Fantasy Premier League 必勝法

FPL2011/12 GW20

2012-01-04T14:55:00.004+08:00

This is embarrassing. I had very points for gw18 and gw19. It also means that my strategy to count on top defenders back-fired. my choices over the period, which is terry, jones, vermaelen, evans, richards, all got injured. In the end i have to waste more points to change them all. It's a failure.

but moving to gw20 it finally works. Man City and Tottenham both got clean sheet, means I get pretty good points for my defenders.

these few weeks also saw the middle team start to get better. might be good to pick a few players from them.

FPL2011/12 GW16

2011-12-14T14:00:00.002+08:00

There were a few unexpected results, but 62pts is not a bad result. Nani and Rooney are back to their best last week with 18pts and 12pts respectively, make up the loss for those managers who still kept faith in them.

I'm not planning to make any changes to my team. But I have added a few names into my watchlist:

G
Schwarzer FUL 5.0 - in form

D
Young QPR 4.9 - cheap
Shawcross STO 5.1 - team in form
Jagielka EVE 5.4 - favorable fixture

M
Larsson SUN 6.7 - set piece taker, team on resurgence following manager change.
Walters STO 6.7 - playing as striker currently
Walcott ARS 8.9 - in form
Moses WIG 4.6 - cheap
Gomez WIG 4.9 cheap, in form

F
Sturridge CHE 6.9 - in form
Graham SWA 4.8 - cheap

FPL2011/12 GW15

2011-12-08T14:34:00.003+08:00

Dear readers, Sorry for long wait. Been busy with life.
I fared poorly for season 2010/11, couldn't manage a 5-figure overall ranking for the first time in 5 years. However, this season I'm going to make a come back!

My previous season's result:
season points rank
2006/07 1924 24889
2007/08 2158 22668
2008/09 2011 18042
2009/10 2322 13270
2010/11 1741 863636

I've actually used my wildcard on GW15. I've gatherd enough team value to own a dream lineup for defenders. So it's time for a change.

My current lineup:
G Krul
G Vorm

D Terry
D Jones
D Taylor
D Vermaelen
D Richards

M Bale
M Surman
M Mata
M Silva
M Gower

F Ba
F Yakubu
F Van Persie

Defenders has been getting low points during the start of the season, but top teams are going pretty steady now, so we should expect more clean sheets coming from teams. And the names above are notable for goalscoring too. This defence lineup earned at least 24 points in the last 4 GW.

To be able to get the dream defenders lineup, I had to sacrifice my midfield and forward options. Van Persie is the sure choice, and I had to pick two other cheaper strikers. Ba and Yakubu are the form picks. There hadn't been a consistent midfield performer other than Silva and Bale, so it's worth putting the money somewhere else.

Hope my team choice may give you some idea!

Fantasy World Cup 2010

2010-06-05T09:38:00.005+08:00

the official Fantasy game for World Cup 2010 has just launched today! you can now start to pick the players for your squad. Note that you need to complete a 23 player squad with 140M team value. This fantasy game has been enhanced by more points winning ways such as attacking bonus, defending bonus, more points for playing in a game, deduction for own goals, giving away possion and such. I hope you will enjoy the game together!

Gameweek 38 my team review

2010-05-10T10:12:00.005+08:00

I am pretty satisfied with my performance this season. Starting from Gameweek 35 my overall ranking keep on improving, from 26211 to 13270, which is also my highest final overall ranking (previous best was 18042, last season) and final fantasy points in the 6 fantasy season I played. The final point of 2322 is 164 more than 2158 which I got in 2007/08 season. This makes an average of 61.1 points per gameweek! I finally break through the gameweek average 60pts target.

I need to thank this to the exciting season which saw Chelsea and Man Utd fighting with each other till the last game of the season. The consistency of each team's key players, Drogba, Lampard, Rooney and Valencia contributed to the high scoring gameweek at the second half of the season. Overall it was an enjoyable fantasy season.

Do you have a good fantasy season too? tell me about it!

More fantasy season review and statistics to come....stay tuned!!

Gameweek 32 my team review

2010-03-31T14:29:00.002+08:00

Simply fantastic. My team score 11 goals and break 100pts for the second time this season. A double transfer on Malouda and Torres prove to be a good move. Too bad I switch my captain to Torres who only scored 13pts compare to Lampard with 28pts. The good score for this week made up for the dismal gameweek 31, which I only managed 71pts even though there are 15 games being played. I was still regretting that I did not swap Drogba for Rooney that time.

Next gameweek will be difficult. We have Man Utd against Chelsea and It will be hard to predict, though Man Utd have to concentrate on Champions League game as well. Arsenal seem to have the easiest opponent, but I need to figure out how to fit Fabregas into my team as I do not have enough team values. Everton and Fulham are the next two team I would consider and their players are much cheaper.

Gameweek 30 my team review

2010-03-17T21:09:00.002+08:00

The last 3 gameweeks saw my team ranking went up to 33747 and once again within range of my target finishing position. Good captain choice helped a lot, with Fabregas in gameweek 28 and Rooney in gameweek 30. Meanwhile gameweek 29 is saved by Darren Bent's long waited hat-trick. With 15 matches for grab in gameweek 31, everyone is ready to score three figure score! I currently have 7 players whose team will play 2 games. Aston Villa is certain to own so hopefully you have 3 Villa players already.

One dilemma is whether I should swap Rooney with Drogba. Chelsea play 2 games while Man Utd are against tough Liverpool side. Will their score difference enough to cover the 4pt transfer penalty? Another cheap striker you might consider is Nicklas Bendtner, who has recently become first choice striker and scoring a lot points.

Gameweek 27 my team review

2010-02-26T10:09:00.002+08:00

It's Chinese New Year period and I had not checked out the Premier League for quite a long time. My ranking also dropped from 20635 at Gameweek23 to 67008 now. The complicated schedule (with teams skipping gameweek and some playing two games) means you will need to make more observations to be able to make good transfer decisions. With the league cup final coming this weekend, 4 teams will skip this gameweek, with Man Utd again one of them. Rooney has been in such a great form that he will surely win this season's Premier League best player award. Too bad with the current schedule we can't field Rooney in every gameweek. 2 other players who is sure to shine till the end are Fabregas and Drogba. I believe all top managers will have these 3 players in their team now. This is why we need to raise our team value so that we can afford expensive players now.

Attached is the players total score for the second half season.

Gameweek 25 Preview

2010-02-05T21:59:00.003+08:00

Things did not go well for me in gameweek 24. I sold Rooney and Vermaelen and they combined to score 16 pts in a fairly difficult week where Chelsea did not score as much goals as expected. While Rooney looks to score more against Portsmouth it's not a good timing to bring in him again as United will face more difficult opponents and then miss a gameweek for League Cup Final.

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Gameweek 25 fixture:

Liverpool v Everton [2-0]
5th successive home win for Liverpool. No question.

Bolton v Fulham [1-0]
Both teams are in poor form now, upper hand to home team.

Burnley v West Ham [1-1]
Both teams scored very few goals in the past month. Not expecting much from them.

Hull City v Man City [1-2]
Man City are good at home but not away. Anyway Hull City are in poor form now so this is a chance.

Man Utd v Portsmouth [3-0]
Rooney's show time again, I suppose? He scored a hat-trick in the two team's first encounter this season.

Stoke City v Blackburn [1-0]
Well, Stoke doesn't seem to have a top striker. Etherington is the best bet at 6 assists.

Sunderland v Wigan [3-0]
Sunderland are overdepending on Bent so let's see how good he can do this time. N'Zogbia is the man to watch for Wigan.

Tottenham v Aston Villa [1-1]
It's live without Robbie Keane but Crouch seems to stand in very well so far. Meanwhile Villa are in good away form so both sides have a chance.

Birmingham v Wolves [1-0]
Birmingham lost only once in the last 14 games. Chance for them to consolidate their top half table position.

Chelsea v Arsenal [1-1]
This is a big test for Arsenal. They only have Bendtner available as striker. Chelsea as at full strength again after the return of their African players.

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I'm really regretting at the decision to sell Rooney earlier (when United rest for a gameweek). Now I'll be wishing him to stop scoring goals until I bring him in again.....

Gameweek 22 my team review

2010-01-25T16:16:00.003+08:00

I'm glad to break 100pts margin for the first time in this fantasy game, but actually it's not a good score, comparing to others. It's good that I have Rooney, the top scorer of this gameweek at a whooping 32pts; but I do not have Fabregas, nor Arshavin, Lampard and Anelka who also got good points and own by many other fantasy managers.

Here comes a new problem. Should we get rid of Man Utd players? They did get us a lot of points over the last 2 weeks, but they will miss gameweek 23 and will face Arsenal on gameweek 24! Chelsea seem to have easier opponents which is Birmingham and Burnley over the same period. This tempted me to switch Man Utd players for Chelsea players. Besides this I still have a very serious midfielders problem going on. Reid and Dempsey are injured, and Bowyer seemed to have run out of his form. I'm afraid I will need a longer time to have all of them changed.

Gameweek 22 Preview

2010-01-15T22:28:00.002+08:00

Alright, this week we have 13 games, with 6 teams playing twice. However take note that gameweek 23 will have only 8 games, due to the re-arranged league cup semi-final 2nd leg match between Man Utd and Man City, which means Stoke City and Hull City will take a break.

On top of the form table are Arsenal, Man City, Birmingham and Villa (though Villa had lost their last two league games.) Meanwhile Chelsea, Man United and Fulham have the best form at home currently.

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Gameweek 22 fixture:

Stoke City v Liverpool [1-0]
With Gerrard and Torres injured again,(Benayoun and Johnson too) the Reds are going to have a hard time. It won't be a surprise to me if they lose again.
Maxi Rodriguez is set to make his first start so let's see if he can make a big impact.

Chelsea v Sunderland [2-0]
With Anelka back in frame, they should be able to see off Sunderland. I don't think Sunderland can win but a draw is still possible, depending on Bent's performance.

Man Utd v Burnley [4-0]
Burnley had not won for 9 games so United will surely win this. I would bet HEAVILY on United this round, for sure.

Portsmouth v Birmingham [1-1]
I don't think Portsmouth are capable of breaking Birmingham's streak. So I guess it's still fine to hold on to Birmingham's player?

Tottenham v Hull City [3-0]
This should be a very one-sided game. Lennon is still an injury doubt but Krancjar is a good bet. Tottenham had also kept clean sheet for 4 consecutive games.

Wolves v Wigan [1-1]
It's either a win or draw for Wolves, with Kevin Doyle and Craddock the most possible point scorers.

Everton v Man City [1-2]
Man City are still on winning streak since Mancini came. They are now in top 4 and should not drop out immediately.

Aston Villa v West Ham [3-0]
A good chance for Villa to go back to winning ways.

Blackburn v Fulham [1-1]
There is a chance for a reverse result as Blackburn's home form are not too good recently. For those who purchased Dempsey last week, this is a chance to make amend.

Bolton v Arsenal [1-1]
Klasnic scored 5 goals in the last 6 games and will be the top dangerman. Fabregas should make a return this week so this will be a close encounter.

Extra:
Arsenal v Bolton [2-0]
Arsenal should have a clear advantage back to Emirates Stadium.

Liverpool v Tottenham [1-1]
This game is too far to foresee. Firstly let's see how Liverpool fare against Stoke City.

Man Utd v Hull City [3-0]
Too bad for Hull City, they have to play 2 away games against strong opponents in a week. This should add more arguments for one to invest on United this week, but next gameweek will be a problem as United will skip gameweek 23. Do expect rotation too as they will have to play two league cup games during this period.

Alright, let's hope we can enjoy this week's fantasy game!
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Gameweek 21 my team review

2010-01-12T20:48:00.002+08:00

13 gameweeks passed and I'm back into top 30000 in the overall ranking! It sure was a great gameweek for me (and all those who choose Tevez as captain!) even though only 7 of my players played, in a gameweek where only 3 games were played.

Nothing much to say, I believe it's either pretty happy or damn frustrated for you depending on whether you have Tevez in your team. Next up Man Utd will play 2 games and I'm sure you know who to pick as captain next week? Hehe.....

Gameweek 21 Preview

2010-01-08T22:11:00.007+08:00

This is a disaster week for all fantasy managers. So far we already had 3 game postponed due to heavy snow. It could be more if the weather continues to turn worse. (Total 7 games confirmed postponed.)

More and more games will be rearrange so lets keep our eyes close on the changing fixtures.

Also note that January is the transfer window period. Clubs will be buying players so the starting line-up for each team could change. Be extra aware when you make any transfer.

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Gameweek 21 fixture:

Hull City v Chelsea (postponed)
News were confirm on later friday.

Arsenal v Everton [2-0]
One of the safe bet for this week. Arsenal are short of strikers but the midfielders are banging in goals.

Burnley v Stoke City (postponed)
Fulham v Portsmouth (postponed)
Sunderland v Bolton (postponed)
Wigan v Aston Villa (postponed)
Confirmed on Saturday.

Birmingham v Man Utd [1-2]
Birmingham's performance has exceeded expectations and I really fancy them to get one over United, but it would be hard as United seem to have found their form recently.

West Ham v Wolves (postponed)
Confirmed on Saturday.

Liverpool v Tottenham (postponed)
News were confirm on later friday.

Man City v Blackburn [3-0]
We're sure lucky to have this game survived. Most fantasy managers are betting heavily on Tevez and I bet he's going to be the star player of this week.

So far I already had 3 first team players hit by game postponement. I hope your team not affected too heavily by the damn snow...

Gameweek 19+20 my team review

2010-01-07T19:34:00.003+08:00

Gameweek 19

Gameweek 20

We already had two league cup semis called off due to heavy snow. Now we had a premier league game called off. The weather condition is making the fantasy game at this moment even harder. Although this means we might have more double gameweek in the future, the packed schedule means teams will make more player rotations to keep players fresh. I hope you are well prepared for the worst.

I had a very poor gameweek 19 score which also caused me to get knocked out of the fantasy cup competition. To worsen the condition I made transfer for Fabregas (immediately after seeing him score a brace against Villa) only to realize that he'd aggravated his injury condition and may not play for an even longer period. However I was surprise that my luck turned around at gameweek 20 where all three of my strikers scored more than 10pts. I also had the weekly top point scorer Valencia in my team. If only I made a good captain choice, I would have made more than 80pts for the first time this season!

Currently I have 2 injured players in my first team which are Fabregas and Reid. I plan to sell one of them but it was hard to decide. Anyone can help me with it?

Gameweek 19+20 Preview

2009-12-25T18:11:00.003+08:00

We have teams playing everyday from 26 December to 30 December, and also 5&6 January 2010, which will be included as gameweek 20. Make sure you have the regular players so that they will not be rotated, and you have to fully utilize your sub bench too, in case of emergency.

Also keep in mind that players that participates in Africa Cup of Nations will leave for their national team as early as 2 weeks before the start in 10 January 2010. So be sure to clear out your African players for gameweek 20.
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A reference of my predictions:

Gameweek 19 fixture:

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

For gameweek 19 I recommend to pick players from Man City, Liverpool and Sunderland.

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Gameweek 20 fixture:

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

For gameweek 20 I recommend Arsenal and Stoke City as they play two games and have relatively easier fixtures. Chelsea, United and Tottenham are also good choice as they play at home to lesser opponents.

Merry Christmas to all and wish you the best for the coming gameweek!

Gameweek 18 Preview

2009-12-18T14:43:00.002+08:00

This gameweek's biggest controversy will be Wolverhampton who fielded all second string player but keeper Hahnemann. Wenger complained this gives United a big advantage in the title challenge. Do you agree in this? However, it was the hectic schedule that forced manager McCarthy into that decision. And if they managed to win Burnley in the coming match, it will prove that his decision was a right one.

Gameweek 18 will be the last before Boxing day fixture. Be aware too that sometimes a game could be postponed due to heavy rain, thick fog or frozen pitch. Nothing I can comment here as this will depend on your luck not to be victimised by it.

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Gameweek 18 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Portsmouth v Liverpool [1-1]
I still don't believe that Liverpool had totally recovered from their inconsistent form. Portsmouth may be a bottom club but I believe they will give it a go if they can start the game well.

Aston Villa v Stoke City [2-0]
Villa are the next form team after Birmingham. Should be no surprise result for this. I'd love to see them collect another clean sheet victory.

Blackburn v Tottenham [2-1]
Blackburn used to get good results at home. The question is without their key player Dunn, who will lead the attacking role for them...

Fulham v Man Utd [2-1]
The makeshift defensive line of United may have survived Wolves' game but Fulham will be a lot stronger. We should be able to see some performances from midfielders Dempsey and Duff.

