So how was it for you? An opening Fantasy Premier League weekend which featured plenty of the familiar elements of last season – Robin van Persie scoring goals, Manchester City rotating their forwards, Arsenal’s defenders letting everyone down – will have got you in the mood for the rest of the season, so where do […]
Blog Archives
FantasyYIRMA GW1 preview: No danger in picking Eden Hazard
Aug 15
Oh so you’re back then? Back for another nine months of tinkering, transferring and telling yourself your captain choice is the correct one. We knew you would be. The return of Fantasy Premier League brings with it the same uncertainty that the game always evokes in all of us, and so the opening weekend of […]
Fantasy Premier League: Scouting for the next Michu!
FantasyYIRMA.com have brought you a range of articles from some of the best players in the game from last season as we try to delve into the mindset of the top guys to help you with your own FPL teams.
Today is no exception. @JulianZip finished 6th Globally after a fantastic season where he led the way overall on several occasions!
Many Thanks to Julian for his exclusive piece for FY.
It Starts…
In many ways, you could argue that the teams we pick between now and the start of the FPL season, will determine a lot about how the whole season will pan out for us. Yes, we get wildcards to ‘correct’ what we’ve done on a couple of occasions during the season, but the rest of the time we are shuffling one – or a few – transfers at a time, to get to the ideal team we want…which if you are anything like me, always remains a few weeks away.
Is it Wild to use a Wildcard?
What I believe also proves the importance of our starting teams, is a quick look at the FPL managers at the top last year. The majority of them were high in the overall rankings quite quickly…they had solid teams right from the outset. Where they appeared to believe that they didn’t, for example the overall winner Matt and also the third place getter, wildcards were used almost immediately in week 2! So I think it is fair to suggest that your position after say the first ten weeks of the season is tougher to improve substantially, than it is to try to maintain a positive start….that’s been my experience, anyway.
Is Wilfried Bony the next Michu?
Having said that, creating our initial team involves possibly the most difficult decisions of all. Once the season proper is underway, we can look at stats and the performances of teams and individuals until we’re blue in the face. Until then though, there are a lot of variables to consider, and we have only limited (and often unreliable) evidence upon which to make our predictions. For two examples of this, think about new players and new managers:
New players are a gamble which can go either way. Where they are joining from different leagues altogether, we really are comparing apples and oranges. For example, Wilfried Bony scored more than a goal a game for Vitesse in the Eredivisie last season, but there aren’t many examples to compare him with to work out how likely it is that this will translate into immediate EPL success. Looking at the last few seasons of top 5 scorers in Holland, Suarez at Ajax is the standout example where it did work (though even he took some time to warm into it) but when I look further, I can’t see too many others. It is also of course, context specific; we need to judge them not only on their own merits, but on the existing squad options they are joining, playing style and all-important fixtures. Michu’s translation of goals from Vallecano in Spain to instant goals at Swansea is an example of where successful transition did happen quickly and spectacularly…but you had to take a bit of a leap of faith to have him before his first game last year which delivered 18 points. If you can manage to pick one or two ‘2012 Michu’s’ in your team now, you’re obviously going to have a head start on many others and be doing really well.
The alternative is to stick with what and who you know. But, even players who are proven EPL performers can become a whole different ballgame when they move clubs within the league! Look at Dempsey going from Fulham to Tottenham last season…his scoring, and FPL productivity took a pretty big swing. He scored only 2 goals in the first 15 games last year, compared to the end of the year before, when he was a ‘must-have’. The role that new players take in a team is something we can only look at the pre-season to get any evidence for…and those games are usually pretty experimental.
To confuse the issue even more, even players who stay at the same team who have had an outstanding season (and ended the previous season in form) aren’t necessarily guaranteed to be good choices…look at David Silva, Nani and Papiss Cisse last year for three examples of that. Despite them though, I still think sticking at the start of the year with a core of proven FPL performers is the way to go.
