Brief notes...

Due to the need to write a big-ass proposal on top of normal work activities, this week's column will be a little bit on the brief side.

General Thoughts:

1) How did Arsenal go from being THAT good to being THIS bad? Frightening for Fantasy Owners everywhere.

2) The king is dead (or dying), long live the king - the Chelsea line-up seems to have stabilized a bit, seems like the new default answer is to include a bunch of their guys.

3) ManYoo seems to be waking up on offense - seems like a good idea to ride Scholes until they start playing good teams again (which isn't this week).


Specifics

Strikers
Henry - at $1, its hard to argue.

Ruud - Imagine having Ruud and Henry at a combined cost of $3.77 - strange times.

Andy Johnson, Palace - he seems to be healthy which is a rarity among top strikers these days - still kicking myself for him over JFH last week.

Midfielders

Lampard - no need to comment further.

Robben/Duff - they're both productive and playing regularly, having three Chelsea midfielders/wingers is probably too much so probably worth picking one and living with the fluctuations.

Scholes - try not to hurt yourself jumping on to the bandwagon

Downing - not ready to jump off this bandwagon yet.

Defenders

Heinze - see Lampard

Pick a Chelsea Defender - only one seems to get involved in the scoring in any given game - Terry had his chance and is unlikely to get more than his customary 6 points this weekend. Time for Carvallho to put in one of those headers he's been skying? he certainly gets to enough of them. Gallas is always a threat out wide as well.

Hibbert - at home to a flagging Bolton squad, he's been good on offense and the defense has been airtight at Goodison.

Keepers
Cech or Carroll - sort of a crapshoot, ManYoo has the better match-up but Chelsea's defense is just a bit better. I'm bound to get this one wrong when I choose but both should get points for the win and one or two saves - the question is who is more likely to lose the clean sheet?