MyEG BPL Fantasy – Is Week 22 time for Aguero?

Matches are coming hard and fast!

I need to cover both the midweek matches from Week 21 and preview the weekend (Week 22). There’s a lot to cover so I’ll try to be brief and focus on the fantasy aspects.

Tuesday teams:

Carroll got injured early but it had no negative impact as West Ham fought from a goal down to end up 3-1 winners against Bournemouth. Payet celebrated his return from injury by helping himself to a goal and assist, unfortunately getting carded in the process. Enner Valencia ended up with 2 goals as West Ham kicked off their favourable fixtures for Period 6 with a win. West Ham face Newcastle next with even more points potential abound. As for Bournemouth, avoid for now until we see some more consistency.

Wayne Rooney continued his return to form (in the Premiership at least) as he scored a brace against Newcastle in a 3-3 thriller. While interest in Manchester United attacking assets is being revived, it looks alarming for their defense, with Smalling the best pick ending up with -3 points. Wijnaldum did well to make a claim for inclusion in our teams, but I’d avoid the other two goalscorers (Mitrovic for his card tendencies, Dummet because the chances of him scoring again are miniscule).

Remember in my last article that I said I wasn’t convinced by Crystal Palace’s chances against Villa. Surprise surprise, Villa ended up winning as Crystal Palace’s attack failed to pay off without Wickham and Bolasie. While I wouldn’t load up on Villa players just yet, but the fighting spirit shown could be an important factor in their relegation dogfight. Crystal Palace face Manchester City next at the Etihad, better to avoid for now as well.

Wednesday teams

Defensive calamities prevailed in the high profile Liverpool-Arsenal clash which finished 3-3 (Glad I sold Cech!) Firmino finally showed the raw talent he last displayed against Manchester City back in October with 2 goals but the jury is still out as to whether he can reproduce the same performance against Manchester United this weekend. Giroud also scored 2 goals, while Ramsey did score to make up for his wrongly-disallowed goal the last time the teams met, and assisted too, while Ozil had a blank. Stick with your Arsenal players this weekend, it’s not Tony Pulis’ Stoke they’re up against, it’s Mark Hughes’ Stoke, whose play style should suit Arsenal’s. I would still exercise caution with Liverpool players though.

The other high profile match between Spurs and Leicester ended up with a 1-0 win for Leicester, allowing them to level points with Arsenal thanks to.Huth’s goal (yay!). The glaring observation is that Mahrez and Vardy (who did manage to start) both blanked for the fourth match running, raising serious questions as to whether they still deserve a spot in our teams.

The match between Manchester City and Everton turned out poorly fantasy wise unless you had defenders. Aguero had his chances but Howard was in excellent form. Still, the signs are there that an  Aguero explosive masterclass against Palace this weekend may well be on the cards. I’d also still keep KDB if you have him. Everton however face Chelsea next, if you don’t already have an Everton player, you might want to use your transfers elsewhere.

Chelsea found West Brom in a very stubborn mood as they secured a 2-2 draw. Fantasy points were not to be had as they did not come from your usual suspects, unless you brought in Azpi. As mentioned earlier, their next opponent is Everton, whose defense has clearly strengthened with the return of Jagielka. West Brom play Southampton next, but there’s no one consistent enough for me from the Birmingham side apart from Morrison, who’s now injured.

Despite the absence of Shaqiri, Stoke downed Norwich 3-1, although Norwich kick-started their own downfall when their midfielder O’Neill got sent off on the 31^st minute. None of the scorers were those you would look to in general for fantasy points (unless you consider Howson as one), although Arnautovic did grab an assist. Stoke City next play Arsenal, and while it looks difficult on paper, some Shaqiri magic could unlock the Cech defense (news says he should be back). Norwich face Bournemouth next, so if you brought Mbokani in it might be worth keeping him till then, given Bournemouth’s poor track record at defending corners.

Swansea collapsed to a surprise 2-4 loss after they were reduced to 10 men with Naughton sent off as Big Sam continues to make an impact on Sunderland’s performances. Defoe was the only one to score a brace last week, this time he went one better and came off with a hat-trick. Nevertheless, Sunderland next face the best defense in the league in Tottenham and play first anyway, so investments should be put on hold until the week after where they face Bournemouth. If you had already bought Defoe for the Swansea match, well done you, because you have the usual ex-player scoring against his old club theory, which Carroll recently demonstrated against Liverpool. Patrick Van Aanholt might also be an option for his attacking points. Swansea face Watford next, which makes it also hard to consider their players.

