Premier League Fantasy Football 2022-23

[Neil Graham]

Week 9

"I will always be rooting for you. Thank you." Bruno Lage- sacked as Wolves Manager on 02 October.

Basically every manager who is paying attention has Erling Haaland as their captain - so probably best to turn to something else. The best scores came from those managers who chose in-form midfield players (Foden, De Bruyne, Maddison etc) or defenders who could actually defend. When my choice of defenders (Cancelo. Ederson, Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Dier, Nico Williams & Saliba) could manage four points between the seven of them; possibly the choice was lacking. Top defenders of the week were Kehrar (West Ham - 10 points) selected by 0.5% and Senesi (Bournemouth - 9 points) selected by 0.1%. Any way after that whinge certainly some people got it right - 13 managers reached double figures; top scorer James Marley with 113 points now opens up a gap in Premier Chess. Sharing this accolade was Jaimie Wilson also with 113 whilst in 10,448,369th place for the week was Richard Dineley with a miserable 21 points. Haaland not in his team!

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 113 592
2 DontMugYourSelf FC Andy Shearsby 77 567
3 Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 91 566
4 biogs.com Danny Rosenbaum 109 565
5 Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 108 562

Meanwhile Top overall team Keevas 11 now on 641 points

[Neil Graham]

Week 10

"We're not in the race.That's the truth as well. We have to continue." Jurgen Klopp after defeat against Arsenal

The gap between James Marley and his challengers is still a healthy 36 points. We see our most consistent manager in 2021/2, Joel Newman, enter the fray for the first time. There are now only five managers within 50 points of James whereas a couple of weeks ago there were two dozen as for the second week in a row he top scored, this week along with Bartlomiej Zdybowicz. Also mirroring Week 9, Richard Dineley was low scorer taking the nadir down to 10,468,683th place.

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 83 675
2 Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 77 639
3 Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 70 636
4 biogs.com Danny Rosenbaum 70 635
5 Bowen out in style Joel Newman 75 632

Meanwhile To show just how competitive we are this season Andy Shearsby, 2nd in Week 9, has dropped down to 13th! Perhaps he will remove Luke Plange (who?) from his subs bench. Luke is currently on loan till July 2023 so we can confidently expect his net score to be zero.

[Neil Graham]

Quarter One - Weeks 1-10

In the complete absence of Week 7 -which will reappear whenever - I have decided to review the past quarter up to Week 10, which is our normal practice. There were 16 managers who featured in the top five this quarter - but only seven appeared more than once. James Marley has been the most consistent performer and he is manager to catch in the forthcoming quarter. Usual scoring system - 5 points for 1st position down to 1 point for 5th with the number of weeks shown in brackets.

1. James Marley 29 pts (8)
2. Mark Leonard 22 pts (6)
3. Andy Shearsby 19 pts (6)
4. Thomas Evans 14 pts (5)
5. Sam Herring 11pts (4)
6. Onos Kofi-Ofuafor 7 pts (4)
7. Danny Rosenbaum 5 pts (3)

[Neil Graham]

Week 11

“I'm really, really happy with the situation as it is" Gary O'Neil Bournemouth caretaker manager -unbeaten in five games.

All those managers who had Haaland as their captain were disappointed at the weekend. Consequently it was a low scoring week and we have to look to Page 3 to see the top manager of the week who was Barry Redburn. Haaland hasn't featured at all in Barry's team where Harry Kane wears the armband - neither did the City striker find himself in Chris Goodall's side where the "no transfers" tag shows why his preferred team had six players injured which pushed the low score for the season to 10,513,706th.

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 48 723
2 Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 57 696
3 Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 53 689
4 Ince and Ruud Mark Leonard 58 686
5 Bowen out in style Joel Newman 52 684

Timely Reminder Week 12 starts tomorrow - with a couple of important omissions!

[Neil Graham]

Week 12

"I'm a fighter not a quitter" Liz Truss 19th October. 20th October - Liz Truss quits
"I'm a fighter. I'm not going to quit" Stephen Gerrard 20th October. 20th October (later) Stephen Gerrard sacked.

