fantasy premier league match analysis – GW23 – Chelsea v Arsenal and Tottenham v Man Utd

Gameweek analysis

Here’s the fantasy premier league match analysis for GW23 –  Chelsea v Arsenal and Tottenham v Man Utd

Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1

Line ups

Chelsea

  • 01 Cech
  • 02 Ivanovic
  • 03 Cole Booked
  • 24 Cahill
  • 28 Azpilicueta
  • 07 Ramires
  • 08 Lampard
  • 10 Mata Booked
  • 11 Oscar (Bertrand – 72′ )
  • 17 Hazard (Marin – 88′ )
  • 09 Torres (Ba – 80′ )

Substitutes

  • 22 Turnbull
  • 19 Ferreira
  • 26 Terry
  • 34 Bertrand
  • 21 Marin
  • 57 Ake
  • 29 Ba

Arsenal

  • 01 Szczesny Booked
  • 03 Sagna
  • 04 Mertesacker
  • 05 Vermaelen
  • 28 Gibbs
  • 02 Diaby (Arshavin – 75′ )
  • 10 Wilshere
  • 14 Walcott
  • 19 Cazorla
  • 22 Coquelin (Ramsey – 59′ )
  • 12 Giroud

Substitutes

  • 24 Mannone
  • 06 Koscielny
  • 11 Santos
  • 25 Jenkinson
  • 16 Ramsey
  • 23 Arshavin
  • 26 Frimpong

Luiz was missing and Ba and Terry on the bench were the main stories for Chelsea.  Arsenal started with Giroud up front with Walcott on the flanks.  Coquelin also came in where Arteta would normally play.

Another game of 2 halves with Chelsea dominating the first half and leading 2-o through a Mata goal assisted by Azpilicueta and a Lampard penalty after Ramires was bought himself down to earn a penalty.  Arsenal came out a different team 2nd half and pressed Chelsea far more and struck back through a Walcott goal assisted by Cazorla.

  •  Defensively Chelsea had the better stats
  •  Giroud and Walcott had the best shooting stats followed by Hazard
  •  Giroud Mata Hazard and Torres led the pen box touches
  • Wilshire and Mata led the chances created
  • Mata and surprisingly Wilshire were the most forward midfielders

Mata continued his fantastic run where apart from his first 3 games he’s returned in all but 2.  He does seem to outperform his stats which is the only worry and here he did it again scoring from his only shot.  I’m not ready to ditch him though with this form but for that reason although you do worry that his charmed life of returns has to come to an end.

Ba being rotated was a surprise given the magnitude of the game and his recent form and a sign that the dream scenario of Ba playing in the league and Torres in the Cups is not going to materialise.  I’ve got 2 Chelsea assets through the double game week, this is something I’m generally opposed to unless there’s exceptional fixtures which is not the case with Chelsea and 1 will have to go.

The conundrum that is the Chelsea defence continues, Azpilicueta who could have been the victim of Terry’s return continues to hold his place and provide assists while Luiz’s position as a CDM seems to have dissaperred.  At this time I cant find out why Luiz didn’t play although the official fantasy premier league site says ankle sprain.

For Arsenal Walcott returned despite playing on the flank rewarding those who gave him the armband  He also continued the production of good stats and looks a nailed on to continue in fantasy premier league teams.

Cazorla provided an assist but continued to provide no underlying stats.  The West Ham game will determine if there will be a mass sell off after the DGW but his stats are just too poor for me.

Giroud produces the stats when he plays and has scored goals but doesn’t seem to get the run he needs to adjust.  It will be interesting to see if he starts the West ham game.

All these factors mean that the Arsenal attacking coverage is still Walcott easily.

Spurs 1 Man U 1

Lineups

Tottenham Hotspur

  • 25 Lloris
  • 16 Naughton (Assou-Ekotto – 64′ )
  • 20 Dawson Booked
  • 28 Walker
  • 33 Caulker
  • 02 Dempsey
  • 07 Lennon
  • 08 Parker (Huddlestone – 80′ )
  • 11 Bale
  • 18 Defoe
  • 19 Dembele

Substitutes

  • 24 Friedel
  • 05 Vertonghen
  • 32 Assou-Ekotto
  • 06 Huddlestone
  • 22 Sigurdsson
  • 29 Livermore
  • 31 Townsend

Manchester United

  • 01 De Gea
  • 02 Rafael Booked
  • 03 Evra Booked
  • 04 Jones
  • 05 Ferdinand
  • 15 Vidic
  • 16 Carrick Booked
  • 23 Cleverley (Valencia – 74′ )
  • 26 Kagawa (Rooney – 62′ Booked )
  • 19 Welbeck
  • 20 Van Persie

Substitutes

  • 13 Lindegaard
  • 12 Smalling
  • 07 Valencia
  • 08 Anderson
  • 11 Giggs
  • 10 Rooney
  • 14 Hernandez

For Spurs the CB rotation continued with Vertonghen left on the bench.  Fantasy premier league owners will have to accept rotation here and given the price of Caulker and Dawson that’s not such a bad trade off for such a strong defensive team.  The rest of the team was relatively predictable with Dempsey starting with Adebayor at ACON

Man U was less predictable apart from the defence with Kagawa Welbeck and Jones starting where you maybe would have expected others.  Rooney on the bench was the main surprise after he started mid week

United scored through RVP assisted by Cleverly and Spurs came back strongly to score at the death through Dempsey assisted by Lennon

  •  Given the opposition Spurs defensive stats were fantastic
  • Dempsey then Defoe led the shooting stats followed way back by RVP
  • Caulker Dempsey Defoe Welbeck and Lennon  led the pen box touches
  • Chances created were Lennon and Dembele
  • Dempsey/Lennon and Kagawa were the most forward midfielders

RVP did it again despite not having many chances.

No one else in the United team shined from an attacking standpoint although I expect Rooney to start regularly for those brave enough for a differential or to overload on United assets.

For Spurs Defoe has immediately benefited from Adebayor leaving for ACON with a far better set of stats.  Whether this is enough to own him given the short term nature of Adebayors absence is doubtful for me.  The fixtures aren’t anything special either. Dempsey’s in the same boat.

Lennon continues to provide assists though producing returns in 4 out of his last 5 games.  However he’s still a very assist based player which is a difficult to predict returns and with Bale in the team he looks a better option although obviously far more expensive.

Bale had one of those days where he just shoots from anywhere and although had a couple of good chances didnt provide any returns.  Its now 2 returns in  his last 5 (1 was a hat trick though) with a bit of a dipping of stats and the battle between him and Mata for places in out fantasy premier league teams is probably been edged by Mata at the moment.

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