Fantasy Football Tips – a DGW Special
A double game week is a beautiful thing, like an oasis in the desert when you’ve been chugging along the past few GWs having a tough time. Planning ahead is, of course, vital, although with just QPR and Spurs involved in this DGW, the usual level of pre-analysis and scribbling down various transfer permutations to maximise the DGW coverage may not be as necessary. QPR of course are struggling just above the relegation zone and with their second highest scoring player injured and their captain suspended, there are very few realistic options to choose from. Well, just one major one really. And you know who he is!!
Spurs meanwhile are a completely different kettle of fish with many different options available and it won’t surprise you to learn that the vast majority of this article will concentrate on the North London club. However, there is a small caveat here with Spurs and that is the threat of rotation. DGW28 sees Spurs reach the end of a run of fixtures that come the full time whistle at QPR will have seen them play six matches in just 17 days, including the two-legged Europa League tie with Fiorentina which they lost, a hard-fought London derby vs West Ham and of course Sunday’s Capital One Cup Final vs Chelsea at Wembley, which they also lost! It’s therefore not been a great few days for Spurs. Don’t forget how manager Pochettino loves to rotate, especially when his team has played in Europe, so it may well be that some of his first choice team do not play the full 180mins of the DGW.
DGW Fixture Reminder
QPR vs Arsenal (Weds 4 March 19.45)
Spurs vs Swansea (Weds 4 March 19.45)
QPR vs Spurs (Sat 7 March 15.00)
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For those concerned about rotation for Spurs, this is how they started in the Capital One Cup Final:
Lloris
Rose, Vertonghen, Dier, Walker
Bentaleb, Mason
Chadli, Eriksen, Townsend
Kane
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[/three_fourth]Hugo Lloris vs Robert Green
No contest here, Lloris wins hands down. Despite having two home fixtures, Rangers face two London derbies vs Arsenal and the Spurs and quite frankly you’d fancy both North London teams to score. Bear in mind that Rangers have only kept clean sheets this season vs Sunderland, Aston Villa, Burnley and Crystal Palace, so the chances of them keeping the likes of Alexis, Giroud, Cazorla, Eriksen and Kane quiet are hugely unlikely!
So Lloris is your man out of the two, he has played every minute for Spurs in the league this season and a home game vs Swansea followed by a trip to QPR should give a good chance of at least one clean sheet you would hope. Although it must be made clear that clean sheets have almost been as sparse for Spurs as they have been for Rangers this season and so our advice is: If you already own Lloris then play him, but if you don’t then there may be better value in some of their defenders. And if you own Green then check who your second keeper is playing!
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[/three_fourth]Which takes us along nicely to our chosen trio of Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose. All three defenders like to get forward – Walker down the right, Rose down the left and Vertonghen at set-pieces. The value player here is clearly Rose, who is priced at just 4.8mln and has scored 3 more FPL points than 5.9mln priced Vertonghen. Rose has become Pochettino’s first choice left back in eight of their last nine league matches, with Ben Davies often filling in for him on Europa nights as he did on Thursday. Rose scored Spurs’ first goal in their comeback vs West Ham with the cleanest strike of a ball you will ever see, which was his second goal in seven matches, whilst he has also contributed three assists. Walker, despite his attacking instincts, is less attractive at 5.8mln, though don’t rule out an assist or even a goal from the defender who has completed a successful comeback from injury.
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[/three_fourth]Midfield is where all the fun lies and can provide an excellent differential if you choose the right one! The obvious and premium choice is Christian Eriksen – nine goals and two assists tells its own story and the fact that he was benched for the 1st half vs the Hammers suggests that Pochettino was trying to give his star midfielder a deserved rest – unfortunately his team mates didn’t play ball and he was called upon for the 2nd half! The Dane is the joint third highest scoring midfielder in FPL, ahead of the more expensive Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Angel di Maria, suggesting that Eriksen should maybe also be a consideration for you for the remainder of the season, especially when you consider that other than Man Utd aside in GW29, Spurs don’t face a top five side until they face Southampton and Man City in GWs 35 & 36.
If Eriksen is the obvious, but more expensive choice, then we need to find some cheaper differentials and the first name to appear on that list is Nacer Chadli. Priced at 6.4mln Chadli has experienced a season of mixed fortunes. By GW11 the Belgian had scored six goals and was comfortably outscoring his more expensive midfield partner. However an injury saw him miss a couple of game-weeks and he has only completed 90mins twice since GW11, scoring just one, though in fairness he has created five assists in that time. The sad and untimely death of his father has clearly had an effect and Chadli has played just 66mins in the last four gameweeks. It would be a small gamble to play him, but it’s one that may just pay off. Chadli did at least start the final vs Chelsea, highlighting how much Pochettino values him.
Erik Lamela is an enigma – one goal and five assists this season is scant return for a player of his talent and one would immediately point to Chadli as a better mid-price option. However, Lamela has started the last four matches, assisting once in the defeat at Anfield – in those four matches Spurs has scored nine goals and so Lamela’s return probably sums up his Spurs career to date – flatters to deceive.
Two other Spurs names that may come under consideration for those chasing the DGW are Mousa Dembele and Nabil Bentaleb. Dembele is priced at 5.3mln and has scored one and assisted two in his last four matches – it’s worth bearing in mind that these are his only goal and assists this season, although his game time has been much more reliable of late and in many of these games he has played just off Harry Kane. Bentaleb is cheap as chips at 4.3mln and has started the last three matches, assisting once. He’s not going to make your DGW or turn it into a blockbuster, but if you have a couple of spare transfers or already own two DGW players and money is tight then he may be a cheeky option for DGW28.
The gamblers among you may just be tempted by Rangers winger Matty Phillips. We know QPR can’t defend, but one thing they will do is have a go, illustrated clearly by their 2-0 win up at Sunderland and then their 2-1 defeat at Hull while playing with 10 men after Joey Barton was sent off. So three goals in two games for Rangers – our man Phillips assisted them all – not bad for a 4.6mln DGW midfielder?
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[/three_fourth]And so onto the strikers and it is no surprise to you that the two DGW picks are Spurs’ Harry Kane and Rangers’ Charlie Austin. The pair sit second and third in the FPL striker charts, only eclipsed by Sergio Aguero – who happens to cost more than both Kane and Austin combined! Both strikers need little introduction to you and it is quite possible that you have owned both already this season. Once Kane established himself as Spurs main striker (it took Pochettino ten weeks to realise that Adebayor and Soldado were as useful as a Greek Finance Minister), then his season has just gone from strength to strength – 14 goals, six assists – he has only failed to score in two of his last eleven matches and to be honest I feel I’m wasting my time here as you probably already own him. In fact, if you don’t – just stop reading this and go buy him! The HurriKane is likely to top the captain poll this week and you wouldn’t bet against him terrorising both the Swansea and Rangers defenders, the only small worry is that Pochettino alarmingly has a small brain malfunction and starts either Adebayor or Soldado in one of the matches or more likely young Harry is hauled off in the second half if one of the games is already won.
Austin is only two assists away from Kane’s haul and the only real differences between the two are Kane’s more consistent scoring and the fact that Austin plays for a team with less quality, suggesting that Kane’s scoring is arguably more sustainable throughout the rest of the season and of course the higher quality of opposition Austin faces in DGW28. But don’t discount Charlie – two home matches in four days means the Loft can do their job and get behind the R’s with two local derbies and the fact that nine of Austin’s fourteen goals have come at home adds more weight to the argument to include him this week.
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To conclude we feel it’s important to restate that we don’t recommend selecting six DGW’ers. Other sides have great fixtures this week – City home to Leicester, Liverpool home to Burnley, Southampton home to Palace and don’t forget Arsenal at QPR, therefore it’s likely that players such as Aguero, Sturridge, Giroud, Silva, Cazorla, Clyne, Bertand and Sterling could easily outscore many of the DGW’ers. However, we think it’s worth trying to fit in two or maybe three of the above options to give your team every chance of taking advantage of the DGW and climbing up the rankings!
Best of luck for the Double!
