PLFantasy

Last season I did a piece that proved to be quite popular regarding the two keeper strategy of picking players whose fixtures complement each other so as to maximise the number of good games you get. Though I whiffed with one of my picks (Kirkland) the other three cheap keepers - Sorensen, Jaaskelainen and Robinson - all had good seasons (top 12 GK) and along with Joe Hart gave you plenty of budget options to deliver value at the GK position. This season I am sticking with the same strategy, especially after my recent analysis that player cost is not a great indicator of future points for keepers. With that in mind, the below shows which 'keeper pairs sit well together in order to maximize the number of games played against weaker teams. Initially I only considered players valued at 4.5m or less from teams I considered to have a chance at doing okay this season (sorry Blackpool, this means you're out). The pairs in order of average goals scored by opponents are as below, ...

Apologies for the lack of posts this past week, work and commitments at home have taken over and I've barely even caught a game of footy never mind had chance to formulate some useful fantasy thoughts. I guess the good news is that with the season so close to finishing, it hopefully didn't cost anyone anything significant by not being able to talk through their team last week. Clean Sheet Rankings Man Utd Everton Arsenal Aston Villa Chelsea Wolves Sunderland Hull Liverpool Tottenham Bolton Burnley Man City Birmingham Stoke West Ham Portsmouth Blackburn Fulham Wigan The top 5 are a cut above this week, all enjoying home games against weaker opposition. With no distractions around either, all sides should be looking to go out on a high and of course United and Chelsea have the small matter of a title to play for so there shouldn't be too much Fulham-style slacking off here. As a look ahead to next season, I have started to tweak my prediction spreadsheet to try and take into ...

While they didn't really explode, Villa players provided a decent haul for those managers who brought them in this week, led by James Milner (12), and hopefully let you gain some points on opposition managers. Agbonlahor was the big disappointment for the week with the rest of my captain picks playing out pretty well ( Milner 12, Defoe 9, Torres 19, Rooney 13, Dunne 8, Young 5, Drogba 10, Lampard 7, N'Zogbia 6). This week will likely see some huge scores and I think you need to be playing at least 5 players on a double to stay competitive. The chance of stealing points on your competition is probably less than in a week where only 2 or 4 teams have a double as less planning will have been required to get some double gamers in this week. Nevertheless, it's important to get your side right in a week where plenty of teams could top 100 points so let's look at the double gameweek sides for gameweek 31 and see where potential value might lie: Aston Villa Opponents: W...

Last week made waves in the fantasy league for all the wrong reasons. One team in my mini league scored zero as his only two starting players were Phil Neville (2 points) and captain Darren Fletcher (-2). Those with Tevez will have fared better, especially if they captained him, though points elsewhere were hard to find. While embarrassing to score down in the 20s, chances are you only lost a few points on your competitors. This week is more important. Playing double gameweeks well (or poorly) can make or break your league and with four of the best fantasy squads around playing twice, there could be some very large scores around this week. Man United, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Bolton and Hull all play twice and some fantasy value can be had from each of these squads * For United I think Rooney and Valencia are incredibly good starts this week and are close to being the pick at each of their respective positions. Defensively, United are hard to judge but I am confident Brown will play ...

It's time for the ice to hit the fan. Two more games have been added to this week's schedule to give six teams a double gameweek including the fantasy filled squads of Arsenal, United and Spurs. Here's the fixtures along with the average goals conceded by the opposition: Man United: Burnley (3.10), Hull (2.60) Arsenal: Bolton (2.10), @Bolton (1.88) Tottenham: Hull (2.60), @Liverpool (1.10) Liverpool: @Stoke (1.20), Tottenham (1.40) Bolton: @Arsenal (1.40), Arsenal (0.90) Hull: @Tottenham (0.80), @Man United (0.80) United and Arsenal are clearly great plays while Liverpool and Spurs remain very solid options. I like Liverpool longer term due to their good fixtures from weeks 23-30 so Torres and co might be good buy low options. Defensively, United look by far the best play though again Arsenal and Liverpool are solid plays. The fixtures are averaging goals scored by the opposition are below: Man United: Burnley (0.80), Hull (0.70) Arsenal: Bolton (1.60), @Bolton (1.25) Liver...

Rule number one of fantasy football is to field a full side of 11 players every week and preferably have at least one sub ready to step in in case of a last minute injury. This week is going to be the exception to the rule. With four games off: Liverpool v Spurs Fulham v Portsmouth Sunderland v Bolton, and Burnley v Stoke many managers are going to be struggling to pick a side this week. The key here is not to overreact. Do not throw 4 point transfer fees around just to field a team this week and don't transfer out players with good future prospects just because they are off this week. Also remember that if you own a player whose value has significantly risen ( eg Fabregas ) then you will lose money if you sell him with the intention of buying him back. If I make two transfers, as I was considering anyway, I will be able to play 10 men and I'm happy with that. If you think you can manage in GW 23, City and United players might be worth the 4 point hit as you will get back t...

