How to win at Fantasy Football

Sunday, 28 December 08, 12:27 PM · Comments(1)

by Joel Abraham

It's got to that point in the year when the crushing disappointment of your own team's mediocrity has become too much, and consequently your only understanding of whether or not you're pleased with the weekly results is through the conduit of Fantasy Football. Your team got battered, but it's okay, because Mikel Arteta got an assist. Halfway through the season, it's a good time to review.

- Everyone has Stephen Ireland

I had him from the start because I'm excellent, but if you have him, keep him. It's just a question of parity. He is a frustrating FF player - he'll get one point for three games running, and then suddenly get 19. Don't get excited if he scores - whether he gets one point or 50, it's meaningless. The same applies for Bosingwa and Ronaldo, but they're both so expensive that they're not worth having anyway.

- Wigan players are great value

The defenders particularly - they cost from between 4.2 and 4.5, and Wigan have a good defensive record. Zaki looks like he might pick up again, and with him on penalty duty, he's worth the money.

- Don't pick Arsenal players

The defence is porous, none of the midfielders stand out, Adebayor is flaky and van Persie will never give you two good games in a row. You might fall into the trap of thinking "Clichy is a good player", but the defence as a unit is poor and rarely keep clean sheets. The one exception is Denilson. Now that Fabregas is crocked, Denilson is a guaranteed starter and is always good for the odd goal and assist, considering his price.

- There are only three Liverpool players worth picking

Liverpool are a FF nightmare. They don't keep many clean sheets, they have no consistent goalscorers, and they simply grind out results without anybody in particular excelling. Benitez messes around with the lineup so often that it's not worth getting anybody apart from Reina, Carragher and Gerrard. You might fancy someone like Skrtel, but even if he plays brilliantly and keeps a load of clean sheets, Benitez will inexplicably swap him for Hyypia after a couple of games. As for Reina, I've had him for the whole season with the superior Schwarzer on the bench, and the number of points I've lost as a result makes me very sad indeed.

- Get on the Fulham defensive bandwagon

Schwarzer, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky and Paintsil will always start, so pick one and enjoy.

- Don't pick Anelka

Drogba's back, so they'll probably both stop scoring.

- Man City are good 25% of the time

They only play well at home, and when they win, they win big. It might even be worth benching them when they're away. Players like Ireland and Robinho will do brilliantly in every other home game.

- Don't pick Delap or Geovanni

I know you want to, just don't.

- Chelsea only keep clean sheets with Carvalho

So get him in there now.

- Don't pick any Villa defenders until Laursen is back

They'll probably ship goals until then.

- Get rid of all your Portsmouth players

Let's face it, they've gone a bit crap under Tony Adams.

- Keep an eye on Jason Roberts

Under Allardyce, he'll probably be the focal point of the attack. Their defenders may also start keeping clean sheets, but they're still too expensive to take a gamble on them yet.

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