New Starts: Mourinho vs Moyes vs Pellegrini
The effect of new managers is a particularly relevant variable this season. The way a team plays i.e. formation; who the favoured ‘nailed-on’ players are; or how heavily rotation is used, obviously have a huge effect on player FPL reliability. Will Mourinho apply his (some would say sometimes ugly) Inter Milan approach, or the more free scoring Real Madrid approach (103 goals in 38 La Liga games!)?. He no doubt relies on his personnel to decide, and looking at Chelsea’s riches in the attacking midfield, it’s hopefully the latter…but we don’t know that yet – the guy is an enigma, to put it nicely. Presumably Moyes will in some ways apply a ‘it ain’t broke so don’t fix it too much’ principle, but at the same time, he’ll want to stamp his own mark on Man United. The team that I am most interested in seeing in an FPL sense though this year is Man City. Last season, I mostly steered clear of Mancini and his heavy rotation ways (never forgave him for taking Micah Richards off in the 59th minute during a clean sheet), but if Pellegrini is being straight with us when he promises an attacking style and more time in the oppositions half, then coupled with the removal of the Balotelli and Tevez options, one or two of the City attacking players might well get off to a lightening start and have consistent seasons.
FPL players who have been around a while will know that having a good year also relies on being able to pick a few surprise packets. I believe this is particularly true of budget defensive options. You probably did really well last year if you managed to foresee that you’d get double figure clean sheets from a few cheap Norwich or West Ham defenders. Stoke historically seem to provide a somewhat reliable option in this regard, but there again is the managerial change variable….they’ve just employed a former striker for the top job!
So when it comes to preseason, the more you think about it, the more you are probably left with questions rather than answers. Personally, I’ll be doing my best to make sure that I have a team with a solid base of proven FPL performers, with a couple of gambles – most likely on one or two from the promoted teams, or if I can be convinced the new EPL arrivals from abroad. Most importantly, I’m going to try to have a team full of people consistently playing as close to 90 minutes as possible. Toward the end of last year, when transfers were a valuable commodity, I found myself stuck with the likes of Harte and Marveaux, which is something that this year I’m keen to avoid.
Best of luck fellow addicts!
I did it just looking at stats heaps, match reports, highlights, and FPL websites – @JulianZip
About the Author
Julian led the way in FPL last year including a 5 week consecutive run at #1 towards the end of the season!…Being from Australia and not getting to see as much of the Premier League as he’d like makes this even more impressive!!
Such is the feat of his achievement Julian actually featured in the National Press Down Under http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/opinion/our-man-in-the-big-league-shows-em-how-its-done-in-his-sleep/story-e6frg7t6-1226613525951
Julian epitomizes the stat based approach to the game, a great guy to interact with on twitter – make sure and drop a follow to @JulianZip .
Truly impressive guy – Best of luck this season from all at #FY
The FantasyYIRMA.com Mini-League is now open for new entries – Click the Logo below for more information on how to join and read about our increased prize pot of £100 for the winner!!
Fantasy Premier League RETURNS!!
My phone started to buzz like crazy this afternoon in the car… My Mrs said Ohh Mr. Popular today?
I checked the phone and a wide grin sprung immediately to my face.
The Fantasy Premier League had launched this afternoon.
She looked at me , then paused, then said …
“You have got to be &£%$ING kidding me… Well you will still have to go to B&Q on Sunday”
Long Story short, I am delighted to see the return of FPL – Mrs isn’t .
With the league reopening today FantasyYIRMA.com will be taking a deeper look over the coming weeks at Player selection, one’s to watch, strategy articles, Bargain options and FPL advice. One of the first things that jumped out at us immediately is the change (again) to the Bonus Point system.
“new Bonus Points System (BPS) that has been created exclusively for Fantasy Premier League and makes its debut in this season’s game.
Utilising a range of statistics to create a BPS score for every player, the system is designed to reward contributions of players that may not necessarily earn traditional fantasy points, rather than re-reward players that already score handsomely against the current scoring criteria.”
You can read the full introduction to the new Bonus System here .
While we have yet to see this in action (There is a nice example using the WBA 5-5 ManUtd game) – the new Bonus System is something I wholeheartedly support and agree with – The previous system was flawed in my opinion however it is a very difficult measurement to get correct because of the number of variables and the concept of individual opinion on any one game.
Another link to check out is the full player listing for the FPL which you can check out here
To save you some time, Gareth Bale is 12M!
Quite possibly the most beautiful yet frightening set of figures I’ve ever seen, given that I know the next 33 days will be spent analyzing them!
It is brilliant to have the FPL back, please keep up to date with us Via twitter @FantasyYIRMA and of course here on the site.
Click the picture below to join the FantasyYIRMA.com Mini-League which has a £100 First place prize this year!
R
Fantasy Premier League: World Class performance!
Well, it really depends on how one looks at it and especially WHEN. Immediately after the final GW I felt this overwhelming sensation of failure when I realized I finished »only« 15th overall in the official Fantasy Premier League 2012/13. Not so much because of finishing 15th, but because of being so close and yet so far at the same time. As I was asked to share my story with you by @FantasyYirma, allow me to explain.
