Gameweek 20 Preview


Captain Picks
Barring transfer mistakes or an act of God, you own at least one or two Spurs players and will surely captain them this week. Therefore, in the interest of time I am going to skip over the other candidates and focus on Redknapp's big three:

Gareth Bale - leads the trio in points to date but has suffered badly from inconsistency with too many two or three pointers so far this year (9). However, his last four home games have given him 4-13-11-14 points which more than hints at the upside the young Welshman brings. His 40 shots ranks 3rd among all midfielders (Dempsey and Sinclair) and his 44 key passes can only be topped by Mata (45). Both opponents have tightened up of late but the likes of Tony Hibbert haven't faced anyone of Bale's quality for a while. His threat from set pieces is limited but his style of play tends to lend itself to bonus points so if he scores, he is likely to rack up 2 or 3 bonus points too.
Summary: Rarely rested, high upside but a boom/bust prospect. 

Rafael van der Vaart - appears to have lost penalty duties to Adebayor but remains a threat from corners and free kicks. His 26 shots on target are only topped by Dempsey but he lacks the assist threat of Bale and has only delivered 3 so far this year. His fitness is a concern as even when he's been able to  stay fit, he is often pulled off after 60 minutes, losing out on the junk time when fantasy points are padded. His seven games with 3 points or less compare favourably to Bale, but he's only enjoyed one double digit gameweek since GW10 and thus his upside is also lower.
Summary: set piece duties make him a touch safer but fitness concerns and lower upside hurt his value.

Emmanuel Adebayor - since his first start in GW4 Adebayor has missed just 9 minutes of action. In those 16 gameweeks he's failed to top two points just four times yet has shown his upside with three double digit gameweeks of his own. Can contribute assists along with goals which separates him from many of his similarly priced peers. His nine goals exceeds the above pair, but that advantage is all but eliminated when you consider the fewer points he earns as a forward. With less points per goal and fewer big games, Ade's upside might not measure up to Bale but he brings a winning combination of consistency with big score potential and is thus a great play for the week.
Summary: lowest downside, good upside and rarely, if ever, being rested makes Ade a great pick.

While I like the Everton defense for the week and would of course start any of their outfielders I owned, I would not recommend captaining any Everton player of the above Spurs trio this week.

Comments

nsj91 said…
Chris (or anyone else for that matter).. do you have any suggestions on the ideal week to play the january wildcard?

is there a particular week where it would be best utilised, or does it just come down to personal preference?
Steven said…
Ade FTW.

nsj91: My opinion is, use it when you need to use it. Look at your current team, their form, and their upcoming schedule. You should get a pretty good idea when (if) you'll need to drastically shift the roster.
Tim Thomas said…
Maynard should be in EPL soon, you can see where he will probably be and decide if you want him for your squad by reading "thetruefansports.blogspot.com"
Steven said…
Tim: Seriously advertising your site on another site that does the same thing? Come on
DtotheT said…
Tim,

This blog relates to what you would call 'soccerball', you won't poach many readers from here!
DtotheT said…
yo Chris,

what would your opinion be on losing Aguero for Yakubu? Obviously frees up a serious amount of funds i.e. allows Sessegnon for Tiote, Kompany for Gabbiddon

(I already have Silva Bale Nani Van Persie & Adebayor)
stooshermadness said…
I gambled on Friedel for the armband this week and am feeling good about it after today's result. I thought if Bale, VdV or Adebayor were going to have a massive game out of these 2 (my minileague rivals all captained Bale), it would have been WBA. I suspect Everton will come to WHL looking to keep it tight (5 goals in their last 8 games) and I suspect another tight, 1 goal affair on Jan 11. Dreaming, anyway . . .
Gummi said…
@stooshermadness: That's looking a solid gamble right now. I went for Adebayor over Bale, who had one of his worst performances for Tottenham.

Worse yet, Gallas, picked up an injury so it seems unlikely that I'll get an extra game out of him.
El Noel said…
What are your views on letting go of Demba Ba during the AFCON?

I got rid in anticipation of his value dropping but despite Fiso figures putting him in the red, his value did not drop last night. Is he protected? And if so, will the inevitable mass buyback when he returns cause his value to rocket even further?

I am beginning to regret selling him now as I only received a cut price of 7.1m for him and I feel that my squad is strong enough to have benched him for the duration of the AFCON. Now I can see a potential loss of 0.6m if indeed he is protected, and yet my potential loss of points would have been negligible.

Wish I'd considered protected status before I went ahead and sold him.

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