PLFantasy

I've missed a couple of 'fanning the flames' pieces over the festive period as the games have simply come too quickly to stay on top of. Given the fact that the wildcard window is about to open, I thought it might be useful to look over the last four  gameweeks of action and perform the same analysis as we normally do; deciding whether their success is legitimately repeatable. As in prior weeks, each player is assigned a 'buy', 'hold/monitor' or 'sell' status. These do not necessarily reflect what I would personally do, rather what I suggest to be a decision based in logic. For example, I might feel that Rooney represents better value than van Persie, but I would still 'buy' the Dutchman's success and consider him very ownable. The different assigned statuses are summarised as: Buy - the player can be purchased immediately taking consideration of his playing time, fixtures, injury status etc. This status does not necessarily mean yo...

Looking back at last season 9 clean sheets last season tied the Potters for 8th in the league. 6 of these came at home, where they conceded less than a goal per game.  Failed to score 13 times, tied for most in the league. This included a league high 10 times on the road. This inconsistency (somewhat fueled by Pulis' tactics) really limits the ability to start Stoke players every week and possibly limits them to spot start status. Stoke keepers provided good value last season ranking 7th in points, 5th in bonus points and 6th in P$ . Begovic is well priced again so there is hope that this will continue this season. Unlike the keepers (who were bailed out by high save totals on the road), the Stoke defense only contributed great production at home. At the Brittania Stadium they ranked 6th in P90 and 2nd in P$ , while on the road they managed marks of just 14th in each category.  The midfield also saw significant splits, leading the league in P$ at home whi...