Week 27: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

The final week of the Premier League season also sees the final gameweek of the IEFSA Premier division with two relegation spots still to be decided. Add in a Promotion Playoff between 2^nd and 3^rd in the IEFSA Championship, and you have a very tasty Sunday in store. It seems like an age since the last preview where I signed off by saying it looked like the title would go down to the wire. Well that prediction crashed and burned after @FuzzyWarbles lost four games in a row, while @TRKingston romped home with four wins. The only black-spot during the title run-in for Todd was the loss in the IEFSA Cup final to @jforquer11. Joel faces @jasonuk17 this week in the final game of the IEFSA Championship. The winner of that tie will earn promotion along with @BenDinnery who went up as champion.

With the title wrapped up all the action is at the other end of the table where any two from five could still find themselves facing the dreaded drop. The bottom two sides, @nikarg and @FantasyYIRMA, face each other, with the loser certain to go down. The winner of that match-up is not guaranteed safety, but because they both have a high amount of fantasy points scored, it would take three highly improbable results to relegate them. @TAMc10, @EPL_MOstradamus and my own side simply need to win their own ties to assure their place in the top eight. The IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer has been tough on my side all season and this week is no different. To stay up my side will have to beat champion @TRKingston. #IEFSpiracy

@TRKingston’s Team

Not many holes in this squad. All the players average over ten points, with eight players who average over 15 points. David Silva alone chips in with 21.5 points every week. He has a rather good 8 goals and 11 assists from 28 games played. He also has assisted 61 shots for teammates. Teammates like four other players on @TRKingston’s roster. Otamendi, Fernandinho and Gundogan have scored 4 goals each this season; while Oleksandr Zinchenko may not have any goals so far, but he is a good bet to start the remaining game against Southampton after playing against Huddersfield last weekend.

Zinchenko, another shrewd signing from @TRKingston

@TRKingston has only lost five times all season (never to my side I might add) and on those occasions my side would have been the victors against Todd on a losing week only once. He has soundly beaten my team twice already. If he makes it a hat-trick on Sunday, then I’m sure to be relegated.

What I Need To Happen

If Todd could head off to the beach early this year that would be great. With the league wrapped up perhaps a lot of his Manchester City players will be thinking of the beach too, or at least the World Cup. His side is tantalizingly close to scoring 4000 points for the season though and he perhaps will be gunning for that target this week. He needs 125 points.

If my side were to reach 4000 points I’d need to score 1257. I’m not sure Luka Milivojevic can take that many penalties. But like Swansea this weekend, I just have to cross my fingers and hope.

The Palace midfielder has been one of my better players this season. He has top scored with ten goals (the same as Todd’s topscorer!) and been crucial in my side not been totally embarrassed some weeks. The other star player has been Nick Pope of Burnley. 11 clean sheets this season have helped the Clarets to seventh in the league, and perhaps a European place.

That's two more goals than Zlatan has...

Looking through my squad…… well…. It’s a depressing sight. Big money was spent to bring in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who now (occasionally) plays with the LA Galaxy. Serge Aurier was another big signing but failed to cement a place in the Spurs defence. At the start of the season, most of the budget went on the Newcastle pair of Gayle and Shelvey, but by the time they came into form for their club, I had them shipped off to waivers. I even bought back Dwight Gayle for a couple of games, just when he lost his goal scoring touch for a second time. Victor Lindelof was my most expensive defender back then but has only managed to feature in 16 games this season. Tom Ince was due to light up the Premier League this year. Two goals and barely over 9 points per game prove only that I wasted 40m of my budget. Cue the winger being dropped for next season only to be picked up by @TRKingston and go on to win the golden boot.

Predictions

All I can predict at this stage is that there will be no fingernails left on the five managers hovering over the drop zone come five o’clock on Sunday afternoon. In the Championship promotion playoff, perhaps @jforquer11 is the slight favourite after winning the IEFSA Cup final. All the other match-ups this weekend will go exactly against my team, just as they have done most of the season. Just as they have been engineered to, by the dreaded IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer!

It’s been another great season in IEFSA, with the new format I believe going down well. Only 9 points separated third from tenth in the Premier, and only 3 points the difference between all the bottom five. The top of the Championship was a tight run thing too, with only 8 points the difference between @BenDinnery on top and (unluckiest team of the season?) @SportsByGotti in fifth.

 Whatever happens this weekend. Good Luck Everyone, and see you next season. Oh, and go and follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter, you know you want to.

