With so many gameweeks packed into the festive period there are plenty of points at stake… as long as you can remember to keep tabs on your team that is.
Gameweek 17 review
Tabloid journalists in search of an easy headline weren’t the only ones happy when Santi Cazorla decided to deliver a few early Christmas presents against Reading on Monday night.
Many managers had written off the diminutive Spaniard after a few quiet weeks, but he repaid the faith of those who stuck with him in some style with three goals, an assist and three bonus points for a 23-point haul.
That was by far and away the best individual score this week, with man mountain Christian Benteke coming in with 15 points after two goals, an assist and three bonus points against Liverpool, going one better than Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski and mercurial QPR midfielder Adel Taarabt, who both finished with 14 points.
It’s great to see two Irish internationals in the Dream Team midfield, or at least two would be Irish internationals in the shape of Wes Hoolahan (13) and Anthony Pilkington (11), while Robin van Persie vindicated many managers giving him the captain’s armband with a 12-point haul.
It’s all white at the back, as Spurs trio Jan Vertonghen (15), Kyle Walker (11) and Kyle Naughton (7) make up the Dream Team defence, with West Brom’s Boaz Myhill earning the ‘keeper’s spot after nine points in what was, by all accounts, one of the most boring games of the season against West Ham.
J-League
Barry McCabe’s Breffni Blues continue to hang onto the top spot by the very skin of their teeth as Mick Lacey’s Onion Men pile on the pressure and trail the leaders by only two points heading into the busy festive period.
There’s a bit of a gap between the top two and James Shannon’s Jagerbombers, while the CocaCola Big Macs, managed by former housemate of mine Joe Carlin, defied my prediction that they had reached their peak and stormed into fourth place alongside Tomas Dowling’s Newton Heath.
Making up the top five is Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michael Babes, who, like everyone else in the top five, has breached the 1,000 point barrier already, surely an ominous fact for those of you who, like myself, probably won’t reach it until the New Year. Sigh!
On a final note, league leader Barry – a regular correspondent at this stage – was good enough to wish the JOE crew a happy Christmas so we would like to take the opportunity to return those wishes to Barry and to everyone else in the J-League and wish you all a productive festive Fantasy Football period while we’re at it.
J-League Top 5:
- Breffni Blues – Barry McCabe: 1,041 points
- Onion Men – Mick Lacey: 1,039 points
- Jagerbombers – James Shannon: 1,021 points
- The CocaCola BigMacs – Joseph Carlin, Newton Heath – Tomas Dowling: 1,015 points
- Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Harahan: 1,013 points
The festive season: Things you need to know
Try not to be too devastated regular readers but this will be the last Fantasy Football column until 2013 (Dry those tears guys, it hurts me just as much as it hurts you) and rather than focus on a particular player or position as usual, this column will be focused on how to best negotiate the Christmas period, where Fantasy Football can often, quite understandably, take a back seat.
First things first, here’s what you need to know:
Deadlines
There will be new gameweeks starting on 22 December, 26 December, 29 December and on New Year’s Day itself. It has been confirmed, meanwhile, that the Arsenal v West Ham game on St. Stephen’s Day has been cancelled because of a tube strike in London, so managers should bear that in mind when making team selections and transfers.
Transfers
As regards transfers, managers need to be careful not to go too crazy for a few reasons.
For one, the gameweeks come so thick and fast over Christmas and managers will be able to avail of at least one free transfer every time, meaning that you could make four free transfers between now and New Year’s Day without losing a single point.
Also, we can’t imagine that there are many players who will play all four games in 12 days, so it would be a bit of a pain in the hole to take an eight or even 12-point hit to transfer, say, Robin van Persie into your team, only to see him benched as Fergie makes the most of his squad over Christmas.
Another reason managers should hold off on making wholesale changes is because the January wildcard comes into play next month and although managers can use it as soon as the Gameweek 21 deadline closes on January 1, the transfers won’t come until effect until Gameweek 22 on January 12.
Rotation
To continue on the rotation point made earlier on, it will be the biggest clubs that will do most of it because they have the squads to do so, so expect the likes of Van Persie, Rooney, Aguero, Yaya Toure, Hazard and Cazorla to miss at least one game. Often their absences will be signposted in advance of particular games, however, so keep your ears pricked for any information.
I may have made the task of keeping track of your Fantasy Football team over the Christmas sound like a terribly difficult exercise, but it’s not really.
As long as you spend 10 minutes on your team on the relevant dates, it should be plenty over a period where there are a lot of points at stake. After all, you’re bound to have enough hangovers over the next couple of weeks without wrecking your head even further with matters Fantasy Football.
Have a brilliant Christmas and New Year and I’ll be back to dispense some more sketchy Fantasy Football advice in 2013.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks (for this weekend):
Top Dollar: Sergio Aguero (£11.0 million). City looked like running riot at times against Newcastle last week and at home, against a Reading defence that is the worst in the league, it could get ugly for the Royals. Don’t expect Aguero to show any mercy, however.
Mid-Range: Demba Ba (£8.2 million). Newcastle can’t buy a win, but Ba still can’t stop scoring with 11 so far this season and he’ll fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet again at home to QPR this weekend.
Bargain Basement: Jason Puncheon (£4.8 million). Southampton didn’t play last weekend, but before that Puncheon had been attracting plaudits with two goals and five assists already in this campaign.
Irish Pick: Anthony Pilkington (£5.8 million). Another goal for the would be Irish international at the weekend, his third in a six game period in which he has also racked up an assist, nine bonus points and 39 points in total.
Captain’s Pick: David Silva (£9.4 million). We’re opting for Silva simply because he’s an almost certain starter for City whereas you can’t confidently predict who will start up front, although we would be surprised if it’s not Aguero and Tevez. The Spaniard is always good for an assist and he’s due a goal as well, having scored only one all season to date.
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