Often neglected compared the weekly picks, I gave the monthly rankings a good going over last night. Those looking for possible targets over the next five games (and crazy enough to consider my opinion) can take a gander at the tables in the right-hand menubar and read on for the twisted logic behind this monthly exercise of snakes and ladders…

Little has changed with the goalkeeping situation. Chelsea, Liverpool and United are dominating the clean sheet count so that keeps Cech at the top of the rankings, ahead of Reina with slightly more favourable fixtures. Van der sar ranks highly, despite missing gameweek 18 – that’s a symptom of a lack of choice elsewhere.

The Villa defence has improved of late, making Friedel a strong mid-price option. He’s ahead of James who is suffering from Pompey’s Fratton Park fragility. Schwarzer has form but poor fixtures, Given looks a decent alternative if you’re happy backing Newcastle’s recent defensive resolve. Sorensen has fairly good form but ropey fixtures with United one of two home games in the next five. City’s Hart has strong fixtures but very sticky form.

In defence, Chelsea’s stronger fixtures and Bosingwa’s continued contribution in attacking terms sees him take the top spot from Carragher, with Agger following closely behind. His place could be under threat at the latter point of this month with Skrtel rumoured to close to a return in around a fortnight.

Villa’s defensive form and Laursen’s as yet unrealised attacking threat, puts him fourth. The recent attacking form of Glen Johnson, coupled with strong fixtures, overrides Pompey’s defensive form and places him next. Vidic falls with the missing fixture in gameweek 18, while Turner trails him with a couple of tough fixtures in the next five. Hangeland benefits from Fulham’s defensive form but is held back by a couple of tough match-ups.

There’s a whole bunch of low-to-mid price pickings lower down – including Newcastle’s Coloccini, with Bassong available as an even cheaper alternative. Bolton’s Cahill is held back by fixtures that see him face Chelsea, Villa and Liverpool in the next four. Shawcross has a back injury that hampers his short-term potential. Below him, Garrido’s strong fixtures compensates somewhat for City’s dreadful defensive form.

In midfield both Lampard and Ronaldo have been through brief rough spells. However,
there’s still no seeing past them for consistent heavy scoring in my view though and they both top the monthly rankings, despite Ronaldo’s missing fixture. The United man loves the busy Christmas period and has previously reaped major points around this time of year. I’ve no reason to doubt him doing so again, despite his obvious frustrations at Villa and City. Lampard meanwhile, is suffering from Chelsea’s lack of home form. Three away games in the next five should help cure that particular symptom however.

Ireland climbs to third place with strong fixtures and form. Geovanni has a couple of tough fixtures but this hasn’t held Hull’s attacking players back so far this season. Kuyt and Gerrard follow him with continued strong match-ups. Young and Wright-Phillips have suffered from low returns of late but have looked bright of late and have the fixtures to help them kick-on over Christmas.

Matt Taylor’s injury sustained at Sunderland and some testing fixtures hold him back, despite outstanding form of late. Barry climbs with a recent spurt of forward runs within the new Villa 4-5-1 formation. Kranjcar is a climber with two assists in his last two appearances after a return from injury. He also has good fixtures with Portsmouth over the next four to aid his output.

Up front our options are looking limited right now. Defoe’s return to fitness and goal against Rovers on Sunday lifts him to the top with very strong fixtures and Portsmouth’s attacking form. Robinho has the fixtures to keep him second on my list, while Anelka holds with strong fixtures, although his minutes on the pitch could be reduced with Drogba’s return in a week’s time.

Van Persie and Adebayor are the big climbers having returned to fitness. A couple of tough fixtures and Arsenal’s sporadic form keep them from even higher rankings. Bent and Berbatov drop with disappointing recent form and United’s missing fixture.

Lower down, Crouch, King, Fuller and Fulham’s Johnson represent good low-to-mid value with Elmander a new entry, hamstrung by some tough defences coming his way in the next five.

That’s about it for this week. Look out for these being refreshed early next week when, hopefully, I’ll have time to bring you a similar report on the movers and shakers.