Gameweek 16 Preview

Gameweek 16 Fixtures
Stoke City v Wigan
Birmingham v West Ham
Bolton v Man City
Burnley v Fulham
Chelsea v Everton
Hull City v Blackburn
Sunderland v Portsmouth
Tottenham v Wolves
Man Utd v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Arsenal

In true Mark Lawrenson style, I will reach for an overused cliche and describe this week's fantasy contest as a game of two halves. While fantasy filled squads like Chelsea, City and Spurs all face very intriguing opponents, United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa have tough opponents and their fantasy production is likely to be somewhat limited.

Spurs at home to Wolves (2.29 GPG conceded) looks very appetising as does City's trip to the Reebok to play Bolton (2.14 GPG). Chelsea are the pick of the big four as they welcome an Everton side that have conceded 10 goals in their last 4 road trips.

The physio rooms across the country are starting to get full with injured players Michael Essien the latest big name player to go down. I will follow this post up tonight with a last minute run through of the latest injury news.

Clean Sheet Rankings (predicted goals conceded in parenthesis)

1. Chelsea (0.10) - BUY
   
2. Sunderland (0.35) - HOLD
   
3. Birmingham (0.47) - HOLD
   
4. Burnley (0.55) - HOLD
   
5. Tottenham (0.64) - BUY
   
6. West Ham (0.72) - HOLD
   
7. Stoke (0.73) - HOLD/SELL
   
8. Hull (0.74) - SELL
   
9. Man Utd (0.82) - BUY
   
10. Man City (0.83) - BUY
    
11. Fulham (1.43) - SELL
    
12. Aston Villa (1.67) - SELL
    
13. Liverpool (1.67) - SELL
    
14. Bolton (1.95) - SELL
    
15. Portsmouth (2.29) - SELL
    
16. Wigan (2.58) - SELL
    
17. Blackburn (2.87) - HOLD/SELL
    
18. Arsenal (3.01) - HOLD
    
19. Everton (3.38) - SELL
    
20. Wolves (4.37) - SELL
    

No less than 10 teams this week whose projected goals conceded comes in below 1.00 suggesting it could be a good week for clean sheets. The group is of course led by Chelsea who have conceded just once at home all year and welcome an Everton averaging just over one goal a game on the road this season. You also have to like Birmingham and Spurs who are in good defensive form, with Spurs looking particularly attractive having conceded just 2 goals in the last 4 home games (though still, frustratingly, have just 2 clean sheets for the year). Sunderland's statistical ranking is probably ahead of where I would have ranked them based on my preconceptions but such is Portsmouth's terrible away record (3 goals in 7 games), the likes or Michael Turner look like solid plays.

Of the teams at the bottom of the rankings, Wolves, Everton and Portsmouth are sells in the longer term with tough defensive fixtures over the coming few weeks. Remember also that Fulham, Stoke, Everton and Hull also have a bye next week, which suggests Stoke are a hold for the week rather than a buy.

Captain Rankings

1. Didier Drogba
2. Frank Lampard
3. Jermaine Defoe
4. Aaron Lennon
5. Fernando Torres
6. Ashley Cole
7. Darren Bent
8. Emmanuel Adebayor
9. Cesc Fabregas
10. Wayne Rooney

Some really good captain options this week and for the first time I easily filled my top 10 with players I would happily captain. I obviously love Chelsea at home to Everton both offensively and defensively and therefore Ashley Cole becomes the first defender to make an appearance on my rankings. The inclusion of Torres is clearly a risk having played jut 25 minutes midweek but I think Liverpool simply have to win this game to show they are still one of the favourites to grab a place in the Champions League and therefore Benitez will risk El Nino. Spurs have the best matchup of the week and I like Defoe to continue his goalscoring form at home to Wolves this week.

As always, thanks for reading and why not post your transfer or lineup questions below or tweet @plfantasy.