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 23: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

No fixtures for several weeks thank to FA Cup and League Cup action. While I would usually be glad of the break in order for my side to heal up all those injuries, I would probably have been better off if games were being played! Because, barring we’ve entered some bizzaro-fantasy league, it looks like I have the most in-form side in the league with four wins in a row. I ended @jwl_15’s outside change of the league title last time out thanks to two goals from Tom Davies and Luka Milivojevic. Davies is new to the side as I picked him up before kick-off, along with Swansea Defender Mike van der Hoorn. With 18.9 points the Swansea player could well be one to hold onto for a couple of weeks. Swansea play at home to West Ham this Saturday.

Can Tom Davis continue scoring and help Everton away at Burnley?

The IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer doesn’t dole out any easy fixtures, and Gameweek 23 is no different. This week’s opponents are @EPL_MOstradamus. A side that has an identical 9 wins and 13 loss record. @EPL_MOstradamus does have a big advantage in fantasy points scored though. He averages over 110 points per game, my side on the other hand averages a league low 103. The last time we met was before Christmas, and I managed to get the win thanks to a Joe Allen (who else!) goal and assist against West Brom. Chris will be super determined to get the three points this week as he tries to climb away from relegation, and he definitely doesn’t want to fall below my side. (There’ll be no catching me!)

@EPL_MOstradamus’s Team

Chris’s top scorer is Heung-Min Son with seven. Next on the goal-scoring charts is Laurent Depoitre who has netted five times. To help his stuttering Forward line, where Benteke has returned a paltry two goals, Everton’s new Turkish signing Cenk Tosun was brought in for $20. Tosun has struggled for game time under Sam Allardyce in the first two months of the year and could turn out to be an expensive signing who rots deep in the bench. He is not @EPL_MOstradamus’s highest salaried player though, that honour belongs to Nathan Redmond. Like Benteke, he is another player who has failed to reproduce any sort of consistent form this season.

It's all becoming a little too easy for Man City and Danilo.

The player who bags Chris the most fantasy points per game at the moment is Manchester City Defender Danilo. The Brazilian has two goals and an assist from 15 games. @EPL_MOstradamus’s Defence is put together on a budget seeing as big signing ($39) Benjamin Mendy, also of Man City, is a long-term injury absentee. Danilo only cost $1, as did Erik Pieters and Matthew Lowton. The only cash splashed was on Charlie Daniels of Bournemouth, $13. In goals Chris has Ben Foster of West Brom. And as a bit of a trick card, he has Scott McTominay in his squad. If our match-up is pretty close, he could throw the Manchester United youngster into the OF roster slot and hope he and Benteke bring home the points needed for a win on Monday night.

What I Need To Happen

If it does go down to the wire of Monday night, I would think, going on form, McTominay would outscore Milivojevic. It would perhaps be in my best interest in getting as many players who are starting games out early, rather than waiting on the line-ups for that fixture. I wouldn’t want to be leaving a spot for Victor Lindelof for instance. Most of my team are playing away from home this weekend. And on top of that, most of my squad will be facing teams inside the top 10 in the league. Can Tom Ince score away at Spurs? Will Ayoze Perez score away at Liverpool? Nine times out of ten, the answer to these questions has to be a no.

Thankfully there are hardly any throw-ins in the modern game.

In some good news, it does seem that Serge Aurier will be returning to the Tottenham back-line again. Thankfully, Fantrax don’t track foul throws……. do they??? With Aurier against Huddersfield, van der Hoorn against West Ham, and my goalkeeper Nick Pope hosting Everton. It could be the defensive side of that game which gives me a platform in order to have a chance at victory.

Predictions

A lot of big money moves over the last few weeks as a few sides get desperate in their bids to either gain promotion or avoid relegation. @SportsByGotti sweet talked @DFS_Hambazaza into giving him Mo Salah in exchange for Jordan Ayew and some scrubs. @FuzzyWarbles beat @TRKingston in the previous gameweek, meaning both are now tied on 17 wins, with Todd claiming first place in the IEFSA Premier on fantasy points scored.

