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Gameweek 30 Review – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

Hull City 0-2 Manchester City
Goals: Silva, Dzeko
Assists: Silva, Yaya Toure
Bonus Points: Silva (3), Clichy (2) Hart (1)

Fantasy Focus:
Hull City: There are certain teams in FPL who know their role. Hull are there to offer us cheap options who start, that we probably shouldn’t use unless they are auto subbed in. In the defence we see Curtis Davies who is actually a nice player. He offers the occasional clean sheet and chips in with a goal every so often. Back from his latest injury is James Chester who offers about the same returns when healthy, but does it for 0.9 less. In their midfield we also see some cheap options, but after watching them play with a man advantage it is obvious why if you have them, it should only be as a fifth man and on the bench. David Meyler had a wonderful equalizing strike taken away when one of his mates was ruled offside. I am sure he felt like running over and head butting the linesman. Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic showed why they were allowed to leave their recent clubs. Basically they are just ok players that should not be counted on to deliver points on any FPL team. Well, unless the rules are changed to include points for being caught offsides, in that case Jelavic would be a steal.

Man City: A bit surprising to see them control the game the way they did with a man less for 80 minutes and especially so considering that Martin Demichelis was playing centre-back with Javi Garcia. Vincent Kompany received a straight red in this game and can now be crossed off as a double game-week candidate. Gael Clichy had a good game overall, but any thoughts on him should be dismissed because of the constant rotation at left back. Aleksandar Kolarov came in just long enough to annoy his fantasy owners. Although he did produce a point a minute, too bad he was only on the pitch for 60 seconds. Pablo Zabaleta was a bit unlucky to not get on the score sheet as he hit the crossbar and along with Joe Hart and DemiGod picked up his 3rd clean sheet on the bounce. A quick look at their schedule says proceed with caution as they play Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool all away from the Ethiad in 3 of their next 5. David Silva finally delivered the points that are befitting of his talents. A goal and an assist for the Spaniard along with a display of master class will now have managers scrambling to possibly team him up with Yaya Toure for the DGW’s. Speaking of the Ivorian, it was not one of his better displays, although he did secure 6 points for his owners with an assist and clean sheet. Yaya owners will feel a bit unlucky however, as Pelligrini seemed to place Toure with Edin Dzeko up top until City went down to ten men. If Sergio Aguero remains out, it will be interesting to see if Yaya keeps Alvaro Negredo on the bench and is partnered with Dzeko on the front line or dropped to his regular midfield spot. Edin had a forgettable performance until the last 10 minutes. He missed a one on one in the 86th minute, but was given another opportunity a moment later and this time he put it in the back of the net; once again proving that he is not needed in the first 80 minutes of any game. Negredo did not get on and even if he did he only has 1 goal in his last 9 EPL appearances. In other news Samir Nasri is still unlikable.

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Everton 2-1 Cardiff City
Goals: Deulofeu, Coleman, Cala
Assists: Barry, Whittingham
Bonus Points: Coleman (3), Barry, Deulofeu (2)

Fantasy Focus:
Everton: At this stage it has become abundantly clear that Toffee defenders should only be seen as attacking threats. 2 clean sheets in their last 14 games and their inability to do so against the 2nd worst goal scoring team in EPL is just more proof that they are undependable at best. Seamus Coleman scored his 6th of the season which is two more than any defender in FPL. His fellow defender Leighton Baines had a sub par performance. Understand though, that he is graded on a different scale because of his price, it is almost unacceptable to own him and not at the very least receive 5 points on average. The other Everton defenders are not really attacking threats, therefore might not be worth too much consideration with their recent defensive record. In the midfield we find the forever pass reluctant Kevin Mirallas. He had 6 shots yesterday, but only one on target and more disturbingly was removed early once again which continue to make his minutes an issue. Gerrard Deulofeu was having a tough time of it and then scored right before being subbed out. The goal does not erase the fact that like Mirallas, Deulofeu’s minutes are not what an owner would desire. Romelu Lukaku disappointed many fantasy owners who decided to turn to the Big Belgian for their captaincy. Lukaku forced a couple of good saves from the Cardiff keeper, but the service he receives remains an issue. Frankly if Deulofeu and Miralllas are on the pitch don’t expect too many passes seeking out Romelu. Those two completed less passes yesterday to teammates than any other starter for Everton and that is still true even when we include the keeper.

Cardiff: I struggle to find anything positive to mention about Cardiff that won’t end up turning into a backhanded compliment. David Marshall is a great shot stopper, but probably because he gets more practice than any other keeper in EPL. Don’t bother with their defenders or their “attacking” threats. Only reason you should own any of them is if you need a throw away player. Sounds a bit cruel, but when looking at their game and stats, it is what it is. They have 6 clean sheets for the season and have been blanked 16 times this season, which means they scored a goal in less than half the games they played in.