Man City v Sunderland [3-0]
They are a big disappointment following 3-0 loss at Tottenham. But this is a good chance for them to regain confidence. Sunderland only managed 1pt from their last 6 outings. I'm betting on Tevez to roar again.

Arsenal v Hull City [1-0]
Without Fabregas and van Persie Arsenal are significantly weakened. A small win would be something hopeful for them. Chance for Nasri and Arshavin to lead the role.

Wolves v Burnley [2-0]
I wish to believe that McCarthy's decision is a right one. Burnley are the worst team on the road currently so things should be easy for Wolves. Striker Doyle and defender Craddock are the two men to watch.

Everton v Birmingham [0-1]
A sixth consecutive win? Not totally impossible considering Everton had not won in the last 5 home games.

West Ham v Chelsea [0-2]
The difference in the team strength explains it all. Chelsea should wrap this up in no time.　Frank Lampard become the 3rd player to break 100 fantasy points this season. Looks like he's going to get more from this game.

Wigan v Bolton [2-0]
N'Zogbia and Rodallega are in a good form recently and I believe they can win the game for Wigan.

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Gameweek 17 my team review

2009-12-18T14:39:00.003+08:00

It was a big disappointment that Drogba and Fabregas were both down with injuries. I'm actually very happy to be still able to get more than 50pts for this gameweek. Big thanks to Rooney who scored a penalty and also Lennon who provide an assist.

I've already switched Lennon with Milner before knowing the extent of Fabregas injuries. Seeing already more than 100000 transfer out leave me no choice but to sell him as well to avoid loss of team value in the transfer market. Could be a good thing too as this will make out a lot of team budget to strenghten my defence line-up for coming weeks.

Gameweek 16 my team review

2009-12-14T19:59:00.002+08:00

A very wise choice of captain select means I'm assured of good points again this week. Too bad I've put any hope on the disappointing Tottenham. 4pts wasted on making multiple transfer. But defender Scott Dann are on a good return of 6pts while costing only 3.9. I'm so glad to see Hull City and Birmingham both kept a clean sheet, bringing me full 19pts.

Things look pretty good for gameweek 17 too as 8 of my first team players will play at home, which I see it as a significant advantage. I made only one transfer for this time, switching Dunn for Bowyer, the player who contributed the most to Birmingham's 4 successive wins.

So what had you planned for this gameweek? Hope you make the right choice!

Gameweek 17 Preview

2009-12-13T15:10:00.002+08:00

I hope you are aware that gameweek 17 will be played on coming midweek, which is 4 days after gameweek 16. Also please take note that there will be only 8 games played, due to Europa League last group fixture which Everton and Fulham participated, meaning Hull City and Stoke City will take a rest.

gameweek 16 is a week full of surprise results. Where 6 of 9 games played ended in a draw. We saw Tottenham and Man Utd lost at home to their lesser opponents, and also saw Chelsea and Man City both held to a 3-3 draw by Everton and Bolton respectively. Many fantasy managers had invested on Rooney and Defoe so thing must have been pretty bad for them.

Two players caught my attention with great series of performances. Bowyer scored his 5th goal of the season and are now the top fantasy point scorer of Birmingham. Meanwhile Sorensen saved 3rd penalty in 4 games and now sits top of goalkeeper fantasy point scoring table.

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Gameweek 17 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Sunderland v Aston Villa [0-1]
This is purely based on their current form. Sunderland are overdependent on Reid and Bent now. They must get out of this if they want to go back to winning ways.

Birmingham v Blackburn [1-0]
Blackburn are scoreless in 4 games while Birmingham had won 4 in a row. I expect the trend to continue further. I'm going to bring in a third Birmingham players since they are in such a good form.

Bolton v West Ham [1-0]
I wouldn't buy any player from these teams at the moment, but if you do, Cahill and Taylor are two players to consider.

Man Utd v Wolves [2-0]
I would had predicted a larger winning margin but changed my mind after seeing both Man Utd and Tottenham falter at home last yesterday. I'm not sure if you can trust in Rooney this time, but I think he should get at least a goal.

Burnley v Arsenal [0-2]
Burnley may had beaten United at the early stage, but their recent form suggest otherwise. There are troubles in Arsenal too as they are lack of striker option. Carlos Vela may need to step up and show his capabilities.

Chelsea v Portsmouth [3-0]
It's Avram Grant against his former team. But I think this will be a match he won't want to remember. Another hiccup from the league leaders is pretty unlikely to happen. I'm sure Drogba will strike again so here's a safe captain bet.

Liverpool v Wigan [2-0]
There shouldn't be too much problem as Liverpool have all their key players back from injuries. Liverpool actually had a run of easy opponents coming up so it's a good chance for them to play catch up.

Tottenham v Man City [1-1]
Ho!Ho! This looks like another draw for Man City. Both teams are lacking pace in the title run so this is sure to be an interesting match-up. Tevez had scored 3 goals and 8 bonus pts in the last 3 games and will be the player to watch for this game.

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Gameweek 16 Preview

2009-12-11T21:41:00.002+08:00

Last week was very special as we saw 3 teams failed to convert their penalty chances. Fabregas, Lampard and Dindane all missed the opportunities. We also saw Benitez put his head nearer to the chopper board as Liverpool failed to get results to their favour again. And also Man City put an end to their 7 consecutive draws with an impressive win over league leaders Chelsea.

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Gameweek 16 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Stoke City v Wigan [2-0]
Keep an eye on Etherington as he's got good points during the last 3 home games. Wigan had their first-choice keeper Kirkland injured so it'll be very difficult for them.

Birmingham v West Ham [1-0]
Birmingham are in great form so there'll be little doubt over the outcome of this match. Boywer will be the man to watch as he had made contributed to consecutive victories in their last 3 games.

Bolton v Man City [0-2]
They've learned how to win big team, now they'll know whether they have learnt how to win lesser team too! Too bad Bellamy and Weiss are hit with H1N1 disease.

Burnley v Fulham [1-1]
Burnley are good at home but Fulham are performing quite well at the moment. It's hard to guess who will have the upper hand here.

Chelsea v Everton [3-0]
Everton's squad have been hit badly by injuries so this should be an easy win for Chelsea. I'm quite sure Drogba will score this time. A clean sheet to them as well.

Hull City v Blackburn [2-1]
Note that Hull City will skip one league match next midweek. But if you have any of them in your sub bench you might want to field them for this game.

Sunderland v Portsmouth [2-0]
I have a little doubt here as Portsmouth looked started to pick up themselves under new manager Grant. Anyway I'll bet home ground to rule.

Tottenham v Wolves [3-0]
Looks like this will be a repeat of Tottenham vs Wigan again? But at least we can be assured of some goals...

Man Utd v Aston Villa [2-0]
United used to win big over Villa. Rooney and Berbatov may had injured but In-form Owen could just fit in well.

Liverpool v Arsenal [1-1]
With Torres missing they just don't seem to stand a chance. I'll bet Arsenal to get away with at least a draw.

Top picks for this week will be Chelsea and Tottenham, and for lesser teams Stoke City and Birmingham. All four teams look good to get a clean sheet too.

Also check the latest players' points stats table.

Gameweek 15 my team review

2009-12-07T19:07:00.002+08:00

It's another fine week for me, having ranked up to 59451 and also improve my rank in many of my private leagues. Too bad I made a bad transfer on Scharner who only got 1 pt. The defenders did pretty well, Especially Dunne who finally scored his 3rd goal of the season after a long wait.

The fact that Man City finally break their drawing spell and beat Chelsea did surprised my a bit. I did not dare to take the risk on Man City players as they cost quite a lot too.

Gameweek 17 will se four teams taking rest due to Europa League fixture, which are Stoke, Fulham, Hull and Everton. For this reason I'll offload Baines and Dempsey from my team. Tottenham and Birmingham players will be in my watchlist.

Gameweek 15 Preview

2009-12-04T21:26:00.006+08:00

The season now enters December, where we'll have 6 games in total. Take note that we'll lose African players due to Africa Cup of Nations from 10 January to 31 January. Make sure you have the related players clear out of your team for the best interest.

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Gameweek 15 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Portsmouth v Burnley [3-2]
Burnley may have scored 8 goals in their last 3 away games, but they also conceded 11 goals! Let's expect this to be a free scoring game.

Arsenal v Stoke City [3-0]
The Gunners should have enough to see off Stoke City. I expect an immediate bounce back from defeat from them. Check in whoever you think will contribute to the scoring.

Aston Villa v Hull City [4-1]
Hull City had garnered 8pts from the last 4 games, it's about time they turn back into their own forms. Chance for Agbonlahor to score more goals.

Blackburn v Liverpool [1-2]
I really wish to bet on Blackburn. But if Torres managed to make a comeback things it could be a close encounter.

West Ham v Man Utd [1-2]
West Ham are in great form now, and United test couldn't have come at a better timing. There could be a chance for them to defy the odds, while United will be very much dependant on Rooney and Giggs' form.

Wigan v Birmingham [0-0]
Wigan used to win the unexpected ones and also lose the easier games. I expect them to drop points again at home. Birmingham have been good in defense recently with keeper Hart in great form.

Wolves v Bolton [1-1]
Wolves are winless for 7 games while Bolton lost 3 in their last 4. Both team are now at the relegation area and neither side looks to recover from their poor form.

Man City v Chelsea [1-1]
Would be interesting to see Man City draws again...this is increasing likely to happen! But this is still bad for City as they dropped 2 points every game. We shall see more action from Robinho and hopefully he can put on some good performances.

Fulham v Sunderland [2-0]
Erik Nevland stood up very well in the absence of Zamora. But the real dangere comes from midfielders which are Dempsey and Duff. Sunderland's poor away form means no chance for them in this match.

Everton v Tottenham [1-1]
Everton are very close to relegation area now so this is a very important game that they can't afford to lose. But it will be hard if they keep depending solely on Saha.
1-1 would be a fair score to both sides.

There seems to be a lot of close battle and they aren't too many clear choices to pick, other than a few top players from United, Villa and Arsenal. Would be a good idea for all to stick on the home team players and keep your transfer credit for good cause.

Also check the latest players' points stats table.

Gameweek 14 my team review

2009-12-04T09:55:00.002+08:00

I would consider myself rather lucky for this gameweek, as Rooney hit a hat-trick with 2 goals coming from penalties. That made up more than half of my gameweek score. A brace from Drogba (which claimed by Wenger as opportunistic) and a clean sheet by Hart are all the other bright results I had. With the average score stands at 45pts, 62pts is considered pretty good score. It also help raise my rank to 67431.

Next week I'll hope for Arsenal and Villa to play to their full potential as I'll depend on both teams heavily to get points. Transfers for this week is not decided yet, but I shall look into long terms for the decision making.

Gameweek 14 Preview

2009-11-27T11:24:00.004+08:00

The past gameweek surely had brought a lot of excitement to all, as 42 goals were scored in 12 games, including 10 from Tottenham vs Wigan game. Defoe thus became only the 3rd player in Premier League's history to score5 goals in a game, after Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.

Latest news tells Avram Grant is now Portsmouth manager, taking over from Paul Hart. Grant is also promised transfer funds to bring in 3 new players in the January transfer window.

All focus will be on Arsenal vs Chelsea match, as the Blues aim to pull away even further. However injury to key players of both sides means squad depth will probably make a difference this time.

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

Gameweek 14 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Blackburn v Stoke City [3-1]
Blackburn had won their last 4 home games. I can see them winning this one too. Dunn will be playing leading role in tha attack.

Fulham v Bolton [2-0]
Dempsey's goals recently had helped Fulham to climb to the top half of the league table. Fulham will be depending on him to grab a win here.

Man City v Hull City [4-0]
No excuse anymore, City must win this game to end their 6 game drawing streak. Wright-Phillips and Adebayor will be my top pick to get maximum fantasy points. Robinho will also make a return after a lengthy lay-off.

Portsmouth v Man Utd [0-3]
The strength gap between the two team is to large. United should take it easily. Let's hope Rooney can score some goals here after being given a rest from Champions League duty.

West Ham v Burnley [1-1]
I can't see any side here to have clear advantage here. Don't be too surprise to see Burnley's defenders score again.

Wigan v Sunderland [1-1]
Sunderland's away record has been bad but Wigan is still fresh from the 1-9 defeat at Tottenham. Would be interesting to see whether Andy Reid can get bonus points for the 8th consecutive games or not.

Aston Villa v Tottenham [2-1]
Another great match-up of the week. Both side are very similar in players quality but home ground advantage should come into play this time. Richard Dunne lost his place in top defender points ranking to Terry last week as Villa had not kept a clean sheet in the last 7 games. Let's hope he can score more goals soon.

Wolves v Birmingham [0-0]
Not much to comment for this match-up as both sides are pretty weak in attacking. Most probably it will be a stalemate.

Everton v Liverpool [1-0]
Everton may need to be kind to their neighbour teams as their try to persuade Liverpool to agree to ground-share. However I'll put my vote on Saha to break Liverpool's defence.

Arsenal v Chelsea [1-1]
Arsenal need to give their best if they want to preserve their 100 percent home victory record. Chelsea had managed to break their opponent's goals in every match so far this season but this will be the hardest test for them up to date.

Also check the latest players' points stats table.

Gameweek 13 my team review

2009-11-26T23:09:00.002+08:00

It's been a pretty bad week for me, especially seeing a lot of people get triple figures, thanks to Defoe milestone feat. I've thought I can earn a lot through van Persie and Drogba, but it turned out both were injured over the international week. Luckily I bet correctly on Dempsey (though there are a lot more good choice for team's playing two games) and Darrent Bent continued his scoring way.

Kamil Zayatte scored his second goal of the season and helped Hull City to pull out of relegation area. It was good that I'd bought him since the first week. Andy also continue too get good points, and more remarkably, scored bonus points in 7 consecutive games!

My rankings has dropped to 90034, But I'm still optimistic for this season. Christmas is coming soon and hopefully I can pick out some form players to help improve my team score.

Gameweek 12 Review

2009-11-14T21:09:00.006+08:00

Great entertainment for the past week as we saw 36 goals from 10 games, which saw Chelsea pull away at the top of the league after beating Man Utd, while Man City and Liverpool both drew their opponents to drop further behind at the league table.

There are also some bad news as Ferguson was handed a 4-match touchline ban for post-match comments on referee Alan Wiley. We also had some sad moments as German keeper Robert Enke passed away, commiting suicide due to long term depression. There could be more injury news coming on after Lampard and Drogba so if you hadn't make a transfer yet, It would be a good idea to hold it first.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Top players performance.
3) Review of GW11 watchlist.

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

(1)

Aston Villa v Bolton [2-1](5-1) correct outcome.
It was Villa's biggest win of the season. We saw Milner, Young, Carew and Agbonlahor all contributed to the goals.

Blackburn v Portsmouth [1-1](3-1) wrong.
Jason Roberts came in at the second half and made the difference with 2 goals. Blackburn plays 2 games next week so Roberts' form will be at test.

Man City v Burnley [3-0](3-3) wrong.
5 draws in a row is rare. But a sixth is really possible now.

Tottenham v Sunderland [2-1](2-0) correct outcome.
Tottenham won expectantly, and too bad Bent missed his penalty.

Wolves v Arsenal [0-3](1-4) correct margin.
Arsenal are trully unstoppable now. Too bad van Persie is injured now. But I believe they have enough cover for him.

Hull City v Stoke City [0-1](2-1) wrong.
I was really surprised to see Hull City pull off a victory here. Now the relegation battle is getting tight.

West Ham v Everton [1-1](1-2) wrong.
That was a rare away win for Everton. They have 2 more away games next week (Man Utd and Hull City).

Wigan v Fulham [2-1](1-1) wrong.
Dempsey scored in third successive games and are surely the popular choice now, since Fulham plays 2 games next week. He's certainly the best player in Fulham at the moment.

Chelsea v Man Utd [2-0](1-0) correct outcome.
Chelsea are too strong at the moment. But now that their two key players, Lampard and Drogba are both injured, it's time for the rest to step up. Hopefully they will be in full strength when they play Arsenal at the end of the month.

Liverpool v Birmingham [3-0](2-2) wrong.
Torres' injury doesn't help the cause. Now I'm certain that Liverpool are overdependent on Gerrard and Torres. Now they even had Benayoun out until December. I hope Benitez can survive his job when Christmas comes.

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

For this gameweek we saw Arsenal and Tottenham players came away with good points. We currently have quite a lot top players in the injury lists, including Torres, van Persie, Berebatov, Lampard and Drogba. So we'll have not much choice left. You've better check out the teams playing 2 games instead. I believe most fantasy managers will take it as their strategy next week.

