It’s time to scan the weekend’s games via the regular midweek crawl over the fixture list. Supplementing the weekend preview in the weekly podcast, here’s the usual heads up on where I see the goals, clean sheets and fantasy booby traps cropping up…

Best For Goals…

It looks another strong week for onion bag bothering, with at least 4-5 fixtures looking ripe for goalscoring picking. Newcastle’s home encounter with Spurs looks very promising for starters. Spurs fair better on the road, averaging 2 a game over their last 5 away matches. Kinnear’s side have been tight away from home but have conceded 7 in the last 5 at home. It looks like goals for both sides then with Owen in line for further profits. Spurs could be missing Bent though – he’s been struck down with tonsillitis, so Pavlyuchenko will need to step up.

West Brom have to get a result against City at the Hawthorns, whilst Hughes’ side need to bounce back after a bitterly disappointing result at home to Everton. Neither outfit can defend and the Baggies should give City room to express themselves – that will allow Wright-Phillips and Robinho the time and space to do damage and I can see this opening up to a fairly high-scoring game. Three or four goals at least with profits for both sides.

Hull always have goals in them and Sunderland are fresh from hitting four at home to lowly West Brom. An early goal in this one and it could ignite so I’m backing three or four goals at least here with the usual suspects, Geovanni, King, Cisse, Jones and possibly Reid all amongst the profits.

Villa are on fire and are at Upton Park to play a West Ham side who have faltered badly at home of late. The Hammers have averaged 2 goals per game conceded at home over the last 5, while Villa have scored 9 in their last 5 away from home. That points to an away win by a 2-3 goal margin and more returns for Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. Laursen also looks a strong be given that West Ham have scored just a pair of goals in those last five home matches.

Add to this at least a couple for Chelsea at Everton and in my opinion, a couple of goals for Big Sam’s Rovers at home to Stoke and you have another profitable week for those who have put the bulk of their cash in attacking players.

Best For Clean Sheets…

Defensively it looks another tough one, with United out of action and the Liverpool defence at the Emirates. Chelsea’s trip to Goodison looks as certain a clean sheet as you’ll find this week. The Blues haven’t conceded an away goal in their last five, while Everton have a poor home record and may go into the game without a striker once again.

Goals look likely to be at a premium at the Reebok. Megson’s side have just 2 goals in their last 5 home games, while Pompey have just 3 goals from their last 5 trips away. That all points to a low scoring affair and a home clean sheet – Steinsson and Cahill be the obvious picks – could well be on the cards. I slightly prefer Cahill with Pompey’s weakness at defending set plays.

Blackburn have a god awful defensive record but with Allardyce arriving to take the reins, suddenly the squad are playing for their futures given the approaching January window. Things should improve and Stoke provide ideal opposition (no Sidibe, possibly no Delap throw) for Rovers to find some steel at the back. I’ve an inkling that they could pull it off here. An outside bet for sure but in a week where defensive points look scarce, they are worth a look. Particularly Samba or Emerton who at least provide some attacking threat.

Best for frustration…

Just as United’s trip to North London turned out to be a frustrating affair for owners of attacking players involved, I can see a similar scenario when Liverpool take a trip to the Emirates. The Gunners have goals in them at home (they’re averaging 2 a game), even so, there’s a lot at stake in this one and I fully expect Rafa to adopt the tactics we saw at Villa and Chelsea, and attempt to shut-up shop and hope for a lucky break at the sharp end of the field. That will make a tight encounter in my book and if there’s no early breakthrough, I can see this going 0-0 or a 1-0 win either way.

On paper, Fulham look good for a clean sheet at home to Boro and plenty of fantasy managers have been climbing on Paintsil and Hangeland this week as a result. Enter Middlesbrough though – party poopers extraordinarie, complete with a record that says they’ve scored in all but one of their away games thus far. I see a horrible 1-1 here with few profits at either end.