Five correct from nine last time out once again, so let’s try and at the very least beat that this time out. Here are this week’s predictions. Don’t forget to check out all the action on Twitter from @THE_IEFSA.

Good Luck Everyone

@RotoZdroik over @nikarg

@jwl_15 over @TAMc10

@TRKingston over @FantasyYIRMA

@FuzzyWarbles over @wrigavin

@jasonuk17 over @cjradune

@SportsByGotti over @jforquer11

@RotoWireAndrew over @nealjthurman

@TomSunderland_ over @FPL_MNOP

@BenDinnery over @DFS_Hambazaza

Week 20 IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

Not a massive haul of points last weekend (113) but thankfully it was enough to squeeze past @RotoZdroik. I was made to sweat towards the end though, as after a poor start @RotoZdroik had three players left to play with me thinking I was home and dry. But then, one by one, they all scored! Bellerin, Sane and Lukaku all found the net, in what I am reliably informed would have been a 44-1 treble at your local bookies.

Bellerin was one bright spot for Arsenal against Bournemouth

That win doesn’t see my side off the bottom though, as 9^th placed @nikarg also won. And against league leader @TRKingston no less. He also scored the highest number of points for the week, and his second highest points total of the season. Nik is in great form having won five of his last six in the league. Why am I telling you all this? Well, because the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer has saw fit to make sure the bottom two face off this week. All the way back in Gameweek 1 @nikarg beat my side by a whopping 46 points. I was able to extract some revenge in Gameweek 12 when I outscored him by 15 points.

@nikarg’s Team

Eriksen and Mahrez did the damage in the opening Gameweek thanks to combining for three assists, and @nikarg still has those two players in his team. James Ward-Prowse scored 18.6 points that day and the Southampton man has also remained in his side. Up front, it looks like Chicharito could be heading away from West Ham this January. Jermain Defoe is still out injured at Bournemouth. That means Nik will have to call on Shane Long to do the goal-scoring. The Irishman did score this month in the Premier League, which ended a goal drought of over 1,300 minutes. He had failed to score since February 2017, and that was against Sunderland so shouldn’t really count.

Eriksen is due on off day, or perhaps a straight up day off??

At the back @nikarg will hope the good form of Lewis Dunk at Brighton, Jonjoe Kenny of Everton, and Paulo Zabaleta of West Ham United continues. All three average a double figure points return per game. With Dunk average almost 16 points per game. His Goalkeeper is whoever gets put in between the sticks for Crystal Palace. At the moment Wayne Hennessey is winning that battle against Julian Speroni.

What I Need To Happen

Last weekend I brought in Ayoze Perez of Newcastle and Grzegorz Krychowiak of West Brom. Neither set the world on fire, they just went about their 90 minutes picking up points here and there. Unfortunately, both have tough fixtures this weekend meaning a nice 10 point haul could be beyond them. Perez has to travel to a smarting Manchester City side. While Krychowiak also has an away fixture, West Brom have to take a trip to Goodison Park. In fact, I could easily have to field a whole team (bar the goalkeeper) who will be playing away from home. Even then, my Goalkeeper Nick Pope of Burnley has to face Manchester United. Hardly a banker home fixture.

Dlaczego jest tyle spółgłosek w języku polskim?

Injuries seem to be blighting my team this new year. Maybe I will have to dip into the murky pool of Free Agency again. Zlatan is still recovering. Both of my Swansea ‘Stars’ are sidelined. Renato Sanches and Tammy Abraham. And they have been joined by Everton’s Michael Keane who has picked up a foot injury. All in all it looks like I'll need five or six of Nik’s side to have an off day, While one of my players deflects one in off his arse or something. Tom Ince more than likely. Although the smart money is on a Shane long hat-trick this weekend.