Week 19: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

A battling performance in the IEFSA Cup against @TRKingston, but not enough points to score the upset. Oddly I was hanging in there in the tie until late on in the Liverpool game when Dejan Lovren assisted a Ragnor Klavan goal (both of these Defenders were @TRKingston players) against my Goalkeeper Nick Pope. That is two games in a row where Todd has got the better of my side.

As i said, if it wasn't for bad luck...

It’s back to IEFSA league action this weekend though, as I attempt to drag my side from the foot of the table. So, who has the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer saw fit to put my side up against this gameweek? Why its only third placed @RotoZdroik, who has already beaten me in gameweeks 3 and 10.

@RotoZdroik’s Team

The two highest scoring players on @RotoZdroik’s team have more goals between them than my whole squad. Both of them have nearly three times as many assists as my whole squad too. And to cap it off, they both cost less than five players in my squad. Leroy Sane of Manchester City in Midfield averages over 15 points per game. While up front, Manchester United Forward Romelu Lukaku is just back from injury and will hope to add to his ten league goals this season when he faces Stoke City on Monday night.

Lukaku back from injury, and back on the score sheet in the FA Cup

But even if those two players misfire this weekend, he can call on several other stalwarts to get him through the fixture. Hector Bellerin in Defence is a good accumulator of points. Steven Davis of Southampton in Midfield already has three goals to his name this season, as does Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson. In goals is Huddersfield’s Jonas Lossl, who has achieved seven clean sheets so far this season.

What I Need To Happen

It looks like @RotoZdroik will be able to get a full set of starters in his team and will be scoring points all over the field. My side on the other hand will be struggling once again this week. If Tammy Abraham, (my top scorer believe it or not) is absent this week, that will mean no scoring player for the Forward position. This will force me to look into the abyss of the unclaimed player pool for a goalscorer that everyone else has inexplicably passed by.

Will Joe Allen stay put, go to West Ham, or, retire and move to Celtic?

Mark Hughes has been shown the door at Stoke City. Hopefully this will free up the criminally underused Joe Allen. The Welshman has been a transfer target of West Ham United this January according to reports. Maybe a move to the Hammers would revitalise his fantasy scoring seeing as West Ham score more and concede less than the Potters. Wherever he ends up, his head better be right for Stokes vital clash against Manchester United this coming Monday.

Predictions

Only one from three for the IEFSA Cup games midweek. This was after a rather disappointing showing of five correct from nine during the last gameweek. Things are only going to get harder to predict as we enter squeaky bum time in the season. Remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter for all the latest action.

Here are this week’s predictions. Good Luck Everyone.

@TRKingston over @nikarg

@FuzzyWarbles over @TAMc10

@jwl_15 over @EPL_MOstradamus

@FantasyYIRMA over @wrigavin

@SportsByGotti over @RotoWireAndrew

@cjradune over @FPL_MNOP

@BenDinnery over @nealjthurman

@jasonuk17 over @TomSunderland_

@jforquer11 over @DFS_Hambazaza

IEFSA Fantasy League Cup Semi-Finals Preview

An expected loss to @TRKingston in the IEFSA Premier to round off 2017. It was perhaps closer than the 40-point loss indicates, and would have definitely been closer if Luka Milivojevic had converted his injury time penalty ending Manchester City’s unbeaten run. Todd had the highest score of the week and is still six points clear at the top of the table. My side on the other hand continue to sit on the bottom with half of the season gone. Star man Ibrahimovic also got himself injured and will be sent to the Injured Reserves. The second half of the season looks like it will be a tough slog to get players on the pitch every week, never mind getting the points needed to achieve safety.

If it wasn't for bad luck...

But let’s park all that negativity to one side for a few days as we dip back into our glorious cup run. We are at the semi-final stage now after putting @FantasyYIRMA to the sword last midweek. Hopefully my players can raise their game for one more herculean effort and give all their fans (fan?) something to cheer to start the new year. So, who has the IEFSA/Fantrax cup drawing machine pulled out of the hat for us this time?...

… @TRKingston…

OH!..............oh….

Of all the hot and cold balls rigged pre-recorded cup draws, this surely takes the biscuit. Unbelievable! The book of evidence of IEFSA/Fantrax bias against my side gets a little thicker.

@TRKingston’s Team

I’m pretty sure he has got the same side as two days ago. Only now he can call on in-form Marko Arnautovic. Even all of his players seem to be fully fit again, apart from Victor Wanyama, who has only featured in two games this season anyway. My only hope is that, because he had so many players figure prominently so recently, perhaps a few of them will be rested this time out.

