The Weekend Scout Picks
So it’s just the one double fixture to torture ourselves with this week. Do we load up on United when they miss the following gameweek? It’s just one of so many dilemma’s we’ve had to face in recent weeks.
I say “we”, to be honest, after losing Diaby to a potentially nasty injury a few hours after I signed him and Lampard to a mystery virus earlier today, I for one don’t have the luxury of mulling over the pros and cons of spending points on Carrick and Fletcher. I’ve been far too busy spending them on injured players.
Read on for my sour grape flavoured Scout Picks for gameweek 26…
The Defence
Starting in the obvious place and it’s Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer who claims the keeper’s jersey. I almost looked to West Ham’s Rob Green here, with Nicky Shorey a possibility in defence to cover Fulham’s clean sheet prospects against Birmingham. In the end I’ve opted for Schwarzer because I can see him having a good few long-range efforts to keep out, which could and should bring in some saves to supplement any cleanie returns.
Moving into the back four and I start things off with a couple of more obvious selections.
Chelsea make the trip to Molineux with Terry and Ivanovic set to be recalled by Ancelotti and Zhirkov taking up the left-back role vacated by Ashley’s Cole’s injury. While Wolves will ask questions they have notched just three goals in their last five home matches. Chelsea should cope with the likely 4-5-1 from Mick McCarthy’s side and I’ve covered this with Branislav Ivanovic’s inclusion. By all means opt for the more expensive Zhirkov for greater attacking potential.
United’s double fixture make a United defender almost essential with at least one clean sheet (realistically against West Ham in midweek) looking likely. The return of Vidic to Ferguson’s back four will add further resolve, while Ferdinand is back in the frame after suspension for the Hammers fixture. United’s full-backs represent the best fantasy option here, with Rafael and Patrice Evra the targets. Evra gives us the greater security for the second fixture and more of a consistent threat going forward.
The final two spots in my defence are perhaps slightly more of a gamble. I’ve decided to keep faith with Blackburn’s Martin Olsson off the back of his ridiculously cheap price and attacking flair, despite the fact that he’ll be at left-back again for Rovers in the absence of Chris Samba through suspension. Olsson scored his first goal of the season from that position against Hull, so has proved he can still put his attacking instincts to good use, even from this withdrawn position. Blackburn’s opponents this weekend are Owen Coyle’s Bolton; a side that has scored just a single goal in five matches.
Villa’s Richard Dunne takes up the final place in my back four. The Irishman has established himself as the rock in Villa’s defence and is leading the way in the Fantasy Premier League defender rankings. He comes up against a Burnley side at Villa Park that has failed to score in their last five away trips. Villa meanwhile have conceded just two goals in their previous five home matches. A cleanie and yet more Fantasy Premier League (FPL) bonus looks on the cards.
The Midfield
Two of my selections pick themselves here. With Lampard absent this week for Chelsea, Cesc Fabregas looks a no-brainer as the heavyweight midfield signing, unless you’re prepared to gamble on Liverpool’s Gerrard at City. Fabregas has been off the boil with three consecutive blanks but he’s faced stern opposition in those games. Steve Bruce’s Sunderland will arrive at the Emirates and attempt to nullify Arsenal’s passing game but I’m backing Fabregas to wriggle free of Cana’s shackles have a major influence on proceedings in a home win for Wenger’s side.
United’s Antonio Valencia picks himself with his two fixtures at Everton and West Ham. The winger looks assured of stats with Nani suspended and Giggs sidelined – that in itself is enough reason to consider his inclusion. Added to that, Valencia has all the incentive he needs to take his opportunity having seen Nani emerge as a genuine threat to his position on United’s right-flank.
Like Fabregas, James Milner is another player who has failed to produce of late. After a spurt of form in his new central midfield role, Milner has been decidedly muted. Again tough opposition can be seen as the cause for this dip but this weekend Milner comes up against a Burnley side that will surely afford Villa time and space to improve their rather miserable “goals for” record over recent matches. I see returns for the World Cup hopeful.
