Week 21: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

The Premier League is back after a week of FA Cup action. Most sides put out ‘experimental’ lineups in an effort to save themselves for the rigours of a relegation battle, title race, European campaign, or finishing 14^th. (delete as appropriate) The return of league action means the return of Fantasy Football and the IEFSA Fantasy League brought to you by Fantrax. So check your sides for the latest injuries, or in case anyone of your players have scuttled off to China, and lets begin the Gameweek 21 preview.

A Leighton Baines goal helped my team overcome @TRKingston two weeks ago. This result moved my team up to fourth in the league. I would have lost to this week’s opponent if I had been playing him though, @jasonuk17. I overcame Jason in Week 2 and since then our two teams have been scoring pretty close points-wise. Six times in the following game weeks our sides would have only been separated by less than five points, twice by less than a point (0.1 and 0.35). This all points to a rather tight game, but as usual, the IEFSA Fantrax fixture computer has organised it so that @jasonuk17’s Forward is in his best form of the season. While my highest priced Defender heads to the Injured Reserve list. Jason also picked up Claudio Yacob not long after he was discarded to Free Agency. This sets the West Brom man up nicely to come back and bite my side in the ass this week!

@jasonuk17’s Team

The in form Forward in Jason’s team is Frenchman Olivier Giroud. The Arsenal front-man has scored three goals in as many games and averages 24.4 points over the same period. Helping him out and pulling in almost 18 points a game this season is Bournemouth’s Junior Stanislas. Stanislas faces bottom club Hull on Saturday, so should have no problem getting near his average again. Elsewhere in Midfield he has another inform player in the shape of Michael Carrick. The Man Utd player should have plenty of work to do, and therefore earn plenty of points, when United entertain Liverpool on Sunday.

@jasonuk's secret weapon: Claudio Yacob

In goals Jason has another Man Utd star, David de Gea. Rested for the League Cup game midweek, de Gea has started all twenty league games this season, keeping seven clean sheets. He will probably not be the only one looking for clean sheets this week though, as all of @jasonuk17’s Defenders have home fixtures. The toughest of these being Ben Chilwell of Leicester City who host table toppers Chelsea. Conte’s men look like they will be playing without top scorer Diego Costa for this game though, as reports out of Stamford Bridge suggest he is unsettled and looking to move in January.

Will Costa be banging in goals at a sold out Workers Stadium in 2017?

What I Need To Happen

Hector Bellerin joined Arsenal teammate Santi Cazorla on my injured list this week after injuring his ankle. This leaves only three fit defenders, but hopefully they will all get the starts for their respective clubs and pick up a clean sheet or two. My goalkeeper Tom Heaton of Burnley will face Southampton. A clean sheet here, as well as keeping out Jason’s Oriol Romeu would be a good start on Saturday. Jason could also have up to three Watford players in his squad starting at three o’clock on Saturday. So, a Middlesbrough upset would be most welcomed in that game.

Another three-pm kick-off, this time involving four players from my squad, is the fixture between Sunderland and Stoke. Joe Allen has not been his usual self lately in regards gaining fantasy points, but will not get many better chances to reverse this trend than against third from bottom Sunderland. A high scoring affair with an effort or two from Fabio Borini would entertain the neutral and make me very happy. This fixture could also go a long way to seeing if the ‘Ibrahim Afellay Experiment’ will be a success. Jack Wilshere has yet to score in 2017, but should knock in one or two against bottom club Hull City, as he slowly forces his way into the England squad for the crucial game against Lithuania in March.

