Week 17 - Player Picks

Christmas is here!

As you can imagine, I'm unbelievably busy with it being 2 days to go. I still haven't finished my shopping, I have loads of work to finish before the seasonal break & I'm also undecided on what to do about my fantasy football team this week after Yahoo confirmed it as a triple week.

As well as all this, I suddenly remembered this morning that I write a blog so I needed to get my players picks post done too...it's a stressful time of year!

Firstly lets break down all the fixtures:-

TRIPLES
Arsenal (Villa, @Portsmouth, Bolton)
Fulham (Spurs, @Chelsea, @Stoke)
Stoke (@Man City, Birmingham, Fulham)
Bolton (@Burnley, Hull, @Arsenal)

DOUBLES
Chelsea (@Birmingham, Fulham)
Man Utd (@Hull, Wigan)
Aston Villa (@Arsenal, Liverpool)
Spurs (@Fulham, West Ham)
Liverpool (Wolves, @Villa)
Birmingham (Chelsea, @Stoke)
Man City (Stoke, @Wolves)
Sunderland (Everton, @Blackburn)
Blackburn (@Wigan, Sunderland)
Burnley (Bolton, @Everton)
Wigan (Blackburn, @Man Utd)
Everton (@Sunderland, Burnley)
Hull (Man Utd, @Bolton)
Wolves (@Liverpool, Man City)
West Ham (Portsmouth, @Spurs)
Portsmouth (@West Ham, Arsenal)

You obviously have to take notice of the triple games, with Arsenal having the pick of the fixtures & Fulham the toughest with 2 away. Stoke's are pretty decent with 2 home & Bolton's are okay until Arsenal.

If you're wanting to focus on the double games then Man Utd & Man City have the best fixtures, followed by Spurs & Everton/Blackburn/Burnley/Sunderland all play each other in games that could go either way. Chelsea's fixtures are quite tough while Liverpool have Wolves at home in the 1st game.

My personal opinion when something like this happens is to get as many triple gamers in your side as you can while remaining sensible. For example, don't load up on Fulham. They don't have very nice fixtures & also play 2 games in 3 days so you have to feel that many of their players will be rested & probably only play 2 out of 3.

For Arsenal I reckon the only players guarenteed to play 3 games are Verm, Gallas, Sagna & Almunia, while Arshavin, Fabregas, Nasri, Eboue, Walcott, Song, Diaby, Denilson Ramsey, Eduardo, Silvestre & Traore will probably be rotated to ensure nobody plays more than 2 out of 3.

Stoke & Bolton have smaller squads so I think we could see some of their players playing all 3, but beware of players like Wilkinson on 4 yellows - he's bound to get booked & miss a game.

You also have to think about the weather - could games be postponed? Well yes, as we saw on Monday, they can. Luckily is appears the freezing cold snap is due to improve in the next couple of days but there is an element of risk involved when picking players from badly affected areas (Wigan, Burnley etc). Because of this I would wait until Boxing Day morning (if you can get to a computer) before finalising your decisions/changes.

Having a back-up plan incase of postponements is always a good idea so you can move quickly, so I've made sure I've given you a huge number of recommendations to pick from this week, to help you keep all your options open...

KEEPERS
---------------
Almunia
Sorensen
Jaaskelainen
From the triples I'd say Almunia is the pick, although Sorenson is in the best form. Jussi is a risk & I don't think Schwarzer should be considered given price vs fixtures.

Fulop
Given
Kusczak
From the doubles Fulop represents good value while Given & Kusczak have great fixtures. If Mancini can sort out the City defence then Given is my pick (as United don't have a defence at the moment).

DEFENDERS
---------------
Verm
Gallas
Sagna
Baird
Konchesky
Paintsil
Faye
Collins
Cahill (only at discount)
Steinsson
These are all the triples I feel represent value this week. I feel all the others are either too expensive (unless you have big discounts), at risk of rotation (Silvestre/Traore) or 5 yellow cards (Wilkinson). I really like the Faye pick.

Alexander
Neill
Heitinga
Bassong
Sylvinho
Zabaletta
Upson
Givet
Nosworthy
McCartney
Foley
De Laet
Pretty much the usual crowd here in the doubles - I'd expect all these players to play both of their team's games & return decent points. Zabaletta could be a risk but he's very cheap & if Richards is moved in to central defence he's City's only right back.

MIDFIELDERS
------------------ 
Arshavin
Taylor
Fabregas
Etherington
Dempsey
Duff
Nasri
Diaby
Lee
These are the only triple gamers I'm really interested in when in comes to my midfield. I feel all the others are at risk of playing only twice so I think there are far better double gamers to choose from. I'm not saying all of the players above will definitely play 3 games, but I know they'll play 2 & give good points. Of course, watch out for Cesc's fitness.

Lampard
Gerrard
Valencia
Bily
O'Hara
J Cole
Kranjcar
Lennon
Aquilani
Reid
Dunn
Eagles 
Henderson
Hoilett

Again, many of the usual suspects. I reckon Gerrard is going to turn it on vs Wolves while Lampard is also a good pick now he's started scoring again. Valencia, Bily, O'Hara, Kranjcar & Reid are all reasonably consistent, represent good value & will play both games barring injury or suspension. You could also risk a cheaper player such as Aquilani or J Cole...even Hoilett or Henderson. 

STRIKERS
---------------
Eduardo
Tuncay
Klasnic
Zamora
I'm sure Eduardo will only get 2 games, but the other 3 should play all 3. Tuncay seems to have settled now so he's value at £5m, while Klasnic & Zamora are in great form. I'm avoiding Fuller or Beattie as I'm unsure of either of them will start 2, let alone 3.

Rooney
Drogba
Santa Cruz
Bent
Torres
Crouch
Defoe
Tevez
Bellamy
Saha
Rooney has the pick of the fixtures but a yellow card in the first game would mean only 1 games - I'm not sure that's a risk I can take in a triple week when he's taking up £16m. The same goes for Drogba, who could be booked in the 1st or miss the 2nd game due to ACN, we don't seem to have any confirmation.

My top picks for each position are Almunia, Faye, Taylor, Santa Cruz, although I can't necessarily fit them all in!

Regarding Santa Cruz. I picked him for the Xmas period 2 years ago & he grabbed me a hattrick, which led to his Santa's hat celebration. I also picked him for the same period last year only for him to miss both games to return a big fat zero, but at just £4m he's not really a big risk.

So that completes my Week 17 player picks.

This may be my last post for a couple of days so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas!!! The blog has been running for exactly 6 months now & I'd say it's been pretty successful so far, long may it continue in 2010!  Thank you all so much for reading, contributing & helping make this blog a joy to write. The community is superb & it makes it all worth it.

I'd like to say a special thank you to those of you who have sent in Christmas donations to go towards the end of season prizes or just as a gesture of appreciation (e.g. beer money - cheers bill :)) - it's not at all expected & I've been overwhelmed by it all. Thank you so much!

Good luck to all for Week 17 - what are your teams looking like? Are you going all triple games?

Cheers,
AM