The final midfield slot goes to Fulham’s Zoltan Gera. This looks more of risk given that the Hungarian is not 100% assured of his start. Gera returned from injury and was pitched straight back into the lineup against Shakhtar on Thursday and repaid that faith with the opening goal of the 2-1. Hodgson hailed that team performance in his post-match reaction. It seems fairly likely that he put out the same side again here then, so Gera could well be given the role of supporting the in-form Bobby Zamora against Birmingham.
The Forwards
The decision up front is made easy by the dominance of both Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba. Rooney’s double fixture and form assures his selection, even though there will be the usual rumblings of a rest for the West Ham fixture at Old Trafford in midweek. Rooney’s return to Goodison this weekend will be tricky, but his irresistible form makes him impossible to ignore in fantasy terms.
As for Drogba, he faces a trip to Wolves to face a defence that has improved. McCarthy’s side have only conceded five goals in their last five home games but they’ve yet to face a striker as formidable as Drogba. With Lampard missing out with a virus, the Ivorian will likely also be given spot-kick duties and will surely monopolise direct free-kicks.
My bench finds West Ham’s James Tomkins taking up the defensive role. The Hammers host Hull at Upton Park and look a reasonable bet for a cleanie. Tomkins offers value as a budget fantasy purchase. I’ve taken a risk on Portsmouth’s John Utaka for the midfield choice. The much-maligned Nigerian international has recently found a new lease of life under Avram Grant and should keep his place to be a key threat to the Stoke defence at Fratton Park. Grant is starting Utaka in a central attacking role, while in the FPL he is classified as a cheap midfield option.
The reserve striker role goes to another player who attracts his fair share of negative publicity. Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner now has the opportunity to play in his preferred centre-forward position for the Gunners and this weekend faces a Sunderland side who should allow him opportunities. He may need four chances to convert, but Bendtner should get that a more against a Steve Bruce side that’s turning up at the Emirates riddled with injuries in midfield.
Other options that almost made it this week include Villa’s Agbonlahor should be fit to start against the obliging Burnley defence at Villa Park, while Bobby Zamora’s confidence will be sky high as he prepares to take on Birmingham at the Cottage.
Paddy Says….
Despite injuries to Gallas and doubts over Almunia’s return, Paddy goes with Arsenal as their 8/11 favourites to keep a clean sheet with Steve Bruce’s struggling Sunderland in town. Chelsea at Wolves (4/5) and Villa at home to Burnley (5/6) are their next best odds. West Ham at home to Hull (13/10) and United at Everton (13/10) follow that pair. Interestingly then, Paddy disagrees with me on Fulham chances at home to Birmingham and Blackburn at home to Bolton.
Arsenal are also Paddy’s big favourite when it comes to goals with odds of 3/1 for three or more against Sunderland. Chelsea at Wolves come in next (10/3), followed by United at Everton (9/2) and Villa at home to Burnley (7/2).
Given the goals odds, it’s not surprising to find Bendtner ranked highly for anytime goalscorer (10/11), although he still trails Drogba (8/11), with Agbonlahor (10/11), Anelka (evens) and Rooney (6/5) coming in next. Fabregas leads the running for midfielders anytime goalscorer odds. Drogba (3/1), Bendtner (7/2) and Agbonlahor (7/2) also lead the odds for two or more goals.
This week’s Scout specials offers clean sheet accumulator odds of 7/1 on clean sheets for Villa, Blackburn and Chelsea. Meanwhile, the Scout Picks special offers 6/1 on Fabregas, Rooney and Drogba all to score one or more goals this weekend. I’ve also set up a double gameweek special on Wayne Rooney. You can get odds of 9/2 on the United striker scoring three or more goals over the Everton and West Ham fixtures this gameweek.
As always Paddy is still offering a free £20 bet for new customers who sign up through this site and make a £10 bet. Click here to register your new Paddy Power account.
