PLFantasy

Despite the suggestions in some section of old media, the so-called "stats" versus "scouting" debate is essentially over. I would imagine most, if not all, teams pay at least some attention to advanced stats with player performance tracked and assessed on an increasingly granular level. The same should be true in fantasy football. The suggestion that you can't scout players purely based on a spreadsheet is completely fair, but is likely something of a straw man argument as I don't know if anyone really believes that to be true. Equally, you are probably missing out if you think you can glean all the information you need by watching games (or more precisely highlights as the majority of games aren't televised in many regions). This game served a nice reminder that both those one sided views are foolish. The highlights package would give you much of what you need to know in that Arsenal largely dominated the game but were picked off by a couple of Hull a...

Even though we're still just seven weeks into the new season, we've already observed a number of interesting and somewhat strange happenings at the Emirates: in terms of underlying data, the defense has been more impressive than the usually explosive attack in terms of actual results though, the defense has struggled with just a single clean sheet to date Wenger did bring in a relatively big name forward - who's looked great so far - yet there still seems to be a feeling that they need more - probably in part due to the success of Diego Costa on the other side of London the team has quietly assembled the best depth they've enjoyed in recent memory yet they've suffered through so many injuries that the average bench has tended to be more Campbell and Coquelin than Giroud and Cazorla Arsenal out shot Chelsea 10 to five and enjoyed more possesion at Stamford Bridge last time out, yet lost the game (their first of the season) and now find themselves nine points beh...

Learn About Tableau The first team we're "adopting" this week is Arsenal, and so we'll start with the basics and look at who's played so far and who's likely to keep playing in the future. At the back there isn't too much to talk about with a fairly clear first choice back four of Gibbs, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Debuchy with Chambers likely providing the first bench option in both the middle and on the right with Monreal serving as Gibbs' understudy. Injuries have prevented that lineup from playing together all season, and that trend will continue with Debuchy (three months, ankle) sidelined for a sustained period. That will allow Chambers to continue his impressive start at the Emirates (after his GW8 suspension) and so at 4.6m he would be the clear short-medium term option to use here. Despite the constant criticism of not spending enough money or being able to compete with the league's big spenders, Wenger has assembled a deep and talented m...

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...

The best part of this time of year as a fan is that almost anything is possible and things can change dramatically in a heartbeat. The worst part about this time of the year as a fantasy manager is that almost anything is possible and things can change dramatically in a heartbeat. After putting together a high level team preview for the league's elite , United finally concluded their drawn out negotiations for Robin van Persie thus having a massive impact on both United and Arsenal's lineup for the upcoming year. With the season so close and with so many questions still unanswered (indeed the transfer hasn't even gone through yet) we can only hope to clear up what we do  know to avoid costly mistakes right out of the gate. I've put together some quick thoughts on the key players this impacts, though to be honest, we aren't going to know too much until Van Persie has played a few games for United. Robin van Persie (13.0m) I don't think anyone can say for s...

Though I started with the promoted teams , it makes more sense to start at the top as in reality this is how the majority of owners build their teams (insert their superstars first then surround them with as much mid range or budget talent as they can). I’ve included five teams here so that each post is comparatively long but really a sub division has arisen within the elite: the two Manchester powerhouses and the London clubs playing catchup. Note, the projected lineups are far from certain and where I don’t know who will play I haven’t really dwelled on it, and neither should you. If you aren’t convinced a player will start the season in the first eleven he should be nowhere near your starting lineup. This isn’t a league where you draft for December, you need to earn points in GW1 just as much as GW21. Players highlighted as being on my personal shortlist are shown in  blue with those who I believe to be secure in the starting eleven shown in bold . Division 1a: Manch...

We're under three weeks until the start of the season so team previews are more than due. In order to save time, I have kept the posts to a scouting notebook style, rather than fluffing them up with prose which doesn't really teach you anything. The aim is to post a couple a day to give everyone time to digest them, ask questions and, more than likely, object to something contained within. First up, a deep source of fantasy talent: Arsenal. Headlines 72 goals scored ranked second in the league, 2.05 GPG rate on the road better than every other team by over half a goal. Failed to score on only 6 occasions, only bettered by Man Utd (5) Second in bonus points received (142), again only trailing the Champions (154) Sixth in clean sheets (13) overall, but dramatic splits between home (9 - 4th) and away (4 - t8th) Squad depth looks worryingly deep from a fantasy perspective with arguably the best squad Wenger has had since Henry, Pires et al graced the Emirates pitch. Looking...

Barring any unseasonable weather this is likely to be the last significant double gameweek of the season so you better make it count. I won't re-tread much covered ground here but I would urge, if not demand, that you trundle over to the double gameweek analysis posted earlier in the week. Clean Sheet Rankings (Team clean sheets - opponent failed to score) Arsenal (4 - 5) and (4 - 5) Birmingham (4 - 5) and (4 - 3) Liverpool (6 - 6) West Brom (1 - 6) and (1 - 5) Blackburn (5 - 3) Man Utd (7 - 4) Stoke (2 - 4) and (2 - 2) Sunderland (7 - 2) Blackpool (0 - 5) and (0 - 2) Tottenham (1 - 2) and (1 - 0) Newcastle (3 - 3) and (3 - 4) Chelsea (3 - 2) Fulham (6 - 5) Bolton (3 - 3) Everton (2 - 3) Wigan (3 - 1) Wolves (1 - 2) and (1 - 3) Man City (4 - 0) West Ham (0 - 2) Aston Villa (0 - 0) Some will no doubt take objection at not ranking all the DGW teams at the top but, for most, the fixtures are just too tough to justify such a ranking. If your plan is to take t...

I have touched on the double gameweeks earlier but I think we need more analysis if we are to fully enjoy the fruits of them when playing the transfer window wildcard. Let's look at every team who has one or more double gameweeks coming up, who looks set to benefit and how you can maximise the opportunity: Arsenal Who they play and when : GW27 - Wolves and Stoke Who are the best plays : Arsenal look like a very good play both defensively and offensively. The Wolves fixture alone would likely rank Arsenal as the top defensive pick of the week and the addition of another sub-1 GPG team makes them a great play. They've only kept 3 clean sheets at home so I'm not crazy about paying the big bucks for a Thomas Vermaelen (if fit by then) but I would rate Fabianski as a very good pick and Djorou as sensational value if still in the first team. As we know, Arsenal are always a good option to score goals and my prediction tools have them scoring 4.7 goals in the two fixtures. I ...