With the game between Manchester City & Arsenal postponed because of the latter's delayed Europa League match there was very little to report. Indeed many of the scores were similar and the top manager of the week was Gaurav Kamath who scored 67 points; 18 others finished within 10 points of Gaurav. Samuel Gooch kept up the low score trend which fell for the 11th successive week as he finished in 10,549,265th position for the week. At the top Ben Cullen appeared for the first time since Week 2.

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 54 777
2 Aresnal Xhakapital Ben Cullen 61 742
3 Bowen out in style Joel Newman 65 741
4 Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 51 740
5 Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 42 738

Overall The leader overall now has 824 points. When will the 1,000 point be reached?

[Neil Graham]

Week 13

"There are a lot of rumours out there" Brentford manager Thomas Frank linked to Aston Villa job despite a 4-0 defeat.

Whilst James Marley continues in first place, a new challenger has emerged with James Friar leaping into the top five for the first time. Alberto Gissi who had the low score in Week 2 has the highest points in Week 13 and moves up over 1,000.000 places. Another first for this week in that Chris James whose low score was in 10,382,444th place - the first time that this figure has moved upwards after it inexorably plummeted from Week One downwards. Finally I have removed a new team who would have been in the table this week as it's manager was known only as "Y V" - clearly not an identifiable person.

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 53 826
2 Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 72 808
3 Bowen out in style Joel Newman 64 805
4 Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 65 803
5 Ince and Ruud Mark Leonard 61 798

Finally Who is Mr.Richard Arlison (James Friar's team name)? Apparently a fictitious bus driver who supposedly was to ferry Liverpool FC supporters to Paris for the European Champions League Final. Allegedly a hoax by Everton fans.

[Neil Graham]

Week 14

“He has ligament damage." Pep Guardiola advises why Haaland didn't start against Leicester - he might have told us before we picked our fantasy teams!

James Marley leads Premier Chess for a sixth successive week. Whilst maintaining this lead he has failed to throw off his challengers - indeed another two have emerged this week as David Lambert and Luke Hayden feature for the first time this season. Only James and Joel Newman remain from the Week 10 top five. Also making progress is Gareth Yeo with the top score of the week of 93 points moving up to 7th place and within touching distance of the fifth spot. Two players have equal low scores of the week in 10,463,348th place.

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 67 893
2 Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 66 874
3 Hibbert for England David Lambert 78 863
4 Bowen out in style Joel Newman 58 863
5 Sterling Silver Luke Hayden 75 858

Meanwhile Week 15 will see the 1,000 point total reached for the leading managers. This is a week earlier than last year bearing in mind that Week 7 disappeared. Wonder who's responsible? Cup qualification next week we think.

[Neil Graham]

Week 15

"We now believe it is an appropriate time to make a change." Southampton FC statement after manager Ralph Hasenhuttl sacked.

Hasenhuttl becomes the fifth manager to be shown the door this season. If you count Graham Potter's move that makes six changes in total - so by the end of the season there will probably be 50% of clubs with a different man in charge though let it be said that there are no obvious candidates at present. Sam Herring was bemoaning his fall from the top five of Premier Chess at the 4NCL Weekend but the judicious selection of Mo Salah as captain sees him right back in there. James Marley still leads but the gap to his challengers is narrowing. Adam Cranston top scores this week; two managers with the low score including Chris James for a third time.

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 52 945
2 Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 65 939
3 Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 75 920
4 Bowen out in style Joel Newman 55 918
5= Hibbert for England David Lambert 51 914
5= Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 57 914

Meanwhile. 14 managers break the 1,000 point barrier. The cup starts next week with 45 points in Week 15 the qualification score. Those with 44 points were in a penalty shoot out. I'll report on progress for Premier Chess when we reach a manageable number of teams.

[Neil Graham]

Week 16

"Man United tried to force me out. Not only the manager, but also the other guys who are around the club." Christiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has been selected by a mere 2.5% of Fantasy Football Managers - Erling Haaland by 82.6%!

After seven successive weeks at the top, James Marley surrenders first place to James Friar as we go into the long break until Boxing Day. All the Haaland supporters achieved slim pickings this week. We have to look to Page Three to find our top manager of the week in Hendrick Hoffman who gave the armband to Harry Kane - no Haaland in his team! Meanwhile Chris James keeps up his unenviable run of low scores with a third in four weeks. By finishing in 10,666,196th place he also achieved the low score of the season so far. Just who is Mike W211? He certainly wasn't this name last week - perhaps someone can recall his real name - he manages "Sacked before Christmas" in 23rd place.

1 Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 49 988
2 Dynamo Flick James Marley 41 986
3 Hibbert for England David Lambert 51 965
4= Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 50 964
4= Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 44 964

Update We will include an update sometime in the next few weeks. Our normal half-time stats will be after Week 19 or 20.

[LawrenceCooper]

A glimmer of hope for those of us who have had a less than successful start to the season: https://www.premierleague.com/news/2978285

[Neil Graham]

Week 17

We are in a bad position and this is only one step.' Julen Lopetegui (Wolves new manager).

Well that update didn't quite materialise so off we go after a break of at least six weeks. The key thing in the fight for Premier Chess leadership is that all the top teams have selected Haaland and all of them have him as captain. Consequently the leaders can't shake off the pursuers and using our normal yardstick there are still 16 managers within 50 points of our first placed manager who is again James Marley. With 28 out of the top 30 managers scoring over 80 points it just depends on who besides Haaland has been selected. Those with the strongest undercard were Adam Bremner and Andrew Harley who both scored 113 points with 11 managers reaching triple figures. However if Haaland isn't leading the line, one other possibility is Cameron Archer which possibly explains why Chris James has both the low score of the week and the season so far in 10,789,655th position. Should Archer fail to score, Chris can call up his substitute forward Julio Enciso from the bench!

1 Dynamo Flick James Marley 92 1078
2 Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 84 1072
3 Hibbert for England David Lambert 98 1063
4 Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 92 1056
5 Great Podenceial Thomas Evans 89 1053

Finally We will start our Cup update in Week 19.

[Neil Graham]

Week 18

I am away at the moment -so a much curtailed report written on my mobile.

It was a very uneventful week. No manager scored 70 or above; there was little variety in the scores
The top five managers remain in exactly the same order as in Week 17. For the nth week Chris James is the lowest scorer. More (hopefully) next time!

[Neil Graham]

Week 19

"Everyone needs time, not a manager in the world has a magic wand." Nathan Jones manager of bottom club Southampton.

Talking of magic wands it has been suggested that Harry Potter would make a better job of managing Chelsea than his namesake Graham. Week 19 finished at 10.00pm yesterday and already Week 20 is due to commence in a few hours. The top of the table is becoming congested with Andrew Harley making a first appearance whilst James Marley drops to joint second place. I was equal top scorer of the week and have moved to 6th; Taran Jina also scored 84 points whilst holding the others up were Jake Thomas & Bob Clark.

1. Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 59 1189
2= Hibbert for England David Lambert 58 1184
2= Dynamo Flick James Marley 51 1184
4. Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 65 1182
5. Harley Mitrokane Andrew Harley 72 1171

To Follow Cup report will follow - not had a chance to look at this yet!

[Neil Graham]

Cup Report

Of our 143 managers there were 19 still in the Overall Cup in Week 20. 13 of these progressed to Week 21. Top manager still in is David Lambert whilst Samuel Gooch is the lowest placed still competing. To date each team has scored five wins and if the normal rule applies we could see the last one standing in Week 25. Updates to be provided from now on!

[Neil Graham]

Week 20

Nottingham Forest is delighted to announce the signing of Chris Wood from Newcastle United. Forest's 25th signing of the season (Ithink).

For a brief period of 24 hours I joined the top five; then came the City v Spurs match with Haaland back amongst the points after a couple of blank game weeks. Several managers took advantage with a couple of three figure scores, the most notable from Sam Parry. However once transfer points are deducted Frances Moan becomes high scorer - all the more astonishing as his bench players could have added several more points if they'd been on the field. Chris Goodall and Alex Sheerin were joint low scorers. James Friar is still our leader but there are 16 players within 50 points and as we enter the second half of the season all to play for.

1 Mr Richard Arlison James Friar 81 1266
2 Dynamo Flick James Marley 82 1258
3 Hibbert for England David Lambert 71 1255
4= Slumdog Mignolet Sam Herring 68 1246
4= Sterling Silver Luke Hayden 78 1246

Overall Lior Bason is overall 1st with 1,386 points. However he has already played most of his special chips - so he may quickly fall by the wayside.