Arnautovic has five goals in his last five games

What I Need To Happen

Rotation is probably more of a danger to my players though. And unluckily for me five of my squad don’t have a game until Tuesday. Do I leave a slot open in case Serge Aurier or Renato Sanches start for their sides? Joe Allen is one player who seems sure to start though. He was missing from the starting line-up in Stoke City’s last game as Mark Hughes used the full strength of his squad when getting hammered away to Chelsea. A home fixture against Newcastle is far more enticing, especially from a fantasy points perspective. Newcastle have only two wins and 10 goals away from home all season.

Someone pass Tom Ince the ball so he can get some points

Tom Ince is also one who could be in line for more minutes after he was substituted with only 55 minutes gone against Burnley on Saturday. Was he brought off with the coming game against Leicester in mind? In those 55 minutes he gained my team 1.8 points. I’m not sure what he did in those 55 minutes, as you pretty much get 1.8 points for togging out.

Predictions

We have already established that if my side was to win this week it would be a cup shock to rival Sutton beating Coventry or Wrexham beating Arsenal in the FA Cup; but let’s look at the other fixtures and see if we can predict the winners.

Who will get to lift the IEFSA Cup Trophy?

@nikarg vs @EPL_MOstradamus

Two teams in the bottom half of the IEFSA Premier meet, hoping to kick-start a run of form to climb the table. @EPL_MOstradamus has two victories over @nikarg already this season and I expect him to make it three from three here. His forward line of Firmino, Depoitre, Benteke and Son, is just too strong at the moment.

@RotoZdroik vs @jforquer11

Third in the Premier plays third in the Championship in this tie. @jforquer11 might have two more wins in the lower division but @RotoZdroik has scored 275 more fantasy points. @RotoZdroik will be missing Romelu Lukaku for this game, but I think he will have too much for his opponent, who has a side struggling with a number of injures and players in danger of being rested.

@FuzzyWarbles vs @wrigavin

Second plays sixth in the Premier, with @wrigavin on a horrible slump that has seen him drop his last five league games. He will also be sweating on the fitness of Harry Kane. Even if the Tottenham striker plays against Swansea, I don’t envisage it being enough against the players at @FuzzyWarbles disposal this week. Aguero and Mane have two winnable fixtures with their sides, and if they start, you would fancy them to score.

Normal league action will be back in a few days. Until them, please follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. Happy New Year and good luck everyone.

Week 18: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

Welcome to the last preview of 2017. And, thankfully we can sign off on a high note, as my rag-tag bunch actually followed up their defeat of @EPL_MOstradamus last weekend with a cup victory over @FantasyYIRMA in midweek. Two wins in a row is rare enough, but not as rare as a Tom Ince goal, which is what we had to thank for keeping our cup dream alive. The IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer has had enough of my team scraping victories and has decided that now is the time that we should play highest scorers and table toppers @TRKingston. Todd has scored a frankly ridiculous 750 more fantasy points than my side so far this season, and has won his last eight games while opening up a six point lead at the top of the IEFSA Premier. The last time we met @TRKingston walked away with the victory by twenty points. If the teams are even that close once again, I guess I can take it as some kind of moral victory.

Joyous scenes as we knock @FantasyYIRMA out of the cup

@TRKingston’s Team

In a rare bit of good luck, the West Ham and Spurs game has been moved to Thursday January 4^th. This means I will be without Serge Aurier this week, but Todd will have to make do without his hottest player at the moment, Marko Arnautovic. The Forward has five goals in his last five games. This means @TRKingston will have to rely on Richarlison or Joselu up front. He could well play both if each of them make their teams starting lineups for what looks like two favourable fixtures. Joselu and Newcastle are at home to Brighton. While Richarlison of Watford (the more likely of the two to play) has a home game against bottom club Swansea.

Every time this happens, @TRKingston gets about twenty fantasy points

His midfield has a very heavy Manchester City influence. On a good day he could put three Sky Blue players into his starting line-up. Fernandinho, David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan have eight goals and 12 assists between them. The majority of these have come from Silva though and he is the only one who is an injury worry going into a game against Crystal Palace. In Defence he has another City player in Nicolas Otamendi, who he will probably pair up with two of the three Liverpool players in his squad, Matip, Lovren and Klavan.

What I Need To Happen

With facing so many Liverpool and Manchester City players this week, if both those sides could have a bad day at the office, or at least see a good chunk of their players rested and rotated, then I may have a fighting chance. Of course, I will need the players in my squad to play from the start for their clubs also. Unfortunately, the big signing of my squad looks to have wasted his opportunity to get some valuable minutes. Last time out Zlatan only lasted the first half of a game against Burnley. Even with the fixture pileup over the New Year, this looks to have been the big Swede’s last chance at getting into the Manchester United starting line-up.

Who'll get to the World Cup first? Steve Cook with England? Or Benik Afobe with DR Congo?

