Gameweek 38 – the final countdown

Gameweek 38 is here.  The finale.  In most fantasy premier league seasons, gameweek 38 is a tough one to call.  Most teams have nothing to play for and put out a random line up.  This season, however is different – everything is up for grabs; the title, relegation and 3rd / 4th place playoff and there are is embarrassment of riches to choose from.  It is time to call on the big guns;

Sergio Agüero
15 / 22 of the Argentinian striker’s goals this season have come at the Etihad.  With Manchester City needing a win to bring home the title you would have to back Agüero to grab a goal or 2 and some bonus points.

Emmanuel Adebayor
28.  Adebayor  has actually earned more bonus points than Agüero this season.  With 3 goals and 4 bonus points in his past 2 games and Spurs with needing a win against Fulham at home to confirm a champions league place, the Togan is not a bad shout.

Robin Van Persie
30 goals, 12 assists, 45 bonus points.  This has to be a record for a fantasy premier league striker.  What a season Van Persie has had.  With the dutchman needing a few more goals against West Brom to guarantee 3rd place who would bet against him getting the bonus points.

So that is it.  The gameweek 38, fantasy premier league watch list.  Whoever you have picked good luck and may bonus points rain down on you.

Gameweek 37 – bonus point round up

With bonus points dished out for the majority of this weeks fantasy premier league games, I took a look at the key incidents in gameweek 37.

Where are Adel’s bonus points? WHERE ARE THEY!

That is all.

Gameweek 37 – the finishing line

Gameweek 37.  The gameweek after the gameweek before and I’ve got a double gameweek hangover.  This week I take a look at the sub £6million differentials.

Adel Taarabt
He loves a sheesha pipe does Adel.  Despite a largely disappointing fantasy premier league season, Mark Hughes has got the young Moroccan magician playing some good stuff.  With everything to play for he is QPR’s go to man for the next 2 games.  He has scored 2 and got 2 assists in his past 3 games home games and at home to Stoke I predict at least an assist for Adel.

Victor Moses
I love Victor Moses.  What a name and what a player.  He is Wigan’s top performing outfield player this season, scoring more than  41 points than the next best,  Stephen Caldwell.  Moses is bang on form.  With Wigan playing some lovely stuff and games against Blackburn and then Wolves I predict Big Vic to boost his tally.

Tomas Rosicky
Super Tom Rosicky has been in great form for Arsenal and is 1 of the key reasons Arsenal are in 3rd place.  From a fantasy premier league perspective he is a bit annoying as he generally sets up the assist for the assist but at home to Norwich and Arsenal needing a win I can see Tom being in the action.  A bargain at £5.7 million.

Who ever you pick, good luck and may you be blessed with bonus points.

Gameweek 36 – double trouble

It has been a while but gameweek 36 is finally here.  The gameweek that everyone fantasy premier league manager has been waiting for.    8 teams have double gameweeks.  Including some marquee players.  Gameweek 36 is a huge and maybe the last opportunity to make ground on your league leader. But who makes the gameweek 36 watch-list?

Van der Vaart

It has not been going well for Spurs recently but with a home game against; Blackburn and then away Bolton you have got to fancy some goals.  Van der Vaart has not hit the highs of last season but still has 9 league goals.  He has 2 league goals in his past 2 home starts and a good goal scoring record against Blackburn.

Boswinga

After Chelsea’s heroics in Barcelona mid week there are very few defenders left standing.  Cahill is out for the season, Ivanovic  has a 1 game ban and Luiz is still injured.  Somehow Terry is still playing but surely he won’t play every game.  That leaves one man – Jose Boswinga.  The  Portuguese full back was on the watch list of every fantasy premier league manager at the start of the season but things got messy with AvB.  With 2 home games you would back Chelsea to come out with at least 1 clean sheet.  Jose also has a goal, 3 assists and 10 bonus points to his name.

Hatem Ben Arfa

I love Ben Arfa.  He has everything you want in a winger.  Skills, set pieces and most of all he is greedy.  Ben Arfa has 5 goals, 7 assists and 8 bonus points to his name.  Not bad considering he has only played for half the season.  However in gameweek 25 the Newcastle winger developed a very annoying fantasy premier league trait.  The assist for the assist.  This happened twice vs. Stoke.  With 4.2 points / game I predict HBA to have a big double game-week.

