Hodgson’s men won’t be the only ones cashing in on tiring San Marino legs

With the Premier League taking a break this week for the International fixtures we are pleased to provide a guest post from the team at @FourFourTweet.

@MattDenney87 gives his thoughts on the upcoming match between San Marino and England.

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 It’s difficult to say what constitutes ‘par for the course’ when you come up against San Marino. After all this is a side that in recent years has lost 8-0 to both Hungary and Finland, hardly heavyweights of modern day world football.

One thing’s for certain, just beating San Marino is not nearly enough.

An incredible 9 countries list their biggest international victory as coming against San Marino. Sadly Wales can’t count themselves amongst that number, sneaking a 2-1 win against them in 2007, a result which was met with widespread criticism by their fans and prompted then Head Coach John Toshack to remark: “It’s very sad that we had to be biting our nails in the last 10 minutes”. Toshack has since moved into management in the Azerbaijan Premier League where things are a little less stressful.

England’s 5-0 triumph against San Marino at Wembley back in October was somewhat underwhelming, not just because Holland stuffed the same opposition by 11 and Germany once rattled 13 past them, but also because England never clicked into gear.

Goalless after 35 minutes, it took a Wayne Rooney penalty to finally separate the sides. A Danny Welbeck strike followed two minutes later. Cue the floodgates opening? Far from it. Another 30 plus minutes of uneventful action trudged by before an eight minute spell deep in the second half brought three English goals and finally put San Marino to bed.

But how much did that late flurry have to do with England raising the tempo and how much was it down to the tiring legs of our semi-professional sovereign state friends? Fatigue will always be a factor for La Serenissima (a nickname which ironically translates as ‘the most serene’). It stands to reason that part timers who don’t enjoy the same level of match day preparation as our pampered stars, will struggle to stay the distance. The stats support this.

10 out of San Marino’s last 12 internationals have seen more goals scored in the second half than the first. Immediately prior to their last encounter with England, the minnows slumped to a 6-0 defeat against Montenegro, conceding four in the second half. A 5-0 defeat to Sweden in 2011 looks one sided enough, but the scores had been level after 45 minutes. That aforementioned 8-0 reverse against Finland came about after just a single goal was scored in the first half, whilst the 11 goal thumping against the Dutch saw the men in orange score eight times in the second period, including four in the last 13 minutes.

There aren’t too many worthwhile bets ahead of Friday’s clash in the Stadio Olympico and I can’t see too many punters rushing to back Roy Hodgson’s men at 1/100, however inevitable victory is. But the 21/20 available with William Hill on the second half of this match being higher scoring than the first may just provide the betting value you’re looking for.

Post written by @MattDenney87

What is your score prediction?? Drop a comment underneath

FantasyYIRMA Cup: Kicks off GW31. CLICK HERE FOR INFO

 THE FantasyYIRMA CUP is full – if you have joined up leave a comment below with both your Twitter and Team name, so we can keep you involved.

  CUP 5

The FantasyYIRMA KO Cup will start in GW31!! We have a huge £200 prize pot to give away in the form of free bets from the generous folk over at StanJames .
stanjames.com
Many Thanks to everyone who signed up – More than 250 places in the Cup were taken within a few hours of us launching the competition!
The cup will run for 8 gameweeks starting from GW31.
The league will take the form of a head to head knockout. Starting in GW31 with 256 players we will finish on the final day of the season with the grand final! 1 lucky winner will receive £100 in free bets from @StanJames with 2nd place taking home £50 in free bets.
To make it even more interesting we will also give away a £50 Free Bet to the best individual GW score from the teams registered at the start of the cup for the duration of the competition… meaning you can get knocked out in the first round but still be eligible to win a prize!

CUP 3

ADDITIONAL PRIZES!!

Delighted to announce that in addition to the already generous prize pot the highest Gameweek score (For teams still in the Cup) will receive a FREE copy of the Fantasy Football Manager app from @FFMiphone

Click the @FFMiphone logo below to find out more about them!

