Week 5: IEFSA Fantasy League 2017\18 Preview

“A life spent defensively, worried, is a life wasted”                         -                      Lance Armstrong

Four weeks, four losses. Times were getting desperate. I couldn’t field a whole starting roster, injuries were mounting up as Tom Heaton injured his shoulder which would necessitate a lengthy absence, goals were becoming a rarity (two in four games), and an assist had yet to be seen. Something had to be done. I could not just ride it out and hope Dwight Gayle battles his way back into the Newcastle starting eleven, or that Victor Lindelof would finally usurp Phil Jones from the Man Utd back-line. Actions needed to be taken before I was cut adrift at the bottom of the table.

Shoulder surgery will keep Tom Heaton sidelined for months

That those actions would entail me spending almost my entire budget on three players who probably won’t start for their respective teams this weekend, was not something people could have foreseen. In fact, I didn’t even see it that way, as I had expected to be outbid on at least one of the three players I now possess. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a value of $68 last season, so I assumed he would go for slightly higher this time around and I had initially bid over $70. But I kept notching up the value until I settled on $85. I probably could have acquired him for a fair but less. The Swede can’t come back from injury fast enough. My other two players each cost me $40 less than Zlatan, but I vastly overpaid. Serge Aurier becomes the most expensive Spurs defender in the game and is fighting with $1 Kieran Trippier for a spot in their line-up. Renato Sanches was made the fifteenth most expensive Midfielder in the league. Not bad for a player who completed 90 minutes only once during a year at Bayern Munich, where he was largely anonymous. While signing these players I had to let go Gayle and Shelvey, what with the earlier release of Jose Fonte, means I’ve basically thrown away nearly $100 since the draft. This sounds like doom and gloom, but my new team get their chance to prove themselves this coming gameweek against @wrigavin. Gavin has three wins this season and would have beaten my side handily if we had met on any other gameweek. Thanks IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer!

@wrigavin’s Team

 

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU><"{{@$^!$$*!)(!!@#$

What I Need To Happen

Zlatan is injured. Heaton is out for months. Rojo is also still injured. Lindelof might as well be injured. Izquierdo (who?) can’t seem to start a game. Tammy Abraham has less accurate passes in 330 minutes of football than Renato Sanches managed in 70 minutes last weekend. Joe Allen is off form. Keane and Cook are defenders in name only as they don’t seem to want to keep clean sheets anymore. Gareth Barry is……. still in my squad??? My only hope this weekend could be the longshot of my Bournemouth and Brighton players outscoring @wrigavin’s Anthony Knockaert (a tough ask in itself), followed by some sort of nuclear war that gets all the other games on Saturday and Sunday cancelled.

Kim Jong-Un has won every season of the North Korean Fantasy League

Predictions

An improvement from the week before sees six correct predictions from nine. It was the tough-to-call games in the Primary League that were my undoing. To heap praise on this week’s predictions, feel free to follow me on Twitter @GarryIrwin. Also, feel free to badger @THE_IEFSA to ease up on the fixture congestion my side unfairly has to face every week.

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

@TRKingston over @TAMc10

@jwl_15 over @RotoZdroik

@FuzzyWarbles over @FantasyYIRMA

@nikarg over @EPL_MOstradamus

@jasonuk17 over @cjradune

@SportsByGotti over @jforquer11

@RotoWireAndrew over @nealjthurman

@SmokeyLoogy over @TomSunderland_

@DFS_Hambazaza over @BenDinnery

Week 30: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

Finally, the international break is over and we can get back to the nitty gritty of league football. What seems like an eternity without fantasy football will come to an end with Liverpool facing Everton at Saturday lunchtime. My side won a nineteenth game of the season in the last gameweek, thanks largely to another clean sheet from Tom Heaton. That win keeps my side in second place, nine points behind @RotoZdroik.

Tom Heaton is the only goalkeeper with over 100 saves this season

This week the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer gives me a change to get revenge on a two-point loss from Gameweek 12. That painful loss was inflicted by @wrigavin. Gavin is on a run of three losses which has seen him drop down the table to ninth place. He knows a win, coupled with the right set of results, could move him into fourth though.

@wrigavin’s Team

@wrigavin has only one red flagged injury, but unfortunately for him it is to his most valuable player. Harry Kane has more goals than the rest of Gavin’s squad put together. Now without the Spurs forward, he will have to rely on Alvaro Negredo for goals. Normally this would be a pretty vain hope, but with Middlesbrough sacking their manager, perhaps they can start scoring goals off the back of that new manager bounce. Negredo heads to the worst defence in the league on Sunday, Swansea. The next top scorer on the team is his Defender Craig Dawson. The West Brom player will get a change to add to his three goals this season at Old Trafford on Saturday.

It was only Arsenal right? We can't read too much into this??

Gavin has made a few changes to his squad since the turn of the year. He overhauled his Midfield with the signings of Robbie Brady (Burnley), Lazar Markovic (Hull), and Luciano Narsingh (Swansea). All three have yet to cement places in their respective sides, but in only nine starts between them, they have contributed a goal and three assists. At the back he has added Bryan Oviedo. The Costa Rican defender joined Sunderland from Everton in January and averages over twelve and a half points per game.

