Week 21 - Player Picks

Week 20 ended as diabolically as it started, with Torres, Gerrard, Lampard & Walcott combining for 7 pathetic points last night. A special mention to the Liverpool pairing, who conjured up just 1 point between them in one of the worst home performances from a Premier League team this season. I ended up with just 41.5 in total, down to 427th place overall and at the moment I'm finding it really difficult to pick a team that can get me out of this slump!

There's no time to rest as Week 21 is upon us very shortly, the deadline being midday on New Years Day...Saturday 1st January 2011. I'm incredibly busy so won't be calculating the Blog Cup results until next week, but I've found an hour today to run through the fixtures & list out the 40 players that have my attention for the week ahead.

Stand-Out
MAN CITY v Blackpool
CHELSEA v Aston Villa
TOTTENHAM v Fulham

We know Ian Holloway will send Blackpool out to go for the win at City, but I expect that openness will see them on the end of a bit of a hiding. Chelsea will feel a huge weight lifted off their shoulders after overcoming Bolton, plus Villa are complete mess, so it'll be a home win & I find it highly unlikely that Fulham will be able to cope with the pace of Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Should-Win
MAN UNITED @ West Brom
ARSENAL @ Birmingham
SUNDERLAND v Blackburn

West Brom have slumped a bit recently, but they can be very tricky customers at the Hawthorns and we know Birmingham have a fantastic home record, so while I expect both Arsenal & United to win I think they'll both be tough games. Sunderland were extremely unlucky to lose to Blackpool, but with a touch more luck they should have too much for Blackburn.

Draws
Stoke v Everton
West Ham v Wolves
Wigan v Newcastle
Liverpool v Bolton

Difficult to call these games either way, so all four will be going down as draws on my accumulator.

Players (* indicates a risk, check team news)

KEEPERS
Hart
Gordon
Reina

DEFENDERS
Bale
Kolarov
Ferreira
Bosingwa
Hutton
Agger *
Bramble
Koscielny
Upson
Stam

MIDFIELDERS
Van Der Vaart
Nani *
Fabregas
Silva
Lampard
Malouda
Nasri
Watson
Walcott
Henderson
Gerrard
Holden
Pennant
Parker
Jarvis

STRIKERS
Tevez
Berbatov
Rooney
Bent
Balotelli
Obinna
Crouch/Pavlyuchenko
Carroll
Elmander
Van Persie
Torres

That's all I have time for this week, but normal service should be resumed for Week 22, with a full player picks post + a poll, and I'll get the Blog Cup results done too.

My current team: Reina, Ferreira, Kolarov, Bale, Silva, Lampard, Van Der Vaart, Walcott, Malouda, Bent, Balotelli

Obviously it's lacking a Man Utd presence, I'm still unsure on having both Lampard & Malouda, while Walcott is a risk although he was rested last night so he should start. Ferreria will play as Ivanovic picked up his 5th booking vs Bolton so he's a great filler in defence & Watson could come in for Silva as he'll be on all penalties + set pieces in N'Zogbia's absence...but I'm fairly happy with the rest of it.

Please let me know how your team is shaping up. How have you faired over the Xmas period? Any tips for Week 21?

Cheers,
AM (wishing you all a very Happy New Year!)