Fantasy Premier League

The (Last) Week Ahead

Thu May 21 02:40AM

So, here we are at the end of the season.  There are undoubtedly many battles left to be played out in private leagues across the Yahoo universe as well as jockeying for final position in the overall rankings.  For myself, I know I'm hoping for a strong finishing kick to keep in the top half of my private league - yes, I'm still suffering from the sins of my goalkeeping decisions from, well, the entire first half of the season. 

The dismal nature of my final standings aside, there is a lot to think about as you assemble your line-up for this final weekend. 

• Do you go with a combination of the best players from the teams who are still competing for something meaningful (Fulham, Spurs, NUFC, Hull, Sunderland, and if you're one of those eternal optimists Boro)?
• Do you go with the young guys from one of the big clubs (ManYoo, Arsenal, Liverpool, and to a lesser extent Chelsea who don't have many young guys)?
• Do you ignore all of the motivational questions and concerns and just go with the talented players with good match-ups who are most likely to start (you know, like every other week)?

I can certainly see the logic behind saying "yes" to any of the scenarios above.  That said, the latter strategy gets me extremely nervous as managers are likely to be extremely unpredictable with their talented players in the last match of the season with no good reason to play them other than to give the supporters a good show (which none of us really believe is good enough reason to risk a valuable asset to a potential cruciate injury that could cost half of next season - I wish it were otherwise but it isn't). 

That leaves a combination of those with something left to play for and the young guys from the big teams...

Here's how I'm breaking it down...

For the young guys, I'm looking at ManYoo guys (I have no faith in Hull) and Arsenal attackers (I have no faith that any version of Arsenal's defence is going to shut Stoke down when I'm sure they'll have a lot of pride tied up in beating Arsenal).  Not wild about Liverpool options with Spurs having so much to play for - even with the match at Anfield.

For the desperate guys, I'm looking Fulham at home, Spurs on the road, and Newcastle on the road.  Hard to get too excited about Sunderland doing much against any version of Chelsea or Hull against ManYoo's youth squad.

The nice thing about this weekend is that budget shouldn't be much of an issue with so many inexpensive players likely to feature.

Strikers
Here's the list in attack...Bendtner, Vela, Nevland, Dempsey, Defoe, Macheda, Viduka, Martins, and Welbeck with Anelka chasing the Golden Boot thrown in for good measure.

If I were really going to invest in my strikeforce, I'd go Bendtner, Defoe, and the Elk.  If I were choosing between the two ManYoo guys, I'd go against the grain/hype and go with Welbeck over Macheda.  If you're a believer in the theory that Viduka really only plays when his next contract is on the line then you might want to throw the 3 and change necessary to get him on your team (hmm, any coincidence that his last two teams are in danger of going down and the one before that has been down for a few years?)

Midfielders
And here's the midfield list...Modric, Denilson, Nani, Murphy, Richardson, and Guthrie with Lawrence and MGP thrown in because otherwise Jeremy would feel obligated to comment or post or something else.

My preferences are for Modric, Nani, Guthrie, and Murph but there are strong cases to be made for all.

Defenders
Fabio, O'Shea, Bale (he has to start with all those injuries right?), Pantsil, and Hutton.  I'd go Pantsil, Fabio and Hutton as the best bets.  If you're going to go off the board then you could/should also consider Samba and Scharner.

Keepers
How to cap off an ugly year of picking keepers...Hard to know who ManYoo will throw out there and Fabianski isn't a really strong option given Arsenal's inability to defend tall teams that play physically in the area.  In my mind that leaves Schwarzer, Gomes, and Robbo if you want to go on the cheap side.  I'd go all in for Schwarzer for my squad despite the cost.

Good luck going through your own mental gymnastics as you try to evaluate what managers intend to do on the last day of the season...

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