Week 6 Preview

Firstly, lets summarise Week 5. As you know I wrote an Early Player Picks post on Tuesday detailing over 50 players. I have since had some time to think about it, catch up with injury news & have come up with my top picks for each position.

GK: Myhill, Gordon, Mannone – I feel the value for money offered by Myhill this week is very difficult to ignore. £1.5m at home to a Birmingham side who are struggling to score goals means he’s been in my team since last Saturday & he’s staying. If you don’t trust him then Craig Gordon should do well against a Burnley side who’s bubble has really burst following a promising start. If you’re feeling risky, Mannone of Arsenal looks set to keep his place due to the continued absence of Almunia & Fabianski at a cost of just over £6m. I feel other keepers are too expensive this week, especially when there are so many outfield options to splash the cash on.

DFs: Vermaelen, Warnock, Dunne, Cueller, Distin, Heitinga, Sonko - I'm finding it difficult to look beyond Arsenal, Villa & Everton defenders this week, with Vermaelen & Warnock the stand-out options. I’m really hoping Heitinga gets a game although it’s not certain after Everton performed very well without him on Thursday. Sonko is in there as a real option due to his near certain starting status & bargain price which, like Myhill, will free up the money to spend on the wonderful choice of midfield & striking options we have this week.

MFs: Young, Gerrard, Fabregas, Lampard, Taylor, Hunt, Milner, Pienaar – You’ll notice that Rosicky isn’t on my list, even though it’s very possible that I'll have him in my team. I can’t recommend him to others when it’s not certain he’ll start, even if it’s a risk I’m willing to take myself. The 8 players I have recommended are the ones I wish I could fit in if I had unlimited cash and unlimited spaces in my midfield, with Ashley Young my real hunch pick despite performing disappointingly so far. Billy would be on there if it wasn’t for the doubt about his injury.

FWs: Van Persie, Drogba, Agbonlahor, Torres, Rooney, Eduardo, Carew, Yakubu/Jo/Saha – No shocks here, I expect the big names to fire this weekend. As you all know Van Persie is my major hunch pick despite the midweek concern over his knee injury & he’ll be in my team for Week 5. After that I wish I could fit Agbonlahor in alongside Drogba in my front 3 but because of my spending on my midfield (and my decision to continue with Tuncay) it isn’t an option. Eduardo, Carew & the Everton forwards could all do very well IF you can decide which will get game time. Finally, you can rarely go wrong with Rooney & Torres although given their match-ups I wouldn’t be brining them in at their current price.

My starting 11 will be coming from these 25 players

So, on to Week 6…firstly, the fixtures:

Saturday, 26 September 2009
Birmingham v Bolton, 15:00
Blackburn v Aston Villa, 15:00
Fulham v Arsenal, 17:30
Liverpool v Hull, 15:00
Portsmouth v Everton, 12:45
Stoke v Man Utd, 15:00
Tottenham v Burnley, 15:00
Wigan v Chelsea, 15:00

Sunday, 27 September 2009
Sunderland v Wolverhampton, 16:00

Monday, 28 September 2009
Man City v West Ham, 20:00

As always, lets look at the stand-out fixtures, & there are plenty to choose from!

Liverpool at home to Hull, Tottenham at home to Burnley, Everton away at Portsmouth & Man City at home to West Ham…closely followed by Sunderland at home to Wolves & Chelsea at Wigan ….then some trickier fixtures with Man Utd at Stoke & Arsenal at Fulham. With such a bunch of great fixtures I’ll probably be leaving out Birmingham v Bolton & Blackburn v Villa.

So, who to look at on the barn door?…plenty of options again:

Liverpool – Torres, Gerrard, Benayoun, Kuyt, Glen Johnson, Skrtel, Insua

Spurs – Defoe, Crouch, Lennon, Kranjcar, Bassong

Everton – Yak, Jo, Saha, Pienaar, Billy, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Howard

Man City – Tevez (against his old club), Bellamy, Ireland, Wright Phillips, Richards, Bridge, Given (remember no Adebayor or Robinho due to suspension & injury)

Sunderland – Bent, Jones, Reid, Richardson, Ferdinand, Turner, Gordon

Chelsea – Drogba, Anelka, Lampard, Deco, Malouda, Joe Cole, Bosingwa

Man Utd – Rooney, Berbatov, Nani, Scholes, Giggs, Valencia

Arsenal – Van Persie, Walcott, Rosicky, Fabregas, Arshavin, Vermaelen

Others – Benitez, M Taylor, Givet, Young, Milner, Agbonlahor, O’Hara, Gomez, Duff

I’ll probably be loading up on Liverpool, Spurs, Everton, Man City & Sunderland this week.

Early Possible Picks
GK: Gordon, Given, Howard
DF: G Johnson, Bassong, Richards, Turner, Heitinga
MF: Gerrard, Lennon, Reid, Billy, Lampard, Wright Phillips
FW: Defoe, Torres, Tevez, Bent, Drogba, Yak

TOP PICK: Defoe – You can’t ignore the Premier League’s joint top scorer when he has a home fixture vs Burnley. Gerrard & Torres also come very close.

Last minute injury news & Predicted Line-ups for Week 5 will be up much later (probably tonight) as I'm not around this afternoon.

How’s your team looking? Who will you be looking to get in on the barndoor for Week 6?

Cheers,
AM