Going into the final GW, I had some 30+ points to make up in order to be considered a contender for the top spot and, knowing I needed a huge differential, brought in Dempsey as captain, Carroll and benched Lukaku (you do remember his 45 minute barrage of the new champs in Sir Alex’s last game???). Sigh. Now, I would be lying if I was to say that I was seriously considering bringing in Nolan as the differential and captaining him, but it did cross my mind for a millisecond…and then got laughed at by the other, more sensible ideas. In hindsight, Dempsey was always a high risk selection. And so, after the final GW, there was this one consistent, annoying little thought lingering in my head, playing like a broken record over and over and over again.
Yes, what if, what if, what if? No sense in crying now obviously, but it had actually helped me realize that I had »blown it« already in the GW before the last one, to be honest. Sitting comfortably in 8th place overall at the time, I decided to play it safe (aaarrrghhhhh!!!) and opted NOT to bring in Sturridge. Why? Well, everyone else was bringing him in. No differential. And also, you know, not to take the dreaded 4 point hit. What if. We all know what happened next.
The rest is history. So, the real question for me, after the end of this season, is where do I go from here? The thing is, I know goddess Fortuna has probably kept a really close eye on my campaign last year as this is the only way I can explain my phoenix-like rise from embarrassment after my first two woeful years playing the game (where I finished 1,1 MM and 0,4 MM, respectively – you can read my story about it here). Sure, I have picked up a couple of useful things down the road (and based on this experience, I am already writing another article entitled »6 (Un)Conventional Wisdoms of finishing in the Top 100 in FPL« that I will be publishing in the weeks leading up to the start of the new season as an ongoing contributor on FPL Hints, blog written by @fplhints), but still, I highly doubt that I will be able to repeat such a feat. So if you ask me about the biggest low of the previous season, it would undoubtedly have to be the last two GWs. The two GWs where I actually had a small chance of claiming the trophy…and failed.
Obviously, this was a season to remember (if you allow me to switch to my positive side for a moment) in all aspects. I mean, c’mon, I did finish as #15 out of 2,6 million players! So the highs were plenty – starting from GW #1 when I amassed 96 points with 3 Chelsea players (actually captaining Torres, if you can imagine that), introducing both Hazard and Michu to my starting 11. I believe this was actually a »turning point« (yeah, I know it sounds stupid to call GW1 a turning point, but it still feels like that) as for once, I was quick out of the start gate – up and running from the get go.
The GWs that brought considerable smile to my face were also GW6 which coincided with introducing Suarez (when everyone else was ditching him – btw, I really love taking a gamble on great players in poor form, they are usually on the verge of exploding) and he rewarded me with an amazing output of 20 points (unfortunately I was too chicken to captain him), GW 16 with captaining Sessegnon and him scoring a goal in the waning seconds of the second game to bring the week’s total to 20 points as (c), GW 23 and Walcott’s 38 points as (c), GW26 with 117 points (season high) courtesy of Suarez‘ 30 pts (Enrique 19, Michu 18, Bale 16 and RVP 12, among others), GW 29 with Remy scoring a remarkable goal that had me thinking that QPR are actually gonna make it (and bringing me 16 points in the process) and cashing in my WC in GW 36 for 99 points and a jump to the season’s highest spot – 8.
Well, I have already set my goal for next season – finish in Top 1% in the next year’s season. If you are interested in how I do and get a few tips and ramblings along the way, you are invited to follow me on Twitter where I tweet as @matejp23 and see how I do. Tip-off is only a good 30+ days away and I am actually already looking forward to it; all those Saturday and Sunday afternoons when you are sneaking a view at the points total on your smartphone, while your dear is giving you the eye because there is for sure something to be done at home…can’t wait! J
All the best to all of you!
Many thanks to @matejp23 for this fantastic guest post!! Genuinely delighted to feature him on #FY. A season not to forget!!
If you would like to submit a Premier League related post – contact Ryan at FantasyYIRMA@homail.com
PREMIER LEAGUE RETURNS IN 40 DAYS!!
With the FantasyYIRMA team still enjoying their summer hiatus we are delighted to feature FPL superfan Walt (@EPLFanForLife) on the site again.
(NOTE: #FY admin @Pedro_Lamb was last seen heading into what he thought was a table tennis sports bar in Bangkok.. if found please provide with return directions to Burton, UK.)