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

I'm going to delay my watchlist for this week as players' status are rapidly changing over the last week. But let's take a quick review on last week's watchlist.

Petrov/Bellamy(MC): Petrov only played as sub and got 1 pt while Bellamy scored a goal to bag 5 pts.

Boateng(Por): Boateng's strings of good performances came to an abrupt end as he got just 1 pt this week. I believe not much people will try on him at the moment.

Etherington/Beattie(Sto): Etherington scored 8 and Beattie 2. We got one right out of them. Next game is against Portsmouth so chance for them to test out their strikeforce again.

That was a very bad prediction. But since I actually got 6 match results wrong out of 10 it would be a surprise if I could get the players correct. Hopefully I can improve my guess on the unpredictable league results next week.

Gameweek 12 Preview

2009-11-07T14:54:00.003+08:00

We have mixed results in European club tournaments for English clubs over the week. United and Chelsea secured their berths in Champions League knockout stage and Arsenal virtually through too. But Liverpool almost lose out for sure and had to settled for Europa League knockout stage. Things do not go well for Fulham and Everton too as both lost their game and now third in their group. However there's still chance to chase up.

Meanwhile Chelsea had their transfer ban suspended until the case is dealt with. This should be a good news to the club who are now in a good position to challenge for league title.

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

Gameweek 12 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Aston Villa v Bolton [2-1]
Villa had not lost at home so far. I believe they can manage at least a draw here. Ashley Young has to perform if they want to go for victory.

Blackburn v Portsmouth [1-1]
There has been a turn in fortune for Portsmouth recently, so it will be difficult for Rovers to continue their winning streak at home.

Man City v Burnley [3-0]
I don't think Burnley will get their first point on the road yet. Plus City's desire to end their 4 games drawing streak. Prepare to get the results from City's attacking front.

Tottenham v Sunderland [2-1]
Had Tottenham not started well for the season, they would have found themselves deep down the table. It's about time for them to deliver results again. Sunderland will continue to bank on Darren Bent to score.

Wolves v Arsenal [0-3]
This is the first time Wolves face a big 4 team this season, yet they are far from the relegation area. I don't think they can stop Arsenal's fast paced attack. Arsenal striker Van Persie is at the form of his career, scoring 8 goals from 10 games.

Hull City v Stoke City [0-1]
If I've predicted correctly, Hull City will find themselve bottom of the table after this game, at least by goal difference (at -16 they have the poorest record). Keep a close watch on Beattie who had been performing well recently.

West Ham v Everton [1-1]
Against a revitalised West Ham side, the best Everton can hope for is a draw. It's been very unlucky that their team is plagued by injuries.

Wigan v Fulham [2-1]
Fulham may had beaten Liverpool 3-1, but Wigan did the same to Chelsea too! Rodallega is the man to watch as the Latics try to break into the league's top ten.

Chelsea v Man Utd [2-0]
Top of table clash! It comes at a right timing for the blues as their players are on the top form. Meanwhile the injuries to United's defender could cost them the results.

Liverpool v Birmingham [3-0]
Mc Leish's side aim to put more salt on Rafa's wound by denying Liverpool a victory at Anfield. This could be a crucial moment for Benitez so they must produce a result here, and it has to be a convincing one.

We have a few teams playing two games in GW13 and GW14. Remember to check the fixture!
Good luck for the gameweek!

Gameweek 11 my team review

2009-11-06T11:42:00.004+08:00

74pts should be a good GW score, but I've spent 8pts for changing 3 players: Foster, Saha and Huddlestone for Friedel, Reid and Bent. In the end I had my rank dropped to over 70000. But it's still very satisfying to see my 3 Arsenal players brings me a total of 42pts.

I'll make it open on my next gameweek plan: I've swapped Adebayor for Torres, as Adebayor is injured and I'm not sure if he will play the next game. On the contrary Torres had a bright chance to score, the problem is just who will become the provider in the absence of Gerrard.

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

Now for this week's performance analysis:

Friedel: 5pts from 2 games. Too bad Villa didn't have any clean sheets.

Distin/Baines: 2/3 pts as Everton managed a 1-1 draw with Villa.

Zayatte: 2pts. Brought in to replace injured Adebayor.

Dunne: 5pts from 2 games, bagging 2 bonus pts from the first game.

Vermaelen: 5pts, gaining points from clean sheet.

Fabregas: 11pts from a goal and 3pts bonus for a brilliant at the restart after van Persie's goal.

Reid: 10pts from a goal and 3pts bonus. This is the second time he get 10pts and above.

Elliott: 2pts. Though Burnley won, he didn't earn any performance point.

Bent: 4pts. There was an injury scare, but in the end he still played, and managed an assist.

van Persie: 15pts from 2 goals and an assist plus 2 bonus pts. He's in the form of his career and now just behind Drogba and Fabregas in fantasy points.

It was until the last minute that I found Torres has a groin injury concern. Hopefully he'll still play on Sunday or Liverpool really had to give up their title chase or even a top 4 finish.

Gameweek 11 Review

2009-11-03T15:34:00.013+08:00

32 goals, 7 clean sheets and 17 players getting more than 10pts, with most of them season campaigners. This is a good things to all fantasy managers as many do a catch-up to raise their average gameweek score. It's also a very special week as 10 red cards were flashed over the 11 games played!!

Also check here for the latest updated players statistics.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Top players performance.
3) Review of GW10 watchlist.
4) Watchlist of the week.

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

(1)
To get 3 correct score in one gameweek is a rare feat for me! It think it helps me to get a good score for this week too.

Legend: [my prediction] (results)

Arsenal v Tottenham [3-0](3-0)CORRECT SCORE :)
Perfect prediction! Fabregas and van Persie the top performer again. This is also the first time of the season that van Persie get a gameweek score more than 9pts. More to come from the league top scoring team?

Bolton v Chelsea [1-2](0-4)correct outcome
It's Lampard and Drogba yet again. Next game is against MU. If they can win this then the league title should be theirs.

Burnley v Hull City [2-0](2-0)CORRECT SCORE :)
They played 6 defenders of fantasy definition, and bagged all the clean sheet points! Maybe you can consider buying some as your subs.

Everton v Aston Villa [0-2](1-1)wrong
Villa are now 17th in the form table, taking only 6pts from as much games. Anyway I believe they will come back strongly very soon.

Fulham v Liverpool [1-3](3-1)wrong
The pressure is back on Benitez again! Looks like they need both Gerrard and Torres together to produce result. Already near the exit in Champions League, now they are 9pts behind league leader Chelsea. Apparently they are the weakest among the Big 4 teams.

Portsmouth v Wigan [2-1](4-0)correct outcome
Piquionne did scored to my prediction, but Dindane was the real hero, scoring the 5th hat-trick of EPL season. it appears that Hull City is currently the weakest team in the league!

Stoke City v Wolves [2-0](2-2)wrong
Wolves managed to force a draw with 2 goals from defender Craddock. Don't expect that to happen too often.

Sunderland v West Ham [1-1](2-2)correct margin.
Darren Bent did played and had an assist. But Carlton Cole continued his scoring form and the result is a draw as expected.

Man Utd v Blackburn [2-0](2-0)CORRECT SCORE :)
Rooney and Berbatov both scored to give United a perfect result. Also congratulations to Rooney who become a father this week!

Birmingham v Man City [1-2](0-0)wrong
So Maik Taylor is still good enough to stop City from scoring! But for the first time in 6 games they failed to score.

West Ham v Aston Villa [1-2](2-1)
It's a great week for West Ham as they bagged 4pts from two games. Their strikers also take turns to provide goals. They are now above the relegation area, though still not far away from it.

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

We saw most top players get a good score this week. I think that explains why many fantasy managers get a high score, and yet fail to rank up. Some of them are in a great form and it's good to consider holding them for a longer period.

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

A brief review of last week form players section:

Rodallega: only 1pt as Wigan lost 4-0 to Portsmouth.
Torres: 6pts from a goal. I expect him to score again in the next game.
C.Cole: 8pts. Scored in the first game but injured himself in the second match.
Agbonlahor: 10pts, playing 2 games and made 2 assists. You should continue observe his performance as Villa plays Bolton in the next game.
Piquionne: 5pts from a goal. Not bad for a striker costing only 4.9.

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

A shortlist of players to watch for the coming weeks:

Petrov/Bellamy(MC): Bur(H),Liv(A),Hul(H),Che(H),Bol(A)
City already drew their last 4 league games, I believe they will end this embarassing streak very soon. Petrov and Bellamy are two players capable of delivering results, but you'll have to see if Hughes picks them.

Boateng(Por): Bla(A),Sto(A),MU(H),Bur(H),Sun(A)
He contributed a lot to Portsmouth's recent resurgence. He performed very well especially during home games. Cost 5.1 now and may go up again.

Etherington/Beattie(Sto): Hul(A),Por(H),Bla(A),Ars(A),Wig(H)
Stoke City have gone 4 games without defeat in the league. I believe they will win the hopeless Hull City who are without their key player Geovanni due to suspension. You can also try their defenders as Hull City had failed to score in the last 3 games.

Other players to continue observing: Dunn, Torres, (Arsenal), Agbonlahor.

Expected to win this week are Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Villa as all look to get back on winning ways before the league leaders run away further.

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Gameweek 11 Preview

2009-10-30T22:00:00.004+08:00

Happy Halloween to all!

We have a few interesting news in Premier League over the week.... Portsmouth being banned for signing new players due to transfer debts, out-of-shape Rio Ferdinand, Fabio da Silva wrongly booked for a foul by his twin brother Rafael, Wigan striker Marlon King being jailed for 18 months for hurting a woman in a nightclub, Almunia back into Arsenal's starting line-up, Alberto Aquilani played first match for Liverpool, and Torres expecting to challenge Messi for the World Player of the Year title.

Just after the midweek League Cup fixture, here comes the Premier League, and European matches the next. There will be a lot of football actions coming up!

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

Gameweek 11 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Arsenal v Tottenham [3-0]
Arsenal had not scored less than 3 goals at home season, but they also failed to clean sheet at home. With Tottenham scoring blank in their last game, it could be a good chance for Arsenal to achieve it.

Bolton v Chelsea [1-2]
Bolton had improved a lot this season. Chelsea will win but not so easily.

Burnley v Hull City [2-0]
Hull City is weak at away games, which makes them one of the relegation favourites. Burnley should not miss two home wins in a row.

Everton v Aston Villa [0-2]
Everton have a lot injuries in the team. This is a good chance for Villa to sneak a win.

Fulham v Liverpool [1-3]
With Torres back to the team I believe Liverpool can win this easily. Meanwhile Aquilani is down with virus and may not start his first league game yet.

Portsmouth v Wigan [2-1]
Boosted by a 4-0 win over a Stoke City in the League Cup, Portsmouth could go on and win another home game at offer. It could be a close fight between the two teams.

Stoke City v Wolves [2-0]
A famous win over Tottenham is followed by a heavy defeat at Portsmouth.

Sunderland v West Ham [1-1]
West Ham are not weak, but they just can't manage a win. Darren Bent had a kee injury and is doubtful for this match. Will Carlton Cole strike again?

Man Utd v Blackburn [2-0]
United have a lot of first team players injured, but the squad is large enough to compensate that. Time for Rooney to score.

Birmingham v Man City [1-2]
Birmingham keeper Hart is ineligible for this match. Chance for City to take the advantage.

West Ham v Aston Villa [1-2]
This game could go either way, but if West Ham fails to pick up any point from the two games, they could find themselves bottom of the table soon.

Last reminder: Try to pick up one or two players from West Ham and Villa. You might pick up some extra points. Also check the fixtures of the GW13 and GW14 as we have more teams playing two games a week.

Gameweek 10 Review

2009-10-28T20:51:00.006+08:00

30 goals and 5 clean sheets for this week. Lampard was the top gameweek scorer with 14pts. With 27percents managers owning him the loss is quite critical for those without him. However only 3 other players scored 10pts and above(2 from Chelsea, 1 from Wigan). Elsewhere it's a great consolation that the overall leader only managed 44pts this gameweek.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Top players performance.
3) Review of GW9 watchlist.
4) Watchlist of the week.

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

(1)

As usual, let's check the score predictions:

Legend: [my prediction] (results)]

Wolves v Aston Villa [0-2](1-1)wrong.
Birmingham v Sunderland [1-0](2-1)correct margin.
Burnley v Wigan [2-1](1-3)wrong.
Hull City v Portsmouth [2-1](0-0)wrong.
Tottenham v Stoke City [2-0](0-1)wrong.
Chelsea v Blackburn [4-0](5-0)correct outcome.
Bolton v Everton [1-1](3-2)wrong.
Liverpool v Man Utd [0-1](2-0)wrong.
Man City v Fulham [2-0](2-2)wrong.
West Ham v Arsenal [1-3](2-2)wrong.

Only 2 correct predictions. No wonder my score is so bad this gameweek! Howevere there are indeed a few surprise results, including Tottenham's and Burnley's home losses.

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

(2)

With a table it would probably easier to explain the performance of top players (sorting by players' price). 4 of them got a very good score and so are their forms. It would be great if one can own all 4 of them now!

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

(3)

A brief review of last week form players section:

Fabregas: 5pts is not so bad. Fabregas is well known for grabbing bonus points.
Drogba: 1 goal and 1 assist explains it all. He's the most consistent player in the league now.
D.Bent: unable to continue his scoring form this week, but he should be able to rediscover his form in the next game against West Ham.
van Persie: 1 goal and 1 assist from corner. More than what I expected from him.
Dunne: It was very unfortunate for Villa to concede a late goal.
Davies: 4pts and another assist. He now has 5 assists in total.
Giggs: Unable to command the midfield and help MU win over Liverpool.
Dunn: It was very unfortunate that Dunne and Samba are infected with Influenza A. It also caused the weakened to lose heavily to Chelsea.
Reid: 5pts is well within expectation. He got 3pts bonus despite his team lost.

Many among the listed players had failed to perform. Anyway let's see if they can make up the deficit next gameweek.

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

(4)

The author has made a shortlist of players to watch for the coming weeks. Coincidentally they are all strikers!?

Rodallega(Wig): Por(A),Ful(H),Tot(A),Sun(H),Bir(H),Sto(A)
Stormed to 7th in the fantasy points ranking with a string of good performances. Has collected 9 bonus pts from the last 4 games. There is a high chance that he would score again in the next game against bottom club Portsmouth.

Torres(Liv): Ful(A),Bir(H),MC(H),Eve(A),Bla(A),Ars(H),Wig(H)
Made a great comeback from injury with a winning goal against MU. Fulham and Birmingham are two good victims coming up.

C.Cole(WH): Sun(A)/AV(H),Eve(H),Hul(A),Bur(H),MU(H),Bir(A)
West Ham play two games this week. Cole is the safest bet despite his 6.8 price tag. He scored 4 goals in the last 5 games, and more remarkably, had scored in all 4 home games this season.

Agbonlahor(AV): Eve(A)/WH(A),Bol(H),Bur(A),Tot(H),Hul(H),MU(A)
Scored in the last 3 away games. Statistic says he will score again. What do you say? Anyway it's 4pts guaranteed as Villa play two games too.

Piquionne(Por): Wig(H),Bla(A),Sto(A),MU(H),Bur(H)
Scored 2 goals in the league cup 4-0 win over Stoke City the past tuesday. An interesting try at a cheap 4.9. Would he be rewarded with a starting place in the league? Also take a look at his team mate Kevin-Prince Boateng, who had collected 6 bonus pts from the last 4 games.

Expected to win big next gameweek are Man Utd and Sunderland. Both teams looks to bounce back from their latest defeat. Blackburn and West Ham looks like good prey for them.
----------(-.-)----------

Gameweek 10 my team review

2009-10-27T07:54:00.002+08:00

Yet another bad gameweek score means I've dropped out of top 50000, and now look dangerous too even keep my top 100000 position. A positive point is the overall leader "Carsons Loose Change" also got 44pts for this gameweek, meaning the gap between the overall leader and me is still the same.

The player that made difference in this gameweek is Lampard. Managers who picked him as captain earned a good 28pts and easily win over other managers. Chelsea's next game is away at Bolton and they look good to score big win again.

Starting gameweek 11 we will have teams who play two games in one GW. So it's time to start planning now.

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

Now for this week's performance analysis:

Hart: 2pts. Conceded a late own goal by team mate means I lost the clean sheet points. Next match is against his former team Man City, no hope for clean sheet.

