Blog Archives
GW6 NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!
Due to the fact that Carlos Tevez is still in my team, I’m not going to even try and work out how he got two bonus points this week… but he did and this pleases me – as it will please a large percentage of #FPL players!
Anyway.. here are the Bonus points in Full.
@ryano83
| 29 Sep 12:45 | Arsenal |  |
1 – 2 |  |
Chelsea |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 15:00 | Everton |  |
3 – 1 |  |
Southampton |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 15:00 | Fulham |  |
1 – 2 |  |
Man City |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 15:00 | Norwich |  |
2 – 5 |  |
Liverpool |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 15:00 | Reading |  |
2 – 2 |  |
Newcastle |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 15:00 | Stoke City |  |
2 – 0 |  |
Swansea |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 15:00 | Sunderland |  |
1 – 0 |  |
Wigan |
|
|
|||||
| 29 Sep 17:30 | Man Utd |  |
2 – 3 |  |
Tottenham |
|
|||||
| 30 Sep 16:00 | Aston Villa |  |
1 – 1 |  |
West Brom |
|
|
|||||
| 01 Oct 20:00TBC | QPR |  |
v |  |
West Ham |
Gameweek 6 preview: Hair today, goals tomorrow?
The trouble with pesky competitions like the Capital One Cup – which still sounds like an employee of the month award – is that they can easily get in the way of your Fantasy Premier League team’s progress.
They can affect the mood of teams in the real thing too, and as such Everton’s week suddenly doesn’t look as rosy as it did when Marouane Fellaini (£7.2m) headed in the third of their three goals in the convincing win at Swansea last Saturday.
The cup loss to Leeds in midweek saw the chances of David Moyes making this the season that he picks up a first trophy at Everton effectively reduced by 50%, and the question now has to be whether or not that’ll affect the Blues’ fine league form which has taken them to third in the table after five games.
All eyes will be on Goodison Park on Saturday then, as Everton seek to bounce back at the first time of asking by welcoming Southampton.
As fixtures go it is a pretty decent one to make your recovery from midweek misery, and if you can see them getting over the Elland Road loss quickly then expect the Blues to be flying come Saturday afternoon. With fixtures against Wigan and QPR to come in the immediate future too, it could be a good time to put your faith in Moyes’s boys to earn you points, with Fellaini the man most likely.
That said, Nikica Jelavic (£8.4m) is also primed to return here after missing the Swansea game and only appearing as a substitute against Leeds, whilst those who can afford Leighton Baines (£7.2m) will be getting a severely underrated defender who has already contributed a goal, two assists and two clean sheets this season. He could well be set to add to that tally at the weekend.
Across Stanley Park at Liverpool, things could just be about to change for the better.
Last weekend’s unfortunate loss to Manchester United brought an end to a tricky run of fixtures for Brendan Rodgers’ side, and although the midweek Capital One Cup win at West Bromwich Albion was achieved with a smattering of youngsters, it might just have restored somewhat of a feelgood factor amongst those at the club.
Norwich await in the Premier League at Carrow Road on Saturday, and with the Canaries having only found the net twice in their five league games this season – plus with winnable home games against Stoke and Reading on the horizon – it might just be the time to put your faith in Rodgers’ rearguard.
Injury and rotation issues mean that the only two defenders certain to start for Liverpool at the weekend are Glen Johnson (£6.4m) and Martin Skrtel (£6.0m), and with the pair offering the potential for assist and goal points respectively then either could be good additions. It is further forward where Liverpool could make their mark this weekend though, with Raheem Sterling (£4.6m) still an astute cheap choice and Luis Suarez (£9.4m) ready to fire back at a ground where he scored a hat-trick last season. Those now debating whether or not to stick with Carlos Tevez (£9.9m) could decide to switch to the Uruguayan.
Tevez and his Manchester City team-mates go to Fulham on Saturday, and with City far from certain to get a result there and clashes between Arsenal and Chelsea and Manchester United and Tottenham proving somewhat unpredictable, it might pay to look elsewhere for some points.
With apologies to Steven Fletcher (£7.2m) his goalscoring run has become impossible to ignore, and whilst climbing on board the Fletcher bandwagon has to come with the warning that Sunderland face City away next, this weekend’s fixture at home to Wigan could be the perfect one to see the Scot continue his scoring run.
Liverpool: The kids are alright, but is that enough?
As symbolism goes the image was a pretty stark one.
On a chilly Sunday afternoon when there were many more serious issues than football to ponder at Anfield it seems wrong to pay so much attention to the mere matters that were going on at pitch level, but just seconds into the second half there was a moment that spoke volumes for just where Liverpool are heading under Brendan Rodgers.
