My squad bounced back from their biggest defeat of the
season to record their biggest win last time out. @Tamc10 felt
the backlash as my side pulled away by nearly 80 points; in fact it was the
first time this season that my team recorded the highest points total for the
week (179.95) in the league. All this means that I’ve moved up to 3rd
and if results were to fall my way this weekend, I could go top. Eight other
teams will be thinking the same thing though, and one of those is my opponent @cjradune.
After falling down the table thanks to three losses on the
spin, @cjradune is still just one big win away from top spot. If we played each
other every week so far, we would have four wins each. Therefore it should be a
close fought contest this time out. But in further proof of the Fantrax and
IEFSA’s fixture computer's bias against my side, the top three points scorers
on @cjradune’s team are all playing home games this week. It looks like I’ll
need the Welsh Pirlo to put in another stellar performance away to Hull City to
have any chance.
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| Not every Defence is as kind as the one at Sunderland |
@cjradune’s Team
It looks increasing likely that C.J. will have to be without
the services of Toby Alderweireld for a few weeks as the Spurs defender
recovers from a knee injury. This won’t bother his team much though, as despite
being his most expensive signing at the back, he was actually the fourth
highest scoring Defender on his roster. His cheapest signing in Defence ($9) is
currently his sides highest points scorer overall, Hull’s Curtis Davies. In goals he can call on Arsenal’s Petr Cech.
The Gunners are at home to Middlesbrough on Saturday in a matchup that screams ‘Clean
Sheet!’ The Smoggies are averaging less than a goal a game.
Attack-wise, @cjradune has had to rely on the form of Raheem
Sterling. The Man City man has four goals this season, but has been a little
quiet of late which has coincided with Pep’s side not winning any of their last
four games. C.J. would have presumed that most of his goals would come from one
Jamie Vardy. The England frontman has only two goals to his name this season
after eight starts. He will get a chance to rectify this at home to Crystal
Palace come three o’clock on Saturday. The Eagles have yet to keep a clean
sheet in eight league games. Elsewhere in @cjradune’s squad is Liverpool’s
Daniel Sturridge. Like Vardy, he has yet to hit the heights of last season, but
will fancy his changes at home to West Brom in the Saturday evening kick-off, if
he is called upon by Jürgen Klopp.
What I Need To Happen
If @cjradune’s side all hit their fantasy-points-per-game
average, then I will need 130 points to beat him. My team has only managed
above that mark twice this season. Like last week, I will need someone to step
up and score a couple of goals. Joe Allen hit two last time out, and while
Stoke head to freefalling Hull City, I can’t expect him to do that every week. Hopefully
Marko Arnautovic can chip in with a strike this week. Or perhaps it’s the turn
of Pedro or Kevin Mirallas to add to their respective goal tallies. Of the two,
Pedro is at least getting on the pitch for some game time, though he does have
a tricky matchup against Man Utd. But I’m not worried too much about those
players scoring this week, as I’m almost sure Jack Wilshere only failed to
score last week when Bournemouth knocked in six, because he was saving his goal
for this weekend, when the Cherries host Spurs.
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| One of these players is due a goal... |
I’m currently staring at five red injury flags, so perhaps I
will just be happy to get a full squad to play. Having two Bournemouth, two
Arsenal, two Burnley and two Stoke players means I’ll be looking for positive
results from those teams. I also have two Everton players, Baines and Mirallas,
but I doubt they will get much game time between them. My two Manchester United
players have barely been on the field together this season also. Big signing,
Mkhitaryan has only started one game, while Jesse Lingard is at least fit and
coming off the back of a good game midweek in the Europa League.
Predictions
A lot of very close games last week, so I only managed a
paltry two accurate predictions from nine. The league is really getting tight now;
a win could shoot your team right up the table. There are some interesting ties
in Week 9; two of the bottom three meet; leader @EPLMOstradamus is trying to
prevent a third loss in a row; while in form side @jwl_15, 4 wins on the trot, faces
second placed @FuzzyWarbles. To keep track of all these scores please follow
@THE_IEFSA on Twitter.
Here is this week’s attempt at predictions. Good luck
everyone.
@TAMc10 over @FantasyYIRMA
@SportsByGotti over @wrigavin
@BenDinnery over @jforquer11
@FuzzyWarbles over @jwl_15
@nealjthurman over @jasonuk17
@nikarg over @TRKingston
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