Whoever you pick for the gameweek 36, good luck and may you have many bonus points.

Gameweek 32 – Oh Gylfi Gylfi (home and away)

Oh Gylfi, Gylfi, Gylfi, Gylfi, Gylfi Sigurdsson.  The icelandic midfielder is fast becoming the fantasy premier league’s must have midfielder.  As predicted in gameweek 25, he is making waves and with; 6 goals, 3 assists and 8 bonus points in all but 10 starts.

However a strange phenomenon has occurred.  All of his 6 goals have come away from home (6 goals in 6 games).  So what is causing this discrepancy?  We compared his attempts at goal in his last 2 games; away to Spurs and at home to Everton.

A look at Gylfi Sigurdsson's attempts at goal; home and away for Swansea

Number of shots – funnily enough Gylfi is getting a consistent number of shots in both at home and away (averaging roughly 4 / game) – except for against Man City where he was marked out of the game.  This is pretty impressive for a midfielder and up there with the highest number of shots / game in the Premiership.

Blocked shots – despite getting in the same number of shots at home as away, Gylfi is finding more space away from home.  Against Everton he had 3 of his 5 shots blocked compared to just the 1 at Spurs.  Swansea are quickly building respect in the Premiership and teams are not giving them the space at the Liberty Stadium that they had in the early part of the season.

So will Gylfi’s home and away scoring phenomenon continue in gameweek 32?  Yes.  With Cheick Tiote and Cabaye in centre midfield for Newcastle it will be tough for Swansea’s Icelandic attacking midfielder.

Gameweek 25 – The cold

I went to York for the day this week. It was cold (-15 at night). The big freeze is rubbish and it adds a new level of complexity to fantasy premier league – called off games.

Gameweek 25 picks out some big fixtures for the big boys; Man Utd at home to Liverpool, Chelsea away to Everton, Arsenal away at Sunderland (still riding high on the Martin O’Neill effect) and Spurs at home to Newcastle. It looks like one of those weeks where you need to look outside the big boys. But. Who. Is. On. The. Shortlist:

The Yak
Feed the Yak and he will score. The Yak is back in attack for Black-burn. The ex-Maccabi Haifa man, at £5.8million he’s good value for a goal or 2 at home to QPR.

Zamora
When the ball hits the goal its not Shearer or goal its Zamora. The big man is back in the goals at QPR and has a nice run of fixtures coming up; away at Blackburn, at home to Fulham and Everton. Surely worth a punt.

Gylfi Sigurdsson
#FM2012 legend Sigurdsson has been a great signing for Swansea. So far in 3 1/2 games the Icelander has; 1 goal, 3 assists and 3 bonus points. He’s a nice player and even better he’s on set pieces. Get. Him. In.

That’s all from me. Wrap up warm and good luck in the quest for bonus points.

Gameweek 22 – Super Sunday

Arsenal vs. Manchester United.  Manchester City vs. Spurs.  Super Sunday.  Ouch.  In Gameweek 22;  7 of the 11 players in the team season so far will be on show against each other.  A tough call for fantasy premier league managers.  Do you go with the big boys or call in the differentiators?

Fantasy Premier League - Team of the Season

Gameweek 22 Shortlist

James McLean
Who?   The Sunderland winger has risen to fame since Martin O’Neill took over at the Wearside club.  His bonus points / starts ratio is immense with 6 bonus points in only 3 starts, plus 1 goal.  He is direct, confident and most importantly for fantasy premier league he is cheap at £4.5 million.  Get him in now there is only one way his price is going.

Joey Barton
The QPR midfielder does wind me up but I must say I agree with Joey Barton’s comments about Neil Warnock.  In his last days the  QPR boss (with no eyebrows) seemed to blame anyone but himself for his demise.  Barton has just served a 3 game ban and at home to Wigan I can see him coming in and getting some points.  This season his stats have been solid if not spectacular with; 2 goals, 4 assists and 6 bonus points and I expect them to improve in Gameweek 22.

