#FlyBuy - DGW34

Right, listen in you 'orrible lot! It's a quickfire FlyBuy this week. Why? Well, because I KNOW you are not going to pay a blind bit of attention to what I have to say! How do I know this? Because it's a double gameweek, and you're too busy loading up on your Fabregas's and your Terry's and your Henderson's and your Skrtel's and even your Vardy's and your Cambiasso's. And I'm not tipping one of them. In fact, I'm not even going to select from the ranks of Chelsea, Liverpool or Leicester. Nope, I'm going for a player from the ranks of Hull City, who I think is going to stun the FPL world this week. If you want to know who, then best you read on...

Battle Royal 2: Winter World Cup 2014

B A T T L E    R O Y A L     II

Folks, it's back!  In conjunction with @FPLDaily, I am pleased to announce that we are launching a new edition of our Fantasy Football "Battle Royal" competition.  We are expanding it to a new level with more entrants than before and with more fun to keep you excited during the Premier League's winter peak.  In some respects, this series will be more than a game - it is effectively a "World Cup" of sorts!  After all, it looks like Qatar will host a "Winter World Cup", so we thought it best to beat them to it by doing our own version - 8 years in advance!

Of course, "Battle Royal 2: Winter World Cup 2014" is an unofficial game and has its own rules.  If you recall from the first Battle Royal series, it is essentially a list-style weekly knockout competition, dependent on your FPL score for the week.  The same principles from the previous series apply, as follows:

"Scores will not roll over and will be reset for each Gameweek... There are no prizes - this competition is just for fun (and bragging rights!)."

Tie-break decider for those on same points will be confirmed by @FPLDaily

Duplicate entries are strictly forbidden and we reserve the right to remove such teams.

The competition will start in Gameweek 13 (29th November 2014) and run until Gameweek 20 (1st January 2015) - 8 games over a duration of 34 days!  Qualification criteria for each round will be as follows:

Round 1 - GW13 - Unlimited number of entries are allowed to enter (Top 200 qualify to Round 2).

Round 2 - GW14 - Competing for Top 150 slots.

Round 3 - GW15 - Competing for Top 125 slots.

Round 4 - GW16 - Competing for Top 100 slots.

Round 5 - GW17 - Competing for Top 75 slots.

Round 6 - GW18 - Competing for Top 50 slots.

Round 7 - GW19 - Competing for Top 10 slots.

Round 8 - GW20 - (FINAL) January 1st 2015 - There can only be one winner!

To enter our Battle Royal 2: Winter World Cup 2014 competition, please fill out the following form (& also share it accordingly with any FPL managers):

Competition Entry Form
*Entries are now CLOSED*

Entries close on 29th November (11.30am GMT).  We will not accept any new entries after this time.

We reserve the right to amend qualification (or any rules) subject to mitigating circumstances.  If you require clarification on any of our rules, simply contact us via Twitter, email or comment on this post.

In addition, round-by-round score updates will be generated via @FPLDaily.  They will appear on http://www.fpldaily.com/ - Please follow @FPLDaily and us (@FPLHINTS) on Twitter so that you are kept up to date with the competition.

And finally...

F O R M  I S  K E Y.   

C L A S S  D O E S N ' T  M A  T T E R .

Good luck!

#FlyBuy - DGW34

I won't get all smug about last week. Suffice to say that my FlyBuy pick (and Matej's #CalledIt selection) was Christian Eriksen, who accrued 15 points. Nice.

Although this certainly wasn't a "safe" pick by any stretch of the imagination, I feel the time is right to choose a player who falls very firmly into the "risk" bracket. As we are all aware, GW34 is a double gameweek; not on the scale of GW31 but a double all the same.

Unfortunately, if I want to select a player who plays for one of the four clubs playing twice, I am somewhat handicapped by the parameters of FlyBuy. Namely, that the player MUST be from a club currently between 5th and 15th in the Premier League, with an ownership percentage of between 3 and 20%.

So, this counts out ANY Man City, Everton or Sunderland players. Which leaves Crystal Palace. Although in a stunning run of good form, not many of their players are owned by more than 3% of all FPL managers. To be precise, only 5 of their squad meet this criteria. Of those, Danny Gabbidon has not played since the start of Feb so he can be discounted immediately. Julian Speroni, Joel Ward and Jason Puncheon are in form, and therefore don't meet the other parameter of Flybuy; namely the selection must be a player who - for one reason or another - has been out of the points who I predict can rediscover some form and start performing. In FPL terms, this means providing points worthy of taking a punt and getting them in your team.

This leaves a choice of one. A very risky choice of one. So, I either play safe and select from a non-DGW team, or put my head above the parapet and risk getting shot down by you lot.

Well, screw it. In for a penny, in for a pound. I'm going for it. By that I don't mean I will be drafting him into my own team (I'm not stupid), but for those who do like to take a risk, it could pay off handsomely. Or not. Who knows.

 

So, of whom do I refer? A Palace player, owned by more than 3% of FPL managers, who hasn't been amongst the points recently, but who in games against Aston Villa (H) and Everton (A) could provide a return? Surprisingly (to me at least) he has scored 5 goals this season, provided 2 assists and accumulated the maximum award of 3 Bonus Points on no less than 3 occasions. He rarely plays 90 minutes (8 times in the 29 matches he has featured) and has in fact only played 27 minutes (in GW33) since the start of March.