What I Need To Happen

Tom Heaton will not have to face Harry Kane, but will have to contend with the rest of a potent Spurs attack. If not a clean sheet, then hopefully many save points will be coming his way. Michael Keane at the back will also be kept busy in the same game and should reach his thirteen point average. In Midfield, it would really help my side if Henrikh Mkhitaryan got back into the Manchester United starting lineup for the visit of West Brom. Scoring a goal would also take points off Craig Dawson. Elsewhere across the middle of the park; Jack Wilshere is slowly recovering from an injury, yet may get more minutes for Bournemouth this weekend; Ibrahim Afellay travels to the champions Leicester City but it would be a surprise if he gets into the Stoke first team.

If I had any hair it would have went white waiting for Borini to score too.

I may be reaching a bit, but it’s April now and Sunderland a running out of time to start trying to stay in the division. With that in mind, someone is going to need to help Defoe score goals, and that someone may as well be Fabio Borini! Failing that, I may have to fall back on Chelsea’s Pedro. He has a game at home to Crystal Palace come three o’clock on Saturday. If Borini and Pedro draw blanks, all my eggs will be in the Kevin Mirallas basket. Everton have a shockingly bad record against Liverpool recently though, so I’m not going to expect too many points from either Mirallas or defender Leighton Baines.

Predictions

Six from nine last time out. Lots of close games keep the league table nice and tight. Only six points separate the team in third from the team in eleventh. The big match-up this gameweek pits leader @RotoZdroik against fifth place @nikarg. Here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone. Also go follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter.

@FantasyYIRMA over @SmokeyLoogy

@RotoWireAndrew over @cjradune

@TAMc10 over @jforquer11

@FuzzyWarbles over @SportsByGotti

@nealjthurman over @DFS_Hambazaza

@RotoZdroik over @nikarg

@BenDinnery over @TomSunderland_

@EPL_MOStradamus over @jwl_15

@TRKingston over @jasonuk17

Week 14: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

An embarrassing defeat to @RotoWireAndrew last week continues my side’s slide down the table. Fans are surely getting restless after three losses in a row, while the board are probably scratching their heads asking ‘What’s a Claudio Yacob?’ Things don’t get any easier this week in the @THE_IEFSA and Fantrax Fantasy League as the fixture computer (which hate’s me by the way) throws me into a matchup with @jforquer11. Both our teams have 21 points and are in danger of dropping down to the lower reaches of the table this week if things don’t go their way. @jforquer11 has a fully fit squad to select from though, whereas my players just love that treatment table.

A wild Yacob appeared.

@jforquer11’s Team

A good spread of teams in Joel’s squad. Only Stoke City supplies him with two players; the goalkeeper (currently Lee Grant) and the left back Erik Pieters. Luckily for him also, is that most of his team will be playing on Saturday. He might sweat over the inclusions of Gareth Barry or Daley Blind in the Everton versus Manchester United game on Sunday, but could fill his Defence and Midfield with players with Saturday fixtures and save himself that headache, while more than likely opening up a sizable lead in our matchup! His top scorer, Burnley’s Sam Vokes, does travel to Stoke though, so while these players could keep each other busy, they could end up taking points off each other, so that even the sting of a Vokes goal will be tempered by the points Grant would lose.

Elsewhere in his squad he will be looking to some of his more reliable players to gather him points. His highest salaried player, Man City’s Fernandinho, averages nearly 17 points a game, but does have a tricky game against Chelsea in the opening fixture of the weekend. Joel spent big in defence and will perhaps be disappointed with the returns so far from Wes Morgan (Leicester City) and Jose Fonte (Southampton). These two players do have fixtures with some of the Premier League’s lesser teams in Sunderland and Crystal Palace respectively. Complementing Vokes in attack he will have to choose between Shinji Okazaki and Joshua King. They have started 18 games between them, but have only managed three goals, so they are perhaps due a goal this week.

What I Need To Happen

Speaking of being due a goal, Jack Wilshere will return to the Bournemouth side this week. The Cherries host Coutinho-less Liverpool, and a clean sheet there rake in the points for my side. Steve Cook also owes me a solid 90 minutes after last week’s horror show. Another player returning this week is Stoke’s Joe Allen. Fresh from suspension, Allen will hopefully rediscover the form of a few weeks ago. The Stoke versus Burnley fixture will include Allen as well as Arnautovic for the home side, against Michael Keane and the Burnley goalkeeper with the away side. Last week Paul Robinson found himself in goals after Tom Heaton was ruled out with a toe injury. A highly entertaining nil all draw would be ideal here. But a boring draw that ends up shown last on all the highlight shows is more likely.

Has Mkhitaryan done enough to earn a start?

