Gameweek 27 Preview

The dust hasn't yet settled on gameweek 26 - indeed it isn't over yet - but it's never too early to look ahead to next week particularly with a couple of key factors for next week's games. Firstly, United have a double gameweek and Rooney is a must own/must captain player. Given that he is already so widely held you risk losing ground on pretty much all your opponents if you don't sign the in-form Englishman. His value has risen sharply over the past 6 weeks but its likely it could move another blip or two this week as more and more owners jump on the Ronaldo-like bandwagon. I have made my transfer uncharacteristically early to avoid losing cash in delaying this inevitable move (the risk is that he gets injured midweek against Milan).

A second key factor driving this week's transfer rush is the injury to Ashley Cole, that could rule him out for the season though perhaps not the World Cup. Cole was widely held in the fantasy game (14%) and these owners will now all jump ship, likely using one of two options. Many will simply turn to another Chelsea defender with bargain Ivanovic looking likely to benefit given the risk associated with Terry (on holiday in Dubai) and Carvalho (rotation risk). The other option, given his double gameweek, will be to jump on Evra - United's most reliable and dynamic defender. I expect his price therefore to rise this week, which is again why I acted quickly to make this change. A final choice that perhaps might not be as popular would be to bring in the rather expensive Yuri Zhirkov. The Russian hasn't made much of an impact this season but he has plenty of attacking flare and should start most games in Cole's absence. Owned by just (0.3%) of managers makes him a great differentiator and I don't think Chelsea as a unit will suffer greatly by the addition of Zhirkov along the backline. If you are operating on tight margins then I would advice taking this risk or chance losing out on the players you desire.

Only two teams have a double gameweek this week (Man United and West Ham) which is about as settled as you're going to get with more fixture carnage caused by the draws in yesterday's FA Cup. This of course makes United players unevenly valuable and the natural instinct will be to ensure you can field 3 United men this week. However, the caveat is that United do not play in week 28 (along with Hull, Aston Villa and West Ham) and so your bench must be strong or you must factor in a 4 point hit before you bring anybody in this week. I think it is worth it given that both Everton at home and West Ham away rank in the bottom half in goals conceded and considering the frankly outrageously good form of Wayne Rooney. If you don't own a United defender I would probably not buy two, but I think you can safely bring one for the week and rest/sell him next week for an overall gain to your team.

Clean Sheet Rankings

1. Man United
2. Aston Villa
3. Fulham
4. Chelsea
5. West Ham
6. Portsmouth
7. Blackburn
8. Arsenal
9. Man City
10. Tottenham
11. Stoke
12. Wigan
13. Birmingham
14. Wolves
15. Everton
16. Bolton
17. Liverpool
18. Hull
19. Burnley
20. Sunderland
    

Captain Rankings

1. Wayne Rooney
2. Didier Drogba
   
3. Cesc Fabregas
4. Antonio Valencia
5. James Milner
6. Patrice Evra
   
7. Gabby Agbonlahor
   
8. Eduardo
9. Carlton Cole
10. Frank Lampard

There can be only one captain for me this week, whether you are trying to differentiate or are riding high in your own league. Rooney against two decent but far from concrete defenses is too tempting and given that 40%+ of the league will be captaining him, if you get this decision wrong you could lose 15-20 points on everyone else. If you don't have and cannot afford Rooney then I think Drogba's form justifies the armband despite Wolves away being a trickier game than you might think (1.32 GPG conceded). After that its the usual suspects, though I like Valencia (the best of the other United options) more than usual this week given his double fixture.

As always, please post your transfer and lineup questions below or @plfantasy