Fantasy Football: IEFSA Fantasy League Week 7 Preview

One step forward, two steps back last weekend. Chelsea finally kept a clean sheet and Memphis Depay ups his game and completes 90 minutes for Manchester United. But Villa can’t stop West Brom from scoring and Scott Sinclair only managed 45 minutes at Villa Park. Couple this with Mangala’s 45 minutes at the Etihad which saw West Ham score twice and earn my team a whopping 0.1 points, and my team limped to 35.6 points, a total that would have beaten only two sides that weekend. Unfortunately one of them was not @wrigavin, who thanks to his new signing Son Heung-Min sent me packing, and I currently sit 12^th with two wins and four losses. But things are going to turn around this weekend against @nealjthurman right? Right?

@nealjthurman’s Team

Clean Sheets! Neal’s Boaz Myhill has four clean sheets, a feat only bettered by Joe Hart over the first six weeks of the season. He also has been riding Tony Pulis’ good run with Morrison and Brunt in his side. Russell Martin at the back for his side has been a stand out performer with three goals, this despite Norwich not being able to keep a clean sheet as of yet. His other points in defence have come from Bellerin at Arsenal, his main big signing at the back. Further up the field Neal looks to Fabregas, Ritchie and Giroud to pull in the points, they have three goals and an assist between them. @nealjthurman sits on three wins and three losses. If I lose this week my team will be four games behind Neal, a huge gap this early in the season. So this is a big, big game!

Probably the most important matchup of my Fantasy career this weekend

What I Need To Happen

Obviously I’m hoping Myhill will finally let in a goal or two this weekend at home to Everton. Norwich and Martin head to West Ham which might prove difficult for the Canaries to get that first clean sheet, but Martin can’t score again can he? Up front, Neal will have to play Giroud, as Wickam is out injured for Palace, but perhaps Wenger will continue to play Walcott as the lone striker and leave the Frenchman on the bench. But he could also fall back on Glenn Murray if he gets the start for Bournemouth at three o’clock on Saturday. Matt Ritchie is nailed on for a start for Bournemouth though, so if Stoke were to finally win a game and shut out the Cherries, that would improve my chances of picking up the win.

For my team, Memphis Depay will surely not get a better chance to find the back of the net than against Sunderland at home.  Schweinsteiger might even get the start for United! At the back I’ve thrown Mangala back to the wolves of the waiver wire and picked up Alberto Moreno of Liverpool. He was a bright spot last weekend against Norwich and Aston Villas visit to Anfield this week looks like a good chance to pick up a clean sheet. All three of my defenders are playing at home and I would be hoping to see at least two clean sheets from them. In saying Villa look like a soft touch for Liverpool, I do have three Villians in my squad, so will perhaps be looking for other players to drag me over the line this week.  Ayew, Wijnaldum and Arnautovic will be relied upon to be the creative sparks for their respective sides on Saturday.

Predictions

5 from 7 in Week 6 was an improvement on the week before. @BenDinnery failing to find a goal or an assist, and @GalinDragiev’s team having Pantilimon in goals, scuppered my predictions last weekend. The @THE_IEFSA (follow on Twitter) league table is starting to form, so the predictions are probably going to get easier! Here goes nothing.

@DanRiccio590 over @BenDinnery

@GalinDragiev over @DFS_hambazaza

@FuzzyWarbles over @FantasyYIRMA

@Smokey_Loogy over @RotoZdroik

@RotoWireAndrew over @SportsByGotti

@TomSunderland_ over @wrigavin

@nikarg over @cjradune

Enjoy this weekend’s Premier League matches everyone.

Fantasy Football: IEFSA Fantasy League Week 6 Preview

Disaster! That’s all I can describe last week’s performance as, a total unmitigated disaster. All the money I spent on Memphis Depay seems more foolish by the week. Against Liverpool he was hauled of at half time after repeatedly giving the ball away and only pulling in 1.6pts for my team. To compound all this misfortune, he only went and scored (again) in the Champions League midweek, proving that, yes, he does actually know where the back of the net is. My Chelsea goalkeepers have contrived to become the worst in the league. Letting in 12 goals in the opening five games. Sunderland have let in less, while Man City haven’t let in any! After spending another sizable chunk of my salary cap to acquire Courtois and Begovic, to say I’m disappointed would be a massive understatement.

Last weekend saw my side gain the fewest points in the league. My opponent @GalinDragiev could have only played two of his players (Mahrez and Sanchez) and he still would have beaten me! This weekend must see a drastic improvement or some players will find themselves benched, or worse, in the near future. Unfortunately the fixture makers have not been kind to me again, as I’m set to face joint leader @wrigavin. His side would have beaten me last week; his side would have beaten me in the last four weeks!

@wrigavin’s Team

You don’t start the season 4-1 without possessing a few good players and this side is no exception. He builds a solid foundation by having a dependable four defenders he can call on. His midfield likes to get forward, Robbie Brady and Yohan Cabaye have taken more shots than Wayne Rooney and Diego Costa so far this season. While up front his big money signing is Harry Kane. No goals as of yet, but he still pulls in over 6pts a game. This side has struggled for goals, Cabaye and Tadic are the only players to have scored, but if Spurs start to click (he has recently also signed Son Heung-Min) then he will be a very tough side in which to outscore.

