Showing posts with label #GW38. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #GW38. Show all posts

Monday, 25 May 2015

GW38 Tribute to the FPL Community

It's Saturday night.  FPL managers across the globe are hemming, hawing and second guessing themselves as the most unpredictable gameweek of the year, and ironically the one that will decide many minileagues and whether you will beat your best ever overall annual rank so far, beckons in just a few short hours.  Depending on who you are, you're either optimistically uncertain, super duper scared, so conservative as to essentially be throwing in the towel, or an evenly balanced combination of the three.  Either way, you're staring at that squad, cycling through all of the possible outcomes in your mind, most certainly none of which will actually happen, and you swear that somewhere out there there's a person, or a website, or a random contact "in the know" who will solve all of your problems for you and provide a feeling of artificial certainty that is actually no more certain than the dozens of rumors you've been reading for the past four days.

And this is how we all start GW38; where the FPL powers that be have determined that the deadline for possibly the most influential gameweek of the year will pass a full 3 1/2 hours before kickoff of 10 simultaneous English Premier League football matches; perhaps the most entertaining two hours in sport.  Despite my own personal uncertainty, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out on Twitter. The 2 1/2 hours between 6:30 a.m. EST and the time that all 20 lineups are revealed will be some of the most nailbiting hours of the year.  Tensions will be high, nerves will be taut; and that's just to see who will play and who will not.  An hour after that the real excitement will begin.

And we will be right here to bring it all to you. A virtual play-by-play through the eyes, ears, and tweets of the #FPL community will fill this space and leave in its wake a historical record of how a couple hundred FPL fanatics experienced the final 2 hours of the 2014-2015 EPL and FPL season. Here we go......



























































































































































Well there you have it folks...a fitting, all-inclusive end to another fantastic FPL season.  We've all had more highs and lows than a park full of roller coasters, but we made it through the craziness of this game we all love and we made it through stronger and closer together than we've ever been.  FPL keeps growing, our Twitter FPL community keeps growing, the competition gets fiercer every year, and through it all we share a passion that is real, that is strong, and that is unique.  We need some way to identify other FPL addicts in a crowd so we can pass each other on the street and give each other a knowing smile, a quick nod, and some sign of empathy that says, "I'm with you bro.... we'll all get through this together".

ENJOY THE SUMMER AND WE WILL SEE YOU SOONER THAN YOU THINK!!!

FPLWalt

Proud contributor to the Fantasy Premier League Hints family.
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Thursday, 21 May 2015

Dan's Digest - GW38 Preview


The final day of the season is close at hand and with only a few league positions yet to be decided most teams don’t have much to play for. From a chairman’s point of view each league position is worth £1.2m so they’ll be putting the pressure on their managers to do their best to climb the rankings. In the same way we’ll be hoping our FPL teams make a late dash up the rankings to achieve as high a finish as possible. Below we've got a brief preview of each game that makes up GW38 plus a player from each team to consider as you look to win or climb your mini-leagues.

Arsenal v West Brom
West Brom visit the Emirates on the back of an impressive 3-0 victory over the champions on Monday evening whilst the Gunners have all but confirmed 3rd place and automatic qualification to the Champions League group stages. With their focus now firmly on the FA Cup final against Aston Villa, Wenger will undoubtedly rest a few of his first teamers, which is bad news for those of us who loaded up on Arsenal’s stars prior to the double gameweek.

Theo Walcott – With 5 big chances from just 215 minutes and the expectation of rotation, Walcott could looks set to be a main attacking threat this week
Joleon Lescott – With 4 clean sheets from the last 5 games including games against Liverpool, United and Chelsea, another shut-out isn't out of the question and Lescott carries a goal threat from set pieces too.

Aston Villa v Burnley
Villa were embarrassed by Southampton last week and will be in two minds this week. They won’t want to go to Wembley in terrible form lacking confidence but they’ll want to rotate players and keep them fresh. Burnley are preparing for life in the Championship and will hope to finish the season on a high whilst some of their players will be in the shop window hoping for moves back to the Premier League next season.

Tom Cleverley – With 3 goals in his last 5 appearances he’s a man in form and will want to carry that to Wembley.
Danny Ings – In what is very likely to be his final game for Burnley he’ll want to go out with a bang against a very poor Villa defence.

