Gameweek 9 : FantasyYIRMA vs Sportsvibe THE GLOVES ARE OFF (metaphorically speaking…it’s getting a bit chilly now in mid-October) Rumours have arose that there was a punch up at the @sportsvibe office last week trying to reach agreement on the predicted scoreline for Swansea vs West Ham – pure speculation at this point. Both sides […]
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GW9 Preview: Tottenham’s tricky Townsend to terrorise Tigers?
Picking out a player before they come popular with Fantasy Premier League bosses is often a sure-fire way to success, and the next must-have buy might just be emerging from North London.
Everyone knows about the likes of Mesut Ozil (£10.7m and with a 33.2% ownership rate at the time of writing), Aaron Ramsey (£6.8m and a massive 51.5%) and Olivier Giroud (£9.5m and 40.1%), but instead of Arsenal we’re looking at Tottenham, and their new England star.
Andros Townsend (£5.7m) grabbed his first Premier League goal in the win at Aston Villa at the weekend, and whilst that might make this seem like a simple reaction to that, there is plenty to suggest that a punt on the Spurs man will prove worthwhile.
The wide player has started Tottenham’s last seven games in the league, revelling the trust placed in him by boss Andre Villas-Boas and earning his place in the Portuguese’s team ahead of summer signings Erik Lamela (£8.1m) and Nacer Chadli (£6.9m).
Townsend is incredibly confident right now, enjoying his football for both club and country and seemingly encouraged to express himself by the managers of both.
His goal at Villa Park may have been somewhat freakish and fortunate, but those are the sort of things that happen for you when you’re on fire, and the 22-year-old will be seeking to continue in that form as he takes on Hull City at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
The visit of the Tigers will represent a match that Spurs expect to win, and the winger can help in that and look to provide service to forward Roberto Soldado (£9.2m), who might just have recovered some of his lost confidence thanks to his first Premier League goal from open play in the Villa game.
A win here will be crucial for Spurs if they are to keep the pressure on the teams at the top, and Townsend can contribute to that.
https://twitter.com/zoo/status/393330004597014528
Elsewhere, those aforementioned Arsenal players will all be vital as Arsene Wenger takes his side to the managerless (although Tony Pulis is lurking) Crystal Palace, whilst Fulham, the team that beat the Eagles on Monday, head for the tricky trip to Southampton. Pajtim Kasami (£4.5m) may have caught the eye at Selhurst Park, but Saints skipper Adam Lallana (£6.2m) might well be the man to back here.
The midfielder scored the equaliser at Old Trafford last weekend, but after a Champions League win in midweek Manchester United will seek another victory as they host Stoke.
Adnan Januzaj (£4.9m) remains the flavour of the month for many, but it is Wayne Rooney (£10.9m) who really makes United tick at the moment. He scored twice for the hosts in this fixture last season, and against a Stoke side who are winless in their last five league games – failing to score in four of those – he is sure to be a key man yet again as United chase what would be only a second home league win of the season.
Saturday also sees Liverpool face a potentially tricky clash with a West Brom side who have somewhat surprisingly won four of the last five league meetings between the pair.
It could be tight at Anfield, where Liverpool might end up relying on the penalty taking prowess of Steven Gerrard (£8.9m), who’s last five Reds strikes have all come from the spot.
Sunday’s big games pit Sunderland against Newcastle before the heavyweight meeting between Chelsea and Manchester City.
Oscar (£9.0m) retains the star billing amongst the hosts’ midfielders following his goal against Cardiff, but Eden Hazard (£9.0) scored twice in the same game and is now closing in on him.
If you fancy City to prevail though then Sergio Aguero (£11.1m) is sure to play a key role.
The forward’s brace in Moscow on Wednesday took his tally to eight goals in his last six games, a record sure to make Jose Mourinho sit up and take notice.
Off the Mark: Pienaar’s return gives Everton competition and confidence
Substitutes were responsible for four Premier League goals last Saturday, with Everton’s Steven Pienaar beating Paul Dummett, Aaron Ramsey and Oscar to make the biggest impact of the lot.
It took the South African just 10 seconds to find the net after he replaced Leon Osman in the Blues’ home game against Hull City, a match in which the hosts weren’t at their best and were somewhat fortunate to keep 11 men on the field due to a couple of rash challenges from midfielder Gareth Barry.
