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AM's Week 27 Player Picks

Neal Thurman wraps up Week 22 with a look at Wayne Rooney as a symbol of where Manchester United have been and may be heading

Welcome to Week 27 of my player picks for the Yahoo Fantasy Premier League game. We have a reduced set of eight fixtures this weekend as Chelsea, Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers and Leicester City do not play a Premier League match due to rescheduling to accommodate the Capital One Cup final on Sunday. It's worth noting that both Tottenham and QPR play catch-up by having two matches in Week 28, so remember that before you go selling Harry Kane or Charlie Austin.

Check in with Rotoworld.com for news, analysis and fantasy predictions all season

I'm getting fed up of writing this, but Week 26 was yet another terrible week for AM FC. A paltry 65 points dropped me out of the top 2000 and to be honest I'm feeling pretty despondent regarding my chances of a strong finish. This is the worst run I've experienced since I started playing Yahoo's fantasy game 11 years ago and I'm struggling to find a way to stop the rot. Pray for me.

Week 27 Fixtures
Arsenal v Everton
Burnley v Swansea
Liverpool v Man City
Man Utd v Sunderland
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Stoke v Hull City
West Brom v Southampton
West Ham v Crystal Palace

As Rob Allen has already suggested in his excellent By The Number column, it's a week to favour the teams playing at home. Arsenal hosting fragile Everton looks to be the pick of the bunch despite the Gunners' Champions League disaster (I'm expecting a backlash), followed closely by Manchester United at home to Sunderland and Newcastle entertaining Aston Villa at St James Park.

Stoke City will rightly be favourites to defeat Hull at the Britannia and I fancy Burnley to edge out Swansea at Turf Moor, although only by the odd goal. If West Ham can produce a similar performance to the one they put in against Spurs then you would expect them to beat Crystal Palace, but it's another London derby between two hard working teams, so a scrappy score draw wouldn't be a huge surprise.

There are only two away teams made favourites by the bookies this weekend. The first is Southampton at West Brom, but the Baggies are made of tough stuff under Tony Pulis so I can't recommend heavy investment in the Saints. The other is Manchester City at Liverpool - the match of the weekend - but again I'm not going to get carried away given Liverpool's excellent form. Mind you, a 2-2 draw is my prediction, so attacking players could be of interest as both sides go for the three points.

Click over to the next page to view my reduced Week 27 player recommendations.

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KEEPERS
David De Gea - While Manchester United aren't playing particularly well they are darn sight better than Sunderland and I expect to see a comfortable home win and clean sheet for De Gea at Old Trafford weekend.
Asmir Begovic - Another solid bet for a clean sheet are Stoke and the well-priced Begovic. Hull visit the Britannia on a decent run of form but the home side are strong enough to win this one to nil. Steve agrees in his Bargain Hunter column.
Tim Krul - Coming off the back of a 5-0 hammering you'd expect to see a reaction from Newcastle and they face a Villa side on a run of six defeats in a row. Krul costs just £3.5million.
Tom Heaton - Given their upcoming schedule, Swansea at home could be considered a must-win game for Burnley if they want to survive and so we should see a determined display. That makes Heaton another decent £3million-ish option for Week 27.

DEFENDERS
Kieran Trippier - Trippier is in unbelievable fantasy form, with scores of 18, 12, 11, 16 and 13 over the past five weeks. The set piece-taking right-back has taken over Leighton Baines' mantle as the most productive defender in the Yahoo game and despite his extremely high price I'm considering splashing the cash this weekend.
Daryl Janmaat - It's a been a solid debut season in England for Janmaat and this weekend home clash with Villa should lead to some attacking points along with a possible clean sheet.
Ryan Bertrand - Back from suspension and probably keen to repay his team mates who have struggled to a single victory in his absence. Bertrand's averages 10 fantasy points per game, his price is below £10million and he'll have opportunities to get forward at West Brom.
Hector Bellerin - After last night's display there's a chance Arsene Wenger will make changes to his defensive line-up, so really we need to wait for team news before cementing this selection. At the moment Bellerin is the best priced Arsenal defender from the "usual" line-up and has been playing very well in general, but Calum Chambers offers another option at right back and is far cheaper in the Yahoo game. We'll know more on Friday.
Aaron Cresswell - Continued his fine season with the man of the match award against Spurs, Cresswell was solid in defence and picked up another assist for Diafra Sakho's goal. A home match with Palace provides another opportunity for big returns.
Marcos Rojo - There are a few decent options to choose from if you want to cover the possible clean sheet for Manchester United, with Rojo looking like best pick given his price and guaranteed starting status.
Mike Williamson - If you fancy a Newcastle clean sheet but can't afford Janmaat then Williamson is the alternative and can be added to your team for half the price.
Philipp Wollscheid - Wollscheid is the cheapest way to cover the potential Stoke clean sheet as Hull visit the Britannia, priced just above £3million.