What I Need To Happen

Spurs to have another off day in front of goal. This week they face Palace at home, who have yet to keep a clean sheet. @wrigavin will be playing the Palace keeper too, so while I say I hope Spurs have an off day, I really just mean Son and Kane. If Norwich can take advantage of a shaky Liverpool side on Sunday then I won’t be reliant on my Man Utd players, whose game against Southampton kicks off at the same time. If my Aston Villa players can score a few past West Brom, and @wrigavin’s defender Craig Dawson, then perhaps I may be leading going into Sunday. But if it turns out I’m not leading, then yes, I’ll be crossing my fingers that Memphis Depay can get his first Premier League goal.

The only bright spot I had last week was at the back and Watford’s Allan Nyom keeping a clean sheet. My other Watford defender  Holebas looks to have lost his place to Ikechi Anya and as I loath to have players on my roster who don’t start for their club, I’ve transferred in Mangala of Man City, who has started all five of City’s faultless opening fixtures. Another shutout is on the cards when City host West Ham in Saturdays late kick-off.

Dick Advocaat still looking for first win of the season

Another transfer this week saw me pick up Ola Toivonen at the expense of Danny Welbeck. Danny Welbeck has been ruled out for a number of months after he underwent surgery earlier in September. But this being Arsenal, that means he could be out anywhere between two and ten months. He had to go. Toivonen has only started one game for Sunderland, but has looked bright and contributed one assist off the bench. Dick Advocaat finally seems to be making Sunderland a little harder to beat and is hopefully nearing a settled side. I can see Toivonen getting a run in the team. He has played under Advocaat before at PSV, while also having played with teammate Jeremain Lens there also. Plus, if he can’t keep Danny Graham and Steven Fletcher out of the side then there really is no hope for him. This weekend Sunderland travel to Bournemouth, who have the third worst defence in the league.

Predictions

4 from 7 last week as a lot of matchups featured some very high scoring. @RotoWireAndrew would have beaten 13 teams last week, but he ran into an on fire @Smokey_Loogy. They still didn’t have the best outing though. That honour fell to @DanRiccio590 who had Dimitri Payet up his sleeve for the Monday night game. It’s getting harder and harder to predict winners in these matchups with each passing week! In saying that, here are this week’s predictions.

@DanRiccio590 over @Smokey_Loogy

@FuzzyWarbles over @SportsByGotti

@GalinDragiev over @nikarg

@FantasyYIRMA over @RotoWireAndrew

@BenDinnery over @RotoZdroik

@cjradune over @DFS_hambazaza

@TomSunderland_ over @nealjthurman

And remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on twitter for all your updates. Until next week, put your feet up and enjoy all the football action this weekend.

Fantasy Football: IEFSA Fantasy League Week 5 Preview

The International break is over and ‘real’ football is back! And that means another matchup in the IEFSA Fantasy League. Last time out, thanks to a Scott Sinclair brace, I toppled high flying @nikarg. This week my team faces 1 and 3 @GalinDragiev. I might be higher up the table than him, but I’ve scored fewer points over the first four weeks of the season. @GalinDragiev has scored the third most points in the league and has had a tough opening run of fixtures. He is also off the back of a loss last week. A very dangerous opponent.

@GalinDragiev’s Team

A lot of attacking talent here with players who have pulled in a lot of points in the opening few game weeks. His star man has been Leicester’s Mahrez, but he has been ably supported points-wise by Okazaki, Sterling, Sanchez and Kouyate.

His Achilles heel is probably the goalkeeping position. Pantilimon is not a bad keeper, but Sunderland are not a good team, they are struggling to keep clean sheets and he hasn’t been pulling in the saves (19 saves to 10 goals conceded). This week Sunderland face Spurs, while @GalinDragiev will have to double up at the back with the Black Cats as Coates will have to come in for the suspended Whittaker.

What I Need To Happen

I’m still waiting for Man Utd to start playing consistently up front. Memphis has still to score in the league, While Schweinsteiger has yet to cement a place in midfield. They play Liverpool this Saturday, and Liverpool have hardly been setting the league alight, so perhaps this is the week?

This weekend Memphis, surely, surely........

And I may need to Man U players to perform, as looking at the fixtures a lot of my players have tough away trips, or are facing each other. Swansea’s Ayew has been a bright spot for me this season, but he travels to Watford, a Watford side where I have two defenders (hopefully) playing. Ayew is playing too well to drop out. So I may continue with Sinclair in midfield and chance Wijnaldum or Gueye in the flex position.

 Man Utd not playing until the evening leaves me with a bit of a selection headache.  As well as Newcastle faceing West Ham on Monday. Do I leave myself with two players to play for that game? Go with only one? Or try and get all my points in before then?

Predictions

After getting every prediction correct in Week 3, I only managed two from seven last time out. Ouch! But let’s put that to one side and see how this weekend fares. @FuzzyWarbles is the only undefeated side, while @BenDinnery is the last remaining side looking for a win. They face each other this week, and I’m going to go with form.

@FuzzyWarbles over @BenDinnery

@nealjthurman over @DFS_hambazaza

@DanRiccio590 over @FantasyYIRMA

@RotoWireAndrew over @Smokey_Loogy

@SportsByGotti over @RotoZdroik

@cjradune over @TomSunderland_

@wrigavin over @nikarg

Okay, well I’ve just put the curse on a load of teams for another week! Remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on twitter to keep up with the weekends action.