Gameweek 5 Preview

In years past, Chelsea playing away at Old Trafford would have caused countless issues for fantasy managers, who would have been forced to contemplate how to use their Chelsea assets. No more. Aside from the emerging Mata, Chelsea have become a fantasy afterthought and instead it's Man City and Liverpool's tricky trips causing us issues this week.

The best fixtures for the week appear to belong to some of the mid-level teams, with Bolton and Everton looking like the pick of the bunch. Without further ado then, here are this week's clean sheet and attacking rankings:

Clean Sheet Rankings
Forecast goals conceded and clean sheets kept - opponents failed to score in parenthesis

1. Aston Villa vs Newcastle (0.86 8-8)
2. Everton vs Wigan (1.05 6-9)
3. Man Utd vs Chelsea (1.10 11-8)
4. Sunderland vs Stoke (1.12 7-10)
5. Swansea vs West Brom (1.14 n/a - 9)
6. Tottenham vs Liverpool (1.17 5-6)
7. Wolves vs QPR (1.22 4 - n/a)
8. Man City @ Fulham (1.31 6-4)
9. Stoke @ Sunderland (1.36 4-5)
10. Bolton vs Norwich (1.37 5 - n/a)
11. Fulham vs Man City (1.38 10-6)
12. Arsenal @ Blackburn (1.40 5-2)
13. QPR @ Wolves (1.40 n/a - 4)
14. Newcastle @ Aston Villa (1.40 7-5)
15. Blackburn @ Arsenal (1.43 7-3)
16. Wigan @ Everton (1.50 5-3)
17. Liverpool @ Tottenham (1.54 6-4)
18. West Brom @ Swansea (1.68 1 - n/a)
19. Chelsea @ Man Utd (1.93 5-0)
20. Norwich @ Bolton (1.95 n/a - 5)

It's all about playing the fixtures this week rather than relying on the 'big name' teams. I wouldn't advocate dropping your City players ever, but this is one of the weeks where you wouldn't want to bring in a second defender or perhaps you would consider using this week to move away from having two if that is your long term strategy. I would however recommend dropping your Chelsea players as United simply do not get shut out at home.

Attacking rankings
Forecast goals scored in parenthesis

1. Bolton vs Norwich (1.95)
2. Man Utd vs Chelsea (1.93)
3. Swansea vs West Brom (1.68)
4. Tottenham vs Liverpool (1.54)
5. Everton vs Wigan (1.50)
6. Arsenal @ Blackburn (1.43)
7. Wolves vs QPR (1.40)
8. Blackburn vs Arsenal (1.40)
9. Aston Villa vs Newcastle (1.40)
10. Man City @ Fulham (1.38)
11. Norwich @ Bolton (1.37)
12. Sunderland vs Stoke (1.36)
13. Fulham vs Man City (1.31)
14. QPR @ Wolves (1.22)
15. Liverpool @ Tottenham (1.17)
16. West Brom @ Swansea (1.14)
17. Stoke @ Sunderland (1.12)
18. Chelsea @ Man Utd (1.10)
19. Wigan @ Everton (1.05)
20. Newcastle @ Aston Villa (0.86)

It's a similar story to the defensive stats here, with several mid level teams taking the spotlight, supplemented by the ever-present Man Utd. Again, such has been City's dominance this year, I would never recommend dropping them, but this is a knock against the captaincy prospects of Aguero and co. It's a big week for players like Kevin Davies and Danny Graham who need to start showing us something if they are to remain on our radar.

Captain Picks

Wayne Rooney - in all honesty this section should start and finish with Rooney. The fixture sounds harder than it is and United and Rooney are insatiable right now. His ownership is up to 46% and he is well and truly in the Ronaldo zone where you almost have to captain him to avoid losing ground on everyone else. It would take some sack to tell Rooney the armband lies elsewhere this week.

Sergio Aguero - he's been almost as impressive as Rooney, in less playing time, and when all is said and done he could lead the league in goals and fantasy points. He carries some rotation risk this week having not missed a game since GW1 (including the midweek European tie) but given Mancini's latest comments, you would bet he would start. Fulham remain a good defensive team but haven't faced anyone of Aguero's quality this year so it's a tough game to call. The percentages tell you to captain Rooney but Aguero's ceiling remains as high as anyone.

Edin Dzeko - I'd suggest he is a slightly safer pick that Aguero, having been rested last weekend against Wigan. It's unlikely that City will continue to score at such a ridiculous rate, so before owning and possibly captaining Dzeko you have to ask yourself if you believe he is earning points himself or is purely a product of a dynamic system. If you feel it's the latter then his point scoring will slow much quicker than Aguero's but if not, then you have to feel he is outstanding value at 8.9m (I will expand on this in the long-promised City article which I hope to get up before this week's deadline, or if not, over the weekend).

The other names on the radar include the above players' teammates including Ashley Young, Nani, David Silva and Samir Nasri but the ceiling for that group is much lower than the aforementioned trio. Neither Chelsea nor Fulham have been bad at defending set pieces this year so I wouldn't put too much stock in set piece duties for this group, instead looking for someone like Nasri or Nani to score or create chances when cutting inside from the wings. It's inevitable that at some point Robin Van Persie will outscore Rooney and Aguero, but despite the general crappiness of Blackburn, the odds don't suggest that will be this week. I wouldn't question anyone giving him the armband but having been burned last week I am gun shy about being too cute here.

The promised City (and United) article will be up shortly so be sure to check back tonight (for those in the US) or before the deadline tomorrow morning (for this in the UK) if you have any last minute changes to make for these teams. It's been a busy week for me, hence the delay in posting, but next week we should be back to normal, so please post your comments/questions below or at @plfantasy and I'll get to them over the weekend/early next week.