For me personally, I think THIS is the week gains can be made; not the double gameweek coming up. Being able to field 10 players would put you at an advantage, as to field a full 11 probably means you took a points hit, or sold some players you are going to want back sooner rather than later.

Most managers no doubt had benches consisting of mega money signings reminiscent of Chelsea and Manchester City in real life. With one eye on the double gameweek, it would be easy to take your eye off what your team could potentially deliver this round. Many of us awaited the team news nervously, as an unexpected benching, or a player dropped from the squad entirely could cause chaos.

Let's see how the day panned out...

WHU v CRY

The lunchtime kick off saw Palace manager Alan Pardew return to one of his old haunts to face a Hammers side whose season had promised so much, but one which has stuttered in recent weeks with a loss and three successive draws. With no goal in five games for Stewart Downing, it's surprising more managers haven't lost patience with him. Palace welcomed back skipper Mile Jedinak after he finally got over the ankle injury sustained during the Asian Cup. Striker Glenn Murray - who scored last time out - partnered Newcastle old boy Shola Amoebi, who was signed in the January window. It was Murray who opened the scoring, although arguably it could have gone down as a Cresswell own goal as he deflected it past Speroni. Jason Puncheon with the assist, in what would turn out to be a memorable afternoon for the Palace duo. The second goal arrived shortly after half time with Palace doubling their lead. Puncheon again the provider, this time for Scott Dann. Just after the hour mark, Puncheon got his hat trick (of assists), teeing up Glenn Murray for his second of the game. Murray's afternoon was not destined to last much longer as he received his second yellow of the game, and an early bath. 3 points lost for the 69 managers who took a punt on bringing him in this week. West Ham got a consolation with Stewart Downing laying a goal on for front man Enner Valencia. 1-3 the final score, and a timely reminder that the Pardew Effect is still alive and kicking. Bonus points were awarded as follows:

Puncheon - 3pts
Murray - 2pts
Dann - 1pt

BUR v SWA

No Gylfi Sigurdsson for the away side due to a hamstring injury. He was another popular transfer in this week, despite not providing anything more than appearance points when he has played since New Years Day. The first half passed without any real incidents of note and it was goalless at half-time. It took until the 64th minute for the deadlock to be broken. Kieran Trippier who has assisted goals in his last two games made it third time unlucky as he assisted Swansea by scoring past his own keeper. -2 points made it a zero return for the day. The official assist was awarded to Swansea's recent signing from Southampton, Jack Cork. The former Saints man looks to be settling in nicely down in South Wales. This was how the score remained, Swansea up to 8th while Burnley hover above the relegation zone on goal difference this evening. It's a point worthy of note that they haven't kept a clean sheet since 13 Dec, back in Gameweek 16.

Fabianski - 3pts
Fernández- 2pts
Cork - 1pt

MUN v SUN

Louis Van Gaal altered his formation yet again, reinforcing the point that no FPL manager can second guess him - probably because he doesn't have a clue himself what he's going to do until an hour before kick off. Wayne Rooney occupied arguably his best position, which is backed up by the Fix algorithm which virtually guarantees he will score goals when played up front. This didn't look likely today though as United laboured through the first half, creating some chances but failing to convert them. Van Gaal hooked popular captain pick Di Maria at half time after a tragic showing from him. Januzaj was bought on in what we can reflect on later this evening as a stroke of tactical genius. More likely though, Van Gaal was just fuming about how inept Di Maria was against a team near the bottom of the table. It took until the last third of the game, but in an incident packed with controversy Sunderland skipper John O'Shea brought down Falcao in the box. Stonewall penalty, but the ref decided to send off Wes Brown. To be fair they look like they were separated at both, and despite O'Shea admitting to the ref it was him, the official has having none of it. Rooney converted the Pen. Half time substitute Januzaj laid on the second for Rooney in the 84th minute, proving the Fix algorithm right, and Louis Van Gaal wrong. Whether the England captain can keep his position remains to be seen, but if he does, United have the 20 goal striker Van Gaal insists they're lacking. 2-0 and United up to third in the table. Plenty of Sunderland owning FPL managers left disappointed tonight, none more so than yours truly who trebled up with Pantilimon, Van Aanholt and Defoe. With Jones not featuring at all for United, it's been a bit of a devastating day. Oops!