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Fulham 1-0 Newcastle
Goals: Dejagah
Assists: Holtby
Bonus Points: Hangeland (3), Stockdale (2), Heitinga, Amorebieta, Dejagah, Holtby

Fantasy Focus:
Fulham: Perhaps inspired by my scathing assessment of them last week, they came out and took all 3 points from Newcastle. Fulham made 5 changes to their side which only makes it even clearer why it is difficult to own any of them, if their FPL stats didn’t make that abundantly clear already. We can dismiss their keepers, defenders and strikers without a second thought despite some of their performances vs Le Toon. So if we move to their mids we find Lewis Holtby and Steve Sidwell. Here is the reason we can dismiss Holtby, his price is 6.2 and there are better options for that price. Sidwell has one goal in his last 9 so it looks like he is running out of goal scoring gas. Alex Kacaniklic doesn’t play enough minutes to warrant any serious consideration.

Newcastle: Not really sure what to make of them. They are just an average team in every aspect. They garner about the same points and score/concede about the same amount of goals home or away. So when considering any of their players for the DGW realize that if their two games were on the road instead of at home, they be likely to give you the same returns for your investment. I will however highlight Paul Dummet, not for his wonderful last name, but his set piece duty and low price. At 3.9 if he can maintain his spot he could be a worthwhile punt just for the possibility of an assist because of the amount of crosses he gets in the box, 14 in this game. In the midfield we find Moussa Sissoko who played well in my opinion. He is an intriguing player for the double because of his price and low ownership. Biggest problem I see is he is not the best in the final 3rd and he has no one of consequence to play with until Loic Remy gets back. Almost forgot to mention that Pappis Cisse played, that is about all I got on him.

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Southampton 4-2 Norwich
Goals: Rodriguez, Lambert, Schneiderlin, Gallagher, Snodgrass, Elmander
Assists: Lambert, Ramirez, Davis, v. Wolfswinkel
Bonus Points: Lambert (3), Schneiderlin (2), Rodriguez (1)

Fantasy Focus:
Southampton: A game seemingly in control was almost given away to a team that did not deserve to take away anything from the affair. Artur Boruc who is a mainstay on many of our sides was his usual shaky self in goal. Jose Fonte cost many managers playing Saints defenders any possibility of a clean sheet when he played a perfectly weighted ball to Johan Elmander, who strangely enough was seen thanking the skies, but not once thanked Fonte for the gift. Nathaniel Clyne once again got the start at right back and was seen galloping up and down the flank and looking an offensive threat. In the congested and talented Saints midfield Gaston Ramirez was given a rare start. He played well and played a great ball to Morgan Schneiderlin for the first goal of the game. Adam Lallana was subbed out early and this is now the 4th game on the run that he has failed to deliver. It was Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert that stole the show with their points and their play. Both scored and Rickie also added an assist for good measure. Undoubtedly Southampton offers good value all across the lines. But they do have some disturbing stats that give us a glimpse into what the future might hold. They have tallied 35 of their 45 points vs teams 13th or lower in the standings and just 10 points vs teams 12th or higher. Saints have scored only 16 goals in 16 games versus those teams 12th or higher and 26 goals in 14 games versus the rest. So they beat up on the weak which is expected, problem is they only have 2 out of 8 games left against opponents in the 13th or lower bracket and have no doubles to justify owning them.

Norwich: It might be up for debate whether Chris Hughton should stay or go, but what shouldn’t be up for debate is the transferring in of any Norwich players. It was a terrible display by them and don’t let the gifts they were given for goals distract you into thinking it was a game. It should have been 5 or 6 nil, not 4-2. One could basically credit Southampton with all the goals as they were all of their doing. Robert Snodgrass is a decent player on a very bad team. You could do worse than Snoddy, but unless you already have him he is not worth wasting a transfer to bring in and certainly can be moved out considering all the doubles that lie ahead for players in his price bracket. I make a habit of looking at offensive stats in the key passes, dribbling, shots, shots on target, crosses and so on and it has been a while since I have seen one team compile so many zeros when looking at players individually.

