The opening weekend of the season always seems to herald a surprise or two, perhaps quite appropriately a few ‘thrills and spills’, but now that business is in full swing, have the odds settled down in tandem?
More significantly what can we gather from Paddy Power’s current thinking when it comes to our Fantasy lineups. Like so many of us last weekend, Paddy backed Wigan and Mauro Boselli to prsoper from the match-up with Ian Holloway’s Blackpool outfit. This week it’s a trip to the Emirates for the Seasiders and it seems Paddy doesn’t rate their chances of another shock…
Clean Sheets
- Chelsea 1.72 (wig)
- Arsenal 1.72 (BLP)
- Everton 1.90 (WLV)
- Man United 2.0 (ful)
- Birmingham 2.50 (BLA)
- Tottenham 2.60 (stk)
- Man City 2.70 (LIV)
- Aston villa 2.80 (new)
Home fixtures saw the big hitters when it comes to clean sheets come good in the opening weekend; both the United and Chelsea rearguards came out of the gameweek with points but go on their travels in gameweek two. That doesn’t deter Paddy from putting confidence in Chelsea’s defence at a shellshocked Wigan. The odds of 1.72 has Chelsea well and truly backed for another cleanie so Alex, Terry and Ashley Cole look strong propositions again.
United look more fragile out at 2.0 but their trip to the Cottage is far from routine. Turned over in this fixture last time out, they have the added spice of Mark Hughes at the helm for the home side to deal with. Fulham’s attacking potential with the likes of Duff, Davies, Murphy and Zamora set to be protagonists look dark horse options in Fantasy terms, even though Fulham and that trio drew blanks at the Reebok last time out.
Paddy rank both Arsenal and Everton above United at 1.72 and 1.90 respectively, going slightly against opening day form. Arsenal’s opponents Blackpool may have put four past Wigan, but with Harewood at 6.0 to score anytime this weekend, it seems the odds are letting that freak result lie, even though new boy Koscielny will be absent at the back for the Gunners.
Again, Everton’s odds look strong against Wolves, even though the visitors beat Stoke 2-1 whilst David Moyes’ side limped to a 1-0 defeat at Ewood Park. Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Thomas Vermaelen all look solid defensive choices this week then; expect to see them there or thereabouts in this week’s Scout Picks.
Elsewhere Spurs and Birmingham have reasonable fixtures, however with odds at 2.6, it certainly screams low scoring draws to me. We prefer Birmingham here with opponents Blackburn possibly without the prompting of David Dunn in the support striker role. He’s still struggling with a groin injury as these words are typed.
Spurs’ potentially draining tie against Young Boys in the week could see them struggle for legs at the Britannia and you can argue that a home cleanie looks more likely with Jermain Defoe and Luka Modric both injury doubts.
Anytime Goalscorer
- Drogba 1.50
- Van Persie 1.53
- Chamakh 1.53
- Anelka 1.83
- Rooney 1.90
- Lampard 2.0
- Saha 2.3
- Berbatov 2.37
- Bent 2.5
- T Cahill 2.5
- C Cole 2.5
- Defoe 2.62
- Tevez 2.62
- Malouda 2.75
- Torres 2.80
It’s no surprise to find hat-trick hero Didier Drogba leading the pack here, but surprisingly not by a big margin. His price is almost shared by Van Persie and Chamakh who are obviously strongly backed to deal damage to the Blackpool backline. The Gunners attacking options should offer returns, but seemed a little short of the finishing line against Liverpool, so choose wisely as neither Van Persie nor Chamakh are guaranteed 90 minutes and are certainly not cheap options.
Rooney is there or thereabouts in the rankings (amongst Chelsea’s attacking midfield options), but it has been an age since we caught sight of that goalscoring grin. Perhaps it’s time to change those lucky gloves? Paddy’s odds appear to discount his current drought though. At 1.90, it seems the idea that every game without a goal puts him ever closer to breaking his duck.
As the clean sheet market suggested, Everton look set to have a profitable weekend. Louis Saha at 2.3 might well be enough to coax some Fantasy Managers to take a look at his 8.0 Fantasy Premier League value. Team-mate Tim Cahill is another interesting option here – he’s strongly backed by Paddy, sharing the same odds as Sunderland’s Darren Bent who will face a West Brom defence licking the wounds from the Stamford Bridge mauling. Bent’s odds of 2.5 look decent value here.
Paddy’s Scout Specials
As per usual we’ve prepared some unique Scout Specials at Paddy Power for those looking to back their picks with a little side flutter. This week’s Clean Sheet Accumulator offers odds of 7/1 on Arsenal, Everton and Birmingham all to keep clean sheets in the gamweek. In the Scout Picks market meanwhile you can get 20/1 on Didier Drogba, Mikel Arteta and Graham Dorrans all notching one or more goals over the weekend.
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