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Guest Post: #FPL Reflection by @RotoZdroik from RotoExperts
This guest post was submitted by Adam @RotoZdroik from US Fantasy Sports site www.RotoExperts.com. RotoExperts feature award-winning experts and analysis across various major sports platforms.
Many thanks to Adam for his contribution and if you would like to guest post for Fantasy Yirma – Contact us at fantasyyirma@hotmail.com
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Wait, Manchester United lost to who? One of the richest and most popular clubs in the World fell to the hands (or feet) of Norwich on Saturday.
That’s right, a team scoring almost three goals per game lost to a team that was scoring less than one goal per game with a goal differential of negative 10. About zero people predicted the Canaries to come away with a win. Don’t forget, they also beat Arsenal and Tottenham (Capital One cup) in the past month, as well.
What does this mean for your Fantasy squad? Norwich is by far the best-valued squad when looking at defenses. John Ruddy only costs 4.6m (at the official game at premierleague.com) and has four clean sheets in his last five matches. He has more points than any other keeper does in the Premier League. Joe Hart has 14 less points yet currently costs 2.3m more. That’s the difference between having Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney on your team.
As for the Canary defenders, none of them cost more than 4.5m. Javier Garrido had the assist against Man United and now has bonus points in two straight games. He has five more Fantasy points than Patrice Evra, costs a lot less and is owned by about five percent less of contestants. Sebastien Bassong and Michael Turner also deserve a mention on the back line, as they have been key in Norwich’s current run.
In the other matches, red cards took the headline. Emmanuel Adebayor scored and then was sent off shortly after against his former club. Arsenal went on to score five goals after Adebayor was given the boot. The same story can be said about Brede Hangeland for Fulham. He got a red and offensively challenged Sunderland proceeded to put three in the back of the net. Marouane Fellaini picked up only a yellow card in their road loss at Reading, but that still lead to a two-game suspension for him since it was his fifth of the campaign.
Liverpool and Manchester City were favorites of most Fantasy owners as they combined for an 8-0 score line. In form striker, Luis Suarez, scored twice while defender Jose Enrique scored, assisted and got full bonus points. He was my No. 1 defender in last week’s rankings.
As for City, it took some time but they got back to scoring big against Aston Villa. Carlos Tevez had two goals and two assists while David Silva once again showed life with a goal and two assists. Sergio Aguero made an appearance as well, scoring twice.
Swansea continues to defy odds with their always-productive midfield. Pablo Hernandez, Johnathan de Guzman and Michu all found the score sheet in a road win. QPR lost yet another disappointing game, but this one came at home against the club that is directly above them in the table. Never a good thing.
In somewhat of an upset, West Brom took out Chelsea on the legs of their usually consistent forwards. Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long both grabbed goals while Chelsea looked largely unimpressive for most of the game. West Brom continues to impress every week.
WEEKLY TIP
Instead of going defensive, it’s time to focus on some attacking options.
Man United vs. QPR
United is not happy coming off a loss and QPR gets them at the most unfortunate time.
Everyone knows about Robin van Persie so he shouldn’t come as a surprise. Rooney will be back from illness and couldn’t pick a better time to break his scoring streak. Each of them was rested for their midweek Champions League match. My top defender choice, Patrice Evra, will also have full strength for this one.
The hardest part to decide on United is their midfield. Shinji Kagawa is out for another month which means both Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia will continue to get starts. Each of them presents a risk, especially for their price, but each has plenty of upside in this match.
Stoke City vs. Fulham
This may be a surprise choice, but hear me out. No one else will be looking at Stoke City players for good reason; they only have 10 goals through 12 matches. However, on the other end of this, Hangeland will not start for the first time all campaign for Fulham. Not to mention, Fulham has allowed eight goals in their last three road matches and 11 goals in their last four matches overall.
