Week 5 - My Team

Foster

Koscielny  A.Faye  Bale

 Malouda  Adam  Barton  Etherington

 Dembele  Drogba  Chamakh

Wow, this was a tough week to pick a team. My Friday decision not to go with the "Kirkland Zero" meant I had to significantly re-think things yesterday and I ended up settling on the XI above.

In goal I went for Ben Foster vs West Brom. When all's said and done, I play this game to try and score the most number of points I can each week, and deciding to take a certain zero just didn't make sense to me. Of course I could end up with negative keeper points (for the 4th week this season!), but the fact I could also end up with 10-15 points meant it's was a gamble I was willing to take. It meant Ashley Cole had to go, but I already have an expensive defender in Bale, so I could cope with that. I considered Paul Robinson but I don't like picking a keeper when I have a attacking player facing him (Dembele), same for Howard (Barton), and for Cudicini I already had the possible clean sheet covered (Bale).

Speaking of Bale, he should be back on the left-wing vs Wolves and I expect double figures from him, while Koscielny stays at a big discount after last week's goal. My final defensive spot goes to Stoke's captain, Faye - I only really went for him because I had the spare cash after settling the rest of my team, but he has a great chance of a clean sheet home to West Ham.

Much to everyone's annoyance Malouda was rested last weekend, but I can't see that happening again and I'd be hoping for a goal from him vs Blackpool. Matt Etherington was outstanding vs Villa last Monday, so having picked him up on the barndoor for 9ish he was always going to stay for the West Ham game. You'll notice I've hung on to both Adam and Barton despite tricky match-ups (Van Der Vaart would've replaced one of them had he not been doubtful)....I have both players at 5.44, so on average they are producing double their cost. With Blackpool & Newcastle having winnable home fixtures in Week 6 I felt they were worth keeping at decent discounts, and with both players on corners, freekicks and penalties it doesn't take much for them to outscore their cost, even in away games.

No goals in two games for Drogba, but after his midweek rest I expect some big points from him on Sunday. No Lampard means he'll be on all free kicks and penalties, which is a scary thought - don't let me down Didier! Chamakh will stay in my team until Van Persie returns, spearheading an Arsenal attack which will create plenty of chances for him with Fabregas back to his best, and Dembele completes my line-up. The picking-up of the Fulham man on the barndoor is points-chasing a bit, but he's looked really good so far, I have him at a £4m discount and he's another with a winnable fixture in Week 6, so he earnt a chance vs Blackburn today.

So that's my team - an obvious worry is no Aston Villa players, but I couldn't get close to affording Young/Downing (although Albrighton almost replaced Barton...almost). Another player I seriously wanted was Kenwyne Jones, but after missng him on the barndoor he was out of my price-range unfortunately. Anyway I'm quite pleased with what I settled on, I think it has a good balance so hopefully it'll be another 100+ week if things go well.

The Blog Team choosen from the poll results (with the assistance of Hans & Mike) is as follows:

Kirkland, Bale, Koscielny, A.Cole, A.Johnson, Barton, Etherington, Malouda, Dembele, Chamakh, Berbatov

Week 4 was far better, so we're looking to continue that in Week 5 and start moving towards the Top 1000.

Now a quick look at the Week 6 fixtures to give you some tips for the barndoor. The standout fixture is Arsenal at home to West Brom, so I'll be trying to fit Fabregas in (somehow), as well as hanging on to Chamakh & Koscielny. Spurs travel to West Ham so Van Der Vaart will come in if fit. Liverpool are home to Sunderland, Birmingham home to Wigan and the big game of the weekend is Man City v Chelsea...really looking forward to that one!

That completes my team post...I'm sure you all know by now that this week is Round 1 of the 2010/2011 Blog Cup, so good luck to everyone in the eight blog leagues taking part!

A final note on the blog itself. This week we had 95 comments in my Player Picks post, over 100 comments in the Friday Update post, and we passed 800 members in the Blog Facebook Group, which really is unbelievable. The discussions and advice offered by various blog readers in the comments & chatroom is outstanding and it's what keeps things growing and improving. Thanks to everyone for your continued support, it's hugely appreciated :)

That's it! Please let me know your Week 5 team...are you pleased with it? Who's coming in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM