Week 21 - Sunday

Apologies for the lack of updates over the weekend...I'm afraid today's post is also short as I simply don't have the time to review all the weekend's action, but I hope to be back to normal from tomorrow onwards!

I've had an okay weekend, although it was slightly ruined by Rooney & Vermaelen (typical - I'm hugely disappointed I choose to drop him, but it looks like most of the Top 20 made the same mistake) getting goals today in United's 3-1 dissection of Arsenal. I end Sunday evening on 84.5 points, with 9 double gamers to play midweek, up 250 places for the week so far.

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Week 21 - My Team

Right, sorry for the delay. Me & a bunch of mates decided to go & see Crystal Palace today, a local club who need all the help they can get after their administration left them -10 and near the relegation zone...they won & it was money (I hope) well spent.

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Drogba To Be Rested

I hope your team is all starting to take some shape as we approach the run in to Week 21. I thought I was set on a team which dumped Anelka for Drogba, but then I read the following.

No need for me to explain what huge news this is for the fair majority of fantasy managers...

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Week 21 - Player Picks

Before I start, a quick mention of last night...

After Rooney bagged me 45 points on Saturday I was dreaming of a 130-150 point week, but thanks to 4 big fat zeros from 3 no-shows (Aquilani, Stearman, Bily) & Robbo, plus -3 from Vermaelen, I think I have to be pleased with my final total of 104.5 points. Big thank you to Lampard & Kalinic!

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The Blog Cup 4th Round Results

Very quickly, I've calculated The Blog Cup 4th Round results. As you'll see, the cut-off was quite competitive so congratulations if you made it through!

There are only 40 of you left now, with Round 5 in Week 24. Remember, the last man standing wins the Premier League replica shirt of their choice...

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Week 20 - Tuesday

Not a particularly entertaining Tuesday evening, as 4 Premier League games provided only 5 goals & not a whole lot of excitement...or fantasy points.

It wasn't a great evening for me either, as 2 of my 4 players (Aquilani & Stearman) failed to get off the bench. But hey, at least Spurs won & I'm feeling much better - thanks for the good wishes guys!

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Week 20 - Saturday

Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts over the past couple of days, I've not been feeling very well so the last thing I'd wanted to do was stare at a PC screen (no barndoor work). I still don't feel 100% so this will be quick.

Rooney - for once I pick a striker who has a cracking week. 4 goals & 45.5 points moved me up 200 places. A clean sheet for Van Der Sar & the United defence gave plenty of additional points for other managers, otherwise it would've been a bigger climb up the rankings.

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Week 20 - My Team

Robinson

Stearman  Vermaelen  Bale

Bilyaletdinov  Lampard  Aquilani  M.Taylor

Anelka  Kalinic  Rooney

For the first time in a long time, I really like my team this week. I feel I've got a good balance, set piece/penalty takers & attacking players from teams due wins.

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Week 20 - Player Picks

Hooray for single weeks!

It really is a relief to not have to worry about double gamers for Week 20, as we revert back to a sensible format. I always enjoy picking my team more in single weeks because I feel it affords you far more freedom, and I have to make the most of it as the past few weeks have seen me plummet down the rankings.

However, I have a cure for my slump...back to basics. Pick 11 players who will start for their teams, preferably playing at home, get as many set piece takers in as possible & get strikers who are in form. Hang on, don't I always aim to do this? Yes...but I'm trying harder this week!

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The AM Challenge - Round 2 Results

I'm rushed off my feet today so I'm afraid I've got no time to write an indepth analysis of last night's games. I haven't even had a chance to write my Week 20 Player Picks yet, but I hope to have this written & posted up by the end of the day.

What I have just had time to do is calculate The AM Challenge Cup Round 2 results, where the Top 250 from the remaining 406 teams would go through. Was 129 points enough to progress to Round 3...?

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Tevez On Fire

Pure entertainment last night, as Carlos Tevez continued his outstanding form with 2 more goals giving Manchester City a slender lead for the 2nd leg over the club who discarded him last season. No doubt about it, it's going to be a cracking tie at Old Trafford next Wednesday!

The Argentinian really is on a remarkable run; 13 goals in his last 10 starts & with his upcoming fixtures I'll be grabbing him after City's blank week (Pompey, @Hull, Bolton, @Stoke).

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Price vs Points Analysis

Remember the "rule" we often discuss on here? If you pick a player, make sure you think he'll get at least his value in points that week.

e.g. If you pay £13m for Valencia, you should expect 13 points from him, if you pay £19m for Lampard you should expect 19 points from him.

It's by no means an exact science (discounts come in to it), but if you try to go by this rule & you're pretty good at guessing/your players do the job then you should get close to 100 points per week. 100 points per week throughout a season will get you close to the Top 100 come the end.

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Week 19 - Sunday

I write this post still waiting for Yahoo to update team points properly after Sunday's action, so at the moment we don't know exactly how far we've gone up (or down) in the rankings. It also means I can't calculate the current AM Challenge cut-off point, but there's no urgency with 2 games still to go on Wednesday.

What I do know is I'll finish the day on 70 points with potentially 11 players to go in midweek...I still don't have a goal.

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Week 19 - Saturday

It's early days in Week 19.

Yes, I've had a bad day, no I didn't get a goal, yes I've dropped out of the Top 2000, no I didn't have Anelka, Lampard or Rooney, yes my girlfriend just made just me watch "The Proposal". But the week is still young...

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Week 19 - My Team

Almunia

Bale  Vermaelen  Aurelio

Nasri  Aquilani  Arshavin  Kranjcar

N'Gog  Defoe  Eduardo

Week 19 is here! It's been another chaotic week with all the fixture confusion, but now we can all sit back, relax & enjoy another weekend of Premiership action.