If you would like to submit a guest post to feature on FantasyYIRMA.com please email Ryan on FantasyYIRMA@hotmail.com.
PREMIER LEAGUE RETURNS IN 40 DAYS!!
Mid-Summer FPL Status Report
It’s agonizing, right? We’re smack dab in the middle of the off-season, the official #FPL site has gone dark, the transfer window is officially open for business, and the only certainty is that there are roughly 2.5 million people sitting on the edge of their seats with all questions and no answers.
After sitting back and thinking for a moment, there are actually some things we do know, but they too are really only things we know about the past and the present; not the future. These things too, as they relate to the FPL season to come, also lead directly to one place; more questions.
When it all boils down to it, there are three distinct variables that connect last season’s FPL season with the season we all now anticipate. They are:
1) What happened last season
2) What has happened since the season ended
3) What is going to happen between today and August 17
What Happened Last Year
Wouldn’t it be great if last season’s performance was a direct indicator of how players would perform this year? I have no statistics to correlate one season’s performance to the next, but it’s only natural to look to the Van Persie’s and the Michu’s and the Bale’s and the Lambert’s and the Gerrard’s and the Mata’s and the Jaaskelainen’s – Jasskelainen!?!? – to pay rich dividends this time around as well. But what about the guys who came on strong at the end of last season? What about Coutinho and Sturridge and Kagawa and Lukaku? Will the strong end to the season carry forward through the long summer and into the first few fixtures of the season to come?
Although it’s easy to assume that that is the case, things have definitely changed; But just how much? Enough to make last season’s statistics a mistaken indicator of what’s to come? New managers, new players coming and going, World Cup qualifiers, Confederations Cup, pre-season tours, time off on holiday, stress surrounding potential contract extensions or transfer rumours. All of these things affect a player’s outlook, attitude, and ability to gel with a new squad or manager. Some players are affected positively and some players are affected negatively.
How much will last year’s performance influence the 15 guys you select to start your 2013-2014 FPL season with? Many FPL managers will struggle with this thought over the next 40 days, and I will be right there with you.
What’s Happened Since the Season Ended
For all intents and purposes, the 2012-2013 English Premier League season ended quietly. Manchester United had long ago wrapped up their title and the bottom of the table was all but sorted. May 19, 2013 seems like forever ago.
Since then, 5 teams have undergone managerial changes – with 4 of them being in the top 6 sides. That leaves Arsene Wenger and Andre Villas-Boas as the only two managers in the top 6 to be leading their sides into the next campaign. Everyone else – Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton – all have managerial transitions to endure and the inevitable acclimitization period that such a change inherently brings with it. Make no mistake about it, these changes will impact these clubs as the new season gets underway. Don’t forget DiCanio and Sunderland either – he has caused quite a stir both inside and outside the club with his sometimes unorthodox approach to managing professional football players.
In addition to the managerial changes and full-scale club transitions that they involve, there have been 101 confirmed transfers since the season ended on May 19. Of those 101 confirmed transfers, 43 have involved players moving into the EPL from a different league, 51 have involved players leaving the EPL, and 7 have involved players being transferred from one EPL team to another. Keep in mind that the large majority of these 101 confirmed transfers have been confirmed during the past 6 days!
Notable transfers that may affect your FPL outlook as we make our way through the summer include:
- Carroll from Liverpool to West Ham
- Mignolet from Sunderland to Liverpool
- Sanogo to Arsenal
- Ratt to West Ham
- Figueroa to Hull City
- van Wolfswinkel to Norwich
- Stekelenburg to Fulham
- Navas to Manchester City
- Fernandinho to Manchester City
- Schurrle to Chelsea
- Amat to Swansea
- Kolo Toure from Manchester City to Liverpool
- McGregor to Hull City
- Mannone from Arsenal to Sunderland
- Shelvey from Liverpool to Swansea
- Anelka to West Brom
- Van Ginkel to Chelsea
- Paulinho to Tottenham
Again we’re left with more questions than answers.
Which Carroll will show up for West Ham this season, having finally settled somewhere he feels wanted? Will Mannone start for Sunderland? How will Schurrle and Van Ginkel fit in at Chelsea? Will Fulham’s defense improve and make Stekelenburg a viable FPL option in goal?