My search for goals will have to come from some unlikely sources to have any chance of victory this weekend. Tom Ince has finally gotten off the mark, so could this be the start of a run where he gets so many goals he propels himself into the England squad for the World Cup?? Speaking of the World Cup; What if Tammy Abraham also starts scoring so many goals that he will have to on the plane to Russia also! And what if Steve Cook started defending so well that…….. I think I need to lie down…..

Predictions

Five correct and four incorrect last weekend, which is an improvement on the week before, but nothing to get too excited about. The midweek cup fixtures saw two correct predictions from three games. I surely would have had a clean sweep if @FPL_MNOP had put in two goal ‘difference maker’ Jesse Lingard like I had told him! I’ll be hoping to improve on these figures this weekend. To follow all the action don’t forget to hop on over to Twitter and @THE_IEFSA. Here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone.

@RotoZdroik over @TAMc10

@FantasyYIRMA over @nikarg

@FuzzyWarbles over @jwl_15

@wrigavin over @EPL_MOstradamus

@jasonuk17 over @SportsByGotti

@BenDinnery over @cjradune

@TomSunderland_over @nealjthurman

@jforquer11 over @RotoWireAndrew

@DFS_Hambazaza over @FPL_MNOP

IEFSA Fantasy League Cup Quarter Final Preview

My side comes into this midweek cup fixture high in confidence after defeating @EPL_MOstradamus in Gameweek 17. For once it wasn’t my side that was struggling to get numbers onto the pitch, and thanks to having an extra player earning points I came away with a 25-point victory. That win doesn’t move my battlers off the bottom of the table though, as both the sides in eight and ninth also won. The two of those sides are on a bit of a win streak, as the IEFSA/Fantrax computer proves itself to be trying to keep my side rooted to the table.

A Joe Allen goal and assist helped was crucial for all three points last weekend

The quarter finals of the IEFSA Cup has thrown up the following interesting fixtures.

@GarryIrwin vs @FantasyYIRMA

@FPL_MNOP vs @nikarg

@BenDinnery vs @wrigavin

@jforquer11 vs @jwl_15

Let’s have a look at each match-up.

@FPL_MNOP is the lowest ranked team still left in the competition, currently sitting in ninth in the IEFSA Championship. @nikarg is ninth in the IEFSA Premier and has one win more than his opponent this season, and has scored 140 more fantasy points. @nikarg will be relying on Eriksen and Mahrez, but @FPL_MNOP has the talents of Hazard and Wijnaldum in his team. He also has in-form Jesse Lingard. So, I’m going to back @FPL_MNOP to cause an upset here and reach the semi-finals.

Lingard could be the difference maker in this tie

@BenDinnery is top of the Championship and looking good for a promotion spot. He has been hit by injuries lately though, with both Ryan Bertrand and Wilfied Bony sidelined. He will have lean on the scoring of the West Ham United trio of Andy Carroll, Andre Ayew and Pedro Obiang. @wrigavin is currently in fifth in the IEFSA Premier but suffering through a four-game losing streak. He does have Harry Kane in his team though and with all the injuries to Ben’s side I expect @wrigavin to pick up the win.

Kane is chasing Shearer's goals record. How many this holiday season?

@jforquer11 is fifth in the IEFSA Championship with ten wins this season and is firmly in the hunt for promotion in what is a tightly contested league. He has lots of good players in his squad, but the problem he has is that many them are never assured of a starting spot for their teams. Willian has featured in 19 games this season but only for 967 minutes. Anthony Martial has 815 minutes in 18 games. While Bernardo Silva of Manchester City has only 480 minutes in 17 appearances. @jwl_15 (fourth in the Premier) has the same issue, with Okazaki, Gabbiadini and Mkhitaryan not getting as many minutes as he’d like. Looking at this weekend’s fixtures, I would give @jforquer11 the nod in this one, but only just.

If Okazaki plays he could win it for @jwl_15

My side and @FantasyYIRMA feature in the only all IEFSA Premier clash. (further proof of a bias against my side?) YIRMA is lying in fifth in the table with seven wins. He has also scored almost 400 Fantasy Points more than my side this season so far. He has the strongest side left in the cup. In fact, he really should be higher up in the league table with the squad he has! Rooney and Vardy have 18 goals between them. In Midfield he has Mesut Ozil, Ashley Young and Dele Alli. A group that has 10 goals and 12 assists between them. In reality, @FantasyYIRMA should walk this one. But being the cup….. you never know….

Jamie Vardy scores against Manchester United at the weekend

Good Luck Everyone, and Happy New Year wherever you happen to be celebrating it.