EPL Talk » Fantasy Football

Fantasy Premier League Tips For This Weekend

Josh Allen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:50:23 +0000

With the 2009-10 Premier League season entering its final furlong, there are still thousands of managers searching for an all important edge to make their team stand out from the crowd.

Ok, so there may be a select group of fifty that get the most publicity and are supposedly under the most pressure but anyone that’s played fantasy football knows that it wont just be Arsene Wenger and co that are faced with crucial selection dilemmas this weekend.

Just like the professional game, the road to glory can be littered with obstacles and pitfalls, so in order to ease the burden just a little bit I will be compiling a weekly selection of tips to help guide you towards the promised land. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.*

Build from the back

Many a top flight manager has built his success upon a solid defence. George Graham at Arsenal, Gerard Houllier in his treble winning year at Liverpool and Don Revie at Leeds United all placed a huge emphasis on their respective back-lines and while their style of play was not always pleasing on the eye, it certainly reaped rewards.

With plenty of points on offer for clean sheets, fantasy football managers will also know the benefits of a good defence and this week in particular should prove to be a productive one for the boys at the back.

As the season nears its climax and points suddenly become more valuable the goals often tend to dry up, with teams placing a greater emphasis on defence. This is especially the case for those fighting the drop and as such the matches taking place at the Reebok (Bolton v Wigan) and Turf Moor (Burnley v Wolves) are unlikely to be awash with attacking flair.

The scorers may also remain untroubled at St Andrews as the Premier League’s second lowest home scorers (Birmingham City) take on an Everton side one position and two points below them.

Express recommendations –

Leighton Baines (Everton)

Phil Jagielka (Everton)

Graham Alexander (Burnley)

Make hay while the sun shines

If there is one side likely to score goals this weekend it’s Arsenal and if there is one side likely to concede them it’s Hull City.

The Gunners knocked five past FC Porto in midweek, while poor Hull were still trying to get over their 5-1 thumping at the hands of Everton.

Nicklas Bendtner doesn’t have a particularly good reputation when it comes to making the most of goalscoring opportunities but the young Dane netted a hat-trick on Tuesday and is also likely to be available on the cheap.

Express recommendations –

Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal)

Don’t ignore the obvious

Hidden gems can often make the difference in fantasy football but that doesn’t mean you can afford to leave out the big hitters.

Wayne Rooney has been so hot in recent weeks that few would be surprised if the England talisman was to literally burst into flames. Indeed, if any fantasy manager still needs convincing of Wayne’s worth after a routine destruction of AC Milan on Wednesday night, then quite frankly they need sectioning.

This weekend’s opponents Fulham are strong at home but do tend to buckle at Old Trafford. Add to this a taxing midweek trip to Juventus and Roy’s boys should be a prime target for the goal hungry striker.

Express recommendations –

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

*In case of any unexpected turbulence please ensure that seatbelts are kept securely fastened at all times. I can not be held responsible for any Keegan-esque meltdowns triggered as a result of this advice.

Join The 2008/2009 Fantasy Premier League

The Gaffer — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:50:45 +0000

Great news. The Premier League has opened the doors to its 2008/2009 Fantasy Premier League, and on behalf of EPL Talk, I’d like to invite you to join our private league.

To play for free against hundreds of football fans from around the world, here’s all you have to do:

Visit the Fantasy Premier League site and log in
If you’ve never registered before, go to http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/register.mc
After logging in, click the ‘League’ link in the left navigation
In the “Join A League” field, enter the code 55864-15648 and then click the ‘Join League’ button

Last season, out of the 113,062 teams that participated in the competition, the EPL Talk private league ended in 61st position and had 430 players participating. Let’s try to beat those records this season!

The winner of the EPL Talk Fantasy Premier League will receive a package of Premier League-related prizes from EPL Talk, so may the best manager win!

Join the 2009-2010 Fantasy Premier League today!