Peter Crouch is basically their only true forward that needs to be looked at. He hasn’t scored in six straight gameweeks, but that is about to change. Charlie Adam is easily their most popular midfielder and he should grab at least an assist in this one. Jonathan Walters is another option to check out, but make sure he’s playing first as he’s dealing with a knee injury. Defensively, Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth are always good options. Geoff Cameron deserves a look as well since he’s the cheapest of the bunch.
WEEKLY RANKINGS
Goalkeepers
- Anders Lindegaard, Manchester United, 5.4m, vs. QPR
- Tim Howard, Everton, 5.6m, vs. Norwich
- Ali Al-Habsi, Wigan, 5.0m, vs. Reading
- Asmir Begovic, Stoke City, 5.1m, vs. Fulham
- Boaz Myhill, West Brom, 4.4m, at Sunderland
Defenders
- Patrice Evra, Man United, 6.8m, vs. QPR
- Rafael, Man United, 6.4m, vs. QPR
- Leighton Baines, Everton, 7.6m, vs. Norwich
- Jose Enrique, Liverpool, 5.7m, at Swansea
- Ryan Shawcross, Stoke City, 5.2m, vs. Fulham
- John Arne Riise, Fulham, 5.7m, at Stoke City
- Liam Ridgewell, West Brom, 5.0m, at Sunderland
- Ivan Ramis, Wigan, 4.5m, vs. Reading
- William Gallas, Tottenham, 5.0m, vs. West Ham
- Kaspars Gorkss, Reading, 4.0m, at Wigan
Midfielders
- Santi Cazorla, Arsenal, 9.4m, at Aston Villa
- Gareth Bale, Tottenham, 9.7m, vs. West Ham
- Juan Mata, Chelsea, 9.6m, vs. Man City
- David Silva, Man City, 9.3m, at Chelsea
- Eden Hazard, Chelsea, 10.1m, vs. Man City
- Hatem Ben Arfa, Newcastle, 7.8m, at Southampton
- Antonio Valencia, Man United, 8.6m, vs. QPR
- Pablo Hernandez, Swansea, 6.1m, vs. Liverpool
- Kevin Nolan, West Ham, 6.9m, at Tottenham
- Charlie Adam, Stoke City, 6.6m, vs. Fulham
Forwards
- Robin van Persie, Man United, 13.7m, vs. QPR
- Luis Suarez, Liverpool, 10.2m, at Swansea
- Demba Ba, Newcastle, 8.3m, at Southampton
- Olivier Giroud, Arsenal, 8.4m, at Aston Villa
- Carlos Tevez, Man City, 9.4m, at Chelsea
- Sergio Aguero, Man City, 11.0m, at Chelsea
- Lukas Podolski, Arsenal, 8.2m, at Aston Villa
- Wayne Rooney, Manchester United, 11.8m, vs. QPR
- Rickie Lambert, Southampton, 6.0m, vs. Newcastle
- Peter Crouch, Stoke City, 6.8m, vs. Fulham
YOU’RE THE CAPTAIN
- Robin van Persie, Man United
- Luis Suarez, Liverpool
- Olivier Giroud, Fulham
- Carlos Tevez, Man City
- Demba Ba, Newcastle
The Red Devils were just shutout on the road. They aren’t very happy and go against the last-place club in the league. United averages three goals per game at Old Trafford and RVP will be around all of them.
There may not be anyone else more in form at the moment than Suarez. He has scored in four straight matches. While he’s on the road, Swansea’s defense isn’t impossible to get by.
All of a sudden, Arsenal’s attacking prowess was back against Tottenham. Ten guys or not, they still scored five goals. Giroud is the man of the moment with three goals in his last two matches.
While he probably won’t have another two-goal, two-assist performance at Chelsea, Tevez is still the likeliest of candidates to score in this match. Chelsea hasn’t had a clean sheet in seven straight games.
Newcastle isn’t playing great, but that doesn’t matter to Ba. He will find the back of the net no matter the situation and this situation is friendly for him even on the road.
