PLFantasy

The Christmas period was tough for many managers (me included) who suffered through unexpected injuries and then the disruption to the fixture list. This will also be the first gameweek without the departed African players thus testing many managers' squads further. The defensive fixtures aren't too bad this week and with the frigid weather not going anywhere one may expect a few defensive struggles this week and playing 5 at the back might be worth considering. Clean Sheet Rankings Fulham - BUY Burnley - HOLD Man Utd - BUY Arsenal - HOLD Man City - BUY Aston Villa - HOLD Chelsea - HOLD Birmingham - HOLD/SELL Sunderland - SELL Wigan - HOLD West Ham - HOLD Liverpool - HOLD Stoke - HOLD Portsmouth - SELL Hull - SELL Bolton - SELL Wolves - SELL Tottenham - BUY Blackburn - SELL Everton - SELL Defensive fixtures don't get much better than Fulham at home to Portsmouth to the point where if you're squad is thin, Fulham defenders might even warrant some captaincy consideration....

Gameweek 14 Fixtures Blackburn v Stoke City Fulham v Bolton Man City v Hull City Portsmouth v Man Utd West Ham v Burnley Wigan v Sunderland Aston Villa v To ttenham Wolves v Birmingham (Sun) Everton v Liverpool (Sun) Arsenal v Chelsea (Sun) I love the fixture list this week from both a fantasy and real life perspective, with Sunday's fixture list looking particularly tasty (not to mention ¡El SuperClásico! between Real Madrid and Barcelona later that evening). The stats suggest Villa, Everton, Fulham, City and West Ham should score goals, while common sense suggests that United should clearly be in this list (even though Portsmouth have actually been very solid at home 1.33 GPG conceded). Unfortunately some managers won't be very well placed to make changes to capitalise on these fixtures as they try to put out fires in their team with Darren Bent the latest to go down with injury, although the latest reports suggest this isn't as bad as initially feared. Meanwhile, Dr...

We were treated to a great weekend of action with 36 goals and big wins for City, United and Liverpool. A huge performance by Yossi Benayoun dominated the fantasy headlines, though Adebayor was also in the limelight for good and bad reasons . As predicted, clean sheets were hard to come by with only 3 on offer all weekend. For me, the weekend confirmed something I have been thinking since the season started, and threw up a new group of players that could play into a new strategy: Premium Strikers are for real In previous years the consensus strategy has been to spend big on midfield and plug in mid range or budget strikers, with the likes of Carlton Cole, James Beattie, Kevin Davies etc being popular choices. This year is shaping up very differently. The six most expensive strikers available are all in the top eight at their position, with four in the top five (Defoe being the odd man out). Rooney and Defoe have five goals, Drogba, Adebayor and Bent have four and Torres has three. Onl...

Everton v Fulham No regular first teamers are out for either side. Everton players are a good bet this week with Fulham not travelling too well this year (only 2 goals in 4 games scored). The impressive Fulham defense is less so on the road having failed to keep a clean sheet so far. One to watch: Tim Cahill Chelsea v Sunderland Carvalho is back on the sidelines and could be out for up to three weeks. This makes Alex (5.6) an interesting prospect once more with Sunderland at home this week and decent fixtures after that (@Bla, @WH, New). Ballack and Drogba are also sidelined, though there is a chance Cole could return. If you own him for some reason I'd probably keep him out for one more week. Craig Gordon is also a doubt though you want to avoid him anyway in what should be a win for the home side. One to watch: Alex Man Utd v Hull Hargreaves and Scholes are still out which means Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson will battle it our for playing time. I wouldn't suggest that any o...

As I look out of my living room window I can see the spires of the City of Manchester stadium and yet I did not foresee the fantasy impact of their transfer deadline dealings. I was a little higher on Robinho than some of the critics but I thought there were better options available in his price bracket (van Persie 9.5m, Santa Cruz 8.9m, Agbonlahor 8.2m and Defoe 8.2m). However, Robinho has scored 2 in 2 and notched an assist this week to give him 15 points in 2 games (a PPMS of 0.833 ahead of all but Zaki and Defoe). With van Persie being rested against Bolton I am starting to worry about Wenger tinkering too much with van Persie's playing time. Robinho therefore looks to be an interesting prospect at 9.2m, especially when you consider they play the likes of Newcastle, Stoke, Hull, Bolton and Spurs over the next 8 weeks. Robinho's play also seems to have inspired others around him and Shaun Wright Phillips look well and truly settled back at Eastlands. At 8m his price has inc...