The Forgotten Two-Gamers

Of course I mean Birmingham City. With Arsenal and Chelsea the marquee teams playing two this game week, it's easy to overlook the "other" Blues. But they have a good home match against Sunderland at the weekend before travelling to a less than rampart Chelsea.  It's at least worth a closer look at their squad as there may be some bargains - and some pitfalls - from the Second City Players.


Goalkeeper- If you're spending money on a keeper this week, you probably want Cech.  But if you are scraping for a few bucks to afford a better player somewhere else it might be worth gambling on Foster.  He should score well against Sunderland and anything he gets against Chelsea - assuming Birmingham won't lose big - is gravy.


Defenders - While the strength of this defence, and it's true fantasy value, is in the middle your value picks are out wide.  Carr and Parnaby, who has started the last few matches and should continue to do so with Jiranek out, are both priced under 6.  As with Foster, you can see them scoring well in the first game and say it with me now, "anything he gets against Chelsea is gravy".


Midfielders -  Here's where it gets a bit tricky, mostly due to Birmingham City's shifting injury situation. Larsson looks a good pick on recent form, but if David Bentley is healthy then those two fight for playing time and set-piece duties. Beausejour is another player returning to the squad who could claim a wide spot. He's cheap, but has done nothing all season -- save for a HUGE game week the last time Birmingham played two.

In the center, Bowyer alternates boom and bust weeks when healthy - 3, 1, 8, 12.5 1, 11.5 recently.  But there are others in that price range or cheaper like Wilshere and Ramires whom you might rather pick.  Ferguson is just 3.7 and on form could return that value over two matches.  But he's nothing but an enabler.  Gardner is a wildcard in the middle, but at around 10, it's not worth a gamble.


Forwards - Again, this comes down to injury status but seemingly it's Jerome and Phillips with Martins out and Zigic struggling.  Phillips is half Jerome's price and is facing his former club.  That makes him the attractive pick for me.