Blog Archives
Guest Post: #FPL Reflection by @RotoZdroik from RotoExperts
This guest post was submitted by Adam @RotoZdroik from US Fantasy Sports site www.RotoExperts.com. RotoExperts feature award-winning experts and analysis across various major sports platforms.
Many thanks to Adam for his contribution and if you would like to guest post for Fantasy Yirma – Contact us at fantasyyirma@hotmail.com
—————————-
Wait, Manchester United lost to who? One of the richest and most popular clubs in the World fell to the hands (or feet) of Norwich on Saturday.
That’s right, a team scoring almost three goals per game lost to a team that was scoring less than one goal per game with a goal differential of negative 10. About zero people predicted the Canaries to come away with a win. Don’t forget, they also beat Arsenal and Tottenham (Capital One cup) in the past month, as well.
What does this mean for your Fantasy squad? Norwich is by far the best-valued squad when looking at defenses. John Ruddy only costs 4.6m (at the official game at premierleague.com) and has four clean sheets in his last five matches. He has more points than any other keeper does in the Premier League. Joe Hart has 14 less points yet currently costs 2.3m more. That’s the difference between having Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney on your team.
As for the Canary defenders, none of them cost more than 4.5m. Javier Garrido had the assist against Man United and now has bonus points in two straight games. He has five more Fantasy points than Patrice Evra, costs a lot less and is owned by about five percent less of contestants. Sebastien Bassong and Michael Turner also deserve a mention on the back line, as they have been key in Norwich’s current run.
In the other matches, red cards took the headline. Emmanuel Adebayor scored and then was sent off shortly after against his former club. Arsenal went on to score five goals after Adebayor was given the boot. The same story can be said about Brede Hangeland for Fulham. He got a red and offensively challenged Sunderland proceeded to put three in the back of the net. Marouane Fellaini picked up only a yellow card in their road loss at Reading, but that still lead to a two-game suspension for him since it was his fifth of the campaign.
Liverpool and Manchester City were favorites of most Fantasy owners as they combined for an 8-0 score line. In form striker, Luis Suarez, scored twice while defender Jose Enrique scored, assisted and got full bonus points. He was my No. 1 defender in last week’s rankings.
As for City, it took some time but they got back to scoring big against Aston Villa. Carlos Tevez had two goals and two assists while David Silva once again showed life with a goal and two assists. Sergio Aguero made an appearance as well, scoring twice.
Swansea continues to defy odds with their always-productive midfield. Pablo Hernandez, Johnathan de Guzman and Michu all found the score sheet in a road win. QPR lost yet another disappointing game, but this one came at home against the club that is directly above them in the table. Never a good thing.
In somewhat of an upset, West Brom took out Chelsea on the legs of their usually consistent forwards. Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long both grabbed goals while Chelsea looked largely unimpressive for most of the game. West Brom continues to impress every week.
WEEKLY TIP
Instead of going defensive, it’s time to focus on some attacking options.
Man United vs. QPR
United is not happy coming off a loss and QPR gets them at the most unfortunate time.
Everyone knows about Robin van Persie so he shouldn’t come as a surprise. Rooney will be back from illness and couldn’t pick a better time to break his scoring streak. Each of them was rested for their midweek Champions League match. My top defender choice, Patrice Evra, will also have full strength for this one.
The hardest part to decide on United is their midfield. Shinji Kagawa is out for another month which means both Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia will continue to get starts. Each of them presents a risk, especially for their price, but each has plenty of upside in this match.
Stoke City vs. Fulham
This may be a surprise choice, but hear me out. No one else will be looking at Stoke City players for good reason; they only have 10 goals through 12 matches. However, on the other end of this, Hangeland will not start for the first time all campaign for Fulham. Not to mention, Fulham has allowed eight goals in their last three road matches and 11 goals in their last four matches overall.
Peter Crouch is basically their only true forward that needs to be looked at. He hasn’t scored in six straight gameweeks, but that is about to change. Charlie Adam is easily their most popular midfielder and he should grab at least an assist in this one. Jonathan Walters is another option to check out, but make sure he’s playing first as he’s dealing with a knee injury. Defensively, Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth are always good options. Geoff Cameron deserves a look as well since he’s the cheapest of the bunch.
