PLFantasy

Is Adebayor ready to join the ranks of the fantasy elite? Is he worthy of not just a roster spot but also the captain's armband? Let's take a look at the facts . . . Today's goal at Portsmouth maintained Adebayor's 100% strike record for the season and thrust him forward in the argument for the league's best fantasy striker. I have said previously that this is going to be the year of the big name striker and for the first time in memory, you might want to invest upwards of 20m on front men rather than defenders and midfielders from the big four (or six as the case might now be). Five top strikers are starting to distance themselves this year, namely Torres, Rooney, Drogba, Defoe and Adebayor. In terms of value (points per million spent) Adebayor (.867) is currently top of this list ahead of Drogba (.816), Defoe (.811), Rooney (.746) and Torres (.554). Lets look at how his future production compares with his fellow strikers: Goals The five strikers noted above have a...

14:40 I haven't been able to tune into the Chelsea game today but having just checked the scored I am absolutely delighted. Two assists from Lampard (who will surely add bonus points later) as well as a goal-clean sheet combo from Ashley Cole have given the Juice a great start to the weekend. The other goals were scored by Anelka and Ballack with Malouda the man to miss out in the midfield rotation this week. 14:45 All over at Stamford Bridge and that's a great result for Ancelotti, Chelsea and most importantly Pure Juice. Well done boys. 14:50 New arrivals Huth and Tuncay are both on the bench this week for Stoke as Shawcross has been passed fit. The assumption is that Wilkinson will be the man to miss out going forward but this situation is worth following. Huth has been added to the game at 4.5m which looks like a good price for a defender is a unit that is excellent at home, and whose height should make him a threat from set pieces. Perhaps more interesting is that Tuncay h...

A few interesting transfers have gone through in the past day or so and so lets have a quick look at the potential fantasy impact: Sanli Tuncay Tuncay was okay last year for Boro (7 goals, 4 assists) and looks like a decent capture for Stoke who are lacking firepower up front. He is a bit of a poor man's Tevez though, and like the Argentinian is a better real life player than fantasy asset. If added for 6m he could provide value but I think 7m is more likely and hence he would be overpriced. Sylvain Distin Distin has moved from a very poor defensive side to one that is underachieving but has potential to improve with his arrival. At 4.9m Distin looks like good value and is significantly cheaper than teammates Baines (6.3), Jagielka (5.9) and Yobo (5.9). Everton have a great fixture list and don't play a red light game until week 13 when they go to Old Trafford. Distin therefore looks like a great buy and could get off to a good start this week with a decent fixture against Wiga...

One area I have neglected a bit this season is to help to answer one of the key questions we face each week: who looks like a better play this week between player A and player B. With forwards and midfielders this is hard to do as intangibles such as form and fitness play a huge role and I therefore find it better to pick offensive players based on a 3-8 week period rather than for a one off game. Defenders however rise and fall with their unit and matchup plays a huge factor in determining who is best to play. It is also important to consider where the game is being played as I'm sure we'd all consider Stoke at the Brittania a tough matchup but are we all aware that they conceded the most goals of any non-relegated side on the road last year. Equally, Spurs ranked 1st in home defense last year but 18th when away from the Lane. I have therefore compiled a list which I will update each week of the best plays for this week only . I do not advise buying players on this basis unle...

The headline game this week if of course the clash of the titans at Old Trafford on Saturday evening and it is there that we start the preview for next week's games: Man Utd v Arsenal Arsene Wenger has been criticised for many things in his Arsenal career, one of which has been his side's inability to win the big games. However, a look at the stats though show that Arsenal have taken more points from United than any other team since Ferguson too over at Old Trafford. Before last week's 5-0 lashing of Wigan one might have fancied Wenger's men for this one too but with United get men back from fitness, its looking increasingly tough for the wiley French man. Vidic returned on Saturday to help United to their second clean sheet of the season, though first choice partner Ferdinand is still a couple of weeks away . Evra will continue at right back and has been a great choice so far this year, currently 5th among all defenders. His chalkboard from week 3 (right) looks more li...

I've been using my favourite new analysis tool to look at some of the weekends performances to see if we can draw some conclusions on the future success of fantasy players. The analysis and fantasy impact for several key fantasy prospects can be found below: Andrey Arshavin I spoke about Arshavin after the Portsmouth game , where I concluded that despite the lack of shots, the Russian magician was sufficiently involved in the action to still give value for money. However, with zero shots this week and only assist and no goals to his name despite Arsenal scoring 10 in their opening two games, I am a little concerned about his production. His passing analysis from the Portsmouth game is below: Arshavin played very deep - around the halfway line - and only played one ball into the box from his right sided position. His total pass total of 38 is okay as it shows that he isn't running the game as one might expect but is involved regularly none the less. I am far from ready to give...

