Friday 24 December 2010

Week 19 - Update

I'm hoping to get online briefly tomorrow, but in case I don't here's all the important news coming out of the clubs on Christmas Eve:

- All Premier League games are currently ON, but please keep checking here for updates on the weather.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/9299029.stm

Team & Injury news...

- Fulham will give a late fitness test to striker Dembele as he returns from five-weeks on the sidelines, but it's possible he starts from the bench. For West Ham, Rob Green, Behrami & Obinna are all expected to return after missing out with injury last weekend.

- Blackburn will be without Phil Jones, Jason Roberts & possibly their captain Chris Samba who faces a late fitness test. Benjani has a decent chance of starting & for a price of £2.61m he's probably worth the risk as it allows you to spend money elsewhere.

- Steven Gerrard returns for Liverpool's trip to Blackpool, who will be without their talisman Charlie Adam due to suspension...IF the game goes ahead. There is due to be a noon pitch inspection on Boxing Days so as I said in my Player Picks post, probably best to avoid this one.

- Bolton have no new injury worries, and West Brom also have good news on that front - both Odemwingie & Brunt are fit & expected to start.

- Everton welcome back Mikel Arteta from suspension, while Saha should replace the suspended Anichibe. They have problems at the back with Jagielka & Heitinga doubtful, so Tony Hibbert may fill in in the centre of defence. Liam Ridgewell returns for Birmingham which will mean David Murphy drops to the bench.

- Manchester United have a strong squad to choose from and Berbatov should be back in the starting XI, but Sunderland have problems; Cattermole is suspended again, Wellbeck can't play as he's on loan from United, while Turner, Bramble & Mensah are injured.

- Newcastle have Steve Harper, Colocinni & Williamson pushing for a return, but they could miss out as Pardew sticks with the side that beat Liverpool. Kolo Toure is suspended for Man City but De Jong returns & Tevez will continue up front. There are mixed reports suggesting Balotelli could be dropped by Mancini, but nothing has been confirmed as yet.

- Wolves have major doubts over Matt Jarvis, Kevin Doyle, Michael Mancienne, David Jones, Jody Craddock & Steven Mouyokolo. Gary Caldwell & Tom Cleverley are back for Wigan.

- Aston Villa have worries over Luke Young, Ashley Young, Stiliyan Petrov & Fabian Delph but the rest of the squad are now fit. Spurs have Van Der Vaart, Younes Kaboul & Jermaine Jenas back but William Gallas faces a late fitness test.

- No major news for the big game on Monday night, Arsenal v Chelsea...we should hear something tomorrow.

My current team: Robinson, Kolarov, Coleman, Bale, Holden, Van Der Vaart, Nani, Pedersen, Benjani, Balotelli, Rooney

I quite like it IF my strikers all play, but a lot will depend on whether we hear any further news on Benjani/Balotelli before the deadline. I still hold Tim Cahill, Elmander, Jara & Brunt behind the scenes & some of them may need to come back in.

Have a great Christmas Day tomorrow, I'll be back with an update in the evening!

Cheers,
AM

58 comments:

Alex Darlo said...

First!! get in yer basterd always wanted to do that :-$

Blackpool pitch inspection at midday Monday, bugger all help to us, but I would say its going to be off.

Anonymous said...

Currently looking at

Robinson
kolarov-salcido-stam(filler)
brunt-silva-lampard-nani-VDV
rooney-balotelli

with 0.17 left

Quite satisfied my team. But, thinking to swap balotelli with benjani and upgrade stam. Any news suggesting balotelli status? Will he play?
Any comments are welcomed.

flitz

Bojan said...

Blackpool's Bloomfield Road pitch will be inspected at 12pm prior to kick-off on Boxing Day http://tinyurl.com/39mnodp

@ Nik - Arsenal-Chelsea is Monday night game
@ Alex - Boxing day is on Sunday not Monday

or i have wrong informations...

Bojan said...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1341255/Andy-Townsends-boot-room-Clash-day--Everton-v-Birmingham.html

MPFC/KPM said...

Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) to everyone on this blog and in the chat room.

Amazing resource full of amazingly smart (much smarter than me) people. Cheers to all of you.

Anonymous said...

6th !!!

AW RIGHT !

- dimebag

Staffer said...

Good day mates!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and many positive things to happen in 2011. This community is fantastic and we should wish Nik to continue to impress us with his articles and opinion. Enjoy the holidays Nik!

