Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 15
With Christmas now just a little more than three weeks away we expect many of you are preparing to get in the festive spirit but a word of warning to you all, now is not the time to take your eye off the ball when it comes to your fantasy team. Although given some of our rankings some of us have clearly not had our eye on the ball since August! For much of the season I suspect many of us have been happy enough to play with a squad of 14 or even 13 players but as we move towards the busy festive period I would advise everyone to ensure that they have a squad of players who are likely to feature on a regular basis as we will inevitably have to deal with players picking up injuries while certain managers are likely to rotate certain players. With all of this in mind we have once again put on our thinking/dunces caps to come up with the below list of players whom we feel will deliver over the coming weeks.
Goalkeepers
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[/three_fourth]Writing about goalkeepers becomes more tedious with each passing game-week. The reason for this? We typically include the same keepers week on week. But there’s a good reason for this and that’s simply because they are the keepers who are keeping the clean sheets, and at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about. Having conceded just five goals in his last eight games David de Gea leads the way this week. The Spaniard had kept four clean sheets on the spin before conceding one in each of his last two games, although it’s worth noting that one of these was a Troy Deeney penalty while the other was a Jamie Vardy goal and sure Jamie Vardy scores against everyone! United now have an excellent run of fixtures through to the end of the year from which we would expect de Gea to possibly pick up three clean sheets. With a number of United defenders currently injured coupled with LvG’s penchant for rotating his defence de Gea along with Chris Smalling are undoubtedly the best bets.
At least once every season Arsenal go through a period in which they pick up injuries with unerring ease and it would appear as though they’re currently in the midst of such a period. Despite these injuries and that fact they’ve he’s only kept one clean sheet in his last five games we are once more including Petr Cech. Francis Coquelin is a massive loss while Arsene Wenger will be hoping Laurent Koscielny’s hip injury isn’t serious. Regardless of the injuries Arsenal are more than capable of picking up a number of clean sheets over the coming weeks with four of their next six games against Sunderland, Villa, Bournemouth & Newcastle.
Two keepers who haven’t featured as frequently as de Gea and Cech are Spurs’ Hugo Lloris and Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet. With just 11 goals conceded Spurs currently boast the league’s 2nd best defence, although Lloris has been somewhat unfortunate to have only picked up five clean sheets to date. At £5.1m Lloris is an excellent route into the Spurs defence as at present only Kyle Walker is cheaper and with Spurs having a great run of fixtures until the end of 2015 the Frenchman could prove great value for money. The Liverpool defence has come in for much criticism this season with most it being deserved. However they have conceded just 15 goals which is only five more than United who have the best defence in the league, while Mignolet has managed to pick up five clean sheets although three of those were in the first three games of the season. As we pointed out last week there have been signs of improvements since Jurgen Klopp took charge and this resulted in a clean sheet last weekend. The Reds now have a decent run of fixtures and with the Belgian featuring in just 7.6% of teams he could prove to be a festive differential.
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Defenders
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[/three_fourth]Last week we tipped Kyle Walker on the basis that he’s the cheapest route into the Spurs defence and while he certainly didn’t let us down it was his defensive colleague Toby Alderweireld who stood out against Chelsea and this resulted in the Belgian taking home the three bonus points. With 67pts to his credit Toby is the highest scoring Spurs defenders and the 3rd highest scoring defender in FPL thanks in no small part to two goals, an assist and six bonus points. At £5.5m he is the joint most expensive Spurs defender but clearly you get what you pay for. As we’ve noted above Spurs have the 2nd best defence in the league and this largely thanks to the centre back pairing of Alderweireld and his compatriot Jan Vertonghen who have both started every game this season. With such a settled defence and a relatively easy fixture list over the remainder of 2015 we suspect Toby is a good bet to remain amongst the fantasy points.
Over recent games there have been small signs of a Chelsea revival. Ok so they’re very small signs but they’re unbeaten in three games in all competitions. Encouragingly for Jose they have kept a clean sheet in each of these games so if you’re looking to take advantage of Chelsea’s upcoming fixtures it might be best to start at the back. In previous seasons the “go to” men from the Chelsea defence would’ve been either John Terry or Branislav Ivanovic but they’re just not justifying their hefty price tags and instead it’s Kurt Zouma to whom we turn our attentions. The youngster has firmly established himself at the heart of the Chelsea defence and with three of Chelsea’s next four games at home to Bournemouth, Sunderland & Watford he will surely pick up a couple of clean sheets and at £5.4m he could prove great value for money over the holidays. He’s also an excellent differential as he currently features in just 3% of teams.