WEEKLY RANKINGS
Goalkeepers
- Anders Lindegaard, Manchester United, 5.4m, vs. QPR
- Tim Howard, Everton, 5.6m, vs. Norwich
- Ali Al-Habsi, Wigan, 5.0m, vs. Reading
- Asmir Begovic, Stoke City, 5.1m, vs. Fulham
- Boaz Myhill, West Brom, 4.4m, at Sunderland
Defenders
- Patrice Evra, Man United, 6.8m, vs. QPR
- Rafael, Man United, 6.4m, vs. QPR
- Leighton Baines, Everton, 7.6m, vs. Norwich
- Jose Enrique, Liverpool, 5.7m, at Swansea
- Ryan Shawcross, Stoke City, 5.2m, vs. Fulham
- John Arne Riise, Fulham, 5.7m, at Stoke City
- Liam Ridgewell, West Brom, 5.0m, at Sunderland
- Ivan Ramis, Wigan, 4.5m, vs. Reading
- William Gallas, Tottenham, 5.0m, vs. West Ham
- Kaspars Gorkss, Reading, 4.0m, at Wigan
Midfielders
- Santi Cazorla, Arsenal, 9.4m, at Aston Villa
- Gareth Bale, Tottenham, 9.7m, vs. West Ham
- Juan Mata, Chelsea, 9.6m, vs. Man City
- David Silva, Man City, 9.3m, at Chelsea
- Eden Hazard, Chelsea, 10.1m, vs. Man City
- Hatem Ben Arfa, Newcastle, 7.8m, at Southampton
- Antonio Valencia, Man United, 8.6m, vs. QPR
- Pablo Hernandez, Swansea, 6.1m, vs. Liverpool
- Kevin Nolan, West Ham, 6.9m, at Tottenham
- Charlie Adam, Stoke City, 6.6m, vs. Fulham
Forwards
- Robin van Persie, Man United, 13.7m, vs. QPR
- Luis Suarez, Liverpool, 10.2m, at Swansea
- Demba Ba, Newcastle, 8.3m, at Southampton
- Olivier Giroud, Arsenal, 8.4m, at Aston Villa
- Carlos Tevez, Man City, 9.4m, at Chelsea
- Sergio Aguero, Man City, 11.0m, at Chelsea
- Lukas Podolski, Arsenal, 8.2m, at Aston Villa
- Wayne Rooney, Manchester United, 11.8m, vs. QPR
- Rickie Lambert, Southampton, 6.0m, vs. Newcastle
- Peter Crouch, Stoke City, 6.8m, vs. Fulham
YOU’RE THE CAPTAIN
- Robin van Persie, Man United
- Luis Suarez, Liverpool
- Olivier Giroud, Fulham
- Carlos Tevez, Man City
- Demba Ba, Newcastle
The Red Devils were just shutout on the road. They aren’t very happy and go against the last-place club in the league. United averages three goals per game at Old Trafford and RVP will be around all of them.
There may not be anyone else more in form at the moment than Suarez. He has scored in four straight matches. While he’s on the road, Swansea’s defense isn’t impossible to get by.
All of a sudden, Arsenal’s attacking prowess was back against Tottenham. Ten guys or not, they still scored five goals. Giroud is the man of the moment with three goals in his last two matches.
While he probably won’t have another two-goal, two-assist performance at Chelsea, Tevez is still the likeliest of candidates to score in this match. Chelsea hasn’t had a clean sheet in seven straight games.
Newcastle isn’t playing great, but that doesn’t matter to Ba. He will find the back of the net no matter the situation and this situation is friendly for him even on the road.
*Stats up-to-date as of Nov. 19
About the author: Adam Zdroik, Staff Writer View all posts by Adam Zdroik, Staff Writer
Chelsea: The impossible job
There goes another one then, and this one has got the Champions League trophy to negotiate over in the divorce settlement.
Roberto di Matteo joins Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Big Phil Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas on Roman Abramovich’s big managerial scrapheap, with the Russian having apparently grown tired of a boss who finally delivered him the trophy he prizes above all others six months ago.