How will Fernandinho and Navas slot in at City and where does that leave Dzeko, who conceivably would benefit greatly from Navas’ ability to jet down the wing and lob crosses into the big man week after week? How will Shelvey’s move affect last year’s Newcomer of the Year, Mr. Michu, and his position on the pitch? What does Paulinho’s move mean for Tottenham’s midfield, specifically Sigurdsson, who was used sparingly following a pre-season full of significant hype following the arm-wrestling match between Rodgers and Villas-Boas?
How will Moyes respond to the unenviable scrutiny of following the most celebrated manager in the history of the English top division? How will the players respond? How will Martinez keep Everton’s momentum going with the 3-4-3 formation he seems intent on installing (Seamus Coleman anyone?) How will the circus act that was Chelsea fan’s relationship with their manager play out this year, now that the Chosen One has returned to the team he “has always loved”? Will Pellegrini bring stability to the clubhouse of millionaires that make up the Manchester City squad? What will happen to the poor Sunderland souls who are caught with any variation of sugar, natural form or not, pulsing through their systems following DiCanio’s institution of modernly bizarre team rules?
How will new boys Cardiff City, Crystal Palace and Hull City fare? Are they worth investing in at any position?
It’s only July 8. There are 40 days left until the season begins on August 17. Given the questions raised by the moves made to date and the changes that will have each of our heads spinning, there is still so much more to come that may completely change our approach to the new FPL season.
What Will Happen Between Now and August 17
The greatest league of the most popular sport in the world is never short of excitement. With no games being played there is really only one thing to keep the thousands of journalists whose careers revolve around the Premier League in business; transfer rumors. Log onto Twitter for 30 seconds and you’re bound to run across a handful or a dozen of them. It’s what keeps the EPL world spinning on its axis between May and August. And the rumors are flying fast and furious.
The Thiago Alcantara move to Manchester United has been “confirmed” multiple times since shortly before he led Spain to the UEFA Under-21 European Championships earlier this summer. If that move ever materializes, coupled with Moyes’ insistence that Rooney is going to stay at ManU this season, where does that leave those of us convinced that Kagawa finally seemed like he was beginning to settle in as a long-awaited and much-needed consistent midfield Manchester United FPL option as the season unfolded?
Will the John Ruddy rumored move to Chelsea materialize? Where will that leave Norwich? What in the world is going to happen with Suarez? Will the Higuain deal to Arsenal finally go through, and which Gonzalo will show up if it does?
And these are only the rumors we know about now! Many more will come, and unfortunately for those of us who are unsettled by this fact, the transfer window will stay open right up until gw3 of the coming season. I hate that!
So for now, there is a lot that we know, a lot that we don’t know, and a lot that we don’t yet know we don’t know. The next 6 weeks are going to be a roller coaster; a roller coaster that many of us secretly enjoy because it includes the final pieces of the puzzle that all stews together in mid August to give us all of the information we’ll have available to us for that all-important few days prior to August 17 when we finish fiddling, complete our tinkering, say a final good luck prayer, and click CONFIRM TEAM.
Enjoy it FPL’ers….I know I will.
Please check out Walt’s new FPL blog.. A must read and well recommended from the FY team http://whatiwantmykidstoknowaboutfootball.blogspot.co.uk/
Tale of a Fantasy Premier League Champion!!
It is with great pleasure that we welcome FPL World Number 2 and the FantasyYIRMA.com mini league WINNER Kelvin Travers.
Kelvin had an unbelievable season and is a genuine fan of FPL. Having led the overall game for large parts of the year the league was decided on bonus points following the final gameweek of the season.
Take nothing away from this man – what he displayed this year in terms of judgement and consistency was extremely impressive!
We are proud to say the FY mini- league was won by an extremely deserving winner! Kelvin has been kind enough to put together an overview of his FPL journey this year – Enjoy!
*R
Season Review
By @K3lviN
Having had time to get over the disappointment of missing out by just two points on winning the 2012/13 Barclays Fantasy Premier League, I’ve been invited by @FantasyYIRMA to explain some of the highs and lows of my season, and my thoughts for next year.
Lows
I may as well start with the lows, and to be honest they don’t come any lower than finishing second having lead for most of the season – infact, having lead for most of the final day, right up until bonus points were added. Seeing Lukaku grinning at me from my bench with a hat trick and 16 points, knowing my decision to play Fellaini over him has ultimately cost me the chance to achieve the impossible and be no.1 in the world at the end of the season.
Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, who would have predicted West Brom scoring 5 past Man Utd and a Lukaku hat trick?! But, the season is played over 38 gameweeks and the guy who finishes top deserves the accolade.
Some other lows from my season that stick out – my decision to bench Berbatov in gameweek 11 when he scored two against Arsenal. Transferring in Dzeko in gameweek 27, he played 0 mins and I ended up transferring him straight back out the following week, a waste of two transfers and probably a handful of points.
I’d imagine to some people those aren’t exactly lows – finishing second in the world, benching the wrong player a couple of times, and wasting a transfer; but at the time, to me they were.
Highs
I can easily say what was the high point of the season for me – gameweek 19. It was Boxing Day and I was in my local with some friends having some festive beers. Van Persie had already scored and assisted in the afternoon kick off and everybody has giving me grief for not captaining him, as at that point I was 26th in the world and had chosen to captain Bale – it was 0-0 at half time in the Aston Villa vs Tottenham game. Then came the 45 minutes that completely changed my season, a Gareth Bale hat trick, 42 points as captain and when I woke up the next morning I was World no.1 for the first time. An incredible feeling, and unbelievable achievement, and one I thought would only last until the following gameweek and I’d never see again.
I was partly right, by the following gameweek I’d dropped to 9th, but over the second half of the season I never dropped out of the top 10, and went back to world no.1 for a further 6 weeks. In the last 16 weeks of the season, I only dropped out of the top 2 on three occasions – hence why I said earlier I was so disappointed with second place overall.
The other high point of my season was taking to Twitter to talk to people about fantasy football and becoming part of the wider fantasy football community. I was completely taken aback by the amount of support and encouragement I received from people over the course of the season, and even afterwards the messages I received after finishing second. I tried to reply to as many messages as possible, so if there was anybody who congratulated me and hasn’t already seen a reply, then I’d like to say thank you for your support.
thank you for your support
FantasyYIRMA league
I joined the FantasyYIRMA league around the end of January. At the time a guy called Des was at the top, so I got in touch with him on Twitter to check he was ok with me joining as I would be knocking him off top spot. I didn’t want to just join and spoil it for those who’d been top through the Autumn, but as I was chatting with everybody on Twitter I wanted to get involved in the league. Luckily Des said he was ok with me joining, so I have to say thanks to him otherwise I wouldn’t have been in the league.
When I joined though, I never had any intention of claiming the prize money if I’d won – I joined because of Twitter and the fantasy football community, not money. So, I decided at that point if I made it to the end of the season and won the league, I’d donate the prize money to charity. From that point onwards I felt I was playing for charity, and at one point I was overtaken at the top and wanted to fight back to win the money back for charity.
The charity I wanted to support is a local one to me, called the Candlelighters. They do some absolutely amazing work for kids who are growing up with cancer, and if anybody is ever looking for a charity to support I would really recommend you consider helping them.
Next Season
I wasn’t sure if I’d play next season after coming so close. I can’t see how I can ever do better than I have this year, but after a few weeks off I’m already missing football so can’t see how I can sit a season out.
I’m going to enjoy a couple of months off fantasy football, probably not as much as my girlfriend will enjoy me taking a couple of months off fantasy football, but I’ll definitely be coming back next year to play again.
I’ll be getting into the pre-season games and stats, doing some research on new signings, and I’ll share a few of my ideas and plans for the new season on Twitter.
Aside from joining the FantasyYIRMA league again next year, I also want to make an offer to anybody who wants to try and beat me. I’m going to setup a league of my own, free to join, and for every person who can finish above me I’ll donate £5 to charity. For every person I can finish above, I’d ask those people to donate something of any winnings they make over the season to charity, as little or as much as they can afford.
I’ll setup the league once the new season starts and post the code on Twitter, I thought it might be a fun way to play directly against some of my adversaries from this year, people on Twitter, and hopefully some new players – all whilst trying to raise a few pounds for charity. I hope a few people will want to join me alongside their existing leagues.
See you next season,
Kelvin (@K3lviN)
Many Thanks from the #FY team to Kelvin for taking the time to provide this guest post – Drop him a follow on twitter.
Fantasy Football Preview: Santi to shine as the curtain falls?
Mini-leagues are being furiously checked and the points difference between you and your rivals are being totted up. It’s the final day of the season.
Unlike the Premier League this one was always destined to go down to the wire, and so the key question as we enter the final weekend of Fantasy Premier League matches is whether or not you need to find a left-field pick to try and catch up with those around you.
