PLFantasy

The situation in both Manchester teams has been one of the most important issues so far this year in fantasy, and to a degree, those who have simply ignored the drama and gone with elite players from the London clubs have been rewarded. Of course, Robin van Persie and Carlos Tevez have both enjoyed plenty of success to date, but that has been achieved amidst a shroud of uncertainty, which at least in Tevez’s case is still far from cleared up. The prompt for this post is United’s prospects over the next eight gameweeks, which under the new model look simply outstanding, particularly at the attacking end of the field Powered by Tableau First, as always, a couple of caveats on this data. If we look at what Man United have done so far versus league average, their shot generation statistics are excellent, though not to a degree that would arouse suspicion about their validity. At home they’re generating 40% more shots inside the box (SiB) than the average team has against thei...

& lt ;a href ="#">& lt ; img alt="Dashboard 1 " src ="http://public. tableausoftware .com/static/images/Ga/Gameweek3Preview/Dashboard1/1_ rss . png " style="border: none" />& lt ;/a> Powered by Tableau We are still limited to subjective views on the captain picks for the week as stats for this season are too few while stats for last season are outdated for most players. Rather than arbitrarily focus on just one of two players, I've added some rough notes for all the main contenders below, including an overall summary of where my thinking is leading me for the week. In terms of playing the fixture, it's City players - by a distance - wh...

These early season rankings columns are tough as we only have prior year data to rely on, which has the potential to be outdated following the various moves in the off season. Alas, the show must go on, so without further ado here are this week's forecast goals per game for each team. Note that for the promoted sides I have used an adjusted number based on their performance in last year's Championship (further explained here ). <a href="#"><img alt="Dashboard 1 " src="http://public.tableausoftware.com/static/images/Ga/Gameweek1Preview/Dashboard1/1_rss.png" style="border: none" /&...

Looking back at last season Led all teams with 18 clean sheets including 12 at home. Only six other teams have 12 clean sheets in total. The final 13 gameweeks of the seasons saw City rack up an impressive 7 clean sheets including 3 straight to end the season. Their 0.63 GPG at home and 1.11 GPG away ranked 1st and 3rd in the league respectively Failed to score a surprising 9 times though 5 of these came in the first 13 weeks of the season. Through the first 13 gameweeks they managed to score just 15 goals (1.15 GPG). The remaining games saw them up the pace to 1.8 GPG . Led the league in goalkeeper points but ranked just 12th in P$ thanks to Hart's price tag Defensive P90 ranked 2nd at home with the unit coming in 5th in P$ . Thanks to the uncertainty around most positions the unit's prices haven't risen too fast making the unit very useful again this year. Up front the team amassed the third most points, which is incredible considering it was pretty much Tevez...

No time to breathe or dwell on GW 21 (which was fairly successful by recent standards) as the EPL action continues on a short week. The highlight for most will be the double gameweeks for Blackpool and Liverpool, who both also enjoy a double in GW24 (some thoughts on them below). Clean Sheet Rankings The rank order is based on the normal form adjusted expected goals per game. In parenthesis you can find the number of clean sheets (at home/away) by the listed team and the number of times the oppositon has failed to score (at home/away) Man Utd (6 - 3) Blackpool* (1 - 3) and (1 - 4) Blackburn (4 - 4) Bolton (2 - 5) Newcastle (2 - 5) Aston Villa (4 - 4) Chelsea (2 - 1) Fulham (3 - 4) Tottenham (0 - 2) Liverpool (2 - 2) and (2 - 0) Man City (3 - 1) Everton (3 - 2) Wolves (1 - 4) Arsenal (2 - 2) Sunderland (3 - 2) West Brom (0 - 2) Wigan (3 - 2) Birmingham (2 - 0) West Ham (0 - 2) Stoke (2 - 0)  *double gameweek Team Goal Rankings (form adjusted) Man City Bl...

There have been justified rumblings lately about whether Drogba is, gasp, on the chopping board. I do not hide my admiration for the Ivorian legend and the fact he has recently played games while suffering with malaria (presumably caught while doing his extensive charity work ) only increases Drogba’s legend. However – perhaps unfortunately – there are no points awarded for bravery or good deeds and so we must brush aside our personal feelings and look at the cold hard stats (cue half the readers screaming that I am unable to do this Fabregas on a weekly basis . . . and me having no response). First things first, Drogba has really had two separate seasons already this year, or for the cliché lovers he’s been a ‘game of two halves’. The first five games were all quality starts (6 points or more) and he amassed an insane 55 points, including 5 goals 5 assists and 11 bonus points: perhaps the best 5 game run of any fantasy player in history (cue Ronaldo looking up suddenly from his tan...

Football (or soccer if you'd prefer) is not generally considered to be a game of momentum. While a team can build an element of sustained pressure, the counter attack and long ball are equally viable options and can be used to devastating effect. Contrast this to, say, American Football or Rugby where teams drive and battle for field position and you will see my point. That being said, one couldn't help but notice a potentially significant shift in momentum last night in Manchester, not in a single game, but in an entire sport. It is of course hyperbole to suggest that City will surpass local rivals United in this or future seasons but last night's game evidenced that, at least, this could happen. The state of the two clubs finances could not be much different with City owner Sheikh Mansour continuing to plow millions into the Blue side of the city while the Red side face the prospect of their owners making a cash withdrawal . The case is perfectly illustrated by the Tevez...