FFM

We think this is a great way to finish off the season – so get involved – get talking about the cup – Tweet us once you are signed up at @FantasyYIRMA  using hashtag #FYCUP and get ready for kick off in Gameweek 31!!

RULES:

  • Fantasy Football scores based on the Fantasy.PremierLeague.com game.
  • Players must be 18+ to Enter
  • Players must be following @StanJames and @FantasyYIRMA on Twitter to be eligible for prizes
  • *£200 Prize pot split in the form of free bet codes from Stan James – no alternatives.
  • Winners must have an existing account or can open a new account with StanJames.com to receive prizes
  • Standard Stan James T&C’s apply Terms & Conditions
  • Fixtures drawn at random by an online fixture generator
  • Weekly match-ups available on FantasyYIRMA.com
  • For more information on Responsible Gaming please refer the Stan James Responsible Gaming Policy.

*In the event of a tie for the bonus prize the deciding factor will look at 1.number of goals scored, 2.number of goals conceded. In the event of a draw after this there will be a coin toss decision.

CUP 2

Football Trader App: Fantasy Football meets Wall Street

 

football-trader-logo-315x315

Last month on FantasyYIRMA we announced the new Fantasy Football game from www.footballtraderapp.com. Football Trader is a new Fantasy Stock Market Game based on the English Premier League. The game has been running for 5 weeks and has 500 users from over 20 countries.

The creators of the game @realtime_sports  have just launched a new version of the game today, based on user feedback. The new version of the game is made for the web and is also now a Facebook App. We spoke to the Co-Founder, Sohail Godall, to find out more about the new version!

The creator of the game @realtime_sports had this to say about Football Trader:

FantasyYirma: So remind us again for those who don’t know what Football Trader is about.

Sohail: Sure, Football Trader is basically a new type of Fantasy Football game where you Buy & Sell shares in players on a live stock market. Unlike most fantasy football games, this is played in Real-time, meaning the price of players is changing constantly based on users trading on the market and also player performances. Every user starts with £100M budget and the goal of the game is to Grow the Value of your Players, and therefore your Team, as much as you can. You also get Match Dividend Bonus’s awarded right after matches, based on how players performed, which are sort of like how you would get Fantasy Points, but in cash!

FootyTrader

FantasyYirma: So tell us a little about the Beta so far…

We made the first version mobile-first. We have had some great success, 500 users from over 20 countries so far in 5 weeks. However, we realised that the performance of the game on mobile was not great, it struggled on some browsers and 3G networks. Also, we were restricted on what changes we could make to the game. For this reason, we have just built a new Facebook web-version of the game which works much faster and cleaner! We still plan to make our mobile app’s for the new season as we see this as a mobile game.

FantasyYirma: Sounds good! And what new features can users expect from your new version of the game?

Well, the main bit is that it’s made for Facebook so it’s a lot more Social! You can invite friends to compete against and also brag about your Team Value. Beyond that though you can now follow other users and players like a Twitter feed, which gets included in your news feed. So you can now watch other users and see how they play the game. You can also comment on players and put your view of why their prices are changing. Lastly, all users start off as a Rookie Trader and need to work their way up as a Pro Trader for bragging rights. This will be the start of making the game much more Social we hope.

Screenshot_Profile

 

 

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The Beta game is now open Live for users to play till the end of the season at http://www.footballtraderapp.com

 

Play-Now

Fantasy Football GW30 : Nothing but Bonus Points

FY logo paint2

So… Gameweek 30 was a tough week. Surprisingly tough in that none of the 3 predicted big hitters hit big…

Suarez, RVP and Bale all came up short this week. It’s a strange week for us #FPL managers, with a full program of fixtures we never got the points on the board we were all expecting leaving a very moderate 39 point GW average.

However this can happen – we have been treated in recent weeks to players like Bale and Suarez putting in some extremely strong performances and ultimately no player can maintain that level every minute of every game. (A Suarez Hat-trick would have helped my #FPL team a hell of a lot this week though!)

