PLFantasy

Learn About Tableau

Learn About Tableau

Learn About Tableau

The revised strategy for this season is to post the weekly preview data as soon as possible, giving you (a) the chance to use it to help with any early transfer decisions and (b) to collate questions on why a given player is so low or high, to be answered on Fridays before the transfer deadline. Learn About Tableau

Learn About Tableau Given how early in the season we are, the model is still liable to throw up the odd outlier and so in these weekly posts I plan to address those, shall we say, unexpected results. In future weeks, the plan is to post the data as soon as possible after the final games' data is up and then you can raise questions/issues during the week, to be addressed on either the following Thursday or Friday. For this week, I'll just try and guess where the questions might lie: Keiren Westwood Sunderland have conceded at least two goals in six straight contests, yet the model thinks they'll do okay this week. What gives? Well, having conceded 7.3 shots inside the box at home, they're hardly a team without hope (that alone would be the 9th best  total of the teams playing this week). Add to that the fact that Newcastle have averaged 30% less SiB against their opponents than average, while only averaging 6.0 SiB on their travels, and you get a game where w...

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Two weeks is a long time in both fantasy and reality. If it goes well you could being talked about as title contenders with the world at your feet (Mancini) but if things go wrong, even the strongest of resumes will be ignored (Wenger). Hopefully you find yourself in the former camp, but if not, don't panic, decide who needs to go then start trying to rack up some points, starting with this week. Clean Sheet Rankings It's always tricky at this point in the season to determine how much attention to pay to prior year and how much to focus on the current season. I have avoided the tough decision by simply adding/averaging the data to give hybrid values. The GPG conceded will therefore be over the 19 home/away games from last year plus this year's single game while clean sheets/ failed to score numbers are simply added together: [Defensive Pick vs Opponent - goals per game conceded (clean sheets kept - opponent failed to score)] Liverpool vs Bolton - 0.93 GP (9 - 7) Ast...

It's a sad day when the season ends, particularly when the title race is over. However, for me, the excitement is just as high (or higher) at the other end of the table and so there's plenty to keep watching for. Oh, and there's the small matter of the last fantasy gameweek to deal with. Hopefully everyone has their mini leagues wrapped up by now (okay maybe not) but just in case, the weekly rankings are below. Clean Sheet Rankings Man Utd Stoke Tottenham Aston Villa West Ham Chelsea Bolton Newcastle Wolves Everton Sunderland Man City Liverpool Arsenal Fulham Wigan Birmingham Blackburn West Brom Blackpool  Attacking Rankings Man Utd Tottenham Chelsea Arsenal Liverpool Wolves Aston Villa West Brom Fulham Man City Sunderland Newcastle West Ham Blackburn Wigan Stoke Bolton Blackpool Everton Birmingham I will have to cut the preview short this week as I head down to Florida for a few days, but I would like to take the chance to thank ...

Clean Sheet Rankings (clean sheets kept - opponents failed to score in parenthesis) Chelsea (10 - 8) Man Utd (9 - 4) Stoke* (2 - 4) and (5 - 6) Fulham* (3 - 3) and (8 - 5) Liverpool (7 - 4) Aston Villa (6 - 8) Tottenham (5 - 7) Sunderland (7 - 8) Blackburn (6 - 6) Wolves* (3 - 6) and (2 - 3) Man City (4 - 4) Blackpool (0 - 6) Wigan (3 - 3) Bolton* (5 - 2) and (0 - 3) Arsenal (4 - 3) Newcastle (5 - 0) Birmingham (3 - 1) West Brom (0 - 4) Everton (3 - 0) West Ham (1 - 2)  * = double gameweek Attacking Rankings (expected goals in parenthesis) Chelsea (2.48) Stoke (2.44)* Fulham (2.36)* Tottenham (2.21) Bolton (2.07)* Arsenal (1.94) Man Utd (1.64) Liverpool (1.62) Wolves (1.60)* Aston Villa (1.50) Blackpool (1.44) West Brom (1.39) Newcastle (1.21) Man City (1.15) Blackburn (1.13) Everton (1.07) Wigan (0.92) Birmingham (0.89) Sunderland (0.82) West Ham (0.75)  * = double gameweek   Captain Stats The stars seen to have aligned f...

Is your season slipping falling away like a North London club with all the promise seemingly doomed to result in nothing? Are your loyal fans starting to turn on you after you once again handed to the armband to the slumping Drogba over the red-hot Van Persie? Is your loyalty to the increasingly leaky Sunderland defense causing murmurs in the stands that you've lost the confidence of the board? Well, unlike our real manager counterparts, fantasy managers have a golden opportunity this week to turn things round with three double gameweeks and 5 teams out of action. Hopefully you made some preparations for this week and so you're not sat holding Tevez, Davies and Jones as your talented but absent front line. Even the best planning though may have left you needing a quick fix so I urge you to take a peak here for some ideas of some one week mercenaries to fill out your match day lineup. Before settling on transfers though, we of course need to know who are the best plays of th...

