The Week Ahead - Merseyside Derby Edition

Interesting week at the Emirates wasn't it? Arsenal gets THISclose to coming all the way back from their 4-0 deficit against Milan but ultimately falls short. Throw in the news that Podolski to Arsenal seems to be pretty far along if the rumor mill can be believed at all (and the folks that should know these things from the conference last weekend seemed to believe that there was fire in addition to this particular smoke). The rumors of Robin van Persie potentially leaving were as inevitable as Cesc-to-Barcelona had been for multiple seasons. My sense there is that the marker has been thrown down and that if Arsenal both qualify for the Champions League AND bring in some strong reinforcements then he'll stay. If not, he'll force their hand by either demanding a transfer or playing out next season and leaving for free in the Summer of 2013. With consecutive wins against Spurs, Liverpool and Milan (even if the "win" against Milan was essentially meaningless) things are looking up. Poor form at Spurs and Chelsea lend even more evidence that there is yet hope. Call me cautiously optimistic that things may turn out alright.

That brings us to the upcoming weekend in the Premier League where I agree with Nik that this isn't the weekend to dive in too hard on the two-gamers. There may be a couple of players you want to make bets on like Pepe Reina, Luis Suarez, and Roysten Drenthe but beyond that group maybe only Martin Kelly, he of the missed sitter against Arsenal, would make sense as a value play among two-gamers. This is not to dismiss Liverpool and Everton as poor teams but rather an acknowledgement that they are fairly evenly matched against each other, a derby brings an increased chance of fouls and cards, and that their other matches over this match week (LIV@SUN and TOT@EVE) aren't easy by any means.

To put a fine point on it, if you are buying at retail then there are some two-gamers that make some sense as you will struggle to afford all of the most attractive one-gamers. If, on the other hand, you have players like Sigurdsson, Aguero, Silva, Balotelli, RvP, and/or Beausejour at deep discounts then you may well want to keep your discounts rather than taking a wrecking ball to your squad for the sake of modestly attractive two-gamers from the two Merseyside teams.

For more analysis of the one-gamers, click past the jump:

Forwards

• Wayne Rooney - Of the premium options available, Rooney is the most attractive playing at home against West Brom. The Baggies are playing much better recently but a trip to Old Trafford is a little different than playing a home match with a struggling Chelsea side.
• Stephen Fletcher - The Pog may have stolen the crown of "Most Efficient Forward" after his early run of 5 goals on 5 SOTs but Fletcher has been very good when healthy and with Wolves facing a must-win relegation 6 pointer against Rovers at home, it feels foolish to bet against Fletcher. Even better that he's a relatively affordable 10.42.
• Grant Holt - Norwich stumbled against Stoke last weekend but have the chance to bounce back strong with a home match against Wigan. Holt is a little more expensive than I'd like to see but seems well-positioned to return value given the match-up.
• Djribil Cisse - He may be playing away but he's really cheap coming off of his three match ban and at Bolton isn't exactly at Old Trafford. Strong enabler/value play potential here.
• Luis Suarez - For approximately 10 dollars/pounds/units less than Rooney you could have two matches of Suarez. Seems like an obvious play if you have a spot available in your forward rotation no matter how distasteful you may find the actual player.