Wins for Everton, Southampton and Fulham may not have made up your weekend accumulator slip but once again the Premier League reinforces the competitive nature of the competition.

Maximum bonus points this week for Monreal of Arsenal was a sign of things to come. He has settled well at Arsenal and there have been some welcome clean sheets in the league since his arrival. In his 5 games so far he has contributed 1 goal, 2 assist, 3 clean sheets, 5 bonus points and now averages 7pts per game.

Another full back currently improving his position is Fulham’s Sascha Riether with another 2 bonus points this week. Two assists and a goal in his last 3 games have put him on our watchlist, however he has been consistent all season and finds himself in 15th position for point scoring defenders. A push for the top 10 is no without possibility.

Ricky Lambert popped up again with a goal and took all 3 bonus points also. A handsome reward for #FPL managers who retained his services after he drew a blank in both his last two previous outings.

Stoke v WBA finished 0-0. Having only seen the highlights of this game I can honestly say it would be difficult to pick out too many stand out performances. The team allocating the bonus points must have had a same thought so they decided to give SIX players bonus points!

Rooney took the maximum for United and Hazard was impressive for Chelsea as they seek to challenge strongly for the Champions league positions.

Full bonus point allocations are below and as always drop a comment underneath or contact us on twitter @FantasyYIRMA

How did your Team do??

*Ryan

Everton 2 – 0 Man City

Bonus
Mucha
Osman (3)
Fellaini (2)

Aston Villa 3 – 2 QPR

Bonus
Agbonlahor (2)
Weimann (3)

Bonus
Jenas

Southampton 3 – 1 Liverpool

Bonus
Schneiderlin (2)
Lambert (3)
Bonus
Coutinho

Stoke City 0 – 0 West Brom

Bonus
Begovic (2)
Shawcross (2)
Etherington (2)

Bonus
Foster (2)
Ridgewell (3)
Odemwingie (2)

Swansea 0 – 2 Arsenal

Bonus
Jenkinson (2)
Monreal (3)
Gervinho

Man Utd 1 – 0 Reading

Bonus
Ferdinand (2)
Giggs
Rooney (3)

Sunderland 1 – 1 Norwich

Bonus
Johnson
Gardner (3)

Bonus
Hoolahan (2)

Tottenham 0 – 1 Fulham

Bonus
Riether (2)
Ruiz
Berbatov (3)

Chelsea 2 – 0 West Ham

Bonus
Azpilicueta (2)
Ramires
Hazard (3)

Wigan 2 – 1 Newcastle

Bonus
Maloney
Beausejour (2)

Bonus
Santon (3)

Gameweek 30 preview: The case for the defence – Volume III

https://twitter.com/FantasyYirma/status/312534937406431233

 

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For the third time this season we’re ignoring those Fantasy Premier League attention-seekers and instead looking at those who often miss out on the headlines.

Yes, never mind your midfielders and forwards, the case for the defence has been opened again and this time ahead of a Gameweek which offers ample chance for a few clean sheets.

The best of those opportunities probably comes at Old Trafford, where Manchester United welcome a managerless Reading side in a contest that the hosts will not just expect to win – but expect to win well.

Brazilian defender Rafael da Silva (£6.2m) has excelled in the United defence this season, and with 16.9% ownership he finds himself as the most selected player from the champions-elect after Robin van Persie.

Sir Alex Ferguson surprised many by leaving Rafael out of the 4-0 win over Norwich two weeks ago – his first non-appearance of the year in the league – but the right-back was back in the team for the FA Cup tie against Chelsea last weekend, and he’s almost certain to start here in a match in which United are of course likely to be on the front foot.

Following earlier struggles for clean sheets United have now kept four in successive league matches, and with Rafael contributing three goals and five assists this season – including that stunning strike at QPR recently – then the Brazilian could be a key player in their run-in towards an almost certain league title.

