IEFSA Fantasy League Week 24 Preview

I’m still amazed that I pulled off the victory over @SportsByGotti in the last gameweek. A really tight matchup saw me get the victory by a paltry 0.4 points. It was pretty much a race to the bottom though as both teams posted barely over 30 points. My star man was Moreno as Liverpool went and embarrassed Aston Villa six nil. What angers me though is that I left a lot of points sitting on the bench. This week though, most team’s benches will be filled with players who won’t have a fixture to play. The League Cup final between Man City and Liverpool has taken those two team’s players out of contention this week, as well as Everton and Newcastle United’s squads.

My squad will be missing three players as I prepare to face @nealjthurman this week. @nealjthurman is only three points and one place below me in tenth. His side won last time out thanks to a Matt Ritchie goal and  a couplke of Giroud and Fabregas assists. Ben Foster also kept a rather surprising clean sheet away to Everton. All this helped him to 48.9 points. This week will see him missing two players, so let’s have a look at his squad.

@nealjthurman’s Team

His two missing players have been solid performers for him this season. Ayoze Perez of Newcastle has five goals, while Gerard Deulofeu of Everton is his top assisting player with eight. This leaves him with only one Forward option in Olivier Giroud, while his OF options leave him looking at either Chris Brunt of West Brom or Ben Watson of Watford. Both those players are starters for their respective clubs, although Brunt has been playing more as a left back of late, limiting his usually productive attacking play.

Elsewhere in midfield he has been waiting for Leroy Fer to come to life in a Swansea jersey, but perhaps a trip to Tottenham is not the time to be looking for that to happen. At the back he has three defenders who all will be expecting to keep their opposition scoreless. Bellerin, Fuchs and Rose will surely not give up too many goals collectively this weekend, which will mean I will need my backline to match them cleansheet for cleansheet.

What I Need To Happen

Two of my three defenders play at home against sides not known for scoring too many goals away from home. Nyom of Watford will host Bournemouth, and Jonas Olsson, who picked up an assist last time out, will play against a recently goalshy Crystal Palace. My remaining defender is Angel Rangel, but as I’ve already mentioned, a trip to White Hart Lane is not to place to go if you are looking for points. Which means I don’t hold out much hope for my midfielder Andre Ayew to score a goal. But I may need him to score, because I’ll be missing my top scorer in Newcastle’s Georginio Wijnaldum this week.

Messi scored twice against Arsenal midweek, so Memphis should score......

But maybe, just maybe, I have an ace up my sleeve! Wayne Rooney has picked up an injury and will be missing for the next couple of weeks. Martial also went off injured in the Europa League on Thursday night for Manchester United. All this means that Memphis Depay has been getting substantial game time. Plus he seems to have been making the most of the opportunity. Admittingly the last two positive performances out of the Dutchman have come in games against Shrewsbury and FC Midtjylland. That and United will be playing Arsenal this Sunday, never the easiest of fixtures. If Memphis turns out to be more of a joker than an ace, then perhaps I can rely on Marko Arnautovic to score some goals when Stoke welcome a woeful Villa side to the Britannia at three o’clock on Saturday.

Predictions

Of the seven predictions in Gameweek 23, I managed to correctly predict a respectable five. This will will be extra difficult to predict because so many squads will be without key players. This won’t stop me from picking a winner in each matchup. Remember, as always, you can follow @THE_IEFSA on twitter for all the latest action, and you can also follow @GarryIrwin for all the latest overreaction!

@FantasyYIRMA over @FuzzyWarbles

@Smokey_Loogy over @RotoZdroik

@DanRiccio590 over @BenDinnery

@SportsByGotti over @RotoWireAndrew

@wrigavin over @TomSunderland_

@GalinDragiev over @DFS_hambazaza

@cjradune over @nikarg

Good Luck Everyone.

IEFSA Fantasy League Week 13 Preview

I hadn’t much time to celebrate my tight victory in week 12 when the international break came and tried to cripple my defence. Nyom is a doubt for this weekend after he missed both of Cameroon’s World Cup qualifiers because of a mix up with documentation and travel arrangements. The Cameroonian FF could prevent him from playing if they wanted, but they will probably let it slide. On a far more serious note, Jordan Amavi will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his knee while playing for France. The left back has been one of the few bright spots for Aston Villa and his absence leaves my side with only three fit defenders, unless I bring in cover from the waiver wire this week.
This week I face one of the few teams that sit below me in the table (I’m still 11^th!), but @RotoWireAndrew’s two victories this season are a little harsh on his side. Andrew has had to face the most difficult fixture list in the league. He has the most points against at 668; compare this to @nikarg whose record is 8-4 and has conceded a much lighter 520 points. Andrew’s team has scored the most points of the bottom five and is surely best placed to make a run up the table.

@RotoWireAndrew’s Team

A spate of red flags and an Eric Lamela suspension has depleted Andrew’s options this week. But he does have a number of players with potential to turn in a star performance or two, and with goals being crucial to chances of victory in this league, Benteke and Wickham up front could well be due some goals.

Looking around his squad and he has a lot of names form the big clubs who usually turn in good average points per week.  Andrew is sure to miss his best performer this week in Theo Walcott though. The Arsenal man is still a week or two away from a return. His other Arsenal player is Monreal who averages nearly 6 points per game and is his top scoring defender. The Gunners face a rather goal shy West Brom this weekend, so a clean sheet is not out of the question. Another player who has a favourable fixture, so it would seem, is Pedro of Chelsea. He will be up against Norwich at home and will fancy improving on his 6.15 pts per game.

What I Need To Happen

Good news on the Memphis Depay front, as injuries to Martial and Rooney has left Luis van Gaal looking to his squad for goals. Memphis will need to take the chance any minutes afforded to him can provide. Watford away is a tricky fixture for most sides though; the Hornets have only conceded four goals at home all season. I’m hoping he’ll start in the early Saturday kickoff, otherwise I’ll have to rely on Ola Toivonen up front; and no one should have to write a sentence like that!

Are Goals imminent for Memphis Depay? Will he even start??



I cannot stress enough how important goals are in this league.  My two top scorers, Wijnaldum and Ayew have two home fixtures for their sides and I will be looking to them to spearhead my points tally for gameweek 13. If those two fail to shine, perhaps Stoke’s Marko Arnoutovic can add to his three goals this season when The Potters travel to Southampton. While goals are foremost in my mind, a clean sheet would not be unwelcomed, and Chelsea will be fancied to gain one at home to the Canaries for my goalkeeper Begovic.

Predictions

Gameweek 12 was a mixed bag of predictions. Four right and three wrong just goes to prove how tough it is to cement a victory in this league. The first 11 teams are separated by only nine points, while a quick glance at the form table shows that @FuzzyWarbles and @Smokey_Loogy are out in front, but only on the back of three wins each.
Here are this week’s predictions. Good Luck Everyone, and remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on twitter to keep track of all the Fantasy Football action.

@RotoZdroik over @DFS_hambazaza

@GalinDragiev over @Smokey_Loogy

@TomSunderland_ over @FuzzyWarbles

@cjradune over @BenDinnery

@SportsByGotti over @nealjthurman

@DanRiccio590 over @nikarg

@wrigavin over @FantasyYIRMA

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.