Week 22: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

Another Win! And finally, my side is actually off the bottom of the table! @FantasyYIRMA had a week to forget as some of his new signings failed to come alive (Mangala, Sturridge), while a goal from Milivojevic and six saves from Nick Pope was enough to see my side over the line. In an effort to scrape enough points and in order to give my team a chance at victory, Tammy Abraham was sent to Free Agency after he failed to start another game for Swansea. Dan Gosling of Bournemouth was brought in, and he contributed an acceptable 9.8 points. Gosling may have to be offloaded this week though as I try my best to get eight players onto the pitch. My side might be off the bottom, but they are lagging well behind in fantasy points scored, if I’m tied on wins at the end of the season with someone, I’ll be in big trouble. I need to try and address this imbalance.

Every game is a relegation six pointer now it seems

Abraham might have been one of my top scorers this season, but I had run out of patience with the striker, as I can’t afford to have too many players who are not guaranteed starters in my squad. My impatience is @FuzzyWarbles gain though, as he picked up Abraham midweek for a paltry $5. He was not the only big mover midweek, as a number of teams picked up players on big fees. @TAMc10 put $100 down on Lucas Moura of Spurs. @BenDinnery hopes the $19 spend on Alex Sorloth at Crystal Palace will help fire him to promotion. @TomSunderland_ spent his money on Joao Mario of West Ham, Defender Laporte of Manchester City, and Guido Carillo who now plays with Southampton. $68 for all these players could well be a bargain. The big money though was splashed by @cjradune. In order to secure the services of Arsenal new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang he bid $176. My opponent this week is @jwl_15, and he invested his budget on Gerard Deulofeu at Watford. Spending $25 to claim him for the remainder of the season. I refused to get drawn into any transfer bidding shenanigans after being left with a terrible squad beset with injuries and woeful form after the last signing window. A philosophy of scouting the dregs no one else is interested in, is how my side will play out the next few weeks.

@jwl_15’s Team

Deulofeu will slot straight into the Forward position for Jake. If needed he could put in Brighton’s Jose Izquierdo, who has three league goals this season (none of which were scored when he was in my squad by the way). In Midfield is where @jwl_15 gets most of his points. N’Golo Kante tips along with nearly 15 points per game. His two Arsenal players have been in fine form recently. Aaron Ramsey has six goals and six assists on the season, while his new teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan has eight assists, three of which came last week. Both of these players face a tricky trip to Wembley to face Tottenham in the early Saturday kick off this week.

Deulofeu could worm his way into the Spain World Cup squad

In goals is Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski. Since the appointment of Carlos Carvalhal, things have been looking up at the Liberty Stadium. The Swans have not lost in eight games in all competitions. They may only have gotten two clean sheets in that time, but Fabianski has been racking up the saves. 99 on the season so far. Now if Carvalhal would only find a place for Renato Sanches…

What I Need To Happen

This tie could go one of two ways as early as the first game of the weekend, which as mentioned is the game between Tottenham and Arsenal. If Ramsey and Mkhitaryan inspire a Gunners victory, it could be a long couple of days for my side. If on the other side of the coin Serge Aurier starts and Spurs keep a clean sheet, I could try and ride out the upper hand that gives me.

I'll be heading to bed early if Ramsey and Mkhitaryan are on song this weekend

Unfortunately, it looks like I will have five injured players this week and not a lot of room to move people around in order to get the magic eight starters playing. As I alluded to before, Gosling could be sacrificed for a Defender or a Forward if need be.  If Dan is to keep his place, I’ll need to see starts from players like Tom Ince, Marcos Rojo, Ayoze Perez and Victor Lindelof. But I wouldn’t be holding my breath on too many of those.

Predictions

A poor five correct from nine last week, in what was a surprisingly low scoring round overall. My opponents this week, @jwl_15 were the highest scorers of course, hence why the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer ‘threw’ us together. The big game this gameweek is the clash of the top two in @TRKingston and @FuzzyWarbles. To follow all the transfers, scores, and general mayhem in the league, please follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter. Here are this week’s predictions.

