Fantasy Premier League

Matchday Open Thread

Sat Mar 29 05:39AM by Jeremy

General view of Pride Park, home of Derby County

From Super Sunday to Strugglers Saturday.  All eyes will be on Pride Park as Fulham visit Derby - two teams who if you combined their point total would still be in the bottom half of the table!  It's one of those matches that will most likely end scoreless, but if someone gets an early goal the floodgates could open.

It's the last set of matches before the Champions League resumes and the top four Engllish teams are all still involved.  Arsenal have already hinted that they're going to rest K2 and we'll see what the other clubs do. I'm developing a theory that if Liverpool can beat Everton that they're best strategy will be to tank the league match with Arsenal and concentrate on the Champions League matches against the Gunners.  If they can open a five point lead over Everton they'll have the breathing room to not sweat a loss at Emirates.  And if Arsenal can stay in the race for the league title than not only will their attentions be divided but Chelsea and ManU won't be able to focus on the Champions League alone either, should Liverpool meet them in the next round.

But I could be wrong.

Continuing our look ahead - our barn(es) door report, if you will - Everton get their home match against Derby.  So by hook or by crook you have to get the Yak and Arteta on your team.  AJ, Osman and any defender in your budget should also be considered and corralled.  A lot of the other bottom teams match up with each other and I'm not sure any are worth backing.  Villa get Bolton at Villa Park and could use the chance to break out of their slump -assuming it continues this week at Old Trattford.  Chelsea visit Citeh and ManU visit Boro but too much depends on who gets rotated because of the Champions League matches.

So basically, get Everton.  And Jummy home to Sunderland.  But mostly Everton.

But let's not look too far ahead, we have a lot of matches this weekend.  Who you got, who you watching, and how are they doing for you?  This is your matchday open thread. 

(103 user comments)

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  • (81)

    What game are Spurs playinggg, huh??? lose points....*sigh*

    Posted by: shukricosmos on Sun Mar 30 05:05PM | Report abuse
  • (82)

    everton need to realise they cant afford a loss here. ps did u ever notice some players are just 'stupid' in a footballing sense? i mean as opposed to the 'smart' players. torres springs to mind as a modern example of a smart player- lucas and dawson examples of stupid ones.

    Posted by: jiverson2x on Sun Mar 30 05:32PM | Report abuse
  • (83)

    My only problem now is that Owen is quietly turning into a points machine and I want him but I've already got Torres and Defoe at huge discount who are undroppable and I'm also holding Yakubu for next weeks game. Not got long to make a final decision on whether to go with Owen or Yak for the coming week before Owens value undoubtedly goes up.

    Posted by: ocuk_kaiowas on Sun Mar 30 05:44PM | Report abuse
  • (84)

    I know, I know, Yak home to Derby, but you know how the Yak is in terms of requiring service, and without TimmyC, I have some doubts about that. Also, Yak is feast or famine and no assists. My problem with strikers for next week also involves Yak and a NUF forward. I've got Torres, Defoe, and Zarate all at good discounts, and Zarate was wicked cheap. Hmmm...what to do.

    Posted by: the_burning_pen on Sun Mar 30 06:00PM | Report abuse
  • (85)

    How does Hutton concede 4, and still get 3.5 points? Good job i bought him weeks ago. 100+ points this week.

    Posted by: bigdonkeydave on Sun Mar 30 07:32PM | Report abuse
  • (86)

    re (85) I'm in a similar predicament. Got Zarate before his price sky rocketed, had Santa for months. Worth dropping Torres for Yak, as Torres is likely to be rested for a couple of weeks? I hope Pompey game on Tuesday is in GW31, since i dropped him after he scored twice this week because Yahoo didn't have the game up. Yak looked terrible today. Without AJ & TC? big choice.

    Posted by: bigdonkeydave on Sun Mar 30 07:39PM | Report abuse
  • (87)

    the_burning_pen : i have never seen dawson lash out. ever. the only time i can think of him doing anything remotely like what your talking about is when he handballed vs manutd, and that was frustration at being caught out the same way twice.

    Posted by: ben_is_a_monkey on Sun Mar 30 10:01PM | Report abuse
  • (88)

    we're all in that YAK predicament. Hoping he'll tear it up against Derby. It's a lose/lose situation. We pick him and he shits the bed or we don't pick him and he will tear it up. hmmmm. don't really like any other matchups... Villa@home to Bolton seems like the second best match up...Carew perhaps? Carson for sure since his price dropped. Hutton after his 8th game did jump +4.

    Posted by: owen1981 on Sun Mar 30 11:49PM | Report abuse
  • (89)

    Dawson doesn't think, he reacts with kicks and trips and pushing that give away a lot of kicks against TOT. Just silly stuff that he needn't do that sets up a set piece close to goal. I'm all for Tottenham, but I think that in central def, you need a more mature player with better control when he gets frustrated. Dawson'll be fine in time (he's 24 and hot-headed), just needs to grow up a bit and pick his battles.

    Posted by: the_burning_pen on Mon Mar 31 12:15AM | Report abuse
  • (90)

    Hoped Berbs would get me a couple of goals and he didn't even got me one. Thanks alot. Dropped Rooney for him and Rooney scores a brace! OMG! Earnshaw got me most pts for this week (6.50) besides CRon. I barndoor-ed Geremi, Rooney and Zarate. Hoping for a 100+ pts next week to redeem myself for this horrible week.

    Posted by: zzzeclipse on Mon Mar 31 06:58AM | Report abuse