Here’s the first of my fantasy premier league gameweek analysis articles for gameweek 10.  I’ve started with the Arsenal v Liverpool game and have reviewed the game in more detail than usual.

Arsenal 2 Liverpool 0

Lineups

ARSENAL: Szczesny 6; Sagna 7, Mertesacker 7, Koscielny 8, Gibbs 7 (Vermaelen 78); Ramsey 8, Arteta 8, Rosicky 7 (Monreal 72); Ozil 7, Cazorla 8; (Jenkinson 84), Giroud 6
Subs not used: Fabianski, Bendtner, Akpom, Hayden.
Yellow: Sagna, Jenkinson
Goal: Cazorla 19, Ramsey 59

LIVERPOOL: Mignolet 6; Toure 5, Skrtel 6, Sakho 6; Cissokho 4 (Coutinho 46, 7), Flanagan 6 (Moses 68); Gerrard 6, Lucas 6, Henderson 6; Sturridge 6, Suarez 7.
Subs not used: Brad Jones,
Agger, Allen, Sterling, Kelly.
Yellow: Cissokho

Arsenal:  Wilshere’s continued ankle problems saw Rosicky line up on the right of the attacking midfield 3 in what was ostensibly 4-2-3-1.  However,  most of the time it looked like   4-1-4-1 as Arteta sat defensively while Ramsey stayed forward pretty centrally.  No other surprises in the line up.

Liverpool:  Glen Johnson was ill so Flanagan took the RWB role in Rodgers 3-5-2 formation.  Surprisingly Henderson took the role of the advanced midfielder in the triangle of 3 which to me he just isn’t suited to as he just doent have the creativity.  I’m not sure why Rodgers just didnt start Coutinho.  I can’t see how match fitnesscould be too much of an issue as its not like he does anything when Liverpool dont have the ball so how fit does he need to be?  Apart from that the line up was predictable

The Match

The game surprisingly for a 1 vs 3 match up started at a fairly pedestrian pace.  It soon became apparent that there was going to be a lot of fluidity and movement in the Arsenal attacking midfield 3 as Cazorla constantly drifted inside to try and outnumber the Liverpool midfield in that area.  Arteta stayed deep but is a poor Flamini impersonator and really lacked the awareness and aggression that Flamini brings to the team.  This was illustrated by 1 particular Henderson run when Arteta practically just watched him drift unchallenged to the edge of the box.   Both sides didn’t press that much early on but Arsenal looked far superior to Liverpool in creativity.  The drifting in of Cazorla plus the high position of Ramsey gave them good numbers in advanced areas and their combination play around the box was excellent.  Giroud too showed how much more than a striker he can be with some excellent lay offs. Liverpool on the other hand looked to get the ball to Suarez in a far more direct way but Arsenal dealt with his turns and runs far more efficiently than WBA who really struggled last week.  Not only did Arsenal look better in the structured attacks but also counter attacked with much more fluency as Liverpool gave the ball away too much.  Flanagan in particular wasted opportunities and I think Henderson would have been far more suited to the RWB role.

In the 2nd half Rodgers changed to 4-4-2 which was a surprise as Coutinho would have been ideal in the position that really didn’t suit Henderson.  Instead Coutinho was shunted out to the left.  Sagna must have been delighted to see him there as it really did mean he was going to have free rein to go forward.  The situation was made worse for Liverpool when Ozil drifted right as well to create overloads and it was no surprise that the Ramsey goal came from that side.  However, the 2nd half did see far more Liverpool chances and Suarez was incredibly unlucky not to score twice later in the second half when the game became far more stretched.  He looked particularly dangerous when drifting left with combinations with Coutinho who started poorly but soon showed his creative quality.

Player comments

Defences

A pretty open game with defences stats to reflect that.  Both sides had alot of chances to score

Ramsey 

Its hard to know to say about the guy.  Doesn’t need loads of shooting stats or to play next to the striker, he just scores when he gets the chance and today was no exception. I don’t understand it. He’s never scored more than 3 in a fantasy premier league season.   He has no precedent in fantasy premier league with other box to box players like Lampard and Gerrard heavily supplemented by free kicks and pens.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you can’t understand it or if there is no precedent you just have to go with it and that’s certainly the case with Ramsey.

He’s now the highest point scoring midfielder in fantasy premier league and has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 to show there is no plateauing of returns.  He’s returned in 7/10 games.  It’s mind blowing.

 Ozil

Despite playing 3 games less than everyone else he’s the 5th highest scoring midfielder in fantasy premier league with 2 goals and 5 assists and he’s returned in 4 out of 7 games.  Certainly his shooting stats have improved even if his creating chances has leveled off a little and today continued that theme.  Today he should have scored with 1 great chance

Giroud

No returns today but that shouldn’t detract from a quality performance leading the line and showing some great lay offs.  Had one fantastic chance to score which he missed.   Reasonable shooting stats in the context of the game.  He’s the 4th highest forward point scorer in fantasy premier league with 5 goals and 4 assists and has returned in 7/10 games.

Cazorla

Scored and had great shooting stats and lead the creating chances stats so an all round good day.  Only played 6 games and a pretty ordinary return so fa of 1 goal and 1 assist.  Does have the ability to get big scores but not that consistent.  Could this be the turning point?  At 2.2% ownership he would be quite a departure from everyone else.  I think Ramsey and Giroud are ahead of him although his ability to score gives him some comparison to Ozil and he’s also relatively cheap at £9.6m. Arsenals fixtures are getting harder now so its Giroud and Ramsey for me

Suarez  

I got alot of “feedback” shall we say on the site for not putting him in my captain options but history shows it’s a fairly risky strategy captaining someone away from home against a top team no matter what form you’re in.  Having said that he really should have scored but it just wasn’t his day.  Still good shooting stats and nothing to detract from his fantasy premier league attractiveness.

Sturridge

Again had chances to score but just doesn’t have the all round game and the ability to create chances that Suarez has.  Still shooting stats were ok here but like Suarez it just wasn’t his day.  Great consistency so far this season he just suffers in comparison to Suarez for Liverpool coverage

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