Around the Grounds FPL Team News

Team Talk Fantasy Football DGW31 A fortnight break is hard to take. Oh FPL, where have you been? A massive void has hit our lives. The car never been so clean. We return this week, you’ll be glad to know. Gameweek 31 is here. Put away the vacuum and ready the brain. And relax with a lovely cold beer. And what a week we have in store. Lined with excitement, potential and trouble. Suspensions galore, international injuries. And Rangers and Villa at the double. Our gameweek kicks off, early Saturday. As the Goonies take on the Scouse. The Emirates they say is the same as the Library. No atmosphere, and quiet as a mouse. A shocker of a campaign for the Toffees this term. Has led to calls for the dreaded Grim Reaper. The Saints visit this week, but not all is fine. As they field a second-...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW30 The next gameweek upon us. Again I’ve turned to verse. In the search for a massive score. Let’s face it, it can’t be worse. GW29 was a shocker. A shipwreck, with an average so low. Rankings tumbled, places lost. Oh well, just nine weeks to go. So what will GW30 bring? Goals and clean sheets galore? Or rotation, bookings, injuries? Of that you can be sure. An early start again this week. So don’t get caught unawares. A David Silva hat-trick. The answer to our prayers? The Baggies go to City. Who got dicked on out in Spain. A third loss in a week. And their season is down the drain. Mid afternoon sees five matches. The Swans at Villa Park. The great Sherwood revival. With Benteke providing the spark. From Monaco to Toon for the Gunners....[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW29 The DGW has come and gone. The FA Cup too for good measure. So here’s your weekly preview show. Brought to you with great pleasure. When I started prepping this. I didn’t know what to write. The intro needed beefing up. A change from the usual shite. And so our gameweek kicks off. Just as we order lunch. A bottle of white. Palace to beat Rangers. Happens to be my hunch. Just four 3pm starts follow. Arsenal face West Ham. The Gunners v The Irons. Arsene v Big Sam. Hull travel to Leicester. Who remain down at the bottom. Another home loss here. And they’ll soon be forgotten. A trip up north for Villa. To the Stadium of Light. Where they’ll encounter Gus Poyet. Spoiling for a fight. Pulis past and present. As West Brom welcome Stoke. Bro...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW28 Straight off the back of GW27 comes midweek GW28, which as we’re all aware by now is a DGW28 for Spurs and QPR. Loved by some, hated by others, midweek gameweeks do give managers who are well prepared the chance to make big strides over those in their mini league who fail to log in to their team until Thursday or Friday – and who this week will be shocked and left cursing their usual discipline! Our gameweek begins on Tuesday with three fixtures, for which we will be able to see the teamsheets before the FPL deadline of 19.30 UK time. All three matches kick off at 19.45, meaning the teams will be announced an hour beforehand at 18.45. We have a West Midlands derby as Aston Villa host West Brom, Hull entertain (!) Sunderland and Crystal Palace tra...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW27 Well here we are, you eager beavers, GW27 has arrived – a crucial part of the season as blank GWs are followed by DGWs and it’s time to preserve a mini-league lead for the lucky ones, while others will be throwing caution to the wind as they attempt to chase down their leader. Another busy week of European football has taken place with Man City (lost), Arsenal (embarrassed), Spurs (lost), Liverpool (lost) and Everton (phew, at least someone won) all in action, while Sunday sees the Capital One Cup between Chelsea and Spurs, hence those two have a blank FPL week alongside Leicester and QPR. So our reduced gameweek begins down in the East End and another derby for the Hammers as they host Crystal Palace. We then have five 3pm kick offs as Burnley e...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW26 WAKE UP, WAKE UP!! Pack your bags, load up the car, the holiday is over and it’s back to school time, sorry. It’s back to FPLville for us all after a long and deserved break. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve spoken, but it’s lovely to be back. Many thanks to Lawdogg for picking up the reins these last few weeks and frankly doing a mighty fine job. So what have I missed? Constant Gooner love, more references to the Lord of the Rings than Katie Price’s autobiography, the departures of ‘Arry and Paul Lambert, the mysterious disappearance of Andre Wisdom, Chris Baird and Sebastien Pocognoli and Nigel Pearson’s new tactic of “If you can’t beat them, strangle them”. So bear with me as I catch up an...