The Christmas period was tough for many managers (me included) who suffered through unexpected injuries and then the disruption to the fixture list. This will also be the first gameweek without the departed African players thus testing many managers' squads further. The defensive fixtures aren't too bad this week and with the frigid weather not going anywhere one may expect a few defensive struggles this week and playing 5 at the back might be worth considering. Clean Sheet Rankings Fulham - BUY Burnley - HOLD Man Utd - BUY Arsenal - HOLD Man City - BUY Aston Villa - HOLD Chelsea - HOLD Birmingham - HOLD/SELL Sunderland - SELL Wigan - HOLD West Ham - HOLD Liverpool - HOLD Stoke - HOLD Portsmouth - SELL Hull - SELL Bolton - SELL Wolves - SELL Tottenham - BUY Blackburn - SELL Everton - SELL Defensive fixtures don't get much better than Fulham at home to Portsmouth to the point where if you're squad is thin, Fulham defenders might even warrant some captaincy consideration....

Welcome back to the blog everyone - its been a fun few days off for me spent in (somewhat) sunny Florida featuring too much time spent in Disney lines and not enough time watching sports. Luckily the wonders of the internet has allowed me to catchup and I'm ready to try and summarise the past couple of gameweeks and the key events from the holiday period. I am also conscious that the transfer window is now open so I'll do a piece on who we can expect to see coming to the EPL and the fantasy impact they may have. Gameweek 19 No less than 8 clean sheets in week 19 and I'm pleased to say that my 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th ranked teams all managed to keep the opposition at bay . Birmingham's clean sheet will have surprised some but McLeish's men are for real and the whole back line should be considered every week starters at this point in the season (this was buoyed by the fact that Roger Johnson did not miss time due to injury). My favourite player for the week - Torres - d...

Blackburn 0-0 Stoke I really liked the Blackburn defense here (3rd ranked) though I didn't fancy Stoke (15th ranked) to join them with a clean sheet. They were no doubt assisted by the withdrawal of David Dunn after half an hour which came as a massive blow to many fantasy owners given his excellent form of late. Neil MacDonald, the stand in manager in Big Sam's absence reports that Dunn suffered from a 'tight calf' which hopefully doesn't sound too bad. Watch this space later in the week. Stoke's defense remain a solid option with Sorensen and Faye my favoured picks. Blackburn's away form is terrible (3.0 GPG conceded) so despite their useful home record (1.00 GPG) I think their defense in unusable right now. Attacking options for both sides are seriously limited, especially if Dunn's withdrawal was anything more than precautionary. At 5.5m Etherington is still good value but with a trip to the Emirates next week and a bye in week 17 I'd stay away f...

After much deliberation, I am backtracking on my Defoe tip and hitching my wagon to Adebayor as the man to replace Van Persie/Drogba for this week and beyond. This week's game against Liverpool is admittedly not ideal (0.80 GPG) but the future is bright for City and their next few games include Hull (2.83 GPG) and Bolton (2.17 GPG). Most importantly though is the fact that in 8 games this year, Adebayor has either scored or provided an assist in every game but one. Granted, he hasn't had one of the landmark 16 - 20 point games that stamp his authority as a top fantasy player yet, but that could - and should - come before the season ends. Despite not firing on all cylinders and having injuries to Adebayor, Tevez and Robinho, City are still 6th in goals and are especially dangerous at home. Their team is getting fit though and I like City to go a run before Christmas, scoring plenty of goals along the way. Last time Adebayor played a top 4 side at Eastlands, he made the headlines...

Great work everyone during my off week, I'm gonna have to get some serious research done after alot of your captain and clean sheet picks worked out well last week. Seven clean sheets gave a few teams some better returns from their back line, particularly with three of these coming from Arsenal, United and Chelsea. Heartbreak for fellow Ashley Cole who missed the clean sheet after Cole was a late scratch from the team sheet. Arsenal's clean sheet was a bit more surprising with Spurs averaging over 2 goals on the road this year and it was encouraging to see Song and Diaby dropped deeper as time went by which suggests Arsenal defenders could be more reliable in the coming weeks. They have frustrated us on several occasions this season throwing away the odd goal after the game was already won, so I was pleased to see them protect their clean sheet against Spurs. I like Song alot for 5.5m though some caution must be placed on his value as he could lose his place when Denilson retur...