The 18-year-old Jesús Joaquín Fernández Sáez de la Torre – or ‘Suso’ to his mates and now the millions worldwide who watched his Premier League debut on Sunday – picked the ball up on the left corner of the penalty area and was suddenly face-to-face with the man he’d entered the pitch with seconds earlier.
Whilst Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had turned to Paul Scholes, 37, at half-time as his side sought to gain control of midfield now that Liverpool were down to 10 men, Rodgers had opted for Suso to replace the injured Fabio Borini.
Undeterred by the sense of occasion, the fact that this was his first act as a Premier League footballer nor that his side had seen a man sent off, Suso faced up to Scholes on the corner of the box, showed him the ball and then quick as a flash burst past a man more than twice his age. At that moment the great Scholes could probably feel his old bones creaking.
That Suso’s cross was only half-cleared and eventually – via the good work of Glen Johnson – resulted in Steven Gerrard firing Liverpool into a deserved lead only crystallised the moment more. These young Liverpool players, regardless of who they are facing and how many players they are facing them with, are fearless.
At 18 Suso wasn’t even the youngest Reds player on the pitch at the time, with that honour going to the 17-year-old Raheem Sterling. Jonjo Shelvey, 20, had somewhat harshly been sent off by then, whilst the injury suffered by the 22-year-old Martin Kelly would leave Liverpool with just nine men by full-time. Borini, 21, and Joe Allen, 22, were playing in their third Anfield league game since big summer moves to Merseyside, a switch made by 22-year-old second half substitute Jordan Henderson last year. The 19-year-old Andre Wisdom scored in the Europa League last week and could now be set for more appearances given that Kelly is out for the foreseeable future with an ACL injury. Many more young players at set to feature in the Capital One Cup at West Brom on Wednesday night.
The omnipresence of Gerrard and a late cameo from Jamie Carragher reminded everyone that this isn’t a total revolution just yet, but it is hard to think of a club operating at the levels Liverpool are that is currently putting so much faith in youth. As admirable as it is, the worry has to be that it is too much too soon.
The club’s failings in the transfer market have a lot to do with it of course, but Rodgers is on record extolling the virtues of his young charges.
As he and Ferguson have said in the past, young players will rarely let you down when called upon, but at a time when the club are coming to terms with a new style of play as well as new personnel with which to play it, the potential for errors has crept in. At this level such mistakes can and will be capitalised on, as United showed in coming back to win on Sunday.
The next three Premier League fixtures – away at Norwich and then at home to Stoke and Reading – have already been identified as crucial to Liverpool following their tough start, and the youngsters in the team are likely to have to grow up quickly if success is to be achieved in all of them.
There is no doubt that a great excitement builds when the likes of Suso and Sterling get the ball, but it is up to Gerrard and Luis Suarez to show seniority and help guide them. Allen, the excellent Johnson and the still acclimatising Nuri Sahin will prove important in this regard too.
Is it too much too young for some of these Liverpool players? That remains to be seen, but one thing that they are certainly not lacking in is confidence. If Suso can do that to Scholes, then anything is possible.
The kids aren’t United, they’re Liverpool, and this could just be the start of something special if it is given time.
The Lamb vs. The App: A Fantasy Premier League App review
The recently launched Fantasy Premier League App created much excitement here at Yirma Towers, and straight away we knew that there was only one man who we could trust to test it out on behalf of you, the humble Fantasy football player.
As the most technologically advanced member of the Yirma team (he was first in the queue for an iPhone 5 before realising he already had one), @pedro_lamb was the perfect guinea pig for the experiment, and armed with £1.49 of his own money he downloaded the app and conducted a thorough review.
Here, after an awful lot of editing, is The Lamb’s report:
“So, the game that we all love and takes over many hours of our life throughout the season may have just got that bit more addictive, with the App finally made available.
“Now I was expecting this App to be pretty special as the current mobile website works very well. After a first play with the App, my findings will not be pleasing reading to our friends at the Premier League.
“The first thing I tried was to make a change to my starting 11, and the results aren’t great.
“The first one of the many little annoyances I have with this App is that you can’t just swap out your captain – or vice-captain for that matter – instead you need to swipe across to the next screen then actually change your captain by selecting the player and then pressing the captain button.
“Also, another quirk is that you can only make players in your starting 11 the captain so therefore, for example, if you have a striker on the bench because he was injured for the last game and your current captain is now injured, you need to swap the captain to be a player in your starting XI, then substitute out that player and bring in your striker and, only then you can make him captain. It’s all a bit a faff, really.
“In relation to transfers, the screen is slightly better, however you can’t easily do searches on the other players.
“Instead you have to remove a player from your team and then you can see the other players, so you can’t quickly look at how many points (the great) Tom Huddlestone has got so far if you want to sign him. And you do.
