Fantasy Football Preview Week 36

 

Prescript, I have 10 mins to write and post this, before collecting my son. So this will almost be in real time

State Of Play

Average Score was 38, I got 50. I rose 2 places in the Back Of The Net Boy league and am not just 7 points off 9^th (I am currently 12^th). A Top ten finish will be okay this season for me.

Vindication

As predicted, I brought in Kuyt, made him captained and he over half my points. Lampard scored a goal too. However neither of these were awe inspiring moves.

D’oh

The rest of my players got 3 points or less. Which is a terrible haul. Old Dirk is sitting in the dressing room at Len Rovers looking pretty smug I’d say.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

It’s all about Super Soccer Amazing Sky Sunday, Chelsea v Man Utd, cannot see it being a no score draw, so dropping Cech.

Transfers/Selection

Have decided to make no transfers, so as to have a double next week.

Theory/Selection

Don’t trust Sunderland away at Bolton, so dropping Bardsley snd making Davies my captain. Hoping Wolves to pull if odd against West Brom. Regarding my defenders, Birmingham are having a listless end of season so away at Newcastle looks pesky, so brining in Walker at home for Villa instead.

My Team this week

 

Keeping An Eye On

The weekend in general!

Captain's Corner with Phergal (Now with added capitals)

So just three gameweeks left. Captain choice is probably the only thing left that can help you beat who's in front of you in your leagues. The long game is over. My advice now is to go with the most obvious captain's choice if you're on top in your leagues, and go for a slight differential/gamble if you want to finish higher.

So two doubles stand out this weekend, the majority will be captaining someone from City or Spurs.

Spurs first then. They have the very tasty Blackpool @home, and the not so tasty Man City away. The logic here is that the first fixture is so promising, anything gained from the City game is a bonus. It's hard to look past VDV really. Captaining Spurs strikers has left grown men weeping and gnashing over the years, although a gamble is always tempting at this time of the year. Pav? Defoe? Hard to know who'll get two games really.

City have Everton away and Spurs @home. Not the greatest fixtures really. If Tevez was in good health he'd be an auto choice for me, few rumours talking about him making the everton game. Too much of a gamble. All attacking lines seem to be going through Silva the last few weeks and he's been racking up some nice double digit scores. He's a good shout here. How about Kolorov? Chance of a clean sheet and maybe an assist. Could be a nice differential. Balotelli too, although his last few games wouldn't fill you confidence and there's always a danger of a card with him too (minus points are multiplied with captains too!).

Other matches of captain's interest if you don't fancy the doubles would be the game that decides the premiership, Man U @home to Chelsea. Big game. Look to Drogba and Rooney to step it up a notch. I don't foresee a 0-0 borefest either. Chelsea have a sniff of the title and will be attacking from the get go and Man U have learnt their lesson from playing for a draw against arsenal last week.

I also like RVP away to Stoke.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 35

State Of Play

Ballsack. This was my chance to jump up a few spots and it all went wrong. Now further off the top than I have been for last 2 months, 10 points off top 10 position even.

Vindication

Nothing that anyone would be surprised by, Lampard and Dempsey both did well.

D’oh

Captaining Davies got me one fecking point, ONE!!! I trebled up on wolves players and their combined haul was 10 points.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

Will Torres score for fun for rest of season? Are we watching Drogba do his lap of honour at Stamford Bridge?

Will Liverpool get 4^th spot? It’d be Roy Of The Rovers stuff, but can they do it? Everyone is tipping Kuyt for fantasy teams at the moment and who wouldn’t after his great haul over last few gameweeks.

Transfers/Selection

Brought in Kuyt, said adios to Cesc.

Theory/Selection

Assuming Liverpool will continue their form, and that Kuyt will get something somehow so made him captain from the off, have selected Carroll even though he is an orange arrow. The Wolves decision I made has backfired cos they now make up 75% of my bench, but if they had paid off in the last gameweek I’d be standing gloating. I think Davies might knock a goal in for me  to and further push Blackburn into the mire. I’m hoping Chelsea will demolish Spurs and keep a clean sheet.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Liverpool/Spurs/Man City for the race for 4^th, will they have players doing stellar things?

Captain's Corner with Phergal (Now with added capitals)

Wide open again this weekend with no obvious choices, so a good chance for people to close the lead on their league rivals. Lot of big matches this weekend, Chelsea @home to Spurs and Arsenal @home to Man U. For chelsea, i'd be wary of Drog or Torres, Ancelotti hinted yesterday that the two might start together, thereby diluting their attacking potential. Also not the easiest opposition either. Lampard looks a much better bet in that one.