Last week we included Alberto Moreno on the basis that he is likely to be encouraged to get forward on a regular basis over the coming weeks due to the teams Liverpool face and the Spaniard didn’t let us down as he picked up the maximum bonus points. Under Brendan Rodgers Moreno looked like a defender who didn’t know how to defend, although the same could be said for a number of his colleagues. However under Klopp he appears sharper and much more focused, and this has resulted in a significant improvement in such stats as interceptions and successful tackles per 90 minutes. He’s clearly enjoying life under his new gaffer and this should result in a decent haul of fantasy points over the coming weeks.
Finally we turn our attentions to the cheaper end of the market. Unfortunately the issue here is that those teams with cheap defenders who have shown some decent form of late such as Stoke & Sunderland have some tough fixtures over the coming weeks. However needs must and therefore we are tipping Stoke’s Philipp Wollscheid and Sunderland’s Sebastian Coates. Stoke currently have the 4th best defence in the league and have kept five clean sheets to date, three of which have come in their last four games and £4.4m Wollscheid certainly offers the best value for money from the Potters defence. Coates appears to be a player reborn under Big Sam in that he now appears to be more than just a headless chicken! Allardyce has made sorting out the Sunderland defence his priority and aside from a 6-2 thumping at the hands of Everton it appears to have worked. As already noted they’ve got some tough fixtures coming up but Sam will have them well prepared for these games and don’t be surprised should they cause a few upsets along the way.
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Midfielders
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[/three_fourth]Ahead of GW14 a significant number of managers chose to sell Kevin De Bruyne and we must assume that the majority of these managers were doing so in order to raise funds for his teammate Sergio Aguero. In the long term this may yet prove to have been a shrewd move however in the short term it was disastrous as Aguero hobbled off after 65 minutes and may miss this weekend’s clash with Stoke while the Belgian scored one, created two and picked up maximum bonus points. He now has four goals and six assists to his name for the season and given City’s remaining 2015 fixtures we wouldn’t bet against De Bruyne adding to his impressive tallies. If you’re on the hunt for a differential you will probably want to consider De Bruyne’s midfield colleague David Silva who made a return from injury last weekend and now features in just 4.8% of teams. While it might only have been Hull on Tuesday night Silva gave glimpses of his quality and following a relatively quiet first half he was more dynamic in the 2nd half. There’s no denying that City are a better side with the Spaniard in the side and his return should also benefit De Bruyne, so much so that there’s an argument to be made for including both in your squad!
Eden Hazard has scored just once this season, only created two and has only picked up two bonus points. This poor form has seen his price plummet from £11.5m down to £10.9m and while he’s still not cheap, now might just be the right time to bring him into your squad. In recent weeks Chelsea have shown some signs of improvement and while this has not resulted in any returns for Hazard he has looked lively and industrious in these games. Against Spurs last weekend Jose chose to start him as a false 9 due to the benching of Diego Costa and while this is unlikely to continue he has shown enough in recent weeks to suggest that those attacking returns are just around the corner. To be honest it’s now or never for Hazard & Chelsea given that their next four opponents have conceded a total of 57 goals in their last eight games!
In fantasy football there’s nothing better than a team in form who also have great fixtures and right now there’s one team who’ve got both, of course we’re referring to Everton. The Toffees have scored 14 goals in their last four games and given their form & fixtures it would appear wise to have at least one of their attacking options in your squad. Last time out against Bournemouth it was once again Ross Barkley who stole the show with a goal, an assist and three bonus points. The English midfielder is at long last beginning to live up to the hype that has surrounded him since making his debut back in 2011 and with the European Championships taking place next summer he has that added incentive to keep performing. As stated last week if it’s a differential you’re looking for it’s Gerard Deulofeu who you need to consider. The Spanish youngster has talent in abundance as he demonstrated with a great goal and equally good assist against Middlesbrough in the League Cup on Tuesday night.
