Chelsea’s exit from the Champions’ League was a massive boost for Fantasy Football managers everywhere. The Blues no longer have one eye on European competition as they enter this double gameweek with, on paper, two relatively straight forward fixtures.

Even though they are away to both Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth, Carlo Ancelotti’s men will be determined not to perform poorly in another competition meaning the likes of Drogba shouldn’t be rested.

In total there are nine of the team playing twice, with only Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas not involved in a second game. Fabregas is an injury worry so Patrice Evra is the first substitute.

This week’s transfer was a bit of gamble. Out went Manchester United‘s Darren Fletcher and in came Manchester City‘s Adam Johnson.

Johnson was in superb form when he came on for the last twenty minutes of the game against Sunderland last week, bagging a stunning late equaliser and three bonus points to go with it.

He isn’t a guaranteed starter by any means but could be a dark horse for some good points in the games against Fulham and Everton when he is on the pitch.

The team is once again relying on Birmingham clean sheets with Joe Hart, Roger Johnson and Lee Bowyer all in team, while Carlos Cuellar and James Collins from neighbours Aston Villa also keep their spots after scoring well last week.

The importance of this gameweek can’t be emphasised enough as there is a big opportunity to catch teams, but on the flipside, if you get it wrong you may find that the season is pretty much over.

We finished on a respectable 70 points last week, though a lot of teams did push the 100 mark. Rooney was again the star, picking up 26 points as skipper, while Drogba chipped in with ten.

The team currently sits in 41,589th place out of a total of 2,289,514 teams.

Team for Gameweek 31 -

It feels weird not having to scrape a team together, and if anything it has been difficult to pick a team because there are too many players that could do a job.

Aston Villa’s double gameweek makes their players an obvious choice for inclusion, and we have replaced Wolves’ Jody Craddock with James Collins.

He joins fellow team mate Carlos Cuellar in the team, and while having two defenders from the same team is quite a risk, if they keep two clean sheets it will have been well worth it.

The only injury doubt at the moment is Cesc Fabregas and as a result the captaincy has been handed over to Manchester United‘s in form striker Wayne Rooney.

He is one of three United players in the side alongside Darren Fletcher and Patrice Evra, and they could all score highly at home to Fulham.

The return of both Didier Drogba and Carlos Tevez after a week off is a massive boost and, along with Rooney, they make up an extremely potent forward line.

Joe Hart takes over from Thomas Sorensen in goal due to Birmingham City’s good home record and is joined by Roger Johnson in the side, though Lee Bowyer drops to the bench alongside Stoke’s Matthew Etherington and Portsmouth’s Jamie O’Hara.

Last week’s points haul of 38 points wasn’t too bad considering only eight players actually played.

Fabregas started so well as captain, scoring in the first half for Arsenal, but limped off shortly after.

Defenders Leighton Baines and Patrice Evra chipped in nicely, while Jamie O’Hara picked up an assist and two bonus points for Pompey.

The team currently sits in 39,667th position out of a total of 2,283,731 teams.

Team for Gameweek 30 -

Birmingham City are the new Manchester United….in Fantasy Football terms anyway.

With the Champions in Carling Cup action this week, I have turned to Birmingham City and their solid home record for points this week. Out go Rooney, Evra and Fletcher. In come Hart, Johnson and Bowyer.

A home clash against Wigan really could go either way but if Brum do keep a clean sheet then it will give us a great platform on which to build for the rest of the gameweek. That’s the plan anyway.

Carlos Tevez is set to return to action for Manchester City against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, though Blues duo Didier Drogba and Branislav Ivanovic are more likely to contribute points in their clash.

Indeed, Drogba is given the captain’s armband such is his superb form at the moment.

Matthew Etherington remains an injury doubt so with Carlos Cuellar also involved in Sunday’s final at Wembley, we face the real prospect of going into this gameweek with just nine players.

Wolves’ Jody Craddock continues in defence by default while Jamie O’Hara will hopefully do something special for administration-hit Portsmouth.

Last week’s total of 73 points might look good but it was well below the big hitters.

Drogba contributed two goals to the cause, while Rooney justified his selection as captain with a superb performance against West Ham after struggling at Everton.

Arsenal‘s Cesc Fabregas also found the net and picked up his customary three bonues points.

The team currently sits in 39,485th place out of a total of 2,273,960 teams.

Team for Gameweek 28 -

Top 5 best Transfers of the Season so far.

1^st Place – Roger Johnson

Position – Center Half.
Fee – £5 Million.
Clubs – Cardiff to Birmingham.