Good Luck Everyone

@RotoZdroik over @EPL_MOstradamus

@TRKingston over @FuzzyWarbles

@TAMc10 over @FantasyYIRMA

@wrigavin over @nikarg

@BenDinnery over @SportsByGotti

@cjradune over @TomSunderland_

@jasonuk17 over @RotoWireAndrew

@jforquer11 over @FPL_MNOP

@DFS_Hambazaza over @nealjthurman

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

Week 17: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

The IEFSA Fantasy League on Fantrax lets you use one goalkeeper and eight outfield players in any given gameweek. So, imagine me rubbing my hands after the early game of Gameweek 16 when my bitter rival @TAMc10 started off by shipping three goals against his goalkeeper and getting a red card in the shape of Wilfred Ndidi. I smelt blood in the water, and swiftly moved to make sure I had enough players playing to scrape together the 90 odd points I was sure I needed for victory. In came Alex Iwobi and out when Gareth Barry (Barry scored a goal against Manchester United); Ciaran Clark of Newcastle was sent packing and in came Sebastian Prodl of Watford (Clark as I guessed, didn’t play. Prodl shipped four goals at home to Huddersfield). Prodl was joining his Watford teammate Kabasele at the back, and my trio of defenders was completed by Steve Cook of Bournemouth. The Cherries let in four goals against Liverpool, though mercifully Cook was only on the field for one of those. Two more of my players didn’t get any minutes and I slumped to an embarrassing fifty-point defeat.

Barry scores, but not for my side

This week the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer has me facing @EPL_MOstradamus, one of the few sides I can claim a victory over earlier in the season. He also lost last time out, but with a score that would have comfortably beaten my side. It looks like he will be out to exact revenge.

@EPL_MOstradamus’s Team

His three highest scorers face tricky away ties this week, which means I may have a slight chance! Roberto Firmino goes to Arsenal who have one of the best home records in the league. Charlie Daniels will have to head to Man City, who have the best overall record in the league. While Heung-Min Son faces a trip to high flying Burnley.

Firmino could outscore my whole side 

My side has 11 goals to @EPL_MOstradmus’s 22. As I always say, goals win games. I’ll be hoping that his in-form players have a bit of an off week, while I can perhaps sneak one in off of Tammy Abraham’s elbow or something. His side have also registered 21 assists, compared to my sides paltry four.

What I Need To Happen

Iwobi was actually one of my highest scoring players last week, so perhaps he can keep his place against Liverpool on Friday night. Although if he spent the whole game shadowing Firmino, I wouldn’t be against that. Steve Cook will be looking to regain his place for Bournemouth meaning I can perhaps drop Prodl and go searching to bolster a different part of the team. Watford seem to be on a downward slide at the moment and I wouldn’t fancy them to keep a clean sheet. Maybe I should look to offload Christian Kabasele also!

Iwobi will find the Liverpool Midfield more of a handful this week

Zlatan scored in the league cup midweek, and I am desperate in my need for him to stamp his authority on the league side. Manchester United play Leicester City in the late game on Saturday. And when I say late, I mean late. It will kick off at 7:45. Which is a ridiculous time for all us sushi and prawn sandwich eating fans forced to get up at four am to watch it!

Predictions

Only four correct predictions last week as the ‘crazy’ Christmas fixtures play havoc with sides and therefore my normally sage-like predictions. With all the fixtures coming thick and fast, there are also midweek games which means the IEFSA Cup comes around again. It’s the quarter finals and my side will play @FantasyYIRMA, but more on that in a post during the week. Please follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep track of every match-ups' scores.

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

@RotoZdroik over @nikarg

@jwl_15 over @TAMc10

@TRKingston over @FantasyYIRMA

@FuzzyWarbles over @wrigavin

@SportsByGotti over @TomSunderland_

@jasonuk17 over @jforquer11

@cjradune over @nealjthurman

@BenDinnery over @FPL_MNOP

@DFS_Hambazaza over @RotoWireAndrew

Week 13: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview 2017/18

So you’re telling me there’s a chance!

Despite having the lowest scoring squad of players in the league (Primary League, @nealjthurman has scored fewer in the Secondary League. Sorry for that mention Neal), a win over @nikarg in Gameweek 12 has shot my side up one place to ninth in the table. Another Nick Pope clean sheet went a long way to gaining the three points. But we all know how I achieved the victory! The return of Zlatan froze the star players on @nikarg’s team into a below average week. And he didn’t even have to get off my injured reserve list!

Zlatan has the knees of a Lion. But the smile of a Cheshire cat

Ibrahimovic will probably be needed this week though, as the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture computer sees fit to throw my rebounding side against fourth place @wrigavin. A team who in our previous encounter ran away easy thirty-point winners. If I am to fit Zlatan in this week though, I will have to send someone back to Free Agency. Will @wrigavin be as quick to snap up Gareth Barry, as he was Jonjo Shelvey??