Jack Wilshere should open his Bournemouth account against Hull

Predictions

Six correct and three incorrect for the second week in a row. Many of the managers are looking around trying to improve their squads during the January transfer window. Perhaps @BenDinnery is sweating the most as $65 of his budget is tied up in want-away Diego Costa. For the latest on this and all the other goings on in the league, please follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. Here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone

@jwl_15 over @TRKingston

@EPL_MOstradamus over @BenDinnery

@RotoZdroik over @TomSunderland_

@nikarg over @DFS_Hambazaza

@SportsByGotti over @nealjthurman

@FuzzyWarbles over @TAMc10

@cjradune over @jforquer11

@RotoWireAndrew over @FantasyYIRMA

@wrigavin over @SmokeyLoogy

Week 12: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

No preview last Gameweek as I was delayed during a flight from China. Was this the doing of @wrigavin as he edged out my side by 2.1 points? More than likely. Unfortunately my time at the summit of the league table was short lived and I now find myself in second place, right behind @EPL_MOstradamus, who managed to get a victory (by less than two points) over third placed @jwl_15. It’s getting tight in the scramble for the title going into Gameweek 12, as only six points separate the top 11 sides.

This week the IEFSA Fantrax fixture computer tries to screw with my team again, as I’m pitted against one of the only sides in the league that is injury free, while my side is struggling to all get out on the field with all the red flags in the way. My opponent @Smokey_Loogy may have lost his last two games, but he would have beat out winners in three other matchups both weeks. He is waiting for his luck to turn so he can start moving up the table. Hopefully it won’t be this week.

All my Arsenal players are out injured. Thanks Arsene.

@Smokey_Loogy’s Team

If his players all play to their average scores, it will take a haul of 120+ points for me to be victorious this week. It is in Midfield where @Smokey_Loogy spent most of his budget and it should be where he gains most of his points. Riyad Mahrez has had a quiet start to the season, but still averages over 14 points a game. Nathan Redmond is his top scoring midfielder with three goals. Southampton have a tough fixture at home to Liverpool, but the bright spot for Redmond is that the Reds rarely keep clean sheets. His third Midfielder is only recently back from injury, but he could be playing up front for West Ham. Andre Ayew scored plenty of goals for Swansea last season; this would only be his third start this year if Slaven Bilic puts him on the team sheet.

Up front @Smokey_Loogy relies on a trio of Watford players. Deeney and Ighalo have four goals and two assists between them and they face a lackluster Leicester City at home on Saturday. If he needs he could also include Nordin Amrabat, who himself has two assists to his name. The rest of his points could come from his goalkeeper. Jordan Pickford may not have kept a clean sheet yet, but he does get lots of save points, and he surely won’t get a better chance to stop his net bulging for 90 minutes than against Hull City at home.

What I Need To Happen

When Hector Bellerin was ruled out for up to four weeks with an ankle injury it looked like I might struggle to fill all my Defender slots. Leighton Baines may be able to get the start at Everton this week though and that would solve my defensive problems. Last week it was having too many players who failed to start for their clubs that cost me any change of three points. I can ill afford this happening again this week.

Joe Allen had a below par week away at West Ham. This week he will face Bournemouth at home, and with the aid of Marko Arnautovic back from suspension, I’ll be hoping Stoke can continue their unbeaten run of form. In search of goals I will have to take a gamble on Jesse Lingard doing enough against Arsenal, or waiting until Sunday to see if Pedro can start for Chelsea away to Middlesbrough. If those two fail to score, I can always fall back on the goal that is due from Jack Wilshere.

One of these England stars will score this weekend.

Predictions

As I mentioned above, the league is really tight and the games are even tighter. The team with the most fantasy points sit in eighth (@FuzzyWarbles), while the team who has conceded the least fantasy points (@SportsByGotti) are down in fifteenth. So how is anyone supposed to predict these matchups? I got seven of nine right two gameweeks ago, here’s hoping for a similar strike rate this week. Don't forget to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep track of all the action.

Good Luck Everyone

@wrigavin over @RotoWireAndrew

@jforquer11 over @FantasyYIRMA

@FuzzyWarbles over @cjradune

@nealjthurman over @TAMc10

@nikarg over @SportsByGotti

@TomSunderland_ over @DFS_Hambazaza

@EPL_MOstradamus over @RotoZdroik

@TRKingston over @BenDinnery

@jwl_15 over @jasonuk17