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News. Posted on: 8 Feb 2010
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What had looked like the most exciting title race (ever!) a few months back has now been reduced to the two usual suspects. Arsenal's limp form when it came to the crunch means Wenger's (very) little wonders will have to wait another year to intricately pass their way to Premier League success while all the other pretenders have proven to be just that – there's surely no way Liverpool and their competitors for the final Champions League place will find themselves competing for the title this year is there?
Part of what separates the top two from the rest is the genius of their leading men – Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba. Both teams are driven forward by a brilliant, uncompromising striker at the height of his talents. This season's top goalscorer honours will be surely be decided by either Rooney or Drogba after both again underlined their brilliance and determination this gameweek to go clear in the race to be named Premier League Golden Boot.
In fact, so sure am I of this pair's dominance that I intend to get Chelsea's hitman in alongside United's little Scouse force of nature to create an unstoppable forward line for CYKI blog team, BloggersChoice (cue Bond villain laughter). Time constraints mean there'll be no vote this week as this blogger will be far away from Blighty by the time those Tuesday games kick-off.
The move for Drogba is an obvious selection – very obvious – but hopefully we're getting on him ahead of the crowd. Yes, he's present in 21 per cent of teams but that number will only keep growing should his form continue. Rooney, by contrast, is in 44.7 % of teams out there. Available for £12.9m, Drogba could add another million to that total by the end of the season.
Gameweek 26 takes the pair away from home against tricky opposition – Chelsea go to Everton while United have an early rehearsal for the Carling Cup final at Aston Villa. Neither game will be easy and it's possible that both leading strikers could draw a blank, but it's a risk I'm prepared to take.
Of course, with Manchester City in action twice this GW, the sensible option is to move for one of the Eastlands' stars but something seems amiss with Mancini's men. Is it just me or is Carlos Tevez less effective when Emmanuel Adebayor is around?
Stoke, Wigan and Bolton are the other teams to play twice in GW26 and Tony Pulis' men are the ones showing the tastiest form of the trio. Wigan are somehow holding off the relegation rivals while Owen Coyle is still bedding in at Bolton.
Stoke's Matthew Etherington could be the second transfer of the week – though he does come up against Shay Given which isn't ideal. Andrei Arshavin and Peter Crouch are the likely duo making way to allow Drogba into the BloggersChoice XII.
As ever, let us know your thoughts...
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News. Posted on: 4 Feb 2010
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There were some interesting comments in last week's blog – no, Sarkwha, we're not talking about your input – on whether it is the obvious approach that pays or if it's the manager who gambles on unknown quantities that gets ahead of the pack.
The answer, as ever, is probably somewhere in between, but I've always thought there was more merit in swerving the big names and assembling a battalion of overlooked gems. Ronaldo's presence in the game over the last few years just seemed to make the game too easy. I usually gave him a miss and tried to pick up points elsewhere. Sure, it made scoring tougher but at least it felt like you'd earned your corn when you got it right.
That approach may go some way to explaining the presence of some unfamiliar or unexpected names in the BloggersChoice XII. I was trying to find an edge, Robin!
Joking aside, I can offer an explanation for each one but they're usually the product of a double gameweek purchase – Baird, N'Gog – and would be the second transfer made by me, outside of the usual vote. Sometimes they've come off, other times not. More on BloggersChoice later though...
Onto this week's games and aside from what will surely be a home romp for Manchester United, who welcome bottom-placed Portsmouth to Old Trafford, chiselling out the points may be a touch tricky.
That is down to a trio of games pitting some of the usual CYKI pointscorers head-to-head, the most obvious of which is Arsenal's trip to Chelsea.
Just over a week ago everyone wanted a Gunner – and preferably two – in their side but a draw with Aston Villa and last weekend's home defeat at the hands of a Nani- and Wayne Rooney-powered United has tarnished our view of Arsene Wenger's boys. We'll see whether that's fair after Sunday's late kick-off.
The weekend kicks off with the Merseyside derby at Anfield. Everton have been sneaking up on the outside lane in 2010, collecting points faster than most. But surprisingly perhaps, so have Liverpool. The pair sit third in the form table with 14 points from the last six games. Prising them apart is going to be tricky.
