In Depth Pre-Season Analysis: Fulham

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Fulham

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Fantasy Premium Pick: Schwarzer (5.5, click here for player statistics), Hangeland (5.5), Murphy (6.5)

Fantasy Top Pick: Hughes (5.0), Pantsil (5.0)

Fantasy Good Pick: Dempsey (6.5)

Fantasy Gamble Pick: A Johnson (6.5), Zamora (5.5)

Note: The parentheses ( ) after a player name states his price.

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The cottagers had shown that they aren't simple. In fact, with one of the cheapest squad on the premier league, their success last year is just far over people's estimations. In fact, who in the world would expect that they could push Man City and Tottenham out of the Europa League qualifiers? And now they are on their way to create miracles again, with the same but fortified squad. Lets see if they can cater both league and Europa Cup well this season.

Goalkeepers and Defenders

They are only some rare keepers who can be the main pillar of the team, and Fulham got one. Mark Schwarzer's 143 saves last season was unbelievable. With this combined with Fulham's resolute defending, his outstanding performance had given a very positive response on his price - a hike of 0.8 from the start (4.0) to the end of last season. And now he has been tagged 5.5 milion. Still, he's too good to be missed don't him?

Save by Mark Schwarzer

As a complement to Schwarzer, Fulham defenders did well to secure for their seventh place last season. Even with such limited team, Hodgson's squad managed to seal for 16 clean sheets last season thanks to the likes such as Hangeland, Pantsil, Konchesky and Hughes. The main credit must be given to their defensive pillar Brede Hangeland who never showed any fear when defending his side against his opponents. His 19 bonus points last season proved his great value for Fulham. The downside of their defensive line? The hectic fixtures for Fulham for this coming season in which fatigueness will come and strike them.

Midfielders

Ex-Liverpooldians Murphy is still proven to be very effective in organizing the offense of Fulham, even at his age. Honestly, 150 points is just too good for his superbly cheap price (5.5) last season. One important point is that he's always the main choice for Fulham's set piece kicks, so he'll always deliver a plenty amount of points to your team, should you have him. Other than him, Clint Dempsey is also a good lad to be thought of. His performance during Confederation Cup was a very impressive work. Not to be forgotten about his once in a while double figure boom. But can you contain him in your team given that Schwarzer, Hangeland and Murphy are too good to be missed?

Fulham's captain Danny Murphy

Forwards

Like most of the teams, Fulham's strikers were not on fire as well last season. We see great potential from Andy Johnson, but still it's a little bit risky. The same goest to Zamora. Will you gamble on them?

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08/09 Game Season Statistics

Top Pointers: Schwarzer (175)

Most Goals: Dempsey, Johnson (7)

Most Assists: Zamora (6)

Most Bonus: Murphy (26)

Most Clean Sheets (Defensive Line): Hughes, Schwarzer (15)

Points per Value: Schwarzer (31.8)

Points per Game: Schwarzer (4.6)

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In Depth Pre-Season Analysis: Everton

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Everton

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Fantasy Premium Pick: Lescott (7.5)

Fantasy Top Pick: Cahill (8.5), Arteta (8.5), Fellaini (7.0), Jagielka (6.0), Baines (6.5)

Fantasy Good Pick: Pienaar (6.5), Osman (7.0)

Fantasy Gamble Pick: Jo (7.5), Saha (7.0), Yakubu (8.0)

Note: The parentheses ( ) after a player name states his price.

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Merseysiders are tough, aren't they? The toffees had an doomed start last season but managed to fight their way back for the fifth position of the league, and all of that was due to their toughness - even against the big four.