For the Man U at Arsenal game, really hard to predict again, I suppose it's a must win for Arsenal, but you have to feel they are finished now and they must be feeling a bit deflated after all their squandered chances to catch up the last few weeks. RVP at home is always attractive, so he could be an okay choice. Rooney's back and should be hungry. He's scored in 3 of the last 4 games against Arsenal, so is a good shout.

So that's the biggies, i think there are much better captain choices to be had though. Liverpool@ home to Newcastle looks great. The Pool are in wicked form and are looking to finish the season on a high with King Kenny at the helm. Kuyt has been particularly impressive, with 7 goals and 2 assists in the last 6 games. He's a great differential, at just 7.3% ownership.

Man City seem a popular choice this week, but without Tevez, is there any really solid pick for captain that's not a gamble? Not in my opinion, maybe Silva or Balotelli then.

I've a sneaky feeling about Odemwingie too, on great form and @home to Villa. Brom also have the best final four fixtures in the league, so you should be getting him in, if not this week, then next week i think.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 34

State Of Play

Okay, I’m in top ten. I used up my wildcard, played the double game week roulette and it seems to have somewhat paid off. I did 25 points better than the curve, but it’s no fair assessment anymore, a better reflection of my ‘nous’ was I did better than the 6 people directly ahead of me in the league; but then the top three in the Back Of The Net Boy league all got 100+ points, which goes to show why they are the winners. It’s safe to say, unless I pull of an 88 point miracle, that The Back Of The Net Boy league trophy, the Ballon d’Ronan, will be leaving my hands after a two year reign.

Vindication 

Okay well I hoped Lampard would step up to the plate for me in gameweek 33, which somewhat paid off, with him getting 22 points cos of the double points he got for being my captain…

D’oh

… Unfortunately for me his teammates Drogba and Malouda both brought in 22 point hauls BEFORE doubling up as captains. AARRGGGHH. Gameweek 33’s dream team and mine had whopping two similarities, which is not good enough to be winning this league. This is Senior Hurling level now; Junior B bullshit isn’t good enough

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

Man Utd’s bogie team blah blah blah, Everton slow start to season blah blah, on form since January Everton would be second in league blah blah, Man Utd one eye on Shalke match blah blah.

Will Bolton who are already hurt after last weekend’s demolishing via the Potters, lie down and lick their wounds against the gunners? Oooooooorrrrrrrrr will Owen Coyle and his men regroup around a faltering Arsenal? I’m dropping Van Persie, and keeping Fabregas so watch out for a Dutch hat trick knowing my luck.

Nothing of note really sticks out this week.

Transfers

It’s really big ideas here at The Hateau, 3 transfers in so 8 points being spent in the name of bringing in players who have double game playing this gameweek and favorable fixtures in the next one too (so I’m going with Dempsey @ Fulham (wolves/Bolton/sunderland) & Davies @ Bolton (arsenal/fulham/Blackburn), but they don’t reinvent the wheel, so also bringing Ireland’s new hope Jon Walters, once again 3 matches in next 2 Gameweeks (I’m gonna bank on him shining against Villa and being rested against Wolves, otherwise his success will offset others losses).

Theory/Selection

Okay I'm putting my chips down on Mick McCarthy on Wolves pulling it out of the fire, 3 players from the club in my first 11 (i brought them all in when using my wildcard last week - clever see).

Having listened to fantasy footballs scoutcast, I seem to have made every decision opposed to them.

I sometimes wonder what style to write this blog in, realistically we’ve 14 or 15 readers all with the same level of knowledge and experience/interest as me, so is it redundant for me to say things like it’s not worth making Walters captain because if he did score against wolves it’d cost me notional points etc, but I am making Davies Captain specifically because his successes will have no negative impact on any of my team.

Dropping Walker because I want Stoke to do well, dropping Johnson cos I assume Liverpool will beat them and I hope Carroll does the scoring, even though the big Geordies is my first choice substitute, 

My Team this week

 

Keeping An Eye On

Carroll’s fitness, he plays against his old club next gameweek. And arsenal if they really do go off the radar this week, I’ll ship the Catalonian prince Fabregas out too.

Captains Corner with Phergal (please note I don’t even try and fix up the text anymore, he’s a grown man if he doesn’t want to capitalise club’s names I’m not going to do it for him)

so i changed captains at the last minute from RVP to Drog after a few beers and it payed off big time, 44 points from him alone, total score 109 to catapult me into top position in the BOTNB league.

enough gloating. what looks good this week for your captains armband? well it's wide open this. lot of doubles, but nothing as attractive as last weeks chelsea fixtures.

