Week 32 - Player Picks

Week 31 concluded last night & I think we can agree that going all out for the double week has paid off big time. Villa ran out 2-0 winners at Hull, so there were fantastic clean sheet points for Friedel + the Villa defence & goals for Agbonlahor & Milner.

I finished the week on 177 points, which was enough to move me up to a season high position of 249th overall & looking at the Blog Leagues it seems a huge number of you broke the 150 mark, with many in the 190's - fantatsic work guys!

We now move on to Week 32, which is a huge weekend in the Premier League AND The Blog Cup, as we see the remaining 10 teams cut to 2 ahead of Week 34's Final! The teams...

Supermassive FC
MU4ever
Steve Bob FC
TuHaU FC - LaNd BeLoW tHe WiNd
Efthymios
F.C. NulNul
Real16
Lions Gate
FrenchCannons
Electric Mayhem FC 

...good luck to all!

I'm happy to say Week 32 is a single week for all teams, which I know we all prefer. With only a few weeks to go I think all managers will find themselves somewhere in or between 2 groups.

Group 1. You're happy with your overall position, or perhaps you have a comfortable lead in your private group & are just looking to play it safe to make sure it stays that way. If this is where you find yourself then there's no need for risks at this stage; pick the big names who you can trust to deliver.

Group 2. You're looking to boost your final overall position or need to make up some serious ground in your private group. If you find yourself in this position, perhaps it's time to take some risks, drop discounts & get players you don't think anyone else will have.

I find myself right on the edge of Group 1... I'm really happy with my position in the Top 250 & have a pretty substantial lead in my personal private group, so I don't need to do anything stupid. However, I've only ever finished in the Top 200 twice before, so I'm tempted to take some risks in an attempt to make up the 50 places to do it again. To be honest, I'd be delighted with Top 250 considering the 1st half of my season.

Anyway, enough about that, lets get on to the fixtures...

Saturday, 24 April 2010
Arsenal v Man City, 17:30
Bolton v Portsmouth, 15:00
Hull v Sunderland, 15:00
Man Utd v Tottenham, 12:45
West Ham v Wigan, 15:00
Wolverhampton v Blackburn, 15:00

Sunday, 25 April 2010
Aston Villa v Birmingham, 12:00
Burnley v Liverpool, 15:00
Chelsea v Stoke, 16:00
Everton v Fulham, 15:00

The stand-out fixtures: Chelsea at home to Stoke in a game they must win, Liverpool at Burnley (who I believe are the poorest side in the league), Bolton at home to Portsmouth & in-form Everton at home to a Fulham side who will be exhausted from their European exploits (I know I've recommended Liverpool & they have an even worse journey than Fulham, but they also have a bigger squad & are playing much weaker opposition).

I also fancy a confident Aston Villa to beat Birmingham in the midlands derby - Birmingham have had a fantastic first season but they seem to have finally run out of steam & their away record isn't great anyway. You'd also find it hard to argue against Sunderland at Hull, who seem all but down.

My fear this weekend is Tottenham's great recent effort may catch up with them - they never win at Old Trafford (often thanks to the officials), Man United will be bang up for it after the title twist last weekend & sadly I can't look beyond a home win. West Ham & Wigan are both unpredictable, so I wouldn't really want to bet on either team this weekend, Wolves v Blackburn has 0-0 written all over it & Arsenal v Man City is tough to call, but I just fancy the Gunners to do Spurs a favour.

With that in mind, here we go...

KEEPERS
Howard
Gordon
Jaaskalainen
Green

Quite a selection this week - Howard is almost always a safe bet when Everton are at home & he's still affordable at under £9m, while Sunderland travel to goal-shy Hull so Craig Gordon comes in to it too at a slightly cheaper £7m.

Bolton have one of the best fixtures this week at home to Portsmouth, which makes Jussi a fine choice - he's my pick. If you want to spend even less then you'll need to make the risky move to Rob "How is he England's No. 1?" Green, who's own goal in a 3-0 defeat at Anfield has dropped his value below £5m.

