Man Utd are likely to be one of the top two best defensive teams in the league, and with their especially easy opening three fixtures, a Man Utd defender - or two - will make a very good choice.
Of their backline, Vidic is the premium choice. Although expensive for a defender, if he can repeat last seasons points haul then he will be worth the price.

Bookmakers always provide an valuable insight into professional football research, since they above anyone else have shedloads of their own money on the line. That makes their offers not only interesting but relevant to the Fantasy Football manager. Lets look at a few, starting with goal scoring options.

Now the first EPL round has been played we get a clearer idea of which lowest priced players are getting game time. From the defenders, Wilkinson earned 6 points in Stoke's clean sheet against Burnley. Their fixtures are something of a mix, facing Liverpool on gameweek 2 before playing a pair of lower teams.

1. Fabio Capello. The single most important factor in England's rise. A Croatian journalist whose name I didn't catch said Capello has stopped England playing like England, which summarises perfectly. Gone has the fear, the indiscipline, and the indecision, replaced with organisation, discipline, and tactical nous.

This gameweek is a double for a few teams including Fulham, which makes Brede Hangeland a fine pick for the next couple of weeks given Fulham's forthcoming fixtures (Bolton, Sunderland and Burnley after this week's double GW). Hangeland does well every season as a bargain priced defender, and is a key choice for those looking to hone in on Fulham's potential clean sheets.

It was a very successful season for several Americans playing abroad in European soccer. Tim Howard was one of the top goalkeepers for Everton, and Clint Dempsey played a major role in Fulham earning a 7th place finish in the Premier League. Oguchi Oneywu played for Standard and won another league title in Belgium, while Zak Whitbread and Millwall nearly were promoted to the English Championship.

It was a full week of games in Major League Soccer, with several teams playing 2 games. A few teams have climbed up the rankings, most noticably Kansas City, Toronto, and Real Salt Lake. Those on the decline are New England and New York. Here are the weekly Major League Soccer rankings as of April 27, 2009.

Manchester United's win over Wigan means that they are now just one point away from regaining their Premier League crown, and given that they next face an Arsenal side with their minds already on a beach somewhere, it's a fair assumption to think that they'll get it. With this in mind, Mark Jones takes a look at the reasons why Liverpool are not ending the season as Premiership champions.

Manchester United v. Everton
Stadium: Wembley Stadium
Competition: F.A. Cup Semifinals
Date: 19 April 2009
Kickoff: 16:00 GMT, 11:00 EST

Manchester United will continue their quest for five trophies when they face Everton in the F.A. Cup Semifinals!

Goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Friedel led the way in Americans Abroad as both earned clean sheets for their respective clubs. Here's the full recap of Americans playing overseas in the top European soccer leagues.

Tim Howard (GK) - Everton - English Premier League - Howard had another solid game in goal as Everton defeated Sunderland 2-0 and the entire club has been in great form as of late.

Without the title to play for, you wouldn't have blamed Liverpool for approaching the West Brom game a little on the lacsidasical side, after their bubble was well and truly burst 24 hours prior. A West Brom side with Premier League survival at stake, they did indeed try and take the game to Liverpool; however it was the Reds who's class told over the course of 90 minutes.

The best players in English football have been all about consistency and solidity rather than the spectacular.
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Solid and functional if not spectacular has been the theme of the Premier League season.

In the past the Premier League's manager of the year award has normally been a forgone conclusion with the gaffer who lifts the Premier League trophy at the end of the season usually receiving a second award a couple of weeks down the line. However, with the top flight so tight this season and with so many clubs having good campaigns the award for the best manager might be a little closer than usual.

It was the final weekend in many of the European leagues as goalkeeper Tim Howard grabbed another clean sheet for Everton, and midfielder Maurice Edu played for Rangers who won the Scottish Premier League title. In the League 1 Promotion Play-off final Zak Whitbread and Millwall fell to Scunthorpe, but Michael Bradley and Monchengladbach were able to avoid relegation.

