Archive for September, 2012|Monthly archive page
Baines, Defoe, Fletcher, Lennon, Oscar, Park, Santi, Szczesny, Tinkers, Vaz Te, Vorm
In Sorted, Squad Sheet, Strategy on September 29, 2012 at 2:48 am
Fantasy Premier League tips as demanded by FPL managers as we get ready for the return of Rooney, Coloccini and Tioté. Ok, maybe just Rooney. Last Minute Tinkers is here to address all of your needs and provide tips and analysis for each Barclays Premier League fixture. One post today as we’ve published late. We’ve written at length about the League Cup here and here and the injury news for the week seems set, with few impact players out – from a fantasy premier league tips standpoint – due to undergo late fitness tests.
Arsenal v Chelsea
Key Injuries: Szczesny; Sutrridge
The Gunners will be without their first-choice keeper for the next several weeks which presents fantasy premier league managers with a unique buying opportunity. Vito Mannone is selected in 1.7% of squads despite a £4.5 price. We assume this is solely due to the gameweek opponent. Following the Chelsea fixture, Arsenal will face: West Ham, Norwich and QPR in Barclays Premier League Action. We’ve invested — he is sitting in favour of Vorm this weekend — and hope to see a modest price increase ahead of gameweek 7.
Sturridge’s injury keeps Fernando Torres in the lineup by default. Read the rest of this entry »
Anderson, Cisse, Cleverley, Coloccini, Giroud, Rooney, Sahin, van Persie, Walcott
In News of the Day, Player Projection on September 27, 2012 at 2:57 pm
More League Cup action kicked-off on Wednesday and more EPL fantasy news and notes came from each fixture. The biggest news of the day were the appearance of returning players and others breaking their duck.
Arsenal 6-1 Coventry
Giroud (39′), OX (57′), Arshavin (63′), Walcott (74′), Miquel (80′), Walcott (90′)
Arsenal sXI: Martinez; Djourou Miquel Santos Angha; Arshavic Coquelin Yennaris OX Walcott; Giroud
Substitutes: Frimpong (Coquelin 72′); Gnabry (OX 72′); Chamakh (Giroud 72′)
Theo Walcott bagged a brace. The England winger has not featured prominently for Arsene Wenger’s side side the arrival of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud. Walcott was a 72′ substitute in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City and has played 131′ of 450′ available EPL fantasy minutes this season. Giroud scored his first for Arsenal, opening scoring on 39′. He also missed a penalty in this match and Theo Walcott is doing more to solidify his claims that he should be the starting striker for the current incarnation of the Gunners attack. Walcott certainly had a lethal touch in this one and has already opened his Premier League account with a 88′ strike against Southampton after being introduced as a 75′ substitute (Gervinh0).
Carlisle 0-3 Tottenham
Vertonghen (37′), Townsend (53′), Sigurdsson (89′) Read the rest of this entry »
Agbonlahor, Barry, Bertrand, Cahill, Dyer, Johnson, Michu, Tevez, Torres
In Player Projection, Squad Sheet on September 26, 2012 at 2:07 pm
There were several Barclays Premier League sides in League Cup action on Tuesday and we examine the EPL fantasy impact of each fixture. Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Man City, Southampton, Sunderland, Swansea, West Ham and Wigan experienced different levels of success and fielded different portions of their BPL starting XI.
Manchester City 2-4 Aston Villa
Balotelli (27′), Barry (OG 59′), Kolarov (64′), (Agbonlahor (70′), N’Zogbia (96′), Agbonlahor 113′)
Manchester City sXI: Pantillimon; Lescott Nastasic Kolo Kolarov; Barry Milner Razak; Tevez Balotelli Suarez
Substitutes: Sinclair (Suarez 62′); Dzeko (Lescott 74′); Helan (Razak 106′)
Aston Villa sXI: Given; Bennett Vlaar Clark Lowton; El Ahmadi Delph N’Zogbia; Weimann Agbonlahor Benteke
Substitutes: Albrighton (Weimann 66′); Herd (El Ahmadi 72′); Lichaj (Bennett 86′)
It was a massive win for the Villans, not only because of the opposition but because they finally found a scoring touch that had eluded them over their opening five Barclays Premier League fixtures. With five goals in five games – the floodgates opened against a Citizens defense that has failed to keep a clean sheet in any competition this term. The game ran into overtime and many key fantasy premier league players added another 120′ to their early-season tally. Read the rest of this entry »
Balotelli, Ben Arfa, Borini, Cisse, Coloccini, Fellaini, Jelavic, Suarez, Tevez, Tiote, Vidic
In News of the Day on September 25, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Fantasy EPL managers will need to watch Capital One Cup contests this midweek with a bit of concern as a number of Barclays Premier League sides have already sustained substantial injuries. Liverpool were the latest side to succumb to the wave of injuries carrying defenders into physio’s rooms across England and Wales.
