- 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
First!! get in yer basterd always wanted to do that :-$
ReplyDeleteBlackpool pitch inspection at midday Monday, bugger all help to us, but I would say its going to be off.
Currently looking at
ReplyDeleteRobinson
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
Blackpool's Bloomfield Road pitch will be inspected at 12pm prior to kick-off on Boxing Day http://tinyurl.com/39mnodp
ReplyDelete@ Nik - Arsenal-Chelsea is Monday night game
@ Alex - Boxing day is on Sunday not Monday
or i have wrong informations...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1341255/Andy-Townsends-boot-room-Clash-day--Everton-v-Birmingham.html
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) to everyone on this blog and in the chat room.
ReplyDeleteAmazing resource full of amazingly smart (much smarter than me) people. Cheers to all of you.
6th !!!
ReplyDeleteAW RIGHT !
- dimebag
Good day mates!
ReplyDeleteI 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
strugglin b/w two options
ReplyDeleterobinson
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
Jarvis fit to play:
ReplyDeletehttp://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.
can someone help me choose between
ReplyDeletelampard nasri or cahill??
food for thought. asian cup.
ReplyDeletecahill should be leaving to join his int team soon! any chance he will miss this match?
koos koos, clearly Yaya to start. He's playing an advanced role for last few games.
ReplyDeleteCahill will start, I have him. Tough to choose among those three,
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy with my team this week. Hopefully it will return as many points as it looks like it's capable of:
ReplyDeleteRobinson
Kolarov Coleman Pantsil
Nani Silva VDV Lampard Emerton
Rooney Elmander
Merry Christmas, everyone! Good luck!
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...
ReplyDeleteRobinson
ReplyDeleteKolarov 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
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.
ReplyDelete@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.
ReplyDeleteAgain 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.
my squad so far
ReplyDeleteHart
Kolarov,Bale,Kompany
VDv,Nani,Lampard,Pedersen,Malouda
Benjani,Jo
I wish you Merry Christmas,Guyz
I can't believe no one here is going for Drogba! He eat Arsenal for Christmas!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=129553380441734&id=252272225696
ReplyDeleteHey 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
Cheaper options basically, Drogba has a goal or 2 but i like the balance without him.
ReplyDelete@Sabz can't you squeeze in another forward in place of Jo
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
ReplyDeleteMERRY XMAS TO ALL
Merry Christmas too all!
ReplyDeleteCongrats, 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
milijas or cahill?
ReplyDeletesalcido or salgado?
Congratulations Nik! All the happiness to you both.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations 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.
Merry Christmas to Nik and everybody, may you all have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteBalotelli 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
Mell 10-11 do you think balotelli will play?
ReplyDeletepantsil / gera / cleverely / rooney
ReplyDeleteor
foley / dempsey / nzog / ebanks blake ?
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.
ReplyDeleteMario Balotelli has been axed by Roberto Mancini for being lazy and miserable.
ReplyDelete-the sun
Whatever!
ReplyDeleteHoward
ReplyDeleteKolarov Coleman Foley
Nani VdV Albrighton Lampard Holden
Balotelli Rooney
-the sun
Happy Festive Period everyone!!!
ReplyDeleteCheers 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
Need help...
ReplyDeleteBenjani / Milijas
or
Balotelli / Silva
Jarvis or Holden?
ReplyDeleteor any midfielder at 10.58..
please help me!!
carson
ReplyDeletekompany, berra, pantsil
vdv,nani, nasri, brunt, malouda
carroll, elmander
wot do you people reckon??
Hey Kwyjibo-
ReplyDeleteCongrats to you and the Mrs. on the birth of your son.
a-dog
@anonymous 12:33am
ReplyDeletewhy have malouda v. arsenal? change malouda for rooney.
Hennessey
ReplyDeleteKolarov, Coleman, Salcido
VDV, Nani, Silva, MGP
Blake, Balotelli, Rooney
Any Comments are welcome~
Blackburn Rovers caretaker boss Steve Kean would have no problem naming Grant Hanley in his XI for their clash with Stoke City.
ReplyDeleteAny Comments are welcome
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.
ReplyDeleteIF 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.
@anon 2.34
ReplyDeletethat team looks perfect to me, except maybe Silva but he could also score well.
@Josh benjani/milijas to me
ReplyDeleterobinson
ReplyDeletecoleman,kolorov,shawcross
nani,vdv,cahill,nzogbia
rooney,balotelli,benjani
any comments are very much welcome
thanks in advance
guys plzz help .. benajani or balotelli??
ReplyDeleteis any one them starting
???
Is Nani still down with Flu ?
ReplyDelete@Anon
ReplyDeleteYes, Nani confirmed to have had the flu and missed last 2 trainings and is questionable for the game.
benjani or m.davies ? both @ 2.xx ..
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 6.59
ReplyDeleteNo 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteEbi
The game is off...
ReplyDeleteNot sure whether its true,hope it helps
http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~2251527,00.html
Confirmed BLP VS LIV off and reschelduled
ReplyDeleteEverton V Birmingham OFF
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/9299029.stm
Yes its off. Everton off too
ReplyDeletewhere are the Nani rumours coming from???
ReplyDeleteThank you bojan!
ReplyDeleteyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ReplyDelete