Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 7

Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 7

Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 7.

Hello and welcome to a shorter than normal Tips article for week seven.

The reasons for my time being a bit tight right now are plenty. I have childcare issues – mainly that the schools are currently on holiday! I move house in three weeks and the hassles and general ball-achery which accompanies. I am swamped a bit at work with general silly season and long hours in the office. Also, having borne witness first hand that my Rangers are about as far away from big rivals Celtic as I am from my gym locker and membership card, then you kind of get the picture that I’m scrambling a bit.

On top of all this I have to consider how I’m going to live up to the legend that is Lord Pardew as I’m scheduled for a meeting with Monsieur Cook in Monaco this weekend.

If I was a charity, you’d give generously.

I might clear up here that my visit to the Med and my house move are unconnected. We can’t all, like our good friend Cookie, be friends of Albert. (Not a euphemism).

With the busy schedule, I decided that I was going to use a -4 last week along with two free transfers to set up the ideal strike force of Kane, Aguero and Lukaku. “If nothing else, then that’s FPL set in stone and I will always have a good captain choice and triple scope for double digit players every week. No one can compare with those three.”

Ah. That’ll be a Morata hat-trick going in then?

Goalkeepers

David de Gea remains as an almost ever-present in my tips article but I have to keep championing the Spanish keeper because the Stoke match apart, he has kept a clean sheet in every game this season and twice been given an additional save point so it can’t be that he’s had nothing to do in these games. He also picked up a bonus point in the last match for his efforts and with Palace at home next, that’s as close to a guaranteed clean sheet as you’re likely to get.

Ederson is my second choice premium keeper. He has less clean sheets than David de Gea with just half of his games resulting in a shut out but taking a look at the fixtures ahead, City have a great chance to bolster that CS column. That the Brazilian was able to keep his head (literally) after that Sadio Mane challenge in the Liverpool match and return with consecutive clean sheets in matches with Watford and Crystal Palace is an indication that Guardiola may have finally solved that No. 1 position. He certainly looks like he can make saves at crucial times as witnessed early in the Liverpool game before he was taken off.

Jonas Lossl was tipped by me on my last turn at this article and I’m pleased to say he managed three clean sheets in five since then which isn’t bad for a £4.6M goalkeeper. Huddersfield are learning that they are going to have to be tough to beat a-la Burnley, who coincidently they played and shut-out on Saturday, if they are to give themselves a shot at remaining a Premier League side. They have goals but not too many, only five so far but they have only conceded three and two of those were in the same match versus West Ham.

Rob Elliot would be a decent accompaniment to the Dane Lossl at Huddersfield as he can cover for him in the weeks when Huddersfield face some tricky matches in weeks 9, 10 and 13. The Irish international goalkeeper has held down the gloves at Newcastle since opening day and for those with him, well done to you! If you are on the lookout for a rotation partner, then see above. If you are wildcarding and looking for a decent goalkeeping partnership then you can have the pair for £8.7 with already proven clean sheet value between them.

Defenders

Cesar Azpilicueta provided two assists in Chelsea’s rout at the 365 on Saturday and seemed to link up very well with Alvaro Morata. We know how tight Chelsea normally can be in defence and any attacking returns which can be added to this are always welcome, hence the obvious interest in Alonso. The fixtures lie with the Blues as well as they encounter some lowly teams across the next few weeks. Even the matches against both City and United are at home so that gives them a fairer chance of returns. Alonso is £0.6M more expensive then Azpilicueta and Azpi also is owned by 8% less of the FPL world so is my personal preference for Chelsea defensive coverage if you are preparing to dip your toe in. The better current points total also rests with Azpi too.

Nacho Monreal has snuck up on the blindside with three consecutive clean sheets and bonus points in all three. As Brighton, Watford and Swansea are on the horizon in three of the next four, then clean sheet potential remains for a player who has dropped to £5.4M and retains a small ownership of 3.8%. A late addition to the Tips article so this part isn’t fleshed out but its quality not quantity you deserve and I provide. Sometimes.

Phil Jones offers excellent United coverage if money just won’t stretch that far too DDG in goal. The gurning centre back who is more Phil Cool at times (one for the really old ones amongst you) but unquestionably is a top defender on his day and one who has the absolute trust of Jose currently. He has four bonus points including all three last time out all points to very good CBI stats for the England man. A very decent choice still just at £5.2M.

Harry Maguire posted yet another assist last time out and Leicester are about to feel the benefit of the fixture handler’s kind side as they face Bournemouth, Swansea, West Brom, Everton and Stoke in the next five. The England defender, was for me, one of the buys of the summer and is showing he isn’t just about the clean sheet points so far.

Stephen Ward is my choice of Burnley defensive exposure if you are not a Pope or Mee owner currently. Ex-Wolves man Ward is still producing the goods at Premier League level even though it seems that he has been going for decades. He has managed double bonus points twice and is assured of his place at left back with his current displays. If you can cover him in GW9 when he is away to Manchester City (not on his own of course) then a worthwhile investment he could well be.

Matthias Jorgenson or ‘Zanka’ for some reason (Brooky maybe could help us with this one) caught my eye in the Leicester match highlights when I noted that he was a huge threat at set pieces not only in the air but he had a few shots on goal from knock downs. If you don’t fancy Lossl then Zanka is the most popular other Huddersfield coverage but still only at 9.2% he has already risen to £4.6M so there has been some interest in him already.