Elsewhere, Tottenham will be bidding to rediscover their excellent form which they displayed prior to last weekend’s thrilling 3-2 defeat at Liverpool.

They have a good chance to find it at home to a Fulham side who have won just two away games this season, and with defender Michael Dawson (£4.6m) having now recovered from previous injuries to start and crucially finish the last 10 league games at the heart of the Spurs defence, the centre-back could be a valuable and cheap addition to your squad as Andre Villas-Boas’ side close in on a Champions League place.

Another Sunday fixture sees Chelsea host West Ham at Stamford Bridge, and although the make-up of Rafael Benitez’s defence does have a habit of changing regularly, David Luiz (£6.5m) has started the last three league games – registering his first assist of the season in the 1-0 win over West Brom last time out, a match in which he also picked up a bonus point.

Manchester City go to Everton in the opening match of the weekend, and with defender Pablo Zabaleta (£6.2m) a firm Fantasy favourite after starting the last 16 league matches there is sure to be plenty of interest in him. Leighton Baines (£7.6m) will of course provide a threat going in the other direction.

For cheaper options, the Sunderland v Norwich match offers the possibility of a stalemate with visiting defender Javier Garrido (£4.7m) bidding to follow up from last weekend’s clean sheet against Southampton with another blank against his opposition’s name. Teammate Michael Turner (£4.2m) also picked up two bonus points in that 0-0 draw.

This weekend Southampton face the tough prospect of facing a Liverpool side who have won their last three in the league, and whilst it was Daniel Agger (£6.4m) who scored the winner when the Reds beat the Saints 1-0 at Anfield in December it is the form of teammate Jose Enrique (£6.0m) which can’t be ignored here.

The left-back registered an impressive sixth assist of the season which he provided the first goal for Luis Suarez in the Tottenham win, and with two goals to his name as well he is certainly one to watch ahead of a match which Brendan Rodgers will expect his Reds to win.

If they can win it with a clean sheet then that is sure to please many.

*We’ve focused on defenders again for this Gameweek, but if you have any selection issues, dilemmas or problems then feel free to tweet us at @FantasyYirma. Goalkeepers, midfielders and forwards are allowed!

@Mark_Jones86

The Mark Jones Column: Roberto Mancini deserves another year

Soccer - Pre-season Package

Whatever happened it could never be as exciting as the end to last season, but the closure of this campaign looks to be somewhat quieter for Manchester City.

Of course they have an FA Cup semi-final against either Manchester United or Chelsea to prepare for, but as much as fans will enjoy that day and acknowledge that it was winning this trophy in 2011 which really kickstarted City’s time amongst the big boys, it’s not quite the ending to the season they envisaged.

This was supposed to be the year when City – fresh from that remarkable ending to last season and buoyed by their title of champions – made a big impact both home and abroad; starting an era of dominance in the Premier League and establishing themselves as a big hitter in the Champions League.

That hasn’t happened.

With neighbours United running away with the league title in England, and having fallen foul of a devilishly tricky Champions League group for the second season running, this has so far been a year of standing still for City.

Of course they could still rescue it by winning the FA Cup back at Wembley in May though, and that prospect alone should be enough to convince City’s infamous owners that manager Roberto Mancini should be allowed another crack at the job next season. Whether or not he will is another matter of course.

As we discussed on these pages back in October, City’s summer signings didn’t look as though they were going to significantly improve the squad. Maybe this year it will be different.

With Mario Balotelli having packed his no doubt eccentrically coloured bags for Italy and Edin Dzeko an apparent target for Borussia Dortmund, Mancini will almost certainly be in the market for another forward to complement Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez in the summer. He simply must be allowed to spend big this time.

Missing out on Robin van Persie last year was one thing, but Mancini then had to watch the Dutchman slot into Manchester United’s winning machine and only add to their ruthless nature. That simply can’t be allowed to happen again.