Zayatte: 6pts. Hull City's draw with Portsmouth means another good score earned by the once cheapest defender in the game.

Dunne: 2pts. Looks good for a clean sheet and even grab some bonus pts, but a late goal ruins it all.

Vermaelen: 2pts. Arsenal conceded two late goals, and Carlton Cole really had ruined my game.

Fabregas: 5pts including 3 bonus pts. so far still worth the investment.

Huddlestone/Lennon: 3/2pts. Tottenham surprisingly lost to Stoke City who just earned their first away victory of the season. What a wrong decision to bring in Tottenham midfield as I didn't get any return from them at all.

Elliott: Now that Burnley lost their 100% home win record, I may need to turn to someone else to bring me extra points.

Cohen: Yet to deliver points for me, but no complaints as he's cheap enough at 4.8 now.

Adebayor: 5pts from an assist, but this is not enough from him considering his expensive value. May need to switch him for a better midfielder.

van Persie: 9pts from a goal and an assist. Continued his fine form and showed a very good investment.

In the bench are the Everton trio: Baines, Distin and Saha. However Saha scored 9pts and it's a big waste.

For GW11 I planned to make a double transfer, switching a midfielder and a forward. My keepers and defenders are equally bad but they are more difficult to deliver points these days.

Gameweek 10 Preview

2009-10-23T19:41:00.003+08:00

This week we will change out our preview agenda to match by match analysis. My readings of the game might not be too precise so please voice out your opinion if you have other ideas.

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

Gameweek 10 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Wolves v Aston Villa [0-2]
Birmingham v Sunderland [1-0]
Burnley v Wigan [2-1]
Hull City v Portsmouth [2-1]
Tottenham v Stoke City [2-0]
Chelsea v Blackburn [4-0]
Bolton v Everton [1-1]
Liverpool v Man Utd [0-1]
Man City v Fulham [2-0]
West Ham v Arsenal [1-3]

This week's highlight is definitely the Liverpool v Man Utd match. Too bad Gerrard and Torres may not come back in time to help Liverpool with home ground advantage. I expect Liverpool to play defensively, unless they concede early goals. I would bet for MU defenders for clean sheet points.

Aston Villa had lost just once in away games this season, and Wolves should not be a difficult opponent for them. You can safely bet on the strikers to score, and also the chance for some set piece goals.

Most people will think that Sunderland will win at Birmingham with Darren Bent on hot streak, but I want to bet on something different. If Birmingham can win the fight on midfield there is a chance to win small.

Burnley had won every of their home games, and lost all of their away games. They should continue the trend this weekend too. Wigan had not done too well on away games so the chance for a surprise seems not so high. I believe we can rely on Elliott again to get points.

Hull City have not done much better than Portsmouth so far, but with home advantage they should be able to register a third win. Best bet is Geovanni, the team's top scorer (both goals and fantasy points).

Tottenham will surely beat Stoke City to push their way to the top of the league. With Defoe absent on suspension Keane and Crouch should lead the attacks.

Blackburn conceded 6 at Arsenal, and now they have to take on Chelsea, who had just won Abel Resino. Probably same goal margin again? Now every attacker in Chelsea looks good for points.

Everton had wasted two great chances to win, drawing their last two home games. Now against an improved Bolton side things doesn't look good for them. But I expect both sides to score at least one goal.

With so many strikers waiting to perform, Man City looks very much better than Fulham, in terms of scoring and winning chances. I'm interested to see whether Hughes will field Martin Petrov again.

West Ham had not won since the season opening game against Wolves. Against the free scoring Arsenal, they just don't stand any chances. The Hammers will need to depend on Carlton Cole again, if they want to climb out of the bottom three.

One reminder: West Ham and Villa will play two games on GW11, While it's Hull City, Everton, Fulham and Blackburn for GW13. You may want to take this chance to get double GW score for your team. It'll be very challenging to make choices, as these teams are all from the botton half of the table, except Villa.

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Gameweek 9 Review

2009-10-20T22:26:00.011+08:00

28 goals and only 2 clean sheets. But only 9 out of the top 50 fantasy players got more than 6pts for this gameweek, meaning it's actually a very tough week. James Beattie get 13pts and is already the top point scorer for the gameweek. The fact that GW9 top manager only got 86pts also shows that most fantasy managers are having a hard time to get the correct players.

I'm going to change the form of this agenda and only discuss about form players for this review.
I've also updated the players statistic spreadsheet to GW9. Hopefully you can figure out some trends from it.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Top players performance.
3) Form players.
4) Statistical talk.

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

1)

As usual, let's check the score predictions:

Legend: [my prediction] (results)]

Aston Villa v Chelsea [0-1](2-1) wrong.
Arsenal v Birmingham [4-0](3-1) correct outcome.
Everton v Wolves [3-0](1-1) wrong.
Man Utd v Bolton [4-0](2-1) correct outcome.
Portsmouth v Tottenham [0-2](1-2) correct outcome.
Stoke City v West Ham [1-0](2-1) correct margin.
Sunderland v Liverpool [2-0](1-0) correct outcome.
Blackburn v Burnley [2-0](3-2) correct outcome.
Wigan v Man City [1-2](1-1) wrong.
Fulham v Hull City [2-1](2-0) correct outcome.

3 wrong predictions and 2 of them are draw results. But not as much clean sheets as I thought. How long does this have to go on?

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

(2)

I know some of the big names are injured. But they will still play a major part throughout the season. Let's check if we really need to offload them, or we have an option to switch players among them.

Sorting by price:

Gerrard: injured.
Lampard: 5pts from an assist. But unfortunately Chelsea lost to Villa.
Torres: injured.
Rooney: injured.
Drogba: 6pts from 1 goal.
Arshavin: 7pts from 1 goal.
Fabregas: 8pts from an assist plus 3 bonus pts.
Anelka: 2pts.
Adebayor: 2pts.
van Persie: 6pts from 1 goal. Has scored in the last 3 games.
Berbatov: 2pts.
Kuyt: 2pts as Liverpool lost again.

Only players of Arsenal managed to get some respectable points. This also reflects my opinion of the current situation, which is, aim for Arsenal players if you wish to bring in any big 4 players! Anyway, Chelsea are playing Blackburn at home in coming weekend so they probably will get more goals! Don't let go Drogba, Lampard or A.Cole if you still have them.

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

(3)

I always believe consistency (or form) is the largest factor to lead you to success in fantasy game. Wouldn't it be great if you have a team capable of bringing you more than 50pts a gameweek, while others struggling to bring in the correct players at a higher cost and with limited budget?

From the statistics we can easily see some players who have having a great run of fantasy points scoring. Let's see if they have the potential to continue the run.

Behind the name are the next opponents of the team player belongs to.

Fabregas(Ars): WH(A),Tot(H),Wol(A),Sun(A),Che(H),Sto(H),Liv(A)
The current fantasy point leader with 72pts. He had scored at least 5 pts in the last 5 games. Barring any injuries, he should guarantee some point returns in every game.

Drogba(Che): Bla(H),Bol(A),MU(H),Wol(H),Ars(A),MC(A),Eve(H),Por(H)
Has been the fantasy point leader for 5 gameweeks this season, and now just behind Fabregas. He has scored at least 4 pts or 1 assist in each game this season. You may wonder when his form gonna run out. Chelsea had lost 2 game in their last 3. I don't think they will lose again in short while. Definitely Drogba is going to contribute to every Chelsea win.

D.Bent(Sun): Bir(A),WH(H),Tot(A),Ars(H),Wig(A),Ful(A),Por(H)
Scored 6 goals in the last 5 games, successively. The fact that he even found the net against opponents like MU and Chelsea makes him the most fearful striker at the moment. at 7.7 he is still consider cheap and I expect him to break 8.0 very soon, maybe up to 8.5. Together with Drogba they are the two most worthy strikers currently.

van Persie(Ars): WH(A),Tot(H),Wol(A),Sun(A),Che(H),Sto(H),Liv(A)
The third most consistent striker. van Persie has scored 4 goals and 1 assist in the last 5 games, and also gathered 8 bonus points. While there are no injury alarm, he sits comfortably at the top of team's striker list. If Arsenal are to continue their high scoring form, van Persie will be a really worthy investment.

Dunne(AV): Wol(A),Eve(A),Bol(H),Bur(A),Tot(H),Hul(H)
Dunne has got 10 bonus pts and 2 goals from the last 5 games, which is since his transfer from MC to Villa. Once the most valuable defender in the fantasy game, he has made a remarkable comeback and gained the confidence of fantasy managers again. Most importantly, at 5.5 the cost is still reasonable and as long as he gets a clean sheet once in every two or three games it's still worth it.

Davies(Bol): Eve(H),Che(H),AV(A),Bla(H),Ful(A),Wol(A)
The 6.7 rated striker has scored at least 4 pts since GW4, getting 2 goals, 4 assists and 8 bonus pts. He had played an important role in turning Bolton's fortune, though they are still not far from the bottom three currently. Anyway, such form could see him overcome the difficult opponent and add more points to his impressive run.

Giggs(MU): Liv(A),Bla(H),Che(A),Eve(H),Por(A),WH(A),AV(H),Wol(H)
He had done well in the past month, whenever he's on the pitch. But it looks like there's going to be more rotation in MU midfield, so there is a risk that you need to carry with.

Dunn(Bla): Che(A),MU(A),Por(H),Bol(A)/Ful(A),Sto(H),Liv(H)
At 5.5 he's giving holders a good return, with 4 goals from the last 5 games. He also get bonus points whenever Blackburn wins. With their next two game against Chelsea and MU, maybe you want to wait further. Also take not that they will be playing 2 games at GW13. I think it'll be good to purchase him at GW12.

Reid(Sun): Bir(A),WH(H),Tot(A),Ars(H),Wig(A),Ful(A),Por(H)
He's created numerous goalscoring chances for his team mates from the midfield, and also getting bonus pts regularly. Though at the same price as Dunn, Sunderland stand a higher chance to win a game.

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(4)

This time we're going to check out which team are having their top 3 players getting the biggest share of team points as usual. Let's check on the stats table:

For GW9, Top3 players from Arsenal, Villa, Fulham and Wigan are the ones that perform to expectation. Most people get the right trio combination for Arsenal and Villa, but not for Wigan and Fulham, since they are relatively weaker teams. Perhaps it's something that you want to explore with in the future.

The green highlighted percentage shows teams that had depended heavily on their top3 players to get fantasy points. This signals that the top3 players of that team are the obvious choice than their teammates. A little observation will also tells you that teams like Tottenham and Man City usually win points for their attacking players, while Stoke City are an example where defenders get more points than attackers.

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Gameweek 9 my team review

2009-10-19T22:28:00.006+08:00

I've started to feel more and more regret over my decision to use the wildcard during GW8. The teams that I expected to win comfortably did not go so smooth as I thought. And the key player of the lower teams kept performing consistently. It looks like the "must have player" are no longer the privilege of Big 4 teams. Another score less than 40pts in 3 gameweeks has made me more impatient. Yeah, some players I expected to grab points over October had failed me. Should I continue to hold on, or shift to other in-form average players?

As usual, I prefer to make early transfer after every gameweek. There are a lot of options available and I've choose to switch a defender this time. Yeah, the one who get 11pts in two successive games!

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

Now for this week's performance analysis:

Hart: 1pt. I put Foster as my first choice keeper, but with Van der Sar back looks like he'll not get too many chances again. Birmingham lost expectedly, and does not look like able to keeping a clean sheet in the coming games. I'm thinking of switching Foster to another cheap keepers. You can't blame me for losing faith in keepers, with only Sunderland and Fulham managed to clean sheet in this week's 9 games.

Distin & Baines: 2pts each. It surprises me that they can't even win Wolves at home.

Evra: 2pts. Also injured during the match. With a 6.7 price tag I can't afford him on the bench. He needs to go.

Vermaelen: 2pts. I saw some people bet him as captain. The magic didn't happen this time, but we can always count on the next time...

Fabregas(C): 8pts. An assist and full 3 pts bonus saved me from breaking record low GW score for this season. He's definitely a great buy.

Huddlestone & Lennon: 2pts. Tottenham won but too bad the usual faces didn't score.

van Persie: 6pts from a goal. He's one of the most consistent players for this season. I'll continue to hold on to him.

Saha: 3pts, including 1 pt bonus. Everton did not win their last 2 home games, a real big waste. I thought they should have done better.

Adebayor: 2pts. I bought him in to replace Rooney. Should have bought Darren Bent. He's so cheap and had scored 6 goals in the last 5 games, successively.

A very poor week, but as least I've figured out which part of my team needs improvement. However I think I need a few weeks time to be able to make all the changes.

How did you do? I hope not as bad like me...

Gameweek 9 Preview

2009-10-07T18:59:00.011+08:00

Let me make some correction... no fixture for this weekend due to international break so there could be more transfers activities until next gameweek. It looks like another good timing for using wildcard.

So two thing you can do is to observe the transfer market (I mean the fantasy market) and also the international games impact (form and injuries). It was reported that Torres are suffering from a groin injury caused during a training session with Spain.

I will make appropriate change to this article and also add relevant topics to it. Thanks to all readers who show continued support!

Agenda for this preview:
1) Results prediction.
2) Short term analysis.
3) Long term analysis.
4) Player Stats: Top 3 point scorers of each team.

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

(1)
First let's go for the rusults prediction. I expect all big 4 teams to win, but Tottenham and Man City should also be able to win theirs and continue to occupy 3rd and 4th place respectively.

Gameweek 9 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Aston Villa v Chelsea [0-1]
Arsenal v Birmingham [4-0]
Everton v Wolves [3-0]
Man Utd v Bolton [4-0]
Portsmouth v Tottenham [0-2]
Stoke City v West Ham [1-0]
Sunderland v Liverpool [2-0]
Blackburn v Burnley [2-0]
Wigan v Man City [1-2]
Fulham v Hull City [2-1]

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

We have quite a lot of teams to look into for a short term transfer. Let's check out one by one.

Arsenal
Birmingham have not conceded more than 2 goals in a match so far. But this trend could ends in this match. Better grab the chance to score high. They have a lot of good players to pick, but if you have the money, it's the best to keep Fabregas(10.8) and Vermaelen(7.0) in your team. With van Persie(10.2) they are the top 3 point scorer in Arsenal.

Febregas and Vermaelen are no doubt the top pick for this gameweek.

Blackburn
Burnley had not scored in away game and are losing by a bigger margin every time. I won't expect a 6-0, but we should see at least 2 or 3 goals. David Dunn(5.4) is the sure man to perform. You can also bet on Robinson(4.4) to get a clean sheet.

Dunn and Robinson almost sure to score points in this match, but Blackburn will face Chelsea and Man Utd away next.

Fulham
This is the best chance for them to grab a win and I believe they will make a draw at least. Danny Murphy(6.2) will be the top pick as a set-piece taker. While it'll be harder to pick from their forward, midfielder Zoltan Gera(4.8) could be a good purchace too, at such cheap price.

Murphy and Gera are the best pick if you want to select from Fulham's team.

Everton
With Yakubu(7.9) back in the frame, they should be strong in the attacking now. Perhaps we could expect more chances from set-pieces too. In this case Baines(6.3) has the best chance to earn points.

Yakubu could back in the starting line-up, while Baines remains a good pick for defender.

Man Utd
They always have a good record against Bolton. Shall we trust in Rooney(11.2) once again?
I believe Giggs(7.2) will back to the line-up again. This time they will surely win.
Foster is still an injury doubt. Better hold it first if you're looking for United keeper.

Rooney and Giggs are currently top two point scorer in Man Utd.
With Rooney injured now Berbatov(9.5) and Owen(7.9) should take over the scoring role.

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

Now for the long term pick. I see Man City to have a good run for points starting from now.

Man City - Wig(A),Ful(H),Bir(A),Bur(H),Liv(A),Hul(H)
Except for the Liverpool match, they should be able to take wins from the rest 5 games. All 3 of their starting forwards, Adebayor(10.0), Bellamy(7.9) and Tevez(8.2) look to be the better pick compared to their midfielders.

City are rich in attacking options. Bellamy and Adebayor played full 90 minutes for the last game and should get the biggest share of the playing time.

Tottenham - Por(A),Sto(H),Ars(A),Sun(H),Wig(H)
The series of good fixtures continues. It's a surprise to me that the failed to win at Bolton. But against Portsmouth they must win to match their title dreams. Defoe(8.9) is back and with Keane(8.6) they should make the most of the scoring chances.

Defoe and Keane scored 5 times each (including a hat-trick for both players) so far.

