Week 2: IEFSA Fantasy League 2017/18 Preview

Gameweek 1 was nothing short of a disaster. Joe Allen had a below par performance. Luka Milivojevic was hauled off at halftime. Big signings Lindelof and Gayle didn’t contribute any points. And finally Jonjo Shelvey got sent off for Newcastle on the way to a suspension and minus two points. The one upside was the performance of Michael Keane, who in his debut performance for Everton picked up a clean sheet and 24.1 points. @nikarg barely had to break into a sweat as he took all three points in our match-up.

There was good and bad on both sides, but Shelvey sees red #unfair

But don’t worry fans as there is a ray of hope on the horizon, in the shape of Gareth Barry. The 36 year old midfielder has recently signed for West Brom and will be playing in his 21^st Premier League season. The Baggies usually play with around six midfielders so surely he will get some minutes under Tony Pulis. Barry can also play at centre back if needed. I will probably need Barry to go straight into my side this week as the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer sees fit to pit my team against @FantasyYIRMA. Only four teams outscored YIRMA last weekend, unfortunately for him though, he was in a match-up with one of them. He will be determined to get his season underway with his first win.

@FantasyYIRMA`s Team

All bar one of his players scored double figures last weekend. He even had two goal Steve Mounie resting on the bench (his inclusion wouldn’t have altered the result). He also had two goals from Jamie Vardy and one from Wayne Rooney. His forward line has hit the ground running this season it seems. In Midfield Dele Alli earned over 20 points and Mesut Ozil over 15. Top this off with a David De Gea clean sheet and he can be very happy with his opening weekend performances, if not with the final result.

Mounie can't possibly score another brace can he??

Gameweek 2 will see his squad face some favourable fixtures. Vardy and Leicester City will host new boys Brighton on Saturday. Ozil will get to display his silky skills against the plethora of Champions League winning stars that currently ply their trade at Stoke City. Mounie continues his chase for the golden boot against Newcastle on Sunday; and Wayne Rooney gets a chance to add to the 11 goals he has scored against Manchester City in his career to date, when Everton head to the Etihad Stadium on Monday. @FantasyYIRMA will have a choice to make though, as he can only play two from Mounie, Vardy and Rooney. But that’s why YIRMA is paid the big bucks!

What I Need To Happen

A lot of my players could well find themselves facing off against those starting for @FantasyYIRMA. Joe Allen (the best player not to win the Champions League?) will be tasked with shackling Ozil and also causing problems for YIRMA`s defender Nacho Monreal. Summer signing Tom Ince of Huddersfield can hopefully have more luck this weekend when he comes up against Newcastle United and defender Jamaal Lascelles. In another game of attack versus defence, that will help determine the winner of our match-up; will see David De Gea face Tammy Abraham of Swansea. Abraham will hope to get his first goal for his new club after scoring 26 goals in all competitions for Bristol City last season.

West Brom love an aging star in the heart of midfield

Jonjo Shelvey being suspended until September will leave my Midfield relatively thin. Allen and Ince seem assured of starting places. Milivojevic will hopefully keep his place in the Crystal Palace midfield as they hope to bounce back from a poor opening result. West Brom might pick an unchanged eleven for their trip to Burnley meaning Barry will have to be content with a place on the bench. Of the five defenders in my squad, three of them didn’t play last weekend. The best chance of getting three players on the pitch is probably Jose Fonte of West Ham breaking into the team. With the Hammers shipping four goals at Old Trafford, if he can`t break into that backline soon, he won`t get in there all season.

Predictions

A solid start of five correct and four incorrect last time out. This week will hopefully go a bit better. To keep track of all the scores this weekend don’t forget to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. The big clash this weekend will see the top two scorers from last week going head to head. @FuzzyWarbles (171) and @RotoZdroik (182) is also a clash of Aguero v Lukaku.

@DFS_Hambazaza over @jforquer11

@jasonuk17 over @TomSunderlad_

@BenDinneryover @nealjthurman

@SmokeyLoogy over @cjradune

@RotoWireAndrew over @SportsByGotti

@jwl_15 over @wrigavin

@nikarg over @TAMc10

@TRKingston over @EPL_MOstadamus

@RotoZdroik over @FuzzyWarbles

IEFSA Fantasy League Week 21 Preview

I accomplished my revenge on @GalinDragiev last week as my team outscored his by nearly forty points. This was helped in no small part by half his team failing to show up! The most notable absentee was surely Raheem Sterling, who couldn’t then get in on all the points Manchester City were plundering against Crystal Palace. This weekend is set to be a tighter affair as I face off against the league’s in form team (5W) @FantasyYIRMA. Last week’s victory moved me up to ninth and I’ll need to gain another big points haul if I’m to keep my team the positive side of .500.

@FantasyYIRMA’s Team

@FantasyYIRMA has probably the best midfield in the league. All five of his midfield players have scored over 100 points. With two, Yaya and Ozil, quickly chasing down 200. Metut Ozil should be back from injury this week when Arsenal face an all at sea Chelsea. Ozil’s 16 assists this season is the same number as the rest of @FantasyYIRMA’s squad put together, and it’s five more assists than my squad have managed! Up front he has brought in Bournemouth new boy Juan Iturbe. The Argentinian is on loan from Italian club Roma and should get a few chances to open his account for The Cherries away to Sunderland on Saturday.

Iturbe averaged one goal every 13 games for Roma - 'The new Messi'

At the back @FantasyYIRMA has a couple of players playing against each other. He has Baines back from injury, which is a boost for him; couple this with Howard in goals, and if they shut out Swansea in the Sunday early kickoff a lot of fantasy points will be gained. On the flip side, he does have Ashley Williams for Swansea, but could choose to swap out the Welshman for either Kurt Zouma or Per Mertesacker, who might be a better pairing with Baines in the back three. Arsenal versus Chelsea is your main Sunday game, so if this is also a low scoring affair, @FantasyYIRMA could be tough to stop.

What I Need To Happen

It would be a miracle for my midfield to outscore the likes of Yaya Toure and Mesut Ozil this week. All my fit midfielders are playing away from home, and none have been very good all season on their travels. Perhaps it is up front where some goalscorers can keep me in the matchup? Arnoutovic is still an injury doubt though, as is Joshua King, while Memphis hasn’t started a game since the 26^th of December in a game in which he was subbed at halftime. All these players play at three o’clock on Saturday though, so at least I’ll be able to rotate in and out any one of them who do manages to start.

A Chelsea clean sheet would perhaps go a long way to helping me gain the victory. Any points gained by Courtois would surely be points that would only end up being given to Ozil if Arsenal were to score. Looking around the rest of my squad for clean sheets might be a bit tough. Nyom does have Newcastle at home, so maybe a shutout is a possibility there. Moreno travels to Norwich with Liverpool in the weekends first game, I think I’ll be able to tell how my weekend will go by how many points he can bring in.

Predictions

A number of topsy-turvy matchups last week, as I only managed three correct predictions out of seven. The bottom side @DFS_hambazaza picked up their second win of the season. And league leader @wrigavin was replaced at the summit by @cjradune. It’s getting very tight, but let’s try and predict this weekend’s games.

@FuzzyWarbles over @nealjthurman

@wrigavin over @RotoWireAndrew

@cjradune over @RotoZdroik

@DanRiccio590 over @GalinDragiev

@Smokey_Loogy over @nikarg

@DFS_hambazaza over @BenDinnery

@SportsByGotti over @TomSunderland_

Good Luck Everyone, and remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep track of how each matchup is developing. As well as following me @GarryIrwin to see the tweets of a man who worries more about Bastian Schweinsteiger’s knee than is probably healthy.