Gameweek 25 Rankings

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No league games this weekend but we do have midweek action so I'm putting the rankings up now.

Clean Sheet Rankings
(clean sheets home/away - opponent failed to score home/away)
  1. Man Utd (7 - 5)
  2. Man City (4 - 4)
  3. Liverpool (5 - 4)
  4. Sunderland (7 - 5)
  5. Chelsea (3 - 2)
  6. Arsenal (4 - 3)
  7. Fulham (5 - 2)
  8. Blackburn (5 - 2)
  9. West Brom (1 - 6)
  10. Bolton (2 - 4)
  11. Birmingham (4 - 4)
  12. Blackpool (0 - 6)
  13. Wigan (3 - 2)
  14. Newcastle (3 - 1)
  15. Everton (2 - 2)
  16. Tottenham (0 - 2)
  17. Stoke (2 - 1)
  18. Wolves (1 - 3)
  19. West Ham (0 - 0)
  20. Aston Villa (0 - 0)
Attacking Rankings
  1. Man Utd
  2. Blackpool
  3. Arsenal
  4. Blackburn
  5. Bolton
  6. Man City
  7. West Ham
  8. West Brom
  9. Fulham
  10. Newcastle
  11. Tottenham
  12. Liverpool
  13. Wigan
  14. Chelsea
  15. Wolves
  16. Everton
  17. Sunderland
  18. Stoke
  19. Birmingham
  20. Aston Villa
Captain Stats
It's almost impossible to look past the United pair of Berbatov and Nani this week. United score more goals than anyone at hone while Villa boast the league's leakiest road back line. After his hattrick last week, Berbatov is now averaging a ridiculous 12.11 points per game at home and has 15 goals in 9 games including 4 games of 2 or more goals. A slight knock is that he has two bad games in the last five but if you're looking for upside, no one is better (he has two of the four 20 point games this year). Nani has also been very good at home, adding another good performance against Birmingham to give him 9.0 PPG at Old Trafford. What I like about Nani at home is the way he is contributing points: 6 goals, 6 assists and 14 bonus points. I maintain from last week that Nani is a slightly safer pick but it's really hard to look away from Berbatov right now.

Elsewhere, I think Arsenal are your next best bet with Van Persie looking like he's close to his best. His stats are hard to judge as he has so many appearances with only 20 minutes or so of action. He is more boom/bust so far that the United pair but his 11% ownership is clearly below the pair too. Fabregas is averaging close to 6 points at home and is back to his bonus-magnet best with 14 points in his last 8 starts. With Arsenal's double gameweek on the horizon, if you can only afford either Arsenal or United players, now could be the time to move (though you really need both rather than either).

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi Chris I have a slight dilemma, in regards to your attack rankings. I see that Villa is last yet I've decided to acquire Ashley Young, and it comes down to him or Charlie Adam, whom I see is on the second ranked attacking team this week. Am I crazy for still wanting to start Young over Adam?
January 31, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Colin said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
January 31, 2011 at 1:46 PM
Colin said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
January 31, 2011 at 1:48 PM
Colin said…
My only gripe with the rankings here is that Villa have tightened up considerably in the last few games, and Berbatov has been brilliant but also ridiculously inconsistent, so may be due one of his quiet games. It's beginning to look like Houllier is getting to grips with Villa too, although I can see why you now rank them so low w.r.t. Utd. I'm still tempted to go with Berbatov as captain, but I also have the option of Van Persie, so I think I still have a pretty tight decision to make, would you still go for Berbatov?
January 31, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Chris said…
Sean - rankings only tell part of the story. For example I would start Berbatov every week at the moment whether he was playing at Stamford Bridge or not. Young vs Adam is a close call. The stats and history tell me Adam is the pick but it wouldn't be crazy to play Young.

Colin - I agree Villa have improved of late and form is factored into the rankings to a degree (whether or not it's enough is debatable). That said, in their last 3 games against quality oppoisition they conceded 0 to City, 3 to Chelsea nad 4 to City so I wouldn't say theu've turned the corner yet.
As for Berbatov, I don't really believe in players being 'due' an off game but would agree that his inconsistency makes him slightly risky. The same is true of Van Persie (though in an admittedly small sample size). RvP is likely to differentiate your team more and Arsenal are just as likely to score a few against Everton as United against Villa so it's a very close decision. It's one of the rare instances where stats don't really give a definitive answer and you might just have to rely on something as simple as RvP takes pens or that Everton have conceded in 6 straight games.
February 1, 2011 at 12:25 AM
Philip said…
Suarez looked good last week do you think he is worth buying for G/W 26?
And cant believe Rooney finally got some goals!
February 3, 2011 at 8:48 AM
Leo said…
There is an old adage in poker that if you get dealt pocket Kings you are better off never worrying about pocket aces than considering folding it pre-flop. I think captaining Berbatov is a similar proposition, he is so erratic you are better off never captaining him, and not regretting it when he does well because you "win" more in the long run by not captaining him and playing by the odds.
February 3, 2011 at 10:10 AM
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