DEFENDERS
Bale
Jagielka
Alex
Steinsson
Distin
Hutton
S.Campbell
A Dawson
Mouyokolo
Foley
Mancienne
Elokobi
Vanden Borre

I assume we all have Bale? Good - then the next best thing you could've done was picked Jagielka up at under £6m on the barndoor before his price shot up. If not then Distin should continue as his defensive partner & is more affordable. If you want to be different then Alex will replace the suspended John Terry in a home game for Chelsea.

Steinsson, Hutton & Sol Campbell fall in to the next category of decent & affordable defenders who should all start with a chance of a clean sheet in Week 32, as Bolton, Sunderland & Arsenal all have winnable fixtures.

We then come into the Hull & Wolves twighlight zone, as I recommend no fewer than 5 defenders - Dawson, Mouyokolo, Foley, Mancienne & Elokobi. All are very reasonably priced & have been doing well (with or without clean sheets). Vanden Borre is under £5m & playing in midfield for Pompey.

MIDFIELDERS
Lampard
Gerrard
Arteta
Malouda
M.Taylor
Milner
Bullard
Pienaar
Cahill
Walcott 
Valencia
Wilshire
Maxi
N'Zogbia
Noble
Henderson

If money was no object I'd have Lampard in my midfield this week, but he's well out of my price range...as is Arteta after I stupidly missed him on the barndoor (I'd expect both to pass 20 points). Gerrard is another premium pick - despite his form improving he hasn't really been putting up the fantasy points recently, but if you wanted to get out of this slump then Burnley would be the place to do it.

The next batch of players I'm recommending include the vastly improved Malouda, the rejuvenated Matt Taylor (apparently he's been missing due to Glandular Fever, which he's now recovered from) & James Milner who looks like he's back on penalties. I feel are all set to do really well this week.

Jimmy Bullard went off the boil in the double week, but with Hull's game vs Sunderland a must win, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at his inspirational best. Pienaar & Walcott both have a good chance of some points, while Valencia may be able to take advantage of Bale & Assou Ekotto's attacking mentality at Old Trafford.

Wilshire, Maxi, N'Zogbia, Noble & Henderson are players that won't be picked by a huge number of managers, so if you're looking to do something a bit different then 1 of them could pay off.

STRIKERS
Rooney
Anelka
Tevez
Yakubu/Saha
Bent
Agbonlahor
Carew
Bendtner 
F.Campbell
K Davies
Ngog
C.Cole

There are some slightly less fashionable striker recommendation this week, but we'll start with the big names. Rooney should be close to full fitness now & always does well against Spurs, while Anelka could be asked to lead the line with Drogba struggling with a groin injury. Chelsea adopted a similar approach vs Villa with Drogba on the bench...they won 7-1 & he wasn't required, so Ancelotti may save him for Liverpool.

I dropped Tevez last week, but many of you held on to him & you could be rewarded as he faces an Arsenal side who conceded 3 to Wigan & are likely to feature Mikael Silvestre once again. Either Yakubu or Saha will lead the line for Everton, with the Yak my favourite after his inspired performance from the bench vs Blackburn.

Gabby & Carew should continue their goalscoring form for Villa vs Birmingham & Darren Bent & Fraizer Campbell will be licking their lips as they line up against the Hull defence. I'm still stuck on what to do with Bendtner - RvP could start but I'm not sure if that means Arsenal go 2 up front...I'm reluctant to dump the Dane as I feel Arsene will want his height in both attack & defence.

The unfashionable threesome of Ngog for Liverpool at Burnley, Carlton Cole for West Ham at home to Wigan & Kevin Davies for Bolton at home to Portsmouth complete the list.

That completes my Week 32 player picks. My team page currently looks like...

Jussi

        Bale  Jagielka  A.Dawson 

  Bullard  Malouda  Milner  M.Taylor

 Bendtner  Anelka  Ngog

My keeper & defence stays, as do Malouda & Taylor, but Milner isn't certain & Bullard could go. I don't like my strike trio - Bendtner is a risk if RvP ready to start, Anelka is a risk if Drogba is passed fit, so I definitely have some work to do once team news becomes clearer tomorrow... unbelievably Ngog is the most likely of the 3 to stay!

Let me know if you think I've missed anyone from the lists above. How's your team shaping up?

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Cheers,

AM