Delivered just in time to digest with the Friday takeaway, here’s my squad selection for the coming weekend. As always, be sure to soak up the midweek meander and catch this week’s podcast for full insight into how I’m seeing this week’s fixtures.

After that lot, you should have all you need to decode the flimsy explanation behind my selection that follows…

Although I’m far from confident of a Liverpool clean sheet at the Emirates, I do feel that Rafa will look to keep this tight as he did at Stamford Bridge and Villa Park. Reina came away with clean sheets in those games and he could again this weekend, despite the threat from Arsenal. At the very least we should see some points from saves in both the Guardian game and the FPL for the Spanish stopper.

Boswinga takes his regular spot in the back four – this time on the back of a trip to Goodison which looks the strongest bet for a clean sheet in the entire weekend. Once again Cahill looks set to play up front against a Chelsea defence who haven’t conceded a goal in their last five trips away from the Bridge.

Villa’s Laursen is another regular and dependable member of the Picks back four and he starts again with a trip to Upton Park coming his way. West Ham are struggling for goals and regardless of his clean sheet chances, Laursen regularly reaps in the defensive points in the Guardian game, bonus in the FPL and offers a very real goal threat from set-plays.

The last two shirts in the rearguard are handed to a pair of less obvious candidates. I was very tempted by Bolton’s chances of keeping Portsmouth out at the Reebok and was looking at Cahill from Megson’s backline. It was a close run thing between him and Steinsson but Pompey’s fragility at set-plays made Cahill the better option. The news that Dawson was fit for Hull, convinced to go with Mendy though. Mendy will likely start on the right of midfield and his pace and power unsettled Dossena last week – he’s sure to get at the Sunderland in a game that could well be an attacking affair.

The final spot is a real gamble and goes to Blackburn’s Samba. It’s Big Sam’s first game in charge of course, and Samba should keep his starting role alongside Nelsen. He will be a key figure in seeing off the Stoke air raid that is bound to see him earn plenty of defensive points in the Guardian, whilst helping him catch the eye of the FPL bonus judges. With the Allardyce effect at work, a rare Rovers clean sheet could be in the offing and Samba also offers a strong presence at set-plays. Big Sam loves a set-play. Emerton (who could start in midfield) and Warnock (who should raid down the left) are also strong selections for this weekend if you don’t fancy Samba’s chances of keeping his starting role.

It’s a Ronaldo-less midfield with United’s missing fixture but I can still cling to the comfort blanket that is Chelsea’s Lampard. He travels to Goodison armed with Chelsea’s invincible away record, coupled with Everton’s dodgy home form. Goals should be on the menu for Chelsea and Frank will hopefully gobble a few –it’s no goal in his last six Premier Leauge games so he’s long overdue.

Villa’s Young is in his best form of the season and travels with Villa to Upton Park. Villa have been averaging almost 2 goals a game, while the Hammers have conceded an average of 2 goals a game in the last 5 home matches. That all points to goals for O’Neill’s side which should in turn find Young contributing again.

Hull’s Geovanni will be their main threat when Sunderland arrive at the KC Stadium. I expect the Black Cats to put up a similar fight as they did at Old Trafford a fortnight ago but surely they’ll go with 4-4-2, which should give Hull the space to continue their strong attacking form. Phil Brown’s side aren’t the same kind of force on home turf but I think they’ll have too much Sunderland, with Geovanni and maybe King, in profit again.

I’ve recalled Matt Taylor for the last spot. He faces his former club Portsmouth at the Reebok and he therefore has the motivation to go with some encouraging form of late to do some damage. I see set-pieces as critical in this one and Taylor will behind most of them for the home side. Not a big earner perhaps but as good a week as any to invest in the Bolton midfielder given the circumstances.

Up front I’ve gone with the form of Owen up against a potentially weakened Spurs defence. Both King and Woodgate are touch-and-go for the trip to St James’ Park and if one or both are absent then Owen will surely fancy his chances of adding to his impressive goal tally of late.

The final spot will be a popular selection this week – with Big Sam’s arrival it’s difficult to resist the temptation to turn to Santa Cruz. Stoke are conceding goals away from home and Blackburn have goals in them if Allardyce can get them playing by his mere presence alone. Santa Cruz is the obvious source of attacking points in the Blackburn lineup, should they start to turn things around this weekend.

On the bench my confidence in West Brom is reflected by the presence of Greening, who could well offer returns in that role just behind the striker. I can see the Baggies winning against an out-of-form City side who look set to be without Robinho.

If you can decide on who will start up front between Moore and Bednar, then either of those could also be worth a look as your budget striker this week. Blackburn’s Derbyshire and Newcastle’s Ameobi are your other decent budget options up front. Both look likely starters this weekend.

In defence, the Magpies Bassong looks a strong alternative option once again. Spurs have fresh injury doubts over Lennon and Modric and if either or both of those fail to make it and Bent fails to get over his tonsillitis, then Kinnear’s men could well be heading for a fourth clean sheet in five.

That’s about it. I’ll be continuing my recent trend of addressing the Fantasy Premier League game captain issue after a night’s sleep in the morning’s pre-match preamble. Tune your browsers back in for that around 11am as per usual. The regulars know the drill by now. I’m a creature of habit.