But the Munich memories have faded, with the FA Cup final win over Liverpool apparently a mere footnote in Abramovich’s relentless thirst for success.
They were triumphs which should have bought Di Matteo the time to build and mould a squad in his image, but he always had that air of temporary boss about him; the assistant who stepped into the breach at the club’s hour of need and got lucky.
At most if not all other clubs that would have bought him space and leeway, but Chelsea ceased being like other clubs when Abramovich walked through the door in 2003, with the Russian’s thirst for success never apparently satisfied – much like his approach to riches off the field.
Di Matteo arguably paid the price for losing the same players that Villas-Boas was asked to help Chelsea move away from, with John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard all missing from many of the last few matches for all manner of reasons. Chelsea looked spineless without them, and none more so than in Turin on Tuesday night when their Champions League fate was snatched out of their own hands.
Ultimately that’s perhaps what Di Matteo looked like to Abramovich – spineless. A former boss of MK Dons and West Bromwich Albion who doesn’t bring the CV and glamour to job that Pep Guardiola would.
The Russian will undoubtedly move for the ex-Barcelona boss now – although Rafael Benitez would make an interesting and sensible alternative – but whoever enters Stamford Bridge next will undoubtedly be aware of just what the consequences are if they don’t impress the main man.
Abramovich has created a ruthless atmosphere in his corner of West London; home to what has long been the impossible job.
QPR: The 2005 club
If this was 2005 then Queens Park Rangers would have one of the best squads in the Premier League, and surely wouldn’t be bottom of it.
Cast your minds back to the middle part of the last decade, and Djibril Cisse had just recovered from the first of his broken legs to help Liverpool clinch Champions League glory in Istanbul by scoring a penalty in the shootout.
Park Ji-Sung’s livewire performances had helped steer PSV Eindhoven to the semi-finals of that competition and earned him a move to Manchester United in that same year, whilst Andy Johnson had just finished as the second top scorer in the Premier League and the top scoring Englishman thanks to 21 goals for Crystal Palace.
It was in the summer of 2005 that Shaun Wright-Phillips – that bright young hope of the England team – made his staggering £21million move to Chelsea, whilst in Italy the goalkeeper Julio Cesar transferred to Inter Milan and would go on to claim five Serie A titles and the 2009/10 Champions League.
Back in England, Kieron Dyer’s on field spat with Newcastle team-mate Lee Bowyer wasn’t keeping him out of the England squad, whilst Ryan Nelsen was just about to begin his seven-year stint of solidity at Blackburn Rovers and Bobby Zamora was scoring the goals which helped earn West Ham promotion from the Championship. In Portugal, Jose Bosingwa had established himself as Porto’s and eventually his country’s first choice right-back, with the thoughts which crossed his mind ones which would have been as far away from Loftus Road as possible. QPR fans might say they still are.
Mark Hughes – establishing himself as a solid, respected manager at Blackburn in 2005 – wouldn’t have been thinking about QPR too much back then either, with his managerial destiny no doubt better suited for one of his former clubs like Chelsea, Everton or even Manchester United. His early experiences as Wales boss had set him up for a shot at the big time at club level. It simply wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Yet laying all of QPR’s present problems – no wins from 12 league games, bottom of the table with the worst goal difference in the Premier League, a set of increasingly angry and disillusioned fans to name but three – at the door of the manager is simply wrong, with more than a few of 2005’s men needing to take a long hard look at themselves in 2012/13.
There’s no doubt Hughes will eventually be sacked if QPR’s form doesn’t improve dramatically and quickly – and an away game at Old Trafford this weekend following on from the miserable loss to Southampton last Saturday doesn’t suggest that that is coming soon – but whilst the Welshman has made mistakes during what is likely to be less than a full year in charge, he has been let down by his players too.
Admittedly signing men whose CV highlights all come a long way down the Employment History section wasn’t a wise move from Hughes and owner Tony Fernandes in the first place, but you’d have thought that these same players wouldn’t want ‘Premier League relegation’ listed on that same document. It seems some don’t care.
