hmmm…

In the league, “The Dogs Ballacks” take top spot whilst “Farfrom Athletic” smash in to the top 10, up 27 places. Emma is the biggest riser for the ladies, up 36 places into 65th spot whilst it’s Craig for the guys who is top climber, up 54 into 50th today. Drama – you’d better believe it.

Finally, here are 3 VERY IMPORTANT NOTES…

1) For all of you based in Cardiff Bay, I will be collecting entry money (£5) tomorrow in the canteen from 12 o’clock – so come and find me at a table.

2) As we are approaching the end of the month, if you’re looking to make some early season transfers, now is the time to send them to me. They will come into effect from the beginning of the month.

3) I have just heard that David Hasselhoff is starring in the upcoming Beverly Hills Ninja 2. I think you’ll all agree, it’s going to be worth the wait…

Until next time…

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com