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(4)

Here you can view the top 3 point scorers of each team.

When you're sure a team will get a big victory, the best interest will be to bring in all 3 players most possible to contribute to the win. This table will help you figure out your selection immediately.

Also you can check how much percentage the top 3 players contribute to the team's total points. Here we see Arsenal with the highest percentage, which is 46.2%. This means that Fabregas, Vermaelen and van Persie had taken a larger share of points most of the time. Also higher than 40% is Chelsea and Sunderland.

On the contrary Birmingham, Wolves and Portsmouth have fairly low percentage, meaning the points is distributed evenly among the players, which also tells how hard it is to predict who will perform in every different games, for these teams.

We have plenty of times for discussion this week so lets share your thoughts too! Who knows you might come out with even more brilliant ideas.
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Gameweek 8 my team review

2009-10-07T07:40:00.001+08:00

Honestly I expected more than this. The wrong captain choice costed me too much. However, considering the average score for this gameweek is only 40pts, maybe I should be happy that I'm still above average and managed to get a rise in overall ranking.

The gameweek also saw team "IDoDisDisDis...Gol!!" took over the lead from "Liverpool's No. 9..." with 594pts to 588pts. This is the first leader change in 4 gameweeks. It also proved that the players' form will keep changing and everyone has a chance to get good results from their team selections.

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

Now for this week's performance analysis:

Foster: 1 petty pt. Perhaps he's the one pundits had not been able to predict correctly... right, he may be unreliable yet, but United's midfield had not done good enough to provide the win. It might even be a 0-0. People had been criticising his performance, but I want to try believing in him once more.

Distin: 2pts. I thought Everton should be taking this easily but Sorensen was doing his job too. Too bad. Anyway, we got Wolves coming next. Might be somethig good.

Baines: Same 2 pts.

Evra: 4pts from the "assist" on own goal. He didn't get on target, but it was a nice shot.

Vermaelen: 7pts from a goal. Should have brought him in instead of Johnson 4 gameweeks ago. Or even from the beginning. Just I didn't know him well enough to take the 6.5 valued player from the season start.

Fabregas: My proudest transfer of this season. Just brought him in in time to take the jackpot. 1 goal and 4 assists plus 3 bonus pts makes 22pts. Now he's just one point behind fantasy score leader Drogba!

Elliott: 2pts. Burnley did won, but not with his help. Too bad.

Lennon: 2pts. Tottenham even struggled to make the draw. Now I'm doubting if they can hold Arsenal and Liverpool behind them at the EPL chart any longer.

Rooney(C): 2pts. Didn't take his chances well. Seriously he need to end his goal drought if he wants to stand in Ronaldo's boots.

Saha: 2pts. Some say he is subject to rotation as well. Maybe I should be happy that he still made the starting lineup?

van Persie: 7pts from a goal. One of the most consistent performer so far. Takes part in every Arsenal's wins.

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

What would it had been if I hadn't use the wildcard?

Hart 2
Evra 4
A.Cole 6
Johnson 1
Zayatte 12
Lampard 3
Rodwell 2
Delap 2
Rooney(C) 4
Saha 2
Drogba 8
Total:44

If I replace Lampard with Fabregas I would have got 63, which is higher than the points i got now! Maybe I have used my wildcard at the wrong timing?

But actually the use of wildcard is decided based on October's fixtures. I may have done badly for this gameweek, but I'm confident to get a better score on GW9. I have all the players from the team I expected to win in the next gameweek (MU, Ars, Eve, Tot). This also means I won't be making any changes for next gameweek. Anyway, let's see how true it is.

Gameweek 8 Review

2009-10-06T21:39:00.002+08:00

Wow! Another highscoring EPL weekend, with 33 goals scored from 10 matches. With only 2 teams managed to get a clean sheet, Many will be wondering why to spend so much money on good keepers when you get the same little point for all! Yeah, that's something for thought. But it's different story on defenders. We've got some defenders able to deliver assists or goals, but this rarely happens on keepers.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Players who get gameweek score of double figures.
3) Top players performance.
4) Other players looking to pick up their forms.
5) New statistical reference.
----------(-.-)----------

(1)

Let's start the review by checking the score predictions. I hope you had already started to do the same, as I believe it will help you in your game to a certain extent.

Legend: [my prediction] (results)]

Bolton v Tottenham [1-2](2-2) wrong.
Burnley v Birmingham [2-0](2-1) correct outcome.
Hull City v Wigan [1-0](2-1) correct margin.
Wolves v Portsmouth [2-1](0-1) wrong.
Man Utd v Sunderland [3-0](2-2) wrong.
Arsenal v Blackburn [2-0](6-2) correct outcome.
Everton v Stoke City [2-0](1-1) wrong.
West Ham v Fulham [1-0](2-2) wrong.
Chelsea v Liverpool [2-1](2-0) correct outcome.
Aston Villa v Man City [1-2](1-1) wrong.

I only get 4 correct outcome. There are 5 draws for this week and I've got it all wrong. Luckily it didn't reflect too much on my fantasy results.

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

(2)

Next we'll have a check on players who get more than 10pts this gameweek.
From here you will see clearly why the average score is so low for this gameweek. That's because only 5 players got double figures. And out of these 5 players, only 3 are popular choice. Fabregas had become the difference between success and failure for this week, with the controlling 22pts. You probably will be thinking why you still hold Lampard or Gerrard while they are so expensive yet not deliver.

As usual, lets talk about keepers first. Only Hilario and James get a clean sheet, while Robinson and Sorensen get 5pts each for the save points. Robinson also have an assist to his account.

22pts: Fabregas(10.8)
There's not a player that can go on fine form all season (maybe Ronaldo, but he's gone), but looking at Arsenal's coming fixtures, it would be wise to buy him as soon as you can. I think most people already buy him as soon as Arsenal's last match is over.

12pts: Zayatte(4.0)
Used to be 3.9, the lowest value you can find in fantasy game. Actually many managers have him in the team.... in the sub bench, to be precise. You probally regret putting him at subs, but the truth is, at such low cost, no one really think of making him a first choice. Well, next time you might consider putting him in when Hull City play at home.

11pts: Dunne(5.3)
The strange trend of players scoring against former club continues. He's certainly worth buying, but let's check the fixture and determine the best timing to bring him in. (Definitely not this week, as Villa face Chelsea at home)

10pts: Yebda(4.5), Krancjar(6.9)
Yebda is a total unknown to fantasy managers. He'll need more work to show his value.
People have been expecting Krancjar to deliver ever since he come to Tottenham. This could be a good start. But I'll still prefer Lennon and Jenas to him.

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

Now we'll look at how the top players performed this week. This is important as most fantasy managers will have them in their line-up so you might fall behind when they combined to perform in the same gameweek.

Sorting by price:

Gerrard: 1pt as Liverpool lost to Chelsea.
Lampard: 3pts for the clean sheet. It's been a long time since he last score a goal.
Torres: 2pts as he failed to score against Chelsea.
Rooney: 2pts. Two games scoring blank.
Drogba: 8pts from 2 assists.
Arshavin: 8pts from 1 goal and 1 bonus pt.
Fabregas: 22pts from 1 goal and 4 assists plus 3 bonus pts.
Anelka: 6pts from 1 goal.
Adebayor: 5pts from 1 assist. First game after back from suspension.
van Persie: 7pts from 1 goal and 2pts bonus.
Berbatov: 6pts from 1 goal.
Kuyt: 2pts as Liverpool lost to Chelsea.

Fabregas is certainly the pick of top players for this gameweek. As for next gameweek I expect Man Utd and Arsenal to lead the scoring for top players.

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

Now let's check out a few cheaper players you may want to fit into your team.

Pick-up from the lot:

Legend: Gameweek score/Season score

8/26 Bikey (Bur, 4.0)
He did well during home games. It's about good timing to bring him in on GW9 or GW10.

5/18 Warnock (AV, 4.9)
He's certainly cheap as a first choice defender for Aston Villa.

7/30 Dunn (Bla, 5.4)
He's the top point scorer in Blackburn's team. If Blackburn are to win, he's sure to perform.

7/12 Vennegoor (Hul, 5.0)
Now he's looking a better choice than Ghilas. Hull have some interesting fixtures coming up so let's keep an eye on him.

----------(-.-)----------
(5)

New statistical reference:

you can also access the spreadsheets from the featured section at the left column.

I have added another new features into the spreadsheets:

Here you can view the gameweek top scorer and overall points leader after each gameweek. Might not be too helpful but it's an interesting statistic.

In the next statistical topic I'll discuss how these statistic data helps in your game and how it makes the game even more interesting.

Add-on userscript for enhanced fantasy stats!

2009-10-03T11:02:00.004+08:00

Introducing...

Razzas Fantasy Premier League script BETA

I do not write the script. I'm just recommending it to all as I think it will ease you a lot in your stats checking.

Here's a userscript that can be installed to your firefox browser. But prior to this you have to install the firefox add-on, Greasemonkey. This add-on will allow you to install userscript that uncovers more information from a website. Lets see what you will have after installing the user script.

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

There will be extra imformations on your team view during line-up or transfer. Beside the player's name it will also show you the player's price, value and form, while in transfer view it will show you player's starting price, current price, price you purchase, and price for selling. You can unselect this feature by untick the "Show extra player info" box at the right column.

You will see the "My Team" option on the first drop down menu. This option is very useful to check your team's status, such as player's form, price change or total points.

On the second drop down menu you will see more added options. But most of them are not so useful. Last season's points and Nett Transter Ins/Outs are the useful one for your stats analysis.

There are also other added options in fantasy manager's ranking view. You can have an explore on it! I hope you can benefit from it.

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Gameweek 8 Preview

2009-10-02T08:00:00.005+08:00

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.

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(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!!

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Gameweek 7 Review

2009-10-01T21:20:00.002+08:00

EPL looks to be fully fired up since the september restart. for the third gameweek in succession, a total of more than 30 goals has been scored in a weekend. (this week 37 goals) Even though there are Champions League games this midweek, the big 4 do not seem to be letting loose any of their efforts to reach the top of EPL table. This is simply a great news for all fantasy managers. (yeah, we like to see more and more goals!!)

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Players who get gameweek score of double figures.
3) Top players performance.
4) Other players looking to pick up their forms.
5) New statistical reference.
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(1)

Let's start the review by checking the score predictions.

Legend: [my prediction] (results)]

Portsmouth v Everton [1-3](0-1)correct outcome.
Birmingham v Bolton [1-0](1-2)wrong.
Blackburn v Aston Villa [1-1](2-1)wrong.
Liverpool v Hull City [3-0](6-1)correct outcome.
Stoke City v Man Utd [0-2](0-2)CORRECT SCORE :)
Tottenham v Burnley [3-0](5-0)correct outcome.
Wigan v Chelsea [0-2](3-1)wrong.
Fulham v Arsenal [1-2](0-1)correct margin.
Sunderland v Wolves [2-0](5-2)correct outcome.
Man City v West Ham [2-0](3-1)correct margin.

Once again, got 7 correct. This is looking consistent huh.

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(2)

Next we'll have a check on players who get more than 10pts this gameweek.

A special mention for keepers:
Vito Mannone(4.5) covers very well for Almunia in Arsenal's goal. 8pts in the bag and 2 clean sheets in succession. Other 3 keepers who got a clean sheet are Cudicini(4.5), Howard(5.8) and Foster(5.0). I would recommend Foster, as his price tag is really cheap to stand between the posts for a top team, and still van der sar's return date is unknown. Also Alex Ferguson promised to fire him up to challenge for England's World Cup first choice keeper.

21pts: Keane(8.4)
4 goals...and this is not the first time he did it. Now he'd made himself a better bargain to Defoe!

18pts: Darren Bent(7.5)
Simply fantastic. 1 goal and 3 assist in the 5-2 win. But with MU and Arsenal their next opponents, can he continue to find the net? Louis Saha(7.1) looks to be a perfect replacement.

17pts: Torres(11.5)
A superd hat-trick made him the sole top scorer of EPL at 8 goals. The game at Chelsea look to be coming at a great timing!

15pts: O'Shea(5.4)
A reward for the loyals. But judging by his price tag, this certainly won't happen too often.

13pts: Tevez(8.2)
Finally opened scoring for this season. Also won a lot of praises for his humble attitude after scoring against his former club. A real gentlemen and also a hardworking player that worth a place in every fantasy manager's team.

12pts: Petrov(6.7), Babel(6.8), Jones(7.0)
Petrov had his price cut by 0.3 due to injury during season start, meaning he's a real bargain. He also has the potential to win points with his deadly free-kicks.
Babel is not a first choice in Liverpool so not worth buying. So is Jones who now rotates with Fraizer Campbell(5.7) in Sunderland.

10pts: Bramble(4.4), Riera(6.6)
Wigan's defence is not something really secured, while Riera is not a regular starter. I bet it's not anyone's thought to bring them in.

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(3)

Now we'll look at how the top players performed this week. This is important as most fantasy managers will have them in their line-up so you might fall behind when they combined to perform in the same gameweek.

Sorting by price:

Gerrard: 7pts from 1 goal, subbed at 73rd minutes.
Lampard: 2pts as Chelsea lost to Wigan.
Torres: 17pts from a superb hat-trick, earned an early rest at 66th minute.
Rooney: 2pts. Just couldn't provide the finishing to the chances given.
Drogba: 6pts from 1 goal, even though his team lost.
Arshavin: 3pts from a clean sheet victory.
Fabregas: 6pts from 1 assist.
Anelka: 2pts. Scored blank again.
Adebayor: Last game in suspension. Will come back next week.
van Persie: 9pts from 1 goal and 3pts bonus.
Berbatov: 8pts from 1 goal and 2pts bonus.
Kuyt: 5pts from 1 assist.

Torres is the clear winner among top players this week. This instantly makes difference on those who invest heavily on him. BUT....the road is still long, if he is to prove himself as EPL best striker. (Well, he also has a chance to win the September's award, but I think Giggs has an advantage, as MU climb to the top of the table.)

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(4)

Now let's check out a few cheaper players you may want to fit into your team.

Pick-up from the lot:

Legend: Gameweek score/Season score

6/20 Distin (Eve, 5.0)
Everton is on their way of recovering their league position. Distin is going to pick up points from clean sheet. Cheapest among 4 first choice defenders, he also has the potential to score bonus pts.

7/23 Geovanni (Hul, 5.8)
Scored 2 goals so far, and is looking to play an important role in Hull City's relegation battle. You might want to look at Ghilas(5.0) and Vennegoor(5.0) as well.

8/26 Huddlestone (Tot, 5.2)
Tottenham have some easy fixtures coming up. If you can't afford Lennon(8.1) or Jenas(6.2), Try consider him.

2/30 Elliott (Bur, 5.2)
He played well in every home game. With 3 home games in coming 4 fixtures, he looks good to perform and is cheap as well.

9/33 Saha (Eve, 7.1)
I would suggest you to give up Bent and replace him with Saha. Everton's coming fixture is relatively easier than Sunderland's.

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(5)

New statistical reference:

you can also access the spreadsheets from the featured section at the left column.

I have added 2 new features into the spreadsheets:

This table will helps to keep track of the top 3 performers of each team.

Check on the future schedule and determine teams who have easy fixtures ahead. This idea is from fantasyfootballscout. But I have modified it a bit.

Gameweek 7 my team review

2009-09-30T07:51:00.005+08:00

It's been a disastrous week for me, scoring way below the average score, even after making 2 transfers. (which i thought was a good one) Having my overall ranking dropped from 3598 to 38104, and with my team unlikely to score high in the next gameweek, has raised the alarm. Maybe it's time to utilize my wildcard! One more slump will see my team ranked below 100000 and it'll be hard to accept after the early season's good work.

The main problem in my team is that the midfielders are very weak and overdependent on Lampard's performance. So I'm going to spread the value abit to bring in more quality midfielders. But forwards remain my top priority.

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Now to analyze this week's failure:

Hart: I expected Birmingham to win the home game, but looks like I was wrong. In fact, their only home win was against bottom club Portsmouth. I think it's time to bring in a good keeper.

Evra: The only player who got clean sheet in my team.

Johnson: Had not performed since I brought him in. Vermaelen looks to be a great replacement.

Lampard: 2pts is just not acceptable for the most expensive player in fantasy game. I'm offloading him.

Rodwell: Due to his defensive position, maybe I should not expect too much from him, but the yellow card doesn't help.

Muamba: He's in the team purely because he's cheap.

Delap: replaced absent Zayatte. But only score a mere 2pts.

Rooney(C): a very disappointing outing with only 2pts. But I believe he will bounce back next week.