Others such as Adel Taarabt and Jamie Mackie – an Exeter City player in 2005 – still appear willing to give their skills and effort respectively to what is appearing to be an increasingly desperate cause, but QPR need everyone on board as they do exactly what Hughes said that they’d never need to do again after narrowly staying up last season, and battle relegation.
The club are undoubtedly in much better financial health than they were seven years ago when they were staving off demotion from the Championship, but ask a QPR fan if he preferred those days of watching the efforts of the likes of Marc Bircham, Kevin Gallen and Paul Furlong compared to today’s team and there is only likely to be one answer.
Those same fans would scarcely have believed that those star players of 2005 would one day represent their club.
They should have been careful what they wished for.
West Bromwich Albion: Some forward thinking
Have you heard the one about the Irishman, the Belgian and the Nigerian? Premier League defences have and they’re growing increasingly sick of it.
It’s no joke that West Bromwich Albion are performing so well in this campaign though, and with early season optimism now giving way to mid-season reality there appears to be a real belief that Shane Long, Romelu Lukaku, Peter Odemwingie and an increasingly impressive supporting cast can fire the Baggies to new heights.
Just how high those highs can get depends on what happens over the next few months of course, but with pre-season hopes of successfully fighting relegation now morphing into desires of a top half finish (even Europe?) then The Hawthorns is fast becoming a good place to be.
Roberto di Matteo will be back there on Saturday 21 months after losing his job as Baggies boss, and whilst his sacking seemed more than a little harsh at the time it is yet further evidence that this is a club who are not afraid to make brave and bold decisions both on and off the pitch.
Behind the scenes, sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth undertakes a role the like of which isn’t all too common in the Premier League, and would become less so at the end of the current season were he not involved in appointing his successor before his heads off to take up a similar role with England.
A former player, Ashworth is a savvy operator who has gone about improving West Brom’s fortunes since being appointed to the role in late 2007. When things looked in danger of unravelling under Di Matteo, Ashworth stepped in and appointed Roy Hodgson to steer the side to mid-table. Eyebrows might have been raised when he chose Steve Clarke as Hodgson’s replacement following his departure for England, but so far so very, very good.
And why shouldn’t it be? Clarke was an experienced player at the top level and has learned his coaching trade under the likes of Jose Mourinho and Kenny Dalglish. That Ashworth and West Brom had the bravery to give him his step up to become a No. 1 is a decision that has so far been richly rewarded.
The likes of Ben Foster, Gareth McAuley, James Morrison, Claudio Yacob and Youssouf Mulumbu have all impressed as the Baggies have picked up six wins in their opening 11 games to sit fifth in the table above fancied teams such as Tottenham and Arsenal, but it is those three attackers mentioned earlier who appear to epitomise everything about this forward thinking club.
Long, Lukaku and Odemwingie have each scored three goals in the league this season, and although when combined that only just puts the three of them ahead of the division’s top scorers Luis Suarez and Robin van Persie – who each have eight apiece – they have been invaluable contributors to a team who appear to fear no-one.
There will of course be tough challenges ahead – not least Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United before the turn of the year – but there is nothing to suggest that West Brom should go into any of those games with an inferiority complex. Everton, a club who West Brom are currently on the same points as and beat at The Hawthorns in early September, are often lauded for the workaholic way that they tackle every game, so why not the Baggies too?
As well as hard work, Clarke’s rotation of his three forwards has been key to their success, and there wasn’t a hint of dissent when Odemwingie was dropped to the bench for last weekend’s visit to Wigan just a few days after he’d scored twice against Southampton.
The options will be limited against Chelsea at the weekend due to Lukaku being unable to face his parent club, but Long, Odemwingie and their team-mates will be working as hard as ever to deliver against the European champions.
Clarke will demand nothing less, and’s that’s no joke.
