Daniel Sturridge Goal England v. Peru

First XI - What We Learned During Week 7

This column is getting long enough in its own right so I'm not going to write much of a preamble this time around.  Before we get to it though, I'm going to solicit feedback on two aspects of the column.  I've added what I'm thinking will be regular fixtures under #1 and #2 .  I have been mixing fantasy and reality comments in this column thus far this season.  That isn't going to change but I want to make sure I'm doing enough fantasy stuff since that's generally why you're here reading.  The other thing I've added in at the end is related to my other sports interests.  Is it entirely self-indulgent, yes it is.  Should you care? You tell me, that's why we have a comments section.  I hope you like the new format additions.

Barn Door Team

There is still much football to be played this "week" as Liverpool travel to Fulham later today, and the big Spurs/ManCity clash on Tuesday. But the barn door (and time and tide) wait for no fantasy manager. Here's the state of my team after the weekend's action:

A few enablers in Heitinga, Zenden, and even Hitzlsperger allow for some big spending up top with Odemwingie and van Persie.  Tevez comes into the mix depending on how he looks against Spurs.  Of course he'll have the FA Cup match before the rematch against Stoke the following Tuesday so I may stay away.  Same goes for David Silva, whom I'm holding, but in this team I've replaced him with Matty Taylor.  Bolton are on the road against a motivated Blackpool, but I figure there will be goals on both sides of the pitch in that one.  Hence my keeping Sturridge even after he broke my heart against Sunderland this weekend.  When will I ever learn not to bet on Bolton?  It should be a rule or something!

In net I've moved from Hart to Edwin Van Der Sar.  I expect Manchester United to clinch the Premier League title this weekend at Ewood Park and to do it "to nil".  However, that is a pool of money to draw from to upgrade elsewhere... I'm looking at your spots, Johnny Heit and B.Zenden!

Where have you netted out on the barn door?

History Repeating

In your history books

Check out this post from the blog's first month back in 2004:

Fantasy Premier League Blog: The Roman Empire

We love the Fantasy EPL mentality that Mr. Abromavich has brought to Chelsea, but we're not sure he's picking the right guys up front. To prove our point, we'll be tracking the fantasy totals of Roman/Jose's current strikers against the ones they've kindly loaned out to their rivals (specifically Carlton Cole and Mikael Forssell). Even with a 3 striker to 2 advantage the Banished lead those still around by the narrow margin of 21.60 to 20.40.

After Week 1:

The Most Favored:
D. Drogba - 5.30
E. Gudjohnsen - 10.20
M. Kezmen - 4.90

The Banished:
C. Cole - 16.70
M. Forssell - 4.90

And now compare today's situation where Neal is giving us weekly updates on the respective goal tallies of Torres (1) and Sturridge (7).

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même.

Sturridge a doubt

Sturridge a doubt for Trotters - Yahoo! Eurosport

Bolton manager Owen Coyle is hoping striker Daniel Sturridge will have recovered from an ankle knock in time for Tuesday's Barclays Premier League trip to Fulham.

The on-loan Chelsea man scored his seventh goal in nine games in Sunday's 2-1 win over Arsenal but was forced off with the problem late in the game.

That would be a real kick in the teeth for fantasy managers. His ownership percentage jumped from 4% to 9% for this double week so clearly a lot of us have gotten on the bandwagon. However, 90% of teams don't have him - and points is points - so we're hopeful he'll play.

Meanwhile Zamora should be back for Fulham. Stoke lose Fuller but could get Carew back. And of course, SEB is a doubt for Wolves.

Update from Owen Coyle via BWFC.co.uk:

"Daniel Sturridge limped off near the end and we will give him until the last minute to see if he is available, and hopefully he is.

"Fingers crossed we will have the same squad, with 21 players in contention given that Ricardo Gardner, Robbie Blake and Marcos Alonso narrowly missed out on Sunday.

"We will look to pick the best team available."

Premier League Transfer Round-up for Tuesday

Hart won't be hanging around Citeh much longer.

Hart set to depart after Taylor arrival
Not that you'll rate Taylor, or see him on the pitch for Citeh (God willing if you're a Citeh fan), but this means that Hart is free to go on loan with Birmingham the likely destination. Certainly a good move for the Blues but probably not an answer for fantasy managers. We saw how fragile Hart could be behind a porous defence, and well, Birmingham will likely be the very definition.

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Sturridge set for Chelsea switch
There is haggling about the size of the fee, but it seems that Chelsea are moving to freshen up their squad. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sturridge get a few starts next season as injuries and other priorities (Champions League, for instance) crop up. At best he'll be this year's Bentdner in the "part time striker on a big club" role. At worst he'll be loaned out and we just won't worry about him again.

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Jimenez to join Hammers
Every article is calling Jimenez a striker or a forward, but seemingly (yeah, I just Googled him) though he's a versatile attacker he is predominantly a right-sided middie. He's been injured and out of favor at Inter this season, but he has a 1-in-3 goals per game history in Serie A and could be a nice piece for Zola. He could also be a nice piece for fantasy managers. He'll be cheap enough, coming in at the 'new player/transfer from outside the Premier League' price but it remains to be seen if he's listed properly as a middie and not as a striker. Until that's decided, he's not getting +10 designation.