Saha: scored the sole winning goal, though I expected more from him. But 9pts is just fine.

Drogba: continued his scoring streak and held on to his top fantasy scorer place. But having perform in 7 successive games, I worry that his form could come to an end anytime from now.

Plans for GW8: Most certainly I will use my wildcard and restructure my team. October fixture will be a very important reference as I would like to hold my changed squad for a longer period.

Gameweek 7 Preview

2009-09-24T20:02:00.007+08:00

The season starts to get busy as teams played League Cup games in midweek and continue EPL this weekend. All the Big Four won their game 1-0, except Arsenal 2-0. Everton continued their revival with a 4-0 win at Hull City, while Portsmouth tasted their first victory of the season with a 3-1 win at Carlisle United.

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

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(1)

Last gameweek we have 5 team who get a clean sheet. Maybe we'll see more this gameweek?

Champions League continues again next midweek. Let's see if the big 4 will reserve their strength.

Gameweek 7 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

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

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(2)

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

Liverpool
Hull City scored in the first 5 league games but lost 0-1 at home in their last game and are now languishing at the second bottom place. Liverpool have every reason to capitalize on their opponent's miserable run. I would suggest Torres(11.5) and Kuyt(9.6) as the safest bet.

Torres and Kuyt lead the scoring chart in Liverpool.

Man City
They may have lost their last game, but the team spirits are still high. They could have savoured the point had the referee blown the whistle earlier. Strikers Bellamy(7.9) and Tevez(8.2) are two men to watch out. Barry(7.9) and Wright-Phillips(8.1) will be the midfielder options.

Bellamy and Tevez will lead charge in the absence of Adebayor and Robinho.

Sunderland
After the Home game against Wolves they will face Man Utd and Liverpool. But they looks good to capture victory in this game. Reid(5.3) and Darren Bent(7.4) will be the key performers once again.

Reid and Bent combined to beat the offside trap and score in their 1-3 loss to Burnley last week.

Birmingham
They look good to get another clean sheet in this game. And their defenders are pretty cheap too. You should get keeper Hart(4.1) into your team now, if you hadn't.

Hart and Roger Johnson are the key men in the defence.
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(3)

Let's look over a longer period to pick the candidates for transfer:

Everton - Por(A),Sto(H),Wol(H),Bol(A),AV(H),WH(A)

I believe they will go for a winning streak starting from last week's victory over Blackburn. It's a good timing to bring in Everton players. You can pick defenders Distin(4.9), Yobo(5.8) or Baines(6.3), depending on your budget. Baines, of course, will be the best choice as he takes corner and penalty. I'm not sure if Saha(7.0) will play in every match, but once he's on the pitch, you can count on him. We also have a great bargain in midfielder Rodwell(4.5), but note that he's actually playing in a defensive position.

Saha has scored 4 goals in as much games. Can he score more against Portsmouth?

Tottenham - Bur(H),Bol(A),Por(A),Sto(H),Ars(A),Sun(H),Wig(H)

They have a series of easy games coming up and it's a good chance to surge up again after losing to Man Utd and Chelsea. Don't give away your Tottenham players if you still holding any.

Chance for Defoe to grab more goals.

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(4)

This week's popular choices are Vermaelen(6.7) with 70000 nett transfer ins and Fletcher(5.5) with 60000 nett transfer ins. However I doubt if it's a wise choice to bring in any of them at this point. Fulham will not be an easy nut to crack, and He's pretty expensive if you're just looking for a clean sheet in him. As for Fletcher, the odds are very low for him to score in successive games. You should instead look into Giggs(6.9) who provided all the scoring chances for Fletcher.

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Gameweek 6 Review

2009-09-22T22:03:00.006+08:00

Another fantastic weekend for fantasy managers, as EPL teams scored 34 goals in total, and 6 players grabbed a brace. Even if you get 60pts for this GW you still get a drop in overall ranking! You have to perform much better than the GW average score to ensure a fine GW rank.

Also watch out teams in action for this midweek's League Cup matches.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Players who get gameweek score of double figures.
3) Top players performance.
4) Other players looking to pick up their forms.
5) Watch how top managers perform.
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(1)

Let's start the review by checking the score predictions.

Legend: [my prediction] (results)

Burnley v Sunderland [1-0](3-1) correct outcome.
Arsenal v Wigan [3-0](4-0) correct outcome.
Aston Villa v Portsmouth [3-0](2-0) correct outcome.
Bolton v Stoke City [2-0](1-1) wrong.
Hull City v Birmingham [1-0](0-1) wrong.
West Ham v Liverpool [1-2](2-3) correct margin.
Man Utd v Man City [2-1](4-3) correct margin.
Wolves v Fulham [0-1](2-1) wrong.
Everton v Blackburn [1-0](3-0) correct outcome.
Chelsea v Tottenham [2-0](3-0) correct outcome.

Got 7 correct outcome again this week. How about you?

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(2)

Next we'll have a check on players who get more than 10pts this gameweek.

A special mention for keepers: Brad Friedel and Joe Hart are the top keepers this GW with 8pts each. 4 other keepers get 6pts or more.

19pts: Vermaelen (6.7)
Arsenal's newly joined defender has scored 3 goals so far, showing he's good for pts even when Arsenal do not keep a clean sheet.

14pts: Milner(6.9), Giggs(6.9)
Milner scored a goal and an assist, while Giggs contributed 3 assists. Both players also grabbed 3 bonus pts. Both are good transfer choice if you're looking for cheaper midfielder in big teams.

13pts: Torres(11.5), Saha(7.0)
Both of them scored 2 goals, Bringing their total to 5 and 4 respectively. I reckon they will continue to score for next week.

12pts: Fletcher(5.5), Drogba(11.0), Ashley Cole(7.2), Yobo(5.8)
Fletcher scored 2 header goals, both crossed by Giggs, while Drogba made a cross for Ashley Cole to score, and get one himself in a quick solo breakthrough. Yobo grabbed one from a corner kick attack.

11pts: Wade Elliott(5.1), Nugent(5.2)
Elliott made two goals for Nugent in Burnley's 3-1 win over Sunderland. It must be a great feeling for Nugent as he proved Paul Hart wrong for loaning him away from his troubled Portsmouth.

10pts: Bellamy(7.9)
Scored 2 good goals to make his season tally to 3. With Adebayor banned for next game he's sure to play an important role again.

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(3)

Now we'll look at how the top players performed this week. This is important as most fantasy managers will have them in their line-up so you might fall behind when they combined to perform in the same gameweek.

Sorting by price:

Gerrard: 6pts from 1 assist and 1pt bonus.
Lampard: 7pts from 1 assist and 1pt bonus.
Torres: 13pts from 2 goals and 3pts bonus.
Rooney: 8pts from 1 goal and 2pt bonus.
Drogba: 12pts from 1 goal, 1 assist and 3pts bonus.
Arshavin: Injured and did not play.
Fabregas: 8pts from 1 assist.
Anelka: 2pts for 88 minuts of appearance.
Adebayor: Suspended for 3 games for stamping on van Persie during last game.
van Persie: 8pts from 1 assist and 3pts bonus
Berbatov: 2pts for 77 minuts of appearance.
Kuyt: 6pts from 1 goal and subbed at 59th minute.

Drogba and Torres are the top performers this gameweek, but most of the others also did fairly well.

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(4)

Now let's check out a few cheaper players you may want to fit into your team.

Pick-up from the lot:

Legend: Gameweek score/Season score

9/25 Baines(6.3, Eve)
He's the corner taker and also penalty taker for his team. As Everton plays easier opponents for the next few games, he has the potential to get more points from those set pieces.

8/22 Graham Alexander (4.5, Bur)
Scored a penalty this GW. Could he continue to take penalties for his team?

5/13 Eboue (5.4, Ars)
Has 2 assists so far this season. He's playing constantly as many Arsenal's midfielders are still injured.

5/23 Keogh (4.9, Wol)
Has 1 goal, 1 assist and 5 bonus pts so far. Can be a good sub for you team.

8/22 Kitson (4.9, Sto)
Same as Keogh, is playing an important role for his team and available at cheap price.

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(5)

Wondering how the game's top managers managed to keep a high score for every gameweeks? You may take a little study on their teams, check out what's the difference between their teams and yours. Try to figure out who are the players that helped them to get more points than other people.

From what I observe, most top managers own Milner and Torres, which help them to maintain consistent GW pts. Meanwhile a few of them have Vermaelen or Fletcher which help boost up their score for this GW, but you probably won't depend on them too often.

There's one thing that will always make the difference in the overall pts battle: the Captain. When you make a correct captain choice, it can potentially bring you more than 10pts. So, learn how the top managers pick their captain for each GW.

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Gameweek 6 my team review

2009-09-22T21:30:00.006+08:00

Having scored only 20pts on Saturday, I'm glad to be still able to get more than 60pts for this gameweek. However, with GW average pts as high as 54, marking a high scoring GW, my overall ranking has dropped from 2725 to 3598, 91pts behind overall leader, adn 35pts from top50. My last week transfer (Carragher for Glen Johnson) didn't help much as Liverpool continued to concede goals. Would have been great if I had bought Vermaelen!

With most of my team value spend on the trio of Lampard, Rooney and Drogba, I'm now short of money for more quality midfielders. May consider selling on of them in coming weeks to spare out more money.

Please tell me too if you have any good ideas to help improve my team!

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I had 3 GW dream team players in Hart, Ashley Cole and Drogba.

Hart: great keeper choice as he got 8pts compare to Sorensen's 3pts.

Zayatte: only 2 pts as Hull lost to Birmingham 0-1.

Evra: got an assist in the Manchester derby match.

Cole: scored a great diving header and got a clean sheet.

Johnson: only 1pt as Liverpool conceded 2 goals at West Ham.

Lampard: got an assist and 1pts bonus.

Young(C): ended with nothing again even though against bottom club Portsmouth. My captain gamble backfired. Am selling him this week.

Koumas: subbed at 56th minute.

Delap: didn't have any expectation on him. Ended up with 2pts.

Rooney: scored a goal and 2pts bonus. Now leads the top scoring chart with 6 goals.

Drogba: a goal and an assist plus 3pts bonus makes him star player of the week. Now leads the fantasy score chart with 51pts. He's making great contribution to Chelsea's 6 matches unbeaten run this season (11 successive matches since last season).

Plans for GW 7: I'm going to bring in a few Everton players as they face some easy opponents in coming fixture: Por(A) ,Sto(H), Wol(H), Bol(A), AV(H), WH(A).

Gameweek 6 Preview

2009-09-16T13:27:00.010+08:00

It's the first fixture right after European league season had started. All the big 4 expectedly won their matches, giving them a morale boost. The other teams are also expected to deliver wins this week.

Note that Fulham and Everton are participating in Europa League, meaning their games will be played later on Sunday.

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

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(1)

Let's do this again. Make your own results prediction and define teams who have the best bet for a win.

Gameweek 6 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

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

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

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

Arsenal
I believe Wigan won't be able to stand their attacks so a bet on Arsenal players could be fruitful. Both defenders and attackers are favorable. But if you are short on money, let's move on to the next.

Aston Villa
They are facing Portsmouth this week. A good chance for them to grab a 4th successive win, and also for a scoring spree. Attacking players are more recommended. Top picks will be, of course, Young(8.4) and Agbonlahor(8.2).
Still finding Villa players expensive? Never mind, now for the last recommended option.

Bolton
Having scored 5 goals in the last two games, they look good to continue the form. With Stoke's keeper Sorensen recovering from a back injury Bolton surely gain some advantage. Check on Cahill and Steinsson(4.7) who both have scoring record in the past seasons, and also midfielder Tamir Cohen, who had scored in the last two games.

You can refer to gameweek 5 review for more recommendations on cheaper players.

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(3)

Let's look over a longer period to pick the candidates for transfer:
Eve - Bla(H),Por(A),Sto(H),Wol(H),Bol(A),AV(H),WH(A)
Bur - Sun(H),Tot(A),Bir(H),Bla(A),Wig(H),Hul(H)

I have already mentioned about Everton in last week's review. They failed to win their last match at Fulham. However the coming fixture still looks good for them to start winning points. If they failid to grab at least two wins from the next 7 games, I think we can already list them as a relegation favourite.
Saha(7.0), Cahill(8.3), Rodwell(4.5) will be the men for attacking choices. In defence, Distin(4.9) will be a good bargain as he has the potential to pick up bonus pts.

As for Burnley, the only recommendation would be the keeper Brian Jensen. He managed to get 20pts from the three match against Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea. I believe he will continue to collect points from clean sheets and also number of saves.

Also, have you gotten the two "must have players" I mentioned in last gameweek review? Worth a thought.
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(4)

Hot cake? What's that? Yeah, it's the most popular transfer target for the gameweek. For this week it will be Darren Bent(7.3) and Benayoun(7.5), each already have more than 40000 transfer ins. Do they worth the buy? From the viewpoint of value rise they surely worth it, but when comes to chance of getting points, sometimes it could be another story. For this weeks, both players look to have only 50-50 chance of continuing last week's form. Personally I wouldn't recommend them as I have better suggestions with higher chance of performing.

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Now, have you decided who you want to bring in this week? Keep in mind that if you do not make a transfer this week, you will be able to make two transfer for free next week. Also when more fantasy managers are tie on same total pts, managers with less transfers made will be ranked higher.

Keep track of player's stats on spreadsheets!

2009-09-14T20:32:00.008+08:00

Access the spreadsheets here:
Fantasy Stats Spreadsheets(Updated until Gameweek 11)

The author has prepared an exclusive spreadsheets for all readers to keep track of top fantasy players' game performance.

This is how it looks like:

Yes, I like to do statistics. And I believe making statistics will help you a lot in analyzing the game trend. I will constantly update the spreadsheets content and add in features that I think will be helpful to all fantasy managers.

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How to interpret this spreadsheet?
Right now the idea is to keep track the performance of all leading fantasy players. Points scored each gameweek is recorded in a table so you can view it all at one glimpse. The same idea is applicable on recording goals, assist, clean sheets and bonus points too. In future I will give you more idea on how to realize it.

You will see some figures with highlights. Here's the legend.
Green: Gameweek score of 12 and above.
Blue: Gameweek score of 7 to 11.
Grey: Team not playing.
Black: Player not playing. (suspended, injured, or unselected)

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New feature: added after GW07

Keep track of the top 3 performers of each team.

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New feature: added after GW07

Check on the future schedule and determine teams who have easy fixtures ahead. This idea is from fantasyfootballscout.

Gameweek 5 my team review

2009-09-14T08:10:00.010+08:00

A fine week for me as my overall ranking goes up from 3941 to 2725, though my GW score is only 12pts above average. Managed to get 3 goals and 2 assists, plus 1 defender clean sheet and 2 players with bonus pts. My last transfer (Dunne for Wilkinson) was a bad move as Dunne switched club, got straight into first team and get 9pts for this week. I sold him before he made the transfer. Should have replaced Carragher with Johnson. (Maybe I was short of money that time)

Long term plan will be slowly move my team value towards attacking side, maybe invest on another quality midfielder or striker.

Please tell me too if you have any good ideas to help improve my team!

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

As Stoke City face Chelsea, I've put all three of my Stoke players on sub with Murphy who has not played a game yet.

Hart: Almost got a clean sheet, until Agbonlahor broke the duck in 85th minute.

Zayatte: Though Hull lost to Sunderland 1-4, He grabbed a consolation goal which is crucial for my GW score!

Evra: conceded an early goal to Tottenham and only have 2pts.

Cole: conceded a goal to Stoke and also got booked.

Carragher: got a clean sheet as expected, but I wish I have had Johnson. Thus I swapped Carragher with Johnson this week.

Lampard: got an assist and 3pts bonus. Made a correct choice for my captain this GW.

Young: I expect him to score some goals or assists but ended with nothing.

Koumas: got an assist. A surprise for me.

Muamba: didn't have any expectation on him. Ended up with 2pts again.

Rooney: scored a goal to continue leading the scoring chart. Looks to be in great form.

Drogba: scored a goal to keep personal lowest GW score at 4pts up to this GW. Though very expensive, the Rooney-Drogba combination is hard to replace unless one of them get injured or involved in squad rotation.

Plans for GW 6: Am bring in Delap to replace Muamba. Ashley Young will probably be my captain as Villa takes Portsmouth at home. I expect my team to get 4 goals and 64pts for me, providing all predictions go well.