*Stats up-to-date as of Nov. 19
About the author: Adam Zdroik, Staff Writer View all posts by Adam Zdroik, Staff Writer
GW12 – NOTHING BUT THE BONUS POINTS #FPL
Nothing but the bonus points from the #FPL game from http://www.premierleague.com
| 17 Nov 12:45 | Arsenal |  |
5 – 2 |  |
Tottenham |
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| 17 Nov 15:00 | Liverpool |  |
3 – 0 |  |
Wigan |
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| 17 Nov 15:00 | Man City |  |
5 – 0 |  |
Aston Villa |
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| 17 Nov 15:00 | Newcastle |  |
1 – 2 |  |
Swansea |
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| 17 Nov 15:00 | QPR |  |
1 – 3 |  |
Southampton |
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| 17 Nov 15:00 | Reading |  |
2 – 1 |  |
Everton |
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| 17 Nov 15:00 | West Brom |  |
2 – 1 |  |
Chelsea |
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| 17 Nov 17:30 | Norwich |  |
1 – 0 |  |
Man Utd |
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| 18 Nov 16:00 | Fulham |  |
1 – 3 |  |
Sunderland |
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| 19 Nov 20:00 | West Ham |  |
1 – 1 |  |
Stoke City |
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GW11 NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!! #FPL
| 10 Nov 15:00 | Arsenal | |
3 – 3 | |
Fulham |
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| 10 Nov 15:00 | Everton | |
2 – 1 | |
Sunderland |
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| 10 Nov 15:00 | Reading | |
0 – 0 | |
Norwich |
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| 10 Nov 15:00 | Southampton | |
1 – 1 | |
Swansea |
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| 10 Nov 15:00 | Stoke City | |
1 – 0 | |
QPR |
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| 10 Nov 15:00 | Wigan | |
1 – 2 | |
West Brom |
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| 10 Nov 17:30 | Aston Villa | |
2 – 3 | |
Man Utd |
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| 11 Nov 13:30 | Man City | |
2 – 1 | |
Tottenham |
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| 11 Nov 15:00 | Newcastle | |
0 – 1 | |
West Ham |
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| 11 Nov 16:00 | Chelsea | |
1 – 1 | |
Liverpool |
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GW9: THE REVIEW…by @shots_on_target
GW9 Match Centre
One of the least anticipated matches of the weekend probably,w with both teams expected to be struggling in a relegation battle come season end. I had tipped Villa to win this 1 or 2-0 with both Lowton and Holman featuring in my GW9 Select XI. Bennett’s red card on 52 minutes change the game for both teams with Lambert deciding to sit back and protect a 1-0 lead. Following the sending off Norwich had 11 attempts on goal and Villa had 0. Neither team really offer anything from a fantasy perspective. I’d like to get excited about Benteke, but can’t.
Another frustrating day for Arsenal fans and owners of their fantasy assets (including yours truly). With Gibbs still injured and Jenkinson immediately ousted from the team by Sagna the combined 31% ownership pair miss out on a clean sheet. Chief threat for the Gunner’s still resides with Giroud and Cazorla and Mark Hughes’ teams do have had a habit of frustrating superior opposition. Arsenal’s 8 SoT is usually enough for 2 or 3 goals and it’s time for a deeper look at Arsenal and their ability to actually score goals which I will be doing later this week.
I know I bang on about shots on target but Sunderland had none in this match, zero, nada, zilch. So far this season they have had 12 in total. Even if Steven Fletcher was capable of scoring with every chance he got they still would be in the lower half of the league for goals scored. As it is, they are bottom of that particular list with 6. Stoke I feel should’ve gotten something out of this game, with my budget pick Kightly continuing to get shooting chances in the box. Big shame for Wilson owners who will be out for a good while now with a broken leg.
An interesting game this, at least from my seat, as a gauge for where both these teams are this season and the stats tell the story really. I would judge this team’s even with Wigan prospering here from home advantage. Tomkins for West Ham had a hell of a game and was the Hammer’s chief threat with Wigan keeping the partnership of Carroll and Nolan very quiet here. For the Lactics there was plenty of involvement from all positions, with Di Santo and Kone equally involved up-front and Maloney and McArthur key players from midfield.
