Here at Fantasy Football Scout we like to think we bring Fantasy Managers a whole host of useful content in the build up to each Gameweek. We do, however, appreciate that you might not be following us day in and day out. For those of you in said group we are going to bring you a wrap-up of all the hard work that the team have put in as we close in on the Gameweek deadline.
This time around there’s been a two week international break following on from the closing of the transfer window giving us a bumper edition to kick things off…
Teamsheet Talking Points
All the chatter in the latter part of this week centred around the fitness of some of the new Old Trafford heavyweights. Both Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa came out of Tuesday’s internationals with question marks over their fitness. Thankfully Friday’s press conference found Sir Alex confirming that both were fit and available. Panic over. Although we can’t help wonder if the old scoundrel is still keeping something up his “wee sleevey”.
Meanwhile up at St. James’ Park Alan Pardew has found himself in the midst of a minor defensive crisis with Tim Krul, Danny Simpson and Cheick Tiote ruled out of action for their Gameweek Four fixture. With question marks still hanging over Fabricio Coloccini, the Toon Army could be facing an uphill battle up against David Moyes’ Everton on Monday evening. It certainly seems like they might need to notch a couple to compensate for leaving the backdoor ajar. Big returns for Leighton Baines, Steven Pienaar and Nikaca Jelavic? See the Scout Picks.
As always, all of the weeks stories have been dissected and recorded in our Team News and Injuries & Bans pages for your convenience.
The Transfer Trail
As mentioned, the summer transfer window closed a mere 12 hours before the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline shut. Some new faces look set to earn debuts in Gameweek Four and Scout Reports have been produced on a whole raft of new offerings.
The likes of Southampton splashed the big bucks to bring Gaston Ramirez in from Bologna. Aston Villa added to their attacking options with Christian Benteke and Pablo Hernandez joined Swansea for a club record fee of £5.55m. Here’s a snippet of our take on the latter…
“Hernandez’s arrival, however, places major question marks over the Swansea flanks. As a club record signing, the chances of him swapping La Liga for a place on the Liberty bench seem non-existent, meaning one of the two wide boys will almost certainly make way. Able to play on either wing, he looks favourite to oust Routledge on the left, allowing Dyer to continue his menacing form on the opposite side of the pitch.”
It’s not just new faces that intrigue us, though, as plenty of players made a late in the day move from one Premier League outfit to another. We’ve had a look at how this might affect Michael Owen and Charlie Adam at Stoke, Dimitar Berbatov returning to London to play under Martin Jol once more down at Fulham and Clint Dempsey leaving the latter outfit for pastures new at Spurs Lodge.
Looking Forward
Looking a little closer to home and assessing the upcoming run of Gameweeks, it falls upon us to Frisk the Fixtures and see which teams have a favourable run and which sides look a little more precarious on that front.
Looking in even further detail The Watchlist got it’s regular sprucing as we narrowed in on the players we feel are set to sparkle in the coming weeks. The aforementioned Nikica Jelavic and Leighton Baines lead an Everton flavoured charge with James Morrison representing West Brom ahead of Gameweek Four. The third option proving an interesting alternative to the norm…
“Priced at 6.0 in FPL and 6.4 in the Sky Sports game, the Scot looks a real mid-price differential to consider over the next few Gameweeks. With Clarke’s in-form side welcoming (RG, QPR, SOT) to the Hawthorns in the next eight and with trips to (ful, avl, wig) also on the agenda, his propensity to pick up the points could well appeal to those Fantasy managers looking for something different from the template midfields currently doing the rounds on site.”
Members Club
Our Members get exclusive content each week and we’d be remiss to not highlight the goodies that came their way for their season subscription. Data from the first three weeks was collated and assessed to provide some statistical analysis on the Defending and Attacking of each Premier League side to date. We followed these up with two more articles, with a Monitor examining the progress made by Norwich winger Anthony Pilkington under Chris Hughton’s regime, while Chris Glover made a triumphant return to these pages with a first of a new series. The “Moneyball” articles will find Chris delving into the budget market, attempting to decode an array of stats to find true gold – it all started with West Ham’s Ricardo Vaz Te.
Talking Tactics
One thing we know all too well is that Andy Carroll suits a certain style of play. Brendan Rogers couldn’t offer him that but Sam Allardyce, down at Upton Park, is a manager who certainly can. The other thing we know is that when we let Paul loose to frolic in the fields of Stat Maps and numbers we’re bound to get rewards. His Technical Area on West Ham’s loan striker is evidence of just that. Now the Hammers will just have to hope his hamstring injury doesn’t keep him out too long.
Over on the Fantasy Premier League website our Gameweek Preview under the guise of “The Scout” takes a look at the current strategies of Brian McDermott and Reading and Martin Jol at Fulham as well as a look at the data behind the most attacking defenders to date. There are a couple of surprise candidates coming out of Wigan worth keeping an eye on…
“Wigan Athletic’s Emmerson Boyce and Maynor Figueroa have impressed, with the pair offering constant delivery from the flanks in Roberto Martinez’s 3-4-2-1 formation. Playing on the right of midfield, Boyce has mirrored the supply rate of Everton’s Leighton Baines from out wide with 12 crosses and has also managed 3 shots.”
Weekly Regulars
Of course there’s also the Scout Picks, released only last night, followed swiftly by Big Dunc’s return in the Differential. Once again our resident Evertonian managed to sneak one of his boy’s into the mix.
Finally, there’s the small matter of your most important Fantasy player this Gameweek. Judging by those who have answered the Scout Poll (found in the middle menu of the homepage) Robin Van Persie is the runaway candidate for captaincy this Gameweek with a rather appealing home fixture against the Latics. Those without the Dutch hitman look set to choose between Eden Hazard and Santi Cazorla in their quest to better the masses and hope that Sir Alex springs a surprise. Will the United boss prompt a big Fantasy swing? We can only wait to see what he has in store.