A great afternoon of action ahead with six games this afternoon including fantasy favourites United, City and Arsenal. We're expecting big afternoons for City and Arsenal though I am sure Wolves and Pompey will have different ideas: 15:08 Early chances for United and the backlash is definitely on the cards. United have suffered alot of early criticism which is surely an overreaction to losing one game. Similar criticism was levelled at Ferguson's men last year after the opening day draw with Newcastle but the season ended pretty well in the end for them I seem to recall. From a fantasy point of view however, United are definitely the weakest they have ever been. The defense has suffered through injuries but should prove to be a top 3 unit when Vidic and co are fit. The midfield is devoid of any stud prospects with Valencia having the talent but not the price tag (8.5m) to be worth considering right now. The arrival of Owen has cost doubt over the value of Berbatov while Rooney ...

The games are coming thick and fast and there's hardly time to catch your breath before gameweek 3 which kicks off with 6 games at 3pm on Saturday including the Champions looking to bounce back at Wigan from their midweek loss at Turf Moor , as well as the mouth watering prospect of Arsenal at home to struggling Portsmouth. My team is still stuck in midtable in the blog league with Rodi O'Leary still at the top with Sepp Graham top scoring for the week with a solid 68 pointer. The early team news is starting to come in so I'll run through the week's fixtures with further updates to come on Friday night/Saturday morning as more news comes in. Arsenal v Portsmouth The Gunners have started the season with two wins that were each impressive for different reasons. Portsmouth on the other hand have suffered two 1-0 defeats and have off field financial troubles hanging over them like the proverbial sword of Damocles. The fantasy star for the Gunners so far has been Fabregas (...

My favourite new tool for evaluating player performance is the Guardian's new chalkboard function which allows you to monitor all the passes, shots, tackles and free kicks made by any player, in any game in the Premier League in the last 4 seasons (updated within hours of any games this season). This allows you to see how a player is performing when you can't see the game and whether he is getting goalscoring opportunities and is playing in the right part of the field. For example, if you are choosing between two centre backs and you can see that one had 2 headers per game in the opposition box and the other had six, then it is clear that the team is game planning to get the ball to that defender (like Laursen last year) and he is therefore more likely to score. Equally, if a midfield player (say, Jon Obi Mikel) plays 90% of his passes in and around the centre circle, he is unlikely to ever contribute more than performance points and clean sheets. Modric v Lennon Having only s...

After week 1, fantasy fans were happy with Ancelotti for providing them two premier strike options up front, as well as pushing Lampard into a more advanced role, with Drogba benefiting the most with his brace against Hull. However, after week 2, many will have a different opinion with Ancelotti having no place in the side for Anelka (Kalou), Malouda (Deco) or Carvalho (Ivanovic). I have questioned the long term value of Malouda before due to the potential to rotate him for Deco, Zhirkov or Cole but I expected Anelka and Carvlaho to be all but guaranteed a weekly spot. Ancelotti explained , "I changed the team because I trust my players and I wanted to rest some. I know we have quality in the other players and I want to use them and keep them all fresh." This is not good news for fantasy fans and I have downgraded the aforementioned players due to the fact that (a) they might be rotated and (b) they are likely to come off the bench, hence preventing your sub from coming in. C...

Only 6 games for this midweek treat, with the deadline coming at 19:30 BST tonight. I will run through the games and team news now and will be tweeting any breaking injury news right up until the deadline. Sunderland v Chelsea Sunderland Richardson (6m) and Malbranque (6m) are both a doubt for this one though the Telegraph suggest that Bruce will be able to name an unchanged side. The Guardian meanwhile suggest that Malbranque (ankle) is a bigger doubt with Richardson looking more likely to shake off his dead leg. So long as you have someone on your bench to bring in, I'd play these guys and allow auto sub to work its magic if they don't make it. Chelsea isn't an easy game but Hull showed they are not invincible and Sunderland could get a goal here. One to watch: I am very excited by the prospects of Lorik Cana and will be interested to see how he competes against a world class midfield. I can't see loads of fantasy points for the Mackems but a good performance will l...