Gameweek 5 Review

2009-09-13T10:29:00.014+08:00

I believe everyone is feeling excited like me as English Premier League resumes in action. A total of 36 goals have been scored! (With only 3 teams get clean sheet) This is a good news for all fantasy managers who invest more on attacking players. Maybe it also signals time to switch cheap defenders to players from more reliable teams, or those out-of-position defenders who have chance to nick a goal or assist. Let's hope you can gain some team value rise over the past 5 gameweeks, so you could afford more qualities in your team.

Agenda for this review:
1) Score prediction review.
2) Players who get gameweek score of double figures.
3) Top players performance.
4) Other players looking to pick up their forms.
5) Must-have players.

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(1)

Let's start the review by checking your score predictions. And I'll check mine.

Legend: [my prediction] (results)

Blackburn v Wolves [1-0] (3-1) correct outcome.
Liverpool v Burnley [3-0] (4-0) correct outcome.
Man City v Arsenal [1-2] (4-2) wrong.
Portsmouth v Bolton [0-1] (2-3) correct margin.
Stoke City v Chelsea [0-4] (1-2) correct outcome.
Sunderland v Hull City [2-0] (4-1) correct outcome.
Wigan v West Ham [0-0] (1-0) wrong.
Tottenham v Man Utd [1-3] (1-3) CORRECT SCORE :)
Birmingham v Aston Villa [0-1](0-1)CORRECT SCORE :)
Fulham v Everton [0-2](2-1) wrong.

Not bad for my first prediction of the season! Have you done well too?

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(2)

Now let's check on players who get at least 10 pts for this gameweek.

A special mention about keepers: Only Reina, Kirkland and Friedel kept a clean sheet and all 3 of them claimed 7 pts.

24pts: Benayoun(7.4)
The second hat-trick of the Premier League season, plus an assist and 3pts bonus earned him an unlikely highest gameweek score of this season. This is also his 3rd hat-trick for Liverpool.

Though not a regular starter, he has appeared in every game so far. Having his price cut by 0.1 means he's not really a popular choice. Thus you can sigh a relief that not too many fantasy managers will get the suprprise advantage. Having proved himself in this game he may have more chance to start from now on and improve his goal tally of 8 lasst season.

12pts: Reid(5.3)
Played an important role in Sunderland's win over Hull City. Finding himself down the pecking order at the midfield so far, Cattermole and Malbranque still look to be better options if you are looking for a Sunderland midfielder.

11pts: Roberts(6.0)
Not advisable to pick him as your main striker, as he won't be scoring too often.

10pts: Anderson(4.8), Wright-Phillips(8.1), Dunn(5.4), Gary Cahill(4.8), Darren Bent(7.2), Duff(5.5)
Many people may have forgotten his existence in the fantasy game as he's tagged at 5.0 price only. (starts at 8.0 in 2007/08 season) While Man Utd is rich in midfielder options, we're expected to see a lot of rotation going on. So it's not advisable to bring in any United midfielders as you main players, but it's a good idea to have him as a sub, if you still have slots for United players.

SWP has been as steady as Adebayor so far and is the best pick out of Man City's midfield. As City's facing United at Old Trafford next game, you may want to wait another week to bring him in.

Dunn has been Blackburn's key player during their better days. However with tough fixtures coming up it's not advisable to bring him in.

Cahill had scored 3 goals and 4 assists during last season and has established himself as an attacking minded defender. It's good to have him as he could rake in some goals, but don't expect him to score from clean sheets too often as Bolton still looks like a relegation favourite so far. Steinsson(4.7) is an equally good option, having scored 3 goals and 5 assists last season.

Darren Bent is looking to be a better option over Jones now, having started every game so far, and scored 4 goals. You should grab him fast as he's sure to price up soon, and Sunderland have two fixtures favoring them coming up - Bur(A) and Wol(H) before facing MU(A) and Liv(H).

Duff scored on his third game for Fulham. The current overall no.2 manager bought him in on GW4 and got a payoff. Maybe you would like to emulate him too.
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(3)

Now we'll look at how the top players performed this week. This is important as most fantasy managers will have them in their line-up so you might fall behind when they combined to perform in the same gameweek.

Sorting by price:

Gerrard: 7pts from 1 assist and 1pt bonus.
Lampard: 8pts from 1 assist and 3pts bonus.
Torres: 2pts and subbed at 74th minutes.
Rooney: 7pts from 1 goal and 1pt bonus.
Drogba: 6pts from 1 goal.
Arshavin: Injured and did not play.
Fabregas: 5pts from 1 assist.
Anelka: 4pts from 1 assist, coming on as 63rd minute sub.
Adebayor: 8pts from 1 goal and 3pts bonus, booked for celebrating in front of Arsenal fans. Has scored in 4 successive games.
van Persie: 6pts from 1 goal.
Berbatov: 5pts from 1 assist and subbed at 61st minute.
Kuyt: 8pts from 1 goal and subbed at 68th minute.

Most of the top players has scored good points and it tells you why you should have them in as your main players. It's the best if you can fill them up in your attacking slot! (Impossible, ok :P)

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(4)

Are your sub players also scoring as your first team does? Or just filling up the seats? If you think that you already have a good enough first team, maybe you can try improve your sub players quaity so that you can change your team formation to suit the gameweek fixture, especially when lowly teams find their chances to get a rare win.

Pick-up from the lot:

Legend: Gameweek score/Season score

6/18: Kaboul (5.0, Por)
Is a little pricey for his team, but has scored 2 goals so far. He's certainly a player to watch.

5/8: O'Hara (4.5, Por)
Got an assist in his first match for Portsmouth, coming on season-long loan from Tottenham. A great bargain at 4.5 and is good to fill up your subs.

7/14: Cohen (4.4, Bol)
Scored in 2 successive games and could strike again in coming matches against Sto(H) and Bir(A). Also a great bargain. Oh. Maybe you want to bring in Taylor(6.7) if you have more money to spend.

4/18: Cattermole (5.1, Sun)
Picked up 6 bonus pts and 1 assist so far. A popular choice too at 9.1% selection.

5/18 Ghilas (5.0, Hul)
This guy may score again in next game against Birmingham.

9/21 Dunne (5.0, AV)
So far two out of three players that the GW5 pundit suggest is correct. Dunne get full 3pts bonus for his defensive performance. With Villa looking back on winning track he turns out a great buy, even though being dumped by Man City.
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(5)

The author has reckoned the following two players as MUST-HAVE players based on the season's progress so far. You may probably have find out this too. For those who hadn't, quickly make your decision now.

Legend: Gameweek score/Season score

9/40: Johnson (7.8, Liv)
Playing as right back, he has constantly joined in his team attack against their oppositions. Having 2 goals and 3 assist under his name so far, he's looking good to match Benitez' expectation on him. 7.8 is still a good price for a top class "attacking" player. I suggest you to get him fast as he's going to price-up more.

7/38: Rooney (11.1, MU)
Joint top scorer with Defoe on 5 goals from 5 games. Now playing at his favourite striker position, he's sure to score more goals than previous seasons. Maybe he's already taken over Ronaldo's task as the club's main goalscorer. Also note that he gets bonus pts everytime MU wins, totalling 10pts now.

Now what about these two?

6/39: Drogba (10.9, Che)
8/34: Adebayor (10.1, MC)

Remember something? Yes. Angola 2010. Most probably both Drogba and Adebayor will be call up for the tournament at the end of the year. Make sure you have this in mind when you pick them. Both are good choices but over long term, I think Rooney will get more points.

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More gameweek reviews to follow after Sunday's game.

Internationals break: Tired legs or continued form?

2009-09-10T21:30:00.006+08:00

Over the two weeks period we saw two international matchdays with players tried to turn their club form into something helpful for their countries. Let's check out all the Premier League names who had score during their international duties.

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Netherlands: van Persie scored against Japan in friendly.
Denmark: Bendtner scored against Portugal and again at Albania.
Germany: Ballack scored a penalty against Azerbaijan.
Russia: Pavlyuchenko scored at Wales.
Spain: Fabregas scored against Estonia.
England: In the match against Croatia,Lampard scored a penalty and a header, Gerrard two header goals, and Rooney also grabbed one. Eduardo pull one back for Croatia. In earlier friendly against Slovenia, Lampard scored a penalty and Defoe scored the winning goal.
Ecuador: Valencia scored at Bolivia.
Ghana: Essien scored against Sudan.
Ivory Coast: Drogba scored two against Burkina Faso
Turkey: Tuncay scored against Estonia.
Ireland: Keane and Doyle scored at Cyprus. Liam Lawrence also scored one against South Africa in friendly.
USA: Dempsey scored against El Salvador.

As for Man City, they just lost Tevez and Robinho to injuries in their preparation for home match against Arsenal. Both players injured themselves in the match between Brazil and Argentina and are struggling to recover.

Note that the next World Cup Qualifier games is on 10 and 14 October.

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Let's see what the game pundits had said for this week. GW5 pundit talks about a few final day transfers, highlighting Michael Turner(4.5)(Hull to Sunderland), Krancjar (6.9)(Portsmouth to Tottenham, apparently to cover injured Modric) and Richard Dunne (5.0)(Man City to Aston Villa). All three players are available at fairly cheap price and being started the season at a weaker team had helped the fact. I bet at least one of them is going to perform well in this weekend.

In the last part the pundit shows the leading total score table. This is almost same with what made up the Dream Team so far, but it is a really good reference.

Over these two weeks I observed that fantasy managers are not as active as last season, with top target Lennon only garnered 96521 nett transfer ins and also being the only player to gain 0.2 price-up. Stephen Hunt is the second hottest transfer target at 60407 nett transfer ins so far. We probably going to see more transfer activities over the last two days before GW5 starts.

Gameweek 5 Preview + transfer tips

2009-09-07T20:12:00.015+08:00

After a week's break EPL will be back on action again this weekend. However bear in mind that we still have a round of international duty this midweek. Be sure to check on players' form and health status.

I used to play in "I know the score" game (also run by Official Premier League site), however it seems that I'm not so good in predicting the match score. (Or the game has become more unpredictable?) If you are a good score predicter, it surely helps you to be a good fantasy manager! You can practise to predict scores and see how well you can do. (I'll practise mine as well! let's do it together.)

Anyway, let's have a quick view on the coming fixture.

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Gameweek 5 fixture: (Unguaranteed predictions in bracket)

Blackburn v Wolves [1-0]
Liverpool v Burnley [3-0]
Man City v Arsenal [1-2]
Portsmouth v Bolton [0-1]
Stoke City v Chelsea [0-4]
Sunderland v Hull City [2-0]
Wigan v West Ham [0-0]
Tottenham v Man Utd [1-3]
Birmingham v Aston Villa [0-1]
Fulham v Everton [0-2]

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Bear in mind that when you bring in a player, take into account whether you are having short term plan or long term plan.

Short term plan means you are sure a player will score high for a specific game, but will flop again for the games to follow, and you're going to switch him away again. This usually applies when you think you already have an almost perfect team, say 10 season players and 1 uncertain player. This will be a more difficult decision to made as your change has to show result in just one game. After that you know you won't benefit from him again and have to change him again.

There is another condition when people will consider this plan: when a "Derby" team shows up. People tends to buy the the player whose team is facing the weakest team for the gameweek. Of course you have a high chance of getting a correct hit, but, make sure you really did. Else you're losing big. Getting a fringe player into your team, score none, become a burden, and you have a few other badly selected players to change, how's that.... Eventually you'll be force to make multiple changes.... (I knew it because I've been in the same condition many times before)

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Long term plan means you want to bring in a player and keep him in your team for long, as you have other changes to made, in order to gradually transform your team into a stronger line-up (We are doing it slowly to avoid being deducted points for extra transfers made in the same gameweek).

To identify suitable choice for your long term plan, you need to take into account a player's past games performance, and more importantly, his opponents in the coming few games (usually 3 or more). The difference to short term plan is that even though in the first game you bring him in he didn't score, he still have chance to make up the loss in the next game and the next next game. Example, this player gets 2pts for game1, then 12pts for game2, and 5pts for game3, does this considered good buy? Yes, since in 3 game he brings you 18pts, which means average 6pts a game. But, make sure you don't sell him just after he played game1. And, from here we know the best timing to bring in this player is game2. By doing more observation you'll gain experience and make better selection at better timing in the future.

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Back to the main topic.

So have you managed to identify the player for short term and long term at this moment? It will help a lot if you refer to the fantasy stats. Player with higher score always give you more confidence, right?

Let's identify teams with clear advantage first. I'll have my choices in bold:

Blackburn v Wolves
Liverpool v Burnley
Man City v Arsenal
Portsmouth v Bolton
Stoke City v Chelsea
Sunderland v Hull City
Wigan v West Ham
Tottenham v Man Utd
Birmingham v Aston Villa
Fulham v Everton

Now we have 3 teams that looks really good for three points this week. Next we'll check on every team for their coming fixtures and look for teams capable of delivering collective results. I'll show out what I gathered:

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Big4: Must take a look!

Ars - MC(A),Wig(H),Ful(A),Bla(H),Bir(H).
Che - Sto(A),Tot(H),Wig(A),Liv(H),AV(A),Bla(H).
MU - Tot(A),MC(H),Sto(A),Sun(H),Bol(H).
Liv - Bur(H),WH(A),Hul(H),Che(A),Sun(A).

Looks good. Each team have at least 3 good fixture coming up. Personally I suggest you to bring in Chelsea or Liverpool players as they have easy game right away. I bet you don't need me to tell you which player to look into.

For other teams:

Sun - Hul(H),Bur(A),Wol(H),MU(A)
Eve - Ful(A),Bla(H),Por(A),Sto(H),Wol(H),Bol(A)

Two good teams for your reference if you're short of money. Both teams look like having a bright chance to shine. For Sunderland, by looking at total points, Cattermole(5.0), Jones(7.1) and D.Bent(7.2) look like the best candidate, with Malbranque(6.0) an unproven option. For Everton, Baines(6.3), Pienaar(6.5) and Saha(7.0) are the obvious choice. Cahill(8.3) and Fellaini(6.9) are more expensive yet unproven this season, so will be riskier. You can have a shot at Rodwell(4.5) too, considering he's available at cheapest price.

Reverse Way:

Por - Bol(H),AV(A),Eve(H),Wol(A),Tot(H).

This is, provided you believe that Portsmouth will continue to flop for the rest of season. You can continue to invest in their opponent and earn some fast points.

For Bolton, defenders can be good option(but only for short term). For attacking option, you can try Taylor(6.8) and Davies(6.7). Anyway, personally I do not recommend Bolton players, as they are not good choice for long term.

If you're planning to bring in Aston Villa players this week, it's a good choice too. Generally you can select anyone in Villa as they looks equally good, but Ashley Young(8.3) will be my best pick, added with the fact that he's 0.2 cheaper than starting price. (I have him in my team right now)

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How about the unmentioned team? Not meaning you must neglect them, but you have a relatively lower chance to hit it right. Every transfer is precious so let's invest on something you can have higher confidence.

We'll have a topic on form players after wednesday's international round, from which we will try to identify form players where we can ingore whoever opponents they are playing against. (I bet you already have a few names in your mind right now. Yes, you're becoming smarter now.)

Get 11 stars for your first team, would you?

2009-09-04T19:18:00.007+08:00

I've spent two years observing the dream team chart, and guess what I've found, they always provide you with a GW score higher than 50pts!

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Following is the Dream Team after GW4:

Have you tried to add up the GW4 points from the dream team? No? Here you are. It's 87pts! (Form 76.6) Plus captain's score it could have been a 3-figure points!

Yeah I know some of them just jumped in soon after GW4, since the season just started not long. However based on what I observed for the past 2 seasons, it can't be wrong. Buy all the "star" players (Dream Team players are labelled with a star above their name) and you are assured with a fine score every gameweek! Of course the Dream Team change from time to time, so you also need to adjust your selection accordingly.

Why is it important to raise your team value? It's because you want to fit all the star players in your line-up and don't have to make those meaningless transfers every gameweek anymore! Who else you want when you have Rooney, Torres and Drogba as your strikers, or when you have Gerrard, Lampard, Arshavin, Fabregas all in your team?

Here is one of the playing method and proved to be useful: Try to raise you team value and ultimately aim to own all 11 Dream Team players! Make the minimal changes to your team for the rest of season and watch the points flowing into your pocket. Though practically you may not possible to get all, but it's possible to own 8 or 9 of them (minus the most expensive one) since the dream team not necessarily consists of the most expensive line-up. Last season the likes of Ireland(5.5) or Bosingwa(6.0) also made it into the dream team at some stage.

