Our Watchlist rankings, summing up our thoughts on mid-term player recommendations, have now been updated and can be found in your sidebar on the frontpage.
Headlines this week include climbs for Chelsea’s defensive assets with both Petr Cech in the Keepers and Ashley Cole in Defenders, climbing to the top ahead of a fixture schedule that should bring them continued returns (WOL bla liv FUL SUN bir). Not surprisingly both Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba continue to enjoy high placings off the back of that run of opponents. Frank Lampard is yet to feature; look out for his inclusion next week if he makes his return against Wolves this weekend.
West Brom’s key assets also enjoy a boost. As Andy pointed out in this week’s “Frisking the Fixtures”, the Baggies have an incredibly kind run of opponents to come, with just City at home and Everton away providing stern tests over the next eight gameweeks. The trend will surely lean towards their attacking players and Chris Brunt, James Morrison and Peter Odemwingie all enjoy high placings as a result. There could be some cheap profit to be made in defensive areas though, with both Scott Carson in the Keepers and Gonzalo Jara in Defenders, enjoying climbs this week. For me, Fantasy Manager’s should certainly be turning to West Brom for a budget signing – the Baggies have fixtures and form on their side.
It’s no surprise to see Seamus Coleman and Elmohamady riding high in the Defender rankings. At a time when we’re scratching around for clean sheets, these two offer strong attacking potential and can be selected regardless of opposition. Both are come relatively cheap and comfortably sit amongst our top five Defender recommendations as a result.
Leighton Baines suffers a drop following the emergence of Coleman, although two Everton defenders doesn’t seem like a wayward tactic right now, given that they’ve kept three clean sheets on the bounce and have a decent run to follow the trip to Spurs this weekend (tot STK blp BOL). Like Coleman, Baines offers good potential at the sharp end.
Keep an eye on Newcastle’s Danny Simpson in next week’s Watchlist. He enters with a modest ranking this week but if he starts as expected at Upton Park, he will offer exceptional value as a 3.9 Defender in the Gameweek’s that follow. Expect him to climb about team-mate Jose Enrique in our thinking next week.
The arrival of Cesc Fabregas freshens up the Midfielder rankings. He comes straight in at number two, hampered slightly by a first fixture against City which has Nani hold on to the top spot. Midfield riches are plentiful right now and the Tottenham pairing of Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart, along with Malouda, complete our top five. Blackpool’s Charlie Adam and West Brom’s Chris Brunt appear to offer the best cheap alternatives for those nervous about Tottenham’s schedule. Wigan’s Charles N’Zogbia is also a climber off the back of his brace at Newcastle last weekend. His fixtures could be better but we’d expect to see something for him against Bolton this weekend. Watch for Steven Gerrard too; he’s been a quietly efficient scorer and I’m expecting a strong Gameweek from him in the next six, even with Liverpool’s current malaise.
Up front, Carlos Tevez makes the climb over Dimitar Berbatov in second behind Drogba. West Brom’s Odemwingie is still fighting it out with Andy Carroll for fourth spot – only concern over the West Brom man’s fitness keeps him in fifth – expect a further climb once we know he is available for the weekend date with Fulham. Elsewhere there’s little movement with Arsenal’s Marouane Chamakh unlucky to suffer a drop as a result following his biggest points haul of the season against Birmingham. However, the availability of Nicklas Bendtner and the expected return to fitness of Robin Van Persie in November is now casting doubt over his pitch time.