“Even worse, picture the scene – and we have all been here many times thanks to this addiction that the majority of us suffer from the impending doom that is fantasy football and the fact we need to know instantly if we are beating our mates at this stupid game. It’s a stupid game at the moment because of my shockingly bad performance over the last two weeks, which really is Karma because I panicked and played my wild card, yet again. I played it far too early. When will I ever learn? –Sorry went off track ever so slightly, where was I?
“Oh yes, that horrid moment when Tevez scores and you can’t remember for the life of you if your mate or head-to-head opponent had him as captain or not, so usually you would log onto the WAP site, find his team and be able to see who he had. Well the App doesn’t allow for this, therefore prolonging the agony. Seriously, why does it not allow you to see other people’s teams?
“So to sum up, after a quick play and being £1.49 worse off I am far from being satisfied. The scorecard is a C minus and that is being generous!
“I think this App is another step backwards by Fantasy Premier League, although I am yet to try it during the live games, so who knows, come Saturday it might be quickly updated with live player scores. However I wouldn’t hold your breath.
“I would keep that £1.49 in your bank account and continue to use the WAP Site if you have a smart phone.
“Lamb Out.”
The Gameweek 5 review, by @shots_on_target
After advising that you should take a look at Leighton Baines (11 points this Gameweek), Demba Ba (nine), Dimitar Berbatov, Kevin Nolan (both eight) and Glen Johnson (five) on Friday, Yirma’s favourite stats man @shots_on_target is back, not to gloat, but instead to provide a thorough review of Gameweek 5.
Swansea 0 – 3 Everton
Although the Swans had their moments in this game, Everton bossed throughout with an incredible 22 shots with 11 on target, a figure more reminiscent of City at home to Wolves last year than a team away at the Liberty. The star fantasy performers from Everton’s point of view were the goal scorers Mirallas, Anichebe, and The Great Fellaini TM, with a combined 23 shots between them, 11 on target. Good value for their 3 goals, in fact they should have scored more. Anichebe is a great one week punt for the Toffees next home game against Southampton but you will have to fancy Jelavic’s chance of regaining the striker role on return from injury (1-2 weeks). Fellaini, Mirallas are established in the side, as are Pienaar and Leighton ‘9 Points’ Baines. All are strongly expected to pick up point further points and Mirallas would be an excellent differential choice.
Swansea to their credit almost scored – with 18 shots in total but just 4 on target. Their failure to score is perhaps due to Everton’s well-drilled defence rather than Swansea’s poor attack and I wouldn’t give up on Swansea’s offensive or defensive options given their immediate fixtures – STO (A) RDG (H) WIG (H) – except for Nathan Dyer.
Fantasy Force: Everton’s Attack and Defence.
Fantasy Flops: No-one.
West Ham 1 – 1 Sunderland
West Ham peppered Sunderland’s goal here with 24 shots, 4 on target, compared the visitors 5 with just 1 on target. Sunderland as is their style, scored from their only shot on target. These stats are actually similar to Sunderland’s goalless draw at the Emirates on the opening day (ARS 23 shots, 3 on target, SUN 5 shots, 2 on target) indicating that Sunderland have the ability to weather a storm quite nicely and West Ham should not feel too disappointed, getting more out of this fixture than Arsenal did. Steven Fletcher provided more evidence of his finishing ability with 1 goal from only shot on target (3 shots in total). This kind of form cannot continue however and Sunderland really do not create enough chances for to warrant buying their forwards at the moment. They have two fixtures in the next 8 that attract attention (Home games against Wigan and Villa) but other than those it’s not so good and I can’t really see Fletcher get more than 2-3 goals over the month or two. Kevin Nolan’s goal for Wet Ham was just reward for his display, he really is a good prospect and West Ham’s main source of fantasy points.
Fantasy Force: West Ham’s Attack (Nolan), Sunderland’s Defence.
Fantasy Flops: Sunderland’s Attack (despite Fletcher)
Southampton 4 – 1 Aston Villa
Villa are in trouble. They can’t defend and it’s going to take a while for Paul Lambert to get this team playing the way he wants, and by then it could be too late. Stephen Ireland looks like he’s broken his arm and could be out for a while and has been one of their most creative players so far, albeit not creating that much. Southampton on the other hand seem to have no problem finding the back of the net with Rickie Lambert the chief threat, They managed 6 shots on target so 4 goals is slightly flattering scoreline, but if you want a £6.1m forward then you could not do much better and with upcoming fixtures home against Fulham and Tottenham and away at Everton and West Ham you’d be disappointed if he didn’t get 2-3 goals over this period.
Fantasy Force: Southampton Attack
Fantasy Flops: Aston Villa – attack and defence.