Don’t forget you can still enter our exclusive Last Man Standing tournament with Paddy. Click here for the details on that.
These specials and the Paddy Power account offer are of course only available to those aged 18 and over.
10 mins til price changes.
could be a biggy. quite a lot of risers look on.
i will keep my ctc and ft jokes to myself as they seem to be a touchy subject
haha
Do you know who’s movin.?
The 6/1 goalscorer bet is NOT a good deal. £7 back on a £1 bet.
If you take the same bet as a normal accumulator from Paddy they give you odds of 331/50 £7.62 back on a £1 bet. The “special” odds are worse than those they offer the normal punters.
Are they underestimating the people that use this site?
Thanks for the others though Mark. I’ll probably have a punt on the clean sheet accumulator and the double game week special.
how is my team for the weekend, transfers used:
Sorensen
Evra Ivan Shawcross Dann Dawson
Fabregas Nzogbia
Rooney (C) Drogba Diamanti
Subs – Robinson McCarthy Diaby Petrov
wud really appreciate advice ifpossible!
get rid of dimanti after double gameweek nd petrov rest is good
Bent, Bendtner or Saha.. Who would you choose? Cannot decide!
bent
Saha Bent Bendtner in that order
If I had to have one this week it’d be Bendtner, but I much prefer to leave it a week or two and get one of the other ones.
Seriously? Please just read through some of the threads for the last week. This has been discussed to death.
Was asking 10 mins before the deadline, asking was easier than reading 5000+ posts.
*price change even!
Can anyone confirm I’ve got the right players benched, and in the right order:
Sorensen
Ivanovic, Evra, Olsson, Dawson
Fabregas, Valencia, N’Zogbia, Tuncay
Rooney (C), Bendtner
BENCH: Hart, Cohen, Scharner, Tevez
I’m unsure as to the usual dilemma between Sorensen and Hart, and also keep alternating between N’Zogbia, Cohen and Tuncay.
id play scharner ahead of tuncay,
Top Ten: Loan signings in EPL history. Some interesting selections
http://blog.sport.co.uk/Footba.....story.aspx
interesting read. dugarry, d’allessandro were massive as they almost single-handedly saved their teams from relegation.
So where is Carlos Tevez? Javier Mascherano instead of him.?.?
Snap greg! Also Zaki in his first few months at Wigan was unbelievable
good point.
Which begs the question why Teves is not there but Mascherano is! What the fcuk?
in a bit of a quandry here? who do i play out of whelan or ricketts. i assume bramble or eagles won’ start
Did you make any changes this week.?
yes 4 transfers this week!
That’s a lot… Think I’m sticking with the 3.! Why 4.?
Is eagles injured?
which option is better?
(1) Drogba > Tevez
Valencia > Lampard
(2) Diamanti > Tevez
Valencia > Lee
minus (1)
akers do you do any page write ups anymore no?
Got one going up this weekend, then I’ll be doing 2-3 a week soonish.
Whats it about???Love new posts.Best part of this site is the posts.
No new ideas, just digging up old ones.
Looking forward to it.
?
1 is better, just the opposite way round.
they look backwards
lol
Team for this week
Sorenson ( Jensen)
Ivan, Dunne, Nelson/Olsson ( ridgewell + Olsson/Nelson)
Fab,N’zog, Hunt, Milner, Fletch ( ???)
Zamora, Rooney, Drog
So who to bench from Mid ?? Hunt/Milner/Nzog ?
Hunt.
Bench Hunt IMO.
I can’t believe it looks like Tevez is going down again!
He’s a bargain now DA lol.
Have the feeling that Bolton are going to score a couple this week. Should I play Lee ahead of Olsson?
Logic says no, but those gut feelings often come true don’t they?
Yeah, it’s a nagging one. I didn’t see Olsson play last week but I did watch Bolton v Wigan on that rugby pitch. They should’ve scored and I think Taylor and Davies will get something this week.