Spurs and Villa are both in similar form, with nine and eight points from their last six respectively. Like the Anfield clash it's difficult to split the two, but the 31 per cent of managers with Richard Dunne must be wary of coming up against Jermain Defoe.
The fixture list adds up to a bit of a headache and transfer moves for CYKI Blog team, BloggersChoice, are not obvious. The urge is to get rid of Petr Cech, with Arsenal in town this week and Everton away next. But if that happens, Ricardo Carvalho should go too.
Picking replacements isn't easy so vote yes or no to get rid of the Chelsea pair and post a comment to recommend the pair we draft in. Manchester City would be a risky purchase, given they play away, but a pair of fixtures in GW26 against Bolton and Stoke could bring clean sheet points. Let us know your thoughts...
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News. Posted on: 28 Jan 2010
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Fixture congestion is bringing both joy and pain to CYKI managers as we all attempt to juggle resources and take advantage of a rash of double gameweeks for a number of teams.
This week is the turn of Chelsea to play 180 minutes when they travel to Burnley and Hull for a pair of matches in quick succession.
But while we're all bound to flock to the Blues for our purchases, Gameweeks 25 and 26 will have to be in the back of our minds – Arsenal are at Stamford Bridge for what could be a big title decider while the following weekend takes Chelsea to Everton. So while GW24 brings gifts, the following two fixtures are far tougher. Factor that into your transfer policy.
Looking back on the unloved, deformed, little being that was GW23, Chelsea and Everton were the teams to be on. Both won at a canter, conceding no goals and scoring early to give fans an easy ride and a midweek boost, in the Londoners' case assuming the Premier League lead again.
Everton have started the year in impressive form – aside from an FA Cup slip, they're unbeaten – but Gameweeks 25-28 bring tests in the shape of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs. It'll take a brave manager to stick by any of Goodison's finest during that run.
Other than Chelsea, three other teams are in action twice this week – Fulham, Hull and Portsmouth. In truth, none of the trio are in great shape and only the Cottagers appeal. A home tie with Aston Villa may end up like the Claret and Blues midweek test against Arsenal – goalless – while the visit of Portsmouth on Wednesday seems the likeliest time for Fulham's winless streak to come to an end. Indeed, this run of fixtures looks the ideal time for Roy Hodgson's men to rediscover their winning touch – a distinctly ordinary bunch of teams await until Manchester United on March 13.
So it is with Fulham that we start this week's vote.
Finally, the time has come to bid farewell to Portsmouth's Kevin Prince Boateng and you have a choice of replacing him with one of Craven Cottage's finest: Damien Duff or Danny Murphy, both are handy goalscoring midfielders who could bring in valuable points over the next few gameweeks.
The other player likely to see the exit door is Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen, who is injured but if available will line up against Wayne Rooney and co. Should he come back the following gameweek it'll be against Chelsea, if the return comes in Gameweek 26, Liverpool will be the opposition.
The fixture list can be cruel at times.
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News. Posted on: 24 Jan 2010
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A large proportion of us have got him in our sides and after a heaven-sent gameweek the rest must be asking themselves: can I afford not to have Wayne Rooney in my side?
Manchester United's Scouse-born hitman fully underlined his brilliance with a four goal assault on Hull's defence last Saturday, his second, third and fourth all coming after the 82nd minute to transform a routine 1-0 into a 4-0 thumping.
Those who made Rooney captain for Gameweek 23 – and CYKI blog team BloggersChoice were amongst them – are looking at 52 points next to Wayne's name on the team screen and they will be sporting the widest of grins when surveying private leagues across the game. Bully for them!
But the game moves on and Gameweek 24 brings a mini midweek rush of eight matches with four teams – Manchester United, Manchester City, Hull all Stoke missing out. So, we're all Wayne-less this week.
And looking at the fixtures, some of us will be scoring considerably less than Rooney's GW23 haul. Normally home games for Spurs, Chelsea and Aston Villa would equal home wins and big points but when Fulham, Birmingham and Arsenal are the visitors nothing is guaranteed.
Defeat at Stoke excepted, Arsenal are operating at full throttle and will go to Villa Park as marginal favourites for a win. There should be goals for either side in what is a mouthwatering fixture.
