PLFantasy

The term wild card was originally used in card games, but the term has evolved to describe what the Merrian-Webster Dictionary calls "an unknown or unpredictable factor" in any number of domains. In sports, it represents the teams who sneak into the playoffs, not as division winners but as unknown entities who often cause shocks and suprises. In research, its a low probability but high impact event that often costitute the turning point in the evolution of a particular system. In premierleague.com fantasy football the wildcard can make or break a season and the incorrect use of it has ruined many a season for many a team. After another average week for Pure Juice, coupled with the emphatic return of Cristiano Ronaldo I have been tempted to play my wildcard. Everyone knew they faced this dilemna when it was announced that Ronaldo would miss the start of the season. But with other big guns flattering to deceive (Drogba, Rooney, Torres until this weekend, Gerrard) and Ronaldo ...

It looks like Fernando Torres is back which throws more problems up for those trying to accommodate Ronaldo in their team. After a slow first half Torres looked sharp in the second taking his two goals well (especially the second) and having a sweet finish disallowed for an off the ball foul. At 12m he is still costly but with bargains like Zaki (6.6m) Cole (5.5m) to be had he is not too hard to fit into your side. He had a run of eight straight games at Anfield with a goal last season and you wouldn't bet against a similar run this year. If you're carrying a player like Anelka (9.5m) or Rooney (10.8) then you almost certainly going to benefit by getting Torres and saving 2.5m or 1.2m by bringing in blog favourites Valencia (6.1m) or Ireland (5.9m) or even a real budget option like Delap (4.7m) or Marney (4.5m). Torres faces a tricky three games at City, at home to Wigan then at Chelsea before embarking on the potential points bonanza of Portsmouth (H), Spurs (A), WBA (...

Saturday sees the anniversary of Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" which first introduced the equation E=MC2. Such intricacies and brain power will not be required this week in the fantasy world. Four of the best hot spots for fantasy talent - Arsenal, United, Chelsea and Villa - all face what appear to easy matchups that could be filled with goals and fantasy points. Its surely a matter of filling your lineup with as many of these as possible to max out your points this week. Arsenal v Hull City Hull have impressed so far with the exception of the Wigan game where their potential frailty was exposed. Arsenal have been in good form this season and after a bit of a nervy start against Bolton they played some breathtaking flowing football where the only disadvantage for fantasy owners was that anyone in the team could pop up with a goal (or be benched in van Persie's case). With the big guns rested against Hull you would ex...

As I look out of my living room window I can see the spires of the City of Manchester stadium and yet I did not foresee the fantasy impact of their transfer deadline dealings. I was a little higher on Robinho than some of the critics but I thought there were better options available in his price bracket (van Persie 9.5m, Santa Cruz 8.9m, Agbonlahor 8.2m and Defoe 8.2m). However, Robinho has scored 2 in 2 and notched an assist this week to give him 15 points in 2 games (a PPMS of 0.833 ahead of all but Zaki and Defoe). With van Persie being rested against Bolton I am starting to worry about Wenger tinkering too much with van Persie's playing time. Robinho therefore looks to be an interesting prospect at 9.2m, especially when you consider they play the likes of Newcastle, Stoke, Hull, Bolton and Spurs over the next 8 weeks. Robinho's play also seems to have inspired others around him and Shaun Wright Phillips look well and truly settled back at Eastlands. At 8m his price has inc...

Taking inspiration from my favourite sports write, Bill Simmons , I thought I'd try a running diary of Gameweek 5: 11:02am I've finally decided on my weeks transfers bringing in Agbonlahor and Bullard for the injured Ashton and the ineffective Bentley. I had the intention of not doing any double transfers as last season I did way too many which cost more points than I received. However, with Ashton injured, my hand was forced and I didn't like anyone I could get without shifting Bentley out. I'm pleased with Bullard as his next four games are all rated as easy on my ratings system. Agbonlahor is not particularly cheap at 8.2m but after not scoring since week 1 he is probably due a goal and I've been very impressed when I've seen him this season. The potential loss of Young may hurt him a bit but against a West Brom side that has already given up 4 goals in their two home games he's a decent pick. 11:15am Checking the schedule for the week I notice th...

I'm a big fan of looking for ways to use statistics to give us clues as to players' performances. While this is very hard for an actual football team, (as you cannot quantity desire, leadership and passion) for fantasy sports stats work brilliantly. Below I have looked at the top scorers so far in relation to their value (as is done by the 'value' tap on the premierleague.com website). I've then adjusted this based on the fixtures they've played so far to account for players who have played easy/hard fixtures so far. The results are pretty interesting and may give a few clues as to bargains that are still to be found: Goalkeepers Given is atop the GK rankings despite only having kept one clean sheet due to his penalty save and multiple save bonuses. His relative low cost (5.1) have made him great value so far. David James has been the best of the big names after 4 games with an adjusted PPMS of 0.929. Almunia is a big loser in the system due to Arsenal's eas...