Predictions

Lots of close games last weekend. @wrigavin and @FantasyYIRMA were separated by only 1.1 pts. Games like that played havoc with my predictions as only six of nine were correct. That is an improvement on recent weeks, but let’s try and improve again this time out. To follow all these games please head over to @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. Here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone

@TRKingston over @RotoZdroik

@FuzzyWarbles over @EPL_MOstradamus

@jwl_15 over @FantasyYIRMA

@wrigavin over @TAMc10

@RotoWireAndrew over @FPL_MNOP

@BenDinnery over @TomSunderland_

@cjradune over @SportsByGotti

@jforquer11 over @nealjthurman

@jasonuk17 over @DFS_Hambazaza

Week 16: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

Sometimes you ride your luck a little bit, you get the rub of the green, the bounce of the ball, and no amount of IEFSA/Fantrax ‘scoring’ can prevent an upset victory. One such victory occurred last weekend when my side topped the high flying @FuzzyWarbles by a score of 105.3 – 102.6. I had clung onto the lead going into the Manchester Derby on Sunday, knowing I had one player to play (whoever might take the field out of Zlatan, Rojo and Lindelof. It was Rojo who started), yet @FuzzyWarbles still had Aguero to play. But the skillful Argentinian was sitting on the City bench. As the game was going on, Rojo was booked and taken off injured at half time. My lead was slim. If Aguero was summoned to the fray I was surely looking at defeat. City were always in the lead though and were never chasing the game which might have improved the chances of Aguero seeing some action. Ninety minutes came and went, Aguero went unused, and the three points were mine.

Aguero has often sat out the easier games this season

I don’t have time to celebrate that victory though as my team will be thrown straight in against @TAMc10 in a fierce relegation six-pointer. Both our sides have four wins and twelve points. The only thing separating our sides at the moment is fantasy points scored. Oh and @nikarg in ninth place. The last time we faced each other was in Gameweek nine, where @TAMc10 beat my side by over 70 points! I’ll be hoping for something closer this weekend.

@TAMc10’s Team

An Alexis Sanchez goal and assist, as well as a Shane Duffy clean sheet, did the damage that day. He will be hoping for more of the same, Sanchez plays against Newcastle at home and Duffy hosts low scorers Burnley. He can also call on the return recently of Forward Callum Wilson of Bournemouth. The Cherries entertain Liverpool on Sunday, and Klopp’s side have been known to leak the odd goal or two when playing away from home. @TAMc10 may be streets ahead come Sunday though. In fact, he could be out of sight by the time the Saturday three o’clock kick-offs are in view.

If Duffy scores against Pope, @TAMc10 is almost assured of three points

The early kick-off is between Leicester City and Crystal Palace. Normally I would have the ever-reliable Luka Milivojevic in my side, but after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season, he will be suspended for this game. That leaves Tate with two players playing where he can build up a sizable lead. Under the right conditions of course. Kasper Schmeichel will be keeping goal, averaging nearly 17 points per game. While Wilfred Ndidi will be bossing the Midfield scoring an average of over 13 points per game. I expect to be 30 points down before my first player has even laced up his boots.

What I Need To Happen

I need Palace to halt this winning streak that Leicester have been on lately and come away with a victory. Yes, it looks again like I will have to hope that my opponent has a bad day at the office rather than that my players will run up an unbeatable score. The vast chunk of my players are playing with sides struggling in the bottom half of the table, and if they are not, they are not an automatic choice to get into their teams starting eleven. Now would be a good time for managers to start rotating their squads for the busy Christmas New Years games. Fingers crossed some of my squad get rotated into teams, rather than out.

Sanchez is due a good game. Please be due a good game!

If I am within spitting distance of @TAMc10 after Saturdays and Sundays games, I could have three players gaining me points in the Monday night fixture between Swansea and Everton. This includes my top scorer, 4 goals, in Tammy Abraham. My top Fantasy Points scoring player is my Goalkeeper Nick Pope. The Burnley stopper has kept seven clean sheets, and if he can do so again against Brighton, then my side may have a fighting chance.

Predictions

Seven from nine last weekend in what was a very entertaining round. @nikarg scored a week high 164 points, which got him the win and kept my side on the bottom of the table.  I only managed to correctly prediction one of the four midweek cup ties. So, the less said about that the better. The magic of the cup eh?