Bolton - Arsenal @Home, fulham away. Elmander hasn't had a double digit score since november and just a single goal this year. sturridge is the golden boy atm, fresh from a brace at west ham's expenses last week, and 6 goals from 8 matches. tempting. if the fixtures were a bit better he'd be a dead cert for me.

fulham - Wolves away and @home to Bolton. very nice fixtures. dempsey and zamora are your picks. zamora got a brace against blackpool on his return and looks lively. i would be leaning towards him here.

stoke - villa away, @home to wolves. huth might get you a clean sheet against wolves and a chance of a goal so not a bad pick. etherington is an okay pick.

wolves - @home to fulham, away to stoke. meh, jarvis maybe?

as for the other fixtures, a resurgent chelsea @home to west ham looks great for the likes of drogba, malouda and lampard. i'd go with drog again here, he's in wicked form.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 33

Hey there sportsfan! We're at the business end of the season now, 5 more gameweeks, five more blogs, then that "summer" thing everyone is talking about

State Of Play

Whoo Hoo, 15 points better than average (even though as I’ve said before, the average is getting skewed by the people who’ve lost interest and have left teams dormant). On the Back Of The Net Boy league, I am now 85 points of top, where I’ve been bobbing around for last few weeks; and 20 off the top ten.

Vindication

My keeper and back three all got 6 points or more…

D’oh

… but everyone ahead of me, let the team down. If I’d captained Nani or Van Persie, I’d be in top ten not. In fact Bent has left down so much, he has now left the Len Rovers squad, till next season at earliest. (that’s all covered in later section)

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

It’s all about if Chelsea pull their socks up, and Arsenal pull themselves together for “5 cup finals”, as the annoying cliché goes. The tasty Norf London derby awaits us too, that could be scentalating, neither team can defend right and both teams are chasing points, and Arsenal get the extra bonus of effectively ruining Spurs chance of stepping back into the Champions League if they manage to stay on course for premiership. If spurs don’t get in, the squad will quickly distentigrate with the big names moving to “bigger clubs”, and that’d be a very satisfactory 90 minutes at the office for any myopic gooner.

And can Torres break his duck against a team now managed by the man who was his Boss just a few months ago? Can torres hurt Hodgson from both sides in one year?

Transfers/Selection

WILD CARD – WILD CARD – WILD CARD!!!!

Not even looking at my current team, I started from the top. 3 players from all the double game week players .

Chelsea: Cech/Luiz/Lampard… I am hoping there isn’t a champion league exit hangover, and rather a late roy of the rovers title charge, built on Lampard penalties and midfield blasters and Chelsea clean sheets, (both have happened a lot over the years)

Arsenal: I went marquee baby, Van Persie and Fabregas, can’t rely or trust any of the rest of the squad,. I always have a soft spot for Song but change my mind when I see him, not in a racist way it’s a hairest thing.

Then the Birmingham conondrum, they are actually having a terrible season, but still… it’s like when yer in the tail end of a relationship but you really want it to work out. So I went with Johnson (no major groundbreaking decision, then following fantasy premier league tips, I went with Gardner, due to his penalty taking. And Phillips up front, mainly because it’s surely my last season I can sign him, and I’ve always liked him, especially on championship manager. And he’s buddies in real life with Niall Quinn, how can you not like him! (I know he won’t play full games twice, but 1 goal and a few mins in both will be almost worth it), actually I’ll have him on the bench. DO you know what, he’s a pointless buy, so I’m gonan go with a cheap ass striker, as he’ll be sub 2 or 3 anyway. Ebanks-Blake come on down, double gameweek next week (none this week), so I’ll be prepared for that, he is first choice striker in absence of Doyle. (bringing Jarvis & Hennessy for Wolves in for same reason, good to be ready for then)

That’s it then! Probably make 3 transfers next week, I wonder is my wildcard use means my standard transfer credit passes over? Let’s find out!!!

The one problem with wildcard use, is I can keep tweaking it all night, but I do have my son so I’ll hope I’m a focused father!

so here is the list of all my transfers today, the Kitman here at Len Rovers will be up all night stitching the names onto new jerseys.

