Gameweek 8 Preview

Boy those international weeks drag. It seems like months ago that Alex wrapped up the week with that goal but fear not as we return with some tasty fixtures for both fantasy and real reasons. The Merseyside derby looks even more interesting than usual thanks to the takeover drama at Anfield while home games against West Brom and Birmingham for United and Arsenal suggest goals a plenty for the big boys this week. You never can be sure though so hopefully the below stats and rankings can at least give us some clues who to back this week.

Defensive Rankings
(Based on current and prior year stats. Current year only rank in parenthesis)

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

With Chelsea facing a tough trip (on paper) to Villa Park you have to love United players this week as the best bet for a clean sheet by some distance. The ranking of Wigan as 1st based on current year data is why I am still using the hybrid current/prior rankings and need to wait a few weeks before this year's data is reliable. For the record the reason for this anomaly is because they have played just two road games this year and haven't conceded in either.

Long term defensive rankings (SoS6)
If you are thinking of bringing in a new defender this week you might want to check out the below rankings for who has the fewest predicted goals conceded over the coming 6 weeks. The number of games with less than a goal predicted is in brackets:

1. Chelsea (5)
2. Man Utd (4)
3. Liverpool (2)
4. Arsenal (4)
5. Man City (2)
6. Aston Villa (3)
7. Everton (3)
8. Newcastle (4)
9. Tottenham (3)
10. Stoke (2)
11. Bolton (1)
12. Fulham (3)
13. Birmingham (3)
14. West Ham (0)
15. Blackburn (2)
16. Blackpool (0)
17. Wigan (1)
18. West Brom (1)
19. Wolves (2)
20. Sunderland (2)

Captain Rankings: Team goals
I'm changing this section up a bit this week to show the team predicted goals upon which I base my captain picks. My captain picks are generally not as good as the clean sheet rankings as I am still using some judgment rather than pure facts to make my predictions. I try and incorporate form and prior success against teams into the picks but in the end it is still just my opinion. I am therefore giving you the scoring stats so you make up your own mind too:

1. Man Utd (4.22)
2. Arsenal (3.60)
3. Newcastle (3.18)
4. Blackburn (1.86)
5. Man City (1.70)
6. Everton (1.48)
7. Fulham (1.45)
8. Bolton (1.40)
9. Blackpool (1.13)
10. Chelsea (1.09)
11. Wolves (1.09)
12. Aston Villa (0.99)
13. Tottenham (0.79)
14. Liverpool (0.76)
15. West Ham (0.68)
16. Birmingham (0.67)
17. Stoke (0.67)
18. Wigan (0.62)
19. Sunderland (0.58)
20. West Brom (0.46)

Captain Rankings: Individuals

1. Cesc Fabregas: I know it's hasty to throw him straight in at number one but would you bet against the maestro to mark his return with a bang in a favourable fixture against Birmingham at the Emirates?
2. Dimitar Berbatov: Gets the nod ahead of Nani based on the fact that West Brom have already conceded 6 goals to forward this year (only Wigan and Liverpool are worse)
3. Nani: Great option against West Brom in what could be a statement game for United.
4. Didier Drogba: Despite the tough fixture it's hard to even rank him this low never mind any lower. For the conservative players out there I would not blame you for captaining him as usual this week.
5. Nemanja Vidic: As close to a certain clean sheet as it gets. I've also been impressed with Vidic's opportunities from set pieces this year which is why he gets the nod here.
6. Carlos Tevez: I'd be terrified if I was a City fan after continuing talk of retirement but that won't happen before a trip to Bloomfield Road who will see probably the best player to grace the pitch since Sir Stanley hung up the boots (apologies to Pure Juice alum Chaz Adam but you're not quite there yet!)
7. Wayne Rooney: I've probably been as critical as anyone of Rooney and he hasn't appeared in these rankings for a while but a game at home to West Brom is a great opportunity for him to start to rebuild his shattered season. Penalty duties always help the English hitman and he claims to be fully fit.
   
8. Mikel Arteta: I think Arteta is ready to explode after an unspectacular start to the season. A game against a Liverpool side in crisis might be just the ticket.
9. Florent Malouda: As with Drogba it's tough to rank him this low after his dynamite form but the fixture is tough and Malouda has laid two eggs (GW4 and GW6) on the road this year already. He did however destroy Wigan in GW2 so it's somewhat risky to drop him this low.
10. Marouane Chamakh: Chamakh has delivered decent returns this year and makes a good fixture play this week at home to Birmingham.

I hope you're as excited as I am to get back to Premier League action this week, especially as for me it's the first uninterrupted Saturday in weeks so I can go with wall-to-wall soccer. Bliss.