Lineups from 6:45pm (UK)

ARSENAL: CECH, HOLDING, MONREAL, KOLASINAC, BELLERIN, XHAKA, ELNENY, OX, WELLBECK, OZIL, LACAZETTE

SUBS: WALCOTT, IWOBI, MUSTAFI, OSPINA, GIROUD, RAMSEY, COQUELIN

LEICESTER CITY: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan (c), Maguire, Fuchs, Mahrez, Ndidi, James, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy

SUBS: HAMER, IHEANACHO, CHILWELL, ARMATEY, KING, GRAY, SLIMANI

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM FANTASYYIRMA.COM 2017/18

After 5 years, 190 consecutive fantasy football gameweeks, 1200+ articles, more than 30,000 in our mini-leagues and close to 50,000 tweets I can safely say that if I had used my time more constructively I could have made progress on my childhood ambition to be an Astronaut. At the very least I could have painted the fence in the back garden which still needs done.

I didn’t and so here we are in preparation for the new Premier League 2017/18 Season. A lot of people have asked what we would be doing on the site this year so thought it would be a good idea to provide an overview of our plans for the season ahead.

MINI-LEAGUE YIRMA

The mini-league is reopened and as always there is £100 up for grabs to the overall winner of the FantasyYIRMA.com league. The £100 is paid as a result of a bet between myself and the founding members of the site because it’s great to take money of your mates, but it’s funnier to make them sponsor the league for a whole season. Join the Free league by clicking below. (League Code 3675-1308)

In addition we always try and offer up a prize for the Gameweek 1 Mini-League entry. This year you can win a teletext mug coming from the excellent guys at @P302_

To be clear… whoever is in top spot – wins the prize! We’ll announce the winner both on twitter and here on the website. You will then need to contact me via twitter/email to claim.

PARTNER YIRMA

In addition to the £100 Main Prize I am delighted to announce we will be working alongside Irish Biltong this season for some prizes and giveaways throughout the season. It’s a great tie in because in all honesty, when we think of YIRMA – We think of 100% Irish Beef!

Many thanks to Noreen and the team at Irish Biltong. The tie in may seem random, but we’ve actually been following the account for over a year now and have always been impressed with their interaction and engagement on the social side and we personally love the product. In all fairness – random is good as far as we’re concerned and pretty much standard with this site regardless!

(In addition to the fact that we wanted free Chilli Beef Biltong – #WinWinYIRMA)

We’ll no doubt run ridiculous competitions across the season to win products in addition to sexy FantasyYIRMA.com Emoji Stickers which may or may not be a direct rip off from Japanese L plate signs.

Not sorry in the slightest.

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2017/18

It’s very much more of the same on FantasyYIRMA.com. We will continue to provide the Fantasy Football Gameweek Preview and Review on a weekly basis which has always been the most popular articles on the site.

In terms of the Gameweek Preview as mentioned earlier – we have now provided 190 consecutive gameweek coverage with the preview previously written by Mark Jones 2012-2015 and subsequently Craig Hazell 2015-2017. Joking aside the bar has been set high. With this in mind the Gameweek FPL preview will be coming from John Wallin this season aka @FantasyGaffer.

Many of you will already follow him on twitter and if not we highly recommend doing so. John is well versed in FPL in addition to his Raheem Sterling work with PlayTogga.

For the Review we’re delighted to add @NiallHawthorne to the site as our regular Gameweek Review writer. In terms of his writing style Niall is loud, crass and genuinely thinks he’s funny which pretty much makes him overqualified for this role. It will be an interesting read simply to see if he can shake of a strong Liverpool bias and remain neutral. Drop him a follow on twitter.

Additional YIRMA

Last week was a bit of a milestone for the account as we ran a 3 part fantasy series on FourFourTwo. Having read the magazine since my early teens it was a genuine pleasure to provide content for the digital publication side.

We put together a Fantasy Bargain Special – you can check out our selections here

#FPL Bargain Defenders

#FPL Bargain Midfielders

#FPL Bargain Forwards

There will be additional exclusive FPL content on FourFourTwo throughout August. #ScoreYIRMA

In addition we will be providing a weekly column/blog for Lad Bible on the @OddsBible page. This is easily one of our favourite articles to write due to the complete freedom and lack of proof reading these lovely guys provide. Think of it as #UnpluggedYIRMA meaning we get to say pretty much whatever we like about the wonderful world of Fantasy Football.

The most recent article can be read here: 3 Top Tips For Mini-League Success

ALL ABOUT THE DRAFT

There’s been a lot of talk also about the introduction of the draft game from the Premier League season. Thankfully this is nothing new to us having played draft formats for multiple years via different platforms.

Again pleased to announce that FY will be working closely with PlayTogga for the upcoming season and in addition to actually playing the game you will be hearing FantasyYIRMA taking part in their podcast, website and social side. I believe they have a great draft game and the tailored scoring system lends itself much better to the draft format than the FPL scoring.

PODCAST YIRMA

In terms of podcasts you really need to check out The Gaffer Tapes. The guys have gone from strength to strength in recent seasons and it has been genuinely a pleasure to work with them and previously guest on their show. Sincere thanks again to @CraigHazell who provided the FantasyYIRMA.com Preview for the last two seasons.

I’m genuinely expecting big things from Craig, Ash and Tom this season and if you are based in or around London make sure and check out their live show in October which promises to be a great event! Ticket Link

I’m hoping to be in attendance at the Live Show also.

SOCIAL YIRMA

Many people have told me personally over the years that I should get set up on Facebook etc but I love the interaction and direct engagement twitter provides. I would like to publicly say thank you to the support and interaction over the years with both the site and twitter account. You can find a FY presence on Instagram and Snapchat also (Search FantasyYIRMA)

For clarifcation purposes this blog is ran an maintained as a hobby and albeit a time-consuming one – It’s something I love to do. Many people know the whole FY concept basically started as a spoof many, many years ago but it’s a pleasure for me to get to know folk from all over the world through a common interest such as FPL.

The twitter account and website have both been built to promote engagement – so tweet us, get involved and we are always open to helping promote new writers on the site with more than 50 guest post writers over the years the platform is there to be used! I’m always open to new ideas and let us know if there’s something you think we should cover also.

If you would like to feature your work and Guest Post on the site email me at Ryan@FantasyYIRMA.com.

So, Best of luck with #FPL 2017. Here’s to a good season. I’m targeting a top 1% finish, a shed load of terrible Beef related puns and will work tirelessly (without fee) in order to help broker a deal with any top flight club to keep Mathieu Flamini in the Premier League.

Thank You,

Ryan @FantasyYIRMA