Wigan 1 – 2 Fulham
A pretty even game this one with both team’s creating plenty of chances, Wigan with 19 shots , 5 on target, and Fulham doing better with 12 shots and 7 on target )on target is best!). Dimitar Berbatov was again at the sharp end and this results, as well as the 2 goals at Old Trafford, demonstrates Fulham’s new found capacity to score goals away from home. Wigan failed to turn majority of both possession and scoring chances into anything more than 1 goal which need not be a major worry to fantasy managers given the budget price tags attached to their forward players. Defensively, this was a good result for Fulham and a bad one for Wigan. Allowing 7 shots on target from 12 attempts is not indicative a tight defence.
Fantasy Force: Fulham Attack & Defence
Fantasy Flops: Wigan’s Defence.
Chelsea 1 – 0 Stoke
Despite the pressure Chelsea heaped on the Stoke defence the Potters held firm and gave a good account of themselves, creating a few chances too with 13 shots, 3 shots on target compared to Chelsea’s 19 shots and 4 on target.. Big players such as Hazard and Torres failed to impress (zero shots on target between them) and with just one promising fixture on the horizon (Nor (H) GW7) it’s perhaps time to re-evaluate their place in your teams. Stoke are doing well. Despite a torrid run of fixtures so far they have defended resolutely and have only conceded 2 goals in games vs. City, Arsenal and now the European Champions Chelsea. Their fixtures don’t let up for a little while but take a look in GW9 after their game with Manchester United.
Fantasy Force: Stoke Defence
Fantasy Flops: Chelsea Attack
West Brom 1 – 0 Reading
A fair result from two teams who are not going to be atop of the scoring charts at the end of the season. Albion’s 4 shots on target from 11 attempts yielding the game’s only goal. With Reading managing just the solitary shot on target all game there’s no wonder they didn’t score, and bearing in mind they only hit the target against Tottenham in their last home game the prospects do not look good for Reading’s attacking players like Pogrebnyak and Guthrie. Lukaku grabbed the game’s only game and the immediate fixture list offers hope of a few more – AVL (A) QPR (H) – but I would not hold out too much hope on them ripping it up.
Fantasy Force: No-one
Fantasy Flops: Reading’s attack.
Liverpool 1 – 2 Man Utd
Many people’s highlight match-up of the weekend, Liverpool managed to dominate the scoring chances in this game despite Shelvey dismissal late in the first half, almost doubling United’s chances created (14 attempts, 6 on target to 8 attempts, 3 on target). I think Liverpool can take some optimism from this game and their fixture list should offer hope – (Nor (A) Sto (H) Rdg (H) – however long-term injuries to Agger and Kelly, a niggle for Borini, plus Shelvey suspension throw this into doubt somewhat. United looked poor but, as always, put away the chances they got to win the game. The team is yet to gel though and with Rooney’s return imminent and rotation around Champions Leagues games a concern it’s going to be a risk owning their attacking players this season methinks.
Fantasy Force: Liverpool’s Defence
Fantasy Flops: No-one
Man City 1 – 1 Arsenal
Arsenal controlled the game in large spells and their customary possession game melded with a new-found defensive resolution means their defensive players are arguably the best of all fantasy assets right now, particularly with Gibbs and Metesacker coming in at £5.6m and £5.1m respectively. The omission of Carlos Tevez would have caused heartache to over 1 million FPL managers this weekend and, with City’s available attacking options plus probable rotation for Champion’s League games, owning elite options from the blue half of Manchester could prove a tad frustrating at times. Santi Cazorla and David Silva were the stand out players from an attacking point of view, and Aguero showed what he’s about too.
Fantasy Force: Arsenal’s Defence
Fantasy Flops: No-one
Tottenham 2 – 1 QPR
Tottenham have been very creative in all their matches so far this season, with this one proving no different, with 20 attempts on goal, yielding 8 shots on target and two goals not a bad result at the end of the day. However, they don’t fill you with confidence. Does anyone else think AVB does not know what he’s doing? Does he think he is still playing Championship Manager in his bedroom? QPR did really well and are staring to play for Hughes now after the opening day calamity against Swansea. They mustered 4 shots on target from 9 attempts which is not bad going for a team away at one of last season’s Top 4. Whilst home games against West Ham and Reading in the next 6 offer potential it’s probably too early to get excited about anyone. As for Spurs, Gareth Bale and Jermaine Defoe (as long as he’s in the team) maintain their promising form.
Fantasy Force: Tottenham and QPR attack – maybe
Fantasy Flops: None.
Newcastle 1 – 0 Norwich
Newcastle have been a very “efficient” team under Pardew, not requiring a lot of the ball or many chances to score their goals. That they managed good but not great 6 shots on target against Norwich from 18 chances created. There should have been more goals but the best chances, including a penalty, fell to Cisse and he’s clearly struggling at the moment, perhaps feeling a bit poorly! Demba Ba took his chance well and continues to be a good option up front, as does Ben Arfa, with game away against Reading the next fixture. Following this though games at home against United, and a solid West Brom plus an away match at local rivals Sunderland aren’t the best in the short term. As for Norwich, it’s hard to call as to whether Newcastle just misfired up front or Norwich defended well. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and opt for the latter but they aren’t a strong defensive option yet.
