PlayTheGame

Take a look at the Premier League preview videos for all ten matches on Saturday, Sunday and Monday and our special weekend preview from Charlie...

VIDEO: Premier League match previews for Octber 3rd, 4th and 5th 2009
VIDEO: Charlie Webster previews the weekends matches

Saturday October 03, 2009
Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 3:00 pm
Burnley v Birmingham City, 3:00 pm
Hull City v Wigan Athletic FC, 3:00 pm
Wolverhampton v Portsmouth, 3:00 pm
Manchester United v Sunderland, 5:30 pm

Sunday October 04, 2009
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers, 1:30 pm
Everton v Stoke City, 3:00 pm
West Ham United v Fulham, 3:00 pm
Chelsea v Liverpool, 4:00 pm

Monday October 05, 2009
Aston Villa v Manchester City, 8:00 pm

Times football writer Nick Szcepanik takes a look at five of the best performing players from the weekends matches, with Cesc Fabregas as his star man. You can read the full article here and feel free to let us know who the star man was in your team.

One new player has been added to the PlayTheGame player list this afternoon at around 17.05 BST on Monday October 5th.

Kagisho Dikgacoi – South African midfielder, who made his debut for Fulham against West Ham against the weekend. Little point in signing him at the moment though as he got sent off in the 41st minute for slapping Scott Parker.

If you do wish to sign him, the player will be subject to the usual 48 hour notice period.

With eight games gone for most of the teams in the Premier League, club responsibilities now take a back seat for many of the Premier League's top stars as attention turns to the World Cup qualifiers. International fixtures are scheduled for Saturday 10th October and Wednesday 14th October and then the Premier League returns on October 17th. For PlayTheGame managers the international break is an opportunity to review the performance of your team so far, maybe make an audacious transfer bid or sign some well peforming out of contract players.

For anyone up for a challenge it may also be an opportunity to think about joining a second, third or even fourth PlayTheGame league or maybe you are yet to take the plunge and need to get yourself into a league.

If you want to set up a league and advertise for like minded managers to join your league, or if you have a league with a few places left to fill then let us know the details including who you’d like to join your League, the name, password, league size and scheduled allocation date and we will advertise available leagues on this post.

Alternatively it may be time to look around at your friends and colleagues and persuade them to get involved in the most realistic fantasy football game or if you've just got back to Uni or college why not set up a league with your class mates to play in between lectures.

If you get involved now, you could be up and running by the time the season re-starts on October 17th and because of the unique nature of PTG you haven't lost anything by starting now.

Good Luck!

Take a look at the Premier League preview videos for all ten matches on Saturday, Sunday and Monday...

VIDEO: Premier League match previews for Octber 17th, 18th and 19th 2009

Saturday October 17, 2009
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 12:45 pm
Arsenal v Birmingham City, 3:00 pm
Manchester United v Bolton Wanderers, 3:00 pm
Stoke City v West Ham United, 3:00 pm
Sunderland v Liverpool, 3:00 pm
Portsmouth v Tottenham Hotspur, 3:00 pm
Everton v Wolves, 3:00 pm

Sunday October 18, 2009
Blackburn Rovers v Burnley, 1:00 pm
Wigan Athletic FC v Manchester City, 4:00 pm

Monday October 19, 2009
Fulham v Hull City, 8:00 pm

Nick Szcepanik gives us his verdict on five of the best performing players from the weekends matches. You can read the full article here and feel free to let us know who the star man was in your team.

Don't forget that Hull play Fulham tonight at Craven Cottage, 8pm, live on ESPN.

PTG Blog feed - Subscribe to a feed of the PTG blog at the following URL and get the latest posts straight to your browser or feed reader. http://blog.stats.com/playthegame/index.xml

There are a couple of leagues that are looking for some committed managers to join them and get up and running for the end of the week. Details are listed below (as they have been entered). Details are correct at the time of writing.

UPDATE 20/10/09 18.00 - It looks like both the leagues below may now be full. If any managers have spaces in other leagues that they want to advertise then we will post the details on the blog

League: commited league
Password: commited
Allocation: 23rd Oct
Status: 6/15 teams

League: THE Last Orders Please...
Password: ptg0910
Allocation: 23rd Oct
Status: 7/12 teams

Providing you are already registered, you can join these leagues by setting up a new team (max 4 per user) by clicking the 'add team' button when you log in. You will then be asked to join a league and need to choose the 'invite only' option and search for one of the leagues detailed above. You will then be asked to enter the password given. Once you have joined the league you will then be taken to team selection.

After the international sideshow over the last couple of weeks, it was back to serious Premier League action at the weekend which has given us three new players to add to the PTG player list. After much deliberation, none of them is a red beach ball.

The players listed below were added at around 17.30 BST on Monday 19th October and are subject to the usual 48 hour notice period.

Guillermo Franco – Striker with roots in Argentina, Mexico and East London (West Ham)
Boudewijn Zenden – After stints at Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Liverpool, he's back in the Premier League with Sunderland
Jay Spearing - Midfielder who made an excellent Premier League debut for Liverpool against Sunderland

Here is a quick reminder for those managers who participated in the 2008/09 season of PlayTheGame and were invited (via email) to join a Super League at the beginning of the season.

