Week 26 - Player Picks

Week 25 is over & I end it on 109.5 points, which I'll certainly take considering the zero from Bale & the disappointment of Torres, Nani & Berbatov. Fox grabbed me some handy points last night to keep me inside the top 950 overall.

We now move on to Week 26, another double week for 2 teams & the 4th Round of the AM Challenge Cup where the remaining 125 team will be cut down to 60! It's a big week, lots to get through, so lets start with a look at the fixtures...

Week 25 Fixtures
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Birmingham v Everton, 15:00
Bolton v Wigan, 15:00
Burnley v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Chelsea v West Ham, 15:00
Hull v Arsenal, 17:30
Stoke v Aston Villa, 15:00
Tottenham v Blackburn, 12:45

Sunday, 14 March 2010
Man Utd v Fulham, 13:30
Sunderland v Man City, 16:00

Monday, 15 March 2010
Liverpool v Portsmouth, 20:00

Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Wigan v Aston Villa, 19:45

Straight away we see that Aston Villa & Wigan have a double week & while the fixtures for these teams aren't ideal, they also aren't the worst in the world. I imagine both sides will fancy taking something from their first matches - Wigan @ Bolton & Villa @ Stoke. Tough grounds to go to, but certainly winnable if Wigan battle like they did vs Liverpool & Villa use their pace to hit Stoke on the break.

They then face each other at the DW Stadium in midweek, which you'd expect Villa to win with their quality, but you never know on a pitch that is still a bit sticky despite being re-laid. You may not agree, but I think Wigan are capable of an occasional spark that other sides near the bottom don't have - N'Zogbia, McCarthy & Rodallega can all do something special. I see lots of points flying around over these fixtures, defensively & offensively, so for that reason I think it's a decent week to load up on double gamers - far more so than Burnley & Bolton last week.

Unfortunately, you may have some problems affording Villa players after some crazy price swings during the week which has seen some key players (Milner, Young, Downing, Gabby) bounce from as high as £16m to as low as £12m & back again. I hope you took advantage to grab some bargains & most importantly saved your changes in time!

From the other fixtures you have to fancy Arsenal to beat Hull comfortably on the back of the thrashing they gave Porto on Tuesday. Liverpool will be looking to bounce back & usually do at Anfield, so if they score early it could be a long evening for Portsmouth. Chelsea face struggling West Ham at Stamford Bridge, Man Utd host terrible travellers Fulham & Spurs kick the weekend off at home to Blackburn on Saturday lunchtime.

Man City might fancy themselves at Sunderland, but it could be close with the Stadium Light bouncing after the 4-0 win over Bolton. Birmingham v Everton has 1-1 written all over it in big marker pen, while Burnley v Wolves is probably one to avoid picking from (and probably one to avoid watching). Stoke & Bolton face the double teams and are at home, but neither side excites me.

So those are the fixtures  - it could be 6 or 7 double gamers for me this week, so you'll notice my picks are very Wigan & Villa focused. Here we go...

KEEPERS
Friedel
Hilario
Kirkland
Reina
Jensen

I must be crazy, because (whisper this quietly...), I'm thinking of picking up Hilario again. Yes he hurt us all greatly 2 weeks ago with a -9 vs City, yes he's very rubbish, but this week Chelsea face a West Ham side who lost at home to Bolton last weekend. He's also dropped to under £4m, so he's a great way to free up money elsewhere. I am very very nervous about picking him though, so it could be that I don't have the guts in the end...surely it couldn't happen twice...could it?

Alternatively you have the option of splashing out over £12m on Friedel - Villa don't concede many goals & Brad makes lots of saves, so I'd expect a good return for your money (although I remember him hurting me in a double week earlier in the season). I personally don't think I can find the cash, so another alternative I was looking at (and currently hold for £4m) is the other DG keeper Chris Kirkland. However, as I write this I realise he leaves me feeling just as uneasy as Hilario, with the added fear of 2 bad games, so perhaps I should approach with caution.

Jose Reina is below £10m for the first time in a while after Liverpool's defeat at Wigan & I can't see Portsmouth troubling him too much & finally we have Jensen, affordable at home to low scoring Wolves. I'll be honest, for me it's probably going to be Hilario for me.

DEFENDERS
Dunne
Scharner
Warnock
Cueller
Caldwell
Figueroa
Vermaelen
Bale
Hutton
R Ferdinand
Fox
Carlisle 
Bassong

You just have to look at the the Villa defender's averages to know that they are all very good picks pretty much every week. I've never seen a team get get so many blocks in, meaning they score well even without clean sheets. Dunne is my preference but also the most expensive, with very little between Cueller & Warnock (Collins is too expensive).