The Reds will be without first-choice defenders Martin Kelly and Daniel Agger as both sustained injuries in the 1-2 loss against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, with Kelly facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines:
The England international [Kelly] will now require ACL reconstruction. Meanwhile, fellow defender Daniel Agger, who was stretchered off the pitch 13 minutes before Kelly limped out of action, has suffered a significant bone bruise to the left knee. No ligament damage was sustained but further tests will be carried out before it can be established when he will be able to return to training. To add to Brendan Rodgers’ woes, Fabio Borini has considerable swelling to the inner aspect of his right ankle though no fracture was detected on the X-ray.
Brendan Rodgers made headlines recently for his statements that Liverpool need to shoot more and that his side lacks a player with the “DNA” necessary to pull the trigger:
Rodgers wants his players to threaten the goal more, especially as they have scored four times in five Premier League matches, but is happy with the way everything else is developing despite his side being in the bottom three. ”You have to shoot otherwise you don’t score – that is something we know across the board we need to improve on. Read the rest of this entry »
Aguero, Berba, Dzeko, Fletcher, Gibbs, Morrison, Park, Rooney, Tevez, van Persie, Vermaelen
In Up The Tweets on September 24, 2012 at 5:17 pm
All new Up The Tweets! touches on Fantasy EPL implications of owning Arsenal’s defense, rating the Manchester City forwards and find inexpensive midfielder who create chances and see the pitch.
The man who would win “Best Mustache” amongst all our followers asks about Vermaelen and Arsenal’s slated fixtures:
We’re not opposed to owning Arsenal’s defense, but we’re uncomfortable investing the £7.1m necessary to select Thomas Vermaelen. Arsenal still face Chelsea September 29, but their schedule is considerably easier for the following three gameweeks in which they face: West Ham (a), West Brom (h) and QPR (a). Gibbs (£5.7m), Mertesacker (£5.1m) and Jenkinson (£4.9m) have each played the full 450′ this term in the Barclays Premier League and any of the three present substantial value over their Captain. Read the rest of this entry »
Ba, Ben Arfa, Cole, Long, Lukaku, Nani, Rafael, Rio, van Persie
In News of the Day on September 24, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Fantasy EPL had a number of massive performances from defenders this weekend. Did you get Rafael, Baines or Ashley Cole in your side? Koscielny? Lescott?
Liverpool lost 1-2 to Manchester United on an emotional day at Anfield. There are problems in all phases of the game for the Reds, and few LFC players can be owned with confidence in fantasy EPL. The side is young, understrength and suffering from a lack of clinical finishing. They will also be struggling to field a defensive four:
[Martin Kelly], the 22-year-old England defender, underwent a scan on Monday morning. He told his Twitter followers: “It’s not the worst injury I’ve had and I’ll be fighting for my place next year when I’m back fitter and stronger.” Kelly’s injury adds to Liverpool’s injury worries as Daniel Agger suffered a suspected medial ligament injury.
There are fears Kelly will be out until the New Year. He and Agger have recorded the third and fourth most minutes for Liverpool – if they miss any time there should be added minutes for Sebastian Coates (£4.8m, 0.1% selected) and Jose Enrique (£5.9%, 4.7% selected).
Last season saw a massive debut for Kun Aguero and he could be in line for a repeat performance in gameweek 6. The Argentine striker started alongside Eden Dzeko in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal and played 84′. Read the rest of this entry »
Baines, Crouch, Hazard, Lambert, Lukaku, Mata, Odemwingie, Tinkers, Walters
In Sorted, Squad Sheet, Strategy on September 21, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Fantasy Premier League managers your long wait is over. Last Minute Tinkers is here to address all of your needs. It’s a short one this week. We’ve written at length about the Champions League here and here and the injury news for the week seems set, with few impact players – from a fantasy premier league standpoint – due to undergo late fitness tests. Onward with part 1/2.
Swansea v Everton
This is not a simple match for either side. The corresponding fixture a season ago ended in a 2-2 draw and featured a free-kick goal from Leighton Baines that would do many Fantasy EPL sides a bit of good this weekend. We have made an exception to our mantras of ‘no high priced defenders’ and ‘you can not predict defender scoring’ for the new England left-back. Until his price climbs into a new, higher tier he is undervalued for the production he provides. Steve Pienaar is frequently the subject of our praise, and he remains an exception fantasy premier league player and recorded two assists in gameweek 4.
