The Boot Room: Week 1 in Review

The first ever Roto FC weekend rolled into town on Saturday, and managers got their first taste of the action. For some this fare will have been sweet, lively and with a peppy hint of optimism as they watched their star striker slam home a hat-trick in seven minutes. Others, however, will have been wincing at the sour aftertaste of another Valeri Bojinov season cut short by injury or the unpalatable reality of last season's top stopper picking the ball out of his net four times.

Haute Cuisine

Gabriel Agbonlahor was the most valuable player in the game, with his three goals from four shots on target. He was also helpful to his team-mates, completing 22 of 27 passes and creating two attempts.

Debutant Samir Nasri of Arsenal had the most impressive all-round performance. The young Frenchman was able to dictate the Gunners' attacking play in the absence of Cesc Fabregas, and created four attempts to go with his fourth minute goal. He also won three fouls, made a tackle, completed almost 89% of his 63 passes and hit the target with another shot. Avoiding any bookings ensured Nasri contributed above the average level in all of the 8 categories for which he was eligible.

Top Keeper was Petr Cech, who stopped all 4 of the shots that came his way to provide a clean sheet. Jose Reina saved 3, and Manuel Almunia just 1 in their respective shutouts, while Shay Given kept out 6 of the 7 Manchester United shots that came his way for a very respectable performance. Given's first game of last season was also against United, who on that occasion put a brace past the Irish number one in just 45 minutes, after which he was substituted with a groin injury – so this was a definite improvement!

Best defender was last season's leader at the position, Gael Clichy. All the defenders who kept clean sheets did well; of the rest the top scorer was Vedran Corluka. Despite seeing his side concede four to Aston Villa, Corluka created two chances, made four more tackles than fouls and scored a late consolation for Manchester City.

Lamb Dressed As Mutton?

Darren Fletcher and David Dunn were both undrafted this season, but both made the top 7 most valuable players this week. Each found the net, Fletcher created 6 chances for his United team-mates, while Dunn had 4 efforts on goal and won a couple of fouls.

Also enjoying an unexpectedly good start to the season was Marcio Giovanni of Hull, who won 3 fouls and scored for his new club. However, Giovanni pulled this trick off last season when he scored on debut for Manchester City, and only found the net twice more all year.

Under-Cooked

David James ran into trouble against a fired-up Chelsea side who were eager to impress both new boss Phil Scolari and the rest of the Premier League. While the England keeper made 5 saves, he also conceded 4 goals, and picked up a yellow card. Thomas Sorensen conceded three for Stoke, who look worryingly like this season's Derby County, while Joe Hart could only keep out 3 of the 7 shots that came his way.

Of the outfield players drafted, Stephen Warnock had the worst start to the fantasy season, giving away possession with 21 of 44 passes and picking up a booking. Kevin Davies, Scott Parker and Tal Ben Haim all managed 4 more fouls conceded than tackles successfully executed, though young Manchester United forward Frazier Campbell went one more with 5.

The most profligate user of the ball was Phil Neville, who saw just 29 of his 58 passes reach a team-mate. Neville Jr's passing accuracy was over 70% last season, so this should just have been a bad day at the office.

Week 2

This coming weekend, Aston Villa and the red-hot Agbonlahor take on Stoke, who are coming off a whipping at the hands of Bolton. This bodes well for owners of Agbonlahor, as well as the likes of Ashley Young and John Carew.

Chelsea defenders seem like a solid bet, as their team - which had the meanest defence of any away from home last season – travel to Wigan, who scored fewer at home than any other team who escaped relegation.

Fulham hope to be able to give fit-again summer signing Andrew Johnson a debut against Arsenal; Owen Hargreaves looks to be back in time to cover for Michael Carrick's injury as Manchester United take on Portsmouth on Monday; Dean Ashton should be able – and a decent bet - to face struggling Manchester City, after recovering from the knock that kept him out of England's midweek friendly.

By Sandy King