You have to think that things are going well heading in to the weekend when you get the "hey, a friend of mine just told me that there's an extra spot in the luxury box for the U2 show tonight - do you want it?" call at 5 PM the day of the show when you'd already given up on going. Now I'm hoping the good karma continues through the weekend...
Chelsea - So, imagine you're Everton. You've seen your much-heralded European participation come crashing down. You're off to a terrible start in the league and have only scored one goal so far. To add insult to injury, here comes Chelsea and not only are they winning but they've been in one of their completely dominant runs where they're not only playing shut down defense but scoring in bunches. My advice is to get as many Chelsea guys on your squad for this week as possible. Stretch for Lampard. Think about Essien. Buy up their defenders where you can afford them. I'm not sure it's even worth discussing Everton players anymore. I may think about van der Meyde when he is healthy (vs. Boro?) but given current performance even he would be a big risk.
The Former "Big Two" - Go figure, Arsenal have made a tradition of being excellent in the EPL and struggling, especially on the road, in the Champions League. Now they can't buy a win away from Highbury in the league but they've been winning away in their Champions League group. The big news item for this weekend from the Gunners camp is the return of Thierry Henry. There is no doubting Henry's value as a fantasy player but you'll have to completely re-work your team to get him and who knows how he's feeling after not playing for so long. Outside of Henry, be on alert that Reyes is out along with Campbell, Cole, and Hleb as the body count mounts at Highbury. On the Man City side, Andy Cole re-introduced himself to fantasy owners but given Arsenal's stingy home defensive record he might be too expensive to consider this weekend. Joey Barton might be an interesting pick-up but his price has risen as well.
Manchester United faces a tough match as Spurs visit Old Trafford. It will be an interesting match at the top of the table and will be a great bit of insight as to how much Tottenham has really improved from last season to this one. From a fantasy standpoint, what this means is that you should view this match-up with some skepticism. Mido was a great value last weekend but now he's questionable with a groin injury and facing a good defense and an excellent keeper. Ditto the ManYoo strikeforce vs. what has been an excellent Spurs defense so far. If you have someone in this game for significantly under market value, then consider keeping him - otherwise bail like the boat is sinking.
Against the Relegation Zone - we've already discussed the misery this is this weekend's match-up for Everton. That leaves us with Sunderland hosting Newcastle and Birmingham travelling to face Rovers. What can we say about Sunderland other than that they are an entirely uninspiring side from a fantasy standpoint. Whitehead is adequate and not terribly expensive and that's about it unless you happen to be related to Anthony Le Tallec. You'd think that would mean good things for their opponent but this week - not so much because Newcastle is in terrible shape coming in to this match. I'm not sure anyone on their squad is actually healthy, the ones that are playing are just the least injured of the bunch. Owen is doubtful. Emre is back but last time that happened he lasted all of 15 minutes. I'd recommend Charles N'Zogbia but his game is predicated on crossing the ball in and getting assists and I'm not sure who would be on the other end of that equation. Shearer can't seem to get his head near the ball without giving the defender an elbow to the throat first and the refs finally seem to be catching on. I guess my point is that, other than maybe taking a risk on Given, there isn't much here worth getting excited over.
The Birmingham/Blackburn match-up is another one that seems destined to be a clunker. How this got on the US TV schedule is beyond me. I know it's going to be virtually unwatchable, how is it that no one at Fox has figured that out? Fantasy studs MGP and Pennant are always worth a spot if you can afford them and this weekend should be no exception. Jiri Jarosik is questionable for the match so scratch him off the "I need cheap midfielders to make room for Henry list".
Random Notes - You have to wonder how Bolton will react to last week's thrashing at the hands of Chelsea - they host West Brom who have to be confident after beating Arsenal last weekend. CONCACAF favorite Jared Borgheti seems poised to get a start and might be a good, economical pick if you need money to invest, ahem, elsewhere in your line-up...Charlton travel to toothless Pompey and blog fave Darren Bent will definitely score at least one and, as always, Murphy will have a bunch of "phantom" points from free kicks and the like. This will be an important match for Charlton as they need to re-establish some momentum...Might Liverpool score more than once this weekend? A visit to London to play Fulham always seems to hold that promise. Cisse has been hot in both the league and in Europe so he might be a nice choice in the $10 range...West Ham host Boro in a match-up of teams looking to climb out of the middle of the pack...Jeremy recommends Fabio Rochemback to anyone looking for an inexpensive midfielder who takes a lot of free kicks - Jeremy's intuition on these things is usually pretty strong...For the Hammers, the usual suspects (Etherington, Benayoun, Harewood) represent high risk/high reward purchases - they're inexpensive and occasionally score big fantasy points but when they don't, you really look bad for having chosen them...Finally, we have Wigan travelling to Villa Park - hard to get too excited about this one but Villa are always pretty competent at home - James Milner might be worth sticking in your midfield. He's a little expensive at 10+ and for me, it will come down to a choice between his fairly steady production vs. the risk of Cisse having a big day for Pool.
Good luck to all...
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