Yet Roberto Martinez’s men still picked up the three points, something that was made possible thanks to their ability to introduce a player of the quality of Pienaar at such a crucial moment of the game.
Not even Martinez would have expected such instant validity of his decision of course, but it highlighted the importance of having a strong squad in the Premier League, something that is more important now than ever.
Take Chelsea’s recent 3-1 win at Norwich, a match in which Jose Mourinho’s side had been pegged back and were facing the possibility of dropping points until the Portuguese turned to his bench.
Sitting there, along with the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Gary Cahill and Michael Essien, were over £60million worth of footballers in Eden Hazard and Willian. The pair both came on, both scored and both played a huge part in Chelsea earning their win.
Their presence on the bench underlined the strength of Chelsea’s squad, a squad which is so strong that players of the quality of Romelu Lukaku and Victor Moses have been allowed out on loan this season, whilst Daniel Sturridge left the club permanently in January.
You can debate the whys and wherefores of those decisions of course, but ultimately they underline the competition for places at Stamford Bridge, a competition that all other teams must aspire to.
Of course the likes of Everton don’t have the funds to match Chelsea’s vast riches, but Pienaar’s goalscoring return at the weekend showed that the Blues from Merseyside have surely got their best squad of the Premier League era right now.
Across midfield alone they can boast Pienaar, Barry, Osman, James McCarthy and Ross Barkley, with their presences ensuring that the blow of losing Darron Gibson to a long-term knee injury has been softened somewhat.
On the flanks, Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith and Gerard Deulofeu compete for places, and whilst Lukaku will be the undisputed star man up top, Arouna Kone and Nikica Jelavic represent pretty decent backup.
Pienaar played the full 90 minutes in the three league games before he was struck down with injury, and so the South African will expect to come straight back into the starting XI now that he has returned to action so spectacularly, but with all of those other options available he might have to be a little more patient.
Martinez now has to juggle his resources and keep all the members of his strong squad happy, a tough job and perhaps the first such test he’s encountered in his managerial career.
His side’s trip to Aston Villa this weekend represents a good test of that squad, particularly as Liverpool and Tottenham – two teams who Everton want to keep up with – have already won there this season.
Manchester City lost at Villa Park though, proof that a strong squad doesn’t always guarantee success, but at least Everton have now become part of a group of Premier League clubs who can legitimately claim to have one.
COMPETITION Wednesday 23rd October
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Townsend proves that confidence is key
What’s better, a confident footballer or a good footballer?
The two are usually one at the same, and no-one else in the Premier League is demonstrating that better than Tottenham’s Andros Townsend right now.
Perhaps feeling freer to express himself following the sale of Gareth Bale, the winger is rewarding Andre Villas-Boas and Roy Hodgson for consistently picking him, and when you’re at the peak of your confidence then freakish goals such as the one he scored at Villa Park on Sunday tend to just happen for you.
Maintain that confidence, and Townsend can become a special player for club and country.
***
Hammers need Andy Carroll back
West Ham’s strikerless formation was rightly lauded at Tottenham, but against Manchester City the deficiencies within it were shown up.
Playing up against makeshift centre-back Javi Garcia the Hammers didn’t have a forward to trouble the Spaniard, with the recently re-signed Carlton Cole not quite up to scratch just yet.
If only Sam Allardyce had another forward to call, maybe a Geordie one with a ponytail and few England caps to his name?