Chelsea v Sunderland
A match that has nothing riding on it after Sunderland’s hard earned draw away to Arsenal on Wednesday ensured their Premier League safety. Neither team will be particularly up for this which means anything could happen – as we saw at the Hawthorns on Monday.

Diego Costa – A player of undoubted quality that is owned by very few live teams. Fit enough to start on Monday evening he could be a real differential for this week.
Costel Pantilimon – 2 clean sheets last GW and plenty of save points up for grabs. Sunderland look more likely to keep a clean sheet than score against Chelsea.

Crystal Palace v Swansea
Palace have the worst home record in the league but still have the potential to finish in the top half if they win and other results go their way. Swansea’s position in 8th is secure but they’ll want to enjoy their last away day of the season.

Yannick Bolasie – If he can get his shooting boots on he can grab a few goals. He’s often in great positions but has struggled to finish the chances off all season.
Bafetimbi Gomis – 5 goals in his last 5 appearances shows he’s a man bang in form.

Everton v Spurs
Spurs could finish 5th with a win but were unimpressive against Hull last week despite their win whilst Everton will want to finish their very average season with a home win to give fans some hope of success next season.

Romelu Lukaku – A low ownership striker with 20 points in his last 3 games against a poor travelling Spurs defence.
Erik Lamela – 3 attacking returns in his last 5 games shows his potential.

Hull v Man Utd
This match means everything to Hull. They need to win and hope Newcastle fail to beat West Ham to secure their status in the Premier League. United have just 1 win and 3 goals in their last 5 games so it looks to be the ideal time to play them but it is still quite an ask of Steve Bruce’s team.

Nikica Jelavic – The striker has enough quality to get the goal Hull need to stay up and he looked sharp against Spurs despite his recent injury woes.
Ashley Young – The winger has shown plenty of attacking promise in terms of both assist and goalscoring potential recently.

Leicester v QPR
The Foxes secured their Premier League status last weekend whilst the Rs are destined for the Championship. QPR are woeful on their travels and Leicester will want to give their fans an end of season party.

Leonardo Ulloa – A strong aerial presence could see him take advantage of the shaky QPR back line.
Matt Phillips – One of just a few shining lights in the QPR squad this season has shown he can be an explosive FPL points scorer.

Man City v Southampton
Both teams have scored 6 goals in a game recently but Man City have been in much better form with Southampton losing a couple of games against supposedly weaker teams. Southampton know though that a win combined with a couple  of other outcomes this weekend could see them finish as high as 5th which would all but guarantee Koeman the manager of the year award.

Yaya Toure – Probably his last game in a sky blue shirt so he’ll want to continue his goalscoring form from last weekend.
Shane Long – Back in the starting lineup last week with 2 goals and 2 assists against Villa.

Newcastle v West Ham
Newcastle need a win to guarantee survival regardless of what happens at the KC Stadium. However, Sam Allardyce will be out to do all he can to send his old employers down to the Championship. Neither team are in good form so it will be a tight affair in what could be a crucial game this weekend.

Moussa Sissoko – You feel that if Newcastle are going to score they’ll need the powerful midfielder to be at his best
Mark Noble – The pressure could get to the Newcastle defence and cause them to give away a penalty for the West Ham midfielder to put away.

Stoke v Liverpool
Liverpool need a win to confirm 5th place whilst Stoke are guaranteed of a top half finish. Stoke surprised Spurs at the Britannia a couple of weeks ago and could do the same against Liverpool this week who only have 1 win in their last 5 games.

Jon Walters – Plenty of shots inside the box recently suggests he’s been unlucky not to get on the score sheet. 
Steven Gerrard – After all of the media attention last week, Gerrard will be looking to make his mark in his final Premier League game.

***All the best for your FPL aspirations heading into this final gameweek. May your final arrows be green***

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Saturday, 10 May 2014

#CalledIt Differential Pick - GW38

"May I be frank?"

"Sure Frank!"

Hahaha, classic. :)

Any clue where this is from*? No worries if you are totally stomped with this, it just means that you are most likely in your late 20s (or younger) or that you didn't get many silly American movies where you're from. Still, to answer the question posed at the beggining, i.e. to be completely frank, I AM glad that the season is almost over. While I will probably post another article where I will disect the first season of being an amateur pundit-wannabe (who said that Yaya can't keep it up, DOH stupid!), suffice to say that it is much different from lurking in the shadows, soaking in the knowledge of the big FPL guys and focusing solely on my team (basically what I did last season). I loved every minute of it, but man, am I glad it's GW38 time. So, who do we got as the pick?