Spurs are wobbling in all competitions and Fulham could be another unfancied team to leave White Hart Lane with a point or three in their pockets.
Chelsea shouldn't be overly troubled by Birmingham, but Alex McLeish's Blue Army keep on winning and a 2-1 victory over resurgent Everton at Goodison Park was another impressive result in a season that keeps bringing good things.
The Toffees get a shot at instant redemption when Sunderland come to town on Wednesday night and will be fancying their chances after the Black Cats' losing run continued at Portsmouth in the Cup. Humbled at Stamford Bridge, Steve Bruce's men were unable to jolt themselves back to life at Fratton Park. For me, Everton are the home bankers in GW24.
And if the Toffees are the team to be on this week, West Ham might just be the dark horses of 2010 (please, don't laugh!). A change in ownership at Upton Park will have given the Claret and Blues a boost and results were picking up anyway with notable draws at Chelsea and Aston Villa in recent weeks.
And with that thought in mind, BloggersChoice will be bringing Matthew Upson for Patrice Evra and Petr Cech for Shay Given. Both transfers will hopefully bring in points this week but they are also made with next week in mind – Chelsea and West Ham both play twice in Gameweek 25.
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News. Posted on: 14 Jan 2010
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Football goes from famine to feast this weekend with a big bundle of games awaiting us and four CYKI favourites playing twice.
After the decimation of the Premier League calendar in Gameweek 21 the scent of big points is in the air with Arsenal, Manchester United, Spurs and Liverpool – yes they are one of the favourites I refer to – racking up 180 minutes of action.
The latter two teams face off at Anfield in midweek in a hasty rescheduling of last Sunday's abandoned match. Once that's over it will have been three games in eight days for Rafa's Reds following Wednesday night's FA Cup embarrassment at the hands of relegation-threatened Championship outfit, Reading.
Benitez is now left with very little on the domestic calendar, just a tough slog against the stream in the Premier League as he strives to make fourth place that was guaranteed to the Anfield owners and fans earlier this campaign. Truly, this is a chastening season for Liverpool.
Of course, it could all end happily if Champions League qualification is assured and it may be that now is the time to get on the Liverpool bus and ride it all the way to May. It's not beyond them to go on an epic winning run – it has happened before – but they could have done without injuries to CYKI favourites Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun.
But GW22 is not all about Pool.
Arsenal play a neat, little home-and-away double-header against Owen Coyle's Bolton that will have managers holding on to any Gooners a little excited.
And the same emotion will be felt by those of us with a double hand of Old Trafford's finest. A pair of home games against Burnley and Hull will be just what Sir Alex Ferguson wanted following another mini wobble.
Hull are the other team who must play twice and they kick off GW22 at White Hart Lane. Already 19th in the table, there will be pints spilt and eyebrows raised all across the land should Hull find themselves out of the relegation zone once this pair of games are out the way.
If the formbook can be trusted, CYKI managers could be in for a successful gameweek. It will all come down to who you select from the big boys and, of course, who your captain is.
CYKI blog team, BloggersChoice, has a healthy smattering of Arsenal, United, Spurs and Liverpool players to make top man this week, but we need your help making the right choice.
It's already been decided to replace Martin Petrov with Luka Modric and that leaves us with one transfer to bring in an Anfield player. The question for your vote is whether it's Pepe Reina or David N'Gog (don't laugh!).
The case for Reina is his excellence will be spread over 180 minutes. The case against is that he'll come up against BloggersChoice attackers Modric and Peter Crouch in the second of those fixtures.
The case for N'Gog is that Pool have no-one else but him to play upfront. The case against is obvious.
Now place your vote and help us decide!
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News. Posted on: 11 Jan 2010
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Carlos Tevez or Dimitar Berbatov?
That question's a bit of a no-brainer right now with the Argentinean in outrageous form and the Bulgarian stuttering so badly that he was unable to hold down a place on the United bench at Birmingham City. One thing's for sure, you can bet Sir Alex was wishing he'd rebuffed City's big money offer this summer.
Carlito scored his tenth, 11th and 12th goals of the season as Roberto Mancini's money men swept through Blackburn Rovers 4-1 on Monday night on what only the third game of the Premier League weekend.
