Hello and welcome to the latest edition of DesiEPLFantasyManager.

So the blog views have been encouraging – hits from a wide range of countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Hong Kong, Macedonia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and The USA! (part showing off, part urging fellow Desis to spread the word more – locally and globally!)

Here starts the tricky part of DEFM – now that the initial 15 member team has been already picked, making wholesale changes to your FPL team won’t be possible without incurring hefty penalties.  Tracking player performances will be easy, just pick a football statistics based website to get a better idea. Heck, the dropdown in the FPL Player Filters will suffice for some as well!

i’ll attempt to identify the players who might just be a great investment, for weeks to come. The ones whose performances probably didn’t make the headline. i’ll try to watch a couple of matches (time restrictions!!) and analyze patterns (if any) of team and player performances, and try to predict results for the next Gameweek.

With that, let me try to present my take on Gameweek2. The technique i’ll adopt – for now – is this: i’ll recommend players across the various positions (G’keeper/Defender/Midfielder/Forward) from three price bands – Low/Medium/High.

Here goes nothing!

  • Goalkeepers:
  1. David De Gea (High) – Easily the best United player at Goodison Park, the Spaniard was the only reason why Everton didn’t win by 3 or 4 goals – well, him and the woodwork that is.
  2. Michel Vorm (Medium) – Swansea blew away QPR by scoring 5 goals, but Vorm made a respectable 4 saves as well. With the next match against West Ham, expect a clean sheet – or points off multiple saves at least.
  3. Kelvin Davis (Low) – The Saints’ shot stopper proved his mettle with the penalty save. With Wigan up next at home, a clean sheet won’t be a unexpected result.
  • Defenders:
  1. Leighton Baines (High) – Quite easily the best defender from last week, Baines was vital in attack and defense. The trip to Aston Villa might lead to a second clean sheet victory in a row.
  2. Kyle Walker (Medium) – Yet another match-up this week which could be a clean sheet victory, expect Spurs to bounce back from their Toon heartbreak.
  3. Carl Jenkinson (Low) – An assured performance and Bacary Sagna’s absence means another 90 minutes for the right back. Barring any mishap, expect a solid performance (maybe a clean sheet) and maybe (just maybe) an assist as well.
  • Midfielders:
  1. Shinji Kagawa (High) – After having an unceremonious start to life in EPL, expect Kagawa to stamp his authority at Old Trafford with a performance that’ll cause a lot of trouble to the Fulham defense.
  2. Miguel Michu (Medium) – The un-Spanish-ly tall Swansea star had a stellar debut for Swansea. West Ham will offer a great platform to dazzle again.
  3. Steven Pienaar (Low) – The South African had an erratic match against Man. Utd. Expect him to be among the goals with an improved performance.
  • Forwards:
  1. Wayne Rooney (High) – The Red Devils will be hurting. While RvP might score, Rooney has to for the Devils to record their first victory this season.
  2. Papiss Cissé (Medium) – Demba Ba has ended his goal drought. Expect his Senegalese team mate to join in the goal fest.
  3. Rickie Lambert (Low) – The Saints’ top scorer was a surprise exclusion from the starting XI against Man. City. He came off the bench to score a well taken goal. He has admitted to being hurt by the axe, and will probably make Nigel Adkins look like a fool for even thinking of not starting him again.

i realize that we only have the ONE free transfer to make every week, but you can decide if the list above presents an option where the rewards outweigh the penalties.

So there you have it! How badly can my predictions fail? How many will hit the bulls eye? Does calculated logic apply to EPL matches?!

Will Stewart Downing FINALLY come good for Liverpool in the Premier League?!

Here’s hoping we have the answers in next week’s edition of DesiEPLFantasyManager!

Cheers!