Week 11 Round-Up & Week 12 Preview

Firstly i'll round up where I am for Week 11. The majority of you will have seen my Week 11 Player Picks post with 50 players in, but i've narrowed that down to 24 possibilities (with a few new entries). You'll notice that I've avoided Chelsea & Man Utd players (apart from Drogs), but that's only because it's going to be heated & is too tough to call...I'm sure it's going to be a cracking game!

Given
Kirkland

It's going to be Given in goal unless I decide to go with both Fabregas & RvP, in which case i'll need the £3m received for downgrading to Kirkland. Robinson is out of my thoughts as I reckon Pompey can win at Blackburn.

Vermaelen
Gibbs
Alexander
Nelsen
Cueller
Spector

Verm & Gibbs will almost certainly be in my team, so then it's just a case of choosing if Alexander stays or if I go with another option with a chance of a clean sheet. Spector & Cueller are 2 options not on my original player picks list, but I think they both represent great value & they're in consideration.

Fabregas
Benayoun
O'Hara
Petrov
Hunt
Etherington
Larsson
Dunn
Kranjcar
Babel

These are the 10 midfielder vying for 4 spots (possibly 5 if I go 3-5-2). I think even at £19m that Fabregas is great value - he's hitting the form of his life with 2 more goals in midweek & I shudder to think what he could do to Wolves. O'Hara is probably in, so then it comes down to trying to get set pieces takers in & Babel could come in as a handy filler to allow further purchases.

Van Persie
Drogba
Adebayor
Defoe
Tevez
Rodallega
Benitez

After missing Van Persie on the barndoor I probably can't afford him. As I've written previously I don't think having both in vs Wolves in necessary, especially at a cost of £35-£40m+. So if I don't stretch for him then it's Drogba (obviously) and then 1 of Adebayor, Defoe or Rodallega. I may also go for Benitez as I think he'll cause Liverpool's defence (which could be without Johnson & Skrtel as well as the suspended Carragher) all sorts of problems.

So those are the decision left to make, with plenty of injury & team news to come this afternoon which is only likely to add confusion.

Now, a brief look at Week 12 which will be Round 2 of The Blog Cup, in which 200 people remain. There is an international break first, so you have plenty of time to think about your team, but it's interesting to note that it's a double week for 4 team so keep that in mind for the barndoor.

Saturday, 21 November 2009
Birmingham v Fulham, 15:00
Burnley v Aston Villa, 15:00
Chelsea v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Hull v West Ham, 15:00
Liverpool v Man City, 12:45
Man Utd v Everton, 17:30
Sunderland v Arsenal, 15:00

Sunday, 22 November 2009
Bolton v Blackburn, 13:30
Stoke v Portsmouth, 16:00
Tottenham v Wigan, 15:00

Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Fulham v Blackburn, 20:00
Hull v Everton, 19:45

Double teams: Hull (2 decent home games), Fulham (1 away, 1 home), Blackburn (2 away), Everton (2 away).

Other decent fixtures - Chelsea home to Wolves, Man United home to Everton, Spurs home to Wigan, Stoke home to Portsmouth, Arsenal at Sunderland.

I'll be looking at Fulham players (Schwarzer, Zamora, Duff, Paintsil), Hull (Myhill, Hunt, Bullard, Geovanni), Blackburn (Dunn, Nelsen, Givet), Everton (Saha, Heitinga)  & then look to get 1 or 2 of Rooney, Giggs, Lampard, J Cole, Defoe, Lennon, Kranjcar, Etherington, Rosicky, Nasri, Fabs, RvP. I think striking the right balance is going to be extremely tough.

That's it for now. Week 11 team/injury news will be up later this afternoon.

Cheers,
AM