@wrigavin’s Team

Harry Kane has not scored in the Premier League since October 22^nd. @wrigavin, (and I’m sure IEFSA/Fantrax!) will be hoping he can end that poor run of form this weekend against West Brom. This barren patch for the striker coincides with Gavin dropping two of his last three games. Kane averages over 20 points per game for Gavin, and behind the England striker, who did score midweek in the Champions League by the way, is another Spurs player; Davinson Sanchez, who averages over 16 points per game.

Kane scores in the Champions League against Dortmund. Or the German Norwich City if you will

Looking elsewhere for points on @wrigavin’s team, the Liverpool goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet has kept three clean sheets in a row at home. This week he is up against Chelsea though, but if he does keep a clean sheet, he will surely be made to work for it. The second top scorer on @wrigavin’s team is Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri with two goals. Stoke City travel to bottom of the table Crystal Palace on Saturday at three o’clock. Shaqiri also has five assists on the season. Though who he’s assisting on the Stoke team I’ll never know. They were probably all for Peter Crouch.

What I Need To Happen

Just give Zlatan the ball. The big Swede will surely make mincemeat of the Brighton defence. The Seagulls haven’t beaten Manchester United since 1981, back when Moses was parting defences. I’m going to make a bold prediction and say the newly promoted side won’t be adding to that win from the eighties on Saturday. In other good Man Utd news for my squad. Marcos Rojo has returned from injury, and Victor Lindelof is getting into the first team. He’s falling over and giving away goals, but it’s a start!

Lindelof settles down to the perfect view of Dwight Gayle's opening goal

In fact, most of my squad now is returning from injury. It’s very refreshing to be able to change around players rather than being worried if it’s even possible to get eight outfield players scoring points. The only injury concern this week (so far) is Swansea’s Tammy Abraham. The young forward has been rated as 50/50 by his manager to start this weekend against Bournemouth. Another who has been absent from his side’s first team recently has been Newcastle’s Ciaran Clark. But with Lascelles injured at the moment, the Irishman should slot into the Toon backline for the visit of Watford.

Predictions

Only @wrigavin and @RotoWireAndrew let me down after I tipped them to win last week. Seven from nine is still a respectable score though.  Please follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to see how my side is fairing. Don’t forget that the gameweek starts on Friday night with Leicester traveling to West Ham for David Moyes first home game in charge.

This midweek will also see the first round of the IEFSA Cup, as eight teams battle it out for a place in the last 16.

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

@TRKingston over @TAMc10

@jwl_15 over @RotoZdroik

@FuzzyWarbles over @FantasyYIRMA

@EPL_MOstadamus over @nikarg

@cjradune over @jasonuk17

@SportsByGotti over @jforquer11

@RotoWireAndrew over @nealjthurman

@TomSunderland_ over @SmokeyLoogy

@DFS_Hambazaza over @BenDinnery

IEFSA Cup

@BenDinnery over @TomSunderland_

@DFS_Hambazaza over @jasonuk17

@RotoWireAndrew over @jforquer11

@SmokeyLoogy over @nealjthurman

Week 8: IEFSA Fantasy League 2017/18 Preview

Did you all enjoy the international break? I sure did, because it meant my side went unbeaten for another week! YES, in Gameweek 7 my plucky group of misfits managed to get one over @EPL_MOstradamus by seven points. Another superb performance from Burnley keeper Nick Pope (29.9 pts) and the late drafting in of Defender Christian Kabasele of Watford who contributed 9.8 points, helped my side break into triple digit scoring for only the third time this season. Kabasele was brought in at the expense of Brighton’s Jose Izquierdo (who then went ahead and started his first game of the season against Arsenal!). Couple this with @EPL_Mostradamus’s Roberto Firmino turning out to be his side’s lowest contributor, after I had previously mentioned that the Brazilian could easily outperform my whole side.

Nick Pope with another clean sheet against Everton moved Burnley up to sixth

Every green shoot gets quickly trampled underfoot by the IEFSA/Fantrax fixture compiler though. The victory didn’t move my side from the bottom of the table as @TAMc10 also had a big victory; A good chunk of my squad returned injured from the international fixtures meaning I will struggle to get a full roster of players this week. And who will I have to face this gameweek? Oh, it’s just table topping @TRKingston, who has won six games straight, and has scored 400 points more this season than I have. Thanks IEFSA/Fantrax!

