AM's Week 22 Player Picks

Welcome to Week 22 of my player picks for the Yahoo Fantasy Premier League game. I'm in a better mood this week, feeling confident that Week 21 was the moment AM FC turned a metaphorical corner after a run of poor form over Christmas and the New Year. 124 points was the return, aided by the outstanding Alexis Sanchez and more than handy contributions from Diego Costa, Harry Kane, Cesc Fabregas, Jores Okore and Aaron Cresswell. This pushed me on to 2146 points for the season, which is respectable enough at this stage.

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Week 22 Fixtures
Aston Villa v Liverpool
Burnley v Crystal Palace
Everton v West Brom
Leicester City v Stoke
Man City v Arsenal
Newcastle v Southampton
QPR v Man Utd
Swansea v Chelsea
Tottenham v Sunderland
West Ham v Hull City

It's not often I say this, but Tottenham appear to have the pick of the fixtures this weekend as they attempt to bounce-back from their surprise defeat in Week 21 by beating Sunderland in front of the White Hart Lane faithful. You also have to like Liverpool away at struggling Aston Villa, while West Ham should be too strong for Hull at Upton Park and Southampton can continue their resurgence at Newcastle.

The most intriguing match of the weekend is Manchester City v Arsenal, where the edge has to go to Man City given their form combined with the Gunners' defensive frailties and recent record against the top sides. Manchester United will be favourites to defeat QPR, although their attackers will need to show a lot more guile than displayed against the Saints, and Chelsea should keep themselves top of the table by defeating Bony-less Swansea.

Burnley probably have the slight edge over Crystal Palace, but Leicester v Stoke and Everton v West Brom look like tight match-ups given the recent form of all sides, so unless you're confident of picking a goal-scorer I'd primarily avoid these games from a fantasy POV.

With that in mind please click over to the next page to view my Week 22 player recommendations.

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KEEPERS
Hugo Lloris - The France captain is having another terrific season in the Spurs net and has the pick of the fixtures at home to Sunderland. Lloris and his defence should feel confident of keeping a clean sheet.
Adrian - A hero on Tuesday night after scoring the winning penalty in the FA Cup replay with Everton, Adrian is also pretty good at his day-job of goalkeeping and can keep a clean sheet against Hull.
Simon Mignolet - Just a month ago it appeared Mignolet's Liverpool career was over, but Brad Jones' injury opened the door and the Dane will start again against an Aston Villa side who have scored a pathetic 11 Premier League goals all season.
Joel Robles - The unreported injury to Thibaut Courtois left me with Robles starting from the bench last week and despite fearing another negative score he managed to stay level against Manchester City. With West Brom offering less of a threat, the Spaniard isn't the worst option with his price still £1million.

DEFENDERS
Aaron Cresswell - Not only should Cresswell have the chance to get forward more than usual with West Ham facing a nice home game against Hull, but the visitors are missing both Nikica Jelavic and Abel Hernandez due to injury, so a clean sheet seems likely.
Kyle Walker - Getting fitter game by game and finally displayed some of those lung-busting runs down the right flank against Palace to return a respectable eight points. It's probably about time we saw a double digit fantasy score from Walker as Sunderland visit the Lane.
Kieran Trippier - Mr. Consistent continued his ... erm ... consistency with another eight points against QPR and a match against Palace will present another opportunity for a bumper fantasy score.
Ryan Bertrand - The Southampton clean sheet against Manchester United saved Bertrand from a negative total after the full-back picked up a yellow card, but two points was still his lowest return of the season. As a long term owner I'm expecting the Yahoo game's top scoring defender to fare far better against Newcastle.
Jores Okore - Had to settle for a place on the bench for the first few months of the season, but injuries and good form have ensured Okore is now a vital cog in the Villa defensive machine and the Dane is returning gigantic fantasy hauls via tackles won and passes intercepted.
Mamadou Sakho - Growing in confidence game by game, Sakho has helped improved leaky Liverpool and while it the defence has still got some holes in it, theer is a more than decent chance of a clean sheet against Villa.
Vincent Kompany - Manchester City's captain fantastic is tipped for a return against Arsenal after a couple of months out, which will provide some relief from the clumsy Eliaquim Mangala. Kompany is available for just £7million, which is terrific value.
Luke Shaw - With Ashley Young facing a spell on the side-lines it presents a chance for Shaw to finally stamp his mark on the Old Trafford left wing-back spot, and the price is right if you fancy gambling for the match-up with QPR.
Florin Gardos - Set to replace the injured Toby Alderweireld against Newcastle, which is why Southampton's Gardos (at less than £3million) is tipped by Steve in his Bargain Hunter column.