Providing the Italian with a top class forward in the summer – in other words a Radamel Falcao, or maybe even a Luis Suarez – is simply essential if City want to be challenging for the type of honours they want to be in the mix for at the end of next season. A statement needs to be made.

Sadly, a much more likely statement could be made with the removal of Mancini, a man who has been in his position at City since December 2009 but has frequently made enemies during that time.

Just like Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez before him – and right now come to think of it – Mancini has frequently paid the price for being a bit different, and for saying things that we don’t normally hear from the mouths of managers in the Premier League.

He shouldn’t be shunned just for simply having a personality though, and if he can spend the summer finding the personality that his team produced in their epic Premier League victory last season then there is nothing to suggest that they won’t be celebrating success again next year.

It’s safe to assume that if this were Chelsea then Mancini would have lost his job already, but this is Manchester City and they have admirably stuck by their man so far.

Stick by him a little more, give him some better players and they might find out that they won’t regret their decision come 2014.

@Mark_Jones86

Guest Post: Finding End of Season Value and Differentials

Many thanks to Jonathan from @SportinglyBet for supplying this guest post.

Finding End of Season Value and Differentials

With just nine games remaining, fantasy managers up and down the country will be looking to put their below par points return from Gameweek 29 to bed and make a final end of season push.

On paper Arsenal have the best run of fixtures including a double gameweek against Norwich and Everton in Gameweek 33.

Midfielders Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla can both be expected to be drafted in by an influx of managers, especially before Gameweek 33, but it is England international Walcott (£9.0m) who offers the best value given his more advanced role for Arsenal this season.

Centre half Per Mertesacker remains the cheapest way to get into Arsenal’s backline, with the Gunners keeping clean sheets in three of their last four games in the Premier League.

By Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom

By Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom

Oliver Giroud (£7.6m) is a somewhat divisive mid-price option in attack, but after scoring nine goals in his debut season the France international could still flip opinion between now and the end of the season. Selected by just 2.6% of fantasy managers, the France international could prove a significant differential given Arsenal’s remaining fixtures in the Premier League.

Brendan Rodgers’ LIVERPOOL side also end the season well with a favourable run of fixtures, fuelling hope that the Merseyside club could make the Champions League.

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has again been the Reds leading light this season, with over 40% of fantasy managers currently boasting the Premier League top scorer in their ranks.

Fabio Borini’s injury and Raheem Sterling’s fatigue could see January signing Daniel Sturridge (£7.5m) feature more heavily for Liverpool this season. Sturridge has scored five goals in the league since making the move from Chelsea and the English striker has often been played in the more advanced role alongside Suarez.

Phillipe Coutinho has also impressed since his January move, but the Brazilian midfielder will be subject to a gradual introduction of Premier League football by Brendan Rodgers. Stewart Downing offers a more in-form selection, with two goals, one assist and three bonus points in the last three gameweeks and despite a budget price of £5.7m, only 1.3% of managers have the England international in their squad.

By Dean Jones (Flickr: Coutinho Goal) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Dean Jones (Flickr: Coutinho Goal) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Relegation threatened QPR enjoy fixtures against Aston Villa, Fulham and Wigan over the next three gameweeks and fantasy managers have been quick to snap up French forward Loic Remy.

Three goals in four starts has been the return of the former Marseille striker and a price tag of just £5.9m will see Remy quickly become the third choice striker for many fantasy sides.

Harry Redknapp’s team remains full of fantasy worth, epitomised none more so than on loan midfielder Andros Townsend at £4.4m who produced a man of the match performance with a goal, two assists and three bonus points against Sunderland last time out.

Christopher Samba is another to add to the watchlist, after scoring over 100 points in three successive seasons for Blackburn during 2008-2011. Samba is still short of the pace of the Premier League, but the Congo international has always carried a substantial threat from corners and set-pieces..

Elsewhere suitors of NORWICH could come back into fashion, with Javier Garrido, Russell Martin and Sebastian Bassong high on the agenda given the Canaries run of nine clean sheets already this season.

