......

Flange 1
Portsmouth V Liverpool - 12:45

Benitez has assured fans that his mob will finish top 4, so these are the sort of games that Liverpool need to dot the I's & cross the T's on if that prediction will come to fruition. With Torres likely to start, many managers will be keen to get off to a flyer with the Spaniard saluting off the bench mid-week. Gerrard has been quiet by his lofty standards, but may use this game to get things moving again, or at least quite a few managers will be hoping that is the case. Kuyt & a fit again Johnson may also be considered for armband duty. Not much to offer down at Pompey & only the gutsiest of gutsy mangers will go a KPB or Dindane for captain at this lunch time fixture.

Flange 2
Aston Villa V Stoke City - 15:00
Blackburn V Tottenham
Fulham V Man U
Man City V Sunderland

Only 4 games, but interestingly, this flange may still prove a small headache for a few managers running around with any of Rooney, Defoe, Adebayor, Agabaga & Bent in a squad, with benching 1 a strong possibility Plenty of other options in the midfield to consider for captaincy with the in form Milner wreaking havoc on most weeks & Valencia well & truely finding his feet at Old Trafford. Krancjar is another player in the zone, & he & Lennon will probably take it right up to Rovers.

Flange 3
Arsenal V Hull - 17:30

The midfielder of the season so far is hamstrung, so this flange will open up a few options with who to star. Arsharvin becomes the hot pick as Arsenal look to give Hull a nasty work over at The Emirates. Will Eduardo get a start Personally I can vouch for some egg on my face with that transfer, as the Gunners have relied on a makeshift strike force of Arsharvin, Nasri & Fabregas to keep things ticking over. Another possibility for captain will be Vermaelen who is well & truely overdue another goal Other than Geovanni, I doubt too many mangers will go out on a limb with this fixture bar an act of desperation

Flange 4
Wolves V Burnley - 13:00
Everton V Birmingham - 15:00
West Ham V Chelsea - 16:00

This flange will probably be all about the returning Drogba & how that will impact most manager's scores with those who are sticking fat with Lampard or Anelka Those of us who have decided to do something about our poor performing teams & just go for broke with a Chelsea semi or full block, will be hoping for a neat game in defence which has eluded the boys down at Stamford bridge of late. In other games, Cahill returns for Everton & Saha comes into contention as they host a miserly Birmingham outfit. While will Wolves & Burnley go for broke & return a goal feast to assist managers who have put faith in Fletcher & Alexander

Flange 5 - 20:00
Wigan V Bolton

A game that may have some significance for those mangers who have placed faith in Rodallega as their 4th striker or the in form Klasnic at Wanderers. N'Zogbia is another popular choice for the ISO boys who have persisted with one of the few shining lights at the JJB. Hard to make a call on this game for a reuslt, but a nil all draw will probably be the least favoured outcome for managers I dear say in this final flange for game week 19.

All the best fellas as we head into the frantic & unpredictable xmas campaign

Thanks for the write-up Worm - after a miserable 47 point mid-week performance from my only side, I will be mainly hoping for some gerrard / adebayor / drogba fireworks this weekend.
good luck everyone!

I am going to take a gamble today to catch up 1st place with:

Flange 1 - Captain Kuyt
Portsmouth V Liverpool - 12:45

Flange 2 - Captain Milner
Aston Villa V Stoke City - 15:00
Blackburn V Tottenham
Fulham V Man U
Man City V Sunderland


Flange 3 - My one and only Arsenal player - Eduardo
Arsenal V Hull - 17:30


Flange 4 - Captain Drogba
Wolves V Burnley - 13:00
Everton V Birmingham - 15:00
West Ham V Chelsea - 16:00


Flange 5 - 20:00 - Captain Rodallega
Wigan V Bolton

good luck folks - I'll be interwebfree all day today so the following better start and score well-

Gerrard
Rooney (hat trick in 10-3 defeat of course)
Adebayor
Arshavin (hat trick in 4-3 defeat of course)

Most are captained but I've also dropped Bent for the 2 forwards

Unbelievable.....Fulham thrash united 3-0 with a budget sqaud....what is ferguson thinkin benching a 30million striker
can't even remember if i starred rooney or Lemon...although fulham are a class budget team (albeit Chelsea reserves).
Roy Hodgson should be Man city manager instead of Mancini.

