Wednesday 28 March 2012

The Matchday Insight : Week 31


Official confirmation from Yahoo is that Week 31 is a regular single game matchday and no team plays twice.A lot of confusion regarding this last week and led to many changing their entire team in the process.

The positives that came out of this was that we all assessed Newcastle players in more detail and BenArfa/Cisse caught our attention all over again.Now that Newcastle play only once at home against Liverpool, do you hold on to them or look else where? These are just a few of many questions coming in to us before we head into Week 31.

This week we have a couple of easy matchups and the remaining ties are all a battle for either existence ( Wolves vs Bolton),(Wigan vs Stoke) or a spot in Europa League ( Newcastle vs Liverpool)

Lets have a look at the easy matchups :

Fulham vs Norwich
Qpr vs Arsenal
Blackburn vs Man.Utd

Other matchups :

Aston Villa vs Chelsea
Everton vs Wba
Man City vs Sunderland
Tottenham vs Swansea
Wolves vs Bolton
Wigan vs Stoke
Newcastle vs Liverpool

Expecting a close fought battle between Newcastle/Liverpool and the other two matchups including teams from the bottom of the table.

Lets get straight into the best player picks ( From all matchups ) :

Goalkeepers :

The pick of the keepers this weeks is Schwarzer as he plays at home against Norwich who are without their in form captain,G.Holt, due to suspension.Schwarzer is coming off a spectacular display against Man Utd where he had atleast 7 good saves which kept them just about a goal down against them.

Other options would include Friedel and Cech as both their teams are showing some improvements in form.Both the teams know how important each game is in order to finish in the top 4.

In case you have Ddg at a cheap price, you are set for a good period and its advantage ddg all over again.In case you dont have any money to spend on a keeper , Hennessey is cheap at below 4 and could just end up in the +ve side this week.

Defenders :

This is one area where the easy matchups play a crucial role.Three spots should idealy be the safest possible picks available this week.

Evans has been the pick of the defenders and incase you were able to get him on board at a cheaper value, its an ideal situation.Smalling( 5.21) got some game time on Fulham and should start at right back.

Gibbs and Vermaelen have been productive in the Arsenal lineup and will continue to be a threat on a struggling Qpr team.Gibbs should start ahead of Santos.

Other options include Kelly( Fulham), Richards( at 8.xx), Wheater ( at a discount )

Midfielders :

There seem to be alot of options in here for this week.

Dempsey has to be on top this list as he plays a more central role behind Pogrebnyak and both assist each other well. Fulham have had good results at home apart from their last defeat against Swansea.But this week they are against Norwich who are inconsistent away from home have not scored in their last two away games against Newcastle and Stoke. I would prefer spending funds on Dempsey than Bale as Swansea have a stronger defense as compared to that of Norwich.

Valencia and Young are great picks for the next couple of weeks.Im sure most of you would have got atleast one of them in our recommendations in the last few weeks.Another winger whose form has been excellent is Walcott and the matchup is ideal.

Etherington has to be a bargain at 13.xx when they take on Wigan.He has been the most productive of all stoke midfielders and tends to get in numbers.

Miyachi is playing Wolves who are at the bottom of the table.His skills would be too heavy for Connor's men to handle.

Ben Arfa is in form and is involved with mostly everything newcastle are doing.In case you got him in cheap, it could be worth it against an inconsistent Liverpool side.

In case you dont have much to spend on your midfield and looking for that 1 enabler, i would recommend Gibson who costs around 4.8

Forwards :

Rooney is the pick of the forwards for a few weeks now and the weeks ahead.The matchups can't get easier and no rotation risk make his a must have.

Rvp has to feature in here as its all set for him to score lots of goals against Kenny and his defenders.

In case you dont have one of the top 2 forwards , then the next picks could bail you out.

Adebayor - you would need forwards who score big rather than the one odd goal and this man makes it count when its needed to be counted.

Pogrebnyak and Jelavic have great matchups.Both are key to their teams offense and its impossible not to have one of them on board.

Impossible not to mention P.Cisse after such solid performances.But must be held on to at high discounts only and better options if you are buying him at retail.

An injury update : Aguero is in contention for this matchday.Some papers in UK have reported that Tevez is going to get a start against Sunderland.I hope they know Mancini well.

Update : Aguero is ruled out of the sunderland game.Tevez in not yet fit to play 90 minutes but "he can play more ". Seems like Dzeko and Mario will start. - This from Mancini's press conference on Friday.


Thats it folks.Thats the best we have for you this week.I hope it will be helpful for your team.

Incase you have any opinions, suggestions, queries or questions , pls feel free to ask in the comments space below and we will be there to help at the earliest.Looking forward to your comments.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers

AM




54 comments:

  1. Currently on

    Cech@9

    Bassong, Evans, S. Kelly

    HBA@6, Siggurdsson, Valencia, Rosicky, Ryo

    Rooney, P. Cisse@13

    How high do you rate Rosicky for this week AM? I could drop Rosicky and P. Cisse for both Jelavic and Pogrebnyak. Is it worth it? Also waiting on the Tevez news. Have a great weekend ahead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there,

      Rosicky is a decent option this week but I think you should pick one of these two ( HBA or Rosicky) and shift one to the forward spot.

      I prefer having Hba to Rosicky.

      Prefer Pogrebnyak/Tevez( if confirmed to start) better than Cisse/ Rosicky

      Delete
    2. Thanks AM!

      Delete
  2. Team 1

    Hennessey
    Smalling Bassong Bridge
    Siggy Young Valencia de Jong(filler)
    Aguero Pogre RvP

    or

    Team 2
    Reina
    Smalling Gibbs Bassong
    Siggy Young Valencia Dempsey
    Aguero Pogre Jelavic/Tevez
    with 2.06 or 4.xx to spare depending on Tevez news

    which team should i change and use?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Trini,

      Interesting both teams and i like the way you have managed to get in Rvp in there.

      Could be risky and it depends on how much risk you want to take.

      If you are ready for it go with it.

      If you want to be safer go for the 2nd team ( and change Reina) he is not a good fantasy pick.

      also you wouldnt want Aguero and Tevez together.

      Delete
    2. I guess i'll go with rvp this week. i'm not 100% on either, but i feel like taking a few risks this week. hopefully they pay off.

      Delete
    3. You have enough there in team 1 to back it up.Go for it :)

      Delete
    4. Hi Trini,

      Just had a look at your team 1 again, just noticed Bridge is unavailable as he is on loan from Man City and therefore cant play against his parent club.

      cheers

      Delete
    5. thanks i totally forgot about that. i switched him to kyrgiakos and changed De jong to Tim Cahill

      Delete
    6. Aguero ruled out.Tevez not fit to play 90 mins but could play a part - Mancini

      Delete
    7. would you drop aguero at 6.xx though, even though he's only ruled out for the week?

      Delete
    8. I am dropping him at 8.xx because i dont know if its one week or 10 days - thats what even Mancini doesnt know.But i hope he is back next week.

      But at 6.xx, i wouldnt drop him for a fwd like Jelavic or any because you cant compare him with any other fwd.He is at another level for me and will play all games when he is back.

      Hold on at that price and take a hit.

      Delete
    9. agreed. I'm willing to take a few zeros for a player of his quality. Very, very underrated, but he's definitely one of the primer strikers in England right now.

      Delete
  3. Tweet from the official Manchester City twitter profile on Wednesday night :

    Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez both start for the #CityEDS at #MorecambeFC tonight. The Central League game has just got under way #MCFC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Playing on wednesday night and starting on saturday?

      Seems less likely with Aguero,Dzeko and Balo resting the full week.

      Delete
  4. Hi AM this is how my team looks like:


    Szczesny

    Vermaelen Smalling Ream

    Sigurdsson Miyaichi Maloney HBA

    Rooney Pogrebnyak Stracqualursi


    Stracqualursi is my dark horse of the week because he has full strength compared to Jelavic. Might switch to Gibson.

    Please give advise to my whole team, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Team looks decent.

      Prefer Jelavic as he is in form ( 3 goals in the last 4 games,including FA cup)but always go with your gut feeling.

      Most of your players have good matchups so should work well.

      Good luck.

      Delete
  5. Lineup For GW31:

    Schwarzer
    Kelly-Cahill-Evans
    Gerrard-Valencia-Walcott-Yaya.Toure
    Rooney-Suarez-Rvp [Captain]

    Subs: Vorm-Siggy-Enrique-Williamson

    ReplyDelete
  6. My Biggest Concern is whether to play Yaya Toure or Siggy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Derp,

      Your team looks very strong for this week.

      I prefer Yaya to Siggy for this week just for the fact that Man city's home form is good as compared to Swansea's away form.

      Delete
    2. Also you must remember in Week 34 the following teams dont play due to FA cup fixtures.

      Bolton
      Chelsea
      Everton
      Fulham
      Liverpool
      Newcastle
      Stoke
      Tottenham

      Delete
    3. i think they would shift the fixtures to midweek for all these [to be played in the same GW] teams Except Chelsea & Newcastle. Because Chelsea being in the C.L, and the chelsea's game originally scheduled GW 34 is against Newcastle.

      Delete
    4. But yeah will have to wait and see how it plays out when we get confirmation from the F.A

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AM (Insight Fantasy EPL)
    This my opponent: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/entry/1090694/history/ in the private league [Maldivian Premier League]. i am currently ranked 2nd. have been chasing all season due to a poor start [1st 2months]. At one point it was 250 points deference :D But i've now reduced it to just 83 points [My team: KakUNi F.C] The guy still has a wildcard hanging over my head. but i am pretty confident i could take this one right to the wire :).
    Any advice would be very much appreciated

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your team looks stronger mate but you need to be careful on your transfer.Stick to just a free transfer and may be one more to the max.

      You may need Dempsey in there.Thats the only one you could be facing a competition against.

