PLFantasy

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

I made reference to this new strategy earlier in the week, which to be honest isn't all that new or clever, just something I wanted to sound out to see what people think of it. The idea is to forget the likes of Torres and Drogba, and even Anelka and Keane. The plan is to get 3 strikers for around 7m each which should then leave sufficient money to get 4 quality defenders and midfielders, allowing a rotation of the front three. The argument behind this strategy is that these mid range strikers, if selected based on form and fixtures, can all but match the bigger names, which just isn't possible with defenders and to a lesser extent midfielders (where exceptions - Ireland - can be found). Candidates The best candidate so far this season is Amr Zaki , who after missing three games lately still heads this list. His value has fallen to 6.9m which makes it a great time to buy the big Egyptian. Wigan's next 7 games are against opponents who all give up more than a goal a game, an...

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...

Damn those friendlies, my team is in shreds. Here's a quick run though of the injury news, with further updates to come in the week. Arsenal The big news out of the international break for the Gunners is that Walcott is out for as long as three months (shoulder). He is an obvious sell for anyone who has him. In terms of replacements, Eboue will get a game over the next few weeks, especially because Sagna is also injured (ankle). Eboue has been injured himself though maybe back this week to face City, though don't expect a clean sheet as City have scored a massive 16 in 6 at the Middle Eastlands this season. Van Persie and Adebayour both return, though Fabregas will miss out due to suspension. The seemingly out of favour Toure has also picked up a knock and will probably not figure. A rare bright spot is that Eduardo is close to returning to training. Aston Villa Martin O'Neill is sweating on the fitness of Carew this week though he could be set to return having been nam...

One of the most overlooked aspects of Fantasy Football is the matchups our players face each week. Most players seem to simply follow trends (which can sometimes work) and pick those players who have racked up alot of points to date or in the previous week. However, this obviously ignores the fixtures on the horizon and often leads to wasted transfers and point chasing. By assigning a figure (1, 2 or 3) to each team based on their performance to date - in terms of goals scored and conceded whilst at home and away - we can generate a strength of schedule for defensive and attacking players. Defensive players Based on the next 6 games, the best strength of schedules for defensive players are: - Liverpool 1.3 - Sunderland 1.3 - Aston Villa 1.7 - Blackburn 1.7 - Chelsea 1.7 - Hull 1.7 (an average schedule would be 2.0) This clearly shows that Liverpool have a combination of the league's second best defense along with the easiest defensive schedule, which should lead to bumper points fo...

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 ...

15:05 Ronaldo opens the 3pm scoring with his 5th league goal of the season. This man is pure fantasy gold and is proving that 14m was well worth it. So long as you captain him his PPMS is well over 1.000. 15:13 Stoke take the lead via another Delap throw which is turning into one of the most dangerous weapons in the league right now. He, along with scorer Fuller are turning into legitimate fantasy starters this season. 15:13 Benni McCarthy slots home a soft penalty to take the lead over West Brom. The former Porto man has 2 in 3 and might be developing into a decent fantasy player at 7.2m. 15:21 Former Pure Juice substitute Hayden Mullins scores for the Hammers and suggests he may be a decent bench man at 4.3m. Boro's defense is looking less convincing by the week. 15:24 Hull tie things up at Old Trafford and Van der Sar's clean sheet goes begging. The big Dutchman was benched last week and might be heading towards the Pure Juice chopping board in the near future. Dawson is in ...

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...

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...

I've never really considered capital growth as a legitimate reason to invest in a fantasy player, but with the current credit crunch caused by the arrival of Ronaldo , I decided to take a look at those players whose value may increase over the next few weeks. The latest premierleague .com pundit article suggests a couple of players who may be undervalued at this point (Alex, Keane and Bentley). I agree with Alex and have indeed bought him for my team. However, I am neutral on Keane and downright opposed to the suggestion of Bentley. I've set out some ideas for those players whose value looks set to rise/fall over the next few weeks: Ronaldo ( CRON ) is now held by 15.2% of all players but his value has only increased by 0.1. If he has another big week this week you can bet people will be reaching for the wildcard and his value will increase rapidly. Zaki ( AZAK ) has had by far the biggest gain in all of fantasy football and is now owned by 29% of all players. However, at 6...