Shane Duffy of Brighton looks the Seagulls best coverage in defence at £4.5M. He managed a clean sheet and clean sweep of the bonuses in the recent Watford match. Very decent at both ends and owned by just 0.6%

Midfielders

Christian Eriksen is the top scoring midfielder in the game so far and although he missed Tuesday’s Cypriot Champion’s League trip, a clean bill of health given by his manager in Friday’s press conference would mean that the Dane is yet again a serious transfer target with a game at Huddersfield and then home to Bournemouth. Watching him this season, it seems to me that Eriksen is yet again dictating so much in the Spurs games but is also finding him on the direct end of the goal scoring having two goals in his last three. Raised to £9.7M, the popularity is obviously there for the midfielder whose partner Dele Alli seems to be a little more sporadic in his scoring than the consistent Eriksen and for that reason, I would side with the ‘Viking’.

Philippe Coutinho has returned to the Liverpool side in the last two matches playing 78 minutes in each, in the first at home to Burnley, he scored two points in the next, but away to Leicester he scored 13! A goal, an assist and three bonus points accounting for this double digit effort. There is a huge differential factor in taking on the Brazilian against his partners Salah (35.1%) and Mane (11.0%) with the Barca bound (ahem) man selected by just 5.1% of managers. I think, and I would consider this my most likely move for me personally this week, a move of Salah to Coutinho would be quite popular. He scored again of course in the Red Square this week as they squared up to Spartak in the Champions League, as if to simply emphasise the point that he’s back.

David Silva is the most popular City midfielder so far and has 11 points in his last two matches and 41 in total. Although he is yet to find the net, he has assisted an impressive six times so far and can be bought for an awesome £8.4M. Which is top value if he maintains early season form. Rotation plays a part as we know under Pep but Silva so far has been instrumental in how City dictate play and transfer recovery to attack. An all-time FPL favourite may just be resurrecting.

Eden Hazard has returned to the Chelsea fold and gives us FPL manager yet another issue on how to fit in another superstar! Can you ignore the Belgian across the next run of games? Maybe if you have Morata but if you are looking for a march on your rivals then the 2.9% ownership is extremely attractive as Palace, Watford and Bournemouth face off in the three following this weekend. He is building fitness of course and it will be interesting to see if he features against Atleti this Wednesday to make our minds up on whether he is coming in to our thoughts ahead of next month.

Matt Ritchie is the choice for £6.0M category. It is very tricky to select a choice here but the Scotsman gets the nod based on a number of reasons. He has four assists so far and a man of the match performance gained him three bonus points in the Stoke victory. When Jonjo Shelvey is suspended he takes most of the corners for the Toon and as I’ve witnessed first-hand, the man has a knack of getting an important goal from time to time. Newcastle have Southampton, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Bournemouth after Liverpool so if you play this game as I believe you should, by looking further ahead than the week coming, the Newcastle man could be a potential makeweight for other moves without compromising too much by dropping to the £ 4.5M style quality (sorry Kop).

Forwards

Harry Kane has trolled a few on our boards recently but it was always going to be unlikely that he would score in every game (or indeed August if hoodoo is to be believed) but you don’t ditch the top goal scorer of the last two seasons without serious thought. The man can only be rivalled by Sergio Aguero for likelihood to score two or three goals in any game and if a wildcard is active, I believe your strikers, and team, should be built around the Londoner. Stick with him through the Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal games as he plays Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Palace and West Brom around them. Oh, and he scored another hat-trick last night…

Alvaro Morata as already mentioned threw his hat in to the ring for inclusion in your squad with a hat trick against the Stokies and has already been purchased by nearly 175,000 FPL managers so far this week. He has two short of a half century of FPL points thanks to his six goals so far and like everyone else it seems, will face Crystal Palace soon! With also Watford, Bournemouth, West Brom and Swansea in four of the following six, it’s very easy to see why the Spanish striker is so very popular already.

Jamie Vardy is selected because he is still a brilliant striker who embarks upon a mini-fixture feast and has scored three consecutively despite a missed penalty against Liverpool. Add in his double at Arsenal (meaning he’s scored against Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool so far) and the England striker is at five for the season. Vardy may be cast aside as we squeeze Morata in to a strike force already bursting at the seams with quality.

Chris Wood is my budget pick if there are a few of you steadfast in your 4-4-2/3-5-2 approach. The former Leeds marksman has scored in two premier league games so far and if you can find someone in midfield or defence who can rotate when you don’t fancy Burnley’s fixture much, then I don’t see much value elsewhere which can compare to the New Zealander at his £6.6M price.

Unless . . . .
Has Oumar Niasse been added to the game yet? The Hull City LEGEND!? I brought him in last season as a cheap third striker and he immediately repaid me with a double! That he is winning games for Everton says as much for him as it does for Koeman (who didn’t even give him a squad number last season and took his locker off him in the changing room). This is a joke/half joke pick. Depending on how he does (ass-covering much?)

Summary
That’s it for this week but I will take this opportunity to say that although it is very difficult to resist and restrain, please don’t try to always chase last week’s points. For this is the season of the ‘fourth’ guy scoring well; whilst you have the ‘other’ three. Pick and stick. Patience is the key. Have faith. Pass the Morata please?

Au revoir mon ami*
*Am I doing it right Cooks?
GP

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Gameweek Tracker GW7-11