It’s following that kind of feeling that can make the difference but most on here would play Olsson I think.
hey gargamel you stil here now no?
freaky we wer talking about liam brady earlier and The Guardian has article today about him
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spor.....stitutions
Hey db…Must disagree with you about your earlier comments about the irish. http://www.fantasyfootballscou.....ent-467080 ….Maybe in the very deep country areas they care more about local gaa but not in Towns and citys…
will my point has to be discribed abit more,
gargamel is from sweden and i lived there for a while, in time there zlatan was a god, in a way you couldnt desribe any irish person is here,
i was trying to compare this cult status to the way in local areas gaa players (even crap ones) are looked up to,
agree its not the same in citys but that wasnt my point, if you go to sweden the whole country is a love in for him in a way i could only compare to irish people have affection for gaa players,
which i dont agree with since there amateur and dont compete againist anyreal competitiors……
how hard is it to be hurling champions when only 60 -70 players can play it properly,
and remember in each town and city there are indiviidual clubs where intercounty players are treated like gods, i know i went to school and college with some who arent even known and the adoration and perks are unreal and not known to general public
Who to sub, Hunt or N’Zogbia?
Also, who’s everyone captaining?
Hunt.
Rooney – see the poll! Would be madness not to captain him if you have him.
Yeah I’m captaining Rooney too. Was just wondering if anyone is taking a chance with another player!
Captains poll…
Watch this lads. Its a childrens TV programme in Ireland, so funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0S1VmlHb0Y
Takes awhile to get into it…When we watched it in school it was very funny though.
I was laughing the whole way through, the kids aren’t too bright!
Ha funny, feel a bit sorry for the young lad, obviously didn’t quite get it
Becky’s school
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyfSRq8Uvrs
Would you bench Tuncay or Shawcross?
I was about to ask the exact same question, i’m starting Tuncay with Shawcross as my first sub.
I don’t believe in Stoke’s clean sheet, but Shawcross plays surely 90 min and is a threat in set pieces. Tuncay’s playing time is a huge question mark and I don’t see Stoke scoring more than once. Classical situation where you’ll end up selecting the wrong player anyway.
Tough one, probably Shawcross.
Lovin the Bobsleigh.!
Same, just watching it with a guiness and a cigar.
Stout and a cigar, possible on a rocking chair!
I thought you was more of a Stella, 10 bensons kind of guy on a beanbag
C’mom Amy
No rocking chair unfortunately, just horizontal on my couch.
Where is the bobslay???After cool runnings I really wanna see it.
It’s skeleton actually, but pretty similar.
http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics/hd
Yeah… Meant Skeleton..!! I’m on San Miguel.!
Im on Tea…14
Yeah watching Skeleton alright…Anybody know when Bobsleigh is on…I think we (Irish) have an athlete in that.
irish athletes in international competitions bar the popular (football,some atheltics,) are a joke…..
its a pity,real like aload of other sports and never an irish person to shout for
Is there much point in shipping tevez out?
Yes – he won’t play this week.
I could play 4-4-2
Sorensen
ivanovic evra givet dunne
valencia fabregas nzgobia gera
drogba rooney
subs:hart bikey mccarthy tevez
?
Very strong team, almost identical to the scout picks.
62 people have brought in Fabregas since his price rise 25 minutes ago….ouch.
Who rose and fell .?
http://fantasytools.co.uk/
Carlton Cole has gone up in price to 6.5 million
Thomas Vermaelen has gone up in price to 7.4 million
Antonio Valencia has gone up in price to 8.5 million Darren Fletcher has gone up in price to 5.7 million
Francesc Fabregas has gone up in price to 11.9 million
Clinton Dempsey has gone down in price to 6.6 million
Carlos Tevez has gone down in price to 9.1 million
Tamir Cohen has gone down in price to 4.5 million
Martin Petrov has gone down in price to 6.5 million
Craig Bellamy has gone down in price to 7.6 million Matthew Etherington has gone down in price to 5.5 million
Hugo Rodallega has gone down in price to 6.7 million
Sorry yeah should’ve just posted the link and saved space.