GW11 NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!! #FPL
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Arsenal |  |
3 – 3 |  |
Fulham |
|
|||||
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Everton |  |
2 – 1 |  |
Sunderland |
|
|
|||||
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Reading |  |
0 – 0 |  |
Norwich |
|
|
|||||
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Southampton |  |
1 – 1 |  |
Swansea |
|
|||||
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Stoke City |  |
1 – 0 |  |
QPR |
|
|
|||||
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Wigan |  |
1 – 2 |  |
West Brom |
|
|
|||||
| 10 Nov 17:30 | Aston Villa |  |
2 – 3 |  |
Man Utd |
|
|
|||||
| 11 Nov 13:30 | Man City |  |
2 – 1 |  |
Tottenham |
|
|
|||||
| 11 Nov 15:00 | Newcastle |  |
0 – 1 |  |
West Ham |
|
|
|||||
| 11 Nov 16:00 | Chelsea |  |
1 – 1 |  |
Liverpool |
|
|||||
Gameweek 11 preview: Rebel without a clause
Theo Walcott still hasn’t signed a new Arsenal contract.
He hasn’t signed it at the time of writing, he’s not likely to have signed it by the time you’re reading this, and he probably still won’t have signed it when you come back to these pages ahead of Gameweek 12.
If Walcott (£8.7m) wasn’t so bland as to make a legion of football fans yearn for the post-match interviews of Michael Owen then his dispute with Arsenal could almost be portrayed as a dramatic stand-off, with the nippy winger-but-wants-to-be-thought-of-as-a-forward and Arsene Wenger drawing pistols at dawn and seeing which one backs down first.
In reality it’s just a stare-off, which will only end one day when one of the parties gets bored and decides that their time will be spent better elsewhere, be it Walcott wandering off to pastures new or Wenger realising that one of the most dynamic players in the Premier League really is worth hanging on to after all.
What it has created is a situation in which Walcott is determined to perform well to simultaneously try and prove that he’s worth keeping hold of and to impress potential future employers at the same time.
Recent goals in the Capital One Cup and the Champions League have staked Walcott’s claim for a starting berth in Wenger’s league team, and with Gervinho injured and Jack Wilshere suspended for Saturday’s home game against Fulham, the Frenchman could do worse than to hand a starting place to a player who will be desperate to impress.
Of course it would be a gamble to transfer Walcott into your team given the uncertainty over his position at Arsenal, but ahead of a Gameweek which could go one of several different ways given the fixtures it might just be a gamble worth taking, especially when you consider his differential potential (he’s owned by 1.3% of teams), the possibility that he could be played upfront and the idea that he’ll be playing for another team in January. Liverpool have been linked, and he’d start every week there.
For now he’s still at Arsenal though, where Olivier Giroud (£8.4m) and Santi Cazorla (£9.4m) will be other players worth considering if you think that the Gunners can beat Fulham at home on Saturday. Bacary Sagna (£5.4m) is a defender worth keeping an eye on now that he’s returned to the team and dislodged previous Fantasy favourite Carl Jenkinson (£5.0m).
Elsewhere, this intriguing Gameweek offers up very few strong defensive options given the close nature on paper of many of the matches, but one of the strongest surely comes at Goodison Park where Everton take on a Sunderland side who have scored just once in their last five in league and cup – and that goal came from Newcastle’s Demba Ba.
Leighton Baines (£7.6m) could be a wise move as Everton bid to end a run of four straight draws, with Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m) and last weekend’s top points scorer Marouane Fellaini (£7.2m) sure to be popular picks.
Manchester City haven’t convinced recently and their match with Tottenham on Sunday looks to be one which will include goals, whilst Chelsea will be backed to beat Liverpool especially given that Juan Mata (£9.4m) will return after missing the Swansea game and Oscar (£7.8m) will look to repeat the goal he scored in the Champions League in midweek.
Cheap striking options over the weekend can be found in Reading’s Jason Roberts (£4.5m) and Arouna Kone (£6.5m) of Wigan but for our final forward we look towards Manchester United, and not towards the player you think.
Whilst Robin van Persie (£13.5m) now features in over a third of teams, Wayne Rooney (£11.8m) can only be found in 8%, and as United click ominously into gear you have to assume that that number will only go up.
He may have missed a penalty against Arsenal last weekend but Rooney made up for that with an assist, and as @shots_on_target suggested last weekend he could be the way to go ahead of a welcoming set of fixtures for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, starting with Aston Villa on Saturday.
Wigan: Sticking up for the little guy
Here in Britain we love a good sporting underdog, someone we can get behind and support even in the face of tremendous adversity.
Examples include Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, a quite spectacularly bad ski jumper who competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics, as well as any number of British tennis players who have tried and failed to win Wimbledon over the years. If you’re lucky and you’ve plied them with just the right amount of alcohol, you can even get a supporter of one of Liverpool’s fierce rivals to admit that a hint of a smile crossed their face when Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan and the like were parading the European Cup around Istanbul after the Reds came back from the dead to beat AC Milan in 2005. They’ll later deny it of course.
All of those were one off, sometimes once in a lifetime moments though, but it seems as though we are a little less welcoming of our more regular underdogs.
Take Wigan Athletic, a club who have only been part of the league system in England for 34 years and come May will have spent the last eight of those years in the top flight. Theirs should be a heart-warming tale of the success of a locally-backed club from a town whose population could fit inside Wembley Stadium, but for many it isn’t.
Wigan ‘don’t deserve’ to be in the Premier League apparently, with their place supposedly blocking the path of other, ‘bigger’ clubs who haven’t produced the results, consistency or quality of football that the Latics have over their stay in the top flight.
Attendances at both home and away matches are often flagged up as one of the key reasons for this belief, with the latest example of it coming last Saturday when a low amount of Wigan fans made the trip to North London for what turned out to be a terrific 1-0 victory over Tottenham.
The same jokes were wheeled out as photographs of the away end at White Hart Lane did the rounds over social media, as fans of other clubs pointed out that they would of course have taken far more fans to such a big game, thereby proving that they were more deserving of a top flight place than Wigan. Jealousy could be detected in the words.
The fact that this was occurring just a couple of weeks after a survey into the price of football which led to many proposing a potential fan boycott of matches due to astronomical ticket prices was an irony apparently lost on many, but as Wigan received the same criticisms they always do off the pitch, on it Roberto Martinez and his team pulled off another spectacular result.
Last season it appeared certain that many football fans would get their wish to see Wigan return to ‘where they belong’ – perhaps to be replaced by the yo-yoing Birmingham or West Ham – but wins at Anfield, the Emirates Stadium and at home to Manchester United and Newcastle spectacularly turned that around, with this latest win at Tottenham coming off the back of a home victory over West Ham and really invigorating the campaign for Roberto Martinez and his men.
Since Wigan’s promotion to the Premier League in 2005 only the seven ever-presents in the 20 year history of the revamped league – namely Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham – as well as Fulham and Manchester City have managed to stick around in the top flight with them, with plenty of other clubs falling away, yo-yoing between the leagues or never coming back up.
The Latics have had their moments when they’ve looked like joining them of course, but the fact that they haven’t is a curiously uncelebrated underdog story which still continues; a diverse story which includes characters such as Paul Jewell, David Unsworth, Emile Heskey, Charles N’Zogbia, Hugo Rodallega and of course Martinez himself.
There might be other heroes this season – Ben Watson, Franco di Santo or Arouna Kone perhaps – but even if there isn’t then surely it is high time to acknowledge this story, and pay tribute to an underdog who can produce a pretty fierce bite.
Every dog has its day, and Wigan have had eight years’ worth of them.
Isn’t that achievement worth celebrating, no matter how many people are watching?
GW10 – THE REVIEW… by @shots_on_target
GW10 Match Review
Man United’s goal threat overall is almost entirely through Rooney and Van Persie. Asa you’d expect of course. Rooney’s missed penalty would have cost those who showed the faith in him but there should be know reason to panic with him getting as many opportunities to score as his Dutch colleague. Van Persie just has that extra cutting edge which is what the extra £2m buys you. Once again for Arsenal it’s all about Cazorla and Giroud. I own both these and really, really am hoping they can do something at home against Fulham.
Fellaini overshadows everyone here on a team full of goal chances, and therefore goals. Everton should have had 4 or 5 here, and Fuylham were very luck to get draw level. On another day Jelavic should have scored at least one and Baines or Pienaar an assist. If Everton can keep the Fellaini fit then everyone in this team will profit. Fulham were outclassed but Berbatov is still their main man. They will live to fight another day,
A game of limited chances as you would expect, with Norwich having the most chances overall but Stoke getting into the penalty box more. Pilkington had the stand out game from Norwich reminding us of his brief flurry of goals last season, although it was Johnson who grabbed the goal from one of two efforts. Stoke are never going to create many chances away from home so this is as expected really.