The top signing of the season so far is Roger Johnson and he is the first of three centre halves on the list. An absolute gem for Alex McLeish and a major reason why (along with Joe Hart.) Birmingham went on a club record breaking run throughout the season.  He has been a virtual ever present this season for the Blues with twenty six league and four Cup appearances. Johnson has been superb and put in some wonderful individual performances, being part of a water-tight defensive unit at St. Andrews. Making the transition from Wycombe to the Premiership, via a three year spell in Cardiff has been seamless for him and rightly so, he has been earning rave reviews this season.

2^nd Place – Thomas Vermealen

Position – Center Half.
Fee – Undisclosed
Clubs – Ajax to Arsenal.

Make no doubt about it, Arsene Wenger got a great deal here with this lad. A virtual ever presence in the Arsenal defence, with twenty seven league and nine cup appearances. While his defensive work, strength and reliability are his key characteristic, it is also his wonderful threat in attack that makes him a major plus with a fantastic seven goals so far this year. When you factor in his transfer fee and consider that the man he replaced left for a reputed seven million pounds more, this indeed was a great piece of business for the Gunners. There were fears that he had recently broke his leg which would have spelled massive disaster for Arsenal, however these proved to be false and indeed, he lined out and scored, against Manchester United the following Sunday.

3^rd Place – Richard Dunne

Position – Center Half.
Fee – £5 Million.
Clubs – Manchester City to Aston Villa.

The “Honey Monster” has been superb for Villa and considering that his two replacements are in the other list on this column, speaks volumes of how big a mistake it was for City to sell him. What is their loss however, is Villa’s gain. A Carling Cup final place next Sunday awaits the Tallaght born Irish international and after a convincing win over  Burnley at the weekend, they are back in the race for a top four spot. Dunne has been solid for villa, also knocking in three goals, in twenty eight league and cup appearances. He maybe in the running for the Club player of the year, an award he picked up many times in recent years and along with the two lads who are ahead of him in this list, he could end up being on the shortlist for the Premier League team of the year.

4^th Place – Niko Kranjcar

Position – Winger.
Fee – 2.5 Million.
Clubs – Portsmouth to Spurs.

A snip, probably down to the financial troubles at Pompey and having racked up twenty three appearances so far this season, Spurs have got a great deal. He has also chipped in with six goals and four assists in all competitions and given the normal uncertainty that comes with playing for any team under Harry Redknapp, those stats are pretty decent going. An FA Cup winner with Pompey two seasons ago looks good on the CV of a man who during Euro 2008, was slammed back home in Croatia as not being good enough for the international team. His stats are also more impressive given the fact that he played five times for his old club before a late transfer deadline move to join up with his former manager.

5^th Place – Darren Bent

Position – Striker.
Fee – £10 Million.
Clubs – Spurs to Sunderland.

Chances are, very few people would have expected Mr Bent to appear on a list like this. It has to be said that Sunderland have gotten a great return, so far, on their investment in Bent. Sixteen goals in twenty eight appearances, including goals against Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal and United is a fantastic contribution. The Black Cats may be going through an awful time at the moment results wise, but Bent has been a shining light for them this season and makes the top five signings of the season so far. If he maintains that form through to the end, he could perhaps be rewarded with a plane ticket to South Africa in late May.

Best of the Rest:

Carlos Tevez (Manchester Utd/Free Agent  to Manchester City)
Antonio Valencia (Wigan to Manchester United).
Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy to Everton, short term loan).
Joe Hart (Manchester City to Birmingham, season long loan).

***

Top 5 Worst Transfers of the Season so far.

1^st Place – Alberto Aquilani

Position – Centre Midfielder
Fee – £20 Million
Clubs – AS Roma to Liverpool

The man given the task of replacing Xabi Alonso, has been shocking, yet, was it really a surprise? Depending on what reports you read, the transfer fee ranges between five million and twenty million pounds. This transfer was a strange one, a man who has spent the vast majority of the last five seasons on the treatment table coming to Anfield, already injured. Rafa Benitez’s reluctance to play him until the 9^th November is also baffling, maybe a sign that he lacks confidence in his big signing of the summer. Liverpool fans will hope that he grows out of his sick note tag, however, this, so far, just does not look like good business for Liverpool. His return of four league starts plus five coming off the bench, is not good enough. If this does not improve, it could go down as one of the worst transfers in the history of the club.

2nd Place – Roque Santa Cruz

Position – Striker.
Fee – £17 Million.
Clubs – Blackburn Rovers to Manchester City.

Crocky Santa Cruz as he is known, should be number one but just misses out. His woeful strike rate is three goals so far or almost 6 million pounds per goal. It is true that he has missed a large share of the season through injury, appearing only thirteen times in total, with only four league start. However, looking at his goal scoring record throughout his career, he has only hit double figures on one occasion in a season. Mark Hughes obviously saw something in him during that season as his manager at Blackburn, but to pay seventeen million for a man that has such a record, is not good business. Poor move for city and their third player on the list.

