MATCHFACTSWEEK5

BIRMINGHAM 0 CHARLTON 1 Like Britney Spears, he only went and did it again. We pointed out last week that Darren Bent has become one of the most transferred in players during the first month of our game and even more will pick him now. Thomas was the man who set him up this time. There were bookings for Perry and Andersen but not top puppeteer Gerry Anderson who wasn’t playing. Man- of- the Match ( MOM): Chris Perry. CHELSEA 2 SUNDERLAND 0 Mick McCarthy suggested that Northern Ireland’s win over England showed what the underdog can do. Yes, they can, but Sunderland at Chelsea meant his team were not underdogs but big grizzly ones – like an under- alsatian really. Underdogs are underdogs because they lose most of the time and they did here thanks to a rare goal from Geremi and another from Drogba who were helped by Essien and Duff. Cole was booked. MOM: Essien ( and my money is on the fact that this won’t be the last time). EVERTON 0 PORTSMOUTH 1 A magnificent header by Ferguson separated the teams but, sadly for him, it was in the wrong goal. Robert won a key contribution for the corner which caused the confusion. Davies, Valente and Hughes were booked. MOM: O'Neil. MAN UTD 1 MAN CITY 1 Stuart Pearce’s stock is rising game by game and there are no bigger games than this. Van Nistelrooy threatened to ruin his big day but Barton, thanks to the work from Vassell, ensured that all parts of Manchester could sit down together over a barm cake and discuss the game like great friends. Now for the bad news as van Nistelrooy, Cole, Mills, Reyna and Thatcher were booked for being naughty. MOM: Barton. NEWCASTLE 1 FULHAM 1 It was supposed to be all about Owen but he hardly featured during another lacklustre performance from Newcastle. But, at least they scored a goal and it came from N'Zogbia who probably hasn’t been selected by too many over the confusion of where to put his apostrophe on the application form ( same goes for N’Gotty , O’Neill and H’Enry) but only after McBride had netted for Fulham. There were KCs for Radzinski and Boa Morte and bookings for Bowyer, Faye and Bocanegra while Parker was sent off. MOM: McBride. TOTTENHAM 0 LIVERPOOL 0 There could have been goals, but alas there weren’t any, just bookings for Davids and Hyypia but at least you get additional points if you have Man- of- the- Match Young- Pyo Lee in your team but not if you have either of his brothers, OldPyo Lee or Middle- Child- Pyo Lee. WEST BROM1 WIGAN 2 Wigan are not the side many people thought they might be. Just because they are more famous for pies than anything else ( there was a massive queue around the block when a new Hi- Fi store opened and people saw the sign ‘ Pioneer’) but with a good manager and plenty of money behind them, their brief history should not be a consideration when thinking about their form this season. Connolly and Bullard were the heroes in this win, with the former not only scoring but also picking up MOM points. Greening scored for the Baggies and there were KCs for Francis and Roberts. Gaardsoe, Horsfield, Wallwork and Henchoz were booked. MIDDLESBROUGH 2 ARSENAL 1 Now, here was something of a surprise, like spotting Messrs Rooney and Beckham out choosing curtains together in Belfast. A second defeat of the season and news that Henry will be out for around a month is not good news for the Gunners nor the huge percentage of you that have the Frenchman in your team. A transfer is strongly recommended ( with Darren Bent doubtless a choice for many). Yakubu, Maccarone and Reyes scored the goals aided by Boateng and Yakubu. Yellow cards were dished out to Boateng, Queudrue, Rochemback, Cole, Flamini, Lauren and Fabregas. MOM: Boateng. BOLTON O BLACKBURN 0 Football is suddenly playing second fiddle to cricket at the moment and that fiddle is way out of tune if this game is anything to go by. I’ve had more fun watching the paint dry with one eye, grass grow with the other while having several teeth extracted by a dentist who’d had a row with his wife and left the anaesthetic at home ( boy, that was a bad day) than watching this game in which Campo, Matteo and Savage were booked. Bentley was awarded man- of- the- match although it should have gone to the fans who endured 90 minutes of this rubbish. WEST HAM 4 ASTON VILLA 0 Harewood has been under fire a bit in recent times but he joins the likes of Bent and Horsfield as the unlikely scoring heroes of this season to date. This was a magnificent match for him, scoring the first hat- trick of the Premiership season and, obviously, collecting extra points as the top man in the match. Benayoun is also proving to be a very good signing and he increased his stock again here with a goal. Sheringham ( x2), Etherington ( x2) and Ferdinand all had a say in the goals and Barry was booked.

WEEK 6 FIXTURES

Kick- off 3pm unless stated

SATURDAY, SEPT 17

Charlton v Chelsea

Fulham v West Ham

Portsmouth v Birmingham

Sunderland v West Brom

Aston Villa v Tottenham ( 5.15)

SUNDAY, SEPT 18

Liverpool v Manchester Utd ( 12.00)

Blackburn v Newcastle ( 2.00)

Wigan v Middlesbrough ( 3.00)

Manchester City v Bolton ( 4.00)

MONDAY, SEPT 19

Arsenal v Everton ( 8.00) SUSPENSIONS

To help you with your transfers, now

that you can make them, here are a list

of the latest suspensions ( number of games out for): NSolano, Villa ( 1)

Blackburn ( 1) S Parker, Newcastle ( 1) Mido, Tottenham ( 2). TFF EUROPE You can still enter your team into our superb new Champions League game. You’ll miss out on points from last night’s games but with so many matches to come that won’t put you too far behind if you enter before the first kick- off of tonight’s games. There’s a very nice first prize of £ 20,000 so pick your team ( online only) at www. fantasyfootball. telegraph. co. uk. As a TFF player, you will get a half price entry – so you can play this brilliant game for just £ 2. MANAGER OF THE WEEK Top manager this week was Jason Calvert from Kent. His team, Claret N’Blue, scored 79 points in week five. Eight other managers did the same but Jason’s team rose the most places. The average score for week 5 was 26 points. WHOSE CLOTHES ARE THOSE? Last week, we showed you a picture of a headless player heading off to an FA Disciplinary hearing and asked if you could spot who it was. Lots of you guessed that it was Robbie Savage. Thanks for all the emails. QUESTION OF THE WEEK We’ve had a number of questions regarding transfers including some of you wanting to know if you still keep the scores of players you have had in your team before getting shot of them. The answer is that you keep all points scored by players while they are in your team. Similarly, you don’t get any points for players you bring into your team before they are part of your team. So, if you transfer in, say, Darren Bent, you don’t get the points he has scored so far. Note, too, that you can only make four transfers in one week and the fantasy football week runs from Tuesday to Monday, not Wednesday to Wednesday. Got that? COOKING FOOTBALLERS Last week we published footballers whose names are somehow related to cooking. We invited you to come up with some more. Both Norman Sayle and Juliet Walker mentioned Porstmouth’s Linvoy Primus who, naturally, is named after a camping cooking stove. John King suggested Arsenal’s Robin van Parsley, while Karin Martin suggested a full menu which included Nigel Reo- Coker Cola to drink and a pudding consisting of Juan- Pablo Angel Delight or Damien Plum Duff. More please.