There might be other, more high-profile managers than Fulham’s Martin Jol on the back pages at the moment, but perhaps it’s time everyone started paying a little more attention to the men from Craven Cottage. Fulham have been one of the more curious elements of the Premier League ever since their promotion in 2001. The […]
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GW10 Preview: Sergio Aguero to star in a tale of two Cities
https://twitter.com/ZOO/statuses/395927605427195905
Following a somewhat unpredictable opening to the campaign, the Fantasy Premier League season is beginning to settle down somewhat.
The familiar names are bagging points by banging in the goals – three of them in the case of Luis Suarez – and whilst there is still the odd hiccup (thanks Tim Howard) and the continual surprise (are Southampton ever going to concede a goal again?) things are beginning to look a little more straightforward.
As such, it’s probably time to go with what you know.
Sergio Aguero (£11.3m) knows exactly where the goal is, and following a run of nine strikes in his last seven games in all competitions, he looks to be a man to back ahead of Manchester City’s home clash with Norwich City on Saturday afternoon.
On form, the Argentinean is potentially the best forward in the division, and whilst Manuel Pellegrini’s side have had their troubles at the back recently, going forward they remain the top scorers in the Premier League with 21 goals.
Aguero has scored a third of them to sit just one off Daniel Sturridge at the top of the goalscoring charts, and he’ll be confident of finding the net against a Norwich side who conceded seven in matches against Arsenal and Chelsea earlier this month.
City’s premier forward scored four goals against Norwich over the course of his previous two seasons in Manchester, and with the support of the likes of David Silva (£9.3m) and Alvaro Negredo (£9.1m) around him, he could continue his recent stellar form at the expense of Chris Hughton’s struggling side.
Elsewhere, the big game of the weekend comes at the Emirates Stadium, as arguably the two most impressive teams of the season so far meet up in what could be a cracker.
Arsenal and Liverpool’s players – plenty of whom have been popular Fantasy picks this season – have the potential to cancel each other out in what promises to be a fascinating contest, but the qualities of Mesut Ozil (£10.8m) and Suarez (£11.6m) make them impossible to ignore.
You also can’t miss Southampton’s excellent defensive record so far this season, with Mauricio Pochettino’s side seeking to further improve that at Stoke this weekend.
The central defensive partnership of Jose Fonte (£5.3m) and Dejan Lovren (£5.7m) have been terrific so far, with the Croatian perhaps the preferred pick due to his increased goalscoring threat. Further forward, Rickie Lambert (£7.2m) racked up 12 points in the Fulham win last week and will be confident of keeping that form going.
Fernando Torres (£8.3m) earned the same score in Chelsea’s win over Manchester City, and whilst the Spaniard has been the subject as several false revivals in the past this one looks like it could continue. He could be one to watch as the Blues go to Newcastle, where Frank Lampard (£7.7m) has scored a couple of times in the past.
Chelsea’s neighbours Fulham welcome a Manchester United side who seem to have their forwards firing on all cylinders judging by the Stoke win.
Robin van Persie (£10.9m) and Wayne Rooney (£10.9m) will provide the hosts with concerns, whilst Romelu Lukaku (£8.1m) and Roberto Soldado (£9.2m) look set to battle it out as Everton host Tottenham in what could be a cracker.
There is guaranteed to be fireworks as Cardiff meet Swansea in the South Wales derby on Sunday afternoon, a match which will see the club from the Welsh capital leapfrog the Swans in the table with a victory.
In what is sure to be a close contest with challenges flying in, perhaps set pieces could play a huge role, with Cardiff’s specialist Peter Whittingham (£5.1m) perhaps a man to back.
At The Hawthorns, West Brom host managerless Crystal Palace, and although the Baggies are coming off the back of that heavy defeat to Liverpool they’ll expect to earn victory.
Stephane Sessegnon (£6.6m) was subdued at Anfield but he’ll expect to do better here, as will his teammates.
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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?
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.
GW7 Preview: Liverpool’s Suarez set to reign against Crystal Palace
In amongst the chaos of his latest infamous suspension and the summer-long transfer saga it was easy to forget just how good a footballer Luis Suarez is. Last Sunday we were given a timely reminder.
The return of everyone’s favourite Uruguayan – this may be an exaggeration – to Premier League action couldn’t have come at a better time for Liverpool or a worse one for Sunderland, and after his brace against the Black Cats on Sunday the Reds will now be looking to Suarez (£11.0m) to fire in a winnable looking home clash against Crystal Palace this weekend.
