PLFantasy

We're getting closer to the final squads being announced but before then let's look at the fixtures for the group games and determine which ones to target. Reader David has already highlighted a few in a recent post so I thought I'd add my picks based on form, odds, goal scoring record and propensity to keep clean sheets. My top picks for each round of group games are below: Round 1 Slovakia vs New Zealand Brazil vs North Korea Spain vs Switzerland Argentina vs Nigeria For three of the games here (Brazil, Spain and Argentina), the key here is not to indicate that the likes of Messi, Villa and Kaka are good picks (no kidding!) but that you might want to double up rather than have, say a Brazilian and a Dutch strikeforce (with the Netherlands facing a much tougher opener against the Danes). For the record I think the key in week 1 is get to get 11 men on the field so going with captains and irreplaceable players rather than long shots is the key. While I always sing the prais...

Here's a quick run around the World Cup teams including goals, injuries and who will miss the final squad cuts: Van Persie scored twice for the Netherlands in their defeat of Mexico. I am really high on the Netherlands and Van Persie becomes a legitimate option to start from week one (vs Denmark). Michael Essien will miss the World Cup which is a huge blow to Ghana's chance. I like Serbia to progress from Group D after which they will likely meet a relatively strong England side. Philip Lahm has been handed the German armband guaranteeing his place in the starting XI and making him one of the most valuable defenders around. Like fellow ex-teammate Essien, Lassana Diarra will also miss the tournament . The injury should pave the way for PL Fantasy favourite Abou Diaby to play alongside Jeremy Toulanan, as they did on several occasions in the qualifiers. Okay it was against Canada but Argentina finally put on a display that matches their talent levels. Goals for Tevez, Aguero...

Here in the UK, Spain's chances are considered to be greatly hampered by the injuries to Torres and Fabregas, but in reality they still have an extremely strong team and should feature heavily in most fantasy conversations. Fabregas was, and is, likely to take the number 12 shirt ie being a very gifted substitute. Not much has changed since Euro 2008 when Cesc only started in the third group game (after Spain had already qualified) and then the final. He has played in more qualifiers lately but Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and company is far from a bad bunch so I am not sweating Cesc's absence despite my full blown man crush. Torres however is a different story as the Liverpool hitman started every game of the Euro champs (aside from the meaningless 3rd group game) and has featured in most games during the qualifying period. In the 23 man squad, there is only real Fernando Llorente who would be identifiable as a 'striker' to partner Villa with the other forwards being more supp...

Thanks to David among other readers for pointing out that the McDonald's fantasy game is now up and running, and is far superior to the Sky game. I'm still going to play the Sky Sports game as, well, can you ever have too many fantasy teams, but I will be focusing the site on the McDonald's game due to it's similarity to the EPL game we are all familiar with. I have setup a blog league with the code: 128022-30277 Stay tuned for more team previews and some strategy thoughts in the coming days.

Brazil are the second favourites (5/1) for the whole tournament thanks to good form in the qualifiers (top of their group) and an improved 'team' concept that should lead to a tighter defence (emphasis on the word 'should' rather than 'has'). Brazil have been drawn in Group G along with Portugal, Cote d'Ivoire and North Korea which is tough but should not prevent their advance to the next round. A week 1 fixture against North Korea is beyond appetising and with 15 transfers to use in the group stages it makes alot of sense to bring a couple of Brazilians in for this week and move them later if they aren't hitting the highs of previous years. Fantasy Picks The team has been fairly unsettled during the qualifiers so it is hard to pick the final XI but there are several players who should feature in early games and therefore deserve fantasy consideration. Kaka (MD) Undoubtedly one of the top picks for this year's competition, Kaka is the only true world...

Before I get too carried away with the World Cup , I want to take a bit of time to look back over the season and hand out some well deserved awards. I will be posting some further analysis throughout the season as soon as I have managed to build a decent database that I can use. Premier League Blog Champion Congratulations to Ahmed el Kassar whose 'No Mercy' team won the blog league with a very impressive 2441 points to place just outside the top 1,000 in the world. I plan to comment more on the status of the league next year so please re-join next season and invite your friends as I look to integrate the progress of the team into the blog. PL Team of the Year I have selected the below squad which was available for under £100m at the start of the year, as my team of the year. I would guess that this might be the most controversial section so please post your alternatives below and we'll discuss: GK T.Sorensen (4.0m) Fourth among GK in points scored despite missing...

A couple of readers have asked whether I will be running a World Cup fantasy competition and I'm pleased to say that the answer is yes. I have setup a mini league over at Sky Sports , though I am open to suggestions if people find a game that they think is better. The pin code in 902 if you want to join in the fun. I will get to focusing on the strategy involved with the game later, especially given the strange format of having 15 transfers (yes 15!) to use over the group stages, but for the time being lets look back at how all the teams have got here. I have taken the teams that all the qualifying nations played in qualification to look at the number of goals they scored and conceded. I have then tried to adjust the results based on the opponents world rankings to try and equalise the results. While this is a pretty crude measure it should give a better idea of where teams' strength lies rather than just "Germany always have a tight defense" (somew...

Apologies for the lack of posts this past week, work and commitments at home have taken over and I've barely even caught a game of footy never mind had chance to formulate some useful fantasy thoughts. I guess the good news is that with the season so close to finishing, it hopefully didn't cost anyone anything significant by not being able to talk through their team last week. Clean Sheet Rankings Man Utd Everton Arsenal Aston Villa Chelsea Wolves Sunderland Hull Liverpool Tottenham Bolton Burnley Man City Birmingham Stoke West Ham Portsmouth Blackburn Fulham Wigan The top 5 are a cut above this week, all enjoying home games against weaker opposition. With no distractions around either, all sides should be looking to go out on a high and of course United and Chelsea have the small matter of a title to play for so there shouldn't be too much Fulham-style slacking off here. As a look ahead to next season, I have started to tweak my prediction spreadsheet to try and take into ...