Fantasy Force: No-one
Fantasy Flops: No-one
Tips out for Yirma: Gameweek 5
FY Tipster Challenge
Here within the Fantasy Yirma administration team, we like to pretend we have money. With that in mind we have devised a FY Tipster selection competition.
The loser from the Admin team at the end of the season will pay the £50 prize fund for the mini league!!
Here’s the current standings:
|
FY Tipster |
GW4 Spend |
GW4 Return |
Total Spend |
Total Return |
Difference |
|
@pedro_lamb |
£30 |
£36.36 |
£120 |
£75.36 |
– £44.64 |
|
@mark_jones86 |
£30 |
£0 |
£120 |
£0 |
– £120 |
|
@ryano83 |
£30 |
£20.50 |
£120 |
£154.50 |
+ £34.50 |
Rules
Each player must place 3 £10 bets (Monopoly) per gameweek. (singles only)
The bet can be on any individual result/market/outcome with the only proviso being that you must stipulate the odds at time of selection submission and it must be from the same odds provider.
In practice this means your 3 £10 bets can be across 3 fixtures or 3 markets within one match.
We challenge everyone to make 3 selections also and we will include this in our table. Make your selection in the comments below.
Get your tips out for Yirma!!!
Gameweek 5 tips:
@pedro_lamb
£10 on Liverpool to win 1-0, Gerrard to score 45/1 = £460
£10 on Arsenal (-1.0) to win 10/1 = £110
£10 on Defoe first goalscorer 16/5 = £42
@mark_jones86
£10 on Aston Villa to win 2/1 = £30
£10 on Liverpool v Man Utd Draw 9/4 = £32.50
£10 on Man City to beat Arsenal 2-0 8/1 = £90
@ryano83
West Brom to win 5/6 = £18.33
West Ham v Sunderland Draw 9/4 = £32.50
Swansea v Everton Over 12 corners 11/5 = £32
To Infinity and Beyond- or at least GW5-GW9 (By @shots_on_target)
If you would like to get involved and write your own guest post for @FantasyYirma feel free to contact us via email, twitter or directly on the site
Many thanks to our guest post from @shots_on_target . This week he looks at some selection choices with the next 5 or 6 gameweeks in mind.
Here is my appraisal of transfer target’s that should serve you will for the next several gameweeks and beyond. The players featured are those that have the right mixture of good form and good fixtures, regardless of price. Obviously I am trying to aim slightly off the beaten path as there is no need to highlight the likes of Van Persie and Tevez . These are all picks that aim to strengthen your squad on a mid to long term basis, rather than one week punts or trying to pick up a cheap or temporary option, with a particular focus on the next 6 game weeks. All should be guaranteed game time, high points potential and value for money.
Up Front
Demba Ba (Newcastle) £7.7m 18% owned FIXTURES: NOR (H) RDG (A) MUN (H) SUN (A) WBA (H) LIV (A)
Already bagged three this season from 5 shots on target and 15 shots in total. This kind of production is perfectly reasonable return from a high quality striker, and his overall record in the Premiership is enviable (26 goals in 50 games with Newcastle and West Ham). Reports that Cisse is suffering from illness eases concerns over his gametime in the near term. Obviously is a slight risk having been named a sub recently but I think he’s too good not to start.
Dimitar Berbatov (Fulham) £7.1m 7.2% owned FIXTURES: WIG (A) MCI (H) SOT (A) AVL (H) RDG (A) EVE (H)
Fulham showed Top 4 attacking form last year at home but struggled away. This year they top the charts for total shots on target with 33, 10 more than next placed Tottenham. But they top the charts for shots on target away from home too, with 14, 3 more than next best Spurs, so they are able to create chances away from home, and with the audacious Berbatov leading line, he, and they, are going to score goals. I would even consider Berbs as a captain option for Fulham’s home fixtures.
Also consider: Luis Suarez (£9.4m)
Middle of the Park
Kevin Nolan (West Ham) £6.1m 8.7% owned FIXTURES: NOR (A) SUN (H) QPR (A) ARS (H) SOT (H) WIG (A)
Featured in my Midprice Midfielders article last week Nolan’s attacking intent, fixtures and goal-scoring record at this level get him into my best picks for the coming 6 weeks regardless of price, which is very, very generous considering West ham’s impressive start.
