Battling past the gremlins and packing boxes, the Scout Picks for the weekend’s games are now up.

Yesterday’s Midnight Meander will present you with the beef behind this selection and you can read on for a shortened summary of the logic at work…

The defence almost picked itself this week – as discussed in the meander, many of the top defences have strong fixtures that present plenty of cleanie potential. The only risk is of course rotation. That’s the reasoning behind Sagna and Alex getting the nod, given that they look assured of starts due to the lack of available competition for places in their positions. The likes of Vidic, Lescott and Schwarzer are fantasy mainstays and also look safe for starting roles.

Talking of mainstays, both Lampard and Ronaldo keep their places – although it must be said, I’m not expecting a burst of goals from either United or Chelsea. Regardless, these two are big damage dealers and demand selection.

The two places alongside them go to Bolton’s Taylor who has form and a strong fixture at home to a porous Villa defence, and Liverpool’s Benayoun. He is set to play up behind Torres against Hull and looks a strong short-term option in Gerrard’s absence.

That man Torres gets the nod in attack- he will surely step up to maintain Liverpool’s title credentials at the KC. He’s partnered predictably, by Arshavin. I tried to resist here but the Russian’s deadly form on Tuesday, coupled with a seemingly certain starting role and decent opposition, sealed the deal.

Blackburn’s Samba with clean sheet potential and the slight chance that he’ll be employed as a striker at some point against Wigan, earns him a place on my bench. The midfield slot goes to Fulham’s Dempsey who has form and a strong fixture at home to Stoke, while Arsenal’s Bendtner gets the striking role. Saha nearly sneaked this but the doubt over his role given Vaughan’s availability just swung in favour of the Arsenal’s lofty Dane.