The weekend’s highest scoring match in which Reading showed that they can score goals but reminding us that they can’t defend them. To be fair, Fulham are a good attacking side and have improved on the road from last season with Berbatov’s class up front clearly showing, as well as Ruiz’s settling in this division after his move from last year. I do like the front three of Berbs, Ruiz and Rodalleg. Chris Baird is also starting to make a bit of a name for himself as an out of position defender who can pop up with a few goals. Reading’s goals came from a mix of players who scored with their real only chance of the game so I would not get too excited about anyone of these.
This was the weekend’s biggest surprise surely, that City did not put 3 or 4 past Swansea. City are really missing the quality of Silva in games where they need to unpick a well-organised defence, although that’s not really something we could have said so far about the Swans this year. Mancini claimed his team were “so tired”, all expect for Tevez it seems (rested midweek) who had the busiest game for City. Swansea didn’t have a lot of great chances but Michu continues to be involved in their best, with Laudrup’s decision to continue deploying the Spaniard up-front maintaining his considerable fantasy potential despite a turn in the fixture list.
The first Merseyside derby of the season kicked off another thrilling day of Premiership and Fantasy Football. Fellaini’s return to the team was reward with an assist for those FPL managers who stuck with him through injury but ut was the performances up front of Mirallas and Jelavic in this game that stand out to me. For Liverpool it is all Suarez. Whilst many cite his wasteful shooting as a downside, which is true, he has so many shots that I believe he makes up for them.
A fairly equal tie this, and credit should be given to the Baggies for a good show up at Newcastle. I love Lukaku, if he gets in the starting XI that is, but I can’t understand Clarke’s rotation policy with this front players yet. Demba Ba for the Magpies is just a force of nature really and if his early withdrawal with a “nerve” injury does not prove too bad expect more goals soon.
A fair few goals were expected from this game, but as the stats show, there weren’t a great deal of chances compared to an average Premier League game. Rodriguez is slowly stepping up his game and out did Lambert here in the shooting stakes, and indeed was rewarded with a goal. Fonte continues to pose a threat from the back too. For Spurs, it’s Bale and Defoe again picking up FPLpoints and hogging the shooting chances. Dempsey’s 2nd goal in 4 games is interesting too.
As mentioned above for Arsenal, after 9 games played now the performance of the league’s elite teams needs a deeper analysis. Obviously 2 red cards would change any match and makes a proper analysis very difficult, but Chelsea failed to be quite as clinical in an attacking sense as they have been so far this season. Once again Mata was central to everything they did. Hazard was more involved than he has been in some of Chelsea’s games and picked up another assist in this game for getting fouled. United’s Van Persie and Valancia are the only attacking players to really stand out for the visitors today from a FPL perspective and I am going to have a look at the Dutchman’s value versus point potential in particular. Wayne Rooney’s limited attempts highlight his role as a midfielder.
GW9 – NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!
| 27 Oct 12:45 | Aston Villa | |
1 – 1 | |
Norwich |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Arsenal | |
1 – 0 | |
QPR |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Reading | |
3 – 3 | |
Fulham |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Stoke City | |
0 – 0 | |
Sunderland |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Wigan | |
2 – 1 | |
West Ham |
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| 27 Oct 17:30 | Man City | |
1 – 0 | |
Swansea |
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| 28 Oct 13:30 | Everton | |
2 – 2 | |
Liverpool |
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| 28 Oct 15:00 | Newcastle | |
2 – 1 | |
West Brom |
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| 28 Oct 15:00 | Southampton | |
1 – 2 | |
Tottenham |
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| 28 Oct 16:00 | Chelsea | |
2 – 3 | |
Man Utd |
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FPL: Statistical round up – by @shots_on_target
If you haven’t already check out @shots_on_target on twitter and visit his site www.shotsontarget.co.uk/
He is spoiling you with individual team statistics for all Premier League clubs.
