IEFSA Fantasy League Week 21 Preview

I accomplished my revenge on @GalinDragiev last week as my team outscored his by nearly forty points. This was helped in no small part by half his team failing to show up! The most notable absentee was surely Raheem Sterling, who couldn’t then get in on all the points Manchester City were plundering against Crystal Palace. This weekend is set to be a tighter affair as I face off against the league’s in form team (5W) @FantasyYIRMA. Last week’s victory moved me up to ninth and I’ll need to gain another big points haul if I’m to keep my team the positive side of .500.

@FantasyYIRMA’s Team

@FantasyYIRMA has probably the best midfield in the league. All five of his midfield players have scored over 100 points. With two, Yaya and Ozil, quickly chasing down 200. Metut Ozil should be back from injury this week when Arsenal face an all at sea Chelsea. Ozil’s 16 assists this season is the same number as the rest of @FantasyYIRMA’s squad put together, and it’s five more assists than my squad have managed! Up front he has brought in Bournemouth new boy Juan Iturbe. The Argentinian is on loan from Italian club Roma and should get a few chances to open his account for The Cherries away to Sunderland on Saturday.

Iturbe averaged one goal every 13 games for Roma - 'The new Messi'

At the back @FantasyYIRMA has a couple of players playing against each other. He has Baines back from injury, which is a boost for him; couple this with Howard in goals, and if they shut out Swansea in the Sunday early kickoff a lot of fantasy points will be gained. On the flip side, he does have Ashley Williams for Swansea, but could choose to swap out the Welshman for either Kurt Zouma or Per Mertesacker, who might be a better pairing with Baines in the back three. Arsenal versus Chelsea is your main Sunday game, so if this is also a low scoring affair, @FantasyYIRMA could be tough to stop.

What I Need To Happen

It would be a miracle for my midfield to outscore the likes of Yaya Toure and Mesut Ozil this week. All my fit midfielders are playing away from home, and none have been very good all season on their travels. Perhaps it is up front where some goalscorers can keep me in the matchup? Arnoutovic is still an injury doubt though, as is Joshua King, while Memphis hasn’t started a game since the 26^th of December in a game in which he was subbed at halftime. All these players play at three o’clock on Saturday though, so at least I’ll be able to rotate in and out any one of them who do manages to start.

A Chelsea clean sheet would perhaps go a long way to helping me gain the victory. Any points gained by Courtois would surely be points that would only end up being given to Ozil if Arsenal were to score. Looking around the rest of my squad for clean sheets might be a bit tough. Nyom does have Newcastle at home, so maybe a shutout is a possibility there. Moreno travels to Norwich with Liverpool in the weekends first game, I think I’ll be able to tell how my weekend will go by how many points he can bring in.

Predictions

A number of topsy-turvy matchups last week, as I only managed three correct predictions out of seven. The bottom side @DFS_hambazaza picked up their second win of the season. And league leader @wrigavin was replaced at the summit by @cjradune. It’s getting very tight, but let’s try and predict this weekend’s games.

@FuzzyWarbles over @nealjthurman

@wrigavin over @RotoWireAndrew

@cjradune over @RotoZdroik

@DanRiccio590 over @GalinDragiev

@Smokey_Loogy over @nikarg

@DFS_hambazaza over @BenDinnery

@SportsByGotti over @TomSunderland_

Good Luck Everyone, and remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep track of how each matchup is developing. As well as following me @GarryIrwin to see the tweets of a man who worries more about Bastian Schweinsteiger’s knee than is probably healthy.