Late Fitness Test

You've all talked yourselves into the Captain, haven't you? Kirkland is (well, was) dirt cheap and he got the clean sheet last week against Sunderland. Well... if he's a good bet this week, hosting Birmingham, here's my thinking: I'll take the money I was spending on Duff (still a good bet, home to Fulham) and get Scharner. He's listed as a defender so he'll do well if Kirkland does well. And hopefully he can continue to get points from his attacking midfield role. It's funny...

Okay, quick aside... I'm watching The Italian Job as I write this and Charlize Theron is smoking hot. No, she's thermonuclear hot! And with a sense of humor too.

The South African (pictured), whose long-term boyfriend is Irish actor Stuart Townsend... pulled Ireland instead of France out of the bowl during rehearsal.

Okay, where were we?  Right.  It's funny... we all had such high fantasy hopes for Jordi Gomez playing in the attacking midfield role for Wigan and here we are almost half way through the season and it's Paul Scharner shining in that role.

So I'm going that route.  Scharner is my third defender where I had Wes Brown earlier in the week.  Now I've got 7 to spend in the midfield.  Another gamble... KRich!  Why not gamble that 7 on a midfielder rather than a ManU defender who will probably do just fine this week but certainly KRich has a higher ceiling.  And next week, Sunderland host Portsmouth and Villa so I wouldn't hate having him if I can't work the barn door.

My other defenders are Vermaelan, who isn't going anywhere, and Heitinga who I would like to keep as well.  But... okay, I need some money.  And Heitinga is suspended this week, and only playing one match next week (most other teams have 2 matches - the Assistant Manager has a good rundown), and Everton are injured and out-of-sorts.  So I'm going to go against my long-held expectations and sell Johnny Heit for... Seabass!  Yes, I'm going for a Spurs defender and picking Bassong.  He's just so cheap and hasn't performed badly... at worst he's been do-no-harm.

And why do I need the money?  Because I'm spending money on a keeper.  Why?  I don't know why.  but after shutting out everton last week, I had to grab Reina before his price sky-rocketed.  So I've spent the rest of the week convincing myself that Liverpool have turned the corner, that they're going to push for fourth place now and that their run of poor form has been aggravated by the schedule - having played ManU, Arsenal, and Chelsea in October in the midst of an injury crisis which is easing and also having to deal with a tumultuous Champions League group.  So now they have a month or so to focus on the League and while they do play Arsenal at Anfield next, they have Rovers, Wolves, Wigan, Portsmouth and Villa to finish the year.  And hey, if it doesn't work out there are lots of options at keeper for next week.

In midfield, KRich (my "money I would have spent on a third defender" gamble pick) is joined by the barn door duo of Giggs and Eagles, and O'Hara whom I've put in place of Collison.  Their prices were similar, but Collison's schedule is really lousy and of course, O'Hara takes kicks.  And we've liked him around the blog for a long time.

Finally, in attack there's Drogba of course.  I picked up Rooney on the barn door last week and while I sure would have liked to have gotten the 33 points he earned I'm looking for good returns going forward - West Ham, Villa, Wolves, Fulham, Hull, Birmingham, Burnley, Hull and Arsenal through January.  The third forward spot goes to Eduardo.  I'm very nervous about this.  Arsenal are hosting Stoke who are a big, strong team.  But Arsenal need this game and their options in attack are limited.  If Eduardo gets some changes, and he should the way Arsenal play, he should be able to convert chances to points.

So to sum up...

Reina

Vermaelan Bassong Scharner

Richardson Giggs O'Hara Eagles

Drogba Rooney Eduardo

I think this is going to be a VERY interesting week of fantasy football and it's going to be a great lead in to a wild December.  Good luck and we'll see you in the comments and on Facebook.