Whilst the likes of Gareth Bale (£11.0m and surely the weekend’s safe captaincy choice), Theo Walcott (£9.2m), Juan Mata (£10.2m) and Robin van Persie (£13.7m) are sure to be the popular picks, perhaps your net needs to be cast a little wider in the search for a player who can give you that extra push over the finish line.
That player could well be Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla (£9.6m).
Fresh from providing four assists in the Gunners’ 4-1 victory over Wigan on Tuesday night, the Spaniard goes to Newcastle to face a side who conceded six goals in their previous home game against Liverpool.
With Arsene Wenger’s men needing a win to secure a top four finish ahead of rivals Tottenham, Cazorla is sure to be crucial on an afternoon when he is likely to be a creative force.
Those four assists against Wigan took the Spaniard’s tally to 13 for the season, level with the likes of Walcott, Van Persie and Steven Gerrard for the campaign, with only three players registering more.
Add that to his 12 goals and you’ve got an extremely successful first campaign in England for the former Villarreal and Malaga man, but he’d only look back on it fondly if he can help his club into the top four. He has every chance to do just that at St James’s Park.
Elsewhere, Tottenham’s attempts to secure their own European football for next season will of course be helped by Bale as they host Sunderland, but it could be a rejuvenated Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.0m) who proves crucial following two goals in his last two games.
Following their Europa League heroics, Chelsea host Everton seeking to make sure of their third place finish. Demba Ba (£7.8m) was cup-tied for the Benfica victory and so he could prove crucial as the Blues seek to make it an unhappy last game in charge for David Moyes.
Away from the challenge for Europe, Liverpool draw the curtains on their campaign with a home game against relegated QPR.
The Reds and retiring defender Jamie Carragher (£5.0m) will fancy their chances of keeping a clean sheet, but further forward in-form striker Daniel Sturridge (£7.3m) will be seeking to follow up last weekend’s hat-trick at Fulham with another impressive display. Against QPR’s defence he has a great opportunity.
As the campaign draws to a close, those who have impressed throughout it such as Michu (£7.8m) and Rickie Lambert (£6.9m) have chances to finish their seasons on a high as Swansea and Southampton host Fulham and Stoke respectively, whilst the champions Manchester United go to West Brom seeking a winning end to their season. Javier Hernandez (£6.5m) started and scored against Swansea last week and will be looking to do so again amidst the uncertainty surrounding the future of Wayne Rooney.
Everyone knows about the future of Roberto Mancini by now, and in his absence Manchester City will be looking to round things off with a victory at home to Norwich.
Their forwards have impressed at various stages throughout the campaign, but with two goals in his last two league appearances perhaps it’ll be Edin Dzeko (£6.8m) who steps up to the plate again this time.
His addition could prove vital as the campaign draws to a close and we all look forward to the next one.
Roll on August.
We’ll see you then.
Fantasy Football Preview GW37: Walcott to worsen Wigan’s woes?
With next season already promising to be hugely different given the dramatic developments at Old Trafford this week, cherishing this campaign suddenly looks to be even more important.
For Wigan Athletic, that seems to ring true more than loudly than for others.
The Latics will be FA Cup finalists at the weekend, but come Tuesday they could find that their eight-year stint in the Premier League is over. Should results go against them at the weekend, then nothing less than three points from their next match will do if they are to stay in the top flight. Unfortunately for them, that next match is at Champions League-chasing Arsenal.
The Gunners may have lost this fixture last season, but they simply can’t afford to do that now.
With Theo Walcott (£8.9m) returning to fitness and form then they certainly don’t look like doing that, and the England man could play a large part in confirming the Latics’ relegation.
Walcott scored and completed 90 minutes in both of his last two matches for the Gunners, taking his tally to 13 strikes and 13 assists during a hugely productive season.
As Arsene Wenger’s men close in on a top four place Walcott looks to be a hugely important figure, and he’ll enter the Wigan game high on confidence, which could end up spelling trouble for Roberto Martinez and his boys.
Any discussion about the battle for the top four – and of course your ongoing battles in Fantasy Premier League – isn’t complete without a mention of Gareth Bale(£10.9m), who takes his considerable talents to Stoke City this weekend.
Bale and Spurs might find it tough going there, but they should eventually come out on top in a match which is sure to see defender Jan Vertonghen (£6.8m) come under threat from Stoke’s attack.
Elsewhere, Everton’s Marouane Fellaini (£7.2m) is sure to find support ahead of their Blues’ match against mid-table West Ham at Goodison Park.
