PLFantasy

Having tackled the elite and the new arrivals to the Premier League, it's time to turn out attention inwards, starting with the top half of the middle. Here we find a fixture of fallen giants and rising stars, each providing several options throughout the squad. Presence in this group is not so much of an indication that I think they're a top-10 team, more that they offer top-10 quality and depth of fantasy talent. Players highlighted as being on my personal shortlist are shown in blue with those who I believe to be secure in the starting eleven shown in bold . Fulham Projected lineup: Schwarzer (5.0) , Riise (5.5) , Hangeland (5.0) , Hughes (4.5), Riether (5.0) , Duff (6.0) , Diarra (5.0) , Dempsey (9.5) , Dembele (6.0), Petric (6.0) , Ruiz (6.0) I like this defense quite a lot as they have 4/5 of last year's useful unit returning plus the addition of Riether at right back who should, at worst, be a lateral move from Kelly. Readers will know I am hesitant to pay...

Mark Schwarzer has been ruled out for anywhere up to 6 weeks with a spinal issue and given the nature of the injury, you wouldn't be 100% confident that those timelines will be accurate. In short, he needs to be replaced and given that a large portion of his owners will have been pairing him with Vorm, that move needs to be made quickly given Vorm's away trips this week and next (@New and @Eve). If you don't own Vorm then barring a total mismatch of fixtures, the Swansea keeper is your ready made replacement, and hey, you'll even get a bit of change. So, who should Schwarzer/Vorm owners target? Well the defensive fixture rotation stats point to a number of options whose games will fit in nicely with Vorm (who can now be option 1a in rotation option rather than 1b as expected given Swansea's start to the season): Tim Krul - 4.9m Krul would have been the pick 6 weeks ago but with S Taylor out for good and Coloccini also sidelined, Newcastle's recent defens...

Looking back at last season 14 clean sheets last year ranked third overall yet the team averaged over a GPG conceded at home and on the road. Their home ranking was just 11th in that category. Led the league in GPG away from home (1.05) and were one of three teams to have a better road record than home (with Everton and Wigan). Racked up 9 clean sheets in the second half of the season, with just 5 in the first Managed a solid 1.58 GPG at home but disappointed on the road with just 1.0 GPG including six zeros. Keepers racked up 151 points, the league's best total, representing the best value for money around ( P$ 1.067) at home. This was greatly helped by Stockdale's production for a budget price. The defensive unit was also a great investment, with the 6th most total points delivering a league best P$ mark of 0.727.  Four midfielders (Dempsey, Davies, Murphy and Duff) all topped 90 points with the unit ranking 9th in points and 4th in P$ . Front line struggl...

I have touched on the double gameweeks earlier but I think we need more analysis if we are to fully enjoy the fruits of them when playing the transfer window wildcard. Let's look at every team who has one or more double gameweeks coming up, who looks set to benefit and how you can maximise the opportunity: Arsenal Who they play and when : GW27 - Wolves and Stoke Who are the best plays : Arsenal look like a very good play both defensively and offensively. The Wolves fixture alone would likely rank Arsenal as the top defensive pick of the week and the addition of another sub-1 GPG team makes them a great play. They've only kept 3 clean sheets at home so I'm not crazy about paying the big bucks for a Thomas Vermaelen (if fit by then) but I would rate Fabianski as a very good pick and Djorou as sensational value if still in the first team. As we know, Arsenal are always a good option to score goals and my prediction tools have them scoring 4.7 goals in the two fixtures. I ...

Firstly, an apology for the lack of preview last week. Work commitments along with the short game left me caught short. Hopefully everyone was aware of United and City's absence and planned accordingly while picking a captain become somewhat trickier with the likes of Rooney and Tevez absent. The headline game of week 24 will of course be the clash at the Emirates between Arsenal and United, which is probably the biggest game of the season so far. Fantasy wise I don't love the game with these games tending to have a couple of goals and a lack of clean sheets (the only clean sheets in this fixture since 2002 have been the 0-0 in 2005/06). Four more teams have double gameweeks with the highlight of course being league leaders Chelsea who have a pair of road games against two of the weaker sides in the division (though both have actually been decent at home). Double gameweeks are going to play a massive part of the remainder of the season with no less than 14 scheduled over the ne...

After the Villa double gameweek and a few injuries and suspensions I assume many of you will be looking to make changes this week. The natural choice would be to gravitate to towards Fulham and Everton defenders due to their double gameweeks but a few other teams also look appealing. Over the next eight gameweeks, the average GPG scored by opponents at home/away in brackets, the average goals each team have conceded per game this season and their calculated strength of schedule are as below: The top two aren't exactly big surprises historically though United have been far from reliable this season and it's encouraging to see them on this list. Blog reader Andrew pointed out how good United's fixtures are in the coming weeks and the above stats back it up, with United getting the fourth best opposition GPG. Their only red light game (1.7 GPG+) for United is the trip to Upton Park to play West Ham (1.8 GPG) while the visit of Villa (1.33 GPG) also looks like it could be trick...

With the season drawing ever closer its time to look at the next 5 teams in the final pre-season preview. With the transfer window open for another 3 weeks, things have the potential to change but it is vital to at least get players who are featuring regularly right from the start of the season. Without further ado then, here are the next 5 team summaries: Burnley Projected Team: Jensen, Alexander, Kalvenes, Carlisle, Duff, Gudjonsson, McCann, Eagles, McDonald, Paterson, Fletcher Owen Coyle's men had a dream season last year, gaining promotion to the Premier League along with a couple of great cup runs. However, with limited funds in the off season the squad depth has been strengthened but the overall quality appears to be lacking somewhat. The Clarets were the second top scorers last season, but also had the 7th worst defence, worse than the likes of Plymouth and Barnsley. The arrivals of Edgar (4m) and Eckersley (4m) provide depth and one of the pair may even crack the starting l...

We all knew about United's double gameweek this week, but with two games postponed this week four more teams will enjoy double gameweeks over the coming weeks (along with United and Fulham who play their rearranged game from months ago). Although all double gameweeks carry value, some are clearly more valuable than others. For example, United's week 25 schedule sees them travel to West Ham and entertain Fulham . Whilst Fulham have improved greatly this season United should be able to see off both these opponents and have a great chance to notch two clean sheet and score maybe 3, 4 or even goals. Blackburn on the other hand will likely face a tougher double as they travel to Fulham and could see United, Arsenal, Liverpool or Everton as their second game (who they face between weeks 26 and 32). Until the fixture list is reset is isn't worth taking too many gambles now, but what is for sure is that United are a great play in week 25 and Fulham players could be very...

Finally a staurday afternoon with a decent tally and wouldn't you know it, I had to miss it for the dreaded christmas shopping! Therefore I was not on hand to see Valencia and Young terrorise opposition defenses to give the Juice a decent 52 point haul on Saturday. In absence of my weekly diary and general ramblings, I'll review each game below noting any key trends and scorers and suggesting where future sleepers may lie: Middlesbrough 1 - 1 Arsenal Middelesbrough: Turnbull, Huth, Pogatetz, Riggott, McMahon, Arca, Downing, Johnson, Digard, Alliadiere, Tuncay Arsenal: Almunia, Clichy, Djorou, Gallas, Sagna, Denilson, Fabregas, Diaby, Song, Adebayour, Van Persie. I think Adebayour has staked a claim for the best premium striker around with his 11th goal in 20 games (in all competitions) and the return of Drogba to potentially limit Anelka's minutes (more on that later). With just one clean sheet since week 9, players are abandoning the Arsenal defense and the likes of Clichy...