Crystal Palace vs Fulham: Monday Night Football Preview
Oct 21
With just one Premier League match remaining for Gameweek 8 we turn our attention to Crystal Palace vs Fulham. It has been a strong week in fantasy terms with a Gameweek average above 50 points. Players like Berbatov and Gayle amongst others feature in plenty of FPL teams so there are still points to play […]
Fantasy iTeam: Champions League Fantasy Football Week 3
Oct 20
We did toy with the idea of running an individual UCL league… But realistically we already struggle to keep up to speed with the Hollyoaks omnibus as it is! That’s why FantasyYIRMA recommends Fantasy iTeam if you are looking for Champions League Fantasy Action. Check out their free app and start building your UCL […]
Aston Villa vs Tottenham: Lineups and Preview (NO BENTEKE)
Oct 20
Aston Villa vs Tottenham KO Sunday 20th October 4pm Team Lineups provided approximately 1 hour before Kick Off! https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/statuses/391927832558850049 https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/statuses/391927956345335808 Team – Lloris; Walker, Chiriches, Dawson, Vertonghen; Paulinho, Sandro; Townsend, Holtby, Sigurdsson; Soldado. #THFC — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 20, 2013 Our subs at Villa – Friedel, Naughton, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Lennon, Defoe. #THFC — […]
West Ham vs Manchester City: Lineups Confirmed
Oct 19
West Ham vs Manchester City KO 17.30pm Team Lineups provided approximately 1 hour before Kick Off! TEAM: West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Rat, Tomkins, Reid, Noble, Morrison, Diame, Vaz Te, Downing, Nolan (c) — West Ham United (@WestHam) October 19, 2013 TEAM: West Ham United subs: Adrian, Jarvis, Taylor, O'Brien, J.Cole, C.Cole, Petric — West […]
Newcastle vs Liverpool: Confirmed Lineups and Preview
Oct 19
Newcastle vs Liverpool: Saturday 19th October KO 12.45pm Team news released approx 1 hour before kick off #NUFC v #LFC (4-3-3): Krul; Debuchy,Yanga-Mbiwa, Williamson, Santon; Cabaye, Tiote (c), Sissoko; Gouffran, Ben Arfa, Remy. — Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) October 19, 2013 #NUFC subs v #LFC: Elliot, Dummett, Anita, Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi, Cisse. — […]
GW8 Preview: Everton’s Lukaku looking to give Hull the Blues
As international breaks go that one was pretty entertaining wasn’t it? But it’s time to get back to the real stuff now.
When we left the Premier League a fortnight ago, the division’s last remaining unbeaten record had been surrendered at Manchester City.
Everton were perhaps a touch unfortunate to lose 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium, particularly as they were on the end of some unfortunate refereeing decisions and had gone 1-0 up in the match. For the scorer of their goal though, this week offers up a chance at redemption.
Romelu Lukaku (£8.0m) is still the only Chelsea forward to have scored a Premier League goal this season. He’s scored four in fact, but they’ve all come for the Blues from Goodison Park and not those from Stamford Bridge.
The talented Belgian has netted those four goals in just 217 minutes of action for Roberto Martinez’s men, and as he returns to Goodison ahead of the weekend meeting with Hull he’ll be looking to rekindle memories of his only other league appearance for Everton there so far, when he scored twice against Newcastle.
Steve Bruce’s side have been impressive at the back so far this season though and so Lukaku can’t expect the kind of generous defending he got from the Geordies, but following an international break in which he scored the two goals against Croatia which fired Belgium to the World Cup, he shouldn’t be short on confidence.
Supported by the likes of Ross Barkley (£5.6m) and international teammate Kevin Mirallas (£7.2m), this could turn out to be an afternoon to remember for Lukaku, who scored four goals against promoted teams when he was wearing a West Brom shirt last season. Hull have been warned.
Elsewhere we are confronted with the sort of fixtures that you’d think were home bankers.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United will all be expecting to take maximum points as they welcome Norwich, Cardiff and Southampton respectively to their home grounds.
For United, a home slip up would be simply unthinkable so soon after the Old Trafford defeat against West Brom, but they’ll be coming up against a team who’ve kept clean sheets in each of their last four games – a run which includes their win at Anfield.
Such form might make it difficult to recommend Robin van Persie (£13.9m), who is interestingly losing support amongst Fantasy bosses.
Take away penalties, and the Dutchman has failed to score in 14 of his last 18 games, a run which is most unlike him and has seen many turn their attentions towards the more in-form and cheaper Wayne Rooney (£10.9m) instead.
No such issues exist at Arsenal though, and they welcome Norwich for a fixture which looks like it’ll guarantee goals.
The back of the next has been hit at least four times on each of the last four occasions that these two have met in North London, and with Norwich having conceded three to Chelsea last time out the likes of Olivier Giroud (£9.5m) and Aaron Ramsey (£6.7m) are sure to see support here. Mesut Ozil (£10.6m) is a slight doubt but should recover.
For Chelsea, the Brazilian Oscar (£8.8m) could again hold the key for them against Cardiff following goals in five of his last seven matches for club and country, whilst Newcastle won’t be relishing the visit of Liverpool to St James’s Park less than six months after the Reds won 6-0 there. Daniel Sturridge (£9.9m) grabbed two of those, and the Reds look likely to welcome most of their injured players back on Tyneside.