With five teams (Bolton, Fulham, Man City, Stoke and Wolves) not in action this week a few of us might be scrambling for one-week mercenaries this week. With the DGWs falling to Arsenal, Chelsea and Birmingham the one week filler pool is somewhat limited with the big boys tending to be largely overpriced. Saying that, there is some potential within both these teams and others with good fixtures if you need a quick fix. Theo Walcott (6.9m) - he isn't extremely cheap at 6.9m but given his production I think he justifies a much loftier price. Over the season he ranks 4th among midfielders in aPoints and 9th overall. The downside, of course, has been his inability to stay on the field but Wenger tends to play him at home with Walcott starting the last 7 home games he was available for, so you should be able to avoid the dreaded 10 minute garbage time appearance. At worst I would expect 120 minutes and given the majority of that should be against a Liverpool side who hav...

This week's rankings are going to have to be cut short a bit due to time constraints but with no doubles, it isn't a particularly tricky week to navigate. For some guidance on the upcoming doubles and off-weeks I suggest having a quick glance over here.   Clean sheet rankings (clean sheets kept - opponents failed to score in parenthesis) Chelsea (9 - 7) Man Utd (8 - 5) Tottenham (5 - 8)* Blackburn (6 - 4) Aston Villa (5 - 5) Liverpool (6 - 5) Sunderland (7 - 7) Bolton (4 - 7)* Wolves (3 - 4)* Man City (4 - 1)* Arsenal (4 - 0) Everton (2 - 2) Birmingham (3 - 4) Stoke (2 - 4)* Newcastle (5 - 4) West Brom (0 - 3) Wigan (3 - 2) Fulham (3 - 0)* West Ham (1 - 3) Blackpool (0 - 2) *Team has no game next gameweek In short; buy the home teams. The top 7 sides look like premium plays this week though be careful not to over invest in Spurs players who miss GW33 and don't get their makeup DGW until GW36 (and even then it's a tricky trip to City). The form...

Clean Sheet Rankings Clean sheets kept at home/away - opponent failed to score at home/away Man City (8 - 5) Man Utd (3 - 3) and (3 - 2) Chelsea (8 - 3) Stoke (4 - 7) West Ham (3 - 4) Newcastle (3 - 4) Aston Villa (5 - 3) Everton (3 - 4) Fulham (3 - 3) Liverpool (4 - 3) Wolves (2 - 5) Sunderland (4 - 2) Blackpool (5 - 2) Wigan (2 - 3) West Brom (0 - 3) Blackburn (0 - 3) Bolton (0 - 2) Attacking Rankings Predicted weekly goals in parenthesis Man Utd (2.8) Newcastle (2.6) Aston Villa (2.4) Stoke (2.4) Wolves (1.9) Chelsea (1.9) Everton (1.7) Blackpool (1.5) Man City (1.3) West Ham (1.3) Sunderland (1.3) Wigan (1.1) Blackburn (1.1) Bolton (1.1) Liverpool (1.0) West Brom (0.8) Fulham (0.5) Captain Stats Given their tricky fixtures, United players do not look like the slam dunk picks that Arsenal gave us last week, though they are still, of course, at the forefront of the rankings this week: Nani - while the goals haven't flowed on the road (2...

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...

Before we get into the full rankings for the week, I guess that most will be more concerned with the double gameweeks and so this piece will focus exclusively on them, and who ranks best on the teams with two games. Defensive options With defenders, I would be careful before throwing too many eggs into the DGW basket as the fixtures generally aren't that strong and the majority of the teams have at least one game where a clean sheet looks very unlikely. Now, earning 4 points just for showing up is a plus, but I wouldn't be paying 4 points for many defensive starters this week, and your free transfers can probably be better used elsewhere. 1. Arsenal By far the strongest defensive option for the week, Arsenal face sides who score just 0.75 GPG (Wolves) and 1.00 GPG (Stoke) away from home while they themselves boast the 6th best home defense. Two clean sheets in the last three home games and four in a row overall seemed to mark the return of Arsenal as very useful fantasy u...

