AM's Week 26 Player Picks

I'm away on a thrilling 5 day Siebel CRM course with work this week and I'm finding time / internet access to do my YFF research extremely limited. Therefore, this is your intro and I'm going to get straight in to the fixtures with a very quick overview of how I see the matches for Week 26.

• Firstly remember there are only nine fixtures for this round - Liverpool play in the Carling Cup Final on Sunday so their league game with Everton has been postponed. DO NOT PICK LIVERPOOL or EVERTON PLAYERS!
  
• Manchester City & Newcastle (back to full strength) appear to have the stand-out fixtures this week as they face Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton respectively at home. These should be two comfortable home wins with clean sheets for both very possible
• Chelsea aren't in great form but they are up against a Bolton Wanderers side having an absolutely torrid season, so expect them to do enough to grab the 3 points at Stamford Bridge. I'm really looking forward to Norwich City v Manchester United as I think there will be lots of goals in an open game, and that will probably suit United who should win. I also reckon Queens Park Rangers will collect a vital home with the visitors Fulham rock-bottom of the away league table for a reason - they are rancid on the road.
• Nobody knows what will happen in the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match but it will be fiery and could go either way. Unless you have discount which you see as long term investments then you should avoid players from the North London Derby.
• I've got a funny feeling Wigan Athletic might beat Aston Villa but I'm not confident enough to recommend more than one of their players
• West Bromwich Albion v Sunderland & Stoke City v Swansea City both look like draws to me.

In summary I'm tipping Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Manchester United & QPR this week, so lets have a look the players I think you should be considering ...

KEEPERS
Krul
Cech
Kenny

Tim Krul has dropped to 7ish after the hammering his team took at Spurs in Week 25 so given his fixture, the fact he has a close to full strength outfield set of player protecting him (Cheik Tiote is back), he's my top keeper pick at home to Wolves.

I know some people will be surprised to see me recommending Petr Cech given Chelsea's defensive frailties, but isn't Napoli, this is Bolton at home, so I don't think he's a bad pick at all now he's dropped down to 9.00.

I'm picking Paddy Kenny as my cheap keeper over Thomas Sorenson because (as I've mentioned) I think QPR will win - you may have also noticed that Sorenson has been putting in some Heurelhio Gomes- type performances recently.

DEFENDERS
Richards
Ivanovic
Santon
Rangel
Taiwo/Onuoha
Gibbs

**Analysis To Follow**

MIDFIELDERS
Silva
Taarabt
Cabaye
Lampard
A.Young
Sigurdsson
Beasuejour

**Analysis To Follow**

STRIKERS
Aguero
Ba
Rooney
Mata
Cisse
Sturridge

**Analysis To Follow**

That's it for the players - I will write my analysis for all players as I get time over the next 24 hours.

There will be plenty of fall-out from the midweek European matches so please ensure you check back here on Friday for the important team, injury and suspension news which should help clarify any doubts you may be having (as I write this I see Mata and Rooney could be doubts).

As for me, this is what I have on my team page at the moment ...

Kenny, Santon, Onuoha, Ivanovic, Sigurdsson, Cabaye, Taarabt, Silva, Cisse, Mata, Aguero

Quite a bit different to the barndoor team listed on Monday & I still have 5.24 left in the bank so it certainly won't be final. I'm still holding Bassong @ 1.00, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adebayor & Van Persie behind the scenes at big discounts so there's still a hell of a lot to decide between now and Saturday and of course everything could be influenced by injuries.

That's it. Please visit the NMA Facebook Page HERE and please follow NMA / us on Twitter:

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Let me know how your team is shaping up for Week 26?

Cheers, Nik