Another game that will include four of my squad will be the Sunday four o’clock kick-off between Everton and Manchester United. Though if all four players do play, I will be genuinely surprised. Baines does seem to have settled back into the side after injury, but Mirallas has seen himself fall out of the side after a number of anonymous performances and a run of poor results for the Toffees. The Man Utd team is even harder to predict. Lingard and Mkhitaryan have been in and out of the side over their last four fixtures, with perhaps the Armenian midfielder more likely to gain a starting berth this weekend.

Predictions

12 points separate the top 18 sides in this league. The longest win streak is only three games, by @FantasyYIRMA in 17^th. Any team can beat any other, so even a fixture between top (@jwl_15) and bottom (@DFS_Hambazaza) cannot be predicted with 100% certainty. Only three of nine matchups correctly predicted last weekend. Are things going to improve in Gameweek 14? Follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to find out.

Good Luck Everyone

@jwl_15 over @DFS_Hambazaza

@RotoZdroik over @BenDinnery

@EPL_MOstradamus over @cjradune

@wrigavin over @nikarg

@RotoWireAndrew over @FuzzyWarbles

@SportsByGotti over @jasonuk17

@nealjthurman over @SmokeyLoogy

@TRKingston over @TAMc10

@TomSunderland_ over @FantasyYIRMA

IEFSA Fantasy League 2016/17 Draft Recap

Recently the draft for the IEFSA Fantasy League for the upcoming season was held on Fantrax. I was determined to assemble a better squad than the one I saddled myself with at the start of last season. Even though I claimed a respectable midtable position, I was constantly battling with injuries, out of form players, players not making it into their teams starting elevens, and of course, fixture bias against my team.

Things get a little more complicated with this year’s draft though, as there are more teams involved, and some players can be held over from last year’s game. For my part I held on to Marko Arnautovic for his salary of $1. The Stoke City top scorer was one of my best performers last season and I hope he can keep up that form into 2017. Let me explain the make up for the rest of my squad after the draft was completed.

In goals I went with Tom Heaton of Burnley. I got burned badly last year after spending $31 to get the Chelsea goalkeepers and didn`t feel like over spending in this area again. Burnley did not have a bad defensive record in the Championship and I’m hoping Heaton can emulate someone like Gomes, who gained lots of points for Watford in their first season back in the top division. With all the fantasy teams taking a team each, if things go wrong then he will be very hard to trade away. I could very well be stuck with him.

I`ve coupled Heaton up with his teammate Michael Keane in defence. Keane is a regular at the back and could perhaps be fancied to get three or four goals this year. I only spent $3 and won`t be too hurt if I have to jettison him later in the season. I put most of my money into two other players to make up my defence. Arsenal`s Bellerin cost $25 and is one of the highest scorers in the game, while Leighton Baines cost $19 and is looking to bounce back this year after an injury hit 2015/16. Everton should improve at the back under new man Ronald Koeman, plus I’m hoping Baines' frequent attacks forward can bring some joy too.

Last year my marquee signing was Memphis Depay…….. This year I spent even more money on another Manchester United player. I ended up in a bit of a bidding war for the services of Mkhitaryan and when the dust had settled he was in my squad for $71, which is way more than I had planned to pay. But I felt I had to secure a signing after seeing a number of other big names slip away. I will need the Armenian to play every game and to continue the form that saw him score nearly once every three games in the Bundesliga last season.

 

If he's half the player Tom Cleverley was then my money was well spent.

To compliment him in midfield I picked up two (currently injured) Arsenal players, Wilshire and Cazorla. I`m banking on them breaking into the Arsenal team sooner rather than later, and they are definitely an upgrade on the two Arsenal players I had last year in Welbeck and Coquelin. To round out the midfield I brought in Kevin Mirallas for $12, again this is a player I expect to be rejuvenated with the arrival of Koeman at Goodison Park. The last midfielder I took a punt on was Joe Allen. If he had stayed at Liverpool I would have never touched him, but at Stoke he will surely be given more game time. He likes to keep possession and I hope he will be able to set up a good few chances for my other Stoke player, Arnautovic.

All that`s left is to look at are the players who will supply the goals in my squad, the forwards. Arnautovic has already been mentioned. The two other Forwards did not have great seasons last year in the Premier League, but under the guidance of new managers maybe it will be their time to shine. Pedro was signed for $9 and as he is not a guaranteed starter at Chelsea, he will probably occupy a bench spot on my team. The main Forward I have will be Fabio Borini.

No, hear me out! Borini got five goals last year in a largely hopeless Sunderland side. This year they should be a bit tighter and more organized under David Moyes. If Moyes can get goals out of Jelavic and Anichebe, he can surely get goals out of Borini.

 

Borini is due a goal, and I'm due a huge slice of luck!

I still have some money to dabble in the free agent market if there are any transfers to the Premier League before the end of the month. I will probably look for a defender to rotate into my side, or perhaps a more consistent midfielder if my Arsenal players end up spending most of their time on the treatment table.

The opening matchup is fast approaching. Look out for a preview before the weekend. And to keep up with all the goings on in the league, follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter.