Or at least I'd like to think so. :) As this is the team I'm entering to this season's Barclays Fantasy Football (almost probably for sure maybe I won't do any more transfers...)
I've given a few Fantasy Premier League hints in the previous posts, but this is the ultimate advice, as I'm going to give away my whole team.

1. Captain, my captain.
I can't emphasize enough how important it is to choose the right captain in premier league fantasy soccer. Double the points is double the points. This season you want have one of the following players as your captain: Fabregas, Rooney, Drogba, Lampard (Always check that they are in playing condition)


2.

1. Captain, my captain.
I can't emphasize enough how important it is to choose the right captain in premier league fantasy soccer. Double the points is double the points. This season you want have one of the following players as your captain: Fabregas, Rooney, Drogba, Lampard (Always check that they are in playing condition)


2.

Imagine how beautiful the above left image would be without the base layers. Our vision of the future? Above right.

It's time for a change, Kickettes.

You might recall FIFA's refusal to implement goal line technology was laughably brought to the watching public's attention during the World Cup by Mr Frank Lampard.

I've never done it before, but I almost did it this weekend. I almost cheated on the rankings because I didn't like them. I've questioned Chelsea at the top over Inter and Barcelona most of the season, but then Barcelona dropped to second in La Liga to make that decision easy. Then Manchester United moved to the top and I was more comfortable with that.

Sorry for the delay, sports fans, but I've been in Venice and I had the same problems trying to get an internet connection there as I had in Milan. What the hell is up with Italy and the internet? And the television, for that matter? Anyway, I'm in Nice now, with a connection, hence this week, we have the Nice edition rather than the Venice edition.

I've been waiting for this week in the rankings for months!!! This is when it gets exciting again. Why? As the season goes on and clubs move up and down the domestic tables with less frequency, the rankings tend to get stagnant and you see the same clubs in the same spots week-after-week. After the end of the first knockout stage of the Champions League, however, two things happen.

The regular season in Europe finished without any surprises, unless you consider the lack of a surprise a surprise in and of itself, in which case, surprise!!!

Inter Milan was able to squeak by Siena to win its fifth consecutive Serie A title; Barcelona crushed Real Valladolid to win the title in Spain; and Argentinos Juniors managed to win its first Argentine title in I don't even know how long.

Sorry folks, but I've fallen victim to the sporadic internet access that has been plaguing me in Italy. A day or so late, but here we go . . .

Well, folks, I'm sure you're aware of the big news of the week. Real Madrid, in what has become familiar form, has been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Lyon in the Round of Sixteen.

POOOOR FIN! Boca Juniors are winning again and doing justice to their celebrity fans and proud graduates i.e. Tevez the Tasmanian Devil. More importantly, following his brace against Arsenal de Sarandi, Martin Palermo is telling The Dona to ditch Kun and pick him instead for Argentina!

It's time for our third annual Pre-Season World Club Rankings. After a couple of months of international play taking place in South Africa, it's about time something interesting starts around here.

As I do every year, let me make the following points. First, this is not a prediction of how the 2010-11 season is going to end.

Will Donovan turn out to be a lights-out performer for a depleted Everton strikeforce?
Just a quick update on Landon Donovan's arrival in England. The greatest American outfield player of this decade has finally arrived... in the Fantasy Premier League game.
We predicted a price range of 6M to 7M for Donovan - and the FPL administrators have done just that - pricing the American as a forward worth 6M.

He's back
One of the classiest midfielders on the ball that the Premier League has seen in the last five years, Mikel Arteta, returned to action today after a full year out of football.
Arteta was injured in February 2009 - suffering a serious knee ligament injury against Newcastle, but he returned today in Everton's 2-1 FA Cup loss to Birmingham, replacing American Landon Donovan with a quarter hour left.

Making Pennant and Mullins look like fools
Our Funny Feeling Friday selection this week is Fulham's Danny Murphy (6M). Murphy is only owned by 4% of fantasy footie managers, not nearly as popular as his teammates Duff (12% owned) or Dempsey (injured but still 9% owned) but he may shine this weekend with two home matches as Fulham's best midfield option.

A summer homecoming for Cesc could be on the cards
As the media continue to speculate over Cesc Fabregas' massive summer move from Arsenal to Barcelona, I'm starting to wonder if the constant pressure from the press is starting to wear down on the Arsenal captain.
Arsenal lost today 2 - 1 at Porto in the Champions League and Fabregas lost his cool in the second half - after being subjected to persistent fouling.

By AVI CREDITOR
Welcome to the first installment of Fantasy English Premier League on SBI. Granted, we're 27 weeks late, but not too late to help you finish at the top of your table or give you the advice you need to capture your head-to-head league or even the elusive Fantasy Cup.

You don't look cool, Wayne, but you are a hell of a footballer
After a great mid-week of Champions League action, we are back to our bread and butter this weekend - the Premier League. Hope you guys took our advice last week and captained N'Zogbia and to those of you who were brave enough (or crazy enough) to include Landon Donovan in your teams despite his tough match against Chelsea as we did - congrats on the assist and Donovan's 2 bonus points.

I know what you're thinking. That image looks Photoshopped. But it's not. There was a tiny feline pitch invader during yesterday's France vs Tunisia pre-World Cup friendly in Rades, Tunisia, and Tunisian left back Yassine Mikari was first on the scene to catch the cat (which if you've ever tried to do so, you'll know is not easy) carry it to the sideline and drop it back in the stands.

This is just great. Despite being a less than adequate defender on the international stage, USA Captain Carlos Bocanegra was just awarded 12 fantasy football bonus points retroactively for the USA's World Cup Matches after the release of this picture.
Jose, Jose, sign him up.

It has been an amazing month of football, and for everyone associated with the Spanish World Cup blog and the entire website, I want to thank everyone who read the posts and left comments (bonus points for comments!) before, during and after the tournament. Ade, Jeremy, Cam and myself of course would not have done this if we did expect great reactions from the readers, so again, thanks for making this a pleasurable experience.

By AVI CREDITOR

Welcome to another year of SBI Fantasy Premier League, where we'll help you make some of the tough personnel decisions over the next 38 weeks.

Anyone can tell you to start Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas.

Tottenham Hotspur 0 0 Manchester City

A big result for Manchester City and a mildly disappointing one for the home side.

Joe Hart (GK) pretty much held Tottenham Hotspur at bay at White Hart Lane. Having made eleven saves in the match his contribution to City is undoubtedly important.

As the only MLS side to go on the road for their first CCL group stage match, the Sounders certainly had the most difficult task. It was one that tripped them up, a they lost to Marathon 2-1 last night in San Pedro Sula.
The most obvious discussion point is the first half penalty on Seattle's Tyron Marshall; while attempting to clear the ball from the Sounders' box, Marshall caught a Marathon player with his follow-through.

Top 10 Leagues in Europe (according to UEFA rankings)

Have you ever wondered how UEFA decided that English teams should gets four spots in the Champions League while Turkey only gets two? Or why France only gets three spots in the Europa League while Russia get four?

By Ollie Irish

In another life, Nigel 'The Eastlands Assassin' De Jong is a feared middleweight boxing world champion, albeit one with dubious taste in underwear.

Bonus points for anyone who guesses which real boxing champ's body we used for this Photoshoppery?

After a fairly convincing performance from Chelsea and rather unconvincing showings from Manchester United and Liverpool, it's no real surprise to see that Chelsea were by far the better side this week. That surely sees them populate The Team of the Week for Week 7. But, as always, we can only select three of their stellar performers and for once, Flourent Malouda (AM) did not fall into that category.

Standing up and taking one's medicine on predictions gone wrong is a humbling experience. Not that there's any real shame in failing to nail down a league rife with parity and year-to-year shifts; MLS is a harsh mistress, and those trying to tame her nothing but gluttons for punishment.

No one would blame you for going out and signing Gareth Bale (LW) after his performance against Inter Milan on Tuesday in the Champions League. No one would have blamed you for doing the same thing a fortnight ago after his other standout performance against Inter Milan. I think we're all in agreement that those two performances were pivotal, match-defining and certainly make the case for him being described as the best winger in the world.

From sublime to ridiculous in two shakes of a lamb's tail. How Inter Milan must have shaken their heads in bewilderment. On Saturday our heroes appeared to be running a competition amongst themselves as to who could make the most mistakes, with bonus points for any particular ineptitude that led to a Bolton goal.

Kansas City Wizards fans will see a familiar sight when they receive the new Yellow Pages in the coming days:
In a press conference today at the Wizards' Swope Park Training center, Wizards Executive Vice President - Revenue Andrew Steinberg, AT&T Area Market Manager Jayne Anglesano and Wizards midfielder Jack Jewsbury gathered to reveal the cover of the latest edition of the Kansas City Yellow Pages, featuring the Kansas City Wizards and its fans.

Locally Peter Funnell looks at the NTC Challenge,
NTC Challenge, Player Transfers and more from Sports Psychologist Paul Penna.
In this program we cover the NTC Challenge. It was a sensational tournament, directed at the nation's best 15 / 16 year boys and don't we have some good players!

By AVI CREDITOR
Welcome to the first installment of Fantasy English Premier League on SBI. Granted, we're 27 weeks late, but not too late to help you finish at the top of your table or give you the advice you need to capture your head-to-head league or even the elusive Fantasy Cup.

Oh, Robbie. If you're trying to get our attention with your excellent clothing choices, love of caffeine and a quick tease flash of your bank card, it's working. Bonus points for the tongue.

By AVI CREDITOR

It's an odd week in the Barclays Premier League. John Terry and Wayne Bridge will be sharing the same pitch at Stamford Bridge, there are two relegation battles (Burnley-Portsmouth, Bolton-Wolves) and Tottenham hosts Everton in an intriguing match.

By AVI CREDITOR

With all the non-league soccer games involving Premier League players that have happened this week, I preach one thing. Wait.

Nothing's worse than using up your transfers on players who won't play. Injuries, whether minor or major, are a part of the game, and unfortunately they occur in friendlies.

By AVI CREDITOR

Familiarize yourself with Aston Villa's roster if you haven't already. Martin O'Neill's men will play a huge role in bringing you Fantasy Premier League success.

With two matches this week, two more next week and at least two on the final week of the season, Aston Villa's players will be hot commodities on the transfer market.

By AVI CREDITOR

Wow. Where do we start? With 15(!) fixtures during Week 31, 10 of the 20 teams in the Barclays Premier League will play two games apiece. Goodbye low-scoring weeks, hello fantasy points.

The double matchweek makes more players than normal viable, not just the high scorers from the top teams.

Now we're getting to the business end of the season, a few players who could make the difference...

1. Mikel Arteta

Recently back from injury, Arteta has looked like he's never been away. One of the most naturally gifted players in the league, he seems to have taken up a position off the striker which offers even more points potential.

By AVI CREDITOR

Wow. Where do we start? With 15(!) fixtures during Week 31, 10 of the 20 teams in the Barclays Premier League will play two games apiece. Goodbye low-scoring weeks, hello fantasy points.

The double matchweek makes more players than normal viable, not just the high scorers from the top teams.

Hey, remember me?
Sunderland's Andy Reid was our Funny Feeling Friday way back on September 18 when he was less than 1% owned and priced at 5.3M.
He proceeded to provide assists in three straight fixtures after that, picked up 14 bonus points over the next two months, and saw his value rise to 6.