Each user who was invited can enter one Super League, and if you haven't yet done so, there is still time. Super Leagues are made up of 10 teams and are filled on a first come first served basis. Once 10 teams have opted to join a Super League, the league will form as usual and you then enter the squad allocation process.

If you are eligible to join a Super League, the option will be available at the bottom of the 'Join a League' page that you see once you have added a new team to your profile.

NB If you have already used your four teams for this season then you will not be able to join a super league.

More details on Super Leagues can be found in the game rules, mainly in sections 9.1c and 9.3c

As some of you may have noticed, the PlayTheGame Friday email was sent this morning without any update to the opening text, so apologies if you felt a sense of de je vu this morning when you opened it up.

Needless to say it's a packed weekend of Premier League action, with six games on Saturday and four on Sunday. You can see the full weekend fixture list and match preview videos below.

The pick of the weekend is Liverpool versus Manchester United as Rafa fights for his survival against a team that will not want to do him any favours. At the bottom of the table there's an early relegation six pointer as Portsmouth travel to Hull.

There are four televised matches this weekend (see fixture list below) and be aware that all of the matches on Sunday kick-off at different times.

VIDEO: Premier League match previews for Octber 24th and 25th 2009

Saturday October 24, 2009
Wolves v Aston Villa, 12:45 pm (Sky Sports 1)
Birmingham City v Sunderland, 3:00 pm
Burnley v Wigan Athletic FC, 3:00 pm
Tottenham Hotspur v Stoke City, 3:00 pm
Hull City v Portsmouth, 3:00 pm
Chelsea v Blackburn Rovers, 5:30 pm (ESPN)

Sunday October 25, 2009
Bolton Wanderers v Everton, 1:30 pm
Liverpool v Manchester United, 2:00 pm (Sky Sports 1)
Manchester City v Fulham, 3:00 pm
West Ham United v Arsenal, 4:15 pm (Sky Sports 1)

Nick Szcepanik gives us his verdict on five of the best performing players from the weekends matches. You can read the full article here and feel free to let us know who the star man was in your team.

PTG Blog feed - Subscribe to a feed of the PTG blog at the following URL and get the latest posts straight to your browser or feed reader. http://blog.stats.com/playthegame/index.xml

Another weekend of Premier League action gives us four new players to add to the PlayTheGame player list.

The players listed below were added at around 17.32 GMT on Monday 26th October and are subject to the usual 48 hour notice period.

Jeffrey Bruma – 17 year old Dutch centre back debuted for Chelsea against Blackburn
Lucas Neill - A free agent after leaving West Ham last season, the Aussie is back in the Premier League and was pivitol in Everton's two goals against Bolton
Seamus Coleman – 21 year old Irish U21 and U23 defender came on as a sub for Everton against Bolton
Seol Ki-Hyeon – Back in the Fulham team after a loan spell in Saudi Arabia

PTG Blog feed - Subscribe to a feed of the PTG blog at the following URL and get the latest posts straight to your browser or feed reader. http://blog.stats.com/playthegame/index.xml

The latest weekly prize winner has now been added to the site, our seventh weekly winner so far. You can see the names and locations of all our winners so far by taking a look at our winners page.

All those winners drawn will receive a letter detailing their win and how to claim their prize.

With the exception of the most recent winner, if you genuinely think you are one of the winners listed but you haven't heard from us please reply to this post.

Take a look at the Premier League preview videos for the nine matches on Saturday, and one match on Sunday

VIDEO: Premier League match previews for Octber 31st and November 1st 2009

Saturday October 31, 2009
Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 12:45 pm (Sky Sports 1)
Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea, 3:00 pm
Burnley v Hull City, 3:00 pm
Stoke City v Wolves, 3:00 pm
Sunderland v West Ham United, 3:00 pm
Portsmouth v Wigan Athletic FC, 3:00 pm
Everton v Aston Villa, 3:00 pm
Fulham v Liverpool, 3:00 pm
Manchester United v Blackburn Rovers, 5:30 pm (ESPN)

Sunday November 01, 2009
Birmingham City v Manchester City, 4:00 pm (Sky Sports 1)

FIFA has announced a 23 man shortlist for their Player of the Year award which includes eight players from the current Premier League.

Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres, and Steven Gerrard make the cut from Manchester United and Liverpool, but Chelsea dominate with Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba all in contention. Former Manchester United star and last years winner Cristano Ronaldo has also been shortlisted.

If we take a look at the facts and figures from PTG last season Frank Lampard was the best overall player, Steven Gerrard was second and Ronaldo was third. So far this season, Fabregas of Arsenal is the best performing player in the PTG rankings, but Drogba is second and Lampard third.

For sheer consistency Lampard has to stand out from the players listed from the Premier League, but maybe the winner will come from one of the other 15 players from the rest of the world and therefore a player just out of reach of any PTG manager.

The full list is shown below and the winner will be announced on December 21st 2009.

FIFA World Player 2009 shortlist:
Michael Ballack (Germany)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
Iker Casillas (Spain)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Diego (Brazil)
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Michael Essien (Ghana)
Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon)
Steven Gerrard (England)
Thierry Henry (France)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
Andres Iniesta (Spain)
Kaka (Brazil)
Frank Lampard (England)
Luis Fabiano (Brazil)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Carles Puyol (Spain)
Franck Ribery (France)
Wayne Rooney (England)
John Terry (England)
Fernando Torres (Spain)
David Villa (Spain)
Xavi (Spain)