Fantasy Premier League

The Week Ahead

Thu Nov 02 07:01PM

So, here we go for another week. Coming off the tragedy of missing out on huge weekends from Lamps and Roonaldo, it's that time of week again. Who will do the business? Who are the best bets? What are the match-ups to watch? Which ones will I recommend and then not choose at the last moment only to start pulling my hair out over it come Sunday evening?

Let's start with the obvious stuff - there's a lot of potentially ugly football on offer this weekend - especially on Saturday. Bolton/Wigan, Charlton/Man Citeh, Fulham/Everton, and Watford/Boro have the looks of some serious ugliness. Throw in Villa/Rovers on Sunday and it could be a tough week all around for fantasy managers. I'm sure at least one of these matches will be an unexpected goal-fest but I'll be damned if I can figure out which with all of the listed teams so up and down (except Charlton who are mostly down).

On the plus side, we have NUFC home to Sheffield United who give away goals like Halloween candy and score them as frequently as politicians make sense. So as managers, we have that going for us, which is nice.

Chelsea
Sort of funny how disappointed I was with Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Sheffield United last weekend. Lamps and Ballack had nice weekends and Robben was OK but Sheva and Drogba were invisible and Cole and Cudicini were not present at all. The big contraversy again is in net where Carlo has been rumored to have had a blow-up with Jose Mourinho over his place on the bench mid-week for the Barca match. Sounds like another nervous weekend as we all try to figure out who will play Carlo or Hilario. You may just want to throw up your hands and stay away but I'm going to try to read the tea leaves again.

Outside of the net, the usual suspects are all reasonable again this weekend. In the reasonable bargain category - Drogba should be in the line-up as should Robben, Ballack and Ashley Cole. Sheva and Joe Cole are the two big questions in my mind. Sheva - will he recover? Cole - will he start? I am keeping the faith with Drogba, Robben, and Ballack but that's probably about it. If you have Lamps, you should keep him. Tough to buy in at his current price.

Spurs are a tough sell for me this weekend. Assou-Ekotto and Huddlestone have both been good to me over the last few weeks but with very little chance of getting a clean sheet this weekend - they're both out. Spurs midfield has been largely unproductive from a fantasy standpoint so even if they weren't playing Chelsea, I'd find it difficult to say many good things about them. Finally, the strikers have been OK but who knows who is going to start with Keane, Defoe, Mido, and Berbatov all healthy so they're not very attractive either.

The Race for the Champions League
Man United have a second straight match with one of the teams trying to establish themselves as a legitimate contender for a top 4 finish this season. Last weekend it was Bolton (remind me again how that worked out for Big Sam), this weekend 'arry Redknapp and Pompey visit OT in an attempt to prove themselves. I don't think it will be quite as decisive as last weekend (Rooney tends not to have spectacular matches back-to-back) but I think United will come out on top (2-0 or 2-1 with a late Pompey goal that makes little difference sounds about right).

In my mind, your interest in this match all hinges on the health of ManYoo's attacking players. [Forgive me if I sound like a broken record on this one, but what else is there to say?] If Giggs, Ronaldo, Rooney, and Saha are all in good shape and look to start, I think you should consider each of them with Saha being the best value followed by Giggs, Ronaldo, and then Rooney. You might even want to consider Scholes even though he is officially dead to me.

I'm not particularly bullish on the United defense given their prices and the quality Pompey has demonstrated so far this season. Heinze is about the only guy I'm considering from the United back line.

The Pompey midfield has turned into something of a fantasy wasteland. David James, Matt Taylor, Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson, Stefanovic, and Kanu are really the fantasy options here and with a clean sheet VERY unlikely the first five are poor bets. This isn't the best weekend to get on the Kanu bandwagon but he's at least worth a thought - followed quickly by the realization that he really doesn't get many points unless he scores and even then, he isn't as productive as you'd like.

Arsenal travel to Upton Park to face a Hammers squad who briefly remember what it takes to win. Arsenal, on the other hand, seem to have reverted to their "can't-buy-a-goal-despite-controlling-the-ball-for 60+%-of-the-match" form of the early season. Makes this an interesting match up. Making it more interesting is the presence of two inexpensive wingbacks for the Gunners who are likely to start in Clichy and Hoyte. I'd move from the Spurs guys to these two if I were you.

I'm also keeping the faith with Henry despite a HORRIBLE miss against CSKA yesterday. RvP is sort of expensive given a couple of HORRIBLE misses but he's still a pretty good bet for a mid-tier striker. I'm very much down on the Arsenal midfield - not enough consistency to justify selection.