One Word

Eduardo

What a crazy day! Just 42, 35 and 26 points from my teams today, highest scores in each of them coming from a mixture of Arshavin and Arsenal defenders on star in the late game.

A bad day for my best teams.
Saturday's scores: Lowest 22 pts, average 35 pts and highest 53 pts.

Bog standard stuff here as well.. defenders to the rescue 40 (ISO), 33, 48, 38, 38

Have to say not a good day, top team (ISO) managed 36pts & 24 of them came from defenders! 5 players left to play in that squad. Think it would have been a pretty miserable day all round for scores so not expecting much league movement.

Brilliant decision, by me, to bench Zamora in The Banned United yesterday. Would rank as one of my most costly ever TFFO decisions if I was anywhere near the top, or entitled to any dosh if I was up there.

It's real "back in your box" sort of stuff Ak We all dread the striker clash at the best of times

My leading team (ISO) got smacked around the chops big time. I think I only managed 11 points for heavens sake Just can't make any ground on the top 100 let alone the top 20 heading into the new year. My 2nd best team in around 300th managed 47 so far, so I'll be hoping that that team can fire up some more today. Other two teams not worth mentioning unless Chelsea defence can start to bring home the bacon real soon

After yesterday, I have moved up to 17th.

Thanks for the write-up Worm.

Must've been a low-scoring day, my best team only scored 46 and I thought I would waving goodbye to the top 100, but instead went up 19 places to 62nd

Three of my teams managed scores in the 40s, but one got 15

Some tricky starman choices today. I'm not a fan of these Sunday mega-flanges.

Cheers for the write-up worm.

Amazing to think it's now nearly 2 years since you made your assault on the summit. Happy days.

Hopefully you will be joining the shake up before the end of the season - it's certainly becoming very interesting up here.

Bad scores for all my Drogba teams today.
Todays scores: Lowest 4 pts, average 15 pts and highest 29 pts.
And thanks for the write up Worm

Ahhhh, cheers Oddsman. Just a blur now, just a blur

FFL kept me ticking along for my new leading team which was 41 pts off the top 100 going into today. Really tried to help that team along by making 2 transfers today which saw me give Given "the lemon & sass" & Cech back in after a poor return over the past 2 months on that initial swap. First time ever that I have used transfers on GK's since playing this game & now I know why

Won't reveal my other transfer which was necessary to bring Cech back in but hopefully it will make the difference over the next few months

Bloody Nora, my Chelsea full block in my "making up the numbers squad" has taken a beating the past month Funnily enough I have only had all 5 of them, for you guessed it....the past month The transfer gods were having a ripping chuckle no doubt when I got stuck into those changes I'm sure

Bring on the xmas/new year fixture glut

A reasonable weekend for my teams, although my second team continues its poor week and is down to 61st. Top team holding its own in 18th, but the big winners were my 3rd and 4th teams which have made up 340 places between them over the week and are just bubbling under the top 100 now. Still a long way off the top though!

Most of my teams seem to be benefitting from my lack of transfer activity in the last month or so, but it's getting to the time for working out a plan for moving out the African Nation players. Not sure if the next couple of games will give an indication of the impact of the changes at Man City. May just go back to my pre-season plan of avoiding them altogether until things settle down.

Not the worst week so far (including midweek)

My ISO has crawled up from 900 to 885th with 105

My main team is attempting respectability with a 127 but remains in 1244th on 1144.

Still got a fair few transfers but some dodgy picks too. Will have a think and come up with a plan around the ACN and FA cup start.

Best team up 108 places to 41st this week Finally feel as if I'm getting somewhere.

My other squads remain firmly in the 'need more work' category though