AM's Week 17 Player Picks

The fixtures come thick and fast during the festive period; Week 16 has only just finished but we need to start preparing for Week 17, with midweek matches meaning the deadline is 12:00 GMT on TUESDAY 20th DECEMBER. I simply haven't got time to write my usual Player Picks post (too much Xmas shopping to get done!) but I wanted to get something up here, so it's another "budget" edition.

Firstly, a quick word on Week 16 and it was another decent one for me despite a shocking start. I had just 3 players playing on Saturday but ending the day on 7 points was still hugely worrying. Ramires gave me zero due to an unreported injury, Romeu was subbed at half-time, with Obertan the only bright spot as he returned double his cost with 5 points. Luckily my Sunday-Crew came through for me with great returns from Silva, Rooney, De Gea & Vermaelen plus some support from Nani, Brown, Adebayor & Aguero.

A total of 97 points has moved me in to the Top 1000 for the first time this season so I'm pleased the momentum seems to be building. I still need to calculate the Blog Cup results - which I'll probably do this Friday - but I'd expect my total will be enough to qualify through to Round 5. Make sure you check back later in the week to see if you made it through.

The Week 17 Fixtures ..

Wins
MAN CITY v Stoke
LIVERPOOL @ Wigan Athletic
ARSENAL @ Aston Villa
NEWCASTLE v West Brom
MAN UNITED @ Fulham
EVERTON v Swansea

Draws / Close
Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea
Wolverhampton v Norwich City
Queens Park Rangers v Sunderland
Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers

KEEPERS
De Gea
Krul

DEFENDERS
Vermalen
Ferdinand
Santon
Brown
Miquel
Boyata
Perch
Hanley

MIDFIELDERS
Silva
Nani
Walcott
A.Johnson
Hunt
Osman
Valencia
Drenthe
Shelvey
Obertan

STRIKERS
Van Persie
Aguero
Rooney
Suarez* (FA decision tomorrow)
Ba
Bellamy
Adebayor
Yakubu

It's very unlikely that I'll get time to add analysis to the lists above this week but we will look to get some team, injury and suspension news up before the deadline (FYI - Cabaye is suspended).

My team will almost certainly be this:

De Gea, Boyata, Brown, Vermaelen, Shelvey, Johnson, Silva, Nani, Adebayor, Aguero, Rooney

Only a couple of changes from last week. Adam Johnson is my hunch - I'm sure he'll come in to the side and I just can't see Stoke being able to deal with Man City's quick passing football. I'm hoping for a price swing in the morning to allow me to bring Miquel in for Boyata (currently 0.07 away from that switch) but I can't see myself changing anything else unless someone ends up injured before midday tomorrow.

Let me know how you did in Week 16 and how your team is shaping up for Week 17.

Cheers, Nik