Theory/Selection

It’s pretty much all explained via the previous section, I’ll pile on my 8 double game week players, and then the only real decision was Walker or Bardsley, both are playing away, so when with the latter just cos I reckon Sunderland need & want to buck up and therefore tighten up the defence, and also while West Ham are scoring as of late, Birmingham still aren’t, so Bardsley has slightly better chance of a clean sheet (even though I do want Gardner to score!)

Will make Lampard captain, due to him and his penalty taking, I bet you ancelotti will feck me over now and ‘rest’ him for one of the games.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Stoke V Bolton FA Cup semi final, realistically the loser will go on to have quite a hangover.

Captains Corner with Phergal

doubles ahoy again this weekend, so your captains should be coming from these fixtures.

chelsea have west brom @home, and birmingham away. very tasty indeed. the three stand outs for captain are drogba, lampard and luiz. drog came up short last week, so i'm going for him this week. i would captain lampard if i had him though.

birmingham also have a double, home to sunderland and away to chelsea, i wouldn't be too bothered with that one tbh.

arsenal have a double, but nowhere near as captain friendly as chelseas. I like arsenal @home to liverpool. both sides seem attractive. RVP doing the business last week is an obvious choice. the tricky away fixture then comes against spurs. maybe fab's time to finally shine this season against such strong opposition?

gamble-ish pick - charlie adam @home to wigan, battling for premiership survival, just one point ahead of west ham.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 32

Fantasy Football Preview Week 32

First of all, sorry we didn’t do a blog last game week, Friday completely went awry for me.

State Of Play

1 fucking point more than the average, I was tempted to play my wildcard, and that selection I had in mind wouldn’t have done too much better. I’ve still moved up a place, but still 76 points off the top, I’ll keep going till the fat lady sings. Will be happy with a champions league place.

Vindication

Not much vindication to be fair, none of my hunches paid off. On a real slight point, my goalkeeping choice paid off (Howard only got one point)

D’oh

6 players got three points or less, which was a ball sack of a result. Johnson, the sub number 1, would have got me eight point, that mixed with what I would have got if I had made Van Persie, my captain Len Rovers would be currently sitting in 10^th place.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

All of these are covered in the following section…

Transfers/Selection

Just gonna use my double transfer this week, and next game week it’ll be clear if Chelsea or Utd are in champions league, whoever is out I will use as the spine of my team, it’ll have to be a team built on differentials (as they say in Fantasy Football Scout). So a result my two selections are based on short term, one game week needs. Gonna put my eggs in my basket and go with Sunderland players I reckon, at home against West Brom, after a 5 goal thumping. Luis is defo too.

So in short I made three transfers in Cech in cos Chelsea play 3 times in next two games, I expect a tiny increase in Cech’s price next game week, so might save me .1 or .2 million, and subbed Hart out (can’t see the game with Liverpool being a no score either). Also with Man City not playing next week Hart’s value might suffer an inverse price drop.

I doubt Howard will keep a clean sheet at Wolves either, what with the home team really trying to kick on and avoid relegation, however I’ll keep Baines as his dead ball skills, and associated assists, will surely come into play at that game.

Now with my Sunderland theory, I’ve brought in Bardsley, their best performing defender this season, and since I have him, it’s not in my interest to have Vela score if he does (not that he’s at great form since joining them on loan anyway). My third transfer in (thus incurring a 4 point cost, but if it pays off it’ll more than make up for it) is Danny Welbeck. The other factor is since both those Mackems are English there is a better chance they’ll pick up bonus points.

Theory/Selection

Have decided to build a team simply on first off selecting all my players who are at home, and that leaves me with just Nasri & Van Persie who will be away at Blackpool (that will be a goal fest…. surely). I reckon Villa should do okay against the visiting Newcastle (who are missing Nolan and Leon Best). And while Dempsey could prosper against Man Utd (off hand I think he has a good record against them), once again it would be counter productive for me to have Vidic and Dempsey, one’s success would be negated by the other’s loss of potential points. Maybe this is all trite cos by game week 32 you’ve surely worked out these tendencies anyway.

My Team this week

 

Keeping An Eye On

Everyone is in contention for my new look end of season run-in squad.