MIDFIELDERS
Christian Eriksen - Missed a glorious first-half chance against Palace in Week 21 before fading in the second half, Eriksen looked like he needed a rest and he got one in midweek along with some other Spurs first teamers. Expect an improved display against Sunderland.
Angel Di Maria - I made a late decision to slot Di Maria in to my team last weekend and the Argentine had an absolute shocker, offering nothing in attack and repeatedly giving the ball away. The poor performance led to a drop in price and it's unlikely we get two rubbish perfnullormances in a row from ADM, so it's tempting to stick with him for the QPR match.
Stewart Downing - Continuing to defy pre-conceived logic by playing well each and every week in his attacking midfield role, Downing was simply superb against Swansea in Week 21 and can cause Hull further woe this weekend. If he's not in the next England squad I'll eat my hat.
Cesc Fabregas - I'm bored of writing the same thing every week. He's just really, really bloody good - ok?
Raheem Sterling - Back from a nice little holiday in the Caribbean and ready to take back the striker spot from Fabio Borini for Liverpool's trip to Villa. As always, Sterling's pace and trickery will present defenders a host of problems to solve.
Nacer Chadli - You'll want an attacking representative from Spurs for the Sunderland match, and Eriksen or Kane would be preferable, but Chadli is a third (more affordable) option. Playing as a right-sided attacker, the Belgian has mustered nine goals already this season.
Samir Nasri - Once again, Steve and myself are on the same page regarding the value offered by Nasri against his former club this week. Check out the reasons here.
Dusan Tadic - Aside from making me realise I really need to get myself down the gym, Tadic's match-winning shirt-less cameo against Man United reminded us all of his early season impact. The Serbian will start against Newcastle and must be keen to prove to Ronald Koeman that he deserves to start the Saints' big games.
George Boyd - A key component of Burnley's resurgence through December and early January, Boyd is making a mockery of Steve Bruce's decision to sell him for just £3million last August. Boyd offers creativity and a goal-threat from the left flank.
Kevin Mirallas - If Mirallas could find a way to keep himself fit on a regular basis I believe we'd be talking about his importance to Everton in the same way we discuss Hazard for Chelsea and Sterling for Liverpool. He's fit right now and was mightily impressive against West Ham in mid-week, so another big performance could be on the cards against the Baggies.
Victor Moses - Before the Arsenal defeat, Mark Hughes stated that Moses was "back in the group and he looks okay, he looks sharp, but whether or not he is ready to start that's something I need to mull over." The winger found himself an unused substitute, but after another week of training he could be ready for the Leicester match as Stoke look to get back to winning ways.

STRIKERS
Harry Kane - Earned a much needed FA Cup replay rest after playing almost every minute of every game over the past two months, which should leave Kane feeling fresh and ready to add to his season haul of 16 goals against Sunderland in Week 22.
Sergio Aguero - He's back! Aguero kindly came off the bench last weekend to return -1 and help us fantasy managers by dropping his price down to a season-low £15million, and I'm extremely tempted to throw the Argentine straight in to my team for the Arsenal game.
Alexis Sanchez - As I said in this column last week, Sanchez is my player of the season so far and will be taking a striker spot in my fantasy team for the rest of the season, no matter the fixture.
Diego Costa - Back to his best over the past few weeks with three goals in four games, Costa continues to spearhead Chelsea's title assault in impressive fashion and is back averaging 13 fantasy points per match, so any thoughts of me dropping him have been put to the side for now.
Enner Valencia - With Diafra Sakho at the African Cup of Nations we expect to see Valencia get an extended run as a striker rather than a winger and he's rightly Steve's bargain striking option of the week - for good reason given the Hammers' fixture.
Danny Ings - Linked with a move away in January with his contract expiring at the end of the season, Ings has simply got on with his job and added yet another fine goal against QPR in Week 21. Like Kane he was rested for the midweek FA Cup replay so will be keen to continue where he left off as Palace visit Turf Moor.
Romelu Lukaku - Everton have been on television a lot here in the UK over the past few weeks, and despite the Toffees' struggles it would appear (to me at least) Lukaku is getting back to something near his best form. The powerful hold play and driving runs are evident and it shouldn't be long before the goals return on a regular basis.
Radamel Falcao - As we all know, Falcao failed to make Manchester United's bench for the huge match against Southampton, but an injury to Robin van Persie is set to offer the Colombian a life-line and he'll find himself up against a QPR side in terrible form.
Charlie Austin - Continuing to score goals despite his side's woes and up against a poor United defence, Austin remains a potential option for those fantasy managers not convinced by the bigger names above.

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So those are the players I'm considering for my Week 22 Yahoo team. Please make sure you check back here on Friday for Ben Dinnery's comprehensive team and injury news column, where he'll run through everything you need to know ahead of the Saturday deadline.

My own team page currently looks like this ...

XI: Courtois, Cresswell, Walker, Bertrand, Fabregas, Downing, Eriksen, Di Maria, Sanchez, Costa, Aguero
Subs: Okore, Kelly, Guedioura, Robles

Sterling, Tadic and Kane are still in with a shout of making the final cut, but it could stay as it is. Follow me on @nikarg and I'll make sure I tweet my updated line-up once we have all the news on Friday evening.

How's your Week 22 team looking?