This is my last fantasy premier league article looking back on GW30. Its seperate to the “Geek detective” article which just answered questions that fantasy premier league managers wanted asking prior to the gameweek. These look at some interesting points resulting from GW30. After this I’ll be looking forward with “Ones to Watch”, fixture ease and wildcard artcles
1. YYT behind the striker
I actually did mention this in passing in the Geek detective. Pellegrini sprung a major surprise with YYT pushed forward behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation rather than a 4-4-2 formation with Negredo and Dzeko both starting. His advanced positioning alone was enough to help him get a rather lucky assist for the Silva goal. Add to this his pen duties, his consistency this season and his 43% ownership (2nd only to Saurez) and its a brave fantasy premier league manager who doesn’t have him in his DGW31 team. Interestingly 7 of the top 10 managers I follow at the moment don’t have him in.
2. Silva is back
Silva has been one of the more consistent fantasy premier league midfield returners and has the best overall underlying shooting and creating chances stats of any midfielder. However the form of YYT and the returns being at a rather low level (he’s only had 2 point scores of 10 or more prior to GW30, compare that to Hazards 8) then you can see why he has been shunned by fantasy premier league managers.
However I maintain that he has been incredibly unlucky not to score more and have kept him in my team as I can’t believe the law of averages won’t catch up with him. Hopefully the weekends results will propel him further on.
3. Lallana no returns in 4
Substituted after 55 minutes when the score was only 1-0 in the 4-2 thrashing of Norwich is not a good sign and made it 4 games without a goal or assist. To be balanced he did return in 4 consecutive games before that. However with a DGW31 coming up the 4th hisghest points scoring midfielder looks ripe to sell and provide cash for DGW31 midfielders. He’s the most transferred out player this week with 56k out.
4. Lukaku disappoints
All the stats you could shake a stick at pointed to Lukaku as a good bet for returning against Cardiff. Cardiff did their bit by conceding their expected 2 goals but Lukaku just had one of those days when it didn’t happen. On the positive side for his owners he did have good underlying stats and was a little unlucky not to return. We’ll analyse him more in a “ones to watch ” article but he has been consistent and has been good at home.
5. The Norwich away defence is hopeless
7 clean sheets at home and only 12 goals conceded in 15 games have distracted from what is a truly awful away defence. They’ve conceded more goals away than any other team. While alot of focus has been on Cardiff and Fulham away Norwich away, if it isn’t already, should be firmly on our radar
Here’s their remaining away fixtures:
GW32 – Swansea (A)
Gw34 – Fulham (A)
GW36 – Man Utd (A)
GW37 – Chelsea (A)
For those holding Bony and not selling Hazard its good news. Fot United owners it should also be good news although whether they have the ability to thrash anyone at home at the moment is another question
6. Who’s safe in the West Ham defence
The last 4 game weeks have seen James Collins attract 100k transfers in and his price move from £4.1m to £4.4m. However I have mentioned the shadow that Winston Reid has carried over the CB partnership and that previously Collins was sacrificed for him previously. This happened against Stoke but the result was an unexpected 3-1 loss. This result maybe the saving grace for Collins owners but Demel and Adrian look the safest choices. Neither of them covered themselves in glory at the weekend though. McCartney maybe worth a gamble at £4.0m having started the last 6. He has Armero as LB competition although Armero only played 8 minutes since joining in the Jan window.
7. The Arsenal defence shows it’s mettle
Tough fixtures plus an away defence that’s conceded 21 goals in 15 games (as much as Sunderland and Hull away) plus only had 3 clean sheets before the weekend (the same as Norwich) have seen some selling off of defensive assets. A backs to the wall defence against Spurs caused by the early goal really showed their mettle and determination. Their next 4 games include Chelsea, Man City and Everton but if you’re holding them now with a DGW31 coming up they don’t look such a problem
8. Colback dropped to the bench
After starting 7 of the last 9 games and the previous 4 to GW30 £4.2m Colback looked the ideal budget friendly filler for our DGW31, DGW34 and DGW37 teams. He may not be the most exciting prospect but he had scored 2 goals and an assist in those 9 games. Now the question is do we stick or twist with him. The complication or hope depending on your viewpoint is that with Fletcher injured and Altidore continuing to not impress Borini may end up the lone striker which would free up a place for Colback. There’s no guarantee of this though and Fantasy premier league managers may want to switch to Norwich’s Tettey as a safer alternative for the same price.
9. Noble maybe an option as a cheapie mid
I had Noble in as almost an after thought in my cheapie mids “ones to watch” last week. However seeing Carroll nod home one of his free kicks for an assist plus his penalty duties has bought him further into my reckoning. Reid and Collins whichever plays are both also excellent at set pieces and other targets. Price wise he’s a little more expensive than you would want at £5.2m
10. Dummett as another cheapie def option
Dummett has taken the place of the injured Davide Santon at LB. Santon currently has a knee injury with no return date and although Dummett isn’t a long term solution he’s one of the few DGW31 DEF options at under £4.0m. I’m hoping he will play both games although I prefer Hull overall as the cheapie DGW31 defensive option.
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