Captains Corner with Phergal

two strong fixtures this weekend, Chelsea @home to wigan and arsenal away to blackpool.

i much prefer the chelsea fixture. home game, bounce back from 1-0 defeat to united in champions league, plus the 6-0 annihilation they gave wigan away from home at the start of the season. three candidates spring to mind. drogba, although he has yet to return to the form of old so might be a slight gamble. a resurgent lampard seems a good bet, but who can afford him now if you don't already have him? not me. captain if you have him. and thirdly new golden boy luiz who could nab a clean sheet and an assist or goal quite easily for a nice 10 points. notice how i didn't torres? no one in their rigth mind should even have him in your team at the moment.

arsenal are away and tbh, i actually think it's hard to predict this one. they've been a bit crap lately, squadering chance after chance to pull level with united in the table. RVP is a good bet but are injuries starting to niggle him again? fab and nasri are nice shouts, but wouldn't get you anything spectacular i think. worth a punt.

for a third fixture, how about united @home to fulham? rooney's out so berba good be a good shout. nani too.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 30

Fantasy Football Preview Week 30

Okay, we’re really getting into the throes of the season now eh? Players dropping out dues to injuries related to tiredness, managers getting under pressure, ref getting under double the amount of scrutiny. And we start separating the wheat from the chaff in beloved Fantasy Football.

State Of Play

I’m only 70 points off the top now lads! I managed 60 points when the average was 36 and jumped another 2 places. It would have been one more if not for alphabetical order being kinder to Colin than me.

Vindication

Well baines was my highest performer and I had captained him so that’s good. Funnily enough no one scored that highly for me, but a lot of competitors had backed the wrong horses (let’s hope that form continues, both here and for Cheltenham!)

D’oh

As I said noone really performed, too many players got 3s & 4s. Particularly my double gameweek players.

It’s been a bad gameweek for injuries for me too, Nani & Schezney out for next 6 weeks, so they both have to go, which postpones any tactical changes I had planned to make.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

According to the always handy www.physioroom.com, Man Utd’s injury list has swelled to 10 players out, that’ll have obvious knock on effects on clean sheets. How many more players will be gone (and his stands for all the clubs) after the two internationals between now and next gameweek.

Is this the time for Arsenal to go into overdrive, I decided after Barcelona match that I’d like to Arsenal win the league, but my emotional priority is Len Rovers in out league.

Is this the time to get on the West Ham roller coaster, they are in startling form but there fixture list is horrendous, Spurs, Chelsea and both Manchester teams await in their next 6 games

Can spurs keep their eye on the ball on both fronts. They have the squad to do it, defoe scored his first goals in ages against Spurs, he’s always a fits and bursts striker but can he even be assured of a starting spot anyway?

And is Liverpool, the Suarez show, mister 5 yard hatrick Kuyt AND Carrol to start playing now. Carrol the Geordie could make his full debut against Sunderland

Transfers

Schezney is out for what seems rest of season, and with Hart @ Chelsea, I want to use another keepers. Now I now Chelsea parked the bus at arsenal early this season (if memory serves they didn’t have a single shot, or bother to try), so we can assume that’s what’ll happen at the Bridge this weekend, however Chelsea should be capable of unlocking that defence better than the Arsenal tweeners, due to the fact the pensioners have more than one way of trying to score a goal. And Torres needs to explode soon, scoring a few goals to help The Old New Money leapfrog the The New New Money.

So I’m bringing Howard in, as he looks like he has a relatively easy run of fixtures (the caveat of Everton being terribly unreliable this year hovers over me though). As  a result of that I need to lose an Everton outfield player, so dropping Beckford (whose form this year has encapsulated Everton’s this season) and brining in Van Persie. The reasons are pretty much all here - http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/pundit.mc

I expect to play my wildcard for next gameweek, as I anticipate injuries from them to buck a few teams up. I have a premonition Spurs will lose a player or two for a few weeks, perhaps Modric or Saint Van Der Vaart.

Also I am biast, but I want a Wolves resurgence happening soon.

Theory/Selection

I’ve hummed and hawed about this and to be honest not sure, and not sure about captain either. I’m veering towards Downing but Nani is in good form and I see any goals against Bolton as a cross or break away. Actually I will go with Downing, cows (a) I need to stick with my differentials policy to catch up on people ahead of me and (b) Pherg also highlights him as a pick of the bunch

My Team this week

 

Keeping An Eye On

More so the injuries next week more so than a specific player

Captains Corner with Phergal

truely awful week last week, finished on 24 points. everyone else seemed to be doing bad tho, so not too disappointed. went from 2nd to 5th in my most competitive league.

some big name injuries this week to add to your woes; nani, fabregas, arteta etc. so they'll be a lot of point deduction transfers shipping them out i'd imagine. try to field an 11 without a points hit and give yourself a 4 point head start on your rivals.

anyway, i like two matched this week, first is man u @home to bolton. i finally got rooney in for berba and will be captaining him myself, murphy's law will apply i'm sure, with berba getting a hat trick. so captain berba and reap some of my misfortune. *sigh*

i like villa @home to wolves, bent, young and downing look nice pics.

