This week there are parallels and differences with previous weeks. The great similarity is that I managed another 100+ week even without the inclusion of Aguero to give me a total of 377 over the last three weeks. The difference, unfortunately, is that I wrote last week’s article looking out over a Grecian island but this week’s is being written from a Hilton Hotel room in Reading. Oh well, them’s the breaks.
Of course, this week is a double game week for Arsenal and Sunderland so you should obviously take that into your thoughts.
Goalkeepers
This week’s goalkeepers are an interesting bunch, mainly because Ospina, with a double game week and his price reduced by 3.49m after last week’s performance, is the only real choice. You could choose Pantilimon of course but he costs more, is far less reliable, has two games against Arsenal and a resurgent Leicester and…..well it is Sunderland! There’s really only one single gamer left worth his salt and that’s Mignolet at home to Palace but that’s hardly a guaranteed clean sheet. Gazzaniga is also viable, and I wouldn’t be shocked if you put him on your bench, but Southampton have stopped being convincing. Personally I’m going to have Ospina with my £1m Schmeichel on the bench – he does have a final game against QPR so I can’t get rid of him. So, to recap – Ospina, no one else, just Ospina.
Predictor
Well isn’t that an interesting prediction? Arsenal are the strongest home team of the week and also the strongest away team – you can’t say fairer than that! It’s interesting that QPR are actually the second favourite team but that’s an anomaly – It’s a rubbish team playing the worst team. Liverpool and Spurs look like good value but I’m starting to get less and less convinced by either team.
The predictor doesn’t take into account what teams are fighting for and that’s why I believe that QPR (mathematically at least), Hull, Sunderland and Newcastle deserve extra attention. I would assume that Newcastle will take the bull by the horns this weekend and finish off QPR but can you trust them? Leicester can assure their survival by taking out Sunderland (seems obvious to me) and Hull may well give Tottenham a bit of a hard time after they were proved fallible by Stoke last week.
It’s with a heavy heart that I have to say that I’ll see you next week for the last week!