@TRKingston’s Team

Todd has eight outfield players who have scored more points this season than my highest scorer (Tom Ince of all people). The only player who has under-performed for @TRKingston so far has been Yohan Cabaye, but everyone in a Crystal Palace shirt has under-performed this season. It also looks like Todd can play a whole outfield eight of players that will be playing at home this weekend. His only new injury worry has been the one suffered by Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi while away with the German squad for the World Cup qualifiers.

Diego Tardelli was in the latest Brazilian squad but not Richarlison?? #TiteOut

Some of Todd’s best performers have been the triple Man City set of Otamendi, Fernandinho and David Silva. Together they average nearly 65 points per game. None of these players are his top goalscorer though, for that you have to look at the inform Richarlison at Watford. The Brazilian has scored three goals this season and has made a habit of scoring important late goals recently.

What I Need To Happen

A week is a long time in football and now facing into Gameweek 8 my side has picked up several injuries. Most worryingly of all Joe Allen has a head injury and will miss Stoke’s next fixture away against Man City. More tragic than this though, is that the football world has been robbed of having Joe Allen play at a World Cup yet again. The Welsh side missed out on any chance of a trip to Russia after finishing third in their World Cup qualifying group. Also injured on international duty was Renato Sanches. The Swansea Midfielder should be at Russia next summer with the Portugese squad. But to do that, he surely must be playing regularly for the Swans no? He more than likely won’t be able to take the field this Saturday at three o’clock against Huddersfield, meaning the rest of my squad will have to drag their working limbs onto the pitch and earn enough points to be competitive this weekend.

Joe Allen joins, Dzeko, Robben, Bale, Alexis Sanchez etc. who won't be going to Russia 2018

I need goals now more than ever. The average points my players pull in every week is not enough to win the usual match-ups. A goal or two could be crucial. Especially since a goal or two is the sum of what my side has managed all season. Ciaran Clark – one goal. Top scorer, Tammy Abraham – two goals. Luckily Abraham gets to the chance to find the back of the net against Huddersfield this week. The Terriers conceded four goals in their last Premier League game, and they haven’t scored in nearly a month.

Predictions

Six correct predictions from nine last time out. A lot of high scoring meant a number of upsets. 12 points separate top from bottom in the Secondary League. That is also the league with the tie of the round. The top two, and highest scorers, in the league face off when @jasonuk17 meets @SportsByGotti. Remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter for all the latest goings on in both Primary and Secondary leagues. Plus, for the inner workings of the inevitable changes to my side, follow @GarryIrwin.

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

@cjradune over @BenDinnery

@TomSunderland_ over @nealjthurman

@RotoWireAndrew over @jforquer11

@DFS_Hambazaza over @SmokeyLoogy

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

Week 12: IEFSA Fantasy League Preview

No preview last Gameweek as I was delayed during a flight from China. Was this the doing of @wrigavin as he edged out my side by 2.1 points? More than likely. Unfortunately my time at the summit of the league table was short lived and I now find myself in second place, right behind @EPL_MOstradamus, who managed to get a victory (by less than two points) over third placed @jwl_15. It’s getting tight in the scramble for the title going into Gameweek 12, as only six points separate the top 11 sides.

This week the IEFSA Fantrax fixture computer tries to screw with my team again, as I’m pitted against one of the only sides in the league that is injury free, while my side is struggling to all get out on the field with all the red flags in the way. My opponent @Smokey_Loogy may have lost his last two games, but he would have beat out winners in three other matchups both weeks. He is waiting for his luck to turn so he can start moving up the table. Hopefully it won’t be this week.

All my Arsenal players are out injured. Thanks Arsene.

@Smokey_Loogy’s Team

If his players all play to their average scores, it will take a haul of 120+ points for me to be victorious this week. It is in Midfield where @Smokey_Loogy spent most of his budget and it should be where he gains most of his points. Riyad Mahrez has had a quiet start to the season, but still averages over 14 points a game. Nathan Redmond is his top scoring midfielder with three goals. Southampton have a tough fixture at home to Liverpool, but the bright spot for Redmond is that the Reds rarely keep clean sheets. His third Midfielder is only recently back from injury, but he could be playing up front for West Ham. Andre Ayew scored plenty of goals for Swansea last season; this would only be his third start this year if Slaven Bilic puts him on the team sheet.

Up front @Smokey_Loogy relies on a trio of Watford players. Deeney and Ighalo have four goals and two assists between them and they face a lackluster Leicester City at home on Saturday. If he needs he could also include Nordin Amrabat, who himself has two assists to his name. The rest of his points could come from his goalkeeper. Jordan Pickford may not have kept a clean sheet yet, but he does get lots of save points, and he surely won’t get a better chance to stop his net bulging for 90 minutes than against Hull City at home.

