PLFantasy

You know the story by now; each player has been assigned a 'Buy', "Hold' or 'Sell' status. These don't necessarily reflect what I would do, more what I believe to be a reasonable action at this time: Buy - the player can be purchased immediately taking consideration of his playing time, fixtures, injury status etc. This status does not necessarily mean you should buy him now as it depends who else you own, only that it is reasonable to do so. Hold, and/or monitor - if you own the player you're not in a rush to ditch him but there's sufficient risk here to justify potential buyers holding off. Sell - the player has too many risks and should either be sold or not purchased. This does not mean he might not have value in the future, just not right now. Robin Van Persie 12 points I was initially reluctant to throw a 'buy' tag on van Persie because (a) the formation issues his arrival caused at Old Trafford and (b) his massive price ta

This will just be a quick post, to address a very good point raised by reader chemikills regarding the inclusion of Arteta in the recent 'long list' of underowned players (chemikills makes some other good suggestions of underowned players in the comments section, which are well worth taking a look at). Anyway, I have a confession to make. The comment that Arteta will benefit from the opportunities afforded to Fabregas was a bit cheap and probably not really based in reality. Fabregas is one of the best players to play in the Premier League, and no matter who replaces him, to suggest they can enjoy the same heights was hyperbole. Anyway, the question did raise an interesting side point: who will benefit most from Arsenal's revival? Arteta or Ramsey? I had been fairly high on Ramsey a few weeks back, but I must admit, he has somewhat slipped from my mind in recent weeks. Looking at the chalkboards from the last 3 weeks, I think it's hard to conclude that Ramsey

Looking back at last season 9 clean sheets for the year made the team a mid level defense but their higher cost delivered fairly poor value Managed 3 clean sheets over the final 7 gameweeks  Consistent GPG conceded at home (1.21) and away (1.16) though clean sheet split was more pronounced (6-3) Ranked 8th in home GPG (1.63) and 11th on the road (1.05). Again the number of times failing to score shows a clear distinction (2-7). Defensive unit ranked 5th in P90 including a top ranking in bonus points thanks to stellar totals from Baines (20), Distin (16) and Jagielka (10). Due to their comparatively high cost though, they delivered a P$ ranking of just 11th. The midfield really contributed little all year, ranking 11th in P90 and 19th in P$ . Full, healthy seasons from Cahill and Arteta should help improve these totals. The front line also gave a lackluster performance with 198 points only just eclipsing Tevez's individual total. To be fair, this is partly due a sustained

The week isn't quite done but as it's been so disjointed I figured I'd add to the mess by wrapping it up before it's finished. It was a pretty unexciting week that I feel was there to survive rather than thrive on. Captain-tip Fabregas looked to be cruising to a big score with an early goal on Saturday but he then limped off and may now even miss the game with Hull next week . Nasri played well and earned the man of the match and followed that up with a goal and assist tonight in the Champions League. He might be worth a look if you can't afford the dynamic duo of Fabregas and Arshavin. I made a big mistake not bringing Lee in this week and he shone again against West Ham. I think he could be a real gem to close the season with and is well worth his price tag. Elsewhere United disappointed without Rooney though the England frontman is due back tomorrow night so he should be okay for the weekend if he avoids a set back. Another clean sheet showed that Ferguson's

Cast you eye over the upcoming fixtures and two teams' schedules stick out as particularly attractive: Arsenal and Everton . Over the next 6 weeks, Everton and Arsenal each have 5 green rated fixtures, with the average goals per game conceded by their opposition coming in at 1.69 ( Everton ) and 1.56 (Arsenal). With that in mind, the following attacking options become very interesting buys this week: Arsenal Denilson - the cheapest of the big name midfielders (6.2) has had a decent season, though his last 5 games have seen him contribute just 13 points. With 5 assists and 3 goals for the season, along with a much improved defense, mean that Denilson could be a decent, and steady (16 straight starts) point contributor in the next month or so. Nasri - the highest potential scorer in midfield is a bit overpriced (7.6m) and I would not generally suggest buying him ahead of similarly priced studs like Cahill and Ireland. Considering Cahill's recent advanced role and comparably

With 8 weeks gone, we now have a decent idea of how the season is going to shake out. One of the things that is becoming clearer is who will take penalties for each team, a good source of points, particularly when defenders and midfielders are given the penalty duties. Below is a list of the players expected to continue penalty taking duties for their respective teams: Arsenal - Emmanuel Adebayour Aston Villa - Gareth Barry Blackburn - Roque Santa Cruz Bolton - Kevin Nolan Chelsea - Frank Lampard Everton - Mikel Arteta Fulham - Danny Murphy Hull - Marlon King Liverpool - Steven Gerrard Man City - Robinho Man Utd - Cristiano Ronaldo Middlesbrough - Stuart Downing Newcastle - Michael Own Portsmouth - Jermaine Defoe Stoke - Liam Lawrence/Danny Higginbotham Sunderland - Djibril Cisse Tottenham - Luka Modric West Brom - Roman Bednar West Ham - Craig Bellamy Wigan - Amr Zaki A couple of these players are purely speculative due to a lack of penalties for a couple of clubs so far t