The only negative for David Moyes’ squad are the absences:
If you own Swansea defenders, you are riding them out in this match unless you’ve significant depth assembled. Read the rest of this entry »
Aguero, Ba, Bale, Ben Arfa, Berbatov, Cazorla, Friedel, Nani, Suarez, Tevez, Tinkers, van Persie
In Sorted, Squad Sheet, Strategy, Uncategorized on September 21, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Fantasy Premier League managers your long wait is over. Last Minute Tinkers is here to address all of your needs. It’s a short one this week. We’ve written at length about the Champions League here and here and the injury news for the week seems set, with few impact players – from a fantasy premier league standpoint – due to undergo late fitness tests. Onward with part 2/2.
Wigan v Fulham
Dimitar Berbatov lived up our hype with a brace in his first start with Martin Jol’s side. Beratov will look to build on his already impressive resume with the Cottagers when they travel to Wigan. The Latics have scored four and allowed eight, including four goals at home where they have failed to win in two attempts. Fulham will be getting back Bryan Ruiz and will be without Diarra. Jol said “It could be the next couple of games…it could be longer” in relation to a knee injury the midfielder suffered while on international duty with Mali. This is good news for Kacaniklic owners as it limits the number of competitors for a midfield place, but significantly diminishes the prospect of keeping a cleansheet.
That said, we’re still invest in the Cottagers defenders Hangeland and Hughes as low cost options with a friendly set of fixtures and the ability to keep a cleansheet every other match. Low cost, low risk, but also low ceiling as neither present much in the way of attacking value.
For the Latics, we like Shaun Maloney (£5.0m, 1.4% selected; 1 goal 1 assist with 16 FPL pts) and have come to accept that Franco Di Santo will score goals. Di Santo has scored two goals in 300′ this term after scoring seven goals 2025′. Read the rest of this entry »
Adebayor, Alcaraz, Assou-Ekotto, Baines, Clark, Lichaj, Lukaku, Nani, Odemwingie, Vlaar
In News of the Day, Strategy on September 20, 2012 at 2:00 pm
News & Notes for Thursday, 20 September include an update on Emmanuel Adebayor and speculation on the Fantasy EPL impact of West Ham’s back line.
The biggest news up front. Andre Villas-Boas ruled Emmanuel Adebayor out of Thursday’s Europa League fixtures with an injury, and that Benoit Assou-Ekotto still has to see a specialist about his knee:
Andre Villas-Boas reports that Emmanuel Adebayor is out of Thursday night’s Europa League clash against SS Lazio. The striker has a hamstring injury and joins Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Younes Kaboul (both knee), Jake Livermore (groin) and Scott Parker (Achilles) on the sidelines. “Benoit is still out, we’re waiting for the specialist to see his knee,” Andre said on Wednesday. “Ade has been struggling with a muscle injury, so he will be out of the game.”
There is the suggestion that the powerful forward has been dealing with it for a while, but the fact remains he is behind Jermain Defoe in the pecking order at the moment. Defoe makes an interesting addition in the short-term. Spurs next five fixtures run:
Scott Parker is still several weeks away and his position in the team will be far from certain upon his return. Aaron Lennon and Moussa Dembélé have played outstanding football of late:
“Scotty is still a bit far off, maybe three weeks before he returns to first team training, so slowly making progress and Younes is out for some time,” [Villas-Boas said].
Birmingham Post with news that Marc Albrighton is nearing a return to action: Read the rest of this entry »
Bertrand, Carrick, Fletcher, Kagawa, Mata, Nani, Oscar, van Persie
In News of the Day, Player Projection on September 20, 2012 at 1:15 am
Champions League Group Stage matches continued on Tuesday and EPL fantasy managers had their first chance to see squad rotations for Manchester United and Chelsea for the first time this season. Both English sides were playing their opening match at home and each had an opportuntity to take all three points thanks to the efforts of their summer signings.
On day soon, he’ll have scored his age.
Chelsea did not win. But not for lack of effort from young Brazialian Oscar. The summer signing has yet to make an EPL fantasy impact at Stamford Bridge — he has played 61′ in the Barclays Premier League this season. The start against Juventus was his first for Chelsea and his 31′ and 33′ minute goals put the Blues ahead before the allowed Juve back into the game on an Arturo Vidal strike on 38′.
EPL fantasy managers need to note that the starting lineup for this match featured a middle “3″ of Mikel-Lampard-Ramires, while the front “3″ was Oscar-Torres-Hazard. Read the rest of this entry »