Here’s the fantasy premier league news catch up for Thursday 22 August 2013 including Mata, Suarez, Mavrias. Anelka, Lambert, Sinclair and price rises and falls
Mata
Chelsea off tweet: Mourinho: “I know Mata cannot play for 90 minutes at the moment so it was important to have attacking options on the bench.”
More intrigue to the Mata Mourinho saga. He certainly played against Villa like he wasn’t fit making little contribution although still with reasonable game involvement. With the blank in GW3 coming up he’s a sell for me especially with the other options of Hazard, Coutinho, Silva and Walcott all with good fixtures. That’s not to write him off. He was the most consistent returning midfielder of last season but for now there’s better options
Arsenal Suarez
On the official Arsenal site recording Wengers press confererence
on if the Luis Suarez transfer is dead…
Yes. Absolutely no chance of that.
There is life in Giroud yet. I still prefer Walcott due to consistency of returns from last year. However in the midst of good Arsenal fixtures Giroud is the kind of streaky scorer against poor opposition that can get good returns. Remember still a couple of weeks in the transfer window yet though for the purchase of another striker
Charis Mavrias
Sunderland complete deal for 19 year old Greek winger Charis Mavrias in £2.5m deal with Panathanikos. Must be a good player at that age to have made 18 starts plus 8 as sub for Panathanikos for 2 goals and 3 assists last season. That is a very low return rate per minute though. I wouldn’t be worried if I was holding A Johnson or Giaccherini though as he appears just to be cover in case they are injured. Here’s a snippett of what Di Canio said about him.
“But what do I know about Mavrias? I know him, I know that he is a very good prospect, I know that he’s a very exciting player..
Nicolas Anelka
Various versions of stories going around about Anelka ranging from compassionate leave for the Everton game to quitting football permanently. Here’s what WBA released on their website as quoted in the Daily Mail
‘West Bromwich Albion can confirm that Nicolas Anelka will not be involved in Saturday’s game at Everton.
‘The club have excused the striker from duty on compassionate grounds.’
I had him as a sell anyway after a totally anonymous display against Saints and difficult fixtures to come and this certainly adds to the justification
Rickie Lambert
I don’t think any Lambert fantasy premier league owners needed to be worried about Lamberts place with Osvaldo coming. That’s assuming Lambert keeps pens and a share of the free kicks. Rodriguez owners though should be very worried as he looks to be the sacrifice. Here’s some words to provide comfort to Lambert owners from the manager
“I don’t think they are that similar,” said Pochettino.
“I think they could find it very easy to play together. But we will be gauging
that as the season unfolds. The Premier League is a tough competition and there are also two cup competitions.
“You also have to think that all great players know how to get along on the pitch and know how to play well together, regardless of the characteristics that
they have. “Rickie has shown time and time again that he is a very intellectual footballer and that he welcomes the competition. He welcomes the fact that Osvaldo is here because it will make him raise his game.”
Scott Sinclair
Joined WBA on loan. The Manchester City winger moved after playing only 200 minutes or so with no returns in the premier league for Man City last year. However for Swansea the previous season he was far more successful with 8 goals and 5 assists in 35 starts plus 3 as sub. This resulted in a fantasy premier league minutes per point return of 20. Its not Walcott but its not too bad. Here’s what Clarke had to say about him in the Telegraph:
“Scott understands he needs to play football and we’re delighted he feels this is the right club for him at this stage of his career,” Clarke told the club’s official website.
“He’s the type of player we were missing from the squad. He’s a pure winger who is quick, direct and scores goals – he has proved that over his career.
“He can play off the right or left and improves our attacking options. I know him well and he’s a good person who’s 100 per cent committed to our cause.
“He’s frustrated he didn’t get the chances to play at Man City last season and hopefully he’ll take those frustrations out on Premier League defenders this season.”
I think that he will come in to the side on the left wing at the expense of Dorrans unless Clarke goes back to 4-2-3-1 with Anelka gone either for the Everton game or permanently. At £6.0m he’s pretty expensive in the context of WBA and if Morrison (same price) could return to the position behind the striker in 4-2-3-1, I would prefer him. However the fixtures for WBA are awful so in my mind there’s plenty of time to monitor the situation.
Price rises and falls
Rises this GW
Barkely £0.2m
All £0.1m
Coleman Zabaleta Whittaker Shaw Joe Cole Benteke Welbeck
Falls this GW
Numerous and all £0.1m (excuse the formatting which is for ease of information)
Azpilicueta
Evans
Mata CHE 10.4 0.1
Januzaj MUN 4.9 0.1
Bannan AVL 4.9 0.1
Holman AVL 4.9 0.1
Bacuna AVL 4.9 0.1
Tonev AVL 4.9 0.1
Essien CHE 5.4 0.1
Arteta ARS 6.9 0.1
Moses CHE 6.4 0.1
Schürrle CHE 7.9 0.1
Allen LIV 4.9 0.1
Alberto LIV 5.9 0.1
Kagawa MUN 7.9 0.1
Zaha MUN 6.4 0.1
Ruiz FUL 5.9 0.1
Podolski ARS 8.4 0.1
Torres CHE 8.9 0.1
Ba CHE 8.4 0.1
Lukaku CHE 7.9 0.1
Kone EVE 6.9 0.1
Deulofeu EVE 5.9 0.1
Helenius AVL 5.4 0.1
Borini LIV 6.4 0.1
Hernandez MUN 7.4 0.1
Adebayor TOT 7.9 0.1
Defoe TOT 8.4 0.1
Odemwingie WBA 5.9 0.1
Negredo MCI 9.4 0.1
Jovetic MCI 9.4 0.1
Thats it predicted line ups tonight. Hope you feel fantasy premier league caught up!
Follow us on twitter @fantasyfoot20 or facebook at www.facebook.com/fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk
