Fantasy premier league – Arsenal v Chelsea – the immediate reaction

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Heres the fantasy premier league reaction to Arsenal v Chelsea including analysis on line ups, the match and player analysis

Line up

Arsenal

Heres how Arsenal lined up  Mannone, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Diaby, Cazorla, Ramsey, Gervinho, Podolski.

A couple of surprises here.  Koscielny was preffered to Mertasacker which was unfortunate for thsose fantasy premier league managers who wanted a £5.3m bargain.  Ramsey also started instead of the Ox which again was a little bit of a surprise.  Gervinho again up front before Giroud.

Arsenal lined up in their normal 4-2-3-1 wih Arteta and Diaby screening behind Podolski Cazorla and Ramsey with Gervinho up front

Chelsea

Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Mikel  Mata, Oscar, Hazard Torres.

Only surprise was that Mata Oscar and Hazard all paid.  It will be interesting to see how they interact together.  Ramires goes back to the 2 screening players.

As for Arsenal Chelsea were in 4-2-3-1 with Ramires and Mikel screening behind the 3 of Mata Hazard and Oscar with Torres up front

The Match

The first part of the match was very cagey with Chelsea being careful in possession.  Chelsea scored through a poor Arsenal set piece.  The game then warmed up and there was lots of pressing high up from both teams.  Oscar in particular did lots of pressing and tackling on Arteta to try and block him off.  Chelsea looked surprisingly tight and compact, controlled the game and had the better chances.  However the last 10 minutes or so everything changed and  Arsenal finished the stronger and our  “one to watch” and “imaginary wildcard” recommended Gervinho showed some excellent finishing to level.

The second half started with Arsenal dominating but Chelsea scored from another diabolical set piece.  Again Chelsea had spells where they controlled the game but there was alot of messy passing.  Both teams had chances to win but it ended up Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2

Player analysis

Cazorla

Looked lively and again everything went through him for this game. Had far more shots in the box and 1 in particular should have scored.  An encouraging game for his fantasy premier league owners where he should really have scored and had the chances to do so. led the game shot stats and not in the wrong speculative way outside the box that weve seen before.

Gervinho

Recommended by this site scored a good goal.  Not a player for the purist and sometimes looks like he’s never played football before.  Again though at £7.3m classified as a midfielder but playing upfront for a top 4 side you just cant ignore him.

Podolski

Quiet and subbed off at 65 minutes or so.  Didnt really look threatening and there seems far better options for the easy run coming

Arsenal defence

2 shambolic set pieces and a pretty shaky all round performance.  Still there are  some easier fixtures coming but they had better get it sorted before Big Sam gets bombarding them

Hazard

owned by 43% of fantasy premier league managers it was no consolation to see him doing the good defensive work he did.Very little attacking threat despite looking classy on the ball.

Torres

A couple of shots an ingenious goal but still doesnt look like someone I would be in a rush to spend £10m on thats for sure.  With the toughest of fixtures coming up there has to be better options up front

 

 

 

 

 

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