Matchday Insight: Week 10

AVB - "I'm not letting you go anywhere..hehe"

Hello all, I'm taking up writing duties from AM this weekend so he could concentrate one of his wavering teams that got off to blistering starts but has gone into stagnation. As we go into week 10 with almost 1/4th of the season over your ranks would be settling and not feeling more like a crazy roller coaster ride. Now its time to dig deep into your fantasy manager brains and start climbing those ranks. Now ranks will represent quality rather than flukes so if your a good manager you would surely move up. Another all important Capital One Cup round midway through with the teams testing their depth in ranks and mostly resting their first team squad. Here's what we have lined up for the weekend.



The games that should have all your concentration and be the spine of your fantasy teams are Totenham vs Wigan, Swansea vs Chelsea and with little less concentration West Ham vs Man City and WestBrom vs Southampton.

The Starting XI

Keeper:
1. Cech: The Chelsea stopper has been the highest points scorer along with the highest average(barring the one match Lloris) in the game till now. Chelsea have been shipping in the goals but with that said cech is getting to save more shots too which is actually helping him perform better in fantasy terms. With the Swans averaging 5.2 shots per game he could have a decent outing.
Option: Lloris/Friedel would be my number 1 choice if only the question of who would start didn't hang on their heads. Fantasy wise Friedel is quite simply a stinker with a total of just 13 points from 8 games, Lloris has scored 3 points more in a single game...Hopefully the fantasy Gods will be kind on us and give a clear indication of who starts.

Defenders:
2. Vertonghen: One player who will start for sure and is probably in for a biggy. Has to be in your team.
3. Ivanovic: With him serving his ban during the well timed COC he should be back in the lineups as the red card even helped him become a bit more affordable under 10. Win win.
4. Nastasic: The cheapest way into City's defence although I'm not quite 100% about their capabilities...postive is that they are playing West ham so its not really far fetched to hope for a Clean sheet.
Options: David Luiz is the only chelsea defender yet to score in the league. He does have a lot of attacking threat and tends to get his opportunities on free kicks as well. One of the two chelsea defenders is a good idea. Riether back home and strong should be a better performance. Nelsen has a very good average for his value so could be a good buy just for 6.

Midfielders:
5. Cazorla: He's been off the the steam and still giving his moneys worth. Will probably up his game against big guns United.
6. Michu: If you have him at 5.67 or lower you have in your hands a midfielder playing as a lone striker. He could have been massive last week had he beaten Hart even once of the two clear one on one chances. No point taking him out whoever the opponent. At full price look else where.
7. Taarabt: has the skills to match the best...but not the consistency though with the matchup on hand he has a lot of upside. Should do well against a leaky reading defence.
8. Bale: He hasn't scored less than 15 points in his last 5 starts touching 20 on two occasions. The only downside to him is his price. So if you can shell it out there's no better place to put your money than on him.
Options: Morrison has been very lively under clarke and amongst the points all season. A good opportunity this weekend to follow suite. Lallana finally gave a bad week which puts him right back up there to have a good one....you know how odds work, he's very consistent and a good great bet, Adam Johnson is my punt of the week with him playing 89 mins for Sunderland last week, he now has a home game against mediocre opponents to show what he used to do in City, when he came off the bench.

Strikers:
9. Mata: The most in form player in the league averaging 23.5 points in the last 4 matches. Away to Swansea?...Well he has had his best games away to Arsenal and to Totenham, so all I see is Gold even at his current price.
10. Defoe: He has been working overtime for Spurs so was bound to have an off game, although in the last game he took his customary "shoot when I touch the ball" attitude most were off target. Look for that to change and improve.
11. Tevez: The only consistent City player in my opinion. Giving his 100% and reaping the benefits with good performances. Hard to look beyond him when it comes to city players.
Options: Lukaku has done well every time he's started or come off the bench for Westbrom which should lead Clarke to believe that he should lead from the front so probably will. Fletcher has gone off the boil since his single shot single goal performances and I presume will be back up there with Aston Villa coming to town. RVP vs Old Club.....we know how these things pan out don't we.

So, I think we have a good idea of what we could expect out of this weekend. There is a lot of potential for 100+ scores and I think it would be a high scoring affair this time around. Good luck to all.

Cheers,
Rohit.