Midfield is tricky

The big secret about midfield players is that they don't score that highly relative to their price. Even the big ticket players like Gareth Bale. They may look an attractive prospect, but you have to be wary.

If you look carefully enough amongst the cheaper players you can find overachievers like Robert Snodgrass of Norwich whose points to pounds ratio is higher than Bale's.

And then there are the surprise packages like Michu of Swansea who appeared out of nowhere, played as a striker and scored loads of goals. Is there a hidden gem amongst the promoted teams or among the newly imported players or a young player who is about to make a big breakthrough.

My instinct is to avoid expensive players who play for the big clubs. Big clubs tend to rotate their midfield players. Trying to find someone who will play every game in midfield is becoming increasingly difficult. Mourinho will rotate the midfield at Chelsea. Wenger will be more stable at Arsenal. Moyes at Man Utd, Pellegrini at Man City are unknown quantities and may take time to find their best eleven. Rodgers and Villas-Boas are also still looking for their magic formula at Liverpool and Spurs.

So I will be looking at the next tier for players who are big fish in small ponds, who will play regularly and who have a record of scoring and a good points to pounds ratio. But at the same time looking for the surprise package amongst the newbies. And taking into account the fact that Chelsea and Aston Villa have 2 games in the first week.

And I want to sick to the £33m budget that comes from midfield being one third of the squad.

First up Snodgrass. He may not be as successful as last season, but he's not to expensive at £6.5 and he's worth a place.

Also at £6.5m is Jonathan Walters of Stoke. If he had not score 2 own goals and missed a penalty against Chelsea he would have rivalled Snodgrass. He's in.

In a similar vein, Kevin Nolan at West Ham will always score goals and Allardyce will play him. At £7m, he's in.

I want a Chelsea player and Michael Essien is attractively priced and is a Mourinho favourite. I think he will play and at £5.5m he is a snip.

I wanted a Villa player because of the two games, but I have no idea who Lambert is likely to play. At Liverpool however, Lucas is a bargain and is likely to play a lot of games if he can avoid injury. At £4.5m, he's in.

That makes a midfield of Snodgrass, Walters, Nolan, Essien and Lucas. Not the most exotic quintet, but at a cost of £30m it allows me an extra £3m to spend on strikers and should give a reasonable points return. It is a gamble not having a big name like Bale or Mata or Hazard, but that is the gamble I'm taking. The midfield is tricky and doesn't give value for money.