Gameweek 8 Preview

It's been another midweek with European club matches. So far all EPL teams did well, except for Liverpool, who lost 2-0 at Fiorentina. Also making the headlines is Giggs who scored his 150th goal for Man Utd in the win over Wolfsburg. He also set up the winning goal for Carrick. Now he's justifying the PFA Player of the Year title he won last season.

Moving into October we see some of the teams have very favorable fixtures ahead. Let's find them out and make use of this information.

Agenda for this preview:
1) Results prediction.
2) Short term analysis.
3) Long term analysis.
4) Hot cake of the week.

You will see this gameweek's preview reflected heavily on my current team as I've just used up my wildcard, hoping to pull my team out of the slump. Anyway, let's see how well I can do.

----------(-.-)----------

(1)

I wonder if EPL managers have nowadays become more aggressive in their team strategy. But I would be very happy if here comes another high scoring gameweek.

Gameweek 8 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Bolton v Tottenham [1-2]
Burnley v Birmingham [2-0]
Hull City v Wigan [1-0]
Wolves v Portsmouth [2-1]
Man Utd v Sunderland [3-0]
Arsenal v Blackburn [2-0]
Everton v Stoke City [2-0]
West Ham v Fulham [1-0]
Chelsea v Liverpool [2-1]
Aston Villa v Man City [1-2]

----------(-.-)----------
(2)

The author recommend three teams to look into, if you are searching for a short term transfer.

Wolves
They are facing the bottom club this week. Well, maybe themselves are not far from bottom either, but this is a game that they must win, and it's worth putting all their efforts into. Kevin Doyle(5.4) and Andrew Keogh(4.9) will be all out to make the most of the chances.


Doyle and Keogh are the two main fantasy scorer of a low scoring team.


Everton
The chance for a third consecutive win is waving at them. No reason to lose it. I believe it's still not too late to bring in their defenders. Baines(6.3) and Distin(5.0) are my top picks.


Baines do set pieces, and Distin is cheap.


Burnley
They impressed me alot during the win over Sunderland. I look forward to the attacking combination of Elliott(5.2) and Nugent(5.2) again. Birmingham have not scored more than one goal in a match so far so there should not be a problem for Burnley to grab a win here.

Let's see if Elliott and Nugent can link up again to make the victory.

----------(-.-)----------
(3)

Let's look over a longer period to pick the candidates for transfer
We have 3 teams here and a lot of good players to pick. The question is whether you can afford them.

Tottenham - Bol(A),Por(A),Sto(H),Ars(A),Sun(H),Wig(H)
They actually have a good path up front. 5 favourable games out of the next 6. Who knows, they might even beat Arsenal by that time! It should be safe to bet on them after watching their last game's performance. Take a close look at Jenas(6.2) and Huddlestone(5.2). They are two good options if you can't afford Lennon(8.1), who have already priced up 0.6. However, note that Huddlestone may play out-of-position in the defense as many key defenders are injured. Meanwhile in the forward, Defoe(9.0) are doubtful with broken hand so Keane(8.5) might be a better option.


Tottenham have a lot of great talents in midfield. Jenas and Huddlestone might be cheap but not lacking in talents.


Man Utd - Sun(H),Bol(H),Liv(A),Bla(H),Che(A),Eve(H),Por(A)
Taking out Liverpool and Chelsea, the rests looks easy to tame. Over a long period you should earn more than you lost from the top team clashes. I believe you can try your luck on Foster(5.0) and Giggs(7.1), two player none has expected to play such an important role so far, but has made the enough share of contribution to send MU top.


Foster and Giggs are the affordable selections from a top team.


Arsenal - Bla(H),Bir(H),WH(A),Tot(H),Wol(A),Sun(A)
Their next two games already gives you enough reason to brings in a few of them, right? Why not bring in Vermaelen(6.8)...if you haven't? Looks more economic than Johnson(7.9), right? Also try van Persie(10.1), who has made an assist or scored in all but one fixture so far.


Vermaelen and van Persie looks good for long term investment at this point.

----------(-.-)----------
(4)

Now for fantasy manager's top pick of the week.


Yeah, I know it should be Fletcher, Giggs and Vermaelen that's up front, but I wish to talk about the next two players who had not come up in the last two of my preview article.

Torres(11.5) may have scored a hat-trick in the last game, but judging from Liverpool's fixture it might not be a good timing to bring him in now, if you hadn't own him in your team. Tamir Cohen(4.6) on the other hand, is such a good choice for your sub, even for your first choice, considering his cheap price tag and the points he had scored so far. It won't surprise me if he score again this week.

Lastly, try to make the best use out of the updated spreadsheet's data!! Good luck!!

----------(-.-)----------