Tuesday night action: Granada 0 - 1 Barcelona, Sevilla 2-2 Racing

Key points:

• 1 goal from Xavi.
• Lots of bookings and cards all round
• Good points for Barca defenders. Notably Maxwell.
• Barca youth striker Cuenca played 90 mins but not available for FF selection yet.
• Fabregas back from injury. Played 71 mins.
• Out of form Pedro now injured.
• Granada seem pretty handy at keeping the scores down.

Teams and FF points scores:

Barca team and individual FF scores v GRN

Granada team and individual FF scores v Barca

Predicted number of goals:

Barcelona to score 1 and Granada to score 0 was the most likely outcome.


Sevilla 2-2 Santander

Predictions

Sevilla were expected to score 2 goals or 1, with an 81% chance of winning the tie. Santander were heavily favoured to score nothing so upset the odds with their 2 away goals. Essentially, for FF pickers, the sensible money would have been on goals and points for the home side players, which came through in the shape of Rakitic, Manu. Trochowski was the value pick, the former Hamburger Pole scoring 12 pts from a value of 4.

Week 27: Easy Games

Early thoughts on Player Picks this weekend.

Barcelona v Zaragoza

Could see Barca doing a number on Zaragoza in the style of Real Madrid against Malaga. All their attacking players are worth a pick. Xavi is back to fitness. Pedro's value has dropped nicely to 17. Although, Adriano had a great game in his place at Valencia. (2nd top scorer for Barca behind Messi with 15 pts). Pinto has to stay in goal.


Racing Santander v Real Madrid

Real have been making a meal of it, especially away from home, until last night. The 7-0 mauling of Malaga should get them flowing freely again. But Racing are a stubborn side. Raul Albiol is the stand out bargain. Valued at just 4, he has started to pick up consistently good points in recent weeks. Naturally there's few other bargains to be had. It's a question of whether to hold on to the increasingly unreliable Adebayor.

All the othe fixtures seem painfully close once again. Several of the top 10 are facing each other and everyone immediately below Real Madrid are all in patchy form. Only Sevilla seem to be on the rise. Hercules v Almeria should be a safe bet for Trezeguet goals. Sporting Gijon should do well against ropey Getafe. David Barral has to be worth a go at 7.

Sat, Mar 5	Mallorca v Valencia
Sat, Mar 5	Barcelona v Zaragoza
Sat, Mar 5	Athl Madrid v Villarreal
Sun, Mar 6	Athl Bilbao v Sevilla
Sun, Mar 6	Sporting v Getafe
Sun, Mar 6	HER v Almería
Sun, Mar 6	LEV v Espanyol
Sun, Mar 6	Malaga v Osasuna
Sun, Mar 6	Racing v Real Mad
Mon, Mar 7	Deportivo v RSO

Week 21: team of the week. Valdo invited to Messi's party

Buried under all this tedious transfer titilation, was the news last night that Week 21's action was rounded off with an ill-tempered 1-1 draw between Racing Santander and Valencia. The stats suggest Tino Costa and Ever Banega were the men of the hour for Valencia. Costa got a goal and 8 points, while Banega did crosses, corners and assist to get 9 points.


Racing Santander 1-1 Valencia
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Kennedy Bakircioglü got 3.5 for Santander. Goalscorer for Racing was Ariel Nahuelpán with 10pts.

We are now able to announce the team of the week:

L. Messi, Barcelona, Forward, (value)46.46, (points)33.00
G. Toquero, Athl Bilbao, Forward, 14.10, 26.50
A. Negredo, Sevilla, Forward, 16.51, 20.50

Duda, Malaga, Midfielder, 20.96, 21.00
Valdo, LEV, Midfielder, 9.34, 19.00
D. Castro, Sporting, Midfielder 15.48, 18.00
André Castro, Sporting, Midfielder, 7.01, 15.00*

I. Ansotegi, RSO, Defender, 9.20, 18.00
Dani Alves, Barcelona, Defender, 20.39, 17.50
A. Iraola, Athl Bilbao, Defender, 13.89, 17.00

G. Iraizoz, Athl Bilbao, Goalkeeper, 15.62, 24.00

There were three midfielders on 15 points:
N. Bertolo, Zaragoza
D. López, Athl Bilbao
J. Camuñas,Osasuna

Andre Castro deserves the accolade because his current stats suggest he never set foot on the pitch:

So mainly the big hitters, but plenty of new names to learn about, and many of the points concentrating around a few games and teams:

3 from Bilbao @ A. Madrid
2 from Barca @ Hercules
2 from Sporting @ Mallorca

(new feature) Who are you and why were you good?

Valdo 19pts

Valdo - great  week

The Levante midfielder had one hell of a game:

1 Match Winning Goals
1 Goal
2 Successful crosses
1 Corners won
3 Fouls won
3 Shots on target
5 Passes intercepted

Great for a guy who was worth 4.63 at the start of the week. This, along with a sparing Wikipedia entry, suggest it was a one off, a blip. Find out more.