With three 0-0 scorelines, seven teams scoring one goal apiece and only nine other goals recorded, we couldn't have really expected an abundance of fantasy points from the forwards in the so-called best league in the world. So, perhaps we had to rely on our choice of defenders to bring in the points. But they didn't really. In fact, one midfielder, Barkley (Aston Villa) with 9 points, was the week's highest scorer and, of the nine players with 8pts, six were goalkeepers!

Kevin tinkered with good effect and top-scored, reducing Ken's lead at the top. Mick maintained his good form and was only one point fewer, this time remaining in 6th. Jenni overtook Jon to move into 4th, while further down the league Brian gained a place in 11th but both Simon and Chris lost ground.

If you need a bit of a break from all this excitement, you're in luck. Week 32 sees a reduced fixture list because of the Carabao Cup Final and then (spoiler alert) we can all have a week off completely due to an international break. The league programme doesn't recommence until Friday 10 April because the FA Cup Quarter Finals are being played over the Easter weekend of the 4/5 April.

The surprise league results of the week were almost certainly Wolves beating Liverpool (although the result was reversed three days later in the Cup), and perhaps Man City only being able to draw with Nottingham Forest. Meanwhile it was business as usual for Chelsea and Arsenal, the former seeing Pedro accumulate 19 pts from three goals and one assist. Mick was one manager to profit from those points which helped Toppingham Hotstars to top score and move up one place to 6th, pushing Sandra down to 7th. Karen was also grateful to the Chelsea marksman who contributed to her move up one to 8th. She was followed up the league by Joe who now shares 9th with Simon who dropped back two. The rest of the league remains unchanged although Brian is within touching distance of Chris, just one place above him in 11th.

It was Jon's Uncupsetables that took the plaudits in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, top-scoring and putting a major dent in Ken's lead. Michelle moved above Sandra to go 3rd and Mick gained a place in 5th, while Jenni lost ground in 6th.

Across the week as a whole Pedro added another 6 pts to his league total while Bowen and Gudmundsson (Leeds) scored 17 apiece, the latter top-scoring in the Cup with 15 pts.

If you had been hoping to select the PL's highest scorer this week, you would probably have been disappointed: Damsgaard (Brentford) is not your usual goto player, but he picked up 15 points for two goals and an assist, while in third place Anthony (Burnley) in the same game collected 11. (Not that Scott Parker would have got much consolation from that!) Etikite, a more reliable source of points, was between those two with 13. 

The weekend's results were clearly good for Ken who top scored and stretched his lead at the top. Sandra and Mick also benefited and each moved up a place into 6th and 7th respectively, but that was also due to Simon's disastrous week that saw him drop back to 8th. Brian failed to hold on to the place he gained last week and fell back to 12th. The rest of the table remained the same.

Don't forget, there is no time to dwell on these results as the league programme (Week 30) resumes this evening while the FA Cup Fifth Round begins on Friday. Make sure your transfers for the latter are competed by 18:30 on the 6th.

There is no question about this week's Team of the Week. Powys Pensioners have pulled their woolly stockings up and put in a performance that Karen will be proud of. They were helped to no little extent by the week's highest points earner, Dean Henderson (15 pts), with Gyokeres (14 pts) and O'Reilly (12 pts). Their reward was a promotion of one place, up to 9th, pushing Joe down to 10th. Also moving up were Sandra, who replaced Mick in 7th, and Brian who gained a place to share 11th with Chris. The top six and bottom four remain the same.

Now, steel yourselves for another busy time. This coming weekend's PL fixtures stretch from Friday to Sunday followed swifty by another set of matches from Tuesday 3rd March to Thursday 5th. A day later, at 20:00 on Friday 6th March, the Fifth Round of the FA Cup begins with Wolves v Liverpool. The cup transfer window is now open and will close at 18:30 on the 6th.

That was a busy week .. and good news for some, I must admit!

There was not a great deal of excitement in the PL fixtures and no changes to our own league table. Sandra top-scored and remains in 8th, but she has succeeded in putting pressure on Mick who is now just five points ahead of her.

Contrast that with the FA Cup table where change is evident throughout. That started with the fact that Joe and Chris were two late entrants, both having missed the previous round. Having now joined the party, I'm afraid they still have some catching up to do. (FYI: Chris had at least entered his team name before the last round so had been on the board in 10th. With Joe scoring more points than him in this round, he lost a place.)

Ken was the round's top scorer and that lifted him two places to replace Jon at the top of the leaderboard. Also moving in the right direction were Sandra (up one to 3rd) and Michelle (up three) to share 4th with Jenni who dropped back by the same number. Mick, gained a place in 6th, helped largely by Delap's three assists against Brian's beloved Hull. No-one was fortunate enough to have selected Neto who top scored with a hattrick in the same game. 