What I Need To Happen

When Hector Bellerin was ruled out for up to four weeks with an ankle injury it looked like I might struggle to fill all my Defender slots. Leighton Baines may be able to get the start at Everton this week though and that would solve my defensive problems. Last week it was having too many players who failed to start for their clubs that cost me any change of three points. I can ill afford this happening again this week.

Joe Allen had a below par week away at West Ham. This week he will face Bournemouth at home, and with the aid of Marko Arnautovic back from suspension, I’ll be hoping Stoke can continue their unbeaten run of form. In search of goals I will have to take a gamble on Jesse Lingard doing enough against Arsenal, or waiting until Sunday to see if Pedro can start for Chelsea away to Middlesbrough. If those two fail to score, I can always fall back on the goal that is due from Jack Wilshere.

One of these England stars will score this weekend.

Predictions

As I mentioned above, the league is really tight and the games are even tighter. The team with the most fantasy points sit in eighth (@FuzzyWarbles), while the team who has conceded the least fantasy points (@SportsByGotti) are down in fifteenth. So how is anyone supposed to predict these matchups? I got seven of nine right two gameweeks ago, here’s hoping for a similar strike rate this week. Don't forget to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter to keep track of all the action.

Good Luck Everyone

@wrigavin over @RotoWireAndrew

@jforquer11 over @FantasyYIRMA

@FuzzyWarbles over @cjradune

@nealjthurman over @TAMc10

@nikarg over @SportsByGotti

@TomSunderland_ over @DFS_Hambazaza

@EPL_MOstradamus over @RotoZdroik

@TRKingston over @BenDinnery

@jwl_15 over @jasonuk17

IEFSA Fantasy League Week 24 Preview

I’m still amazed that I pulled off the victory over @SportsByGotti in the last gameweek. A really tight matchup saw me get the victory by a paltry 0.4 points. It was pretty much a race to the bottom though as both teams posted barely over 30 points. My star man was Moreno as Liverpool went and embarrassed Aston Villa six nil. What angers me though is that I left a lot of points sitting on the bench. This week though, most team’s benches will be filled with players who won’t have a fixture to play. The League Cup final between Man City and Liverpool has taken those two team’s players out of contention this week, as well as Everton and Newcastle United’s squads.

My squad will be missing three players as I prepare to face @nealjthurman this week. @nealjthurman is only three points and one place below me in tenth. His side won last time out thanks to a Matt Ritchie goal and  a couplke of Giroud and Fabregas assists. Ben Foster also kept a rather surprising clean sheet away to Everton. All this helped him to 48.9 points. This week will see him missing two players, so let’s have a look at his squad.

@nealjthurman’s Team

His two missing players have been solid performers for him this season. Ayoze Perez of Newcastle has five goals, while Gerard Deulofeu of Everton is his top assisting player with eight. This leaves him with only one Forward option in Olivier Giroud, while his OF options leave him looking at either Chris Brunt of West Brom or Ben Watson of Watford. Both those players are starters for their respective clubs, although Brunt has been playing more as a left back of late, limiting his usually productive attacking play.

Elsewhere in midfield he has been waiting for Leroy Fer to come to life in a Swansea jersey, but perhaps a trip to Tottenham is not the time to be looking for that to happen. At the back he has three defenders who all will be expecting to keep their opposition scoreless. Bellerin, Fuchs and Rose will surely not give up too many goals collectively this weekend, which will mean I will need my backline to match them cleansheet for cleansheet.

What I Need To Happen

Two of my three defenders play at home against sides not known for scoring too many goals away from home. Nyom of Watford will host Bournemouth, and Jonas Olsson, who picked up an assist last time out, will play against a recently goalshy Crystal Palace. My remaining defender is Angel Rangel, but as I’ve already mentioned, a trip to White Hart Lane is not to place to go if you are looking for points. Which means I don’t hold out much hope for my midfielder Andre Ayew to score a goal. But I may need him to score, because I’ll be missing my top scorer in Newcastle’s Georginio Wijnaldum this week.

Messi scored twice against Arsenal midweek, so Memphis should score......