I'm almost ashamed to write this, as this guy has been a bit of a figure of fun to me on Twitter for a while now. Do I...don't I....aaargghhh!! I've written too much of the article to back out now.

OK, deep breath...here we go...

This weeks FlyBuy pick, and the player I recommend you bring into your team for DGW34 is...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Marouane Chamakh



*Runs Away and hides*



For what it's worth, I've brought Joe Ledley into my own team, but his ownership stat is just 0.1%

Now THERE'S a differential! I tipped him last week, a few people drafted him in (along with Eriksen) and I received a lot of lovely Twitter messages from managers thanking me for the 26 points these two players alone provided. I had neither in my own team, hence red arrows for the 3rd consecutive GW for the first time this season.

Overall, my rank has plummeted from 1959th prior to DGW31 to 9239th prior to DGW34. Gutted. I'm fielding 9 DGW players this week (took a -8 points hit) and these are:

MANNONE / KOMPANY / BAINES / DANN / LEDLEY / A JOHNSON / YAYA / DZEKO / LUKAKU (C)

These 9 will be backed up by single GW Suarez and Gerrard.

I really need a break in fortunes to stop my season imploding in dramatic fashion as we approach the final furlong.

Good luck to you all. Catch you on the flip side of DGW34!

FLY

@meet_the_gadfly

Chief's FPL Team - Double Gameweek 34

Disclaimer: *FPLH reserves the right to change this team at any time. Any changes will most likely be confirmed on FPLH's Twitter account.

The DGW34 Team:

2 FREE TRANSFERS WERE AVAILABLE FOR DGW34.

TRANSFERS:

OVIEDO OUT & BARKLEY IN

2 FREE TRANSFERS AVAILABLE FOR GW35

Rising 7,000 places & seeing another DGW appear can only mean this:

Glad all over? Well, err, almost!

The DGW 34 Temptations:

JASON PUNCHEON - Scored his first goal in 10 GWs and bagged 16pts to boot last week.  At £5.0M he is a steal. But with Palace de facto safe will he carry on scoring regularly? Doubt it.

ADAM JOHNSON - Sunderland may be down and out, but if there is one person who will do well for them, it is AJ.  Hasn't started every match recently, yet remains a key player.

SERGIO AGEURO - Is he 100% fit? Will he start both DGW matches? I don't know.  As tempting as he is, he needs form. I may try and buy him in DGW37, but DGW34 may be just too early.

The DGW 34 Transfer:

Barkley may be a risky transfer, but I believe he will start at least 1 of the 2 matches.  Give him an inch and he will take a mile.  Amazingly, almost 20% own him, so hardly a differential! I could have bought 2 or 3 players just for this DGW but 9 should be enough.  I didn't fancy benching Suarez + Aguero.  I'm not too keen on benching Sturridge either, but I have no choice.  Having said that, does anyone want to take Ki or Mannone off my team? Be my guest.

The Captain:

It was a straight forward toss up between Silva and Lukaku.  Both have form at hand.  I opted for the former, as City score more goals at home and away in comparison to Everton.  Lukaku should score at least 1 goal, but Sunderland away + Palace at home won't be straight forward.

The Personal Competitive Context:

Following leg 1 of my Dugout Quarter Final tie, I am +11 up on my opponent (Bryan).  Fortunately he has Mata & Rooney (who have blanks this weekend), has no goalies and the injured Yoshida to boot. Ouch! If I can overcome him, I could face another Dugout regular (Tony) in the semi finals!

The Perch of the Pundits League:

The Perch of the Pundits Cup:

Fantasy Football Hints - Gameweek 34

#REJECT (R):

M. Olsson (NOR)

They haven't kept an away clean sheet since Dec 2013.

Norwich concede 2.44 PL goals on average when playing away.

Fulham score approximately 1.2 PL goals on average when playing at home.

#PUNT (P):

R. Lukaku (EVE)

Has scored 4 and assisted 2 in his last 6 PL outings.

Everton have been scoring 1.62 PL goals per game on average this season.

They have won their last 6 PL games in a row and will be looking to do more of the same.

#HOTPICK (H):

D. Silva (MNC)

Has scored 2 & assisted 3 in his last 5 PL outings.

City have been scoring 2.71 PL goals per game on average this season. 

They are title contender and will be looking to outscore their remaining opponents.

FPLH's GW Star Picks:

Speroni

Baines

Coleman

Zabaleta

Silva

Gerrard

Y. Toure

Puncheon

A. Jonhson

Lukaku

Suarez

Subs:

Mannone

Lambert

Shawcross

Shaw

FANTASY FORECAST*:

C. PALACE TO BEAT VILLA 1-0.

FULHAM TO BE NORWICH 2-1.

SO'TON TO BEAT CARDIFF 2-1.

STOKE TO BEAT NEWCASTLE 2-1.

EVERTON TO BEAT SUNDERLAND 2-1.

WEST BROM & TOTTENHAM TO DRAW 1-1.

LIVERPOOL & MAN CITY TO DRAW 2-2.

CHELSEA TO BEAT SWANSEA 2-1.

ARSENAL TO BEAT WEST HAM 2-1.

EVERTON TO BEAT C. PALACE 1-0.

MAN CITY TO BEAT SUNDERLAND 3-0.

*NOT TO BE USED FOR BETTING PURPOSES