The Christmas period was tough for many managers (me included) who suffered through unexpected injuries and then the disruption to the fixture list. This will also be the first gameweek without the departed African players thus testing many managers' squads further. The defensive fixtures aren't too bad this week and with the frigid weather not going anywhere one may expect a few defensive struggles this week and playing 5 at the back might be worth considering.
Clean Sheet Rankings
Fulham - BUY
- Burnley - HOLD
- Man Utd - BUY
- Arsenal - HOLD
- Man City - BUY
- Aston Villa - HOLD
- Chelsea - HOLD
- Birmingham - HOLD/SELL
- Sunderland - SELL
- Wigan - HOLD
- West Ham - HOLD
- Liverpool - HOLD
- Stoke - HOLD
- Portsmouth - SELL
- Hull - SELL
- Bolton - SELL
- Wolves - SELL
- Tottenham - BUY
- Blackburn - SELL
- Everton - SELL
Defensive fixtures don't get much better than Fulham at home to Portsmouth to the point where if you're squad is thin, Fulham defenders might even warrant some captaincy consideration. Of the more established sides, Arsenal, City and United all look good value for the week with both Manchester sides being buy prospects for the foreseeable future.
Captain Picks- Carlos Tevez
- Darren Bent
- Andrei Arshavin
- Shaun Wright Phillips
- Fernando Torres
- Nicolas Anelka
- Frank Lampard
- Steve Gerrard
- Wayne Rooney
- Eduardo
Of the big 6 sides, only City and Arsenal have really good fixtures on paper (1.6 GPG+) and Arsenal are somewhat lacking the players to take advantage of the fixture. That leaves City as the team of the week and I like Tevez, Wright Phillips and Bellamy to all provide a great chance of solid returns. Chelsea's trip to Hull isn't a walk in the park and without Essien and Drogba and I am reluctant to back Ancelotti's men until I see how they cope. Despite his excellent form I have downgraded Rooney due to the tough trip to St Andrews but if you are looking for a replacement for Drogba he remains an excellent choice (though remember he has no game in week 23). Rounding out the top 10 is a player (Eduardo) who has a chance to give good value over the coming weeks, though be careful of Arsenal's fixtures in weeks 23-25 (@Ast, MNU, @Che).
Transfer Targets- Nicolas Anelka - though I
am not totally convinced that Chelsea can be as effective without Drogba and Essien, Anelka is a proven scorer who will be the top man in a high powered offense. None of Chelsea's fixtures over the next month or two frighten me and you could happily plug the Frenchman in safely for the foreseeable future. I don't see him having huge games but he should be good for a goal every other game. - David Dunn - Dunn's untimely injury halted the momentum he was gaining but on a positive note his ownership is down to 3% and he'll cost you just 5.4m. Blackburn's fixtures look very good and I like Dunn ahead of most, if not all, sub-6m midfielders.
- Chris Eagles - still owned by just 2% of players, Eagles has amassed 13 bonus points in the last 7 games, more than other midfielder - including Fabregas. He is still priced at 5m and while Burnley's fixtures aren't great, Eagles has contributed against City, Arsenal and Villa showing he can perform in this league.
Hopefully the league will see some new arrivals shortly that will generate some Arshavin like returns for the second half of the season. Until then, why not post your transfer or lineup questions below or tweet them
@plfantasy.
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