A few fantasy owners (including me) have grown increasingly frustrated by the 8m midfield talent on offer, namely Wright-Phillips, Young, Cahill and Benayoun. Aside from Lennon (who himself is out of form a bit) no players in this price bracket have been consistent with huge weeks (Benayoun week 5) followed by several weeks of mediocre production. Another option, held by just 5% of owners, is Michael Ballack (8.0) who traditionally has been an inconsistent fantasy performer during his time at Chelsea due to rotation and injury. This year though, Ballack has missed just one game (week 7) and has contributed 36 points in the other 7 games. His three goals are encouraging while his lack of assists (zero) does concern me a bit. I like Ballack to score 10 goals for the season, adding a couple of assists and bonus points along the way. This kind of production isn't outstanding for a 8m midfielder but so long as he is playing every week he should average out at about 6 points, which is be...

I'm jumping the gun a bit here as I'm sure the inevitable international injury bug will bite someone midweek but I wanted to give everyone a jump on the upcoming week as we look to come out strong from our week off. Four of the big five teams have good looking fixtures and with double gameweeks on the horizon , the next few weeks could be very important. Gameweek 9 Fixtures Aston Villa v Chelsea Arsenal v Birmingham Everton v Wolves Man Utd v Bolton Portsmouth v Tottenham Stoke City v West Ham Sunderland v Liverpool Blackburn v Burnley Wigan v Man City Fulham v Hull City United are the pick of the week as they welcome a Bolton side that have not won at Old Trafford in their last 6 attempts, conceding 18 goals in those losses. Historically, Rooney has done pretty well against Bolton and I like him this week should he bounce back from the calf strain that kept him out for England. The United defense also looks like strong selection to coincide with the probable return of Edwin v...

Plenty of goals this week with only one clean sheet going into Monday's clash at Villa Park. The game of the weekend came at the Emirates with Arsenal hitting 6 against Blackburn, who themselves looked useful in the first half. Fabregas was incredible (getting a goal, 4 assists and 3 bonus points) and that performance should end any doubt there was over my ranking of him in line with - if not ahead 0f - Gerrard and Lampard this season. With Van Persie able to contribute goals, assists and bonus points, he also showed his fantasy class and that he can rightfully be considered alongside the top tier of strikers in the Premier League. Prediction assessment My predictions were pretty mixed the clean sheet rankings being rendered useless by the fact that only two teams kept one, one of which was Portsmouth on the road which not many would have predicted. The other was Chelsea which I did get - much to criticism of a few readers - which really wasn't all that surprising. Chelsea ...

Pretty quiet fantasy day today despite 15 goals being scored in 5 games. Goalscorers like Yebda (0.0%), Vennegoor of Hesselink (0.3%) and Fletcher (0.5%) ensured that most teams will have failed to score too many points, as will the fact that the only clean sheet was kept by Portsmouth, on the road! The only fantasy star to register a goal for the week was the impressive Darren Bent who was also credited with a man of the match award of 3 points. Having missed out through the first 6 games, Bent now seems to have got the pundits attention having notched back-to-back clean sheets, despite the fact that Cana or Cattermole were widely praised as the dominate players in the fixture. This added scoring category makes Bent even better and the fact he went to Old Trafford and scored makes him not only a guaranteed every week play, but also a captain candidate if the matchup looks good. The biggest game in fantasy terms was Sunderland's surprise draw at Old Trafford which reaffir...

02 October 2009 (Manchester) -- Pure Juice manager Chris Glover is no stranger to controversy having ditched club captain Lampard back in week 5 and shockwaves have rocked Juice again with news that both Shaun Wright Phillips and Richard Dunne have both been sold and replaced by in-form winger Aaron Lennon and Arsenal defender/midfielder Alex Song. "I feel like both lads give us something different and will help us in the long run to rack up a higher points haul" , said Glover. "I was concerned with having Dunne and Collins from Villa and we really thought it was time to ride the Arsenal fixture list while the going is good". There's no arguing about the Lennon pickup, though some pundits are suggesting that Song is not guaranteed first team football at the Emirates and therefore looks like a risk for the Juice boss: "I think with Denilson out Song is a good prospect and we are sure he can do a job for us in the coming weeks" . Glover's decision t...

The dust has settled from the Champions League which brings to a close a mixed midweek for English sides. Liverpool were undone by a very impressive Fiorentina side while United's win was tainted by an injury to Michael Owen , though if any fantasy manager is sticking by the former England star at 7.9m, they need more help than I can provide in the next few paragraphs. Arsenal looked okay despite leaving it late to see off Olympiakos on Tueday , while Chelsea continued a poor weak with a mundane display against minnows Apoel . With all those distractions behind us its time to focus on the fantasy week ahead, and where better to start than at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea entertain Liverpool in the fixture of the week. Gameweek 7 Fixtures Bolton v Tottenham Burnley v Birmingham Hull City v Wigan Wolves v Portsmouth Man Utd v Sunderland Arsenal v Blackburn Everton v Stoke City West Ham v Fulham Chelsea v Liverpool Aston Villa v Man City The fixture of the week is undoubtedly t...