Goalkeepers and Defenders

Thanks for their great CBs Everton is regarded as one of the hardest opponent to play with in the premier league. Joleon Lescott, only second to Vidic in the defenders' table, is the main pillar of Everton's line-up both offensively and defensively. With 16 clean sheets, 4 goals, 2 assists and 21 bonuses, he's the hot pick of Fantasy Premier League. Still, his partner, Phil Jagielka, didn't let him to shine alone in the Everton's defensive line. His bonus points of 25 - even higher than Lescott, has shown his significance at Everton. Well its unlucky though as he will only be recovered from injury approximately on November. Besides them, Baines is also a strong member of the toffees. Playing only for about 2/3 season, his 1 goal and 7 assists committed will surely secure his starting position next season.

Howard, although scored a lot of points last season, is not a good bargain simply because of his price. He don't have much chance to perform saves either standing at the back of one of the top defence in the league.

Midfielders

Everton have the finest midfielder combinations as well. Firstly, they have a superb playmaker and set-piece taker Arteta who should have scored at least 150 fantasy points if not due to his long injury. Secondly, they have an Australian ace Tim Cahill who can play as CAM or even ST and scored a lot of goals during all of their strikers' absence. Thirdly, they have a super afro-head Fellaini who can boom in a lot of headers even against the top four. Last but not least, they also have the likes like Osman and Pienaar who may not sparkle as much as the ones before but yet provided decent performance and gave a notable number of goals and assists. Note that I never really recommend for Neville this season as he's a midfielder now. He only delivers a mere amount of goals and assists and now, he's lost the great 4 points for each clean sheet.

Tim Cahill (right) and Maruonne Fellaini

Forwards

Everton's strikers are doubtful. They have the big names like Yakubu, Saha and Jo, but their outputs were never really met my expectations. Only a total of 15 goals from them last season really make me to piss them off. But since the main factor for it was due to their series of injuries, so you can consider to give them a chance to prove for themselves in your team.

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08/09 Game Season Statistics

Top Pointers: Lescott (172)

Most Goals: Cahill, Fellaini (8)

Most Assists: Pienaar (8)

Most Bonus: Jagielka (25)

Most Clean Sheets (Defensive Line): Howard (17)

Points per Value: Neville (28)

Points per Game: Arteta (5)

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In Depth Pre-Season Analysis: Chelsea

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Chelsea

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Fantasy Premium Pick: Lampard (12.5, click here for player statistics), Bosingwa (7.5), Anelka (10.5)

Fantasy Top Pick: Zhirkov (7.5)

Fantasy Good Pick: A. Cole (7.0), Terry (7.0), Malouda (7.0), Cech (6.5), Drogba (10.5)

Fantasy Gamble Pick: Deco (8.5)

Note: The parentheses ( ) after a player name states his price.

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Chelsea had had an happening annum last season. From arrival of Scolari to brilliant perfomance of Deco, then to his humiliating departure and the arrival of the master of miracle - Guus Hiddink... After such a troublesome season, it was not surprised that they got only third with abundance of talents in their team. The first question of this season for Chelsea: Is Carlo Ancelotti another Scolari or another Hiddink?

Goalkeepers and Defenders

As top three, Chelsea's defence is definitely one of the most reliable ones in the premier league if you have the budget. Having 19 of 38 league clean sheets, Petr Cech is a very good bargain - at least for his consistency. Of course you can say that it's better to get Schwarzer simply because he got more chance to perform, but having a world class keeper like Cech will give you more security. The only downside of him is his low playing time as a keeper (3150 mins compared to Reina who appeared for all 38 games or 3420 mins) and also his high price.

The defenders deserved the credit of one of the best defence too. Bosingwa, ranked #4 of all defenders in fantasy premier league scoreboard, performed well in both defense and offense last season with 18 clean sheets, 2 goals and 4 assists. Even at the price of 7.5 he is still a good product to be purchased. Terry, the captain is also a good buy, but his return rate will not be as much as Bosingwa due to his role as CB. Ashley Cole is a weaker Bosingwa but still too superior than most of the defenders of the league while Alex if not for his new 7.0 tag, should be a hot pick for substitute. And as for Zhirkov, he should be a good choice if he ends up playing as a midfielder, I have a question before about him: can this Russian fit well into premiership run and gun style? And based on his debut game against Milan, I am pretty sure that the answer is yes.

