This is the last weekend in which there are a significant number of teams playing twice so if you’re planning on making a move in your own private mini-league, the time is now my friends.
Gameweek 32 review
Gervinho was a rather unlikely leading points scorer last week and his Arsenal teammate Tomas Rosicky continued the theme this week after two goals, three bonus points and 14 points in total in the Gunners’ win over West Brom at the Hawthorns.
He was joined on that score by the scorer of a goal of the season contender against Stoke, Aston Villa’s Matthew Lowton, with Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez two points further back on 12 after a very impressive contribution to the Saints’ win over Reading.
Emmanuel Adebayor (11), whose penalty is still flying high somewhere above central Europe, was one of a number of other players to hit double figures alongside Branislav Ivanovic (11), Phil Jagielka (10), James Milner (10), Elliot Bennett (10) and Shaun Maloney (10), with West Ham’s Jussi Jaaskelainen (8) and Swansea’s Luke Moore (9) making up the Dream team for the weekend.
The J-League:
We’re not going to beat around the bush, it was a frankly awful week of scoring in the J-League, with none of the top five managing to break the 40-point barrier.
Darren McCann’s Dazzleros were the best of a bad lot with 39 points, a score that makes him the first manager in the J-League to cross the 2,000 point barrier and for an idea of the sort of standard he’s setting, he currently ranks fourth in all of Ireland and 40th in all THE WORLD.
Not too shabby at all, Darren, you can thank us later for following the advice put forth by this column, which is clearly the secret to your success… maybe.
Darren increased his lead over Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michaels Babes to 61 points, with Martin Hanway’s Marty’s Muppets three points further back in third and Neill McNicholas’ 123 and Neil Farragher’s Smallville Crowes within touching distance in fourth and fifth place respectively.
With double gameweeks for plenty of teams this weekend, there’s an opportunity for the chasing pack to make their move but Darren looks pretty solid where he is for the time being at least.
J-League Top 5:
- Dazzleros – Darren McCann: 2,002 points
- Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Hanrahan: 1,941 points
- Marty’s Muppets – Martin Hanway: 1,938 points
- 123 – Neill McNicholas: 1,929 points
- Smallville Crowes – Neil Farragher: 1,915 points
Double Gameweek ahoy!
Discounting Gameweek 36, when Wigan and Swansea will both be in action twice, this weekend is the last one where a significant number of teams will be play two games and provide managers with ample opportunity to post scores close to or in excess of the magical 100 points.
It’s a bit of a quirk of the fixture list that while five teams – Manchester United, Arsenal, Everton, Fulham and West Ham – are in action twice, three teams – Tottenham, Swansea and West Brom – don’t have any league games at all so you’re going to have to be pretty savvy about how you restructure your squad this weekend.
Of the five teams in action twice, Arsenal look like the best bet to provide the most points. They’re at home against Norwich and Everton, they’ve won six of their last seven league games and in the likes of Gervinho (£7.0 million) and Tomas Rosicky (£6.1 million), for example, they’ve all sorts of players coming out of the woodwork to produce good performances in recent weeks.
Even bearing in mind their recent slump, it is very hard to ignore Manchester United players when they have two games in the space of a few days, but their form in the last few games, the fact that Fergie will probably rotate his squad and the fact that both of their games are away from home means that we wouldn’t advise rushing to flood your squad with representatives from the Champions elect.
Everton, meanwhile, have been on a very decent run of late with 10 points from their last 12 in the league and in Kevin Mirallas (£6.8 million), they have one of the form players in the league at the moment. For the other teams in action twice, Dimitar Berbatov (£7.4 million) remains Fulham’s biggest threat, while centre back James Collins (£4.6 million) has been the stand-out performer for West Ham in recent games.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Wayne Rooney (£11.9 million). Rooney has had a rough couple of months and he could do with reminding everyone – whether it’s Alex Ferguson or whoever his new employers might be – of his abilities before the summer. With two games to impress, there’s no time like the present.
Mid-Range: Kevin Mirallas (£6.8 million). The Belgian striker has scored two outstanding goals in his last two games, has three in his last four and has gathered up seven bonus points in the same period. He’s a man in form alright.
Bargain Basement: Matthew Lowton (£4.5 million). Probably worthy of selection on last weekend’s wonder-strike alone, but apart from that he has chalked up a goal, two assists and three bonus points in his last three outings for a Villa side who look like they’re going to beat the drop after all.
Irish Pick: Darron Gibson (£4.7 million). Has played 90 minutes in Everton’s last seven games and for a man with as good a shot as he has, he really is due a goal. He’ll have two goes to try and get one over the next four days.
Captain’s Pick: Santi Cazorla (£10.1 million). Arsenal aren’t the most reliable team at the best of times but they’re looking good at the moment and with two home games ahead, we’re banking on the skilful Spaniard to bag the big points.
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