Jose Bosingwa is injured and out for up to 3 months, making Branislav Ivanovic a great choice. Previously Ivanovic was a rotation risk, but since Bosingwa has been out Ivanovic has played a truckload of minutes. In the last 5 games, he has picked up 4 clean sheets. Further, with Ashley Cole also injured, Ivanovic's spot in the squad is even more likely to be cemented.

Reviewing the season the geeky way - here is 2008/9 in numbers. Interested in who was caught offside the most (Djibril Cisse) or which team conceded the highest proportion of goals from outside the box (Arsenal)? Then read on...

942 – The final goal tally was the second lowest in Premier League history.

As promised, here is the first installment of my player ratings for the season.
I think it's easiest to work through the team from the back, although no doubt I'll forget somebody and have to include them later.
The way I rate players comes from my childhood: growing up playing Championship Manager: you have to be dreadful to get below a 5, a 7 is a good game, an 8 is an excellent game, and to get a 9 one has to do all but everything perfectly - maybe one misplaced pass; a 10 represents pure perfection.

The Good
* Despite an early afternoon Sunday start time and the absence of stars David Beckham and Fredy Montero, the clash between Seattle Sounders FC and the Los Angeles Galaxy drew a crowd of 29,025 to Qwest Field, which meant that the lower bowl of the stadium was filled to 105% capacity. It was the second-largest crowd to take in a Sounders game (behind only the season opener), and fans continue to clamor for the front office to open up more seating for future games.

According to Jamie Redknapp, Ronaldo is into "individual awards" and will be pressuring Sir Alex Ferguson this week because he will want the golden boot for the EPL's top scorer. Obviously. But will Sir Alex listen to C-Ron?
Ronaldo's competitor, Nicolas Anelka, is more likely to feature for the full 90 minutes against Sunderland as Chelsea hope to sneak into 2nd place over Liverpool (incredibly unlikely but possible with a comfortable win over Sunderland and a Tottenham upset at Liverpool.

Hungarian women raced to the Fantasy Premier League finish line with varying physiques and varying success rates
Let's go month by month and revisit some of our premier league predictions. The good, the bad, and the ugly. In part I, we look at predictions from 2008. In part II, we'll look at 2009.

Jamie issues wake up call.

Portsmouth Vs Liverpool Tickets Still Available!

Watch Ukraine Vs England Live Online!

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has conceded he has not been playing to his best so far this season, but has vowed to recapture his peak form.

The Wigan - Bolton match being frozen off at the end of gameweek 18 brings home a reminder of the importance of having a bench with players who are capable of contributing points if they become needed. With some notable injuries to a few marque players (ala Fabregas) having a solid line up of quality substitute players becomes even more pressing.

For the first time this season Manchester United fans are celebrating reaching the summit of the Premier League table. Finally level with Liverpool in the games played column (although that will change again on Monday), Manchester United showed that they still have what it takes to win the league, even with several key players out.

Obviously, we know that Sir Alex Ferguson has won many trophies, coached a lot of great players, and accomplished a lot of extraordinary things during his time at Manchester United. His critics (namely Rafa Benitez) might point to the amount of money that he's spent, especially in recent years, as evidence of Sir Alex Ferguson buying his way to greatness.

This is the fifth in a recurring series where we look at the DC United season, five games at a time.
Results: 2-1-2. 4 GF, 4 GA
Standings: Third place in the Eastern Conference
Statistical Leaders: Josh Wicks (3 clean sheets); Namoff, Burch, Moreno, Emilio (1 goal each), Gomez (1 assist)
Most frequent lineup:
What we liked:

• Discovering our starting XI – I've often wondered during this season if we're ever going to have a single consistent lineup that can be used every week.

Despite getting off to a start that has gone beyond all expectations, the football pundits continue to dig around for any reason to stick to their idiotic pre-season predictions of Arsenal's impending doom and gloom. The club is 15-2-2 overall having scored 55 goals, 10-0 at home having scored 33 goals at the Emirates.

Carlo Cudicini, the Tottenham goalkeeper, fractured his wrists and injured his pelvis after being involved in a road accident this morning. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan police said the ambulance service and an emergency helicopter had attended the scene and found the 36-year-old motorcyclist suffering from injuries described by medics as "possibly life-changing".

