PLFantasy

For the first time in decades, Manchester, not London, is the focal point of the Premier League race and, more importantly for this site, the key source of joy (and possibly frustration) for fantasy managers. True, Manchester United have at times dominated the Premier League to a degree that would make the Harlem Globetrotters blush, but their sides have often failed to provide too much fantasy depth with one or two stars racking up massive totals, while being supplemented by a group of overpriced and oft-rotated journeymen and defensive players. For every Beckham, Ronaldo or Rooney we seem to have had three Keanes, Fletchers or Scholes', all excellent players in the own right, but not too helpful in fantasy circles. Their cross-town rivals in sky blue have been much worse, stockpiling average assets and going through players and managers at the same rate Mario Balotelli acquires parking tickets. The tide obviously started to turn with the arrival of the investors from Abu...

After two more miserable performances from Ronaldo over the Christmas period, many owners are getting close to dumping Ronaldo and the net transfers for the week are in a small outflow position. I myself was considering dumping him for Gerrard until Gerrard's off the field antics cast doubt over his future for the coming weeks. Three points need raising though before any rash decisions are made: 1. Ronaldo still leads all fantasy players with 6.67 points per game ( PPG ) which equates to a Points Per Million Spent ( PPMS ) of 0.457, which is ahead of Deco (o.444) and Fabregas (0.424) among others. If you have captained Ronaldo every week (or even just a few of his 15 point+ performances) then his PPMS will be up with anyone else in the league. It is also important to remember that value for money ( ie PPMS ) will only carry your team a certain distance and it is actual points ( PPG ) that really matters. 2. United have two double gameweeks in the next 5 and then have a 3 g...

I am a huge fan of the system implemented in US sports such as the NFL, where players are given official ratings as to how injured they are ranging from probable to questionable to out. Unfortunately we do not enjoy such a system in the Premier League, so I will try and implement one by collating all the varying info available on players and assessing their status accordingly. Note that this list is not exhuastive and will not include (a) long term casualties unless they occurred recently and (b) players will zero fantasy impact (such as Sunderland's third keeper etc. I will try to keep the list updated right through to 11:30 tomorrow when the transfer deadline passes. Gameweek 16 Status (updated 10:28am Saturday) Sources Physio Room Fantasy Football Scout BBC Sport Goal.com TheFA.com Suspension List

After suffering through another miserable fantasy weekend which saw me slip in the standings for the 4 th week running and surrender my once solid 120 point lead my work league I have decided to implement two new strategies. The second one to be discussed in a separate article is that I will now be employing a 3-man striking rotation of mid-priced strikers based on match up . The first to be discussed here is that my team selection has gotten too cute and I will now focus on the following key factors when selecting my squad and team lineup: 1. Don't select players who I do not rate as good or better, no matter what they have done in the last couple of weeks. As they say, form is temporary, class is permanent. I've had Carlton Cole, Javier Garrido , Jonas Olsson , Edwin Van Der Sar and Andy Dawson, all of whom I rate no better than average Premiership players (van der Sar once was obviously a class keeper). 2. Don't take avoiding point chasing to a ridiculous degree. La...

After this week's disaster (34 points) I am planning a reshake and I was hoping to trigger some debate as to the best way forward. My basic strategies are to either: - lose Laursen and eventually Alex and replace them with budget defenders - replace the aforementioned pair with premium defenders based on availability. The focal point of the argument is basically whether you are better off with premium defenders, midfielders, or strikers for that matter. Lets looks at the facts: Pretty good scores from some of the defenders on offer. Alex is the pick of the bunch so far and should be held by everyone until Carvalho is out. A surprise for many (including me) is the inclusion of all four Bolton defenders who have been great value so far this season. I think Steinsson is the pick due to his desire to push forward but O'Brien is a lock in that team and is great value at 4.3m. The premium players are generally towards the bottom with the notable exception of Bosingwa who has been bri...

16:09 Back under way in the Premier League with no notable substitutions to comment on. 16:12 100 league goals for Lampard as the goals keep flowing at Stamford Bridge. Lampard is in delicious form and is a must have for fantasy teams if your budget will stretch to it. I can almost feel the 3 bonus points. 16:13 Anelka hattrick! Okay so maybe it'll be 2 bonus points for Lamps. Another assist for Malouda too. Chelsea are rampant 5-0. 16:16 Bednar makes a claim to the top sub-6m striker title with his 4th of the season. At 5.4 he might be worth a look. 16:17 United get their 4th through Vidic, assisted by Rooney. That's Vidic's first this season. 16:22 West Brom take the lead as they punish 10 man Blackburn, no points for identifying the turning point of that game! This time its a sub-5m man, Ishmael Miller, who has tempted me in the past. If he continues to play he is a steal at 4.9m. Only the second time this season the Baggies have bagged two. 16:26 As we stand Pure Juice ...

Everton v Fulham No regular first teamers are out for either side. Everton players are a good bet this week with Fulham not travelling too well this year (only 2 goals in 4 games scored). The impressive Fulham defense is less so on the road having failed to keep a clean sheet so far. One to watch: Tim Cahill Chelsea v Sunderland Carvalho is back on the sidelines and could be out for up to three weeks. This makes Alex (5.6) an interesting prospect once more with Sunderland at home this week and decent fixtures after that (@Bla, @WH, New). Ballack and Drogba are also sidelined, though there is a chance Cole could return. If you own him for some reason I'd probably keep him out for one more week. Craig Gordon is also a doubt though you want to avoid him anyway in what should be a win for the home side. One to watch: Alex Man Utd v Hull Hargreaves and Scholes are still out which means Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson will battle it our for playing time. I wouldn't suggest that any o...

So far its been a pretty successful season, having scored 466 points and lying 620th place after gameweek 8. However, having already used my wildcard to get into the Ronaldo sweepstakes, it is vital that I use my transfers wisely over the coming weeks. A quick look at my team in terms of Points per Million Spent makes interesting reading (I have assumed that I will captain Ronaldo every week): E.Van der Sar The big Dutchman has been a great acquisition for me, notching 3 clean sheets in the 3 games I've had him. Indeed he's been great value all season notching 4 clean sheets in the 6 full games he's played. I can't see why he is still 5.9m and I am sure he will rise in value in the next couple of weeks. With United facing only one hard game over the next 5 (@Ars) now is as good a time as any to buy Van der Sar. M.Schwarzer I'm pleased with Schwarzer's value and only Myhill (4m) has scored more points for the same value. Sorenson and Turnbull are also decent buy...

Ashley Young and Martin Laursen chipped in with some useful points last night though it was within 4 minutes of being an excellent night. Darren Bent's 86th minute goal took away a clean sheet for Laursen and Young and Young when on to get booked for time wasting, costing a total of 6 points. Young and Laursen received 3 and 2 bonus points respectively to lessen this blow. Another decent week leaves me 803rd in the premierleague.com rankings which is by far my best ever position. The game also convinced me that I need to get rid of David Bentley this week. He had been unimpressive this season but I thought I'd weather the storm and stick with him. However, he started on the bench last night which is unacceptable for a 8m player. Thoughts now turn to who to replace him with (see next post).