Fantasy Premier League

Thu Mar 06 03:43PM by Neal Thurman

Before we get to the analysis of the coming week (which is going to end up looking a lot like "stick with what worked this past week"), I figured I'd spend some time on a few issues that have been rolling around in my head since last weekend...

1) Where was the headline? Maybe its because I live in the States and didn't see all the local newspapers but I was CERTAIN I'd see a Wednesday headline reading "The Joy of Cesc" following Fabregas' wonder-goal (and overall dominant performance) against Milan on Tuesday night.

2) Also related to that match...I've freakin' had enough of Eboue.  As a right back, he was a good attacking option.  As a right wing, he's useless.  He can't shoot.  He can't really dribble.  Mostly, he's just fast and occasionally he can beat a defender to the endline and get a cross back out to on-rushing central attackers.  This is not enough.  Where have you gone David Bentley?  Maybe Theo is the answer in the long run.  But more likely, he needs to be groomed to take a striker spot partnering K2.  That opens up a huge need for a competent right wing at the Emirates.  Think how many goals K2 would have if Arsenal had some one who was better than average at serving the ball into the box from the run of play and/or free kicks.  Cesc currently has the job but he's not exceptionally good at it.  (The difference between he and Pirlo the other night was startling).

3) Liverpool - There's been a lot of outrage over the evil American owners.  Has anyone thought to remember that they greenlighted a ton of summer spending that brought in Torres (who was worth every penny) and Babel (who is looking more and more like he might grow into being worth his fee).  They also paid up for Masch (which certainly wasn't cheap).  Is it their fault that Rafa can't coax top class results from a squad that was expensive to assemble?  Ask yourselves this if you're Hicks/Gillette haters, would you be as certain that they're bad guys if they were English and had Sir or Lord in front of their names?  One other thought on the topic, after similar rending of cloth and gnashing of teeth in Manchester a few years ago, things seem to be working out pretty well...Ditto the fortunes (pardon the pun) at Villa in the wake of their American buy-out.  What exactly is the problem here?  The owners or the manager?

4) The West Ham conundrum - I have to admit, I have NO idea what to make of these guys.  Jeremy and I were IMing about them yesterday as we were "watching" the LIV/WHU gamecast.  If anyone has any idea how to predict what these guys will do in any given week, you have to tell us.  There's undoubtedly talent there but there seems to be no cohesion.  Some weeks, the talent is enough other weeks it just isn't.  Throw in the fact that they have a bunch of players who really play the same position (Ashton, CCole, and Zamora at forward and Solano, Ljungberg, Dyer, and Bowyer in midfield) and no one to compliment those guys.  Until further notice, I really can't see myself taking WHU players in anything but the most obvious of situations (home to DERBY).

OK, enough of my ranting.  On to the fantasy week upcoming...

I'm going to keep this part short this week since there isn't a great deal that you should be thinking about changing.  I'm assuming that most of you are loaded up with Liverpool players (Torres, Gerrard, Arbeloa/Skertl, and Pepe) and hopefully you saw Babel's performance and added him on the Barn Door before his price skyrocketed after his Sunday performance.  With the mess that is NUFC coming to Anfield, I have no reason to think for even a moment about switching any of those guys out. 

Throw in the cheap price that most folks likely have Bendtner/Walcott at and the fact that Arsenal play Wigan this weekend, there's a pretty good chance that you have at least two strikers, two midfielders (Gerrard/CRon), two defenders, and your keeper locked in.

Given that Chelsea is playing Derby, its hard to go wrong filling in the rest of the blanks with Blues.  You have to live with the reality that some of the front line starters might be rested given the opposition but guys like Joe Cole, Salmon Kalou, Michael Ballack, and John Terry (still recovering match fitness) are very likely to play and do well against Derby.

If you're looking for some bargains (or to be a contrarian), there are some other ways you could go.  If you believe that Spurs just had a post-Carling Cup hangover (and were suffering mightily from the absence of their now-healthy-again central defence) and West Ham are really slumping then guys like Robinson, Hutton, Woodgate, and O'Hara represent interesting value.  This is especially true of Robinson who could enable some very interesting things given his price at 1.81.  He might even have a nice run of points in him if he has King/Woody in front of him for a few matches in a row.

Another interesting value is Gareth Barry whose price has slipped under 10.00 ahead of a visit from Boro.  He's sort of due for a big match too...

Given the circumstances, I'm not going to give you too much more to think about, there are decent options like Flamini or Essien out there as well but I can't imagine that you have too many moves to make so there isn't much point in drilling down too far.

Happy Shopping

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