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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For the sixth round of the EA Sports Player Performance Index contest, we present another battle of the strikers.

Carlos Tevez

Wayne Rooney

Grant Holt

Apparently there’s a game taking place in Manchester this weekend that is supposed to be kind of important? Wayne Rooney is a guaranteed starter, and he’s been on a hot streak lately; but after that walloping by City earlier in the year, there’s reason to think that Fergie will play it safe and try to hit them on the counter, meaning that Rooney’s chances may be limited. On the other hand, we have Carlos Tevez, a man who looks like he enjoyed his little four month mid-season golfing trip so much that he went back to Manchester and decided to forget how horrible he found the place. Would it not be poetic if Tevez is the one to put the dagger in United’s title bid?

Then in the forgotten corner, we have Grant Holt. But he may just be dark horse to gain the most points this week, for three reasons. First, with so much on the line, it’s hard to see City and United doing anything other than playing it safe and take care of their defending first. Second, Grant Holt is actually a pretty damn good player. And third, Norwich is playing Liverpool, at home! So for those of you looking to back anybody but a United and City player, Grant Holt may just be your chance to an autographed Premier League Jersey.

So who is your choice? Check out the PPI and submit your pick as to who will gain the most points for this week in the comments section below. 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!