i'd be a bit nervous with arsenal away to west brom. no fab, and a RVP not fully fit but who knows, they might bounce back after their exit from the champions league, especially with united tantalisingly close. nasri maybe and rvp if he plays.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 28

Fantasy Football Preview Week 28

Not too shabby I though to myself after the dust settled on Chelski v Man Unsecure-without-Vidic&Ferdinand-playing-together (remind anyone else of a Lethal Weapon style scenario [thinking about that it makes Raphael a Joe Pesci character, or would that be Johnny Evans}). You see I scored 60 points, 17 more than the average. But I think people who have lost interest and don’t tweak their teams anymore, so they have maybe 4 or 5 injured players etc, are skewing the average

State Of Play

I jumped a mammoth 2 places. TWO baby!!! The people ahead of me all got in or around 60 as well ya see.

Vindication

Hmmn, going by the concept of vindication being hunches paying off, nothing is vindicated except the groundbreaking decision to but Nani as captain. I suppose a differential of playing Vela scoring a goal helped since only 0.7% of people have signed him.

D’oh

The other 9 players on my team, I had six players getting 3 points or less. Mad I really hummed and hawed between Ashley Young and Downing last Friday evening, I picked the wrong horse, there was a 6-point difference between the players

Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

I guess Birmingham will have a hangover and dip in form after their amazing exercitations

 In the league cup final (maybe I say again fair play and I’m delighted Stephen Carr lifted that trophy, it will, mark by words, be a trivia question soon)

If there is going to be an amazing run of form for Arsenal, this is their moment. Similarly Everton, but their season is over now, is this gonna be Moyes’ swansong, or a chance to reboot the team for next season [if they could get past the block of their legendary shit starts to each season what could happen them).

But as a counter point, Newcastle face them this weekend (in st james park) and they genuinely have a chance of finishing 6^th, they have one sticky fixture left in their run in.

But this week in specific, Mark Sparky Hughes (well Fulham do!) plays Blackburn, the team where he made his name as a club manager, (interestingly Fulham have quietly put together the best defensive record in the league, yet two of their defenders are in the top 10 defenders)

Transfers

Decided to get rid of three injured players and take an 8-point hit, but since they are all double gameweek players, I should should should make it back

Going against my worry Birmingham will drop form; I reckon Bentley will keep his (after all he’s playing to revive his career and is ‘only’ on loan), so I brought him in for Van Der Vart

Then brought in Beckford, who is slowly finding his feet at Everton, as it would be churlish to bring in brittle bones Saha for brittle muscle Van Persie

Finally brought in dead ball Baines for Martin Kelly, who has flourished under Daglish but is out for a monthish (he’s already on my shortlist for next season. [Yep even now I’m planning]

Theory/Selection

I’ve captained Baines, as he’s playing twice and if he picks up one assist, one clean sheet and a few bonus points that should get him 20 to possibly 25 points, and it’s still and all about differentials for me if I’m gonna make up ground on the 14 teams ahead of me.

With Vidic suspended, I only have 13 players to play with anyway, by virtue of playing my 5 double gameweek players, I now don’t want Vela to score as it would prevent a clean sheet bonus for Johnson, and then I think there’s more in Downing at Bolton than his team mate Walker.

Keeper wise, Szcezesny confidence is gone (alumia played ahead of him in FA CUP), so I’ll go with the stalwarth Hart, who is at home to Wigan

My Team this week

 

Keeping An Eye On

Will the Sturridge steam roll continue, Please Deity no!!!!!

Captains Corner with Phergal

2 doubles this week, Everton and Birmingham, let's take a look at them.

Everton have Newcastle away and @home to Birmingham. To be honest I don't like this double, especially with Cahill out. Arteta then or perhaps saha, but this for me isn't attractive enough to edge out some of the single match contenders who I’ll mention later.

Birmingham have west brom @home and Everton @home. This one looks a bit better, foster or a defender could be a nice safe bet. zigic is risky.

so who else is there? Man city @home to wigan is irresistible; tevez is my pick like many other managers. dzeko still isn't giving me any reason to punt on over carlos.

The always-entertaining Liverpool man u game should give us a few goals. Rooney is in flying form; I’d pick him here. United will be looking to bounce back from the Chelsea defeat. I predict 2-0.

RVP injured has a lot of people running for a replacement. I recommend tevez if you don't already have him or Rooney if you have a bit of spare cash.

Good luck!