Welcome back! The Premier League campaign resumed after a two-week break. Was normal service resumed as well? On the pitch Arsenal lost, Spurs lost and Manchester United lost. I'll let you decide!!

Off the pitch the only movement concerned the minor placings. Jenni climbed one place into 3rd, followed by Jon, also up one into 4th. Michelle lost out, sharing the same sinking feeling as de Zerbi but, in her case, only dropping down to 5th. Ken continues to lead and, with the week's highest score, stretched his lead from Kevin.

N.B. This coming week is a 'normal' week to look forward to - matches on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. But watch out, as some re-scheduling has been necessary during the following week to accommodate the FA Cup Semi-Finals and a full PL programme. 

Arsenal going out; Liverpool doing the same without scoring; and, although Chelsea hit seven, one of those was an own goal and only two (maybe three) others were by recognised goalscorers. How is a fantasy manager expected to cope? Remember Haaland, who hadn't been able to buy a goal recently? It just so happened he found his form and registered a hat-trick. So, to secure his 17 points (the highest of the round), you just had to have him in your team. 

For most of us, that wasn't a consideration, but Chris was the exception and those points helped him to accumulate the second highest total of the round and lift himself four places into 7th. Top scorer was Michelle with Trafford (14 pts) and Hato (12 pts) helping to promote her into second place behind Ken who continues to lead. Jon fell back to 3rd while Mick overtook Sandra to move into 4th.

If you are already beginning to think ahead to the semi-finals in a couple of weeks' time, you might want to give a thought to the fact that the eight highest scoring players in the Quarter Finals came from Chelsea or Man City. And those two teams are not drawn against one another in the next round. Only saying! 

With fewer games than usual at the weekend, it felt like everyone would be scrambling around to try and pick the perfect transfer that would make all the difference to their team. A Man United player against Bournemouth? A Liverpool forward against Brighton?  A Chelsea defender against Everton? Maybe, even a Spurs attacker against Forest? No, that would be stretching optimism a bit too far! Given that none of those results really went according to plan, many of us had to suck it up and admire those managers who took a different punt .. and won. Take Brian, for instance. He benefited most by bringing in the weekend's top points scorer, Beto (15 pts), and Sandra whose risk on Welbeck was rewarded with 11 pts. But football is a team game as evidenced by the collection of talent already selected and tweaked just enough to retain an edge. Like Jenni and Jon who top scored and closed up on Michelle immediately above them. And Kevin who, with the week's next highest score, again nibbled into Ken's lead. Across the board, though, none of us changed position.

At least this coming week's international break gives us a chance, if we want to take it, to get our team lineups back into some sort of normal shape plus, of course, the following weekend offers a further 'free' transfer opportunity because it is the FA Cup Quarter Finals. Fo those four matches, the transfer window is now open and will close at 11:30 on Saturday 4th April.

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!