That was after snow and ice made conditions too hazardous for chairmen at the seven other Premier League grounds. The big cheeses clearly couldn't bear the thought of lawsuits should any fans hurt themselves on their way to or from a game. It made for a dull weekend CYKI-wise with few points available.
Games did go ahead at Arsenal and Birmingham and they produced interesting results, with neither the league's second or third placed teams capable of putting pressure on Chelsea. The continued inability of Manchester United to get into top gear is intriguing and maybe a little worrying for those managers and fans who have placed their eggs in that particular Premier League basket.
Gameweek 22 brings an opportunity to banish that talk with Burnley and Hull making the trip to Old Trafford. That should bring two wins for Sir Alex and a little peace before what is shaping up to be one of the season's defining moments - Arsenal away on January 31 - providing the snow doesn't interrupt again in the next few days of course.
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News. Posted on: 8 Jan 2010
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If you live in the UK you’re probably sick of the snow and sick of reading about it, so apologies for even mentioning it but… would you just **** off snow! There’s one thing meddling with work, school or the central heating but leave football out of it, ok?
The loss of Arsenal’s home banker against Bolton in midweek will have hit many CYKI managers hard. After all, a big away win at Portsmouth had made the Gunners immense favourites to smash managerless Wanderers. All of us with Arshavins, Eduardos and Diabys could see only one thing from this mismatch – goals, and lots of ‘em – and those carefully laid plans made in the fog of Christmas now come to nothing.
Perhaps unexpectedly, given their near Northern status – and therefore at least five degrees colder than the soft Southern jessies – Stoke defied the snow and welcomed a near full house to the Britannia to take advantage of their second fixture in a week to beat Fulham on Tuesday night.
The Potters went utterly goal-crazy (for them anyway), and were three up by halftime. A spirited fightback nearly brought the Cottagers back from the dead to claim a thoroughly unlikely draw but they were unable to score a third late on.
Dramatic though it was, that’s been our lot for Premier League football in the last seven days, so the thirst is up for a weekend of it – snow permitting of course. Sadly, it is odds-on with Betfair that three games or more will be cancelled so you might want to hold off making any transfer moves until the last minute. It would be a killer to make your moves only to find out that your new acquisition won’t even feature in Gameweek 21.
With that thought in mind there’ll be no BloggersChoice vote this week. It was a frustrating week for the CYKI Blog team with captain Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen looking set to bring home some valuable points on Wednesday. But, of course, the snow put paid to that. Let’s hope it doesn’t wreck Gameweek 21.
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News. Posted on: 27 Dec 2009
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Enjoy that? Good, now get your head down for Gameweek 20, it begins in about 18 hours!
The breakneck Christmas period waits for no man and no sooner has the dust settled on Manchester United’s see-saw win at Hull than we are turning our attentions to Spurs’ lunchtime derby with old rivals West Ham on Monday.
As mentioned last week, the headline news in GW20 is the PAIR of games Arsenal, Bolton, Stoke and Fulham play. That simply has to be kept in your mind if making any transfers on Sunday night or Monday morning.
Looking on from this side of the gameweek, the Gunners are the ones to be on, given they play two teams in the relegation places. Though Stoke face two tough teams in Birmingham and Fulham, the fact that both matches take place at the Britannia means the Potters’ players make some appeal as transfer targets.
Away from the teams who play twice, Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton and Spurs will go off at short prices to beat the opposition in their festive home matches.
But while United begin to welcome back many of their wounded soldiers, Chelsea are about to bid farewell to their African stars with the league leaders in the middle of a big wobble. While a 0-0 at St Andrews is not the disaster it would have been in years gone by, more worrying is the one win in five since December got underway. The west London derby is going to be very tough with Fulham in steely form.
Everton are coming back to the boil and should have too much for Burnley, who cannot buy an away win, but would it be a huge surprise to see West Ham put one over on Spurs? Not for this blogger.
Looking back on the Christmas weekend, goals were in scant supply until Arsenal stopped Aston Villa’s strong run and United helped themselves to a few at Hull. Before that no game had featured more than two goals. Perhaps we’ll see more over the next three days, hope so…
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News. Posted on: 24 Dec 2009
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Presents opened? Turkey consumed? Waved goodbye to granny? Good, let’s get on with some serious CYKI action then!
