Niko Kranjcar is ready for the picnic, just after he finishes this football match.
We’re entering a very busy time in the Premier League right now, over the next 11 days, each team has 3 fixtures and with the busy schedule can come injuries, which of course means you need to plan your fantasy roster right so as not to get bitten by the injury bug. This week alone Cesc Fabregas is definetly out, Dider Drogba, Glen Johnson, and Ryan Giggs are all doubtful. These four are four of the top fantasy performers in the league, and it’s a good chance someone out there is holding onto all 4 of them, so what do you do in their absence?
My best advice would be to play the matchups and try and find players over the stretch will be playing in some favorable games and could see some easy points. I wouldn’t really recomend dropping any of them, I’d expect all 4 of them to be back soon. However now is probably the time to clear those scrubs off your bench and find some guys you actually might want to use. Like I mentioned it’s probably best to get the matchups working in your favor to maximize potential points so I’ve outlined 3 teams to take a good look at, and 3 to avoid.
Three Teams to Take a Look At
Burnley: at Wolves, v Bolton, at Everton
Burnley seem to be at their best at home, and even though 2 of their 3 away I like this run for them. I’d be willing to bet they’ll get 1 clean sheet somewhere in there. The best part about this team is their most expensive player costs 5.6 million, so if you’re low on funds you’re surely going to be able to find someone. Burnley haven’t been in the greatest form of late, but this stretch could turn them right around.
Arsenal: v Hull City, v Aston Villa, at Portsmouth, v Bolton
Over the next 3 gameweeks they actually play 4 matches (So do Bolton, Stoke and Fulham) and it’s a very favorable schedule. Three matches at home and one away against the non-threatening Portsmouth. Villa is the only match here I wouldn’t expect to go the Gunners way. Andrei Arshavin is one player to look closely at, he is expensive, but he could get back into goal scoring form with Cesc out (Cesc’s injury should only be 1-2 matches though). Alex Song is another to look at, he’s listed as a defender, but he plays in the midfield in real life and he’s cheap.
Tottenham: at Blackburn, at Fulham, v West Ham
Spurs certainly don’t have it too bad, they get to play 2 of their 3 matches in London and they’ve been in good form of late. Jermaine Defoe of course is an obvious choice, but I also like Niko Kranjcar here. He had a very good game the other day, and he’s been scoring pretty well prior to that, he’s also pretty cheap at 7.o million.
Three Teams to Avoid
Fulham: v Manchester United, v Tottenham, at Chelsea
This is by far the worst 3 game stretch any team has out of all this winter. I would reccomend staying away from almost everyone from Fulham. Bobby Zamora and Clint Dempsey the two notable exceptions to this
Birmingham City: at Everton, v Chelsea, v Stoke City
Birmingham are incredibly in form right now, but their stretch of games isn’t very favorable. Plus they’re still a newly promoted team and the consistency you see from those teams can be spotty. I know I reccomended Lee Bowyer on Monday, and I still do, but I’d use caution if you’re flocking towards Birmingham players because of their good form.
Aston Villa: v Stoke City, at Arsenal, v Liverpool
This isn’t a terrible run for Villa, they’re a strong team and I wouldn’t put it past them to win all 3 matches, but having two big four teams back to back in the busy holiday season is not exactly a winter wonderland for fantasy points. As with Birmingham, I wouldn’t go dropping all your Villa players, but don’t go loading up on them either.
Fantasy Cup
It’s that time of year, the time where the the Premier League website randomly places teams against each other to determine which of the top 2 million teams is the best luckiest. Most of you should see a little fantasy cup box on the right hand side of the screen, saying who your next opponent is. There really isn’t anything you can do to control it, and it’s almost all luck of the draw but good luck to you all!
Team of the Week
I did keep Drogba and Glen Johnson in the team, mostly because if they do play and I had them on the bench it’d be stupid. This team is a bit thin at the moment, and I really wanted to add Niko Kranjcar into the side but that required dropping someone I didn’t want to drop, so I held off on that one.
I may or may not do a preview next week due to the holiday, but I’ll do my best.
As always, ask any questions in the comments.
I just looked, and I’m going up against one of the greatest names I’ve ever seen in the Fantasy Cup: Obi Wan – Kenobi Nil.
kudos to that guy (or girl).
I’m facing off against what might be a school class of Irish kids that are all apparently Manchester United fans. They’re also still starting Essien, so they might’ve forgotten to keep playing.
Meanwhile, I’m torn on what to do with Fabregas. I have the extra points to drop him and pick up Lampard, but I’d kind of like to use said points on a defender (too much Fulham). Should I bring on Lamps or just hang on with Fabregas (with the knowledge that I’ll be upgrading Lampard to Fabregas as soon as this injury’s over with).
If your intention is to dumb Fabregas anyways I’d drop him this week. Put Hangeland on the bench this week and play Shawcross and you should be just fine.
My hope is actually to keep Fabregas, but not if he’s going to be out forever (I’d get Lampard in that case and ride it out until Fabregas got better). Still switch?
Nevermind, I read that wrong. I’d hold onto Fabregas right now then, and Monday or Tuesday when it’s known how long he’ll actually be out (my guess is just 1-2 games) then make the switch if it’s much longer. I’m guessing Fabregas has gained a bit of value since you bought him so you don’t want to loose too much of that.
Would you do that even if you weren’t planning on making any other transfers?
I’d still hold Cesc, you’ll then have 2 transfers next week that you might need
The guy I’m up against has Carra, De Jong, and Palacios in his team. I’d better win.
This is probably the one week all season that all 3 have huge fantasy games.