But maybe, just maybe, I have an ace up my sleeve! Wayne Rooney has picked up an injury and will be missing for the next couple of weeks. Martial also went off injured in the Europa League on Thursday night for Manchester United. All this means that Memphis Depay has been getting substantial game time. Plus he seems to have been making the most of the opportunity. Admittingly the last two positive performances out of the Dutchman have come in games against Shrewsbury and FC Midtjylland. That and United will be playing Arsenal this Sunday, never the easiest of fixtures. If Memphis turns out to be more of a joker than an ace, then perhaps I can rely on Marko Arnautovic to score some goals when Stoke welcome a woeful Villa side to the Britannia at three o’clock on Saturday.

Predictions

Of the seven predictions in Gameweek 23, I managed to correctly predict a respectable five. This will will be extra difficult to predict because so many squads will be without key players. This won’t stop me from picking a winner in each matchup. Remember, as always, you can follow @THE_IEFSA on twitter for all the latest action, and you can also follow @GarryIrwin for all the latest overreaction!

@FantasyYIRMA over @FuzzyWarbles

@Smokey_Loogy over @RotoZdroik

@DanRiccio590 over @BenDinnery

@SportsByGotti over @RotoWireAndrew

@wrigavin over @TomSunderland_

@GalinDragiev over @DFS_hambazaza

@cjradune over @nikarg

Good Luck Everyone.

IEFSA Fantasy League Week 22 Preview

The last time I played @wrigavin, he beat me handily. In fact, if I had faced @wrigavin every week this season, of the 21 weeks so far I would have a total of three victories. So to say that this weekend’s matchup is an uphill task really is a bit of an understatement. He has six players into triple figures for the season (Harry Kane alone has 270 pts) whereas my side has only three. His team has scored a total of 41 goals so far, to my sides lowly 32. And as I’ve often repeated in these previews in the past, ‘Goals win games’.

That’s not to say I won’t have no chance this weekend. I will more than likely have more players in my squad playing at home which is always a bonus. My top three goalscorers are all playing at home and they do most of their goal getting in front of their home fans (75%). His goalkeeper has also struggled for form recently because of Crystal Palace’s run of five straight defeats and shipping of 13 goals. So perhaps all is not lost!

@wrigavin’s Team

It’s tough to look at this side and not be envious of the forward pairing of Kane and Firmino. 20 goals, five assists and over 400 points between them, all makes for intimidating reading. And when you consider I paid 10m more than Firmino and the exact same price for Kane when I purchased Memphis Depay (2G,0A, 82pts) at the start of the season, well, you could understand if I skipped out on watching the Premier League action this weekend and just went drinking instead.

Not only do his strikers put the fear of god in most teams, but his midfield is not too shabby either. Of the five players he can choose from, all are goal threats and have a combined 15 goals this season. I expect him to go with Tadic, Brady and Cabaye this weekend. They pull in over 19 points on average; or he could throw in Heung-Min Son if he starts against Watford

What I Need To Happen

A good start for my side would be if Andre Ayew was to get on the score sheet against Crystal Palace. This would prevent @wrigavin from picking up a clean sheet with his goalkeeper. Similarly, if Wijnaldum and Arnautovic were to score, this would stop two of his defenders from getting a clean sheet bonus. In short, I need goals. Hopefully the goals I get will do enough damage to negate any of the points that Firmino and Kane will pick up when they face Sunderland and Watford respectively.

Steve McClaren will hope Wijnaldum enjoys the comforts of home this week

It would also be good if all of my players actually started for their clubs. I’ve long given up on Memphis being put on the teamsheet for Manchester United, with this weekend’s Chelsea clash being no different. In defence I’ve had to draft in West Brom’s Jonas Olsson. With Johnny Evans out injured, Olsson has been playing regularly. Which is more than I can say for two of my other defenders; Jenkinson (injured), Nyom (lost his place to Paredes). My back three will consist of Olsson, Rangel and Moreno. I expect them all to play, but don’t necessarily expect them to outshine their three or four points per game average.

Predictions

Gameweek 21 saw only four correct predictions, as a lot of tight matchups helped to condense the top half of the league. The top eight could all stake a claim to winning the league, so let’s see how they will do this weekend.

@FuzzyWarbles over @SportsByGotti

@FantasyYIRMA over @RotoWireAndrew

@RotoZdroik over @BenDinnery

@Smokey_Loogy over @DanRiccio590

@nealjthurman over @TomSunderland_

@nikarg over @GalinDragiev

@cjradune over @DFS_hambazaza

Good Luck Everyone, and remember to follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter and follow me @GarryIrwin. For a more in-depth preview of these matchups, please head over to FantasyYIRMA.

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.