3^rd Place – Joleon Lescott

Position – Center Half.
Fee – £22 Million.
Clubs – Everton to Manchester City.

A shocking transfer fee for this man, down to him being English and City having buckets of cash. Lescott did have a decent spell with Everton and had become a regular at international level, but he seems to have forgotten how to play football, well, how to defend anyway.  He may regain that form once new manager Roberto Mancini lays his Italian influence, but with City now having other options in defence, he is not guaranteed to be a first team regular. The man with one of the weirdest haircuts in football, will have to up the ante to get back to form. His seventeen league starts this season looks like falling well short of his final tally of thirty five for Everton last season. I expect him to be on the chop list for the summer.

4^th Place – Koule Toure

Position – Center Half.
Fee – £16 Million.
Clubs – Arsenal to Manchester City.

A strange move for Toure and indeed City. Looked a good player at Arsenal, but like his colleague at number 3, he has looked like a fish out of water at times this season. A player giving up Champions League football for City is baffling, considering he was a respected regular at Arsenal. This fact has led to Toure, more than most of the other City players, being labeled as putting money before football. Maybe had this been a footballing move, it would not have seen him struggle somewhat to play at the required level. He has a reasonably respectable twenty one league appearances but his performances have been nowhere near good enough at the back.

5^th Place – Jason Scotland

Position – Striker
Fee – £2 Million
Clubs – Swansea City to Wigan Athletic

Given the transfer fee involved, maybe a little harsh that he makes the top 5, but for a club like Wigan, it is a decent sized splashing of the cash. Scotland came to the DW with a big reputation after eighty five career league goals throughout a six year spell in Scotland then  Swansea. New Wigan manager Roberto Martinez saw enough during his own time at Swansea to convince himself and thus the Wigan board, that Scotland could make the transition. Sadly for them, this was not the case. In his twenty two league games so far this season, Scotland has hit the net a grand total of zero. And its also not his lack of hitting the net that’s been poor, it is his overall conviction on the pitch. So far, simply not good enough at this level.

Worst of the Rest:

Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow to Chelsea).
Fraizer Campbell (Spurs to Sunderland).

Contact Ed [at] backpagefootball.com

Now, as we approach the New Year, the Blues lie in a healthy 7th position, one point ahead of Liverpool and one point behind Manchester City.

McLeish made the decision to bank his team’s defensive duties on the two Englishmen, who made a name for themselves in the Coca Cola Championship last season with Coventry and Cardiff. The incredible gamble cost a combined fee of £10million, and the result couldn’t have come any better.

Birmingham’s success this year starts from the bottom. While the forwards, which includes £8million striker Chucho Benitez, haven’t been firing on all cylinders, the defense that has been created here has contributed more to their twenty-eight point tally then any other area on the field.

Between the sticks is the fantastic England U21 goalkeeper Joe Hart, the man expected to adopt the England #1 spot after the World Cup next summer. On the right is the previously retired Stephen Carr, who decided to put up his slippers and cups of tea to don a pair of football boots again. Carr is now captain at St. Andrews, after his collosal work in getting them to the Premier League last season. The left back position has been shared between a number of players this season, most recently Liam Ridgewell, a fine centre half, whose aeriel prowess has further solidified the backline.

And in the middle is Roger Johnson and Scott Dann. In the air, or on the ground, they’ve put their body on the line and cleared every sight of danger quickly and extremely effectively – an assurance that has gathered seven clean sheets this season.  They’ve displayed a commitment and dedication any team in the Premier League would love to have right now, including Sir Alex Ferguson who I’m sure would walk over broken glass for such a consistent pairing in his current defensive crisis. And not to mention Manchester City, who splashed out over treble the amount on what has turned out to be a feeble defense.

“The type of mentalities they’ve got, they are winners, they want to win. They’ll throw themselves at balls on the edge of the box, you see the bravery of Roger taking one in the throat (against Manchester City) and getting killed by his teammates when they saw him gasping for breath. These two boys want it, I know they want it.”
- Alex McLeish

This all proves that talent can thrive in the lower leagues, one that is just waiting to be uncovered. Alex McLeish has unearthed two rocksteady players who will be fixed assests in the Premier League for the majority of their careers. Buying Premier League experience is costly, especially when it comes to strenghtening your defense. With the right scouting homework, Premier League managers can uncover gems for a fraction of the price they splash out on the Kolo Toure’s and Joleon Lescott’s of the league.

The Birmingham train rolls into Stamford Bridge this Boxing Day to face a powerful Chelsea attack, a challenge the breaking down these two.

“The more we play together, the better we will get. We never got the chance earlier in the season because I was a bit longer coming back from injury than Roger. But we’re starting to knit together quite nicely I think and long may it continue.”
- Scott Dann