One of the fastest growing fantasy games is the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) - a season-long version of fantasy soccer for the English Premier League (EPL). With millions of players each year, the FPL game is becoming a fixture for soccer enthusiasts across the globe.

Having played the game for the last twelve seasons and largely languished in mediocrity (apart from a top 30K finish in 2009/10), I was ready to finally put my largely wasted knowledge of football statistics to use and strive to become one of the game's elite players. Last season, I finished around the 250K mark and in the process won my family league - but that is not enough for me.

Tired of wasting my time with meaningless, emotion-fueled transfers, I have decided to make a concerted effort to not only destroy my fantasy league this year, but improve on last year's finish and - hopefully - have a good amount of fun in the process. Thanks for joining me on my journey through EPL's Fantasy Premier League. I hope you enjoy the embarrassment that is about to unfold and, just maybe, pick up a piece of advice from a self-described non-expert on the game.

EPL Diaries - Fantasy Premier League

The Squad:

GK: Joe Hart (4.5M), Maarten Stekelenburg (4M)
DF: Marcos Alonso (6.9M), Benjamin Mendy (6.3M), Andrew Robertson (6.2M), Aymeric Laporte (5.6M), Ryan Bennett (4M)
MF: Eden Hazard (10.9M), Sadio Mane (10M), Christian Eriksen (9.3M), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (4.5M), Pedro (6.8M)
FW: Romelu Lukaku (11.1M) , Aleksandr Mitrovic (7M), Isaac Success (4.5M)

Analysis:

It was an ugly showing from the side. Benjamin Mendy was out injured, and Mkhitaryan was transferred out for Hojbjerg before the gameweek due to the former's lack of minutes in recent weeks for Arsenal under manager Unai Emery. With Bennett and Hojbjerg slotting in as starters, I feared the worst. And that is exactly what happened.

Out of the back, things actually didn't look so bad. Joe Hart put up an impressive nine points, while Alonso, Laporte, and Robertson all kept clean sheets (with Robbo even managing a bonus point himself). Bennett was only able to earn two points for his troubles, but that was to be expected against a solid Manchester United side.

Unfortunately, nobody else turned up on the day. The two Danes, Eriksen and Hojbjerg, were decidedly poor and only able to score two points. My patience is wearing thin with Christian Eriksen, who passes the eye test with his involvement for Spurs yet has failed to find the scoresheet or assists column more than once this season. However, I expect a reversion to the mean with Tottenham improving their form, given Eriksen the ability to play freely and capitalize on more opportunities. If he does not, then this will be the first time my investment in Eriksen will not pay off - a big disappointment.

On top of that, captain Hazard was not able to produce another top performance following his hat-trick last week. With a boring 0-0 draw for Chelsea, the Belgian could not do much and will hopefully rebound next week. Finally, Mane was outplayed by Salah this week, something that I hope does not happen that often in the next few weeks.

Up top, with Lukaku as my only striker, the disappointment continued as the big Belgian was only able to get two points. In fact, because Pedro did not play, Isaac Success chipped in with a point from the bench to take my total up to 46. 46 points ... definitely not what I would call a success, Isaac!

However, I have brought in Mitrovic once again - hopefully by bringing him in I do not kill his run of good form, as I had him to start the year and traded him out right before he decided to be a hero for Fulham each week. I will hopefully get the most out of the investment as I had to pay 6.8M for the striker's services this time out. With an overall rank down to 364K after a poor Week 6 performance, let's look to my team's fixtures in Week 7 to see how they get on.

Joe Hart has a relatively straightforward match in between the sticks as Burnley take on Cardiff. Hopefully, Hart can continue to provide points as he has done all season for me as part of a stout Burnley defense.

In the back, Mendy's injury is worrying and many fantasy owners have shipped him on, depreciating his value from 6.5M to 6.3M in the course of a week. Hopefully he returns to training soon and can get in the team's lineup, otherwise, I will be forced to call on Ryan Bennett against Southampton once again. Robertson and Alonso play each other, so hopefully one will keep a clean sheet and the other will get an assist. Therefore, they can both be top options for the Week while allowing for other Chelsea and Liverpool players (cough Mane or Hazard) to get involved on the scoresheet. Finally, Laporte has a game at Brighton where Man City will hope to keep a clean sheet - Laporte has played every minute of the season and has had two clean sheets in a row. Hopefully, he can make it three!

At this point, I can't not captain Hazard, even though he is playing Liverpool. Hopefully, last week was a blip in Hazard's performance and he gets back to scoring ways against a tough Liverpool side. On the other hand, hopefully, it's a high-scoring affair and Mane gets involved too, even if it is at the expense of Alonso and Robertson.

Up top, Lukaku and Mitrovic have good matchups against West Ham and Everton, respectively. If one of them can get a brace, that would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully, both can get involved as I look to rebound from last week's debacle. If I suffer a few more performances like last week, I may be in serious trouble in both my family league (currently second, everyone is in the top 500K) as well as the overall rankings. This week, I need luck on my side.

That's all for this week - good luck gents!