In fantasy terms... I currently stand on:

Carson
Kolarov,Coleman,Nelson
Nasri,Silva,Lampard,Brunt
Berba,Rooney,Baloteli

I haven't done any BD since I got Nelson last saturday and I'll definitely stick to Kolarov,Coleman,Lampard,Silva,Berba and Rooney.Any ideas for the rest?
Team name DIMITAR BERBATOV FC [AM.Blog]and I currently stand on 1194th place. I guess Man United will trash Sunderland and I really believe that Berbs will score big this week. He loves scoring against this team, he plays in front of Rooney and currently shoots more (remember his last outing in the EPL - 5 goals) and he will definitely start. I bet on >3 goal margin on Sunday and 20+ pts for both Berbatov and Rooney. Chelsea will win and all Malouda,Lampard,Drogba are great picks IMO. I really want to squeeze Nani instead of Brunt and I will probably change Nelson and Carson.

Anyway, I wish you Merry Christmas, nice presents and spending quality time with your families.

Cheers,

Staffer

Anonymous said...

strugglin b/w two options

robinson
kolarov baines robinson
silva vdv nasri yaya
rooney benjani elmander

or

robinson
kolarov baines robinson
silva vdv nani dejong
rooney benjani balotelli

so what do you say?

-kooskoos

Kellz said...

Jarvis fit to play:

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/2010/12/23/matt-jarvis-ready-to-return-for-wolves/

He scores decently at home and its not an impossible fixture.

bobo said...

can someone help me choose between
lampard nasri or cahill??

Anonymous said...

food for thought. asian cup.
cahill should be leaving to join his int team soon! any chance he will miss this match?

Anonymous said...

koos koos, clearly Yaya to start. He's playing an advanced role for last few games.

Anonymous said...

Cahill will start, I have him. Tough to choose among those three,

DasBoot_8 said...

I'm very happy with my team this week. Hopefully it will return as many points as it looks like it's capable of:

Robinson
Kolarov Coleman Pantsil
Nani Silva VDV Lampard Emerton
Rooney Elmander

Merry Christmas, everyone! Good luck!

Bojan said...

tim cahill will play 3 more games for everton before he is off to Asian Cup... he will stay in England until January 1st 2011...

Anonymous said...

Robinson
Kolarov Coleman Jara
VDV Brunt Barton Nani Pedersen
Elmander Balotelli

Kolarov, VDV, Brunt, Barton, Nani and Elmander will certainly stay. Robinson is at full price for me, but I can't see any better option than him for this weekend. I'm a bit worried about Coleman's starting status now Arteta is back, but he has performed well so far so I assume he stays in Moyes's team, and so in mine.
Pedersen is going in and not Rooney - MGP scored 8.5 last week without doing anything really, while Ronney scores only 8 about every game he plays (if you don't count the -6 from his penalty miss, you get a 8.5 points effort again). He's still not confident and he plays Sunderland who are in a good form, so I prefer avoiding him for now and keeping Nani as my ManU attacker.
Jara and Balotelli are the only 2 picks I hate and got in my team due to the lack of budget. I'll look for other options, but if that's the best I can find then this duo stays...

Advices?

SF

Cap said...

I have a complaint about the number of points awarded to Yaya Toure against Everton. His shot on goal was deflected in as an owngoal by Jagielka. Yaya had a few good tackles and at least one cross into the penalty area. He earnt a meagre one and a half points...ROBBERY.

Anonymous said...

@Cap: his cross needs to connect to make it successful, it wasn't. You unfortunately don't get an assist for shooting off a player for an own goal. The points are fair and reflective of the macth.

Again people need to seperate real from fantasy. It doesn't matter if the player did well in the real game, he will only get pts if he does things according to the scoring rubric which is quite fair and balanced.

sabz said...

my squad so far
Hart
Kolarov,Bale,Kompany
VDv,Nani,Lampard,Pedersen,Malouda
Benjani,Jo

I wish you Merry Christmas,Guyz

Anonymous said...

I can't believe no one here is going for Drogba! He eat Arsenal for Christmas!

DeviLxDeviL said...

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=129553380441734&id=252272225696

Hey congrats Nik, Wish both all the happiness! And merry christmas to both of you!

Well i should call you Nik, feel weird calling you AM as i once got a cat named AM :D

Anonymous said...

Cheaper options basically, Drogba has a goal or 2 but i like the balance without him.

@Sabz can't you squeeze in another forward in place of Jo

Anonymous said...

Will Brunt play throughout festive season for be rested over the course ??? Anyone got any info on this , i know hes fit for sunday game but what about the rest

MERRY XMAS TO ALL

kwyjibo said...

Merry Christmas too all!

Congrats, Nik, on the news! That's great!

I've got a bit of news, too...my second child (first son) was born 2 days ago on 23.12.2010! He's quite a kicker, too, kept my wife up all the time kicking. Maybe a future footballer?

So, I'm going to pull a 'Torres' this week and be mostly absent from Fantasy Football on account of the birth of my son.

My team? Needs a lot of work...Do I care? Not at all!