With Cristiano Ronaldo due to return from injury tomorrow agains t V illareal , any sensible fantasy player must contemplate the possibility of bringing him into their team. Last season Ronaldo was simply incredible and anyone wishing to compete had to have him in their ranks (I was one of the stupid few who kept insisting he couldn't continue his form and I duly finished 7th in the league). As incredible as the 31 goals were last year, whats almost as fantastic was the fact that the prior year he'd accrued 244 points, only 39 less than last year's historical year. This leads me to believe he can ,and probably will, score along those line this year (minus the points for the 3 games missed already). However, at 14m he is 2.6m more than the next midfielder (Gerrard) and 2m more than any other player (Torres). Deco currently leads midfielders with 31 points but is only 7th in points per million spent (PPMS) at 0.816 (using his current value of 9.5m). Here are the top PPMS ra...

Play Forwards/Midfielders Three matches stand out this week as games in which the fantasy points could flow. Liverpool v Stoke Liv erpool looked good last week against United and have looked okay so far tonight (its currently half time in Marseille). Stoke have conceded 5 so far in their two away games despite only travellin g to Bolto n and Middlesbrough. The obvious man to capitalise on this game is Fernando Torres though at 12m it will take some maneuvering to get him into your team. Steven Gerrard is of course another safe bet and will look to grab a goal in the league after his great strike vs Marseille. However, it is the cheaper options who look to b e great value this week with Xabi Alonso and Ryan Babel looking to be good buys. Javier Mascherano played midweek and having just returned from South America is likely to be rested, allowing Alonso to continu e his decent run of league form. Babel has been somewhat of an enigma this season since returning from the olympics...

Ashley Young and Martin Laursen chipped in with some useful points last night though it was within 4 minutes of being an excellent night. Darren Bent's 86th minute goal took away a clean sheet for Laursen and Young and Young when on to get booked for time wasting, costing a total of 6 points. Young and Laursen received 3 and 2 bonus points respectively to lessen this blow. Another decent week leaves me 803rd in the premierleague.com rankings which is by far my best ever position. The game also convinced me that I need to get rid of David Bentley this week. He had been unimpressive this season but I thought I'd weather the storm and stick with him. However, he started on the bench last night which is unacceptable for a 8m player. Thoughts now turn to who to replace him with (see next post).

So far so good in week 4. With 3 players yet to play ( Laursen , Young and Bentley) we've scored 55 thanks to stellar outings from captain Frank Lampard (18 points) and Mikel Arteta (10 points). Van Persie and Zaki also chipped in with a goal a piece and Sagna and Clichy played in an Arsenal side that scored the only clean sheet of the week so far. Three players did well this week who have all been on my radar: Tim Cahill I had Cahill last year and when fit he's a constant goal threat who is playing just off the striker but is registered and priced as a midfielder - 7.9. The only downside to getting Cahill would be t hat it either leaves me with two Everton midfielders, or necessitates losing Arteta . Everton have Liverpool, Arsenal and United in the next 5 weeks so I'm going to stay away from Tim for now. Zoltan Gera I rated Gera highly at WBA though I wasn't sure how he'd figure in a revamped Fulham side. He has looked good the last two weeks and at ...

After ditching Bent for Zaki in week 3, I have 1.4m sat in the bank which I desperately want to invest to strengthen the team. The problem is that I'm not sure who to upgrade. I'm not impressed with the West Ham defense but their fixtures are favourable so I decided to let Green stay for a couple more games. Bentley has looked far from impressive at Spurs but I am undecided who I like to replace him. SWP looked excellent in his City return last week but as they entertain Chelsea this week I can;t see him him being a major upgrade over Bentley. I also like Valencia who is great value at 6.0 and someone I may consider if I need to free up some cash. With all that said I decided to upgrade my bench and added A.Traore who has been playing left wing for Pompey in place of Young whose Villa side have looked shaky so far. I love Traore as a bench option and Pompey play Stoke, Fulham and Sunderland over the next few weeks. I like Everton this week against Stoke though I'm not sure ...

This blog begins at the end of gameweek 4 in the Engligh Premier League fantasy season. The season has gone well so far so I decided I needed a place to discuss the fantasy season with other fans as the season progresses. Pre Season The basic strategy for my team this year was to have a full squad available on a weekly basis (the league I am in allows four subs). Last season I was often caught playing only 9 men due to a total lack of talent and playing minutes on my bench. To get a decent bench you can either: (a) Spread your budget (£100m) equally throughout the team, or (b) Identify some key sleeper picks who will get regular playing minutes (and therefore points) despite only costing a few million. Strategy (a) leaves you in a position of pricing yourself out of the market for the top tier players so I decided to go for (b) identifying the following potentially cheap players: Pre Season Sleepers Luke Young - 4.5 - well cheaper than his new Villa teammates, ...