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Stoke 3-1 West Ham
Goals: Arnautovic, Odemwingie (2), Carroll
Assists: Ireland, Crouch, Noble
Bonus Points: Odemwingie (3), Carroll (2), Arnautovic (1)

Fantasy Focus:
Sam Allardyce picked up the manager of the month award for Febuary so there will have been little surprise to find that the inevitable curse of this took it’s toll on West Ham here. Mark Hughes will have had a wry smile when he realised that it was his team that played the Hammers next and sure enough Stoke took the spoils here, mainly thanks to a brace from recent new signing Peter Odemwingie. West Ham had looked likely to continue their recent run of good form though early on after Andy Carroll had nodded home a Mark Noble free-kick. Stoke were level at the break though thanks to Odemwingie’s first which in truth had more to do with the acrobatics of Peter Crouch than anything to do with the scorer himself. Crouch reacted quickly having seen his first effort strike the bar and he thought he had scored himself only for replays to show that it had actually struck Odemeingie before crossing the line. West Ham had a goal disallowed as Kevin Nolan was rightly adjudged to be offside before Stoke eventually took the lead through Marko Arnautovic. A flowing Stoke move resulted in West Ham not dealing with his initial lame effort but he pounced on the loose ball to slot home nicely into the corner. West Ham were aggrieved to have a very good penalty shout turned away after Marc Muniesa clearly handled in the box. Referee Craig Pawson went to to toe with Andy Carroll to argue the toss, brave man right there. Having been denied the opportunity to equalise from the spot, West Ham soon found the game beyond their reach. A lightning break away saw Stephen Ireland with a plethora of options and he eventually found Odemwingie on the right who make no mistake, rifling his effort into the top corner to seal the game for Stoke.

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Swansea 1-2 West Brom
Goals: Lamah, Sessegnon, Mulumbu
Assists: Bony, Morrison
Bonus Points: Mulumbu (3), Sessegnon (2), Lamah, Bony (1)

Fantasy Focus:
This one felt like a ‘must-win’ for West Brom and their new boss Pepe Mel and they duly delivered but in the process dragged Swansea and their new boss Gary Monk back into the relegation battle somewhat. Swansea may sit in 14th place but this result means they are now only four points ahead of the relegation zone and just the one ahead of the Baggies who move up to 16th. Swansea looked comfortable early on and dominated most of the first half having taken a second minute lead through Roland Lamah. Wilfried Bony set the Belgian on his way down the left flank with a delightful through ball but Lamah had it all to do and he it executed it with aplomb. He made a mug of Stephen Reid with a clever turn before dispatching into the far corner from an acute angle to give the Swans their early lead. Whatver Mel sais at half-time clearly worked though as his troops came out fired up and were level within seven minutes thanks to Stephane Sessegnon. He collected a James Morrison pass and curled a powerful low drive into the corner. Not content with a draw, West Brom pressed on and got their reward with a delightful goal from Youssouf Mulumbu. When the ball broke kindly on the edge of the area the Congolese midfielder was the coolest head on the pitch as he side footed a nonchalant effort into the far corner, off the post, leaving Ben Foster stranded and stationary. A wonderful finish that might just prove very crucial in West Brom’s fight for survival.

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Sunderland 0-0 Crystal Palace
Goals: …
Assists: …
Bonus Points: Mannone (3), O’Shea, Alonso, Speroni, Delaney, Dann (2)

Fantasy Focus:
Don’t you just love it when you have to try and write a review and you check the score… and it’s goalless! You can probably tell from the bonus allocation that this was a tight affair and defences were most definitely on top… In truth it was a game that neither side dared to lose and so it played out accordingly with very few chances created. Sunderland came the closest when a Fabio Borini effort smashed against the post in the second half. Adam Johnson was Sunderland’s tormentor in chief but found his forwards to be lacking that final quality to convert his crosses. Steven Fletcher was most guilty as he missed a flurry of opportunities to convert chances created by both Johnson and Borini. His replacement Jozy Altidore did not fare much better, missing a guilt edged chance also. Palace could or should have sealed a smash and grab but Kagisho Dikgacoi was wasteful when his chance to shine presented itself late on and he but fluffed his lines. All in all a bit of a dour encounter petered out to a rather inevitable scoreless contest which served neither team best really in their respective quests for survival. The clean-sheet potential for both teams was the primary fantasy focus that presented itself once more in this one.

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Aston Villa 1-0 Chelsea
Goals: Delph
Assist: Albrighton
Bonus Points: Delph (3), Guznan (2), Vlaar (2)

Fantasy Focus:
Aston Villa: A solid, hard-working display all round from the Villains, who made it hard for the league leaders to play, while looking dangerous themselves on the break. Ron Vlaar at the back was the rock and the epitome of Villa’s night. Christian Benteke, Gaby Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann led the charge on the counter and all had half chances to score. Fabian Delph was the star and scored the only goal of the game with eight minutes remaining – if only Villa had a double game-week then Delph would be a shoe-in for your 5th midfielder – he also had a late shot deflected onto the crossbar.