Following a slip-up the last time they were on home soil when they lost to Southampton, Liverpool and boss Brendan Rodgers will know that they can’t afford to drop any more Anfield points in the early stages of the season if they want to keep pace with the boys at the top.
In recent weeks, Rodgers has unveiled a new 3-4-1-2 formation which promises to give Fantasy bosses plenty to think about.
The setup is designed to get the most out of both Suarez and five-goal forward Daniel Sturridge (£9.7m), but it is also set to see plenty of Liverpool’s defenders such as Kolo Toure (£5.0m) and Mamadou Sakho (£5.5m) get minutes on the pitch, with Jose Enrique (£6.2m) certain to get forward from left wing-back and Victor Moses (£6.3m) likely to get into attacking positions in the continued absence of Philippe Coutinho (£8.6m) through injury.
All of which makes Liverpool an interesting prospect for Fantasy bosses at the moment, but they are by far the only one ahead of a weekend which promises much.
https://twitter.com/ZOO/statuses/385775070427099137
For Arsenal, the only club currently above the Reds in the league table, every weekend is one to look forward to at the moment.
The top of the table Gunners go to West Brom on Sunday afternoon chasing a sixth straight Premier League victory, and they’ll go there with the likes of Mesut Ozil (£10.5m) and Aaron Ramsey (£6.4m) in the sort of form which has seen them amass huge ownership percentages in the Fantasy game.
At The Hawthorns they’ll be looking to load the bullets for the in-form Olivier Giroud (£9.4m).
The Frenchman scored his first Premier League goal on this weekend last season, and he’s come a long way since then.
West Brom’s superb win at Old Trafford showed that they’ll be no pushovers, but the form that the Gunners are in makes them impossible to ignore here, and Giroud and company can bring Steve Clarke’s men back down to earth.
Elsewhere, a suspension to Fernando Torres (£8.4m) means that Samuel Eto’o (£8.9m) could start Chelsea’s trip to Norwich, whilst Robin van Persie (£14.0m) is set to return for Manchester United at Sunderland just as there is another doubt over the fitness of Wayne Rooney (£10.9m).
Manchester City’s clash with Everton is a high quality start to the weekend, and given the Merseysiders’ fine record of only having lost on one of their last six trips to the Etihad, it could pay to trust the likes of Romelu Lukaku (£7.6m) and Ross Barkley (£5.3m) to impress again for the visitors following their fine performances in the Monday night win over Newcastle.
The Geordies go to Cardiff this weekend, and the hosts will be looking to build on the fine win they earned at Fulham last Saturday through a late winner from Jordon Mutch (£4.4m).
However, the real midfield influence for the Welsh side comes from Peter Whittingham (£5.1m), who has played every minute of every league game this season and has registered a goal and two assists.
He’ll be looked to by the Bluebirds this weekend and could be a good addition to your side too, particularly if you need a replacement for Hull’s impressive three-goal midfielder Robbie Brady (£5.3m), who will be out of action for the next month following a hernia operation.
GW6 Preview: All aboard the Rooney (Head) BandWagon!!
Sep 26
https://twitter.com/ZOO/statuses/383254815880388608 A mixed week for Manchester United got better around 87 minutes into their Manchester derby loss on Sunday, and they’ve got a man in a headband to thank for it. Wayne Rooney (£10.7m) has returned to form, with four goals in four games in all competitions since he returned from his head injury, a […]
GW4 Preview: Manchester United’s Evra set for points against Palace
Sep 12
In the rush to acclaim goals and assists, the Fantasy Premier League points on offer for clean sheets are often forgotten about. Throughout last season we frequently used Gameweeks to open our Case for the Defence, during which we pointed out which of the less heralded members of your team you could rely on for […]
Mesut Ozil’s move to Arsenal makes him king of the new boys – but can you afford him?
Sep 3
Now that the dust has settled, Jim White has been put back in his box until January and those Manchester United ‘imposters’ have had their laughs, it is time to examine just what transfer deadline day has done for your Fantasy Premier League prospects. For many fantasy bosses this is when the game truly starts, […]
GW3 PREVIEW: Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko can tame the Tigers
Aug 29
It’s safe to say that defences were on top throughout Fantasy Premier League last week, with no fewer than nine teams registering clean sheets. That meant that defenders from almost half of the division were raking in the points, but with a couple of heavyweight clashes and yet more intriguing fixtures on the agenda for […]
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