From Boxing Day to the 30th we can gorge ourselves on Premier League footy until we can take no more! It’s a pair of gameweeks like no other, so where should we be looking for our festive cheer?
Let’s start at the Emirates where Arsenal will aim to keep their title challenge on the right path with a win over high-flying Villa. Normally, you would be very wary of taking on Martin O’Neill’s men but the Gunners are one of four teams playing twice in GW20 and taking a gamble on a home win over Villa could pay. It should not be ruled out as a transfer tactic.
The other teams playing double games in GW20 are Bolton, Stoke and Fulham and if you were looking for more transfer options it’s the Potters who appeal. Tony Pulis’ men will be Roberto Mancini’s first opponents as new manager of Manchester City and it seems somehow fitting that the suave Italian will not come up against a more typically ‘English’ side than Stoke this season.
While a visit to Eastlands may not end in a stunning upset, successive home games against Birmingham and Fulham suggest a Stoke defender could reward. City’s back four are a mightily effective unit at home.
Manchester United, despite a pair of defeats in their last three games, will be many people’s idea of this weekend’s good things when they visit Hull. Without Jimmy Bullard, Hull are right back to relegation form and the champions – who follow up with a home game against Wigan – will be targeting six points over the festive period.
Away from United, the fixture list has not been particularly kind on anyone. Though they play three times, Fulham must first welcome Spurs and then go to Chelsea before travelling to Stoke in the new year. Ouch. Before welcoming the Cottagers, Carlo Ancelotti’s leaders must tackle Birmingham. Spurs have the blood and thunder of two London derbies to get past while Villa go to Arsenal, then face Liverpool. Rafa Benitez will not be looking forward to that clash but will be fully expecting three points from Wolves’ visit on Saturday. In summary, there’s not an obvious way through to big points.
And that thought carries over to CYKI blog team, BloggersChoice. There are no obvious sales to be made this week but the current idea is to trade Ricardo Carvalho for a Liverpool defender, thus freeing up funds to buy Matthew Etherington in place of Kevin Prince Boateng. We’d add a further Stoke defender for GW20 to maximise our chances of scoring double points then.
But I’m not sure, vote ‘yes’ below if the plan appeals or ‘no’ to stick with the status quo. It’s all up to you.
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News. Posted on: 18 Dec 2009
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Gameweek 17 turned out a little better than GW 16 for CYKI Blog team, BloggersChoice, after all the big boys did the business at home. Hopefully you planned for that and profited accordingly.
The Premier League show keeps on rolling and after that brief midweek interlude it’s back to business on Saturday, Sunday and Monday for more of the same.
But while GW 17 was beautiful in its simplicity, the weekend is tougher. Much tougher.
The home bankers this weekend are Arsenal, who welcome Hull; Aston Villa, who tackle Stoke; and Manchester City, who face Sunderland.
Villa have been getting plenty o’ plaudits for their great recent form and deservedly so, but it’s a little funny to see every pundit suddenly start tipping Martin O’Neill’s men for a top four finish. They were saying the same thing about City at the beginning of the year, and the same about Spurs just a few weeks back. Play the long game gents!
Of course, the Midlands outfit are looking great, but a Christmas one-two of Arsenal away and Liverpool at home may change matters for the Champions League chasers.
Speaking of Arsenal and Liverpool, Harry Redknapp has that duo dropping out of the top four at season’s end. It’s entirely plausible of course, but a strong Big Four would certainly make this game a little easier! I’m beginning to wonder if Liverpool will ever get back on track - their hopes rely solely on a fit Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to get back into the Champions League places.
Interestingly enough, this article tells us that Pool are actually in league winning form … once you strip out results against the rest of the Big Four!
http://tinyurl.com/yb5vn74
But enough about Liverpool and on to BloggersChoice and this week’s transfers… or lack of.
The fixture list is uninspiring in the extreme and with BloggerChoice looking well balanced for GW 18 it’s hard to find a player who deserves to be dropped. Maybe I’m lacking vision though, and perhaps you can help – post a comment on suggest transfers and the most persuasive may even force my hand in the market.
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Latest blog posts
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