Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Week 23: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview


The points total my side achieved in Gameweek 22 would have been enough to beat eight other sides in the league, but not @jwl_15. A Chelsea clean sheet along with a Victor Moses assist, and strangely, a Christian Kabasele goal, had Jake winning by a comfortable margin. That loss pushed my team down to fifth place, 12 points off leader @RotoZdroik, who won for the fifth week in a row. This week’s fixtures are being played over Tuesday and Wednesday, and it encompasses the end of January and the first of February. This of course means some teams could be unsettled by the moving and shaking that happens on Transfer Deadline Day.TM Most of my squad looks like it will be unaffected though. Unless Real Madrid can cough up what’s needed to prize Joe Allen from Stoke.
I bet you thought Watford had stopped scoring goals
The IEFSA Fantrax fixture computer will look to unsettle my team though by pitting my side against a team who has won their last two games; a team who would have beaten me last week; a team with two of the most inform strikers in the Premier League at the moment in Diego Costa and Andy Carroll. That team belongs to @BenDinnery. The last time we met it was a Costa brace that gave Ben the victory by less than two points. Even with all that is stacked against me, I’m hopeful of gaining some form of revenge this midweek.

@BenDinnery’s Team

Costa has 15 goals so far this season, and barring him hopping on a plane to China Tuesday morning, he will be facing a trip to Liverpool. The Reds have seemingly thrown in the towel for this year over the last few games, and are struggling to keep lower tier Championships sides out, so what hope against a fired up Chelsea. Andy Carroll only has five goals this year. I say ‘only’, but he would be joint top scorer in my side! Plus you have to consider he has only started seven games in the league because of injury.
More stellar Crystal Palace defending
Looking around his squad, most of the points have come from Midfield. Harry Arter of Bournemouth averages nearly 15 points a game and will be hopeful of doing more than that at home to a woeful Crystal Palace on Tuesday. Jake Livermore averages over 12 points a game. He is a player who has already moved during this transfer window. Moving from Hull to West Brom for a reported £10m. At the back, his best source of points will probably be Phil Jones when Man Utd host Hull on Wednesday.

What I Need To Happen

Costa and Carroll do have tricky fixtures, Liverpool and Man City, so it would be no surprise to see them held scoreless. At least if Carroll gets a goal he will be taking points off Ben’s Man City goalkeeper. Most of his midfielders and defenders will be playing at home too. So, lots of goals from the away teams here would be helpful. It is also possible that @BenDinnery could have all his players playing on Tuesday if he wished, and building up a sizable lead. Whereas most of my squad will not hit the pitch until Wednesday night. Do I leave slots open for players who may not even play on Wednesday? Lingard hasn’t featured much lately. But Mkitaryan did start the cup game at the weekend. Will he be rested?
Jack Wilshere taking one of his many goal-bound shots here
The Ibrahim Afellay Experiment will continue for another week. He has only started one game and averages 3.87 points per game over his five total appearances. At home to Everton is as good a time as any to showcase his undoubted talents though. Elsewhere in Midfield we are still waiting on Jack Wilshere to score that goal which all his good play has promised. Bournemouth, as mentioned, will play Crystal Palace at home. The Eagles have the third worst away defence in the league and are currently the most out of form team with only two points gained from the last 24 available. Wilshere has one or two goals waiting for him in this fixture if he wants them.

Predictions

Amazingly last week’s prediction once again ended up six correct and three incorrect for the fourth week in a row. @RotoZdroik has a nine point lead over @SportsByGotti. But he is surely in for a tough test against @jwl_15 this week. To follow all the midweek action make sure you keep tabs on @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. Let’s see how this week’s predictions go.

Good Luck Everyone.


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