Also consider: Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.7m), James Morrison (£6.0m)
See also last week’s post on Midfield options here… https://fantasyyirma.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/guest-post-midfield-selection-advice-by-shots_on_target/
At the Back
Leighton Baines (Everton) £7.1m 14.6% FIXTURES: SWA (A) SOT (H) WIG (A) QPR (A) LIV (H) FUL (A)
Not the best immediate run of fixtures but Baines is a season long pick in my opinion with games against Sunderland, Reading and Norwich to come after the next 6. Baines looks to be on track to recapture his FPL form on the 2010/11 season that saw him return a 178 point season. Last year he suffered but with Pienaar back in the team and Fellaini moved up front they are creating plenty of space and opportunity for the England man to join in the attack.
Glen Johnson (Liverpool) £6.4m 2% FIXTURES: MAN (H) NOR (A) STO (H) RDG (H) EVE (A) NEW (H)
Liverpool are well off the fantasy radar right now and Glen Johnson has suffered a price drop since the start of the season. You probably won’t want to pick him up for the forthcoming fixture against United but after that things start to brighten up with plenty of clean sheet potential in games versus Norwich, Stoke and Reading in particular. Johnson has been involved plenty in Liverpool’s attacking play with an impressive 6 key passes and 7 shots. Liverpool were dealt a harsh opening schedule but Johnson has shown promise that the forthcoming fixtures could reward some investment.
Guest Blogger Profile: @shots_on_target
Football and stats fan who finds nirvana within the game of fantasy football!!
Visit his blog for
#FPL key stats, rankings, analysis and point forecasts http://shotsontarget.blogspot.co.uk/
GW5 preview: More than Arfa chance! Featuring MVF’s Adam Richman?? Yes, Really!
Gameweek 5 preview: More than Arfa chance
You’re still here then? You haven’t decided to throw in the towel after the trials and tribulations of last weekend? I salute you.
I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d gone. It was a Gameweek which saw barely any goals for the usual suspects, the early substitutions of others and a late appearance off the bench for everyone’s favourite expensive Dutchman. You might as well have picked your team by tossing 11 coins.
It’ll be different this week though, as the clubs return to action following midweek European appearances no doubt refreshed and ready to earn you some points.
One man who’ll certainly be prepared is the Newcastle midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, who misses his side’s Europa League trip to Portugal due to a European suspension which dates back to his Marseille days.
That means he’ll be fresh for Norwich’s visit to Tyneside on Sunday afternoon, when Alan Pardew’s men will be expecting to earn a victory for only the second time in this Premier League season and the first since the opening day.
The fortuitous draw at Everton did at least highlight that the Magpies are made of resilient stuff this season, and given that Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez and the admittedly under the weather Papiss Cisse were also all left out of the squad to travel to Madeira and face Maritimo, Pardew’s key men will all be fit and raring to go for the visit of the former Newcastle boss Chris Hughton and his side.
Admittedly a player who can struggle when his side are under the cosh as they were at Everton, Ben Arfa picked up 10 points in Newcastle’s opening home game of the season against Tottenham, and then nine in the second against Aston Villa.
The Frenchman loves the Tyneside air, and he could well make Norwich suffer in it come Sunday afternoon.
Elsewhere over this Premier League weekend, eyes are inevitably drawn to the most super of super Sundays as Liverpool take on Manchester United at Anfield before Manchester City host Arsenal.
The focus in the former clash is likely to be just as much on the off-field matters as on-field ones, but Liverpool will be determined to give their old rivals a stern test as they go in search of a first win of the league season. They might not get it here, and the tight nature of the contest makes it difficult to recommend any player from either side. The same can be said of the match at the Etihad Stadium, although City should do enough to win.
For Fantasy football purposes – and that is why we’re here – both matches should be avoided, but the same can’t be said for Chelsea’s clash with Stoke at Stamford Bridge.
The early season pacesetters may have suffered the blow of letting their lead over Juventus slip on Wednesday night, but they’ll be determined to come out fighting after dropping their first Premier League points of the season at QPR last weekend. Petr Cech and his defenders will be confident of a clean sheet, and whilst it has been a whole week since Eden Hazard made an assist, perhaps it’ll be the returning Juan Mata who comes to the fore on Saturday – particularly if Oscar is out injured.
After recommending him last week, Dimitar Berbatov didn’t let us down with two goals against West Brom, and the Bulgarian will fancy hitting the back of the net again when Fulham go to Wigan. If you’ve got slightly more to spend though then perhaps it could be better invested in Jermain Defoe, who overcame the indignity of having to play in that terrible Tottenham away shirt to score twice against Reading last Sunday.
If he can get over that, then QPR at home should be a doddle.
Gameweek 5 Preview – EXTRA TIME
As a special addition to our GW5 preview, Fantasy Yirma had the pleasure of speaking to Man Versus Food legend Adam Richman this week. Now that he has thrown in the fork on eating challenges he has discovered a love for all things Fantasy Football.
