PLFantasy

With 8 weeks gone, we now have a decent idea of how the season is going to shake out. One of the things that is becoming clearer is who will take penalties for each team, a good source of points, particularly when defenders and midfielders are given the penalty duties. Below is a list of the players expected to continue penalty taking duties for their respective teams: Arsenal - Emmanuel Adebayour Aston Villa - Gareth Barry Blackburn - Roque Santa Cruz Bolton - Kevin Nolan Chelsea - Frank Lampard Everton - Mikel Arteta Fulham - Danny Murphy Hull - Marlon King Liverpool - Steven Gerrard Man City - Robinho Man Utd - Cristiano Ronaldo Middlesbrough - Stuart Downing Newcastle - Michael Own Portsmouth - Jermaine Defoe Stoke - Liam Lawrence/Danny Higginbotham Sunderland - Djibril Cisse Tottenham - Luka Modric West Brom - Roman Bednar West Ham - Craig Bellamy Wigan - Amr Zaki A couple of these players are purely speculative due to a lack of penalties for a couple of clubs so far t...

With this week being the international break, there isn't that much to talk about in fantasy land so I thought I would update my predictions from last week regarding potential price rises. Hopefully I can fare better than the world markets have the past week! Buy C.Ronaldo 14.2 (+0.1m) A.Zaki 6.8 (+0.1m) J.Bosingwa 6.5m (+0.1m) S.Nasri 7.5m (-) D.Berbatov 9.4m (-) V.Kompany 5.7m (+0.1m) A.Traore 4.5m (-) Sell M.Arteta 8.1m (+0.1m) D . Bentley 7.4m (-) D.Bent 7.0 (-0.1m) The buy tips were largely successful with 4 tips showing gains and three holding steady (Traore has seen 12,000 transfers in the past two weeks and looks set rise at any point). I think Ronaldo still has plenty of room to run and is one big week (say two goals and 3 bonus points) away from seeing a huge rush to bring him in. I think Zaki and Bosingwa are still well priced and might see another 0.1 - 0.3 gain over the next month. My selling tips were more varied and (as tipped by SilentJay) I was dead wrong with Art...

Teams of the week Blackburn vs Man Utd I rarely recommend players on the road as time has told us that even the best are less productive away from home. However, I get the impression United are simmering right now and are ready to explode over the next few weeks . Rovers have conceded 5 in three home games, though did manage a clean sheet last time out against Fulham . Ronaldo is the obvious choice to capitalise here though I also like Berbatov this week after his brace against Aalborg in mid-week . Despite little fan fair, Berbatov has notched 2 assists and 3 bonus points in his 3 games for United and looks good ton continue this form this week. Blackburn have aso scored just 2 in three home games which makes the United back line a good play. Van der Sar is decent value at 5.9 and I still like Evra at 6.5. The wild card pick could be O'Shea at 5.5, who could deputise in midfield due to injuries to Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves. I am hopeful that Anderson will break into the firs...

The term wild card was originally used in card games, but the term has evolved to describe what the Merrian-Webster Dictionary calls "an unknown or unpredictable factor" in any number of domains. In sports, it represents the teams who sneak into the playoffs, not as division winners but as unknown entities who often cause shocks and suprises. In research, its a low probability but high impact event that often costitute the turning point in the evolution of a particular system. In premierleague.com fantasy football the wildcard can make or break a season and the incorrect use of it has ruined many a season for many a team. After another average week for Pure Juice, coupled with the emphatic return of Cristiano Ronaldo I have been tempted to play my wildcard. Everyone knew they faced this dilemna when it was announced that Ronaldo would miss the start of the season. But with other big guns flattering to deceive (Drogba, Rooney, Torres until this weekend, Gerrard) and Ronaldo ...

Saturday sees the anniversary of Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" which first introduced the equation E=MC2. Such intricacies and brain power will not be required this week in the fantasy world. Four of the best hot spots for fantasy talent - Arsenal, United, Chelsea and Villa - all face what appear to easy matchups that could be filled with goals and fantasy points. Its surely a matter of filling your lineup with as many of these as possible to max out your points this week. Arsenal v Hull City Hull have impressed so far with the exception of the Wigan game where their potential frailty was exposed. Arsenal have been in good form this season and after a bit of a nervy start against Bolton they played some breathtaking flowing football where the only disadvantage for fantasy owners was that anyone in the team could pop up with a goal (or be benched in van Persie's case). With the big guns rested against Hull you would ex...

With Cristiano Ronaldo due to return from injury tomorrow agains t V illareal , any sensible fantasy player must contemplate the possibility of bringing him into their team. Last season Ronaldo was simply incredible and anyone wishing to compete had to have him in their ranks (I was one of the stupid few who kept insisting he couldn't continue his form and I duly finished 7th in the league). As incredible as the 31 goals were last year, whats almost as fantastic was the fact that the prior year he'd accrued 244 points, only 39 less than last year's historical year. This leads me to believe he can ,and probably will, score along those line this year (minus the points for the 3 games missed already). However, at 14m he is 2.6m more than the next midfielder (Gerrard) and 2m more than any other player (Torres). Deco currently leads midfielders with 31 points but is only 7th in points per million spent (PPMS) at 0.816 (using his current value of 9.5m). Here are the top PPMS ra...