This week’s refresh of the Watchlist – our mid-term recommendation rankings – finds Man City’s assets dominating the top spots across the positions with a favourable run of opponents ahead.
Roberto Mancini’s side have suffered three draws in their last four outings but with Bolton, Everton, Villa and Blackpool all at Eastlands in the next six, City have the potential to reward investment in their offerings at both ends of the field.
Elsewhere, key figures at Blackburn and Liverpool, our other “Highs” from this week’s “Frisking the Fixtures“, are also tipped to recover from weekend disappointments to provide mid-price value over the coming weeks…
Joe Hart and Aleksander Kolarov find their way to the top of the Goalkeeper and Defender rankings respectively, with the fixtures form (2 goals conceded in the last 5) to offer returns going into the Christmas period.
Despite their 7-1 Old Trafford drubbing, Blackburn’s Paul Robinson and Chris Samba, along with cheap “out-of-position” prospect Phil Jones, all enjoy climbs this week. Rovers have conceded just 6 goals in 7 Ewood Park encounters and home fixtures with Wolves, West Ham and Stoke over the next four clearly offer potential.
Liverpool’s big Greek Sotirios Kyrgiakos is the high new entry in the Defender rankings, displacing team mates Paul Konchesky and Glen Johnson who drop out. We will bring you more on the potential offered by the imposing Kyrgiakos in a full Watchlist article tomorrow.
United’s Rafael is the other major new entry – he also ousts team mates in the rankings, nudging above Nemanja Vidic in our top five Defenders off the back of his value at just 5.6 in the Fantasy Premier League game.
In Midfield we see climbs into the top five for both Arsenal’s Samir Nasri (with form) and Blackburn’s Morten-Gamst Pedersen (with form and fixtures). Neither can topple Nani at the top however.
There’s little movement elsewhere with the likes of Tim Cahill, Gareth Bale and Matt Jarvis all holding firm. Rafael Van der Vaart obviously drops out as a result of his recent injury.
Up front we see significant climbs for both Darren Bent and Dimitar Berbatov (unsurprisingly) but Carlos Tevez and Newcastle’s Andy Carroll hold the top two slots. The Bolton pairing of Johan Elmander and Kevin Davies fall from grace as fixtures stiffen up on over the next six, while Robin Van Persie and Jermain Defoe stay bubbling under as they look to establish themselves following injuries.
As always, the rankings are subject to change on a daily basis but I’ve added a new “Updated” flag to alert you when things change. Notable drops, climbs and new entries will be highlighted in scribbles and articles.
