Week 23 - Saturday

Another twist in the title race yesterday, as Man Utd lost again (and deserved to - Everton outplayed them), allowing Chelsea to stretch their lead & Arsenal to get within 2 points of them. It really does look like this one could run to the wire, which is great for us neutrals!

At the other end of the table, West Ham got a vital but comfortable win over fellow strugglers Hull but there was very very late heartbreak for poor old Portsmouth, as 10 man Stoke snatched a 94th minute winner at Fratton Park. You have to feel sorry for them.

I had an average day, with an initial 60.5 points falling to 56.5 points after that last minute Stoke goal took David James from +2 to -4. A lot of people must've scored similarly so far, as I've only dropped 30 places in the overall rankings to 1270th.

At least my decision to drop Drogba (and his 2 goals) were not the reason for my disappointment. I was holding the Ivorian at £20.5m, so selling allowed me to bring in Matthew Upson (10.5 points) AND Carlton Cole (13 points) for the same combined cost...only a couple of points less & another game each in midweek.

What really hurt were the last minute Fabregas penalty & the quite ridiculous performance of Faubert - a midfielder playing at right back who averaged 2.8 points per game, picked as a filler by many people, coming in with a goal & an assist for 18 points. Until those 2 incidents in the 93rd minute of both games I reckon I was in for a slight rise in the rankings, but they left a sour taste as the guy 2nd in my private league had both players!

I've mentioned James'-4 & Upson's 10.5...I picked up 4.5 for Evra while Bale is still to play. Valencia picked up an ok 8.5, but bookings for Parker & Fletcher left both on a pathetic 2 points each. Hopefully Downing can give my midfield a lift today. I've also mentioned Cole's 13 points...Bendtner did well with a MWG for 15 points & Rooney owes us all big time in midweek as he managed just 4.5.

So 56.5 points is distinctly average, but with 9 players (Bale, Downing, 4 Man U & 3 West Ham) still to go this week I hope to hit a decent total; I expect a big improvement from my Man U players in midweek...West Ham at home was always the game that would swing the week.

Next week we have only 8 games, meaning 4 teams don't play: Man Utd, Aston Villa, West Ham & Hull. If you're holding Rooney at £16m I think you should keep him, even for the blank week. I certainly would. Liverpool, Sunderland, Birmingham, Burnley, Chelsea, Arsenal & Bolton all have winnable games.

My current barndoor for Week 24 team: Jaaskalainen, Bale, Hutton, Skrtel, Zhirkov, O'Hara, Walcott, Fabregas, Bendtner, Bent, Drogba

It's by no means set in stone. I'm looking for maybe Eagles (is he starting atm?) & Gerrard to come in, so that may mean Walcott & Fabregas go (would need to downgrade Skrtel to do it) & I'm not sure about O'Hara & Bent as I probably want a Birmingham player in there (Larsson maybe). Jussi, Hutton, Bale, Bendtner & Drogba will all probably stay.

How are you getting on so far? How's your barndoor team looking?

Cheers,
AM