Week 21 Doubles and Blanks

The first week of the final segment provides us with 6 teams with double gameweeks. There are several teams with some fantastic looking fantasy returns for us this week, so invest heavily in those doubles right from the start.

Chicago vs. Philadelphia and at Vancouver
Chicago has a mixed bag this week. They host a Philadelphia team that tends to keep games rather low-scoring. On the other hand, they travel away to a Vancouver team that tends to allow games to be rather high-scoring. This set of games should turn out to be rather average in terms of goals scored/allowed. I wouldn't be surprised to see 3 or 4 goals both scored and allowed by Chicago over the week.

Kansas City vs. Salt Lake and vs. Seattle
This has to be the most interesting set of fixtures this week. Salt Lake is the fourth worst attacking team away from home while Seattle is right about average. Kansas City is surprisingly (to me at least) the 7th best home defense. Should mean at least one clean sheet for the home side. Unfortunately, Salt Lake and Seattle rank as the best and second best away defenses, both averaging less than 1 goal conceded per game. That said, Seattle does not play well in the heat and have been hammered by it lately. If SKC are to score in bunches, it will be against Seattle.

LA at Portland and vs. Dallas
LA is another team with a mixed set of fixtures. Their away game is the more favorable of the two as they travel to a poor Portland side. Their home match pits them against second-placed Dallas in a game that will prove incredibly important in the supporters shield race. Because of this, don't be surprised if LA plays some reserves in Portland. Special note: Landon Donovan has an average PPG over 2 more than the next closest player (De Rosario) in the game. Donovan is also rated as the biggest value in the game, barely beating out teammate Sean Franklin. I don't see how anyone could leave Donovan out of their squad, he is a must own.

Philadelphia at Chicago and vs Houston
Philadelphia has a pretty decent two games this week. Nothing to wet your pants over, but certainly worthy of considering one or two of their players. The Union defense is always worth a look, but I now believe their offense is too. With Ruiz gone, that means more time up front for Mwanga and LeToux. Le Toux is already rated as the 6th most effective forward in terms of PPG and while Mwanga comes in towar the bottom of my ranking, that is mostly due to many of his appearances being substitutions. Beware that Williams is suspended for the first match due to a red card last week.

Portland vs. LA and at San Jose
Portland has been looking like the expansion side we all expected them to be this season. They simply aren't able to hold things together and don't really have a good understanding between players anywhere on the field. That said, it is hard to ignore Jack Jewsbury as he is their main provider of offensive returns with both PK and set-piece duties.

Salt Lake at Kansas City and vs. New York
I don't like these fixtures for Salt Lake. They have struggled more than expected since the loss of Morales and surprisingly gave up 2 goals last game vs. Columbus. I could see both games ending up as 1-1 draws. One or two RSL players will still probably make my team this week though.