Bleary eyed and back in Blighty, here’s a short and sweet preamble to take you through the FPL deadline and through to this morning’s kick-off…
I’ll start with the question of FPL captain then and, personally, I’m sticking with Ronaldo. My options include Lampard, Van Persie and Ireland but I’m happy keeping faith with last season’s superhero, even though he’s up against tough opposition in Everton. I’m interested to see how he reacts to his first goals from open play in ten league games after the Baggies win, plus I want to enjoy tonight’s live match without wincing. There’s nothing like betting against Ronaldo to ruin a United live game.
Lampard and Gerrard meet at Anfield of course – that looks every inch a tight encounter which could clearly limit the returns from those two fantasy giants. Elsewhere, Van Persie looks tempting at home to the Hammers and City’s attacking players – Robinho and Ireland in particular, look good prospects. Then there’s Berbatov of course but I’ve settled on Ronaldo, particularly as he’s developed as a slight differential between fantasy teams in recent weeks, as his form has dipped and Gerrard’s has maintained high standards.
Some late team news and confirmation of Defoe’s foot injury that was widely rumoured yesterday evening. Defoe has suffered a foot injury which is still rumoured to be a suspected fractured metatarsal. While some reports suggest that he could miss much of the rest of the season, the club appear to be contradicting those fears. A club spokesman is quoted on Sky Sports as saying that he “should not be out of action for more than four weeks”. It is thought that he’ll undergo more tests later today so that prognosis could change.
It’s a bitter blow to Spurs and to Defoe’s fantasy owners. Redknapp could now revert back to a 4-5-1 with Modric playing just off Pavlyuchenko – starting today at Bolton. That is at least until he can bring in a another striker. He only has just over 48 hours to sort something, but this is Harry we’re talking about.
There’s also some interesting transfer news surfacing this morning with the Arshavin to Arsenal deal edging ever closer. Also, Newcastle’s N’Zogbia and Wigan’s Ryan Taylor are apparently on the verge of swapping clubs. Bizarrely both players are classed as defenders in fantasy terms but have been fulfilling midfield roles for their clubs. Their fantasy value going forward, will depend on whether they maintain these roles for their new clubs. That looks doubtful in the case of Taylor, less so in the case of N’Zogbia at Wigan. We’ll no doubt discuss this further once the move is finalised.
Finally, here’s a new tool you should check out – The Guardian have launched a new “chalkboard” tool that allows you to analyse player performance throughout the season and across three seasons. You can also create comparisons between players, save them anddistribute them. Here’s one that I made earlier, comparing the shot counts between Ronaldo and Gerrard in midweek. Pretty nice, very handy for Guardian game players and something I’ll be using over the remaining weeks to illustrate player comparison.
That just leaves me to wish you all the best for another gameweek. I’m still hanging on in the FPL Cup – so good luck to all those still doing the same and to everyone in the Scout League, which is now leading the way in the FPL. Nice work everyone.