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW24 It is North London Derby week and for Arsenal fans this week will have been circled on the calendar since the schedule was released. Gooners around the world will meet up for a pint at their watering hole to watch the match. In the not-too-distant past, this game took the place of competing for a trophy; beat Tot’num and the season was not a total loss. While recent arrivals to the club have raised the bar, the importance of this game has not diminished. Win the game and it could inspire a good finish to the season. Lose it, and they will probably make a DVD. The past week saw the January transfer window close while Manchester United, Sunderland and Liverpool all escaped midweek FA Cup ties without picking up any injuries. The gameweek kicks off Saturday lun...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW23 It has been two weeks since a ball was kicked in a league match and for those of you on your wildcard it must have seemed like an eternity. For those of us suffering from premature transferculation we’ve spent the last two weeks second-guessing our decision to play our wildcard and wondering why it won’t return our phone calls. It hasn’t been an uneventful two weeks, though. Several Premier League sides saw an end to their FA Cup aspirations as Round 4 saw the elimination of Swansea, Manchester City, Tottenham, Southampton and Chelsea. Three others – Liverpool, Manchester United and Sunderland – face replays on 3rd and 4th February to settle draws in their first matches. In transfer news, Arsenal shocked the world by signing not one, but TWO (yes, two) defen...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW22 Welcome to Team Talk, the place on the interweb to talk about teams and all the talk that is team-related to talking about teams. You’ll find the column under different management this week as we’ve agreed a loan deal with New York City FC for Lawdogg (a/k/a LapDogg)… This week the Premier League gifts its fans a wonderfully spaced-out set of league fixtures. If so inclined one could watch a whopping 7.5 hours of live football. For an EPL (and FPL) addict, that is brilliant stuff and allows us a chance to scout potential transfer targets. With a week somewhat complicated by FA Cup replays for Everton, West Ham, Southampton, Tottenham and Burnley, managers will have to keep the risk of rotation in the back of their mind when deciding on their squads. Luckily ...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW21 The parties are over, the tree has been taken down, the decorations have been put away for another year, no one is going out in January and the evenings are long and dark. But while those around us are miserable, depressed and dull, we still have our FPL, who in their kindness give us a late Christmas present with the January wildcard. With many hitting the activate button and tinkering this week, it’s been a busy and stressful time for those looking for the perfect defensive rotation, the magic midfield and a striker in half decent form that isn’t called Harry Kane. But the time for tinkering is almost over, GW21 is just hours away and begins Saturday lunchtime as Sunderland welcome Liverpool to the Stadium of Light. There are then six 3pm kick ...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW16 For some managers GW16 was great, for others it was a disappointment, but as we always say, don’t look back, look forwards. And there is much to be excited about as the fixtures really do start flowing thick and fast over the next few weeks for, if you weren’t aware….IT’S CHRISTMAS!! So welcome to the TeamTalk Christmas special, where we will aim to give you all the information you need to make GW17 pay rich dividends and see you climb the leagues quicker than Santa can fall down the chimney. Our festivities start at the Etihad, where half a stadium will watch the lunchtime feast of Man City vs Crystal Palace. Then we have six 3pm matches as Aston Villa take on Man Utd, Swansea travel across to Hull, QPR welcome West Brom, Southampton host Everton, Bur...[Read More]

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW16 Well, how much fun was GW15? Ah come on, don’t tell me you didn’t secretly enjoy it? Red card after red card, yellow cards leading to suspensions, injuries mounting, the unbeatable getting beaten, a clean sheet for Simon Mignolet – it truly had it all. And that, my friends, is why we love it. After a week of contemplating how to spend your “Kun dollars” and for some, wondering how the hell they’ll field a full team, the time has come. It’s decision time. We’ve arrived. It’s GW16. And just to string out the tension, it’s another 3-day weekend, but no early game, giving you time to get the Christmas tree and then sit back for six 3pm matches as Burnley bore Southampton, Chelsea demolish Hull, Stoke st...[Read More]