The battle for points continues - both on the pitch and off it. As Arsenal and Man City compete for the top two places, and the current form of Man Utd and Chelsea means they are picking up PL points as well, it is not surprising that the main focus of ITF transfers this week has been on players from those four teams. But did they pay off? Well, Pedro earned four managers 8 points and Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes rewarded the two managers who selected them with 7 points apiece. But the most successful transfer was by Kevin who transferred in Bruno Guimaraes, whose 10 points contributed to the week's top score, and helped him to make a small impression on Ken's lead at the top. Transfers involving Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool players didn't make much of an impression and those who (surprisingly) put their trust in Brighton players really shouldn't have bothered! Those managers who already had Palmer in their team benefited the most as his hattrick earned them 17 pts.

Looking ahead, the next round of fixtures begins this evening and are spread over three nights. There is then a break at the weekend for the 4th Round of the FA Cup (deadline for transfers is 18:30 on Friday). One match, Wolves v Arsenal will take place on Wednesday 18th, and normal service with a full fixture list resumes the following weekend.

Well, the average points scored this week went up. Was it because you were bold and chanced your arm with left-field selections, or was it simply because there were more points available? Four goals apiece by Liverpool and Arsenal (who also had a shut-out) helped of course and five goals in the games involving Chelsea and Man Utd didn't hurt either. But to reap the rewards, it had to be the right player pick and those managers who went heavily for Delap, who only managed an assist, and Palmer (2pts) would have been disappointed. So too would have been those who relied on Aston Villa beating Brentford. That didn't happen and the Buendia transfers didn't pay off either. Etikite (12 pts) top scored with Solanke only a point behind. Three Sunderland players were among those who picked up 10 points.

The league table hasn't changed much, but Jenni (5th) will be feeling pretty satisfied having put Simon below her again and Sandra's form improved, top-scoring to lift herself above Joe into 8th.

We have this weekend's matches followed a mid-week fixture list before the Fourth Round FA Cup ties over the weekend of 13/16 February. The transfer window for cup teams is now open and will close at 18:30 on Friday 13th ahead of the Hull v Chelsea tie. Fortunately, Brian isn't at all superstitious!  

Once again there hasn't been much positional movement, but the top four have become more compressed. Jon top-scored and closed up on Michelle, who in turn has put the pressure on Kevin who, not to be outdone, reduced Ken's lead. The actual changes took place in mid-table where Simon, in a repeat of Week 20, got the better of Jenni to move back into 5th, and at the bottom Dan and Nick have changed places for the third week running.

This week's points tally is just below the average for a week in which there has been just one full list of fixtures, and this has been the case for the previous three weeks when a similar number of matches have taken place. So, what's been happening? Well, Haaland, who was prolific earlier in the season, has only scored once in those four weeks and the teams with defenders popular with fantasy managers (Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Chelsea) have only managed seven of the twenty one clean sheets achieved in that time. Time for a shake-up perhaps? If it helps, this week's top scorers were Bowen (midfielder) 11pts, Aina (defender) and Pedro (forward) 10pts.

There were only four positional changes this week: Joe moved above Sandra into 8th and Nick lifted himself off the bottom to change places with Dan. The rest of us stayed put with, for the most part, not too dissimilar point's totals. Ken and Simon top scored with five other teams totalling over forty, and six in their thirties.

Given the popularity of Arsenal and Chelsea defenders and the fact that both teams kept a clean sheet at the weekend, the similarity in our scores was not too surprising. Add that to the fact that both Etikite and Watkins were transferred in on six occasions apiece - and failed to deliver more than two points each - point's tallies were somewhat subdued. For the sake of completeness, Dorgu (Man U) was the week's top scorer with 12 pts. Will anyone take a punt on him next week in an away fixture at Arsenal?

Well, that was a busy week! Having to keep abreast of the midweek PL games while also giving thought to an FA Cup team. Sadly, not everyone managed to do both.

The league table shows little movement apart from where it counts. Ken continues to lead but Kevin, with the week's highest score, has moved above Michelle into second. At the foot of the table, the inevitability of Nick sinking to rock bottom again was realised when Dan lifted himself into 14th.

A fair number of us have enjoyed the performances of Chelsea's defenders this season - they have been a relatively reliable point-scoring source. But, of late, that bubble seems to have burst, culminating in Cucurella's sending off on Wednesday. Jon was lucky as he transferred him out the previous Sunday. Unfortunately, he brought Keane in. Yes, Michael Keane of Everton who scored, but then got sent off as did Grealish in the same game. Oh, and Jon had transferred him in too!

So, to the FA Cup. It's a very select group in the competition this season - only nine entries. But, cometh the hour cometh the man. Casting his league choices to one side, Jon made the right Third Round selections, including Reijnders (10 pts), Wilson (9) and Smith-Rowe (8) and they took him and his Uncupsetables to the top of the leaderboard. But he is not alone. Jenni - whose trip to Old Trafford didn't quite end up as she had hoped - shares the lead. Apart from two players, she has a different looking team altogether. She also selected Wilson and relied on goals from Sesko (7) [at least that gave her something to cheer!] and Rodri (7) plus clean sheets from Frimpong and Adarabioyo (Chelsea). 

The rest of us aren't too far behind, although Arctic Donkeys would surely have been hoping for a faster getaway. Brian will be playing catch-up in the next round in a month's time and, in the meantime, Karen will obviously be continuing her Welsh lessons! Come on you Pensiynwyr.