Ryan Shotton
He’s a gamble.  Ryan Shotton; a) doesn’t start every week and b) is having a fitness test ahead of Stoke’s match vs. West Brom.  If fit I think he’ll play and at £4.1 million he is an absolute steal.  Not only is he down as a defender (despite playing in midfield) he is also Stoke’s reserve long thrower (when Delap is injured).  Shotton has 1 goal and 4 bonus points to date and at home to West Brom if he passes his fitness test I expect more points.

Whoever you pick good luck and enjoy Super Sunday.

Gameweek 21 – The January Wildcard

This is a big week in Fantasy Premier League.  Not only is it the first point this season that you can play your free January wildcard but it also sees a few of the Premier Leagues big boys off to the African Cup of Nations; Bye Bye Demba.  Bye Bye Gervinho.  Bye Bye Cheicks.  Add to that a a red card for Vincent Kompany and injuries galore – who is left to pick?

John Ruddy

Did you know Norwich are still yet to keep a clean sheet this season?  Pretty amazing for a team sitting 9th in the table.  Never the less Big John Ruddy’s value has gone up to £4.2 million.  Gameweek 21 could be a good opportunity for Ruddy and Norwich to get their first clean sheet away at West Brom.  The Baggies have not scored a goal in their last 3 games, including 2 at home and with Shane Long potentially missing and Chris Brunt injured it is hard to see where the goals will come from.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto

TFL’s biggest fan had a dream double gameweek; 2 clean sheets, 1 assist, 1 goal and 3 bonus points.  Woof.  It has propelled Benoit to 2nd highest scoring defender in the league and in Gameweek 21 another clean sheet is surely on the cards at home to Wolves.

Steven Gerrard
The Liverpool captain and England international is back and could be a good shout if you are looking for a galactico differentiator.  At £10.5million he is a decent price and is a bonus point magnet if he can keep himself fit.  With Stoke at home (gameweek 21), then Bolton and Wolves I can see Stevie G getting a decent score plus plenty of bonus points.  Saying that Gerrard is one of those Fantasy Premier League players that have never done the business when given the chance in my team.  Obviously couldn’t handle the pressure.

You can subscribe to “about the bonus points” at the bottom of the home page to get a weekly email to your inbox and follow me on twitter @mjmaxwell.

Gameweek 20 – What has happened to Wayne?

Fantasy premier league gameweek 20 had it all;  Double gameweeks, shock defeats and ridiculous goals.   Spurs and Everton are playing twice, Manchester United got hammered and Tim Howard scored from a goal kick.  This week also pitted 2 of fantasy premier league top scoring strikers against each other, in Wayne Rooney and Demba Ba.

Demba Ba has been on fire this season and has a monumental; 15 goals, 4 assists and 21 points.  21 BONUS POINTS.  A record only beaten by Robin Van Persie.   He has been remarkably clinical and has an amazing trait for a fantasy premier league striker.  He is greedy.

Rooney on the other hand is having a rough time of it.  With 4 goals in 3 games in early December home games against Wigan, Blackburn and then away to Newcastle surely meant one thing for Wayne.  Goals.   But it didn’t happen.  He was rested against Wigan (playing only 27 minutes), dropped against Blackburn and it didn’t really happen for him against Newcastle.

Wayne Rooney vs Demba Ba Gameweek 20 Fantasy Premier League performance

Both strikers were relatively well shackled and limited to only 5 shots between them (Rooney with 2 and Ba with 3).  The big Senegalese striker was remarkably clinical; scoring 1 with a great finish, narrowly missing another and having another saved.

For Rooney however it just wasn’t happening.  He was given little room all night and despite seeing quite a bit of the ball, only made 32/40 passes.  The Manchester United managed 2 shots; one blocked on the line and the other blocked from outside the area.

So where does this leave Wayne and Demba?  Sadly for 25% of fantasy premier league managers who have Ba in their fantasy premier league team, he is off to the African nations and this is his last game for Newcastle United for a while so he needs replacing.

As for Rooney; at £12million he is expensive but is one of the only fantasy premier league players who can score at will.  At home to Bolton for gameweek 21, if you have Rooney in your fantasy premier league team – give him 1 more week.

You can subscribe to “about the bonus points” at the bottom of the home page to get a weekly email to your inbox and follow me on twitter @mjmaxwell.