Swansea did a really good job here of limiting the number of good chances from Chelsea whilst almost matching them for threat going forward. Hazard had a good game in Mata’s absence with the lion’s share of the visitor’s shooting opportunities but with 3 out fo 4 of these coming from outside the box it’s not really a great surprise he did not score. Michu’s advanced role for Swansea has allowed De Guzman to get forward more he is a good alternative to the Spaniard.
No doubt many FPL managers, myself included, would have captained Gareth Bale in this game in what looked a “plum fixture” for the London outfit. Wigan are starting to recapture the kind of performance that kept them in this league at the end of last season. This is the second game in a row in which Spurs have failed to create the league average number of SoT and Sin and that does not bode well. Bale was, as usual, the number one attacking threat for Tottenham but it is starting to look like AVB’s tactical approach struggles without key players in the Spurs engine room, such as Dembele and Sandro. Wigan did not create a great deal of chances with Kone and Maloney and goalscorer Watson their top fantasy performers.
Zero shots on target here from West Ham is my highlight here, and only 6 shots in total, 4 in the box. This from a team who very much like to get the ball in the box under Sam Alladaryce. This really shows that the Manchester City defence is good. I hesitate to say improving as their early season defensive form has been great, it was just the all important clean sheet that was missing. It’s obviously worth a mention that Kevin Nolan had a legit goal ruled out for offside. Hardly any attacking threat from the City fullbacks is perhaps a sign of an increased defensive focus from Mancini. Going forward for City, Balotelli and Dzeko were wasteful, with their opportunities with Tevez playing a deeper, more creative role in comparison. Nasri, given the attacking role he should play in this team, has been very quiet all season.
I’d love to have the time to study Sunderland in more detail this season, and watch videos of all their matches. Just why it is they can’t hit the target I do not know, despite 10 attempts in the box against Villa here, with the whole team guilty of wayward shooting, except for Fletcher, who didn’t really get a sniff. Benteke and Agbonlahor are a decent enough pairing and if Weimann and Bannan can keep their place they look a real prospect for FPL managers at £5.2m and £4.9m respectively.. No sign of Darren Bent.
My selection of Junior Hoilett in my GW10 Select XI didn’t bear fruit here, although he was fairly well involved. Tarrabt and Cisse clearly hogged the shooting chances for Rangers though, with the Moroccan having an hugely impressive 8 shots in total but a really not so impressive 2 in the box. Someone (perhaps the manager) should tell him how well correlated goals are to shots in the box and how badly they are with shots from outside. Reading create plenty of chances but not so many on target.
Liverpool, as a team, are struggling a bit, mainly due to the fact they aren’t really a team. They are Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan pretty much single handed creates and takes all of everything Liverpool do up front. Gerrard looked busy but shooting from range so much. Shelvey was an early season tip from me, until his red card in the United game and 3 match ban. If he gets his place back ahead of Sahin he could be worth a look. Demba Ba did not do much before limping off with just one long range effort that was never going in. Newcastle’s main fantasy interest came from Ben Arfa and Cabaye, but overall their wasn’t much threat from the visitors who really rely on goals from their centre forward to win the games.
Apologies to anyone who took a punt on Lukaku here. Didn’t start. Sorry! Odemwingie served a reminder of his ability with a very prominent display and two goals. In the absence of much favoured James Morrison who had a knock Mulumbu dominated the midfield. Adkin’s inclusion of Lambert provided the chief threat for the visitors but the Baggies defence is deserving of this clean sheet.