You can click the team names below for an in-depth statistical round up by
- Visual representation of each player’s appearances in the last 6 weeks and their fantasy form (F.SCORE).
- Key Player Stats: shots, shots in box, shots on target, key passes, assists, minutes and goals
- Key Player Info: FPL price, points scored and % ownership
- Projected Points for the next 6 fixtures(note: Pts x 10)
- Star Player indicators – to 15 F.SCORE and top 15 Value players indicated
- Latest injury news from Physioroom.com
Team Pages:
GW7: NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS
| 06 Oct 12:45 | Man City | |
3 – 0 | |
Sunderland |
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| 06 Oct 15:00 | Chelsea | |
4 – 1 | |
Norwich |
| 06 Oct 15:00 | Swansea | |
2 – 2 | |
Reading |
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| 06 Oct 15:00 | West Brom | |
3 – 2 | |
QPR |
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| 06 Oct 15:00 | Wigan | |
2 – 2 | |
Everton |
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| 06 Oct 17:30 | West Ham | |
1 – 3 | |
Arsenal |
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| 07 Oct 13:30 | Southampton | |
2 – 2 | |
Fulham |
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| 07 Oct 15:00 | Liverpool | |
0 – 0 | |
Stoke City |
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| 07 Oct 15:00 | Tottenham | |
2 – 0 | |
Aston Villa |
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| 07 Oct 16:00 | Newcastle | |
0 – 3 | |
Man Utd |
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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! 🙂
Guest Post: Current Yirma Champion reflects on season so far.
Thanks to current Yirma champion Tom for providing his insight into the season so far. Tom finished in the top 250 last season (Out of over 2.7m players) We are already contemplating copying his team 😉
First of all, an apology for my reply to a question raised in my previous post. I believe I advised the unfortunate user to watch out for Cazorla and Giroud of Arsenal, only for me to go and start with Podolski on opening day.
It’s an interesting time as after only 3 weeks we’ll see a massive differentiation of wildcard use. Some will have played it, some will be playing it right now in this two week window, whilst others attempt to hold their nerve and save it for a rainy (or, as the case may be, snowed off) day. There is no correct strategy here but whichever direction you go in, ensure you have a mixture of the players in form mixed with those who may be creeping under the radar with excellent fixtures coming up.
I’d imagine the likes of Michu, Hazard and Tevez will have found their way into just about every team by now so I won’t mention them. Any player who has scored a goal thus far will have been brought into the limelight so the likes of Nolan, Fellaini, Piennar, Fletcher, etc) will also be making their way into squads, but what about those who haven’t fired yet?
An obvious example of an underperforming team is Tottenham. I haven’t given up on them yet and with Adebayor surely pushing for a start this weekend, things will improve. Dempsey may or may not prove to be a hindrance but I believe there are goals here if you are brave enough to pick a Spurs attacking player.
As a Villa fan I tend to stay away from what inevitably turns to disappointment, but signs of life have surfaced and the team outclassed Newcastle last time out and were held to a draw only by a rocket from Ben Arfa. I’m not sure I’d advocate shelling out on Bent or Bentake up top just yet, but there are certainly goals to be had with a fantastic upcoming schedule.
On similar lines, Dimitar Berbatov poses some interesting questions. It’s another wait and see but if he can get regular games and dictate play surely he’s in line for a great season. Cisse and Ba didn’t become terrible players overnight and should pick up last season’s goalscoring exploits very soon, whilst Danny Graham must be given a little faith despite being completely overshadowed by his midfield so far.
And what about Robin Van Persie? A player plucked from obscurity and thrust into the Premier League spotlight. Well, not quite. I don’t believe in ‘must have’ players in this game, especially at his extreme price when we don’t know how he fits into plans when Rooney comes back and Champions League rotation kicks in. Saying all that, I have him slotted neatly in my team and it would be hard to recommend against him for anyone with a wildcard this week. For those without, I wouldn’t break the rest of my team just to have him no matter what he does against Wigan this weekend. After that fixtures stiffen up and rotation is right around the corner.