NEWCASTLE’s Moussa Sissoko and Yohan Cabaye look encouraging in the centre of the Magpies midfield, with fixtures against Wigan, Fulham Sunderland and West Brom on the horizon.

Over the next few gameweeks managers will be eagerly reshaping their squads and the quest to find differentials with favourable fixture runs look never-ending, as we approach the final part of the season.

By Jonathan Day

SportinglyBetter2

About the Author:

Fantasy Football: GW29 Match Review

Many thanks as always to @shots_on_target for his review, check out his site at www.shotsontarget.co.uk a fantastic #FPL resource!

4XSQEEEE5GND

A much needed and deserved win for Lambert’s Villa which unfortunately resulted in McDermott leaving Reading.  I’m not sure what more he could’ve done for the team really but they have been pretty poor all season long and should probably consider themselves fairly content to not be relegated already.   Villa’s fight will go on.  Despite this victory it wasn’t an emphatic performance and they have another huge scrap ontheir hands with the visit of QPR this weekend.  In Benteke they have a real player and he’s sure to be on the end of a few chances come Saturday.
The Magpies left it late and were generally a little lacklustre than they have been of late, although you could argue Stoke are pulling themselves out of their winter slump a bit too.  Sissoko won the free-kick and hence assist for Cabaye’s goal but didn’t have a great deal of chances himself.  Although, again, no-one on either side really had a performance worth shouting about.
Lukaku continued his excellent form with his 7th goal in 8 apperances putting West Brom ahead of Swansea in the league but it could have been much sweeter for the Belgian had he not struck his penalty so badly. James Morrison was the other stand-out performer for the home team although here’s another game with very few shots on target.  Michu, going through a barren spell, missed a few decent chances, and failed to find the target with any of his 4 shots.
Norwich’s clean sheet record has been as impressive recently as their goal-scoring record has been poor.  I hope you own defender’s and not forwards!  Snodgrass was the most involved in the little they did create.  Southampton are also looking a little shorn of belief right now and really rely on Lambert to find the back of the net for them but he didn’t have a great deal of joy here.  Puncheon’s benching is worrying a fair few managers but it looks like the Saints could do with his goals.
The weekend’s top billed game didn’t disappoint and saw the most goals and the most chances.  Liverpool showed great character to earn a victory in a game which Spurs were perhaps the better side, Gareth Bale again dominating proceedings and despite not scoring here picked up 2 assists for 2 deliveries that Vertonghen finished with skill.  Sigurdsson came close. For Liverpool Suarez and Sturridge had a very similar number of opportunities but the the young Englishman lacked the geniuine quality of the Uruguayan.  Stewart Downing added another goal and performance to his season.  No-one’s mocking him so much nowadays.

QPR have won back to back victories and in Loic Remy that have a player to score them the goals that win games, with two more of Redknapp’s January signings chipping in with cracking goals, Townsend and Jenas.  The goal-scorers may grab the headlines but it’s an improved defence and returned presence of Park in midfield that may give this team the foundations to survive.  Sunderland’s chief goalscorer achieved double digits for the the season to give him 10 in 24 appearances.  Exactly what you’d expect of Steven Fletcher.

Check out the Shots On Target review of GW29’s Top Ranked Players and over the Last Six Fixtures

Fantasy Premier League GW29 Nothing but Bonus Points!!

cisse_1688817a

A limited weekend of Fantasy Premier League action saw just six matches played but there was enough drama in them to fill 10.

At St James’ Park on Sunday, Papiss Cisse’s last minute winner completed Newcastle’s stunning turnaround against Stoke, a strike which both earned his team three points and the Senegalese forward three FPL bonus points of his own.

Elsewhere, the game of the weekend at Anfield saw Luis Suarez pick up his by now customary three bonus points – the eighth time this season his taken the maximum amount as he took his tally to 30 extras for the campaign – as Liverpool came from 2-1 to beat Tottenham 3-2 in a terrific game at Anfield. Spurs’ double goalscorer Jan Vertonghen picked up two BPs, whilst Reds goalscorer Stewart Downing grabbed one.