The transfer window has closed once again with key players moving teams and a couple of fresh faces arriving from overseas. There’s not too much time to let the dust settle though as another gameweek roles round, which looks promising for the Manchester teams, while the headliner match on Sunday will give us a good opportunity to assess whether Chelsea and Liverpool have really turned the proverbial corner after both have struggled (comparatively) in recent times. Clean Sheet Rankings (clean sheets kept at home/away – opposition failed to score at home/away) Man City (7 – 6) Chelsea (8 – 4) Tottenham (4 – 4) Aston Villa (5 – 5) Stoke (4 – 4) Man Utd (3 – 2) Fulham (3 – 3) West Ham (3 – 4) Sunderland (4 – 3) Everton (3 – 5) Arsenal (4- 2) Wigan (2 – 3) Birmingham (2 – 2) Blackpool (5 – 2) Blackburn (0 – 3) Wolves (2 – 3) Newcastle (3 – 2) Bolton (0 -3) Liverpool (3 – 1) Wes t Brom (0-3) Attacking Rankings Man City Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Blackburn Tottenham ...

No league games this weekend but we do have midweek action so I'm putting the rankings up now. Clean Sheet Rankings (clean sheets home/away - opponent failed to score home/away) Man Utd (7 - 5) Man City (4 - 4) Liverpool (5 - 4) Sunderland (7 - 5) Chelsea (3 - 2) Arsenal (4 - 3) Fulham (5 - 2) Blackburn (5 - 2) West Brom (1 - 6) Bolton (2 - 4) Birmingham (4 - 4) Blackpool (0 - 6) Wigan (3 - 2) Newcastle (3 - 1) Everton (2 - 2) Tottenham (0 - 2) Stoke (2 - 1) Wolves (1 - 3) West Ham (0 - 0) Aston Villa (0 - 0) Attacking Rankings Man Utd Blackpool Arsenal Blackburn Bolton Man City West Ham West Brom Fulham Newcastle Tottenham Liverpool Wigan Chelsea Wolves Everton Sunderland Stoke Birmingham Aston Villa Captain Stats It's almost impossible to look past the United pair of Berbatov and Nani this week. United score more goals than anyone at hone while Villa boast the league's leakiest road back line. After his hattrick last week, B...

This could be a big week for our fantasy teams as the double gameweeks start rolling in , new arrivals start playing and the teams start to sort out who are contenders and pretenders. Plenty of owners will be looking to play their wildcards this week so I thought I should get the weekly rankings up as soon as possible which along with the aforementioned double gameweek analysis, should give everyone plenty of food for thought before they plan their final assault on the league table. Along with the standard weekly rankings, I have included the rankings for the next 6 weeks and the remainder of the season. Clean Sheet Rankings (GW24) (clean sheets kept and opponents' failed to score in parenthesis) Man United (6 - 3) and (3 - 0) Arsenal (3 - 5) Fulham (4 - 3) and (3 - 1) Everton (3 - 6) Blackburn (4 - 5) Blackpool (0 - 4) and (0 - 3) Liverpool (2 - 1) and (4 - 4)  Wigan (3 - 2) and (2 - 5)  Aston Villa (4 - 3) and (0 - 3) Wolves (2 - 4) Man City (4 - 3) Bolton (2 ...

Despite some customer dissatisfaction along with own disappointing form, I am sticking with the same prediction tools for now until I come up with something better. Here are rankings for this week: Clean Sheet Rankings Newcastle Everton Man City Man Utd Chelsea Tottenham Stoke Aston Villa Bolton Fulham Wolves Wigan Sunderland Birmingham West Ham Arsenal Blackpool West Brom Liverpool Blackburn Attacking Team Rankings Bolton Newcastle Aston Villa Man Utd Stoke Man City Wolves Fulham Everton Birmingham Blackburn Sunderland West Brom Chelsea Blackpool Tottenham Arsenal West Ham Wigan Liverpool Captain Stats The captain options are very limited this week with injuries (Fabregas, Van der Vaart) and tough fixtures (Che @ Tot, Ars @ MNU) taking their tole. The best options to be found are:   Berbatov is averaging 10.83 PPG at home and has only failed to top 6 points once in all his home games this season. United project to score a couple of ...

Sorry for the delay again this week, some joker at my job has got it in his head that any of those pesky clients are worth more than fantasy football rankings. Has he seen my team? I haven't topped 50 points for five weeks. Five weeks! Hopefully the below will help: Clean Sheet Rankings Sunderland Chelsea Liverpool Blackburn Arsenal Birmingham Stoke Man City West Brom Bolton Tottenham Wigan Newcastle Wolves Everton Fulham West Ham Aston Villa Attacking rankings (team goals) Liverpool (2.67) Sunderland (1.87) Arsenal (1.76) Chelsea (1.76) Blackburn (1.66) West Brom (1.42) Stoke (1.36) Birmingham (1.25) Man City (1.14) Newcastle (0.93) Bolton (0.82) Wigan (0.78) Tottenham (0.74) Fulham (0.67) Aston Villa (0.44) Wolves (0.44) Everton (0.31) West Ham (0.30) Captain Stats Tevez - Tevez has strangely been a lot better away from Eastlands (7.43 PPG) than at home (4.86 PPG) but has been very useful against sides conceding more than 1.5 GPG (7.25...