Midfielders

Who's the talisman of Chelsea? I guess 10 out of 10 Chelsea's fans will vote for Lampard. The same for all the people who know about football. Scoring a sky high 226 points, he's not the guy you can afford to miss. Lets look at these superior stats:

1. At least 60% of the game Lampard played with Chelsea ended up with at least one goal or assist from him.
2. He started 37 of premier league games last season, and ranked third for playing minutes amongst all the league midfielders.
3. He scored 12 (ranked fifth of all players) goals and 10 assists (ranked first), which in total gave him 100 fantasy points.
4. He was the leader of bonus points league with an unbelievable figure of 46 points (17 points in front of closest competitor).
5. He scored 6.1 points per game and was ranked third in this criteria.

With above ultimately convincing facts, it is definitely a bad decision to rule out Lampard from your team, even with his 12.5 mil price tag.

Frank Lampard

Malouda is also good to observe for - if he can perform something like what he had done in the late stage of last season and, most importantly, he can victor over Zhirkov for his position. Not to be forgotten as well the Portuguese named Deco - is he a part of Carlo's plan?

Forwards

We have a golden boot here in Chelsea's frontline, Anelka is definitely a good bargain for striker, especially when all the forwards last season did not show a good result on their report card. At 10.5 he's cheaper than both Rooney and Torres, but more decent and injury-free as well. But will he have less playing time under Carlo's Chelsea? "Didier played very well and for us he is a very important player," I think Carlo's word had left us a lot of puzzle especially when Drogba scored in recent game against Inter Milan. Guess that we just have to wait for the season to start to solve this labyrinth.

Nicolas Anelka

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08/09 Game Season Statistics

Top Pointers: Lampard (226)

Most Goals: Anelka (19)

Most Assists: Lampard (10)

Most Bonus: Lampard (46)

Most Clean Sheets (Defensive Line): Terry (20)

Points per Value: Cech (26.3)

Points per Game: Lampard (6.1)

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In Depth Pre-Season Analysis: Burnley

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Burnley

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Fantasy Good Pick: Eagles (5.5), Blake (5.5), Paterson (5.0), Elliott (5.0)

Fantasy Gamble Pick: Fletcher (5.5), Edgar (4.0)

Note: The parentheses ( ) after a player name states his price.

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Burnley has finally returned to the most prestigious league of England after 34 years roaming under lower division leagues. Although they only finished fifth in the league table, however their fighting spirit helped them to survive through the play-offs. So can they survive in the premiership? Lets wait and see.

Goalkeepers and Defenders

Burnley's defence never impressed me. Although their goal against figure was quite low last season, however championship and premiership are not the same. So I will hold on my comments about their defensive line before the league starts. My advice: observe for several league games first before even considering about their defenders (note that their first five fixtures are nothing but hell-like). Edgar who has Premier League experience might worth you a bet on him.

Midfielders

Burnley do have good midfielders. Remember the ex-devil Eagles? Yes, he's at Burnley and helped his club to get promoted. A figure of 7 goals and 6 assists is quite good for a midfielder, especially when he only started 31 games last season. With a lot of starting time after joining Burnley, who knows if he'll be the next Ireland of last season? Besides him, Elliott who gained 5 goals and 8 assists also proved to be a decent bargain.

Chris Eagles

Forwards

Burnley do have a good striking force with two very different style forwards. The best striker of the team in my opinion, Blake, scored 8 goals and a big figure of 12 assists - a very good record for a striker. Whereas the top scorer of the team, Paterson recorded 13 goals last season. A very decent choice as backup strikers. Whereas their latest signing Ferguson is still unproven in the league, so lets just wait and see for his performance.

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08/09 Game Season Statistics

Top Pointers: N/A

Most Goals: Paterson (13)

Most Assists: Blake (12)

Most Bonus: N/A

Most Clean Sheets (Defensive Line): Unknown

Points per Value: N/A

Points per Game: N/A

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