Adam plays the Telegraph version of the game here in the UK so first things first – we must get him in the official game also next time!
Speaking about the season so far, Adam has a strong team and you can tell he takes his Fantasy Football seriously when as a Spurs fan he is loaded up with Chelsea players. It’s reassuring to hear that Adam is facing a lot of similar dilemmas as us with his team at the moment with question marks over Swansea and Fulham players giving him food for thought this week.
We asked Adam to select a Captain for GW5, (or predict the GW-MVP-ESPN style, gotta love an acronym or three) and here were his thoughts.
“This week Chelsea will dominate I think” Key Player? “more than likely Hazard”
Thanks to Adam for speaking with @fantasyyirma this week, and good luck this season.
The gauntlet has been thrown down for you to join the Yirma mini- league next season! 🙂
Arsenal: Keep calm and carry on
The final 17 minutes of Arsenal’s outclassing of Southampton on Saturday said an awful lot about both clubs at the beginning of this Premier League season.
For the Saints, a team battered and bruised by the late, almost heroic defeats to both Manchester clubs and given a stark warning of the quality throughout the division when Wigan won convincingly at St Mary’s, it was all about just getting to full-time without experiencing any more damage on what had already been a harrowing afternoon.
In the event, they ended up conceding a sixth goal to their former favourite Theo Walcott two minutes from time, but the lack of celebrations from the winger after biting the hand that used to feed him were repeated all around the Emirates Stadium. The locals were desperate for Olivier Giroud to score.
That desire and anxiousness wasn’t a slight on the abilities of a forward who scored 21 goals in helping Montpellier to win the French title last season, but more a reflection of Gunners fans in recent times.
The £12million Giroud hadn’t scored in his first three appearances for the club, he didn’t find the net in his 17 minutes on the pitch against Southampton and followed that up with a goalless 76 minutes back at his former club in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Cue red and white panic.
If an Arsenal fan hasn’t got something to worry about, then he or she must be doing something wrong.
It isn’t their fault, it has been ingrained in supporters ever since summer-long transfer sagas surrounding the likes of Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and now Robin van Persie, all of which were destined to end with the player escaping the club in the same manner that Usain Bolt accelerates away from his rivals.
After the inevitable parting of the ways became official whoever was left, particularly those who were viewed as replacements, simply had to hit the ground running. Supporters already felt let down by former heroes, and so they didn’t want to see mediocre performers enter in their place.
The longing for Giroud to be a success will go on, but fans should be mindful not to freak out too much as they hope for every touch from the new man to end in the back of the net. They should simply take stock, take a deep breath and take a look at the talents elsewhere.
The other two new additions illustrate this perfectly, and as long as Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla keep on impressing to the levels that they have been so far then maybe even the Arsenal fans who are thinning on top wouldn’t mind losing the hairs they’ll tear out of their head whilst worrying about Giroud. And they will still worry.
Podolski, Cazorla, a seemingly reborn Gervinho, Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby Aaron Ramsey, Walcott for now, and potentially even Jack Wilshere one day, maybe. All of whom add up to a potent attacking force before you even consider a French international forward who could very easily turn out to be a roaring success. Throw them in alongside a now much tighter defence and suddenly Gunners fans have every reason to be rather content with life right now, if they allow themselves to be.
The Giroud side issue will be solved soon enough – the forward is too good a player for it not to be – and when it is then Arsenal fans might be best advised to avoid finding something else to worry about, to just to play it cool, to keep calm and carry on.
They have the good fortune to follow a very good team which will only improve the more that its shiny new components are allowed to click together.
It’s getting there, so just try to sit tight and let it happen.
Guest Post: Midfield Selection Advice (By @shots_on_target)
Many thanks to our guest post from @shots_on_target . If you would like to get involved and write your own guest post for Fantasy Yirma feel free to contact us via email, twitter or directly on the site
A few days ago I took a look at 5 budget midfielders whose performances in the Premier League had caught my eye, based on their FPL points to date plus their underlying stats that led to those points. ( http://shotsontarget.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/5-budget-midfield-options.html )
The midfield options for an FPL side are one of the most important areas of the team. Upfront can tend to pick itself at times and many elect to play a 3 man defence so the midfield is all important and a potential conundrum.
This article looks at some midprice options, ones that offer no surprise to anyone reading this I’m sure, but their attention is warranted, both on FPL points scored and underlying stats. In a future post (soon) I am going to look at the 5 midfielders in this price range that have come in under the radar.
What to expect of a midprice midfielder?
I’m putting midprice at £6.0 – 8.0m. Based on the rationale outlined in the budget midfielder’s post, I’m gonna aim for a target of 150 FPL points, or roughly 4 pts/game. This will require an offensive points tally of about 60 points, which equates to 10+ goals, or 5 goals and 10 assists.
Looking at last season the kind of players who were getting close or exceeding this tally in the midprice bracket were Ben Arfa, James Morrison, Sessengon, Yaya Toure and Walters – so not too many.
Here’s a look at players this year that are showing some early promise. There are no surprises but I’ve taken their current form based on underlying stats only and projected expected points scored in their next 6 fixtures. I’ve also extrapolated this points projection to a price value based on ?1m netting you 20 pts, as explained a little in the budget midfielder’s post.
Any comments, queries or suggestions, do let me know. Thanks 🙂
Hatem Ben Arfa – Newcastle (£7.7m)
The most expensive player in this list and rightly so from his form end of last season. I remember reading a piece in the Observer last year that one day he might be “the best player in the world” (his words). He’s certainly an option in this price range. He’s scored two goals this season from only two shots on target but Newcastle have not had the easiest of fixtures so there’s sure to be more to come. Upcoming fixtures are mixed.
Next 6 fixtures: EVE (A) NOR (H) RDG (A) MUN (H) SUN (A) WBA (H)
Current Form Projected Points =27 pts 4.5pts/game Projected Value= £8.5m
Damien Duff – Fulham (£6.1m)
Good old Damien Duff. I don’t know what to make of him really. Fairly unfashionable fantasy option despite his advanced role in a fairly attacking team. This season he had a good game against Norwich at home on the opening day, as may be expected, with 2 key passes, 2 shots and 1 on target (1 goal) but followed that up in two tricky away games against Utd and West Ham with a further key pass, 3 shots, 2 on target, including a goal at Old Trafford. To be honest I would not own him although Fulham’s upcoming fixtures offer hope. Too unfashionable 😉
.
Next 6 fixtures: WBA (H) WIG (A) MCI (H) STO (A) RDG (A)
Current Form Projected Points = 26pts, 4.3 pt/game. Projected Value = £8m
Marouane Fellaini – Everton (£6.9m)
Asa lifelong Evertonian I love this guy. Who remembers his Zidane like pirouette against City a couple of years ago? Moyes has been playing him up front in support of Jelavic since Tim Cahill’s form declined last year. He’s scored 2 goals so far and been more involved in the attacking play than any other Everton player. He’s shown he can score goals in the past too. Midway through his first season Moye’s shoe-horned him up front due an all too frequent striker crisis… He bagged 8 goals in 20 something games. This is having played as a defensive midfielder his whole life. Quality. No real tricky fixtures in the next 6 either, and that includes Liverpool 🙂
Next 6 fixtures: NEW (H) SWA (A) SOT (H) WIG (A) QPR (A) LIV (H)
Current Form Projected Points = 31pts, 5.2 pt/game. Projected Value = £9.8m
Kevin Nolan – West Ham (£6.1m)
The only really thing you need to say about Kevin Nolan is … the guy scores goals. Senior career stats are bobbing about the 1 goals in 4 games mark and under Allardyce and playing off Carroll he should thrive, as he’s shown already with two goals. He is well priced and still a differential. If he was in my team I would be delighted. Can he get 10 goals this season? I doubt it, maybe 6-8 and a few assists, but with some tasty looking fixtures on the horizon he is my value for money pick in this price range.
Next 6 fixtures: NOR (A) SUN (H) QPR (A) ARS (H) SOT (H) WIG (A)
Current Form Projected Points = 29pts, 4.8 pt/game. Projected Value = £9.1m
Michu – Swansea (£7.3m)
Michu, Michu, Michu. I am pleased to Michu. Michu were here. I Michu already. A fantasy darling in the making, scoring 15 goals in La Liga last year and 4 already in the Prem. this season. He’s scored with every shot he’s had on target and no one expects him to keep up this goal return but he is still at the sharp end in a very good attacking team. Clearly a bargain at ?6.5m he still offers value after a ?0.8m price rise, however, the fixtures are starting to stiffen up. Don’t hold on too long if the Swansea’s bubble starts to burst, he’s not superman,
Next 6 fixtures:AVL (A) EVE (H) STO (A) RDG (H) WIG (H) MCI (A)
Current Form Projected Points = 25pts, 4.2 pt/game. Projected Value = ?7.9m
Conclusion
Of these 5 I own Michu and have owned him since GW1, and am obviously chuffed with his FPL points so far. Delighted! But I am itching to cash in. I don’t think he can keep this form up, although he’ll probably achive the same ballpark points tally as the others on this list. But you have to take a look Fellaini and Nolan as money saving alternatives. Give me a free transfer and I’d swap my Michu for Fellaini.
Guest Blogger Profile: @shots_on_target
Football and stats fan who finds nirvana within the game of fantasy football!!
Visit his blog for
#FPL key stats, rankings, analysis and point forecasts http://shotsontarget.blogspot.co.uk/
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 