PLFantasy

Warning: some of the following lineups may cause severe depression and bewilderment. Be assured that they are indeed Premier League lineups and take solace that we still have three weeks before the transfer deadline. If the below gets too depressing, check out the other previews for comfort: The Elite The Maybes The Promoted Aston Villa Projected lineup: Given (5.0) , Stevens (4.0) , Clark (4.5) , Vlaar (5.0) , Lichaj (4.5) , N'Zogbia (6.5), El Ahmadi (4.5) , Holman (6.0) , Delph (5.0), Weimann (5.5), Bent (8.5) This lineup would be more settled if not for the one month or longer injuries to Agbonlahor and Dunne which make the opening lineup tricky to predict. Hutton and Warnock appear to deemed surplus to requirement with Stevens, Lichaj and Lowton apparently being left to fill the void. A new arrival is surely imminent with Aaron Cresswell widely regarded as the man to take the left back spot, but for now Stevens is pencilled in by default. Though this unit should imp...

I have touched on the double gameweeks earlier but I think we need more analysis if we are to fully enjoy the fruits of them when playing the transfer window wildcard. Let's look at every team who has one or more double gameweeks coming up, who looks set to benefit and how you can maximise the opportunity: Arsenal Who they play and when : GW27 - Wolves and Stoke Who are the best plays : Arsenal look like a very good play both defensively and offensively. The Wolves fixture alone would likely rank Arsenal as the top defensive pick of the week and the addition of another sub-1 GPG team makes them a great play. They've only kept 3 clean sheets at home so I'm not crazy about paying the big bucks for a Thomas Vermaelen (if fit by then) but I would rate Fabianski as a very good pick and Djorou as sensational value if still in the first team. As we know, Arsenal are always a good option to score goals and my prediction tools have them scoring 4.7 goals in the two fixtures. I ...

So here is the final team previews, brought to you just one day before the start of the new season (apologies for cutting things a bit close). I will post later tonight a review of all the last minute injury news, as well as tweeting them tomorrow morning before the 11:30 deadline. Today's previews lack the star power of yesterday but plenty of bargains can be found, and each team has something to offer Sunderland Projected Team: Fulop, McCartney, Collins, Ferdinand, Bardsley, Richardson, Cattermole, Cana, Malbranque, Bent, Jones After being given a substantial war chest by the board, Steve Bruce has spent very well on Weirside and his team look stronger than they ever have. It would not be surprising at all to see Sunderland pushing Fulham and West Ham for top half spots rather than scrapping at the wrong end of the table. At the back the team is largely unchanged, which is disappointing for a team who ranked just 13th in total defense (16th home, 12th away) last season. Paolo de ...

Valencia has been very quiet of late, earning just 10 points in his late 4 outings. However, these games included trips to Liverpool, Portsmouth and Fulham who have three of the best 7 home defenses in the league. Previous fixtures had seen Valencia notch 27 points over the same period when the opposition was Hull, Sunderland , Spurs and City. A quick look ahead sees games against Stoke, Newcastle, Everton and West Brom who all rank in the bottom 5 in total defense this season. This will hopefully see Valencia (and in all likelihood Zaki ) return to top form and he should be a good producer for the next month or so. Valencia is being sold right now (-35000) in the past few weeks so his value could fall to 6.1. However, even at 6.2 he could be a great replacement for the slumping Denilson , Ireland or Downing.