The Matchday Insight : Week 31

Official confirmation from Yahoo is that Week 31 is a regular single game matchday and no team plays twice.A lot of confusion regarding this last week and led to many changing their entire team in the process.

The positives that came out of this was that we all assessed Newcastle players in more detail and BenArfa/Cisse caught our attention all over again.Now that Newcastle play only once at home against Liverpool, do you hold on to them or look else where? These are just a few of many questions coming in to us before we head into Week 31.

This week we have a couple of easy matchups and the remaining ties are all a battle for either existence ( Wolves vs Bolton),(Wigan vs Stoke) or a spot in Europa League ( Newcastle vs Liverpool)

Lets have a look at the easy matchups :

Fulham vs Norwich
Qpr vs Arsenal
Blackburn vs Man.Utd

Other matchups :

Aston Villa vs Chelsea
Everton vs Wba
Man City vs Sunderland
Tottenham vs Swansea
Wolves vs Bolton
Wigan vs Stoke
Newcastle vs Liverpool

Expecting a close fought battle between Newcastle/Liverpool and the other two matchups including teams from the bottom of the table.

Lets get straight into the best player picks ( From all matchups ) :

Goalkeepers :

The pick of the keepers this weeks is Schwarzer as he plays at home against Norwich who are without their in form captain,G.Holt, due to suspension.Schwarzer is coming off a spectacular display against Man Utd where he had atleast 7 good saves which kept them just about a goal down against them.

Other options would include Friedel and Cech as both their teams are showing some improvements in form.Both the teams know how important each game is in order to finish in the top 4.

In case you have Ddg at a cheap price, you are set for a good period and its advantage ddg all over again.In case you dont have any money to spend on a keeper , Hennessey is cheap at below 4 and could just end up in the +ve side this week.

Defenders :

This is one area where the easy matchups play a crucial role.Three spots should idealy be the safest possible picks available this week.

Evans has been the pick of the defenders and incase you were able to get him on board at a cheaper value, its an ideal situation.Smalling( 5.21) got some game time on Fulham and should start at right back.

Gibbs and Vermaelen have been productive in the Arsenal lineup and will continue to be a threat on a struggling Qpr team.Gibbs should start ahead of Santos.

Other options include Kelly( Fulham), Richards( at 8.xx), Wheater ( at a discount )

Midfielders :

There seem to be alot of options in here for this week.

Dempsey has to be on top this list as he plays a more central role behind Pogrebnyak and both assist each other well. Fulham have had good results at home apart from their last defeat against Swansea.But this week they are against Norwich who are inconsistent away from home have not scored in their last two away games against Newcastle and Stoke. I would prefer spending funds on Dempsey than Bale as Swansea have a stronger defense as compared to that of Norwich.

Valencia and Young are great picks for the next couple of weeks.Im sure most of you would have got atleast one of them in our recommendations in the last few weeks.Another winger whose form has been excellent is Walcott and the matchup is ideal.

Etherington has to be a bargain at 13.xx when they take on Wigan.He has been the most productive of all stoke midfielders and tends to get in numbers.

Miyachi is playing Wolves who are at the bottom of the table.His skills would be too heavy for Connor's men to handle.

Ben Arfa is in form and is involved with mostly everything newcastle are doing.In case you got him in cheap, it could be worth it against an inconsistent Liverpool side.

In case you dont have much to spend on your midfield and looking for that 1 enabler, i would recommend Gibson who costs around 4.8

Forwards :

Rooney is the pick of the forwards for a few weeks now and the weeks ahead.The matchups can't get easier and no rotation risk make his a must have.

Rvp has to feature in here as its all set for him to score lots of goals against Kenny and his defenders.

In case you dont have one of the top 2 forwards , then the next picks could bail you out.

Adebayor - you would need forwards who score big rather than the one odd goal and this man makes it count when its needed to be counted.

Pogrebnyak and Jelavic have great matchups.Both are key to their teams offense and its impossible not to have one of them on board.

Impossible not to mention P.Cisse after such solid performances.But must be held on to at high discounts only and better options if you are buying him at retail.

An injury update : Aguero is in contention for this matchday.Some papers in UK have reported that Tevez is going to get a start against Sunderland.I hope they know Mancini well.

Update : Aguero is ruled out of the sunderland game.Tevez in not yet fit to play 90 minutes but "he can play more ". Seems like Dzeko and Mario will start. - This from Mancini's press conference on Friday.


Thats it folks.Thats the best we have for you this week.I hope it will be helpful for your team.

Incase you have any opinions, suggestions, queries or questions , pls feel free to ask in the comments space below and we will be there to help at the earliest.Looking forward to your comments.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers

AM