I’ve avoided the wildcard this week despite some obvious flaws in my squad. The first bullet point in my last post argued that you should pick players who will play. So naturally I stuck De Gea in goal. Ryan Bennett was an unfortunate pick as he was replaced by newly signed Bassong at Norwich after the GW1 window shut, whilst my GW3 signing Ashley Williams has now been left at the heart of a completely shattered defensive unit. Apart from that I was extremely fortunate to start with Tevez, Hazard and Michu which meant that I wasn’t chasing bandwagons and had the pleasure of seeing other teams panicking to transfer them in. For those yet to wildcard, I salute you, and I hope we will be able to keep up and make our move later in the season? This is where the men are sorted from the boys.
Gameweek 3 preview: The value of Sterling
Gameweek 3 preview: The value of Sterling
What were you doing when you were 17? Actually, on second thoughts I don’t want to know.
Whatever it was, unless you’re Michael Owen or Steven Gerrard it’s unlikely that you were running about the Anfield turf with a brilliantly youthful innocence and what looks to be a genuine love of seeing the ball at your feet.
Raheem Sterling has got that, and he showed it during his 90 minute display in the red of Liverpool against Manchester City last Sunday afternoon.
Now this is a Fantasy football blog. We are here to try and give you advice about what to do with your team. So of course I’m not going to say that Sterling should immediately be transferred in and made captain ahead of Liverpool’s match with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, but the teenager’s £4.5m price tag should raise interest from Fantasy bosses who like to get a squad player who will provide real value.
Thinking long term, Sterling’s value will only go up, and so if you can afford the luxury of bringing in a player who will supplement your squad rather than star in it, then there aren’t many better choices than Liverpool’s new young talent.
The team he plays in looked good last weekend, and there will be many who fancy them to beat a so far scoreless Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, when Nuri Sahin (WHY IS THERE STILL NO PRICE??) is likely to make his English and Fantasy football debut against the team he looked set to join all summer, especially with Lucas Leiva now injured again. Martin Skrtel (£6.0m) remains a popular choice despite last weekend’s error.
His backpass allowed Carlos Tevez (£9.5m) to score at Anfield, and with the Argentinean’s value already up by £0.5m since the start of the season, Fantasy bosses would be wise to add him to their squad before it’s too late. Tevez is a good bet to impress when City host QPR at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening.
Just what their neighbours Manchester United will do following the injury to Wayne Rooney remains to be seen, although the blow creates a perfect opportunity for the Fantasy game’s most expensive player Robin van Persie (£13.1m) to settle into his stride at his new club, whilst Shinji Kagawa (£8.6m) is another who could thrive in Rooney’s absence. United should beat Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday.
Gameweek 3’s key problem is the absence of a Chelsea fixture of course – although Eden Hazard could still find a way to make an assist – and so if Fantasy bosses have a free transfer available and the funds to bring in a big name for one week only, they could well settle on Tottenham’s fixture against Norwich at White Hart Lane.
Spurs have misfired under Andre Villas-Boas so far, but with Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.6m) and Rafael van der Vaart (£8.9m) looking to fire against the Canaries that could all change here. Gareth Bale (£9.5m) might be the man to turn to if you can afford to replace Hazard and then buy him back at an inflated price though.
Elsewhere, many Fantasy bosses will be looking a Newcastle’s home match against struggling Aston Villa as a chance for Papiss Cissé (£9.5m) to rediscover last season’s prolific goalscoring form, but it is Hatem Ben Arfa (£7.6m) who has picked up the most points in the Magpies team and could be set to impress again.
It has been Swansea and Everton who have impressed everyone this season, and although both have winnable games again this weekend, it is the Blues players who travel to West Brom who might offer the prospect of more points in the long-term.
Marouane Fellaini (£6.8m) and Nikica Jelavić (£8.5m) have started as they mean to go on.
@Mark_Jones86
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 