Double Down

-
It's time for the ice to hit the fan. Two more games have been added to this week's schedule to give six teams a double gameweek including the fantasy filled squads of Arsenal, United and Spurs.
Here's the fixtures along with the average goals conceded by the opposition:
  1. Man United: Burnley (3.10), Hull (2.60)
  2. Arsenal: Bolton (2.10), @Bolton (1.88)
  3. Tottenham: Hull (2.60), @Liverpool (1.10)
  4. Liverpool: @Stoke (1.20), Tottenham (1.40)
  5. Bolton: @Arsenal (1.40), Arsenal (0.90)
  6. Hull: @Tottenham (0.80), @Man United (0.80)
United and Arsenal are clearly great plays while Liverpool and Spurs remain very solid options. I like Liverpool longer term due to their good fixtures from weeks 23-30 so Torres and co might be good buy low options.

Defensively, United look by far the best play though again Arsenal and Liverpool are solid plays. The fixtures are averaging goals scored by the opposition are below:
  1. Man United: Burnley (0.80), Hull (0.70)
  2. Arsenal: Bolton (1.60), @Bolton (1.25)
  3. Liverpool: @Stoke (1.40), Tottenham (1.60)
  4. Tottenham: Hull (0.70), @Liverpool (2.60)
  5. Hull: @Tottenham (2.60), @Man United (2.40)
  6. Bolton: @Arsenal (2.30), Arsenal (3.00)
United are a tough team to pick due to the uncertainty of their back line, though physio room suggest that only O'Shea and Ferdinand remain out. The BBC also suggest that Vidic will definitely miss the Burnley game though his status for the Hull match is less certain. That should pave the way for Evra, Brown and probably Rafael to get the two starts although Jonny Evans could potentially cause issues. I think Brown is a fairly safe pickup though Evra is the only real guarantee again this week. I'm a bit skeptical of Arsenal's ability to cope without Song protecting their back line (see Saturday's result) but nevertheless Bolton are not a great scoring side. They have however scored 8 goals in their last 3 home games and I would not be banking on two clean sheets from Wenger's men.

The full weekly preview will be up soon but bear these double gameweeks in mind when making your transfers. As always, please post your thoughts below or @plfantasy and thanks for reading.

Comments

Unknown said…
Chris, what do you think of adding Modric?
January 12, 2010 at 8:54 PM
Unknown said…
do it. I already have
January 13, 2010 at 3:25 AM
Mmmarek83 said…
Don't like SWP anymore. Too much waiting. Although, he will miss GW23.

Chris, any suggestions abput changing SWP for Modric or Lennon. I really want to save money to bring in Darby(Liverpool) and hope he will play. News about that?
January 13, 2010 at 4:34 AM
Unknown said…
Q. who should I play between Hangeland (at Blackburn), and Scharner(at Wolves)? assuming brede is fit.
January 13, 2010 at 9:29 AM
Unknown said…
leaning towards brede cos wigan are crap away
January 13, 2010 at 11:19 AM
Chris said…
Auburn - I like modric alot and plan to bring him in myself shortly. Spurs lack of great fixtures made me stall but for a dbl gameweek he is now a great pickup. He's an elite player for a top 7 team for a very good price. I think he might turn into a real bonus magnet and could become the next milner.
January 13, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pushing the Panic Button: Gameweek 15

-
Image
Powered by Tableau The above visualisation is going to form the centrepiece for a new regular post (probably bi-weekly) which is kind of the opposite of the fanning the flames piece. Rather than focus on players who did well this week, we're going to look at players who didn't, and particularly those who haven't for a number of weeks and identify whether, yes you guessed it, the panic button should be pushed. Before we get into specific players, a quick review of what the table above shows: Goals xG - This is the expected goals a player should  have scored in a given week based on the number of shots he took (inside/outside the box), his historic skill level regarding hitting the target and the league average rate of converting shots on target (SoT) to goals. This metric gives an overview of the chances a player is receiving, along with the quality of them and the way he is converting them. Pts - simply the points scored by the player over the last five g...
Read more

A brief update

-
Happy holidays everyone; it's been a while. For those not on Twitter, I was away in Costa Rica over the break without much - if any - internet access hence the lack of posts around these electronic pages. Well, actually, that's only the main reason, not the only one. In truth I've become a bit disillusioned with the fantasy game the past couple of months, partly due to my other commitments which make copying data at 2am somewhat less appealing, partly due to a lack of excitement in this year's game and finally due to the constant frustration I have with today's internet culture. This blog is a labour of love and aside from the small amount of money I made from the pre-season guide many of you graciously purchased, I don't get much out of this beyond the enjoyment of interacting with readers and hopefully helping a few of you to gain a couple of extra fantasy points every now and then. While some of that enjoyment remains, I feel it has waned over time and th...
Read more

Demba Ba and transfer planning

-
Image
I try not to get involved in too much "will-he-won't-he" speculation in these pages with, for example, the weekly statistical rankings being provided regardless of rotation risk. I'm not saying, of course, that this shouldn't be a factor, only that I'm in no position to offer a worthwhile opinion, other than collating other news stories (which are often based on nonsense quotes from managers anyway). There are plenty of other sites who offer opinions on whether Tevez will play or if Vidic has recovered from injury but in almost all cases it's pure guess work and so I try and stay away from such discussions. With that in mind, my initial reaction to Ba's move was negative. I have no idea whether he will play every week at Chelsea, and while you'd think it would extremely odd for a player to leave a good team to go and ride the bench, other players have done the exact same thing before. All I therefore see is a player who has gone from being the e...
Read more