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Week 19 Injury News

Some team news courtesy of BBC SPORT....

CHELSEA
Suspended: None  
Doubtful: None
Injured/unavailable: Bosingwa (knee), Deco (match fitness), Drogba, Essien, Kalou & Mikel (all Africa Cup of Nations)
v
SUNDERLAND
Suspended: Turner (one match)
Doubtful: Jones (calf), Richardson & Zenden (hamstring)
Injured/unavailable: Cattermole & Reid (hamstring), Ferdinand (ankle), Gordon (arm), Mensah (calf/Africa Cup of Nations), Nosworthy (knee)

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Updated Week 19 Player Picks

A bit of a Friday bonus...

...my previous player picks based on Man Utd having a double week are pretty useless now, so very quickly, based on the Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool & Bolton double week, here is an updated list of the players I feel you should be looking at for Week 19...

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BIG NEWS: Week 19 Fixture Update

Exactly what many of us thought/feared might happen has happened... Manchester United's double week IS NO MORE.

Yahoo have changed the deadline for Week 19, so United's 2nd fixture vs Hull will now be placed in Week 20.

Only Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool & Bolton have double weeks.

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When It Rains...

...it pours.

From The Official Site
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/torres-out-for-six-weeks

"Liverpool today revealed the extent of the injuries sustained by Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun against Reading last night.

A Club spokesman said: "Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres both underwent scans earlier today after coming off in the FA Cup tie against Reading.

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Week 19 - Player Picks

Okay, so we don't know exactly what Yahoo are going to do for Week 19, but I can try & work with the information we do have!

What I know as fact is Week 19 will be the 2nd Round of The AM Challenge Cup, in which 406 teams remain...good luck to all those involved!

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Not again...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8455579.stm

I've woken this morning to another 4 inches of snow, all the schools are closed, people are being told not to travel on the roads and the snow is still falling heavily.

If this continues (as predicted) for the next day or 2 then I fear more fixture chaos this weekend.

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Week 18 - Monday

On Saturday morning, pretty much every newspaper & football website stated that the Manchester City vs Blackburn game was in "severe doubt" & unlikely to go ahead the following Monday.

The Carling Cup semi final between both sides of Manchester had been postponed 2 days early the previous week, the city was covered in snow & temperatures were expected to drop to -8 over the weekend with more snow to follow on Sunday. So, what should we do...?

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City Game Is On

Manchester City vs Blackburn is on. Terrible news for me, great news for those of you who held on to Given/Zabaleta/Petrov/Tevez etc...

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Club-news/2010/January/Tonights-game-goes-ahead

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Week 18 - Saturday

Saturday is over & all my players have played, so I end the week with 41.50 points. A disaster in any other week, but in the farce that was Week 18 it's enough to move me up 600 places. The highest score in the entire game this week was 75...that sums it up so far.

I watched the Arsenal game - they simply didn't get going, the crowd were subdued & Everton's work-rate was outstanding...the Toffee's were unlucky not to take all 3 points.

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Week 18 - My Team

Almunia

Alexander  Vermaelen  Traore

Diaby  Arshavin  Nasri  Bowyer  Ramsey

Eduardo  Benitez

What can you do?

The week has descended in to farce with 6 postponements leaving only 2 games today, 1 tomorrow & 1 on Monday.

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Week 18 Weather Update

NORTH-EAST
Hull City v Chelsea (Sat Jan 9) - POSTPONED
http://www.safc.com/news/bolton-game-called-off-20100108_2256213_1926911

Sunderland v Bolton Wanderers (Sat Jan 9) POSTPONED

http://www.safc.com/news/bolton-game-called-off-20100108_2256213_1926911

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Week 18 - Player Picks

Picking a team is always difficult, but with the added factor of possible postponements due to the UK weather it's pretty much hell for Week 18. Everywhere in the UK is cold, everywhere is snowy - we have 10 inches of snow at my place (just outside London) and it's taken us an hour to dig our cars out this morning...not good!

There's no way we can predict which games will go ahead at this moment in time, so all I can do is list up my recommended players and then we can start reacting to the weather as we get more news on Friday afternoon/Saturday morning.

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Ouch

I don't really need to explain how I feel as you probably all feel the same. I had Vermaelen, Steinsson, Taylor, Arshavin , Klasnic & Eduardo still to go tonight, so that's 30 points minimum, possibly as many as 60 down the drain.

I'll leave it to my good friend Jeremy to explain exactly how shite this is...
http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/2010/01/arsenal-game-with-bolton-is-postponed.html

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Week 17 - Stoke v Fulham

The penultimate game of Week 17 continued to reward managers who gambled on triple gamers, as Stoke hung on to record a much needed 3-2 victory over Fulham at a snowy Britannia.

Stoke took a 3-0 lead with goals from Faye (woohoo!), Tuncay, Sidibe & looked in control, but Fulham fought back in the 2nd half with goals from the ever reliable Duff & Demsey. It wasn't enough though & Fulham's great run comes to an end.

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FA Cup Bits & Bobs

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates in the past few days, I've been away from my PC since New Year's Eve so I only really got the chance to properly check all the FA Cup news yesterday - I've also just been watching extended highlights of the games on www.footytube.com - I love that site.

The most interesting thing to strike me was Daniel Sturridge's performance for Chelsea vs Watford; electric pace, 2 goals (the 2nd a quite fantastic finish) and a general menace for 70 minutes. I'd be very surprised if he hasn't earnt the chance to start the game vs Hull in Week 18, especially given Ancelotti's praise of him after the match & at under £6.7m he's tempting.

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