Football Burp’s Fantasy Football tips are based on the official Premier League version of the game, but the principles should more or less apply across the board.
So, you know, if you play one of the other ones then you might have to do a spot of adjusting.
Now here, without further ado, or indeed Freddy Adu, are those afore-promised Fantasy Football tips for Gameweek 3…
No Aston Villa or Chelsea players!
Neither of them are playing this weekend, so be sure to clear their players out of your team as much as possible.
Flat-track bullies
Manchester City may have come unstuck at Cardiff City over the weekend, but you have to fancy them to win comfortably at home to Hull City.
Get Sergio Agüero and Edin Džeko up front, perhaps David Silva and/or Yaya Touré in midfield too.
Clean sheet trends
Not exactly something you can hang your hat on, but regular clean sheets is a great way to stack up points in the less glamorous departments of goalkeeper and defence.
Teams sometimes keep clean sheets in clusters – witness Stoke City in the first half of last season.
So you might want to take note of the fact that Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United have all started the season with two clean sheets out of two.
Although Jose Enrique’s attacking prowess could make him good value at £6m, we’d be looking at the £5m Kolo Touré from Brendan Rodgers’s back line.
The Ivorian has made a strong start and is a threat from set pieces at the other end, almost scoring on his debut against Stoke.
£5m can get you either Michael Dawson or Younes Kaboul from Spurs, the former having had the game time so far due to the latter’s injury.
Kaboul is back in the fold now though, so keep your eye on that one.
Unfortunately Danny Rose, also £5m, is listed as a midfielder. Clearly an impressive season at left-back for Sunderland counts for little in the eyes of whoever decides these things.
As for the Hammers, their strong start at the back is more than likely no fluke – Sam Allardyce knows how to organise a defence, even if they did leak goals last season.
With Big Sam having had more time to get it right, you might well want to take a punt on James Collins at £4.5m.
At 6 ft 4, there’s a decent chance that Allardyce’s beloved set piece routines will reap a few goals from him too.
Goal-Scoring Midfielders
Put simply, you’d do well to base your midfield around Chelsea – they don’t come cheaply, but Eden Hazard (£9.5m), Frank Lampard (£8m), Oscar (£8.5m) and Juan Mata (£10.3m) can all be counted on to weigh in with plenty of goals and assists.
West Ham’s Kevin Nolan started last season on fire before drying up completely in the final few months, and his opening day goal against Cardiff City indicates that a repeat performance may be in store.
At just £7.1m, he could be a most worthwhile gamble – ditto Matt Jarvis at £5.5m, especially with someone like Andy Carroll (when he’s fit) to get on the end of his crosses.
Charlie Adam looks likely to play a more prominent role for Stoke under Mark Hughes – at just £6m and a reputation as a set piece specialist, he could well be one of this season’s surprise packages.
Good luck, and watch this space for more of Football Burp’s Fantasy Football tips!