To read more from @shots_on_target head over to http://www.shotsontarget.co.uk
GW10 – NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!!
| 03 Nov 12:45 | Man Utd | |
2 – 1 | |
Arsenal |
|
|||||
| 03 Nov 15:00 | Fulham | |
2 – 2 | |
Everton |
|
|
|||||
| 03 Nov 15:00 | Norwich | |
1 – 0 | |
Stoke City |
|
|||||
| 03 Nov 15:00 | Sunderland | |
0 – 1 | |
Aston Vil |
|
|||||
| 03 Nov 15:00 | Swansea | |
1 – 1 | |
Chelsea |
|
|
|||||
| 03 Nov 15:00 | Tottenham | |
0 – 1 | |
Wigan |
|
|
|||||
| 03 Nov 17:30 | West Ham | |
0 – 0 | |
Man City |
|
|
|||||
| 04 Nov 13:30 | QPR | |
1 – 1 | |
Reading |
|
|
|||||
| 04 Nov 16:00 | Liverpool | |
1 – 1 | |
Newcastle |
|
|||||
| 05 Nov 20:00 | West Brom
|
|
v | |
Southampton |
Gameweek 10 preview: Stoking the Fantasy fires
Being told that you sometimes play like Stoke City is apparently an insult these days, but it could be Stoke players who prove the most effective in Fantasy Premier League over the next few weeks.
A relatively kind fixture list up until just before Christmas should alert Fantasy bosses to Tony Pulis’s men, who go to Norwich City this weekend in search of a first away victory of the season.
That record along with just the nine points taken from nine Premier League matches so far might not give the impression that the boys from the Britannia have been anything to write home about in this campaign, but in goalkeeper Asmir Begovic (£4.8m) and forward Peter Crouch (£6.8m) they have two of the standout value for money selections in the game this season. Defenders Ryan Shawcross (£5.0m) and Robert Huth (£5.5m) and midfielders Jonathan Walters (£6.4m) and Michael Kightly (£5.5m) also provide interesting options, but it is to Crouch that Stoke will turn to on Saturday at Carrow Road against a team who have conceded more goals than everyone but Southampton so far.
Crouch will be coming up against one of the six clubs in this season’s Premier League that he has represented before, and he looks a good bet to bite the hand that used to feed him and find the net for the first time since scoring twice at home to Swansea on Gameweek 6. Finding form could be crucial to both Pulis’s team and yours ahead of this kind run of games.
Elsewhere over a Premier League weekend which would do well to be as dramatic as the last one and the midweek League Cup ties, Manchester United could go top of the table for a few hours at least as they take on Arsenal at Old Trafford early on Saturday afternoon.
These heavyweight clashes are usually best avoided by Fantasy bosses due to their often tight and competitive nature, but Robin van Persie (£13.4m) simply can’t be ignored here as he comes up against his former employers for the first time.
Unlike Crouch he’ll only face old friends twice this season, and with the Dutchman having found the net in his last two league matches and seven times overall to jointly lead the Premier League goalscoring charts alongside Demba Ba (£8.4m, but who is a doubt for Newcastle’s trip to Anfield on Sunday), then his form is easily apparent and matches the class that he undoubtedly has.
Every league match that Van Persie has started for United has produced either a goal or an assist for the Dutchman, and with it being almost impossible to envisage that run coming to an end on Saturday, if you’ve got the cash to splash then it could well be a wise move to rely on Robin.
Tottenham players are sure to prove popular given their home match against struggling Wigan, and whilst Jan Vertonghen (£6.4m), Gareth Bale (£9.6m) and Jermain Defoe (£8.0m) are sure to be attracting plenty of attention from Fantasy bosses, it might be worth considering that Spurs face trips to Manchester City and Arsenal in their next two weeks, and so it could be better to wait to bring their boys on board.
With the basement battle between QPR and Reading sure to be a committed affair on Sunday, perhaps there is potential for points on Monday night when West Brom take on Southampton at The Hawthorns.
With the Baggies having won four of their five home matches – only losing to champions Manchester City – and considering that the Saints have lost all four of their away fixtures, then success looks likely for Steve Clarke’s men in the final game of the weekend.
Key to that success is likely to be James Morrison (£6.2m), whose two goals and three assists this season have been key to the performances of Clarke’s side, and who is likely to be heavily involved against a team who have made shipping goals an art form since their elevation to the Premier League.
West Brom don’t play like Stoke, but they could be just as effective for you this week.
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 