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

@TRKingston over @jwl_15

@EPL_MOstradamus over @FantasyYIRMA

@FuzzyWarbles over @nikarg

@RotoZdroik over @wrigavin

@cjradune over @jforquer11

@FPL_MNOP over @nealjthurman

@RotoWireAndrew over @TomSunderland_

@BenDinnery over @jasonuk17

@DFS_Hambazaza over @SportsByGotti

Week 12: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

Young, Alli, Bong, @FantasyYIRMA, your boys took a hell of a beating! Burnley and Bournemouth were the architects of your downfall; a Steve Cook winner and a Nick Pope clean sheet were your undoing. How does it feel? How does it feel when Gareth Barry does a whole lot of nothing, except get booked, and gets more points than your Vardys and your Rooneys and your Ozils. How does it feel?????

Only one Cook needed to spoil Newcastle's day

This was my side’s second victory of the season. The first victory strangely enough also came before an international break. Perhaps my players up their games in order to cement places for their countries at the very highest level of competition. If this is true, the next international break can’t come soon enough. *checks fixtures* The next international break is in March…. Bugger. I’m not sure how the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture compiler swung that one, but it’s surely just further proof of the uphill struggles my side must face. And struggle it will, as this week sees a fixture against @nikarg, the only other side with two wins to his name. This is surely the match-upnic of the weekend. Nik has been eyeing up this fixture for a while now. So much so, that he has lost his last nine games in a row in preparation.

@nikarg’s Team

We last met in Gameweek 1, where Nik picked up the victory thanks to two Christian Eriksen assists. It’s hard to believe but Eriksen has not provided an assist since then and he scored almost a fifth of his season’s total points in that opening game. The Dane is coming into the North London Derby in great form though, having scored three goals midweek against Ireland in the World Cup playoffs. Arsenal’s defence are not going to be as generous as the Irish were in Dublin though.

Christian Eriksen ran riot midweek. (also pictured, Ireland's answer to Eriksen; Aiden McGeady)

The rest of @nikarg’s players, apart from perhaps Riyad Mahrez, will have somewhat favourable fixtures this weekend. Sam Vokes at Forward will face Swansea at home. He could also rotate in Defoe or Chicharito who are playing Huddersfield and Watford respectively. That’s providing either of them start for their clubs. Andros Townsend in Midfield will be up against Everton on Saturday. The Toffees haven’t kept a clean sheet since the opening day of the season. Unless you count a game against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup in September, but no one counts a game against Sunderland! At the back he has Scott Dann of Palace, and a couple of players who face off on Monday night. Lewis Dunk and Ryan Shawcross both average over 15 points a game. If @nikarg is behind in our match-up going into this Monday night fixture, just watch as Brighton and Stoke play out a nil all draw.

What I Need To Happen

I have no less than five players who will be sweating over late fitness tests and are basically game-time decisions for their managers. But….. But….. if the stars align for my side, then this man is back…

 

Zlatan is back. Quick, everyone look busy!

You may as well hand that IEFSA Primary League Trophy over to me now if Zlatan returns this week. He inspired his own nation Sweden into knocking out Italy in the World Cup Playoffs and he didn’t even have to play! Everyone had an eleven-week head start, but playtime is over. Manchester United play Newcastle United at home in the evening kick-off on Saturday. Zlatan could well be the Premier League’s top scorer come Saturday night.

Predictions

Six correct predictions last gameweek, as several tight fixtures went against me. There is no doubt as to the tie of the round this week, it’s my side against @nikarg. While the Secondary League has a rather intriguing set of fixtures because the top four all play each other. Remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep abreast of the goings on in the league. Here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone

@TRKingston over @RotoZdroik

@FuzzyWarbles over @EPL_MOstradamus

@jwl_15 over @FantasyYIRMA

@wrigavin over @TAMc10

@cjradune over @SportsByGotti

@RotoWireAndrew over @SmokeyLoogy

@BenDinnery over @TomSunderland_

@jforquer11 over @nealjthurman

@DFS_Hambazaza over @jasonuk17

Week 35: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

An odd week in IEFSA last time out as managers scrambled to get a full set of players playing. My side was one of only eight teams who got nine scoring players earning points. And this was only after the late acquisition of Evandro at Hull because the previous weekends big signing, Tom Huddlestone, found himself on the bench. Evandro only contributed 4.65 points though, so I don’t know why I bothered. Especially since Joe Allen had made a miraculous recovery from injury and plundered 15.6 points away at Swansea. These points were lost to the bench. Allen got more points on his own than the playing trio of Evandro, and the normally more reliable, Arnautovic and Mirallas.

