The international break couldn’t come quickly enough for my
side after the loss in Gameweek 7. @SportsByGotti handed me my biggest
loss of the season thanks to goals from Chelsea’s Willian and Callum Wilson of
Bournemouth. A Matt Phillips assist was just the icing on the cake, as my side
were humbled by nearly twenty points. The (biased) fixtures computer pits my squad
against that of @TAMc10 in Gameweek 8. @TAMc10 would have beaten out my side if
we had faced each other in each of the last five gameweeks. Will this week be
any different? I’ll need an improvement from my players to upset the odds.
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| A World Cup without Joe Allen is not one I want to watch |
As usual with international breaks, most squads will now be
fretting over the fitness of many players. My side is not immune from this, and
the biggest red flag this week is hanging over the most in form player in my
squad, Joe Allen. The World Cup qualifiers did throw up some questions about
some other players in my squad. How come Arnautovic has scored more goals for
Austria this season than Stoke City? Jesse Lingard acquainted himself well with
England, can the 1m signing become a regular starter for my fantasy side?
@TAMc10’s Team
Tate will be fretting over a number of players before Saturday.
One of his highest points scorers, Adam Lallana, is still recovering from a
groin injury. He’ll have to decide is it worth leaving a roster spot open for
the Monday night game between Liverpool and Manchester United, or use up his players
during the weekend games. He also has Marcus Rashford in his squad; can he risk
leaving two spots open to play before Monday? This really becomes a conundrum for Tate as
both his other Forward players, Alexis Sanchez and Abel Hernandez are playing
at three o’clock on Saturday.
Three players he won’t have to think too hard about
including this gameweek are a Midfielder and a pair of Defenders that have been
putting up consistent double digit scores. Azpilicueta and Koscielny at the
back both have home fixtures that look like possible clean sheet opportunities.
Burnley travel to Southampton on Sunday, Steven Defour already has a goal and
three assists this season, but all of those came at Turf Moor and The Saints
have kept three clean sheets in a row at home, perhaps Tate will rotate his
fourth highest scorer to the bench.
What I Need To Happen
While @TAMc10 has two Arsenal players, I have two of my own,
Bellerin and Cazorla. If the Gunners can breach the Swansea rear-guard and dent
the points total of @TAMc10’s goalkeeper, I hope the Spaniards are the one’s
doing the damage. Unfortunately I also have two players competing in the Monday
night game, both for Man Utd. But should I gamble on the fitness of Henrikh
Mkhitaryan? Should I try and second guess the starting eleven of Jose Mourinho?
Will it include the Armenian, or Jesse Lingaard? Not only is the Fantrax
fixtures computer against me, but the Premier League fixture makers are out to
screw me over too!
I need Joe Allen to be fit. I need the Welsh wizard to be
playing. I need Stoke to let loose against Sunderland in their relegation
six-pointer. If Joe starts and doesn’t score 40 points I’ll be severely
disappointed. Yet if Allen cannot overcome his hamstring niggle, I can fall back
on the goal that is inevitably coming from Jack Wilshere….
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| Wilshere scoring away in Slovenia (16 months ago) |
Predictions
The previously undefeated @EPL_MOstradamus suffered a first
reversal of the year which tightened up the league, and just goes to show how hard
it is to predict a winner between all the managers. Anyone can beat anyone. Not
only did I get that matchup prediction wrong, but got four other predictions
wrong too. Leaving only four correct. Not a great week, but if you follow
@THE_IEFSA on Twitter you will see this week’s predictions all come true,
probably.
@cjradune over @SportsByGotti
@RotoZdroik over @wrigavin
@BenDinnery over @SmokeyLoogy
@RotoWireAndrew over @jwl_15
@jforquer11 over @jasonuk17
@FuzzyWarbles over @TRKingston
@nikarg over @TomSunderland_
Good Luck Everyone.
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