Rooney - 3pts
Smalling - 2pt
Evans - 1pt

NEW v AVL

Villa travelled to the North East in desperate need of halting their run of six straight losses. 11.1% of FPL managers still keeping the faith with Alan Hutton were in desperate need of him to pass a late fitness test and take his place in both the Villa team, and their own. He did, although it wasn't to be a great victory for either real manager Sherwood, or virtual managers looking on. Papiss Demba Cissé scored the only goal of the game, assisted by Daryl Janmaat, thereby consigning Villa to a seventh consecutive loss. It's interesting to note this was Cissé's 11th goal of a stop start season. He has only completed 90 minutes on four occasions, with a season total of 928 minutes. Just quickly do the maths on that. 928 divided by 11. Result? 84.36. Or put another way, a ratio of a goal a game. For a player priced at £5.4m and owned by just 1.5% of managers. Want a comparison? Let's look at the 5 players above Cissé in the goal scoring charts:

Agüero - 17 goals in 1468 mins (86.35)
Costa - 17 goals in 1680 mins (98.82)
Austin - 14 goals in 1985 mins (141.79)
Kane - 14 goals in 1523 mins (108.79)
Sánchez - 12 goals in 1915 mins (159.58)

So, let the stats speak for themselves. If you want a budget 3rd striker, it seems that Cissé is your man. On the flip side, Villa forward Christian Benteke has now failed to score since before Christmas, and only has two goals all season. Avoid.

Janmaat - 3pts
Cissé - 2pts
Krul - 1pt

STO v HUL

For me, the most surprising news of the day was the Hull team sheet that saw an absence of their red hot strike partnership, Jelavic and N'Doye. Injury kept Jelavic out, but Steve Bruce decided to drop N'Doye to the bench. To be fair an away game at Stoke coming so soon into his Premier League career could have been a factor, but the home side would have been buoyed when they saw the starting lineup. As it turned out it took quite a while for anything to write about. The game was settled by Peter Crouch equalling the Premier League record for headed goals (46) alongside the now retired Alan Shearer. 3 goals in his last 4 games now for the veteran Stoke man, making it 7 for the season. Charlie Adam provided the cross for the goal - his first assist of the season. His glory days of 2010-12 are long gone now, but fantasy managers will always hold a soft spot for the former Blackpool man (not so much at Liverpool though...) The game finished 1-0 to the home side as Stoke drew level on points with West Ham.

Crouch, Wilson & Wollscheid - 3pts

WBA v SOU

The hopes of thousands of FPL managers were dashed inside 2 minutes when Albion striker Saido Berahino smashed home a left footed volley from 18 yards out and ruined Southampton's clean sheet. To be fair it was a great goal (and I'm a Wolves fan!) but it effectively ended the game as a contest. Tony Pulis is a master of getting his teams to shut up shop, and he does this by working on their concentration levels. They came up trumps. To be fair Southampton struggled, despite Koeman ringing the changes in order to get back to winning ways. Schneiderlin, Tadic, Mané and Gardos came in for Davis, Elia, Djuricic and Ward-Prowse. The early goal meant the three man defence had no time to settle, and it was an uphill battle from there. For Pulis and Albion that's now three clean sheets in a row with Villa up next! This was the fourth and final 1-0 of the day. Somewhat bizarrely, Saints defender Ryan Bertrand ended up picking up 2 bonus points.

Berahino - 3pts
Bertrand - 2pt
McAuley - 1pt


Not the most exciting of days if we are going to be totally honest. A pretty good day for defenders, Rooney owners, and those that have kept faith with Jason Puncheon. Average Gameweek points so far is 16, so if you're over that, it's been ok. If you're under that (woo-hoo, 11 over here!), then there's work to be done tomorrow.

In an insane turn of events, double gameweek player Harry Kane is looking like DROPPING in price tonight, according to “Beat The Price Rise” on this very site. There won't be many managers who won't not only own him, but captain him, assuming he gets through tomorrow's Cup Final unscathed.

Tomorrow we have Liverpool v Man City and Arsenal v Everton, so check back in the evening for Part 2 of the Suffix.

FPL_Fly
@meet_the_gadfly