Free £20 Bet on Olympiacos v Arsenal for Soccerlens readers 11/4 for an Arsenal win, 12/1 for Theo Walcott to score 1st goal. Bet now on Olympiacos v Arsenal.

Guaranteed top spot in the group and with a squad crippled by injuries, Arsenal have flown out a very inexperienced side to Athens for their final group game with a number of their starting lineup rested for the big weekend game against Liverpool.

As soon as the referee blew his whistle to bring a toughly contested fixture between Manchester United and Everton to its end at Old Trafford, it became clear that the home side has indeed mastered the technique of winning games with a 1-0 margin this season. Some of their rivals feel that Sir Alex Ferguson's men have been lucky to escape with multiple 1-0 wins this season and many have accused United of appearing "lost" on their way to yet another successful season.

It was pretty much surprising that Manchester United ended the season with the second best defence, considering the fact that this was the team that kept 14 consecutive clean sheets. But overall, defensive performances have been impressive and the partnership between Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic is probably the best in the world.

With the recent spate of celebrity, ah, moving-ons, what better theme than that for this week's MLS predictions, now that I'm back from vacation and ready to be back in the flow.
With the quicky picks from the Hill Country last week, I'm at 40-57, a .412 mark, increasing my lead over blind chance to a season-best eight games.

With Joleon Lescott gone seeking Arab riches at Manchester City, Everton were left with a sizable void in defense - until they completed the purchase of Sylvain Distin from Portsmouth.
Distin is our funny feeling Friday selection this week - an underrated, out of form, or unpopular (in fantasy terms) player who should start producing in the short term.

Every club has one. That vital cog that keeps the team wheels turning. With the season in its infancy, supporters up and down the land are still harbouring dreams of glory (or at the very least over achievement, given that short of a billionaire Sheikh turning up on your doorstep, thoughts of the title are confined to a privileged few these days).

12 goals from defense the past two seasons, beat that Vermaelen
Our Funny Feeling Friday selection this week - an unpopular (by fantasy terms), underrated, or out of form player who we think will start producing in the coming weeks is Birmingham's central defensive summer signing Roger Johnson.

I thought I'd do another 20 points match review, so that it is easier to follow.

1. Criticized by many lately, including me, I think Clichy had his most solid game yet. He looked focused and was rarely beaten today.

2. If anything, most of Olympiakos' threat was on the right flank where Eboue was playing at right back.

Tim Howard has revealed his delight at captaining Everton for the first time. The American goalkeeper was filling in for injured captain Phil Neville, and Howard's personal milestone was capped off by an inspired performance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Everton fought hard to earn a 3-3 draw against league leaders Chelsea, and Howard couldn't conceal his delight with the result and his temporary captaincy.

The Chicago Fire (2-0-1) head into Santa Clara, Calif., to take on San Jose (1-2-0) on Saturday, and the overwhelming question is who is going to take the place of midfielder John Thorrington - Cuauhtemoc Blanco or Chris Rolfe?
Thorrington is out because of a red card during last week's victory over New York.

FC Dallas Founded: 1996 as Dallas Burn Home Stadium: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX Record Since 2000: 102-111-45 All Time Scorer in MLS: Jason Kreis (91) All Time Cups/Shields: 1 US Open Cup 2008 Record: 8-10-12, 36 pts, 5th in Western Conference 2008 Leading Scorer: Kenny Cooper (18) 2008 Keeper: Dario Sala (1.

Edwin van der Sar helped Manchester United keep 14 consecutive clean sheets

It's been a quite eventful season,ranging from some outrageous press conferences to some quite unavailable moments on the pitch.

1. Kinnear 52 swear word rant - You only have one chance to make a first impression, but trying telling that to Joe Kinnear, who in his debut press conference decided to swear 52 times.

Patrice Evra vs Leo Messi
Messi may be one of the world's finest but Evra believes he can deal with the threat the Argentinian poses. Can Evra deal with the pace of Messi? One of the areas where Messi can exploit is when Evra decides to go forward looking to help the wingers and forwards.