Chelsea: Again, their lack of striker options was exposed as Fernando Torres was given just a couple of half chances and their midfield plugged away and on occasions looked as though they were going to take control, but the goal never arrived. Eden Hazard again looked the most likely to breakdown the opposition defence, but the Blues were limited to mostly half-chances by a resolute display by Villa. Willian was sent off after receiving his second yellow card halfway throught the 2nd half and shortly after the ineffective Torres and Oscar were replaced by Andre Schurrle and Demba Ba, but to no avail. Ramires received a straight red in injury time for an ugly and frustrated foul while a grumpy Mourinho was sent to the stands for remonstrating with the ref. The conclusion on a fantasy level was what we already knew – Chelsea will continue to keep it tight at the back, will not score loads and Hazard continues to be the main danger.

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Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool
Goals: Gerrard (2), Suarez
Assists: SuarezAllen, Sturridge
Bonus Points: Gerrard (3), Johnson (2), Suarez (2)

Fantasy Focus:
Man Utd: Awful, plain awful. Even with a DGW, it’s tough to see any value in any of their players – I guess an argument for Wayne Rooney could be made, for he was the only player who looked like he gave a damn. He worked hard, looked the only threat to Liverpool, but there is probably better value elsewhere, given that his team mates are so bad. I could go through the whole team and describe them as rubbish, but i’ll do it player-by -player:

De Gea – did nothing wrong, made a great save from Suarez late on, can not be faulted for the goals and craftily outwitted Gerrard for the 3rd penalty. Sneaky – surprised no-one picked up on it.

Rafael – headless chicken, should have been sent off after conceding the first penalty – then committed three other fouls that should have seen him walk. Must have dodgy photos of the ref hidden away.

Evra – ineffective.

Vidic – red carded late on for two yellows, the second arguably harsh, but the ref had to send someone off, but couldn’t risk the photos coming out so Vidic was the easy option.

Jones – gave away the 2nd penalty, looked nervy with Sturridge and Suarez (and Rafael) around him. Still horribly ugly.

Fellaini – £27.5mln for that. Wow. Lightweight, even Joe Allen knocked him off the ball. Subbed off for young Tom – enough said.

Carrick – was out run in midfield and there was little outlet for his passes. Poor.

Januzaj – was he playing ?

Mata – see Januzaj

RvP – see Mata.

Rooney – worked hard, deserved something for his efforts.

Moyes – hahahahahaha.

Liverpool: A professional display, not at their best, but didn’t have to be. Man for man better than their opponents, their midfield took control and never let go. Luis Suarez was a constant threat, Joe Allen ran the game, Steven Gerrard took two of his three penalties superbly, Glen Johnson and Joe Flanagan were both solid and adventurous going forward, though the latter, like Rafael, was lucky to stay on the pitch. I thought Daniel Sturridge was quiet but came more into the game late on, while Dan Agger and Martin Skrtel coped with any threats that came their way, which wasn’t often. Raheem Sterling was also largely ineffective, but still looked better than any United player. Brendan Rodgers got his tactics spot on and Moyes couldn’t cope or offer any answer or plan B. Their run goes on, they’ve beaten their biggest rivals in their back yard, now they have bigger fish to fry.

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Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal
Goals: Rosicky
Assist: Oxlade-Chamberlain
Bonus Points: Rosicky (3), Mertesacker (2), Koscielny (2)

Fantasy Focus:
Tottenham: Played well, dominated possession, but were unable to penetrate the Gooner defence. It seems that if Emmanuel Adebayor doesn’t produce, then Spurs struggle and his recent goal drought has coincided with the team’s slump. Tells you all you need to know. Nacer Chadli had a great chance to equalise, but was crowded out. Overall quite a dull team, who are on a downer and have no DGW coming so hard to see any value. Their defence remains relatively tight, but their inability to effectively use decent possession remains key.

Arsenal: Not their best game, but those managers who kept faith with Gooner defenders, were well rewarded as their clean sheet was key to this victory. Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker were the heroes, continually defying Adebayor and a succession of crosses. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a threat, but needs to work on his finishing, Tomas Rosicky’s goal was superb, but he did little else as Arsenal were overrun for long periods. A massive win, which keeps their title ambitions alive, but with Ramsey, Wilshire, Ozil and Walcott all out and Olivier Giroud ineffective, a lack of goals could be their undoing.

Thanks for reading Gameweek 30 Review , this article was written by Cookie, Inittowinit and Mito.