Good luck to all, happy holidays, and for what it's worth:

Hart
Kolarov-Squilaci-Konchesky
VdV-Tchoyi-Silva-Lampard-Nani
RvP-Gyan

Prophecy said...

milijas or cahill?
salcido or salgado?

Bradley said...

Congratulations Nik! All the happiness to you both.

Congratulations to you too, kwyjibo. Clearly your priorities are askew, but that's your decision. :) Seriously, best wishes to you and your family.

I'll be leaving for London on Monday, so I too will have difficulty maintaining my team during this festive season. I'll be happy as long as the QPR-Bristol City match on the 3rd I have tickets for my brother and me to see doesn't wind up postponed.

Merry Christmas to everyone here who rolls that way and a happy New Year to all.

Mell fantasyonthego said...

Merry Christmas to Nik and everybody, may you all have a good weekend.

Balotelli drop rumour should send some shivers ya. By the way I reckon Drog to punish Gunners. Chelsea look more in the mood than Wenger boys

Prophecy said...

Mell 10-11 do you think balotelli will play?

Anonymous said...

pantsil / gera / cleverely / rooney

or

foley / dempsey / nzog / ebanks blake ?

Anonymous said...

If Man city plays, Balotelli will start 100%, but i guess you'll still ask the question next week, he's started 5 of their last 6, he was rested against Jutentus.

Anonymous said...

Mario Balotelli has been axed by Roberto Mancini for being lazy and miserable.

-the sun

Anonymous said...

Whatever!

Anonymous said...

Howard
Kolarov Coleman Foley
Nani VdV Albrighton Lampard Holden
Balotelli Rooney

-the sun

Stato said...

Happy Festive Period everyone!!!
Cheers and all the best Nik - and, once again, many thanks for all your efforts in 2010.
A busy few days that will impact big time for many of us so good luck all.
Here's hoping we hear news bfore 12 deadline tomorrow.
Stato

Josh said...

Need help...

Benjani / Milijas

or

Balotelli / Silva

Nathan w said...

Jarvis or Holden?
or any midfielder at 10.58..
please help me!!

Anonymous said...

carson
kompany, berra, pantsil
vdv,nani, nasri, brunt, malouda
carroll, elmander

wot do you people reckon??

Anonymous said...

Hey Kwyjibo-

Congrats to you and the Mrs. on the birth of your son.

a-dog

Anonymous said...

@anonymous 12:33am

why have malouda v. arsenal? change malouda for rooney.

Anonymous said...

Hennessey
Kolarov, Coleman, Salcido
VDV, Nani, Silva, MGP
Blake, Balotelli, Rooney

Any Comments are welcome~

Anonymous said...

Blackburn Rovers caretaker boss Steve Kean would have no problem naming Grant Hanley in his XI for their clash with Stoke City.

Any Comments are welcome

Anonymous said...

I am not sure it's worth the risk to go with Hanley, you just can't be sure of what Kean is thinking. Although Samba is a doubt (plus, he supposedly wanted to leave Blackburn because of Sam's sacking), he is not completely ruled out.

IF Samba is out, I suppose Kean could play Givet, Hanley, Nelsen, Salgado at the back. However, Givet has filled in at CB before, so he may also play Olsson, Givet, Nelsen, Salgado.

At around the price of 6, I would prefer Elokobi who would most certainly start, and have a decent chance of a CS v Wigan. Just my 2 cents worth.

Anonymous said...

@anon 2.34
that team looks perfect to me, except maybe Silva but he could also score well.

Anonymous said...

@Josh benjani/milijas to me

wd said...

robinson
coleman,kolorov,shawcross
nani,vdv,cahill,nzogbia
rooney,balotelli,benjani

any comments are very much welcome
thanks in advance

Anonymous said...

guys plzz help .. benajani or balotelli??
is any one them starting
???

Anonymous said...

Is Nani still down with Flu ?

Anonymous said...

@Anon

Yes, Nani confirmed to have had the flu and missed last 2 trainings and is questionable for the game.

Emperor said...

benjani or m.davies ? both @ 2.xx ..

popthycollar said...

@Anonymous 6.59

No concrete word on either starting. My money would be on Balotelli starting for Man City but I think Blackburn are more likely to go with Mame Biram Diouf so I personally am avoiding Benjani even though he is cheap.

Anonymous said...

Blackpool pitch inspection brought forward to 10a.m, i don't have the link but saw it in the comments section of fantasyfootballscout. If you're interested in players from that match please be vigilant.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

The game is off...
Not sure whether its true,hope it helps
http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~2251527,00.html

Anonymous said...

Confirmed BLP VS LIV off and reschelduled

Anonymous said...

Everton V Birmingham OFF

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/9299029.stm

Anonymous said...

Yes its off. Everton off too

Anonymous said...

where are the Nani rumours coming from???

Anonymous said...

Thank you bojan!

Anonymous said...

yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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