PLFantasy

dif ·fer·en·ti·a· tion (n) 1. The act, process, or result of differentiating 2. The process of computing a derivative. 3. The process by which cells or tissues undergo a change toward a more specialized form or function, especially during embryonic development. I hope you all captained Rooney or Fabregas this week! I'm pleased to say t his pair were my top 2 captain picks for the week though judging from most of the mini leagues I am in, they were also everyone else's pick. Pure Juice scored 128 points this week and lost ground in the main competition thanks to the double game-weeks of Arsenal and United. The week served to underline the fact that most teams now have an overlap of at least 4 or 5 players with 7 players owned by 30% of more of all managers. Consider that a number of managers at the bottom of the league have probably not kept up to date and you realise that in reality over half of all your competitors probably most own these players: Rooney (44%) Sorensen (...

One of my favourite ways to select defenders is to select a player from a team who is valued at a lower value than his teammates (like Armand Traore last year who at 4.5m was considerably cheaper than his Portsmouth teammates). A lot of fantasy players tend to select a particular player based on reputation even though you are really picking a defensive team, save for a extra goals and bonus points that accompany some players. Putting these aside for now, lets look around the league for the potential cheap links this year: NB. Goalkeepers do not count here as they are all generally cheaper than the defensive counterparts: Man United - Rafael (5.5)/O'Shea (5.5)/Brown (6m)/Neville (5.5m) If any of these players can lock down the position then they instantly become almost a must own player as they will be playing alongside the best defence in the league, who are valued at 8m, 7m and 6.5m but will only cost you the same as a Villa or West Ham defender. If Rafael can become an every wee...

With less than three weeks to go until the big kick off, its time to start seriously checking the health of the players around the league, as it is vital that you get all eleven players playing every week from the start (especially in light of the several bye weeks in gameweek 2): Phil Jagielka (6.0m) - this one is long term (November) and should rule Jagielka out of fantasy contention until around Christmas time when his return to the starting lineup can be guaranteed. When fit Jags will be a cheap way to get access to the solid Everton defense but forget about the former Blades man for the near future. Jonathan Woodgate (5.0m) - 'unlikely' to be ready for the start of the season, the return to the injury table is not a surprise for the former Leeds star, who just cannot stay fit. I had Woodgate pencilled in as a nice mid level option for a team who had the best defensive home record in the league, and were getting Bale and Hutton back from injury. However, with Woodgate, Ki...

Play Forwards/Midfielders Three matches stand out this week as games in which the fantasy points could flow. Liverpool v Stoke Liv erpool looked good last week against United and have looked okay so far tonight (its currently half time in Marseille). Stoke have conceded 5 so far in their two away games despite only travellin g to Bolto n and Middlesbrough. The obvious man to capitalise on this game is Fernando Torres though at 12m it will take some maneuvering to get him into your team. Steven Gerrard is of course another safe bet and will look to grab a goal in the league after his great strike vs Marseille. However, it is the cheaper options who look to b e great value this week with Xabi Alonso and Ryan Babel looking to be good buys. Javier Mascherano played midweek and having just returned from South America is likely to be rested, allowing Alonso to continu e his decent run of league form. Babel has been somewhat of an enigma this season since returning from the olympics...