Gameweek 5 Preview

Apologies but I am in my final week of traveling and so this week's preview is going to be a condensed version. I will however respond to all comments in the previous post to answer your questions and will try and get to anything posted below before Saturday.

Injuries seem to be dominating the fantasy landscape at the moment with Valencia and Zamora the latest long term injuries. Modric will be back quicker than expected though this could be a double edged sword as the Spurs midfield remains a crowded place.

As this is the time of year when we all need to start making changes I have included the mid-long term ranks of all players I discuss below to indicate if they are one week options or should be transfer targets.

Clean Sheet Rankings

1. Chelsea
2. Man Utd
3. Tottenham
4. Blackburn
5. Aston Villa
6. Stoke
7. Man City
8. Everton
9. WBA
10. Sunderland
11. Arsenal
12. Fulham
13. Wigan
14. West Ham
15. Birmingham
16. Newcastle
17. Liverpool
18. Bolton
19. Wolves
20. Blackpool

 Captain Rankings

1. Didier Drogba
2. Florent Malouda
3. Frank Lampard*
4. Ashley Cole
5. Nicolas Anelka
6. John Terry
7. Dimitar Berbatov
8. Nani
9. Nemanja Vidic
10. Carlos Tevez

*Check injury status

It's all about Chelsea this week as they welcome Blackpool to Stamford Bridge in what, on paper, could be a massacre. Based on previous results, the statistics predict somewhere in the 5 to 6-0 range, which is obviously a stretch but you would be disappointed if Chelsea didn't notch 3 goals. Drogba, Malouda, Lampard and Cole have all been rested/suspended for either last week's game or the midweek game in Europe so barring injury (which only seems to threaten Lampard) they should all feature this week. Lampard is the sole risk but I would feel comfortable captaining him so long as you have another suitable captain ready to sub-in.

Elsewhere I like Man Utd alot to recover from last week's draw against a Liverpool side who struggle mightily for goals away from Anfield. While this led to a 0-0 at Birmingham, United are a different beast and even without Valencia I can see them having far too much quality for Liverpool in this one. While I am not predicting a whitewash, I would be comfortable backing the statistical prediction of 2-0.

Thanks for reading and we'll be back to full service for the first time this season for GW6 as my travels draw to an end. Expect some especially geeky analysis coming your way soon!