The Matchday Insight : Week 15

It's been quite an eventful midweek for English clubs with the group stage of champions league coming to close and the fate of the four being decided. The result has to be surprising as no one would have bet that the London clubs would out do the more superior and talented Manchester clubs. With both City and United being pushed into Europa league priorities are sure to change but until next year feb this should not concern us.


Coming to this weeks preview we have a good mix of games ahead of us and choice is plentiful, so it could be a week when we see alot of variations in player picks. Clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are fore runner of the easy match ups so let's get into the details of what players to opt for this week.




Arsenal seem to have all in control with them resting most of their first team players and making it easy for us fantasy managers to know what to expect, which is infect, more of the same offensive football.


Forwards: RVP(At 20.47 is not even a point of discussion, at 27+ still worth ur money, at 31+ is trying to dominate ur team and decision making so steer clear), Gervinho(a good option as he is locked for an exciting performance an can produce a goal and couple of shots)


Midfielders: Arteta and Walcott both are a bit overpriced and depend on a goalscoring performance for a decent points output, Ramsey on the other had is a good pick for his moneys worth, a good filler for teams and always seems one step away from a good score.


Defenders: Verminator(An essential addition to all fantasy teams, he's the only defender worthy of his high price and is not even a question when it comes to teams holding him on a discount).


Keeper: If you barndoored him at below 7 he's worth a spot in ur team, otherwise I feel you could spend that money elsewhere for better productivity.


Now to United and Liverpool who I feel are in the same boat with great match-ups but coming of bad performances:


Forwards: Rooney, Suarez


Midfielders: Nani, Young, Adam


Defenders: Too high priced.


Keepers: only DDG(This could be the last time he's rested for a weekend as the league is now the priority for united and if your holding him at 5.5, just take the chance of him not playing.


The Rest Of The Lot:


Forwards:


Ba: He has the best run of matches coming with away to Norwich followed by Swansea and WBA at home. Can breakout one of his 30 point matches any time.
Adebayor: Bandwagon is going strong and if you joined in at 9+ the no reason getting off this week.
Klasnic: He has an for the goal and the the chances of him getting on the scoresheet against Villa at hom are pretty good
Long: He's worthy of a shout with a decent score of 10.5 from last week and a good matchup against Wigan.
Yakubu: The one that was barndoored. Could he produce another performance for Blackburn? Sunderlands not the most strong defensive outfit there but with a new manager can be inspirational so I would not bet on the yak. Given the good run of games, yes, but then stick with him for next three.


Midfielders:


Bale/vdv: Argueably the two best bankable middy's out there (yes even VDV when fit). There is some sort of satisfaction when you see one of those names on your team sheet. *Edit* Bale facing a late fitness test making VDV's starting credentials much stronger.
Larsson/sessegnon: Larsson is on a good role and could have put a big score if not for the penalty miss. Sess is a cheap alternative to a "vs Blackburn at home mid".
Eagles: flying under the radar since a couple of weeks, seems to me a big performance is around the corner.
Cabaye/Ramsey: Good fillers playing ok opposition.
Ramires: He's now officially a cut above the good fillers as he tends to give more than u wish he'd give. At the discount stick to him. At full price, wait a week.
Obertan/Ben arfa: Great enablers if u want to squeeze in that one extra expensive player. With guthrie's injury I feel Ben Arfa would be a confirmed starter. Obertan is already in Pardews good books having 3rd highest minutes played behind Gutierrez and Cabaye. Teams having RVP at 26+ need one of these.


Defenders:


Brown: Great match up, great price(3.82,5+), no questions. Keep him
Boyata/Perch: good enblers at defensive spots and can return money's worth
Romeu: Midfielder listed as defender and the reason Chelsea's been able to keep a couple of clean sheets. Not the best matchup but if barndoored at 6.29 will not harm sticking to.
Smalling: Weak opposition as long as he plays.


Keepers:


Westwood: Weak opposition, good price
Vorm: Good price, great talent and good home form.




Well now that we've seen the potential picks of the week we can go a step further and see how we can put together a team using our theory of safe and risky players for this week so that we can end the weekend with an improvement in our ranks.


Firstly, the safe picks of the week are


Silva
Aguero
DDG
Suarez
Adebayor
Brown
Vermaelen




The ownership percentage of these players range from 60% to 20% making them essential picks to negate any major drop in rank for ur team.


Players like Cabaye, Ramires, Ramsey, Rooney, RVP are owned by 11% to 18% teams giving them marginal risk but still solid picks.


Lastly players like Bale/VDV, Nani, Ba, Larrson, Eagles are all below 10% ownership making them risky picks but with potential match-ups and form are key to having an advantage to boost up the rank.


Hope you all have a great weekend and looking forward to know how your team is shaping up.


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