      Delete
    2. Bringing in dempsey mayby anti - differential. There are bunch of players i am interested in: Adebayor, Mata, Bale, Baines but probably may have to settle for Hibbert, kaboul. who i choose to bring in over the next few weeks depends on the form and how he plays the wildcard :)

      Delete
  9. After the DGW confusion, I now have the following players:

    Hennessey/ S. Kelly, Skertl, Simpson/ Dempsey, Beausejour, HBA, Cabaye/ P. Cisse, Jelavic, Poggy

    I lost my discounts on Rooney, Jelavic, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Sczzy, Sigurd, Gerrard & Bassong. In retrospect, it was actually a strange decision to have taken; DGW or not....

    Hope my week goes well.

    Good luck to all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tayo,

      I think Yahoo owes you a serious apology for creating such a confusion.

      However the goodthing is you hold no discounts and therefore no burden from last week.

      Try to get in Smalling and another defender of an easier matchup.(as Skrtel / simpson play against each other)

      Cabaye is also not such a good option in midfield and needs to be looked at.

      Then lets see how much funds you left with.

      Delete
  10. what to do with suarez at 17.xx?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Justin,

      Thats a very high price to pay for suarez who i feel isnt the most consistent forward around.

      If you had him at around 13.xx , it would have been a different matter.

      I would look at Dempsey or Adebayor at that price.

      There are other options like Man Utd forwards ( Hernandez. Welbeck ) or may be Drogba as he was rested in midweek.

      Delete
    2. Hi AM

      What is wrong with Saurez? With Liverpool not playing well at all, his last 4 week have produced, 10.5,22,13,14.5. Thats not so bad. Imagine if he scores a goal :)

      I have him at 15.8, so I am thinking twice about dropping him.

      Delete
    3. might be the time in the season to focus more on matchups and forget so much about discounts though.

      Delete
  11. Hi AM,

    My team for the week is:

    Robinson
    Bassong Vermaelen Kyrgiakos
    Sigurdsson Gerrard Miyaichi Valencia VDV
    RVP Pogrebnyak

    I know Robinson is a big risk. Planning on switching Pogrebnyak to Tevez if there's news that he starting. And used the extra funds to upgrade Robinson. What do you think? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aguero ruled out.Tevez not fit to play 90 mins but could play a part - Mancini

      Delete
  12. Hi AM,

    Please rate my team.
    My saved team:

    Friedel@9.20
    Gibbs, Evans, Djourou@2.86
    Sigurdsson, Ryo, Valencia, HBA
    Rooney, Kun, Jelavic

    with 1.25 fund available

    will Djourou start this week?
    is HBA worth a place?
    would love to get Pogrebyak/Dempsey but can't reach any of them
    will Smalling starts?

    Thanks & good luck.

    MRA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gibbs will start but might not keep clean sheet because he will be replaced by Santos at 2nd half, I don't think he can returns a great point without clean sheet & goals.

      Djourou will start because Koscielny will missed out again.

      HBA is great pick if you keep him at discount price, else you can consider Gibson & Pienaar at reasonable price.

      SAF confirmed Ferdinand will play against Blackburn, I don't think Smalling will take over Rafael position, maybe as a substitution.

      Kun ruled out for around 2 weeks, so you should try Pogrebyak, who has a decent match against Norwich.

      Just my 2 cents, you may ignore it ;)

      Delete
  13. What about the yellow card and the red card G.Holt received in GW30? When we will get back our pts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No confirmation as yet.Will let you know as and when that happens.

      Delete
    2. What he mean by "get back our pts"? I was holding Holt in GW30, I don't see any problem in the pts stat?

      Delete
    3. He got 2 yellows and thats -3 x 2 = -6 pts

      where yahoo reduced a yellow -3 and a red -6 = -9

      so you could be given that 3 pts back

      Delete
  14. Will Carroll start? Or sub?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carroll should start against his former club.

      Delete
  15. Hi AM,

    This is my team for this week. Please rate.

    Krul

    Gibbs, Evans, Gallas

    Bassejour, Arteta, Ben Arfa, VDV

    Pogrebnyak, P.Cisse, Tevez

    I want to replace Tevez with Jelavic but still consider it.
    So how is my team?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Eirza,

      Team looks well balanced.

      Krul could have lots of saves against Liverpool, can work out

      Rest is good.

      Delete
  16. Schwazer
    Kelly, Gibbs, taiwo
    Silva, Valencia, van der vaart, hba
    Pogreb, jelavic, p cisse

    Plz rate

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alfred,

      I like your team.Good contenders from Fulham.

      Only point i would like to make here is Taiwo would need his work cut out against Walcott, which could be a tough job.

      I would replace him with some safer option.

      Delete
  17. Okay folks,

    Schwarzer

    Evans Smalling Bassong

    Siggy Valencia HBA Gibson

    RVP Pogrebnyak Jelavic

    have rooney,Kelly and Rosicky in the background

    Have your say.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Or

    Henessey
    Gibbs, Kelly, Ream,
    Siggy, Valencia, van der vaart, hba, demsey
    Aguero, pogreb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aguero is out this week Alfred.

      I like Dempsey in there though.

      Delete
  19. But I have discounts on aguero.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Replies
    1. Thats a tough one. I would hold on to him at that price.

      Both teams are decent.Just feel the 1st one has a bit more to it.

      Delete