For Wigan Caldwell is great value, as is Scharner given the fact he's playing in midfield at the moment & loves to make late runs in to the box. Figueroa is also an option if you want to do something slightly different, but I've left Boyce out just in case Melchiot returns.

So you can see there are lots of great double game defenders, but the problem I have is the my current defence of single gamers Bale, Hutton & Fox...I don't want to lose any of them as I have them all at big discounts & they keep performing way beyond their cost, so it's possible I go 4-3-3 to include a DG defender.

Other affordable single gamers with a good chance of a clean sheet are Rio at home to Fulham, Carlisle home to Wolves & Bassong at home to Blackburn.

MIDFIELDERS
Milner
Young
N'Zogbia
Downing
McCarthy
Lampard
Gerrard
Arshavin
Nasri
Walcott
Arteta
Nani
Modric
Kranjcar
Malouda
Maxi

I've already mentioned the issue with player values this week - I was lucky enough to grab Milner & Young at £12m so it's likely they both stay in my team as both are capable of huge weeks if things go their way. I decided against bringing Downing in too but I still expect him to have a decent week.

I definitely want a one Wigan midfielder & the more I see Charles N'Zogbia the better he gets, so i'll also be trying to bring him in. If I can't then find the funds then James McCarthy could be a good alternative.

If none of the doubles take you fancy then you're lucky you have loads of single game option. At the top of the budget it's set up for Frank Lampard to score against his old club & surely Steven Gerrard will surely sort things out vs Pompey (I have a feeling a penalty could come his way). It seems Fabregas will miss out again for Arsenal, which means things will go through Arshavin, Nasri & Walcott vs Hull - all three could be in for big weeks.

If he starts, Nani will be on set pieces at home to Fulham, as should Kranjcar for Spurs (with Hudd & Bentley still sidelined) & I have a feeling it could be a game for my man Luka Modric to pop up with a goal. Malouda's value has dropped so he could be a nice outside pick vs West Ham & Maxi is simply in there to fill a spot.

STRIKERS
Agbonlahor
Rodallega
Carew
Torres
Rooney
Drogba
Bendtner
Defoe
Pavlyuchenko
Bent
Tevez
Bellamy

You have 3 real options from the doubles. For Aston Villa, Carew is fresh from his FA Cup hattrick so should get the nod to continue ahead of Heskey & Agbonlahor is always a threat away from home so he should be in your thoughts if he recovers from his flu. I wouldn't pay full price, but many of you will have him at £12m.

For Wigan you have Rodallega, 3rd to only Drogba & Rooney in the SOT stats, but I don't blame you if you're put off by his abysmal performance in the recent triple week. I'm thinking the winner against Liverpool may give him the confidence he's been lacking & this could kick start his season - I'm considering giving him another chance.

Another who may get another chance from me is Fernando Torres at home to Portsmouth. His -1.5 hurt this week, but the guy is too good to let that bother him & with another 90 minutes under his belt I think he'll be back amongst the goals. I don't need to go in to any detail on Rooney or Drogba; I'd be shocked if either failed to score given the home fixture & opposition.

I was considering dropping Bendtner after last weekend, but I kept him in the end, his hattrick midweek will ensure he continues to spearhead the Arsenal attack & plenty of chances will come his way vs Hull. I expect Defoe & Pavlyuchenko to start vs Blackburn, both have a chance of a goal given Blackburn's away record. Tevez, Bellamy & Bent are all in good form.

So that completes my player picks for Week 26 & I feel there's a good variety of double / single gamers to choose from. Getting the balance right is always key in weeks like this & as I mentioned earlier I can see myself going with 6 double gamers + 5 single gamers (Hilario, Bale, Fox, Bendtner & Torres perhaps?).

I'm aware we're approaching the final stretch now, so I'm looking to pick players based purely on the fixtures right in front of them & not get too hung up on discounts (apart from the obvious Rooney @ 16, Drogba @ 10, Bale @ 2). It's easier said than done though!

Please remember to join the Facebook Group if you haven't already. You'll get notifications whenever I post something new on the blog & it's also nice for me to put some faces to names! We're coming up to 500 members now - it would be great if we could reach that milestone this weekend.

Let me know how your Week 26 team is shaping up...do you think I've missed anyone from my lists above? How many double gamers are you looking to bring in?

Thanks for reading, but more importantly thanks for all your excellent contributions in the comments sections & chat-room...it goes a long way to making this blog work!

Cheers,
AM