Saturday’s goalless draw between Norwich and Southampton at Carrow Road saw three bonus points picked up by Saints midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and two for goalkeeper Artur Boruc after he saved Grant Holt’s late penalty, whilst Andros Townsend’s stunning strike in QPR’s 3-1 win over Sunderland led to the midfielder picking up three extras.

Gabby Agbonlahor added three extras to his total after scoring the winner in Aston Villa’s crucial 2-1 win at Reading, whilst both Liam Ridgewell and James Morrison shared the top BP honours in West Brom’s win by same margin over Swansea.

Norwich 0-0 Southampton

3 Schneiderlin

2 Boruc, Turner

QPR 3-1 Sunderland

3 Townsend

2 Remy

1 Fletcher

Reading 1-2 Aston Villa

3 Agbonlahor

2 Weimann

1 Benteke

West Brom 2-1 Swansea

3 Ridgewell, Morrison

1 Lukaku

Newcastle 2-1 Stoke

3 Cisse

2 Debuchy

1 Walters

Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham

3 Suarez

2 Vertonghen

1 Downing

Gameweek 29: You’re the Captain!!

Thanks to @RotoZdroik for his guest post looking at Captain options for Gameweek29.

FPL: YOU’RE THE CAPTAIN

 

The list of captain options is extremely small this weekend due to the FA Cup. Out of the six matches, only four of the clubs are in the top half of the table. Two of those teams are Swansea and West Brom in eighth and ninth place, respectively. In a week with only six matches, your captain pick may be more important than usual.

  1. Luis, Suarez, Liverpool
  2. Gareth Bale, Tottenham
  3. Moussa Sissoko, Newcastle
  4. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool
  5. Grant Holt, Norwich

 

Most owners will have the task of deciding between Suarez and Bale. Those two have been the hands down hottest players in recent weeks. Robin van Persie isn’t even up there with them. Bale has seven goals in his last five games, receiving bonus points in all of them. Suarez’s form doesn’t extend to five games, but in his last two which Liverpool has dominated, he has four goals and two assists.

 

Suarez gets my pick for the top captain option this weekend, mainly because he’ll be at Anfield. In the last match between these clubs, Spurs took the win 2-1 at White Hart Lane with Bale getting the goal and assist. The Reds have been a much stronger team at home this year which gives them the edge in this one.

 

If you have Bale, it’s hard not to captain him right now. I know I listed Suarez above him, but you can’t really give one of these players a true advantage. No one has been able to stop Bale in all competitions and it’s going to take a lot in this one even on the road. As this is the biggest match of the weekend, hopefully we’ll get to see a few goals.

 

Sissoko didn’t find the score sheet in his last match which was the first time of his short Premier League career. Stoke is solid defensively, but you can’t really trust them on the road. Newcastle has been very good at St. James’ Park and Sissoko should capitalize on that.

 

This goes back to hoping there are plenty of goals in this match. Gerrard has fallen off a bit lately, but he has stepped up to the challenge in bigger games this season and scored when it counts the most. I’ll definitely take him over some of the other lesser options out there.

 

The last spot goes to famed goal poacher, Grant Holt. He’s having a rather disappointing season with only five goals and three assists, but he should get plenty of chances at home against Southampton. The Saints have lost two straight matches giving up six total goals to Newcastle and QPR. Norwich should be able to score a couple and that starts with Holt up front.

*Stats up-to-date as of Mar. 5

 

@RotoZdroik

Adam joined RotoExperts in 2008 as a member of the Scout/Player Updates Team. Throughout the years, Adam has written articles encompassing a number of sports. If you like your Fantasy advice full of numbers and straight to the point, look no further. Find him (@RotoZdroik) on Twitter, to get a daily take of what’s happening in the sports world