Gameweek 26 Rankings

The transfer window has closed once again with key players moving teams and a couple of fresh faces arriving from overseas. There’s not too much time to let the dust settle though as another gameweek roles round, which looks promising for the Manchester teams, while the headliner match on Sunday will give us a good opportunity to assess whether Chelsea and Liverpool have really turned the proverbial corner after both have struggled (comparatively) in recent times.

Clean Sheet Rankings

(clean sheets kept at home/away – opposition failed to score at home/away)

1. Man City (7 – 6)
2. Chelsea (8 – 4)
3. Tottenham (4 – 4)
4. Aston Villa (5 – 5)
5. Stoke (4 – 4)
6. Man Utd (3 – 2)
7. Fulham (3 – 3)
8. West Ham (3 – 4)
9. Sunderland (4 – 3)
10. Everton (3 – 5)
11. Arsenal (4- 2)
12. Wigan (2 – 3)
13. Birmingham (2 – 2)
14. Blackpool (5 – 2)
15. Blackburn (0 – 3)
16. Wolves (2 – 3)
17. Newcastle (3 – 2)
18. Bolton (0 -3)
19. Liverpool (3 – 1)
20. West Brom (0-3)

Attacking Rankings

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

Captain Notes

Tevez is the obvious choice for the armband this week based on the fixtures though his home form (5.36 PPG) dampen my predictions a tad. He is making mince meat (7.43 PPG) against easy opponents though and is probably the best play this week.

Berbatov has been pretty average away from home with 4 goals, 1 assist and just 3.18 PPG. His form is sensational and he’s had some huge games of late, but I would look elsewhere this week if you have other top options.

Malouda has been great at home (7.0 PPG) and against teams who average more than 1.5 GPG conceded (6.78 PPG) and looks well placed to continue his rejuvenated form. The arrival of Torres (who will surely play in a more traditional forward role than Anelka) may hurt his value a bit but with 8 goals in their last 2 games, Chelsea look like they might be back on form.

Like teammate Malouda, Drogba has also been very impressive at home (6.45 PPG) with 8 goals in 11 appearances and may actually benefit from the presence of Torres (despite popular opinion he actually flourished when playing alongside a second stiker). 

The form forwards in the league are Rooney and Van Persie, who have 10.0 and 9.4 PPG over the past 5 gameweeks respectively. Both get a decent fixture this week though neither opponent have been easy to beat at home. At a certain point form can be more important than the fixture though and one or both of this pair might be in that zone right now.

Fabregas has been very impressive on return from injury and his bonus tally of 10 points over his last 6 games is very encouraging. He has only had one huge game since his return but has also only failed to score at least 4 points once and is averaging 7.5 PPG.

Mercenaries

Not sure whether this category should be named after Robbie Keane or Darren Bent. Probably Keane on the basis of his “I’ve always dreamed of playing for my current team, having grown up idolising one their best players. I remember walking down that famous street to the legendary stand where I watched this team have great success”. Either way, I like these boys this week as one week fillers:

Ciaran Clark (4.4m) – the Villa back line looks a bit crowded when everyone is fit but with Steve Warnock and Luke Young out as long term casualties and Cuellar being in and out all year, the versatile Clark has played several positions which should all but guarantee him a game again this week. Houllier has been complementary of the youngster this year, drawing comparisons to Gareth Barry and Clark has already added 3 league goals (as well as one in the cup last week). I still don’t fully trust Villa’s defense week in, week out but Fulham have scored just 9 away goals all year and so Clark is a great short term pickup.

Morten Gamst Pedersen (6.0m) – on the face of it Gamst Pedersen is having a very nice fantasy year but he scored 38 of his 100 points in a four game period and has been largely average for the remainder of the year. That said, those big games came against weaker defensive teams which is exactly what they face this week. Wigan have conceded 7 goals in the last 3 league games and Pedersen might be worth rolling the dice on in an all or nothing type pick.