Gus Poyet’s Sunderland career starts with a visit to a Swansea side that he could see as a strong reference point for his new team’s future, particularly if he can nurture players as good as home full-back Ben Davies (£5.0m) who has scored two in his last five.
West Ham’s Ravel Morrison (£4.4m) is on a run of two in three, and the ex-Manchester United man will be fired up for the visit of Manchester City, who have already slipped up twice on the road this season and will be fearful of a third.
Off the Mark: It’s a crucial month for Alan Pardew and Newcastle
Now on these pages we’re always going to be more concerned with club football than internationals, but Premier League news has been a little thin on the ground lately.
When Jack Wilshere finally stopped giving us a story a day on his social habits, the top flight tales fell away and were inevitably replaced by England’s quest to reach the World Cup, which ultimately they did, mostly without Wilshere’s help.
One little story did creep through though, and it has the potential to get even bigger over the next few weeks.
At the weekend Newcastle boss Alan Pardew suddenly decided to tell us that Magpies owner Mike Ashley – the man who pays his wages and who gave him that still unfathomable eight-year contract last September – sometimes gets “confused and upset” by the way football works.
You could say the same for the Newcastle defence in that first half at Everton of course, but Pardew was referring to the vagaries of the game behind the scenes, and how that has an effect on a man once frequently seen downing pints of lager and sitting in with the fans.
Those same fans are sick of him though.
A number of them are planning a protest march towards St James’s Park ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Liverpool, with Ashley the target of their ire.
They’ve done similar things before of course, and then, as now, the considerable frame of the owner has remained unmoved, but in the wake of his manager’s fairly unwise words how will Ashley react this time?
Things had just seemed to calm down a little from the summer shambles involving the reappointment of Joe Kinnear, a bad smell for Newcastle fans who simply won’t go away.
The team won at Cardiff before the international break – a win made possible courtesy of two goals from the in-form Loic Remy, their only major summer signing – whilst they recovered some lost pride in the second half at Everton and are through to the next round of the Capital One Cup.
A reminder of the disharmony behind the scenes will come with that march on Saturday though, and Newcastle could do with just focussing on their football ahead of what looks a tricky month.
They ‘welcome’ Liverpool to Tyneside less than six months after the Reds won 6-0 there towards the end of last season, a feat they achieved without the banned Luis Suarez.
That meeting this weekend will be swiftly followed by the Tyne-Wear derby and then games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham.
The City test is in the cup, but nonetheless Pardew will know that it forms a crucial part of a period which has the capacity to go drastically wrong for both him and his team.
A thinly-veiled, admittedly pretty meek criticism of Ashley probably isn’t the wisest move at this time then, and with the protest and in-form Liverpool now looming so large on the horizon, it doesn’t seem like the best time to get in the owner’s bad books.
No time is, of course, but this one seems especially needless given that the green shoots of recovery for the Magpies were starting to become visible.
Remy is scoring goals, Yohan Cabaye is back in the team following his summer flirtation with Arsenal and Pardew has dropped the simply awful Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.
The Cardiff win should see them approaching Liverpool with confidence, determined to wipe away the misery of that 6-0 loss.
Instead, the same old mess which seems to permanently engulf St James’s in a cloud of fog could well be in residence again come Saturday, when Pardew, Ashley, the baffling Kinnear and the long-suffering fans will try to blink through it and simply hope for the best, i.e. not 6-0 again.
***
Rooney tuned up
It’s been just over a month since Wayne Rooney returned to action, and in that short time he’s shown just why Manchester United fought to keep him so much.
On his day the forward can be unstoppable, and with England benefitting from his rejuvenation too then perhaps we could be seeing the renaissance of a man who had appeared to be going through a decline.
Nobody at United will admit that the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson was good for the club, but with that clearly fractious relationship now removed from his life, Rooney appears to have rediscovered a form that many thought had gone for good.
***
Give Gus a proper go
Gus Poyet and Sunderland might just work you know, if it is given time.
Of course, time is the one thing that you’re not guaranteed to get when you’re at the foot of the Premier League table with one point from seven games, but if Poyet can quickly instil his brand of football at the club than that win column should be filled soon.
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