Joe Allen couldn't stop Stoke going down to Swansea last weekend

A low scoring week then, with the total coming to 100.2 points. This was enough to beat @FuzzyWarbles, who was hampered by the omission of Man City players from the gameweek. Steve can feel doubly unlucky, as he would have beaten five other sides with his total of 70 points.

This week could see the title being decided if @RotoZdroik can avoid defeat to @TAMc10. I don’t have time to worry about that though, as the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer has handed me a fixture with @nealjthurman. My side is still in fifth position, but with the right set of results, I could rise up to second with a win.

@nealjthurman’s Team

Neal is out for revenge after I beat his side by a slim 1.25 points in Gameweek 16. I had a Leighton Baines assist to thank for the victory that day, as a few of @nealjthurman’s team didn’t show up. Neal may have a number of players on the missing list this week too. He has four red flags to content with and a few players struggling for gametime with their respective clubs. Of course, one of those players that will be struggling for playing time for a considerable amount of time is Joey Barton. The Burnley midfielder has been handed an eighteen month ban for gambling offences. He placed 1,260 bets over a ten-year period, including 15 on games involving teams he played for at the time. Burnley travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday evening, and someone else will have to fill Barton’s ‘Dafabet’ sponsored jersey for the game. In Neal’s team, that hole will probably be filled by Man Utd’s Ander Herrera, if he can survive the fickle hand of rotation.

What odds @nealjthurman keeping Barton in his squad until next season?

Building from the back is probably @nealjthurman’s best bet this weekend. In goals he will have Ben Foster of West Brom. The Baggies are usually stiff opposition at home, and face a Leicester side who have failed to ignite in front of goals this season. In that game he will also have Christian Fuchs lining out for Leicester. His other two defenders are Ben Gibson of Middlesboro and Andrew Robertson of Hull City. Those players average over 12 and 11 points per game respectively.

What I Need To Happen

Joe Allen is back, so that means Evandro will probably be dropped back to Free Agency (cue a brace against the Saints on Saturday now!) The other Midfield spots looked to be filled by Kevin Mirallas and Luka Milivojevic. I have a few choices up front. Marko Arnautovic missed a penalty last weekend, and surely won’t repeat the trick against West Ham this week, though he’ll probably be taken off spot kick duties. Fabio Borini will more than likely start from the bench for Sunderland again, although he is the last player to score for the Black Cats and might be called on again in a must win game against Bournemouth. Pedro is the other Forward option. The Chelsea man was only a substitute in the last game, but still gained an assist, and will surely get some minutes against Everton on Sunday.

Arnautovic will hope for an improved display at home to West Ham

Trying to stop Pedro doing anything positive will be Defender Leighton Baines. Averaging nearly 15 points a game, the left back will be in direct opposition to the Chelsea Forward in this gameweek. Elsewhere across the defence, we welcomed back Hector Bellerin from injury in midweek. Arsenal have recently changed to a back three though, and we have yet to see how this will impact on the Spaniard averaging over 12 fantasy points per game. Two Burnley players will face Crystal Palace and hopefully keep them from scoring. Keane and Heaton have been some of the more reliable players in my side this season, and will continue to be as long as Sean Dyche’s side don’t decide to head to the beach too early.

Predictions

Only four correct predictions last week as the fixture list really messed up some sides. Not @RotoZdroik though, who rolls on, and as mentioned, only has @TAMc10 standing between him and the title. To keep track of all the action, please follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. And remember there is a Monday night game this week in the shape of Watford hosting Liverpool, so don't start etching the name on the trophy until then. Anyway, here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone.