With his colleagues dropping like flies around him it’s now left to Mesut Ozil to keep Arsenal’s season afloat. If we’d told you at the beginning of the season that this would be the case you’d have laughed us out of it. However with two goals and 11 assists to his name he has most certainly become Arsenal’s talisman. For those of you still holding onto Alexis Sanchez the obvious move would be to ditch the Chilean in favour of the German and quite often the obvious move is the best move. Arsenal have a mixed bag of fixtures over the remainder of 2015 but given Ozil’s form he should continue to pick up the fantasy returns.
For those of you on the hunt for a cheap 5th midfielder you could do a lot worse than consider the Bournemouth duo of Joshua King and Junior Stanislas. Both have shown some form of late with King picking up a goal and an assist in his last two games and Stanislas two goals and an assist in his last two. Bournemouth have some difficult fixtures coming up but if they’re to have any hope of picking up any points from these fixtures they will need to score as they’re unlikely to hold their opponents scoreless with both King & Stanislas the most likely source of goals.
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Forwards
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[/three_fourth]Last week we tipped Romelu Lukaku and in doing so suggested that he had added a degree of consistency to his game. In making such a comment we felt as though we were tempting fate but the Belgian spared our blushes as he scored for the 4th league game in a row to bring his tally for the season to 10. Only Jamie Vardy has scored more. What makes Lukaku such an enticing fantasy option is the fact that not only is he in form but those around him are also in form while as we’ve noted above the Toffees are in the midst of a great run of fixtures. In scoring against Villa a couple of weeks ago Lukaku became only the 5th player to score 50 PL goals before the age of 23. The fact that he’s still so young suggests there’s still room for improvement. Jose must be ruing the day when he decided that the Belgian wasn’t good enough for Chelsea! He currently features in just over 45% of teams so he’s anything but a differential, but with an enticing fixture list over the festive period can you afford to be without him, particularly as he’s unlikely to be rotated?
Not even in his wildest dreams could Jamie Vardy believe he would score in 11 consecutive PL games this season or that he’d score 14 goals in his opening 14 games. And if Jamie couldn’t have dreamt it what hope did the rest of us have? Many doubted he would break the record last weekend as he came up against the league’s best defence but he had one chance and he took it with great composure. With Leicester facing a trip to Swansea this weekend no one will be betting against Vardy breaking the real record held by Irishman Jimmy Dunne. There has been some talk recently that now was the right time to cash in on Vardy as his form couldn’t continue particularly given the Foxes upcoming fixtures, but as he proved against United last weekend he really is fixture proof and it will take a brave manager to sell him.
Following their long trip back from Azerbaijan Spurs looked jaded and failed to spark against Chelsea, and the stats back this up as they covered considerably less ground than they have done in previous games this season. Despite this result Spurs remain the joint highest scorers in the current form table with 19 goals in their last eight games with Harry Kane responsible for eight of these. Spurs have a great run of fixtures through till the end of the year and with Christian Eriksen coming into good form we suspect that the blank against Chelsea was merely a blip, and Kane will be a regular on the scoresheet over the coming weeks.
With Kevin De Bruyne having returned to form and David Silva having returned to the team it would be remiss of us not to include Sergio Aguero this week. Clearly there is a doubt surrounding his availability for this weekend’s clash with Stoke so we would recommend you to wait until Friday when Cookie brings us news of Pellegrini’s press conference before making a decision on the Argentine. If he is given a clean bill of health we would advise you to get him in while he remains a differential. That is if an ownership of 16.2% can be classified as a differential!
Finally, for those of you looking to pick up a cheap 3rd striker who is also a differential we have two names for you, Watford’s Troy Deeney and Sunderland’s Duncan Watmore. In terms of goals it’s taken Deeney quite a while to come to come to the party! While his all round play has been impressive he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, although that has changed in recent weeks thanks to four goals in his last five weeks while he’s also picked up eight bonus points from his last three games. The Hornets have some tough games over Christmas but Deeney and Ighalo clearly have a great understanding and we wouldn’t bet against Deeney remaining amongst the goals. The purchase of Watmore really would require an amazing leap of faith, I’m talking about an ‘Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade’ type leap of faith! However the kid can play as he demonstrated with his goal against Stoke last weekend and if Big Sam is brave enough to give him a run in the side we predict he’ll score goals.
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Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 15. This article was written by Kop Warrior
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