A weekend of international fixtures is not really a time of
rest for fantasy managers, but a period of worry and apprehension as you wait
for news of your players as they play games in far flung corners of the globe.
Will they come back injury free? How many minutes will they play? Will Kevin
Mirallas come off the bench for Belgium in Cyprus?? These kinds of questions
have been keeping me up all night. And of course some of my worst fears were
realised when my star signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan limped off after 38 minutes in
a friendly against the Czech Rep. Mirallas didn’t get on the pitch against
Cyprus though, so a small plus point there I guess.
In Week 3 my side picked up a tough victory against @jwl_15
to get to six points and remain in ninth place. A Cazorla goal and consistent
double points hauls from most of my players saw me beat out Hazard and Fer
goals, and a Courtois clean sheet, by just over six points. My lowest scoring
player was Fabio Borini. The Italian played just over an hour and is now
injured for three months. My most expensive forward will need to be replaced.
But I don’t need to mention injury tales of woe to this week’s opponent
@BenDinnery. His side currently has five players on the sidelines.
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| Fabio Borini is a 'Spot The Ball' generators dream |
@BenDinnery’s Team
Outside the injuries, Ben’s starting side average over 12
points per player in the right combination. Injuries will restrict his options
this week. But Ben loves injuries, this won’t faze him! He has come up against three
tough fixtures so far and is looking for his first win of the season.
Spearheading his attack will be in form Forward Diego Costa. Costa has a good
record against Swansea and Ben will be hoping he can continue his good run at
the Liberty Stadium on Sunday. The only other player to score for his side is
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Arsenal host an out of sorts Southampton side. If
these two players do score though, it will hamper his backline as he has Amat
(Swansea) and van Dijk (Southampton) in Defence.
His Midfield is very Hull heavy. Livermore and Meyler are
two of the handful of fit Tigers players that have made such a good start to
the season. They travel to Burnley this weekend and will be facing off directly
with my goalkeeper and one of my defenders. A goal from either of these players
would give him a leg up in our match-up. Even if they do not manage a goal between
them, they still put in a lot of work that has helped them average over 13 points
per game so far this year. Speaking of work rate, his highest scoring
midfielder is Stoke’s Glenn Whelan, average over 15 points a game. This weekend
the Potters host Spurs.
What I Need To Happen
As I’ve mentioned, Burnley keeping Hull out would give me
the advantage in the tie. I will also need my Arsenal and Stoke Players to outperform
those belonging to @BenDinnery. Cazorla is my highest scorer to date and will
surely get more opportunities for points against the Saints. Marko Arnautovic
still has to get off the mark this season and it would be most welcomed if he
did so this weekend. With Mkhitaryan red flagged with injury, I’ve drafted in
Wanyama of Spurs. With lots of options in Midfield I will reserve judgement on
the make-up of my three M and one OF
slots until team sheets are announced.
Now I know what everyone is thinking this weekend. With
Borini out injured, where will the goals for my team come from? Arnoutovic has
so far drawn blanks and Pedro is struggling to get into Chelsea’s starting 11,
but I have an ace up my sleeve. You see Bournemouth have secured the services
of one Jack Wilshire. England’s most promising midfielder will be pulling the
strings for the Cherries attack for the rest of the season. Hopefully he can
return to the form of 2013-14 which saw him score three league goals…
Predictions
Four correct and five wrong for the games two weeks ago. It’s
not getting any easier to predict these matchups in @THE_IEFSA Fantasy League
on Fantrax. All eyes this weekend will be on the game between first placed
@cjradune and top scorer (4th placed) @TomSunderland_
Follow all
these guys on Twitter to keep up with the action.
Here are this game week’s predictions. Good Luck Everyone.
@EPL_MOstradamus over @TAMc10
@cjradune over @TomSunderland_
@jasonuk17 over @DFS_Hambazaza
@RotoZdroik over @jwl_15
@wrigavin over @nealjthurman
@nikarg over @FantasyYIRMA
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