@FuzzyWarbles over @nikarg

@TomSunderland_ over @jforquer11

@EPL_MOstradamus over @RotoWireAndrew

@TRKingston over @SmokeyLoogy

@wrigavin over @jasonuk17

@jwl_15 over @FantasyYIRMA

@cjradune over @BenDinnery

@RotoZroik over @TAMc10

@SportsByGotti over @DFS_Hambazaza

Week 32: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

The trio of Mahrez, Redmond and Deeney combined for a total of over 75 points, and as a result my side suffered their second defeat in less than a week. This defeat drops my side down to third in the league and means I was not able to capitalize on the loss suffered by table topper @RotoZdroik. Though I suppose things could have been worse, as @Smokey_Loogy left midweek Liverpool goalscorer Divok Origi on the bench for our match-up. That recent run of results means that only three points separate the team in second from the team in eighth.

The IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer have engineered a very interesting league table, and will try and send my side tumbling further down this weekend when I have to play a side who scored more points than mine in midweek, should have its best player back from injury, and will have three Man Utd and two Arsenal players, who are playing sides in 20^th and 16^th respectively. That side is managed by @RotoWireAndrew. Andrew’s team sits in 13^th place and is hoping for a late season push to rise up the table.

@RotoWireAndrew`s Team

Andrew spent most of his transfer budget on one man. Paul Pogba. The French midfielder has been recovering from a hamstring injury, but after a 45 minute run out on Tuesday, he seems poised to return to the Manchester United starting lineup. Pogba is Andrew`s highest scoring fantasy player, and the sixth highest player in the league overall. Pogba also has the third highest score per game average with 22.28 points. A total only beaten by Alexis Sanchez and Christian Eriksen. In comparison, my side`s highest scorer and highest per game average player, is Joe Allen. Helping Pogba out in Midfield for @RotoWireAndrew will be in form James Ward-Prowse of Southampton.

Only @RotoWireAndrew will have a bigger smile this week.

Another player on a positive run of late for Andrew is Theo Walcott. The Arsenal player has scored in his last two games, after having not previously scored since before Christmas. The 25.4 points Walcott scored against West Ham was his second highest total of the season, and you would be confident he could earn a similar score away to Crystal Palace on Monday night. @RotoWireAndrew will also have defender Nacho Monreal in that game. I could only have Milivojevic for that fixture, so I will probably need a sizable lead going into Monday.

What I Need To Happen

The only goal that Forward Fabio Borini scored in his 16 games this season came against Man Utd. Thankfully, Sunderland play the Red Devils again this weekend, but this time at home, meaning a Borini goal is bound to happen. Please mark your calendars for this occasion. With Pogba being back fit, he could impact the chances of my player Henrik Mikhitaryan getting 90 minutes at the Stadium of Light. Seeing United suffering a spate of injuries lately, it should have been the time the Armenian shone and repaid some of the $72 I paid for him at the start of the season. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to have been the case and Mikhitaryan can't be assured of a starting spot.

Wilshere is not even Arsenal's Plan B (do Arsenal have a Plan B?)

I may have to search for goals in other areas. Normally, with two players getting to take on Liverpool, I would be licking my lips at the prospect of goals. Sadly, Stoke City have only scored one goal in their last four games and seem to be clueless as to who to play up front. At various times, Walters, Crouch, Bony, Berahino, Diouf, and even someone called Bojan, had a stab at being a striker. Most of the Potters goals have actually come from the two other players in my squad. Joe Allen has six goals and Marko Arnautovic has five. I will need them to bail me out this week once again. If not, Plan B, as always, will be Jack Wilshere.

 

Has his time at Stoke prepared Bojan for a Bundesliga relegation battle?

Predictions

Nearly a perfect set of predictions last week, only ruined by @EPL_MOstradamus upsetting leader @RotoZdroik! I’m going to say that the match-up of this gameweek is the tie between @FuzzyWarbles (19-12) and @wrigavin (18-13). Here are this week’s set of predictions. Plus, don't forget to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep track of all the action.

Good Luck Everyone.

@Smokey_Loogy over @jforquer11

@FuzzyWarbles over @wrigavin

@FantasyYIRMA over @nealjthurman

@nikarg over @cjradune

@TAMc10 over @TomSunderland_

@EPL_MOstadamus over @SportsByGotti

@TRKingston over @DFS_Hambazaza

@RotoZdroik over @jasonuk17

@jwl_15 over @BenDinnery

Week 27: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

A Pedro goal and assist against Swansea for Chelsea, coupled with a Michael Keane goal for Burnley away at Hull, was enough to help get me the win against @SportsByGotti last week. That win keeps me two games back from leader @RotoZdroik. A lot of teams would have been hampered by players not having a fixture in Gameweek 26, but no-one will have that excuse this week.

The IEFSA Fantrax fixture computer throws up a rare sight this week, as both goalkeepers will be on opposing sides in the same Premier League fixture. But with the compiler forever against my team, my opponent will have the home advantage in this one. In fact, all bar my Stoke City players will be playing away from home this week. And who is the manager given the leg up this week? Why @TAMc10 of course. A team that has won six out of his last seven games. The only loss being by less than five points.

@TAMc10’s Team

That goalkeeper who has a tidy home fixture this week is Lukasz Fabianski of Swansea. The Swans host a Burnley side who are the lowest away scorers in the league. His backline includes several high scoring Defenders. Azpilicueta of Chelsea averages over 15 points a game. While Koscielny of Arsenal also averages over 15. He can also call upon the talents of Vincent Kompany, who appears to finally be returning from his leg injury.

Despite how bad Liverpool have been playing, it's hard to see Sanchez being rested again.

Supplying the goals for Tate will be his main man Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean already has 17 to his name this season, as well as eight assists. Second on his goalscoring chart is Liverpool player Adam Lallana. The Midfielder has provided seven goals and seven assists in his 24 appearances. These two players will face each other at Anfield in the late Saturday kick-off. @TAMc10 will be hoping for lots of goals (and probably an Arsenal win!)

What I Need To Happen

Jesse Lingard was discarded last week in favour of Crystal Palace new boy Luka Milivojevic. The 25-year-old Serbian would not be as big a goal threat as Lingard, but I do feel that he will get more game time between now and the end of the season. Mkhitaryan is also out injured, so I needed a player who was more sure of a start coming into this gameweek. Ibrahim Afellay is still an option, but for how long? The two games Stoke play in the next five days will go a long way to showing if he fits into Mark Hughes plans going forward.

Lingard's goal in the League Cup Final could be his last for awhile. (or i'll look like an idiot)

With the vast majority of my players playing away, clean sheets might be hard to come by. And if I am looking for goals I will have to fall back on my two big players to deliver the goods once again. Pedro travels to West Ham, never an easy fixture, and Conte could shuffle his attacking options for this game too. While Joe Allen (yes, he’s my big goal threat) faces Middlesbrough. ‘Boro have the fourth best away defensive record in the league though, and rarely go three games without a clean sheet. My other goal threat is Jack Wilshere, but he travels to Old Trafford to face Manchester United this week in the early kick-off. That ground doesn’t get to see too many goals, never mind goals form the visiting team.

Predictions

Lots of moving and shaking going on this week as @cjradune sends Jamie Vardy to @FantasyYIRMA in exchange for Wilfried Zaha. It will take a few games to see who has got the upper hand in that exchange. The big clash in @THE_IEFSA this week will see leader @RotoZdroik face third placed @wrigavin.

Last week’s predictions went eight to one, with only @TomSunderland_ upsetting my clean sweep. Here are this week’s predictions. Good Luck Everyone.

@SportsByGotti over @cjradune

@FantasyYIRMA over @DFS_Hambazaza

@RotoZdroik over @wrigavin

@BenDinnery over @SmokeyLoogy

@RotoWireAndrew over @jwl_15

@jforquer11 over @jasonuk17

@FuzzyWarbles over @TRKingston

@EPL_MOstradamus over @nealjthurman

@nikarg over @TomSunderland_

Week 23: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

The points total my side achieved in Gameweek 22 would have been enough to beat eight other sides in the league, but not @jwl_15. A Chelsea clean sheet along with a Victor Moses assist, and strangely, a Christian Kabasele goal, had Jake winning by a comfortable margin. That loss pushed my team down to fifth place, 12 points off leader @RotoZdroik, who won for the fifth week in a row. This week’s fixtures are being played over Tuesday and Wednesday, and it encompasses the end of January and the first of February. This of course means some teams could be unsettled by the moving and shaking that happens on Transfer Deadline Day.^TM Most of my squad looks like it will be unaffected though. Unless Real Madrid can cough up what’s needed to prize Joe Allen from Stoke.

I bet you thought Watford had stopped scoring goals

The IEFSA Fantrax fixture computer will look to unsettle my team though by pitting my side against a team who has won their last two games; a team who would have beaten me last week; a team with two of the most inform strikers in the Premier League at the moment in Diego Costa and Andy Carroll. That team belongs to @BenDinnery. The last time we met it was a Costa brace that gave Ben the victory by less than two points. Even with all that is stacked against me, I’m hopeful of gaining some form of revenge this midweek.

@BenDinnery’s Team

Costa has 15 goals so far this season, and barring him hopping on a plane to China Tuesday morning, he will be facing a trip to Liverpool. The Reds have seemingly thrown in the towel for this year over the last few games, and are struggling to keep lower tier Championships sides out, so what hope against a fired up Chelsea. Andy Carroll only has five goals this year. I say ‘only’, but he would be joint top scorer in my side! Plus you have to consider he has only started seven games in the league because of injury.

More stellar Crystal Palace defending

Looking around his squad, most of the points have come from Midfield. Harry Arter of Bournemouth averages nearly 15 points a game and will be hopeful of doing more than that at home to a woeful Crystal Palace on Tuesday. Jake Livermore averages over 12 points a game. He is a player who has already moved during this transfer window. Moving from Hull to West Brom for a reported £10m. At the back, his best source of points will probably be Phil Jones when Man Utd host Hull on Wednesday.

What I Need To Happen

Costa and Carroll do have tricky fixtures, Liverpool and Man City, so it would be no surprise to see them held scoreless. At least if Carroll gets a goal he will be taking points off Ben’s Man City goalkeeper. Most of his midfielders and defenders will be playing at home too. So, lots of goals from the away teams here would be helpful. It is also possible that @BenDinnery could have all his players playing on Tuesday if he wished, and building up a sizable lead. Whereas most of my squad will not hit the pitch until Wednesday night. Do I leave slots open for players who may not even play on Wednesday? Lingard hasn’t featured much lately. But Mkitaryan did start the cup game at the weekend. Will he be rested?

Jack Wilshere taking one of his many goal-bound shots here

The Ibrahim Afellay Experiment will continue for another week. He has only started one game and averages 3.87 points per game over his five total appearances. At home to Everton is as good a time as any to showcase his undoubted talents though. Elsewhere in Midfield we are still waiting on Jack Wilshere to score that goal which all his good play has promised. Bournemouth, as mentioned, will play Crystal Palace at home. The Eagles have the third worst away defence in the league and are currently the most out of form team with only two points gained from the last 24 available. Wilshere has one or two goals waiting for him in this fixture if he wants them.

Predictions

Amazingly last week’s prediction once again ended up six correct and three incorrect for the fourth week in a row. @RotoZdroik has a nine point lead over @SportsByGotti. But he is surely in for a tough test against @jwl_15 this week. To follow all the midweek action make sure you keep tabs on @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. Let’s see how this week’s predictions go.

Good Luck Everyone.

@RotoZdroik over @jwl_15

@jasonuk17 over @DFS_Hambazaza

@SportsByGotti over @TRKingston

@TAMc10 over @EPL_MOstradamus

@cjradune over @TomSunderland_

@nikarg over @FantasyYIRMA

@wrigavin over @nealjthurman

@FuzzyWarbles over @SmokeyLoogy

@RotoWireAndrew over @jforquer11