Operation Sports and EA Sports are teaming up for a weekly giveaway of signed Barclays Premier League shirts! That’s right, footie fans, every week, from now until the end of the Premier League season, we are giving one lucky winner a signed jersey from a BPL club, courtesy of The EA Sports Official Sports Technology Partnership with The Premier League.

How do you win said shirts, you ask? Read on.

First, get posting here on Operation Sports. Only members with 10 posts or more are qualified to enter.

Next, check out the EA Sports Player Performance Index and how it works. Study it thoroughly, and then do it again. Ready? Good.

Because every week we will offer up three players from the index for you to choose from, and your goal is to pick the player who gains the most points for that week in the PPI (or, in rare cases, who loses the least points). Those who picked the winner will be entered into a random draw to see who gets the signed shirt.

That’s all there is to it, really, so get your crystal ball out and get ready to make your picks!

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Welcome back to the second week of the EA Sports Player Performance Index Contest. Great to see all the action in the comments section last week-- we’ll announce the winner of our first signed Barclays Premier League shirt as soon as the index is updated.

For week number two, we move onto another set of midfielders—defensive mids. British defensive mids. Which is also known as Stuart Pearce’s headache. Or Fabio Capello’s downfall. Well, actually, Fabio Capello was Fabio Capello’s downfall, and one can safely assume that Fabio Capello was also a headache for Stuart Pearce. This is all getting a bit too complicated now, so I’ll digress.

Anyway, on to the players.

Michael Carrick (Manchester United)

Scott Parker (Tottenham)

  
           
                Gareth Barry (Manchester City)

They may not be as flashy as their attacking counterparts, but these defensive midfielders are crucial to their team’s success. They sit deep, intercept balls, recycle possession, and from time to time, conjure up a brilliant pass to unlock defenses. Sometimes they’re harder to appreciate because they’re not as flashy as other players on the pitch, but players who play this role are some of the most intelligent in the game.

Easy-ish ties for all three players this week. Carrick has had a decent run of games and playing against Blackburn—who most likely will sit back and try to hit United on the counter—will mean having a lot of time and touches on the ball. Remember, though, that Blackburn did beat United earlier in the year, and United’s midfield can get overrun. One more thing to keep in mind is Sir Alex’s chopping and changing. Even though Carrick is a pretty safe bet (surely he won’t play Giggs and Scholes together), you just never know for sure.

Next we have Gareth Barry, also known as the other player in Manchester last week to get away with a stupid penalty box hack. City, who maintain a menacing record at home, play Sunderland at the Etihad. But like United's opponent Blackburn, Sunderland beat City in their previous match up.

Meanwhile, Scott Parker and the Spurs face a potentially tricky tie at home against Swansea. As we've seen, Swansea are no pushovers, but Spurs have to be considered the favorites especially when they're playing at White Hart Lane.

Good luck!

FAQs:

What if I post my pick, and then change my mind before the submission window closes?

Sure, change your mind (but please, don’t go overboard). We will go with your last submitted player as your official pick, as long as you got it in before the deadline for that week, of course.

When is the weekly window, and when will I know if I won?

Good question. It depends on that particular round of matches. Premier League rounds usually start Saturdays and end Mondays. The winner will be drawn after the PPI is updated, which is after the last fixture of that round is played.

The weekly window will start late Tuesday or early Wednesday, when we post the three players for the following round of matches, and you will have until 12:01am Saturday (EDT) to get your picks in.

There is an exceptions to this, on the Round of Matches starting April 6 and April 9. This “weekend” that starts on Friday and ends on Wednesday are actually two back to back rounds of matches, but we will be combining the two since it’s just too complicated to make picks for two different rounds simultaneously.

What if the player I picked gets injured, or doesn’t play?

If a player gets hurt at the last minute, unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about that. Same with club managers’ selection policy, though the players we offer up for selection are normally in the starting XI. If a player gets hurt, say, a day before the window closes for that week, then yes, we will nominate somebody new, and you may enter your pick again.

What if two (or all three) players gain the same amount of points?

Then everybody who picked those two (or three) players gets entered into the draw.

Here are a couple of images, showing off the jerseys to be won. Good luck!