Finally, Southampton surprisingly defeated an out of sorts Watford, 2-0, earning a rare clean sheet. Flores will have berated his team for their performance, but you can continue to bank on Ighalo and Deeney to recover from their mini-slump for the goals, not to mention the defense as next week they face Swansea. Southampton will play West Brom, but Mane’s the only one I’d consider for now, and he’s clearly struggling.

Here’s my team as it stands:

Yes, I went for Adrian instead of Courtois to save some funds!

I am at the cusp of making the Top 100 (if only I had bought Firmino!), currently sitting at 108.

I’m looking at using my two transfers this weekend as follows:

Kane – Aguero

Payet/Alli – Wijnaldum/Chelsea players

First one is almost a certainty, second one is questionable. I’m keen on being involved in Chelsea’s revival but their fixtures aren’t the best. I should have sufficient funds though. There’s also another break after the 23^rd which I’ll use to get rid of Francis and maybe change my keeper again.

That’s a lot to read, hope you got through it! All the best this weekend!

MyEG BPL Fantasy - WEEK 21 IS UPON US!

The FA Cup saw a lot of rotation which should be of interest to fantasy football teams. 

Players like Ozil were given the day off, while players like Ighalo, Mahrez and Kane were all benched as managers sought.to keep their players fresh ahead of a double header of Premier League matches. 

Some teams fielded very strong teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea. Teams like Liverpool had their teams stretched as they struggled win over their lower league opponents. Swansea failed totally, as Oxford United recorded a memorable 3-2 win. There were a few all Premier League ties as well, but there were no real upsets in that respect.

Manchester City was one of those who started key players, specifically Sergio Aguero as he continues to build up his fitness. Others took a different route, with West Ham choosing to introduce Payet from the bench instead.So how should MyEG Stadium Astro teams prepare for this week? It’s important to remember to use your three transfers before Tuesday to refresh your squad if necessary, otherwise those transfers will be burnt as a new set of transfers is issued on Tuesday morning. You could use those free transfers to include players from the first group of matches, which is as follows:

Aston Villa		v		Crystal Palace
Bournemouth		v		West Ham
Newcastle		v		Man Utd

They are all battles between the top half and the bottom half in the first group, but slightly complicated by the fact that the top half teams are all playing away. Nevertheless, players . Admittedly, I’m not convinced by Palace at the moment, I feel that Villa could steal a point here. Bournemouth have brought in Iturbe from Roma on loan. While he’s not yet in the database, he could put West Ham’s clean sheet hopes at risk. Otherwise, Payet, Martial, although Manchester United did have a tough time against Sheffield on Sunday which could be detrimental to their performance.

Here’s the second batch of matches:

Chelsea		v		West Brom
Man City		v		Everton
Southampton		v		Watford
Stoke		v		Norwich
Swansea		v		Sunderland

Chelsea, Manchester City and Watford are clearly the stronger teams. Chelsea are on the up (although Costa might not make it) while Manchester City are the highest scoring team at home, with an astonishing 29 goals and should continue, making any of their key personnel in De Bruyne, Silva (if fit) and Aguero fair game. Southampton seem to be on a downward spiral, making Watford players a strong pick. The remaining two are a bit more unpredictable. Stoke winning is no longer a given, with Norwich’s recent improvement while Swansea vs Sunderland is seriously anyone’s guess.

The last two are theoretically the tricky ones, at least on paper.

Liverpool		v		Arsenal
Spurs		v		Leicester

However, Arsenal should seriously not have problems against Liverpool, as the amount of injuries for Liverpool is for once worse than Arsenal’s. Ozil was rested so he’ll be prepped and ready. The last match is interesting. Spurs and Leicester faced each other on Sunday in the FA Cup, but neither fielded a full strength line-up. Vardy might not make it, but Mahrez can’t be underestimated. On the other hand, Kane should continue his useful form.

Important!

Teams must remember that for Tuesday and Saturday matches, you will only receive one set of transfers to use. Therefore, while it makes sense to optimise matchups on Tuesday and Wednesday, you should preferably save a transfer to deal with possible injuries before the weekend.

Here’s my team:

For my free transfers before Tuesday’s matches, I intend to go:

Cech à Courtois

Paredes à Nyom

Silva à Payet

Pellegrini said he is hopeful of Silva’s return, but I’m not convinced he’ll start. Picking Payet will also give me an opportunity to do a live transfer if necessary for the second round of matches, although to be honest I’m looking at saving them all until the weekend’s matches (assuming I resist Firmino!)

Good luck all!

MYEG BPL FANTASY: Period 6 Preview - Playstation 4 Up For Grabs!

Half the season gone, and 5 monthly prizes are left for the taking. Next up is a Sony Playstation 4. Now, I don’t know about you folks, but I have to go to my brother-in-law’s place anytime I want to have a FIFA kickabout on his PS4 (although my kid ends up playing Minecraft). Thus, owning one would be lovely. Winning it would bring about a beautiful day indeed!

Period 6 contains all fixtures from 12 January to 5 February 2016. Based on these dates, for the Premier League there’s four weeks, Serie A has four weeks, La Liga has three weeks and Bundesliga has two weeks. Here’s the top 3 Premier League teams with the best fixtures during this period.

1.   Watford – Southampton (a), Swansea (a), Newcastle (h), Chelsea (h)

Arguably they face the best fixtures as all the teams they face are in the bottom four. Chelsea will be a bit tricky given that the Blues have definitely been playing much better since Mourinho left, but with Watford don’t appear to be daunted by stronger opposition at all. Ighalo (5.5m) is of course the popular pick and you could keep him throughout the schedule at that price, but Deeney (8.2m) could be a nice differential given he also takes penalties, but he’s priced so much higher.

Flores’ well-drilled side is also more than capable of keeping clean sheets, especially against poorer opposition. Gomes (3.2m) is quality at a nice price, while Nyom (3.1) would be the most likely of the defensive line to contribute attacking points other than a clean sheet, and he’s the cheapest too!

2.    West Ham - Bournemouth (a), Newcastle (a), Manchester City (h), Aston Villa (h)

The return of Payet (9m) could not come at a better time as West Ham face 3 poor bottom half sides as well as Manchester City, whom they handily face at home. West Ham have also done well recently, stabilising their defence, conceding only twice in six matches.

Aside from Payet (9m), Andy Carroll (9.3m) appears to have cemented his spot for now, and also faces another old team (Newcastle) in the sequence. Antonio (8.2m) is also viable as a cheaper alternative, except that he always seems to run out of steam early into the second half. Valencia (9.1m) listed as a midfielder but he’s too inconsistent for me and at his price I might as well go Payet.

At the back, there are options as well should you feel the need to reinvigorate your backline. Kouyate (4.4m) and Cresswell (4.7m) are both strong options at affordable prices. If you have keeper schedule conflicts, then Adrian (4.7m) is the way to go.

3.                3.  Swansea – Sunderland (h), Watford (h), Everton (a), West Brom (a)

Similar to West Ham, they face three bottom half teams and one top half team (Watford), whom they luckily face at home.

Unfortunately, the similarities end there. They have yet to find their early season attacking verve, making most of the prospects questionable. Ayew (9.0m) will probably be your best bet (unfortunately listed as a striker), or Sigurdsson (10m) if you think he will rediscover his form from last year.

Aside from last week’s match against the Red Devils, they were able to muster three clean sheets in a row, so their defenders could be considered. Fabianski (5.3m) not a bad idea, Williams (5.1) for the goal-scoring threat, or Federico Fernandez (4.1m) if you’re running out of funds.

Wrap-up

That’s it for the fixtures. Of course form players and world class players will perform regardless of fixture, people like Aguero (15m), Ozil (12.1m), Kane (12.5m), it’s all about finding the right balance. 

Finally, just a reminder that for the Stadium Astro game, although Premier League only starts on the 12^th (next Tuesday), play still resumes this Saturday as the European Leagues (except the Bundesliga) all have matches. So make sure you field those Messis, Neymars, Higuains and Ronaldos in your first 11! Your captain also needs to be in place, so kindly take note.

Good luck!