Well, this guy was supposed to be the ace up the sleeve at the beginning of the season of many FPL legends such as current champion Matthew Martyniak and another FPL great Julian Zipparo, but he just never really lived up to the hype. That is, until now. 2 goals and 2 assist in the last four games and 7 bonus points show a glimpse of what he is capable of and with a personality that is kind of reminiscing of that of a certain Mario Balotelli, he just might go all crazy in the last week and score a hat trick. Impossible? Probably, but hey, I've seen weirder things happening. Who is that guy? 

Enter Marko Arnautović, #CalledIt for game week 38. Given that his ownership is currently at 0.7%, you are safe to assume that almost no one in your mini league has him and will be a great differential this week in your hopes of gaining that few extra points you might be off at the moment. Good luck, I am bringing him into my team as well.

#CalledIt over and out. At least for this season.



* Naked gun. Hilariously stupid. Or just stupid. Depends when you watch it. 
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Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Bantasy Football: Time for Tottenham

The last day of the season has thrown up some wild ones over the years: Man U and West Brom's 5-5 last year; Man City's epic last-gasp Agueroooooo in 2012. This year the shortest odds for a home side not challenging for the title fall to Spurs. Dare you pick players from a team that has nothing to play for? Yeah, baby - That's what fantasy football's all about. Yeah. 


 Just desserts?

Your first thought will be of the slovenly loss to West Ham and how Spurs have nothing to play for - or maybe of how some players have been faking injuries to get out of playing (probably so they can focus on their fantasy teams). Some are even suggesting the real match this week will be the Ledley King Testimonial on Monday. But Tottenham have recently developed a penchant for spanking rubbish teams at home (Sunderland 5-1, Fulham 3-1) - and Aston Village are just that - as evidenced by the drubbing Man City are about to give them (score not available at time of writing due to the linearity of time).

The result may be irrelevant to their final table position or whether Sherwood gets sacked (he will be) but a show will be expected - the White Hart Lane faithful have endured an unsatisfying dog's dinner of a season and will demand something delicious and conciliatory for pudding.


More goals please

Emanuel Adebayor (7.4)

If Spurs are going to crush Villa, one man is bound to be doing a funny dance celebration and that's Adebayscore. He's drawn a blank in his last four but remains the Lilywhites' most prolific threat with 10 goals and six assists. He is owned by 4.9% but probably not the guys you're trying to catch - certainly worth a risk. 


Harry Kane (4.4)

Oh Harry. A few weeks ago I touted you and you set the world alight. Then you went and scored that silly own goal against Wham. Though sacrificed in that game to sure up the defence, he could start again - but Soldado (8.4) is now fit and Levy may be giving Sherwood a cheeky prod in the back to remind him that a striker who has scored two goals from open play in a season isn't worth much on the transfer market these days. Kane's cheap so he's a great option if you're making two transfers to bring in a superstar but Ade is your best bet if you can afford him. 


Christian Eriksen (7.2)

Some call him "midfield dynamite"; others a "free-kick maestro". I'll just get on with the business and tell you he's put up 9 points seven times since Christmas. Guaranteed a start ceteris parabis sine funnybusiness, the Dane has 44 points in his last four home matches. Turn on your metronome, say that out-loud and that's baby-making music.  


Eriksen's home form: Sexier than the sexiest song ever

Vlad Chiriches (4.5)

With Kaboul suspended and Vertonghen probably out with severe "injuredness", Vlad will start - whether he'll get a clean sheet is another matter entirely. Spurs have only managed one in nine. That poor Hugo Lloris. He tries his best. 


Kyle Naughton (4.1)

Even cheaper - and more likely to play (Walker surely won't be risked with Rio on the horizon) - is the worst full-back in the Premier League. This man is responsible for more catastrophes than Stalin, Hitler and Adam Sandler put together. If Spurs shut Villa out, though, he'll get credit. Unfair I know - but them's the rules. 

The poster's actually pretty good compared to the film


For more Bantasy Football, visit www.bantasyfootball.blogspot.co.uk or follow @BantasyFootball. 






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