The Week Ahead

Why not me?

So, what to make of the mid-week results? Is Chelsea stumbling? They certainly seem to be keeping things together with smoke and mirrors at this point. Have ManYoo righted the ship? Their blow-out win over West Ham was impressive but did it signify anything or was it just a case of superior talent combined with better effort on a single day? Can Arsenal beat their new Bolton (Stoke) this weekend to ensure that they keep their momentum going in the right direction? What the hell should we make of the "next four" - Citeh, Liverpool, Spurs, and Villa? Can any of them put together a sustained period of excellence? And finally, did Everton wait too long to put it all together? Throw in the battle for the final two relegation spots (Pompey are goners) and these are the story lines that will make up the rest of the season.

Three of those story lines will also play a critical role in determining the outcome of this weekend's matches.

With Chelsea hosting Citeh, Spurs hosting Everton and Arsenal traveling to Stoke we will see the above story lines play out before us. Your choices for this weekend - especially with ManYoo and Villa not playing in the league (along with Hull and WHU) will come down to what you believe about those story lines. What do I mean?

Everton have undoubtedly been the best team of the second half of the season with a draw against Arsenal and wins against ManYoo and Chelsea. Spurs hold the fourth position in the table. What to make of this match? Will this be the signature win that Spurs needs to get back to the good times of earlier in the season and begin to consolidate their place in the standings? Or will Everton continue to accumulate the scalps of teams above them in the table? If you believe that Spurs will defend the Lane then there is every reason to bet on guys like Defoe or Modric. However if you believe in the Everton revival then you have to treat Spurs premium players the same for this match as you would for a match with Chelsea or ManYoo - probably not worth the price. (For what its worth, my intuition tells me that Everton is the better team and their "story line" will win out over that of Spurs even at WHL).

I'm even more perplexed by all of the possibilities of Chelsea/Citeh. We all know that the talent is there for Citeh to beat anyone but does the team have the will and the cohesion to put it all together against a Chelsea team that is showing that there is weakness at the back to be exploited? Honestly, there's no scenario that you can take off the table for this one - I wouldn't be shocked if the result was a 5-4 shootout, a 4-1 blowout in either direction, or a nil-nil snooze-fest on the order of the recent Liverpool/Citeh match. Again, it comes down to what you believe will happen when two increasingly difficult-to-figure teams get together in a match that means a great deal to both sides.

Finally, Stoke have emerged as Arsenal's new bogey team (which was the popular phrase applied to Bolton until as recently as a year ago). They play uncompromising, tough, and occasionally dirty football and have a squad of 6'+ players who are a difficult match-up for Arsenal's might-mites. Combine their recent failings against Stoke with their recent tendency to surrender horrifically bad early goals and you have the recipe for a bad fantasy day for the Gunners. If you believe the obvious script that the entire media will trot out is what will play out, then you want to stay away from yet another set of high-profile fantasy players (Cesc, Bendtner, Almunia, etc.).

The question becomes, with all of this uncertainty and ManYoo and Villa certainly NOT playing - how do you select a team? Do you have the balls to select AGAINST the top teams in the league? Would you go with the form teams and pick from Everton and Stoke AGAINST the 3rd and 4th place teams? Do you load up on inconsistent Liverpool who SHOULD look extremely attractive against Rovers at home? Do you try to make something of Burnley at home against Pompey? How about fading Birmingham against unpredictable Wigan?

Well, here's my take:

Forwards

• Torres - obviously a lot of this pick depends on whether the news comes down that he's starting but if he does (and he should after two straight substitute appearances) I think he'll remind Reds fans what they've been missing.
• Bendtner - his price went up with a goal last weekend but I'm betting on him to continue his form in an effort to give Wenger just enough reason to believe that he doesn't need to buy another striker in the Summer even though everyone else on the planet knows he needs to.
• Drogba - he's Drogba.
• K2 - Chelsea's defense has been pretty rotten recently to the point that even Wolves looked dangerous if you watched the match. K2's red card in yesterday's FA Cup match makes this irrelevant.
• Jerome - it's hard for me to make much sense of how the Brum first XI is selected from week-to-week but Jerome seems to have been starting recently.  My only hesitation is that Birmingham haven't been very good in that time so while the match-up looks good the player doesn't so consider this only a lukewarm recommendation in a week where there don't seem to be a lot of great options.
• Doyle - The opposite of Jerome - the player is good but betting on Wolves on the road, even against Bolton is hard to do.  Another lukewarm recommendation but definitely worth considering.
• Klasnic - Playing Wolves at home is usually good for anyone's chances so if he's healthy, he's worth a long look.

Jeremy here, picking up for Neal.  Let's continue:

Midfielders

• Cesc "Fab4" Fabregas - maybe not the best matchup of the weekend, but he's got to be involved if Arsenal are to succeed.  And with that upcoming schedule... if you have him below cost, you keep him.
• Gerrard - It's been a while since we looked his way, but home against Rovers it's now or never.
• Eagles; O'Hara; Lee; Jarvis - Middies around 10 who have good match-ups (against each other) but are on lousy teams themselves.  There have to be points in here somewhere.
• Adam Johnson - Lousy match-up, but he's still relatively cheap and should get points regardless. 10 from the dire Liverpool match, case in point.  Pun not intended.
• Simon Davies - back from injury and joining Duff in the attack and the set piece duties.  Normally we wouldn't recommend anyone from Fulham on the road, especially with Fulham having a midweek Europa League outing, but with Sunderland struggling there may be something in this for the Whites.
• Maxi Rodríguez - Benitez's new darling.  A cheap starter with some potential.
  
• Mikel Arteta - cheapest we've ever seen him, but is he Everton's hub right now?

Defenders

• Ferreira - Not the cheapest or surest option, but if Zhirkov isn't back for the weekend, he'll start on the left against a, let's face it, struggling Citeh side.
• Craig Gardner - discussed elsewhere.
• Alan Hutton - a good bet for the money and at home against "Fulham on the road, especially with Fulham having a midweek Europa League outing".
• Kevin Foley - also discussed previously but it bears repeating.  He's listed as a defender but playing at right wing and gets Bolton who have all of three clean sheets all season.
• Skrtel - as Neal mentioned above, Skrtel is the best bet amongst Liverpool's defenders
• Cork; Fox; Alexander - Burnley defenders who operate in midfield or have been coming into the attack.  Cork and Fox are new in the system and GAlex is slated to return from injury.  Home to Pompey.

Goalkeeper

• Hilario - He's in line to replace Cech who went out of last night's CL match with a calf injury.  A top four keeper for under 7 is gold.  However we've seen Hilario ship as many goals as keep clean sheets.
• Reina - not bad value for 10.86.  Rovers is just the first in a good run of matches where Liverpool can expect to keep on keeping out goals.
• James - 1.24.  An enabler par exellence.  Although you'll likely get what you pay for.
• Jensen - the other side of that matchup with Pompey.  Better bet, but more expensive.
• Howard - maybe one for the barn door, but Everton's upcoming schedule looks really easy and he's slipped to under 8 after a tough run of fixtures (Liv, Che, ManU).