The Hammers are not high on my list despite the fact that I support them (when they're not playing Arsenal) and loved them for this game last year. They had one nice match but the points came from unusual places. If you must - Etherington and Benayoun are probably the two players worth looking at against Arsenal's young wingbacks.

Liverpool announced their intention to get back in the rack last weekend with a resounding win that actually included more than a couple goals. Nice work. With Reading visiting at the end of a brutal stretch, the Reds run of success on the attacking end seems likely to continue. Dirk Kuyt is the best choice in my eyes. Gerrard is still pretty expensive for someone who hasn't produced much yet. Check on the health of the guys on the left side - Aurelio, Gonzalez, and Riise before making any decisions there but if healthy Aurelio especially should draw some interest from managers. Finally, the Crouchatron, if he's going to start (Damn Rafa's rotation policy) should be considered as well given Reading's recent propensity to concede lots of goals.

The usual Reading suspects - Doyle and Seol - are slightly less attractive than usual given the match-up and the fact that Reading is on the road but be reminded that they found three goals at Anfield in Carling Cup action recently.

Against the Relegation Zone
How happy is Glen Roeder to see Sheffield United coming to town? With a run of bad results and rumors of Sven and backroom meetings, I'm guessing that this is EXACTLY what he needs. Shay Given and Damien Duff are the two most likely candidates in my mind with Guiseppe Rossi another interesting option given his price and the potential for a start against a very bad road defence.

With the proliferation of wingers (Duff, Solano, Milner) there's some question who will start - the guess is Duff and Solano if they're both healthy. Scott Parker has also been quietly solid for fantasy managers this year and might be worth your consideration if you're looking for a solid investment in midfield (Duff/Solano/Milner/Emre are more likely to fluctuate while Parker is unlikely to have a huge weekend but he's unlikely to have a stinker either).

As has been the case all season, no reason to consider SHE players regardless of the NUFC defence.

Manchester City come calling on a Charlton squad that just can't seem to put it together. Jeremy's favorite defender Hatem Trabelsi has been the second coming of Sun JiHai and is worth some consideration as a possible starter and a likely candidate for a substitute clean sheet (one of the fantasy manager's best friends). Joey Barton and Darren Bent are really the two most interesting players in this match from a fantasy standpoint but neither have been up to last season's standards. Also, both are more expensive than they were last year which makes them less attractive. This one smells like a 1-1 draw which leaves me shying away from even considering anyone from this match in my line-up too seriously.

Watford host Boro with no word yet on whether Marlon King is expected back. If he's out, you have to wonder if Watford are capable of putting it in the back of the net. By himself, Ashley Young continues to produce fantasy points but the actual goals just aren't coming. Huth and Woody are both viable cheap options in defence given the high probability of a clean sheet (if King is recovered, please ignore the previous sentence).

BFAY is still a choice no matter the circumstances - I saw the match last weekend and I have no idea where the points came from, but they keep on coming. Given Viduka's continued absence, Jason Euell is still an attractive option given his low price. If you're looking to spend, you could do worse than Yakubu this weekend. Downing hasn't really been very impressive so far so be cautious - I'd make him prove it to me before I put him back in my line-up.

And The Rest
We've already discussed Bolton vs Wigan - Camara was attractive as a midfielder but is less so as a forward and even less so @Bolton. Anelka hasn't found his stride and really hasn't produced anything more than an average fantasy outing so far. Jussi's price dropped following the ManYoo massacre but he's still over 15...

Everton journey to London to visit Fulham in what promises to be a hard-fought (read, bad for fantasy managers) contest. AJ is still viable and his price has fallen back down a bit so he's attractive again...Arteta can't stop the yellow cards from coming which takes him from an excellent fantasy option to being merely pretty good...Cahill is maddeningly inconsistent...in the back Everton just aren't quite consistent enough for me to believe in their ability to put up a clean sheet...for Fulham Claus Jensen is of mild interest as he is likely to be involved in Fulham's inevitable goal somehow, plus, he takes kicks...

Finally, Villa host Rovers in yet another match-up of teams that have excelled at playing grind-it-out football with both trending toward the middle of the pack...David Bentley and Gabriel Agbonlahor are the guys we've been touting for most of the season and that doesn't change this week...we'd like to see more crosses from Agbonlahor (or at least more successful ones) but both players are excelling on the right wing for their clubs...if you're looking for something different, Gareth Barry has been doing well in recent weeks (minus last weekend where no one from Villa did that well), Stilian Petrov is still relatively cheap but he just hasn't delivered that much for fantasy managers yet.

Happy Shopping - Neal

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