The Catch-Up – Gameweek 5

A week has passed since our last – and very first – Catch-Up article was thrust upon amnesiacs and Antipodeans alike. As usual the whole team have been trucking ahead at full speed prior to Gameweek 5 and we have a recap of just about everything put out in preparation for this weekend…

Teamsheet Talking Points

Midweek fixtures on the continent have brought rotation into the Fantasy spotlight once more as the real life managers start to tinker their squads around campaigns in the Champions League and Europa League.

Brendan Rodgers and Alan Pardew have rested great swathes of their expected first team with the likes of Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard, Demba Ba, Hatem Ben Arfa and Papiss Cisse amongst those left at home. Others like Andre Villas-Boas – who made his name winning the Europa League – put out a strong side in a 0-0 draw against Lazio.

Sir Alex Ferguson brought back Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa to his starting line-up, while also welcoming Darren Fletcher back to first team affairs after nearly a year out through illness. The slippery Red Devils boss also reiterated his willingness to rotate his goalkeepers, effectively killing off both David De Gea and Anders Lindegaard as Fantasy options. Who will start between the sticks this weekend? Fewer and fewer of us really care now.

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, recalled former Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud to play against his old side in midweek and Roberto Mancini had Sergio Aguero back on the bench for Man City’s late defeat to in Real Madrid on Tuesday. Roberto Di Matteo also afforded Oscar his first start in the blue of Chelsea and was duly rewarded with a smart brace from the Brazilian.

Elsewhere, our latest Scout signing Facer also gave us the breadth of his physiotherapy knowledge with his first From the Physio article, looking at the most recently injured Premier League players. Already, our remote physio proved spot on with his prognosis of Nikaca Jelavic and Wayne Rooney – both have been discounted from this weekend’s action.

We’ve updated the Team News and Injuries & Bans pages in full for your ease of access taking into account all of the aforementioned information and a whole host of other tidbits we’ve picked up on over the last week.

Looking Forward

As is standard practice these days, we’ve examined the upcoming slate of games for every Premier League side as we Frisk the Fixtures ahead of Gameweek 5, highlighting those sides ripe for investment in the month ahead. Following on from that, The Watchlist was refreshed once more: ranking players according to their potential over the next four-to-six Gameweeks.

The changes this week have lead us to highlighting 17-year-old winger Raheem Sterling, who has already made a lasting impression this season, as well as Southampton’s journeyman striker Rickie Lambert – the Saints man has a task on his hands to balance out the goals currently being conceded by his team-mates at the back. Amongst other things, we rung the plaudits…

“Lambert has the talent and fixtures to overcome this. Southampton have, amongst their defensive failings, bristled with creativity and goal threat, suggesting that they will attack over their forthcoming fixtures. The arrival of Gaston Ramirez, already impressive in his Emirates cameo, only adds to their arsenal to help keep Lambert fed.”

Members Club

Our subscribing Members once again got a litany of work from the Scouts making use of our database of stats. Both Dimitar Berbatov and Steven Fletcher have recently presented themselves as two of the strongest candidates vying for that third striker spot in many Fantasy squads. Our latest Versus article looks at the two men in question and may provide the numbers you need to make that final decision.

This week our guest contributor Chris Glover continued his new Moneyball series with a look at West Brom’s on-loan striker Romelu Lukaku. The teenager has been impressing off the bench for the Baggies and Chris has put his brief performances under the spotlight as we tip the Belgian for a start against a fragile Reading defence tomorrow.

Talking Tactics

Deputy-Editor Paul has once again been dipping into the Fantasy Football Scout armoury and come back with all sorts of Stat Map goodness to share with the masses. His Technical Area article from earlier in the week examined how Arsenal have been playing in a post Robin Van Persie climate. If the mauling of Southampton offers any indication, it seems the Gunners may well mount a challenge without the Dutch master.

Over on the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) site our weekly preview under the moniker of ‘The Scout’ went out once more with the usual ones to watch, key points on the tactics board and some of the interesting numbers. In particular we took a look at Swansea and West Ham’s dominance of the value rankings…

“With three clean sheets in their opening four matches, the West Ham defence is strongly represented, with Jussi Jaaskelainen, Winston Reid and James Collins all featuring. While the latter two have boosted their tally with a goal and assist respectively, Jaaskelainen’s save points have helped his cause.”

Weekly Regulars

With Liverpool welcoming Manchester United to Anfield and Manchester City playing host to Arsenal, the Scout Committee had more deliberations than normal over the Scout Picks this week. While Robin Van Persie keeps his spot, Carlos Tevez gets overlooked in favour of an in-from Jermain Defoe, with punts on the attacking talents of Leighton Baines and Jan Vertonghen at the back.

The trio of Differentials offered us a outlet to try and pick a diamond (or three) in the rough. A Tottenham flyer, a classy Saint and an impish Scot all feature to offer an array of mid-price midfield temptations.

The Scout Poll for best Fantasy Captain option (found in the middle menu of the homepage) has been up and running since Monday morning and there is one clear front runner. The majority of Fantasy managers seem willing to cut Eden Hazard some slack following his blank at Loftus Road last weekend in hope and expectation that the Belgian can replicate the form that saw him score double figures in each of his first three appearances. A whole platter of options can be found on the periphery of the armband choice, ranging from Van Persie as the next in line to this week’s hot transfer Dimitar Berbatov.