Final Standings For EPL Talk Euro 2008 Fantasy Football League

The Gaffer — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:58:16 +0000

The EPL Talk Euro 2008 Fantasy Football League ended in 46th place in the Best Leagues standing with an average score of 268.2. As far as we can tell, we ended up in first place among the private leagues originating from the United States. Here are the top 10 winners. First placed Luis Arias wins a Euro 2008 jersey of his choice. Congratulations.

Steddy2000, Luis Arias, 334 points
Scursed, Saullus Valasinas, 321
UDontNoWhatY:DoinFC, Pat Pence, 310
Riverdale FC, James Dutra, 308
The Man Moths, Jude Eichas, 304
Alpine Wanderers, MT, 298
Foolish FC, Mark Aegerter, 297
Walker’s Old Boys, Kevin Walker, 291
Winning 11, Leonard Vitarana, 291
Athleague FC, Little Rudiger Connaughton, 290.

Be sure to check back with EPL Talk this summer when we announce the launch of the EPL Talk private league for the 2008/2009 season.

EPL Talk Fantasy Football: Euro 2008 Winds Down

The Gaffer — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:07:13 +0000

There’s just one game left in Euro 2008, which means there’s one last chance to get as many points as possible in the EPL Talk Euro 2008 Fantasy Football game. The winner will receive a replica jersey of the Euro 2008 team of his or her choice courtesy of Subside Sports.

Here’s the top 10 rankings as of writing:

Scursed, Saulius Valasinas, 288 pts
Alpine Wanderers, MT, 265
Riverdale FC, James Dutra, 264
UDontNoWhatYrDoingFC, Pat Pence, 263
The Man Moths, jude eichas, 261
Athleague FC, Little Rudiger Connaughton, 249
Walker’s Old Boys, Kevin Walker, 249
DonBoscoFC, Zeeshan Ali, 248
orlando-everton, Mark Carson, 245
KambeNFC, biawak rakus, 243

If you forgot how to log into your fantasy account, read EPL Talk’s article for more details.

Euro 2008 Fantasy Football League Table

The Gaffer — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:00:17 +0000

Out of the 76 teams playing in EPL Talk’s private version of the Euro 2008 Fantasy Football League competition, here are the top 10 managers as of this morning:

Riverdale FC, James Dutra, 95 points
Rafa’s Redmen, David James, 89 points
SPAOTP FC, Chris Oakley, 87 points
KambeNFC, Blawak Rakus, 86 points
Indian Devils, Sujayjumar Bedekar, 86 pints
The Estadio, Reynna Badiuz, 84 points
Water Diy, Sean Nason, 81 points
Walker’s Old Boys, Kevin Walker, 81 points
Portugal #1, Pedro Da Cunha, 80 points
Winning 11, Leonard Vitarana, 80 points

If you haven’t joined the league yet, it’s not too late. Read this article to learn more. The winner of the competition will win a replica shirt of a Euro 2008 team of his or her choice!

Join EPL Talk’s Euro ‘08 Fantasy Football League

The Gaffer — Sat, 31 May 2008 14:08:54 +0000

Join EPL Talk’s Euro 2008 fantasy football league today and the winner will win an official replica shirt of the Euro 2008 team of your choice courtesy of Subside Sports.Registration is free. Here’s all you have to do:

Visit http://en.fantasy.euro2008.uefa.com
If you’ve registered in the past for the Champions League fantasy game, just login. But if you haven’t registered before, click the “Register” link underneath the McDonald’s logo.
After you’ve logged in and/or registered, pick your team.
After selecting all 12 players on your team, click on the “Leagues” link on the top navigation bar underneath the word “Rules”
Then in the “Join a Private League” section, enter the following code to join the EPL Talk private league: 20198-4224

This will definitely be a lot of fun and a good opportunity to see how well you know the game of football — especially seeing that there are so many players from so many countries to choose from.The winner of the shirt will be announced after the Euro 2008 Final.In the meantime, visit the EPL Talk Shop for Euro 2008 football shirts for each country.