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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We’re in our fourth week of the EA Sports Player Performance Index contest. For this round, we’re featuring the big men who anchor their teams’ defensive lines.
 

Vincent Kompany (Man City)



Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal)



Jonny Evans (Man Utd)


 

All three of these centerbacks have been the bedrock of their teams' defenses. Evans, in particular, has gone from a player who looked bereft of confidence last year, to now a permanent fixture on the team sheet.  The prolonged first team run since Nemanja Vidic’s injury has given Evans a new lease on life, and now he and Rio Ferdinand form one of the meanest defensive partnerships in the Premier League.

Schedule-wise, all three players’ teams should win their games. United and Arsenal both play at home, against Villa and Wigan respectively. City, though, with their dubious away form, face a tricky fixture against Norwich City at Carrow Road. If Man City lose this game, they can pretty much trot the white flag out and concede to United, so you would think they’d be revved up, wouldn’t you?

As always, check out the PPI before making your choice as to who will gain the most points in the index this week. 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!