MIDFIELDERS
Santi Cazorla - Disappointing against Monaco but Cazorla has been Arsenal's most important player during Alexis Sanchez's injury / dip in form, and penalty duty makes him a valuable fantasy asset. The premium midfield pick of Week 27.
Victor Moses - Rewarded fantasy managers who followed my recommendation last week by returning 20 fantasy points thanks to a last gasp penalty against Aston Villa. Moses was busy throughout and can cause Hull further problems this weekend.
Angel Di Maria - Certainly not back to his very best but Di Maria has been far more involved since being moved back in to an attacking midfield position in recent weeks. Back-to-back double digit scores can become three in a row against Sunderland. If you can't stretch your budget to ADM, go with Ander Herrera.
Stewart Downing - Downing has shown consistently excellent form throughout the season and the fantasy stats correlate. The winger is averaging 10 points per game across 25 matches, producing five goals, six assists and a staggering 65 successful crosses. A home match with Palace should allow him to add to these impressive numbers.
Sadio Mane - Plenty of fantasy managers were burned last week when Mane was benched by Ronald Koeman for turning up late on match day. The powerful midfielder was badly missed as Liverpool took the three points and now he's served his punishment he'll be in the line-up with a point to prove.
Theo Walcott - Walcott didn't see any action in Week 26 and was limited to a 30 minute cameo against Monaco, so he should start the home match with Everton. As always, his pace on the break will offer a constant threat to the opposition's defence.
George Boyd - The star man in Burnley's midfield this season, Boyd has chipped in with key goals at key times and a huge home game with Swansea feels like the sort of match he'll have an influence on
Yaya Toure - It seemed everyone got in on the act during Manchester City's 5-0 win against Newcastle, with the exception of the returning Yaya. The Ivorian then had to suffer from the sidelines as City lost to his ex-club Barcelona, so I sense a big performance in Week 27 as he takes out his frustrations on Liverpool.
Moussa Sissoko - I'd planned to include Jack Colback in my team this week, but his suspension for picking up 10 yellow cards means Sissoko is the Newcastle midfielder I'm now considering for the Villa match. He's playing an advanced role under John Carver and is available for a tempting £5million.
Scott Sinclair - I hope you listened when I advised you to pick up Sinclair for £1million last week. The winger popped up with a goal in Tim Sherwood's first match in charge and should start most matches going forward, offering a rare creative outlet for Villa.
Yannick Bolasie - The only reason West Ham's Adrian isn't on the GK list is because of this man. Bolasie has been great all season and very nearly turned the game for Palace against Arsenal after being introduced from the bench. A direct, dangerous, unpredictable player and the wildcard pick of the week.

STRIKERS
Wayne Rooney - Can anyone remember the last time this man found his way in to this column? I certainly can't, but I have a real hunch that this is the week we see Rooney hit a couple of goals. Sunderland have been poor and England's captain should find himself playing as a striker again with van Persie struggling with injury. He'd also take back penalty duty in RvP's absence.
Alexis Sanchez - Off the boil since returning from injury but each match should leave Sanchez feeling fitter and closer to full sharpness. The Chilean is going to explode with a massive performance soon and it could be against Everton as Arsenal look to bounce back form that devastating defeat to Monaco. Note: I'm excluding Olivier Giroud after his poor performance and early withdrawal on Wednesday.
Sergio Aguero - The baron spell is over for Aguero. Four goals in his past three games and the explosive pace, quick feet and gravity defying balance have all been on display. Expect the scoring run to continue in Week 27, despite the difficult opponent.
Diafra Sakho - With Andy Carroll out for the season we've seen Sakho restored as the focal point of the Hammers attack and this should suit the striker as he dove-tails with Enner Valencia and Stewart Downing. Scored a fine goal against Spurs and will be looking to add to his eight goal haul against Palace.
Danny Ings - Although I can't currently fit Ings in to my own Week 27 team I'm positive he'll perform well against Swansea, and the striker will be aware he needs just one more goal to reach double figures in his debut Premier League season.
Papiss Cisse - It's been an up and down campaign for Cisse but he's found regular game time under Carver and the striker remains Newcastle's biggest goal threat for the visit of Villa.
Daniel Sturridge - After a bright return to action, Sturridge has been quiet in the past few games and found himself on the bench against Southampton. He'll start against Man City and will want to make a statement in such a big match. This probably means being a bit greedy with lots of shots on target.
Mame Biram Diouf - We round things off with Stoke's Diouf, and with Steve having already analysed the player I'll simply point you in the direction of The Bargain Hunter.

Follow the RotoWorld_PL team on Twitter: Galin | Jeremy | Neal | Nik | Steve | Ben | Rob | Aaron

So those are the players I'm considering for my Week 27 Yahoo team. Please make sure you check back here on Friday for Ben Dinnery's team and injury news column, where he'll run through all the fall-out from the midweek European matches ahead of Saturday's deadline.

My own team page currently looks like this ...

XI: Begovic, Wollscheid, Cresswell, Trippier, Walcott, Sinclair, Di Maria, Moses, Rooney, Aguero, Sanchez
Subs: Okore, Kelly, Fabregas, Schwarzer

I haven't really thought it through yet so a lot will change, so follow me on @nikarg and I'll tweet an updated line-up closer to the deadline.

How's your Week 27 team looking?