Rob Wright’s Top 5s
As some of you may or may not know, I love my stats and there is a lot to go through over the last 11 weeks, I'm not going to sit here and bore you with everything that I have figured out over that time, but what I will give you is a little information about how to pick the best players and what to look for in your team.
My dad used to say to me that in football you start at the back and work forward, In my experience with Fantasy Football it works exactly the other way around, I would always look to have a good starting 2/3 players up front, look for the players that are in form, it makes sense to look at who they are playing but I find it far more important to check form. Just because they play for a top 6 club does not guarantee them goals, (Torres springs to mind), also playing for a mid-table team does not mean that they won’t score, Benteke and Remy are prime example of this, and they are also as near as damn it going to start most games. Also check their assists count, those all-important 3 points are vital when it comes to the business end of the season. Heskey might not have scored many goals but his assist count would have been huge, those knock downs all add up.
My top 5 Forwards so far this season.
Aguero, Goals 8 Assists 7
Rooney, Goals 5 Assists 6
Suarez, Goals 8 Assists 3
Giroud, Goals 5 Assists 4
Sturridge, Goals 8 Assists 2
Next up, Midfielders, this is the crunch part of your team, this is where I feel that a season is one or lost, there has to be a cost balance here as you won’t get all of the big hitters in without sacrificing your budget, so what's the answer.... Bargains...this is where stats come in handy, who are those players that are hitting the heights without hitting the pockets, well there are a few things to look at when deciding on your mids? Free kicks, Penalties and Corners are the best place to start, People like Brady and Lallana are the ideal type of players to be looking for, they might not score many from open play but they take a lot of set pieces which will give you a good assist count and also weigh in with odd goal as well.
My top 5 value Midfielders this season
Ramsey 69 Points 7.3m
Lallana 49 Points 5.7m
Morrison 39 Points 4.7m
Brady 37 Points 4.8m
Whittingham 34 Points 4.9m
Defenders and Goalkeepers, this is where you can pick up some valuable "bonus" points. I say bonus because I never rely on any points from my defenders as 1 goal can ruin a very good score. Some will say mix it up to get some points and others will go for 3/4 defs from one team to maximise scoring potential, I think both ways have their merits, but I'm a big fan of the later idea, one of my teams has full Spurs and another has full Southampton and it’s no coincidence that those 2 are far outscoring my other teams. I know what you’re thinking " well you've just been lucky" and that's very true, but this game is built on a bit of luck and risk taking. This will not be everybody's cup of tea, but have a quick look at Liverpool's fixtures in December and think how many points could be available from that set of games, these are the sort of risks that win trophies, but this can easily backfire so please don't hold me responsible for a Liverpool collapse in December.
My top 5 Defenders for December
Johnson Liv 6.5m
Skrtel Liv 5.7m
Nastasic MC 6.4m
McAuley WB 5.0m
Terry Chel 7.2m
A look forward now to GW12, Its always a funny week coming back after internationals, especially friendlies as you’re not really sure who's injured or just having a long 2 weeks in Bognor Regis playing bingo on the beach. Either way its hard to second guess who going to be playing, so i'll have a little run down on the matches with best intentions, if anyone I mention has, is or was injured then my apologies in advance.
Everton v Liverpool
What a great game to come back to after the international week, both teams in good form and looking to carry on in their pursuit of the top 4, most people will think this may come down to a fight between the strikers while Suarez v Lukaku is mouthwatering, I think this game will be won in midfield, it will be close and I see a tight 1-1 here,
Players to watch
Liverpool - Luis Suarez
Everton - Kevin Mirrales
Arsenal v Southampton
Another cracking game this week, again both teams in wonderful form, Arsenal will look to get back to winning ways against a very well organised Saints team that will be looking to cause an upset, although I'm not sure anymore if it would be. Even with the amount of attacking option on show here I don't see many goals as both defences are playing exceptional at the moment, I'll go for a cheeky 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Players to watch
Arsenal - Aaron Ramsey
Southampton - Morgan Schniederlin
Fulham v Swansea
Fulham host Swansea in what will surely be another tough afternoon for them, Swansea's attacking mentality will put the cottagers under even more pressure, and if they do lose then Fulham could appoint Rene as new manager before the next round of games. Easy away win here. Fulham 1 Swansea 3
Players to watch
Fulham - Pajtim Kasami
Swansea - Wilifred Bony
Hull v Crystal Palace
I hope for the eagles fans that by the time you read this they have a manager, I'm not sure why it has taking so long, I here they were trying to bring in James Dash but he couldn't do it as he is now commuting all around the world, living of FiT prizes. Seriously though this is a tough time for palace fans, this though is a very winnable game and one they surly need to if they have any realistic thoughts about being a Premiership club next season. score prediction 2-2
Players to watch
Hull - Robbie Brady
Palace - Yannick Bolasie
Newcastle v Norwich
Both teams coming of very good wins last GW and I think this could be another good win for.......Newcastle. Norwich are poor away from home and and inform Remy will be far to much them this week.
Players to watch
Newcastle - Loic Remy
Norwich - Leroy Fer
Stoke v Sunderland
Both teams that could do with the points, and I can see them both just getting one each, I've never been a big fan of Poyet but I've heard a lot of Sunderland fans saying good things, so I reserve judgment on him, and his win last week over Man City will have given them a real boost. Stoke need to turn some of this pressure that they have into points, their football has improved under Hughes, but their points tally hasn't really. Score prediction Stoke 1 Sunderland 1
Players to watch
Stoke - Marko Arnautovic
Sunderland - Emanuele Giaccherini
West Ham v Chelsea
West Ham play with no strikers, Chelsea might as well. This has away win written all over it and I'm not going to argue, Chelsea will want to put a few things right after a couple of average performances in the last few weeks, and it will happen in this game. Comfortable win here for Chelsea. 0-3
Players to watch
West Ham - Ravel Morrison
Chelsea - Oscar
Man City v Spurs
Another big game this week, I torn in this one as a Spurs fan I want to say we will win this, and possibly if we were firing on all cylinders we would, but MC will be a wounded animal after last GW, and will come out strong here. I'm going to sit on the fence on this one and say it will be a draw, but either side could sneak all 3 points here.
Players to watch
Spurs - Paulinho
Man City - Sergio Aguero
Cardiff v Man Utd
Man Utd are in good form at the minute and this should be another win in their bid to retain their title, although Cardiff have proved they can play a bit and hold their own, I can't see them getting anything from this game. A comfortable away win here 1-4
Players to watch
Cardiff - Peter Whittingham
Man Utd - RVP
West Brom v Aston Villa
A great game in prospect here for the Monday night football, West Brom are in good nick and Steve Clarke is manager that is impressing a lot of people, Villa are in better shape this season than last and a return to form for Benteke could see them surprise a few more teams this season. The fact that it’s a derby match though throws everything out of the window and makes it hard to predict, but I'll stick my average sized neck out and say a high scoring home win. West Brom 3 Aston Villa 2
Players to watch
West Brom - Stephane Sessegnon
Aston Villa - Christian Benteke.
Good luck all, whatever you decide.
Peace, Love and Football.
Rob Wright