I bet you have an idea now on who to bring into your team. Oh, I forgot another important tips. If the dream team members are to change, who do you think they will be? Yup, those right behind on points! Check whose has the easiest fixture ahead, he'll be the best man to replace the out-of-form DT player. So do keep an eye on the likes of Upson, Toure, Ballack, Kuyt, Hunt, Adebayor, Torres, Jones, and many more. You might find a real gem out of them.

Learn from the world's best fantasy manager!

2009-09-04T13:29:00.008+08:00

What human is most capable of is the "Copy exactly" ablilty. We always learn from other people by doing exactly what they do. It's the fastest way of learning, isn't it?

The August month is over with 4 GW past. We've seen some fantasy managers get really excellent result, and some also looks good from coming gameweeks. How did they achieve it? Because they had picked a correct line-up at pre-season (and some used their wildcard already to switch into a form team). Are you doing well too?

You must be wondering how they manage to pick such a perfect combination and can do so well for every gameweek. Now lets take a look at the team of August leader, Liverpool's No. 9.:

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Here you will notice most of them already did well in the previous gameweeks, except for Baines, Jimenez, Jarvis(sub) and Bent. This means he had 7 players capable of delivering. Also prior to GW4 9 of his starting players have a form of above 4.0.

Now for his transfer history:

Out	In	GW
Shawcross (4.6)	Baines (6.3)	4
Evra (6.6)	Warnock (4.9)	4
Mullins (4.5)	Jarvis (4.5)	2

Looking into his transfer history, not too impressive. Jarvis doesn't bring too many points, Warnock has not played a game since his Transfer to Aston Villa. Baines did score 11pts but Shawcross and Evra scored 7 altogether so after minus 4 for the additional transfer he didn't earn anything, instead let go Shawcross who is potential of further value up.

Now what's the success story here? Though without any significant transfers he keeps an average GW score of 79.3. This is because he picked a team capable of delivering points over the first 4 GWs. 3 Liverpool, 2 Chelsea, 2 Stoke, 2 for Bolton, 1 each for MU, Portsmouth, WH, Sunderland, and Birmingham. For Liverpool though he didn't pick Gerrard, still picks 3 players delivering more than 20pts each. A very wise choice. Meanwhile Sorensen and Shawcross are top2 point scorers for Stoke. Cole and Drogba also top2 point scorers for Chelsea so far (excluding out Lampard is again a good bet!). Ok, I bet you already see it by now. This team only have one of the 5 most expensive players (in Torres). Therefore he has a lot money to spend on moderate players such as Kuyt, Lennon, D.Bent and also good defenders like Evra and Johnson. A good distribution of team value that you might want to emulate!

Now let's look at another team, ThunderFrogs, who leads the chart for GW2 and GW3 before dropping into 4th on GW4, 27pts behind leader. Yes, we'll try to understand why he couldn't hold on to his lead.

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First let's check his points history:
GW1 94
GW2 84 (wildcard used, 10 changes made)
GW3 55
GW4 57

Changes made after GW2:

Out	In	GW
Fletcher (5.5)	Duff (5.5)	4
Jerome (4.5)	Blake (5.5)	3

Picture shown above is his GW4 result. Just 2 changes made from the GW2 team but why the points go down so much, while Liverpool's No. 9.'s team continued to get high points?

You can easily understand why he used his wildcard at just GW2. He started his team with 2 Arsenal, 2 Wigan, 1 each from MU, Chelsea, Stoke, Fulham, MC, Liverpool, West Ham, Villa, Sunderland, Everton and Birmingham. Obviously he spread his selections over teams, HOWEVER note that 6 of his starting line-up during GW1 does not play on GW2! And yet these 6 players had already brought him 48pts (including Fabregas 22pts). Yes he get his investment paid back, but with an additional price of wildcard, an inevitable one. Had he not do a total rebuild he would have only 5 first team players left.

Now there follows another clever move. he used his wildcard. Means the conpensation of buying in players who miss GW2 is taken off! And this combines with player stats gathered from GW1! He knows who is the form player, he knows who is likely to get a value up. He knows he can make very good transfers based on the infos. Now let's see who he brought in:

Player	GW2 score
Jerome (4.5)	1
N'Zonzi (4.5)	sub
Fletcher (5.5)	sub
Defoe (8.5)	17
Palacios (5.5)	7
Lampard (12.5)	10 (made captain)
Bassong (5.0)	2
Wilkinson (4.0)	--
Johnson (7.5)	18
TOTAL POINTS	55 (65 with captain score)

Pretty accurate, right? With 2 successive good GW result he straight went top of the overall table. BUT, not too good right after this. Drogba becomes his only real point scorer at GW3 and only Lampard reach double figure at GW4. He also made bod choice on captain selection on GW3 (could have scored 9pts more). 55 and 57 may not be a bad score, right? But COMPARATIVELY it was low among the people ranked right below him (an average of around 75pts per GW). Thus, he lost his lead and fell quite far behind in points, albeit still in a very good 4th place.

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Given both fantasy managers do not change their team, who would have a better run onwards? Well, it's really hard to tell at the moment. The points gap made out from GW3 and GW4 doesn't really give us the conclusion. What we can learn from this is two different pre-season approaches that can bring you good starting result.

The game had provided us the convenience to spy on other manager's team. So let's make good use of this ability. Spy as much as you can! Stop complaining why other can get high score while you get a petty one. You can become a team to be spied on too.

EPL 2 weeks break: time to make BIG decisions!

2009-09-04T08:11:00.002+08:00

Usually Premier League season will start with a double-game-week and then go for a 2-weeks-break. This is one of the most critical time in fantasy game. How important is it? Let's find it out.

Agenda:
1) Prefect time for wildcard
2) Check out players' international performances
3) Should you wait until the deadline to make transfer?
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1)Perfect time for wildcard

Yes. Why not? When you found yourself too far behind after just 4 gameweeks, and having a shit team not look like going to provide you any points for the coming fixture, why not rebuild your squad with the informations gathered from these 4 gameweeks? For my own experience sharing, I was ranked 417834 after GW3, then entered 2 weeks break for internationals. I used my wildcard immediately after GW3, refreshed my squad, and gained 1.7 in team value by GW5! My ranking also rose to 25557 by GW6, and went steady for the rest of season. (peaked at 6901 on GW13 and finished 18042, my best finishing so far) It's a great gift that the game introduced wildcard, a magic item that secures your season when you think you had a poor start and feeling hopeless.

Oh. And now you know the importance of picking your starting squad. It's the best if you are able to continue with confidence on your current team, saving the wildcard for the worst.

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2)Check out players' international performances

No rest in getting infos for the improvement of your fantasy game! International games provide good info of players' form too. This also makes early transfer comes with a risk: players might get injured with national team, or even loses his current form after a poor international outing. That would cause you to have made a useless transfer. So, don't miss the coming 2 matchdays!

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3)Should you wait until the deadline to make transfer?

Unless you're waiting for my tips...ha ha...
If you're trying to snap up hot item, like for now (Bracket shows transfers in GW so far) Lennon (80k), Hunt(51k), Shawcross(36k), Johnson(29k), Defoe(24k) and others, better get it as soon as their last match ended. With 2 weeks to go before next GW their price tag are likely to go up 0.2 and more. Combine this idea with wildcard you can make a great fortune, and they are equally good buys.

Another reason to make quick transfer: when the player you're going to dump is rapidly losing popularity which means price drop is inevitable. Rather than losing your team value, dispose them as soon as you could. Of course this should combine with a good buy, not another rubbish. A transfer must be made quickly when a player is no longer a first choice, get injured for long period or get suspended.

Note that I say, "player that you're going to dump". If you feel that a player, though losing popularity, is going to bounce back in next game, keep him and you may me making an edging move! The last thing you want to see is the player you've just sold score a hat-trick in the following game (that happens to me numerous times in the past). A good example here is, a nett total of 21071 people gave up Rooney after GW2, what happens next? Rooney grabbed 2 goals and 3 bonus points! Imagine how much you lost by switching him away. (You should put him captain too)

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Yes. We got a lot of things to do for the coming 2 weeks! Keep an eye on the fantasy transfers condition, check the fixture list, view the player's form, come out with the best transfer choices. And I'm going to provide you with a few more tips in coming week to help improve your game.

Pre-season team build-up: How important is it?

2009-09-02T16:04:00.015+08:00

Check out what had you missed in the first 4 gameweeks.

Having a good start means alot of things. You won't have to make extra transfer to adjust your squad; you gain price-up for form players in your team, you can save your wildcard for better use. You don't make unnecessary changes due to player not selected in first team or missing out through injury. While other people rushing to purchase hot items, you are setting a good example for others to emulate. It always feels good to be up front in the title race, isn't it?

Let's look back again to how you prepare your squad during pre-season. There are a few things to look out:

1) Which of the big 4 teams have the easiest opponents in the coming 3 games?
2) Which of the outsider teams have 1 or more sure-win games coming soon?
3) Which teams will be missing a mid-week game due to European participation?

Well, the first two criterias apply for the whole season too. The third one means to remind you to make the best use of the fixture list.

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Yes, we're not selecting our favourite player, we're selecting players that will help us get points. When you build your team always start by determining the key players, who usually cost the most but are sure to bring you a lot of points. Who will they be? Of course the big 4 teams players. They don't dubbed big 4 for nothing. They score more goals, have better defense, and are more consistent in performance. Let's make use of the fantasy stats and see if I'm correct.

Team score after GW4:
*1 240 Chelsea
*2 197 Man Utd
*5 183 Liverpool
*7 167 Arsenal (1 game less)

It's pretty clear. The big 4 are performing well so far! So you get great score by selecting players from big 4 teams. BUT...out of these 4 teams, which one to choose? So let's check out who their opponent was:

Chelsea: Hul(H),Sun(A),Ful(A),Bur(H).
Man Utd: Bir(H),Bur(A),Wol(A),Ars(H).
Arsenal: Eve(A),------,Por(H),MU(H).
Liverpool: Tot(A),Sto(H),AV(H),Bol(A).

You have to agree with me. The bolded fixture are considered easier game for them. Note that Chelsea have the most easy opponent among the 4 teams. This means that you get the maximum advantage by having 3 Chelsea players in your team. Meanwhile Man Utd face all three newly promoted in the first 3 game! This is clear enough: You should own maximum numbers of Man Utd players in your team as well! Life is easy then.

Why not Arsenal or Liverpool? Note that Arsenal will miss a game in GW2. This is a big disadvantage as Arsenal players don't come cheap and it's a very wrong move to have your key players sitting on the bench at the early stage. What about Liverpool? They have a stiff test against Tottenham in the first game and it's harder to judge their form afterwards. A buy-in during GW2 will be more recommended (yes, a home game against Stoke City is considered easy meat).

So how accurate am I on this? We already saw just now that Chelsea and Man Utd are currently top 2 fantasy point scorer. While Arsenal are 7th because they played 1 game less. Liverpool DID predictably fared less impressive compared to the others. So far we're getting the expectations correct.

Now let's look at the predicted and the unpredicted:

Predicted:
- Chelsea won all 4 games, with 4 goals from midfielders and 5 goals from forwards.
- Man Utd played around Rooney with him scoring 4 times.
- Rotations occurs more often at Arsenal as they plays in Champions League qualifier.
- Liverpool played around Gerrard and Torres, scoring 5 times between them.

Unpredicted:
- Man Utd lost at newcomer Burnley. Many people placed their captain bet on Rooney that particular gameweek.
- Arsenal win 6-1 at Everton, compensating for the 1 game missing.
- Chelsea failed to keep clean sheet for the first 2 games, causing some people to lose confidence on their defense.
- Liverpool, one of the best defence team, conceded 7 goals in 4 games.

Now what do you see? Working on the predicted items and it's sounds easy. Right? And what about the unpredicted? The risk are fairly high and you might possibly lose out big meat or fire blanks by betting on it. We have other sure things to bet on. Let's read further.

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Outsiders. Yes. We're referring to those teams that are not so likely to challenge for the league title this season, mainly because of the lack of consistency. While fantasy game is all about form, we have to make the most out of it and buy the cheaper players at the best timing.

How to determine which outsider teams or players to invest on? Two things to check, one is by player, another is by team. Both methods coming with some risk.

By player: every team will have one or two key players that can make differents, even in disadvantage situation. How to identify them? Even beginners can figure them out. Yup, just check out their last season's performance. A few examples: Young(AV), Gamst Pedersen(Bla), Matthew Taylor(Bol), Cahill and Arteta(Eve), Dempsey(Ful), Jones(Sun), Carlton Cole(WH). You will also notice that they are usually the most costly players in their team (Because they worth it!) With this you know which players to look for when you pick on a team.

By team: check the schedule. Look out for easy meat. Identify the relegation favourites and pick players from the teams that face them. Now lets get an example from the fixture list of first 4 gameweek:

AV: Wig(H),------,Liv(A),Ful(H)

Yup, you will easily think that Villa will excel in the bolded games. Well, not quite accurate for this one, as they lost to Wigan but won at Liverpool. But basically that's the idea we're looking for. Let's say that we judge Villa to have easy fixtures coming soon. Who will you invest on? Pick the cheapest from first choice defenders, and then influential players, which, in this case, Young, Agbonlahor, or Milner.

Other teams that I judged to have relatively easier fixture in the first 4 gameweeks:
Tot: Liv(H),Hul(A),WH(A),Bir(H)
Sto: Bur(H),Liv(A),Bir(A),Sun(H)
Por: Ful(H),Bir(A),Ars(A),MC(H) (Alright, wrong judgement)

Worth a bet, right? You know who to pick.

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Missing fixture. Yup. Every season we have the same dilemma. You have some players you really wish to choose. But they miss second gameweek due to European matches, which, for this season they are: MC,Ars,AV,WH,Ful,Eve,Bla, and Bol. In my opinion, it's a wise decision not to pick from these teams until GW3. It's good if they score. But if they don't, You'll lose further in GW2 and nothing to compensate, as half of your team will not be playing. Not worth it. definitely.

Anyway, there's still teams from the lists which performs extremely well. Man City and Arsenal. Excusable as they are considered big teams. But for the rest, the risk is too high.

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Now for the wrap-up.

Maybe you had heard people said this before: "Don't put all eggs in one basket." Does this applies here? I've seen people buying Cech, Terry and Bosingwa in the start of last season and went on to win lots of points, as Chelsea got 10 clean sheets out of first 14 games (Bosingwa scored a few goals too). And remember Man Utd once went 14 games without conceding a goal. This is an exceptional case. When you do it right you get an edge over teams who spread their eggs. For this season we saw a good example on Stoke City and Burnley. Nice and cheap, aren't they? 4.0 each for the defence and then save the rest for star players. How nice! It might be risky to invest on Burnley(You don't even know who's playing) but Stoke City did have an easier fixture ahead. Discover it earlier and you are in front of many others. HOWEVER, do not think that you can hold on to them forever, unexpected situations happens. Make necessary change when time comes.

What choice had I made for the season-start? I picked 3 Chelsea, 3 Man Utd, 2 Portsmouth, 2 Stoke, 1 Liverpool for my first team. Chelsea, Man Utd and Stoke players are doing great, while Portsmouth and Liverpool are wrong bets. Add it up I still get a fine score. Would have fared better if I trust on Stoke more. Failing to identify Man City and Tottenham as great season-starter also costs me a lot.

Gameweek 4 my team review

2009-09-01T10:45:00.006+08:00

3941 rank is my personal high in 6 years participation. A great achievement. But it could have been higher as Dunne didn't play in Man City's 1-0 win at Portsmouth. Team value is my main concern. The current players don't seem to be popular choice. Is keen to find a solution to reduce the total costs of defensive line.

Was expecting to get 90pts for this gameweek but 68 is a fine score. Carragher conceding goals again and Dunne didn't play are situations that out of my expectations. However Ashley Cole's goal for Chelsea and Rooney's penalty against Arsenal are both bonus results for me and made good compensation for the missing points. The exclusion of Koumas from Wigan starting line-up also surprises me. Might need to remove him from the squad soon.

Premier League will now enter a two weeks break and will resume on 12 Sept. Other Cup fixture:
5,9 Sept - World Cup qualifier and International Friendlies
15 Sept - European Champions League Group Stage 1st match
17 Sept - Europa League Group Stage 1st match
21 Sept (week beginning) - English League Cup 3rd round

Look out for player's form and any injury news.

Gameweek 3 my team review

2009-08-26T10:48:00.002+08:00

Liverpool's loss has lowered my gameweek rank. but i think most ppl did too. 9831 gameweek rank and 8873 overall rank is good enough for an inmprovement at early stage. now considering to sell Carragher (7.0) and Valencia (8.4).