The Belgian has been in fine form throughout the campaign and he’ll be determined to impress in his side’s final game in front of their own fans this season. Following the Blues’ goalless draw at Liverpool last week he could be one to back as they look to find the net again.
As for Liverpool, they go to a Fulham side still not safe from relegation just yet, and with both Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez unavailable then the onus is sure to fall on Philippe Coutinho (£6.7m) and Daniel Sturridge (£7.0m). Dimitar Berbatov (£7.1m) will of course be vital for the hosts.
At Berbatov’s former club, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last home match in charge of Manchester United brings selection issues with it, but he is likely to once again start with Robin van Persie (£13.7m) upfront for the visit of Swansea. Those prone to a little bit of nostalgia might like to back a few Fantasy points for Ryan Giggs (£6.0m) and Paul Scholes (£5.0m) too.
Back in the cold hard world of chasing the Champions League, Chelsea will be happy that Aston Villa are now all but safe as they prepare for a trip to Villa Park early on Saturday.
Rafael Benitez’s side will be in no mood to let up now as they look to finish as high as possible, and with the battle between Fernando Torres (£9.3m) and Demba Ba (£7.8m) sure to be dominating many thoughts, it is Juan Mata (£10.1m) who continues to make his team tick.
Somewhat bizarrely denied the winning goal at Old Trafford last weekend, Mata will be doubly determined to impress at Villa Park.
He could be a vital addition for your side.
Fantasy Football Preview GW36: Double up on Aguero as finish line looms
Well we’re nearly there aren’t we?
As the season’s finish line looms large over the horizon each and every point becomes vital in your head-to-head, mini-leagues and of course the #FYCup, the fact that six teams are playing in a double Gameweek shouldn’t be ignored.
More important still, is that three of those teams happen to house three of this season’s Fantasy favourites.
Okay, maybe Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) doesn’t have the ownership percentage he deserves following a campaign which has been blighted by injuries, but there should be little doubt that he is Manchester City’s best forward when on form, and after a goal against West Ham last week and with an FA Cup final place to play for he is sure to be ready to impress as City go to Swansea and then face a home game against West Brom in the next week.
As usual with Roberto Mancini you have to be careful when selecting his forwards, but with the Italian likely to go with a front two of Aguero and Carlos Tevez (£9.2m) for the showpiece final against Wigan next week then he’d be wise to give them as many minutes on the pitch together as possible ahead of Wembley.
That should mean they play the vast majority of the fixtures against Swansea and the Baggies, and although the threat of Edin Dzeko (£6.8m) can’t be ruled out the Bosnian has failed to score in City’s last eight matches, of which he only featured in five.
Whilst City’s two opponents this week do possess popular players on double Gameweeks in Michu (£8.2m) and Romelu Lukaku (£6.6m), our next port of call is the Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur.
Gareth Bale (£10.6m) received much Fantasy Premier League attention before, during and after Spurs’ visit to Wigan last weekend – from which he eventually emerged with a goal, an assist and two bonus points.
The PFA Player and Young Player of the Year will be looked to by many as a solid captaincy choice ahead of Tottenham’s matches against his old club Southampton and then a trip to Chelsea which is likely to go a long way towards sorting out those all-important top four places.
Bale is almost certain to be joined by Jermain Defoe (£7.9m) in both of those contests, and the form of both could well be key to just how Spurs do now the pressure is on. The good news for them is that Bale has responded well to pressure all season.
The impressive form of Wigan’s Shaun Maloney (£5.2m) is an aspect to consider ahead of the double Gameweek for the FA Cup finalists which sees them face must-win matches at West Brom and at Swansea in their battle to stay up, but it is Chelsea we focus on for our third key pick.
The sixth of the teams facing this crucial double header, the Blues have tricky fixtures away at Manchester United and at home to Spurs.
The likes of Juan Mata (£10.0m) and Eden Hazard (£9.6m) will of course be looked to to shine in both of those fixtures, but the recent goalscoring form displayed by their teammate Oscar (£7.8m) surely makes him worthy of recognition.
The Brazilian struck in the draw at Anfield and the win over Swansea in Chelsea’s last two Premier League fixtures – matches that he picked up 18 Fantasy Premier League points from.
Crucially cheaper than the rivals he battles for a Chelsea starting berth with, Oscar seems to be coming into form just as the season draws to a close and can take these good performances into Chelsea’s double Gameweek.
He could just be a handy addition as the clock ticks down on your campaign.
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 