No. no it’s cool. Lazyness on my part if anything.
Well done Basket lol
Looks like selling Tevez and Etherington and getting in Valencia tonight rather than wait for tomorrow was the right move.
Got the following team:
Sorensen
Ivan,Olsson,Dawson,Scharner
Fab,N’Zog,O’Hara
Drog,Rooney(c),Bent
Subs: Lampard, Ridgewell, Lee
Anyone think it’s worth shipping Lampard for a 4pt hit? And if so, for who? Not sure I would want Valencia long term.
arsh kuyt or lennon, milner
Lennon and probably Arsh injured, Milner misses at least one and maybe 2 weeks after this week, Kuyt in a Liverpool team that looks toothless and has a tough away fixture this week.
I’ll probably stick!
hart or sorensen this weekend?
Most going for Sorensen,me included.
Gold for Gb…..
GOLD
Latest price changes
Carlton Cole has gone up in price to 6.5 million
Thomas Vermaelen has gone up in price to 7.4 million
Antonio Valencia has gone up in price to 8.5 million
Darren Fletcher has gone up in price to 5.7 million
Francesc Fabregas has gone up in price to 11.9 million
Clinton Dempsey has gone down in price to 6.6 million
Carlos Tevez has gone down in price to 9.1 million
Tamir Cohen has gone down in price to 4.5 million
Martin Petrov has gone down in price to 6.5 million
Craig Bellamy has gone down in price to 7.6 million
Matthew Etherington has gone down in price to 5.5 million
Hugo Rodallega has gone down in price to 6.7 million
hello TM!
Hi tbhogal, hope you got a few of those price increases.
yeh mate thanks for that!
getting of tevez and lampard for Drogs and valencia this week.
how bout u?
I did the same trades but Taylor to Valencia. Not the best move for my team in the coming weeks but I hope it pays off.
well im on 1484 points your ahead of me!!
Oh yes… Awesome..!!
wow gold for GB. that looks scary there bombin down at death defying speeds man, mental!
Who will people sell Lampard for if you already have Fabregas?
valencia seems the best bet
Alot depends on your team…Valencia Id say is good for a few points this gw if you can cope with him missing next gameweek.
gerrard? he looked better than he has been for a while v unirea and they have a run of 3 decent fixtures coming up…
Gerrard is a waste of money. Been in horrible form this season and is far too expensive, as is lampard imo.
true, tho could be a decent shout 4 a gutsyy differential…
anyone know how the actim index stats work. what are they based on?
i ask this because anelka is 3rd with rooney 4th.
Awesome slide from our lass there. Well impressed.
we’re amazing at lying down.
I am impressed with Amy but I am looking forward to the de-ice the car competition. The Brits have this down to a tee. 10 minutes to get to work and we will storm it.
klinsmann would be amazing at skeleton
have 3 injured players on my bench… please no more!
Is this the best 11 and bench order i can set up?
Gomes
Dawson, Ivanovic, Dunne, Shawcross
Fabregas, N’Zogbia, Duff
Rooney, Saha, Drogba
Hart – Scharner, Lee, Etherington
thanks
yes
I would play Hart seen as your playing Dawson.
I’d probs stick Scharner in over Dawson.
Agree
why is that?
and Basket, instead of splitting the risk i rather put my eggs in one basket and either win greatly or die trying. (besides, hart is at fulham who have great form at home, and zamora is in-form, and im playing Duff)
Spurs are too hit and miss for me.
im playing Gomes over hart tho. u reckon odds up for 0-0?
I’ve gone 1-0 on IKTS, but 0-0 is a good shout.
If thats how you play it then stick with it…I would just prefer spliting the risk..Two teams need to score a goal to lose the points if you get me…ughh cant explain what I mean
its also two teams needing clean sheet. if i stick with tottenham then i just need them to make the clean sheet. on the other hand im playing n’zogbia too so might aswell play scharner in and hope for attacking points for wigan, and save points for gomes.