This week sees Blackpool continue to catch up with the backlog of postponed fixtures caused by the Bloomfield Road freeze, as they play their second double Gameweek of the season. What’s more, once again, Blackpool’s double has them looking forward to two Bloomfield Road encounters as Ian Holloway’s men continue to perform above and beyond their pay packets to stretch every Premier League side that’s put before them.
The likes of Charle Adam and DJ Campbell brought investors decent profit last time around – can they repeat the deal for Gameweek 24?
The Opponents
Blackpool’s first guests are Steve Bruce’s Sunderland who drop by without their recently-departed top goalscorer – Darren Bent. It has been Sunderland’s solid home form that has propelled them to their current dizzy heights, away from home the form has hardly been that of a team pushing for a Europa League spot (W2 D5 L4).
The following Tuesday night sees the rescheduled visit of Manchester United. Aiming to keep up their unbeaten record, United call in just three days after their home fixture with Birmingham so some squad rotation should be expected. Although they haven’t lost, Sir Alex Ferguson’s away form has mainly been draws (W2 D8 L0), and with Blackpool scoring and conceding in every Bloomfield Road fixture so far this season, form predicts a scoring stalemate.
Current Form
It seems as though Blackpool’s early season momentum has dwindled since the turn of the year. That could be down to the frustration of only managing to play two games in December, or that the Seasiders are possibly starting to face up to the harsh realities of life in the Premier League.
Ian Holloway’s men have found points harder to come by in 2011, in their last four Blackpool have lost three and won just one, albeit a celebratory victory over Liverpool which saw them complete the home and away double.
Rotation Risk
Holloway tends to keep the same starting line-up for the majority of his fixtures and it would be unlikely that this double Gameweek will see wholesale changes. There are a few areas of the side that he may wish to freshen-up though, but don’t expect a repeat of the 10 or 11 tweaks he controversially made earlier in the season.
One likely alteration in one of the games is a straight swap of Matt Phillips for Elliot Grandin, who has yet to complete 90 minutes since recently returning from injury. Elsewhere Holloway has the experienced likes of Keith Southern and Brett Ormerod to call on if knocks are sustained. Marlon Harewood is reportedly close to a return from a hamstring injury and he could come into contention against United.
Potential Targets
Instead of just sitting back and playing the long-ball, which many minnows of the Premier League feel is their only option, Ian Holloway has gone against the grain and played an attacking game. Though constituting watchable and exciting football, this generally means that the defence suffers and having conceded at least one goal in every home game, attacking options remain by far the more likely sources of return over two matches which look likely to feature a spread of goals for all concerned.
Charlie Adam
Unless you are an FPL Johnny-come-lately or you’ve stumbled upon our site accidentally, you will know all about Charlie Adam. This guy promotes everything that is great about the Seasiders and has been a revelation for Fantasy Managers far and wide. Scoring 94 FPL points so far, including a remarkable 31 bonus points, Adam is a bargain at just £5.5 million and it’s not a surprise that 19.7% of FPL Managers have noticed.
Predicted return: 1 assist, 3 Bonus Points
DJ Campbell
Forget about his questionable moustache, DJ Campbell has been in terrific form as of late and by notching up 4 goals in his last 5 games he has certainly made up for the long barren patches that typified his early season. He is certainly still a risk but at just £4.7 million on the FPL game and playing full of confidence, he could prove to be a steal having fired a brace in the last Blackpool double.
Predicted return: 2 goals, 1 Bonus Point
David Vaughan
Another of Blackpool’s key men, Vaughan has missed just one Premier League game this term and completed the full 90 minutes in the rest. Like Adam, Vaughan has caught the FPL Bonus points judges’ eyes on a number of occasions, picking up 13 so far.
Predicted return: 1 assist, 2 Bonus Points
Ian Evatt
An important player in the often leaky Blackpool backline, if you were to transfer one of the Tangerines’ defenders in then this is your man. He is currently their top scoring defender on 63 points and this is in part due to the fact he has assisted 3 goals this season. A cut-price option at just £4.3 million.
Predicted return: 3 Played Points