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We would like to remind you that our official partners, WooFBet, are again running a whole host of prize competitions, which will please many of you who are slowly building a lovely retirement nest egg, while others continue to persevere in the hope that this week will be their week! If you haven’t done so yet we recommend you get yourselves over to WooFBet.com as this week they have over €500 in free entry prizes and a whopping €500 in guaranteed pots. You also have the option to create your own tournaments and head-to-head challenges. Choose your rules and buy-in fee, and invite friends or leave it open for the public to challenge you.
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Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll
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Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips – a DGW Special. This article was written by Cookie
Thanks Cookie, brilliant as always. Am gambling on Phillips having a dream DGW btw…anyways,
Guys, help me out here, I have to decide between Aguero and Costa. I cannot own both or else I will unbalance my team greatly. I currently have Aguero and my gut feel is that Costa is about to erupt to his start of the season form. If you were to pick just one, who and why would it be?
Both have scored 17.
Next 10 oppo:
Aguero: LEI, BUR, WBA, CRY, MUN, WHU, AVL, TOT, QPR, SWA
Costa: WHU, SOU, HUL, STK, QPR, MUN, ARS, LEI, CRY, LIV
Help…
Aguero, no doubt about it.
Even with Bony, Jovetic and Dzeko around him? I mean whenever any of the these 3 FWDs play with Aguero, he’ll just stop scoring, they’ll just crowd him out. Costa is king…so if he’s fit he plays alone upfront. Tuff.
Aguero never “just stops scoring”. There isn’t another striker in the league that is even close to being on the same level as him. Go without him at your peril.
Aguero as well. But having the 2 would be optimal. 😉
Having both would be great, but I would have to take the bat to my defence which I did at the start of the season and regretted it in just one gameweek, then Aguero got injured and I managed to rescue my season
I feel kinda bad now. Just read Bryan rant on DGWs. Just as I last night pushed the button to confirm a -12 to bring in Eriksen, Kane and Rose. Sad times. Especially considering my opponents already had some of these players so basically my 12 point seems dumb and uncalculated. But hey this is how FPL goes. Especially when you have had a crap few months. Since GW19 I have had only 1 green arrow. So stuff had to happen. So annoying when you don’t get your cappos right. That has cost me a lot. All last years luck had vanished.
What do you people think. Eriksen cappo a good choice?
I think you need to sign up to Bry’s “How to embrace a DGW” counselling…..
Haha but I thought I did embrace them. Had planned to have 2FT. In order to smoothly plan but things went out of hand and yeah…now I am thinking if I should just activate my wildcard in order not too lose these 12 points haha! Man, I need to find some kind of spiritual retreat in tibetan mountains to calm down…
It’s the DGW that does the embracing. An embrace like a snake, tightening around it’s prey, squeezing the last breath out of it’s victim’s pathetic, gasping frame.
KungFu, don’t feel bad. We’re the victims here.
Regarding cappo choice, I think it’s fairly safe to assume most will go with Kane. It would be my choice. But I’m probably not getting him, cos I’m a twat. So I’m captaining Austin to be different. I think Eriksen is a perfectly reasonable differential choice. He’s not had a good few weeks, but we don’t have to go back much further to see how explosive he can be.
Yes Bry, we ARE victims!! Haha don’t be hard on yourself, we are all twats on that same mirage of a DGW! So much promise, we think we see all the point racking up only to be disappointed at the end. I do not have Austin unless I take yet another hit, surely not?!?!
So yeah Eriksen as a differential because I sense in my mini league no one will cappo him. But it could come and bite be in the hinny. Remember captain hindsight, where is he when needed??
It could come down to a really ballsy captaincy like a single-GW player. Say if Aguero absolutely kills it against Leicester. It could still dwarf Kane/Austin’s outputs. Might really pay off for someone. Not me though. I shan’t, and you can’t make me.
Very true. Hence making this DGW so much more annoying. Kun could outscore them all. Planing so much to eventually fail will destroy me. I know my opponents have Kun cappo and will keep it on him because they will forget that there is a midweek game. And they will overtake me…purely out of luck!! Damn you DGW! Disappear already from our sights!!
Morning KungFu. Yikes, pretty hefty hit there. I’d go Kane (c) ahead of Eriksen. Hard to look past him this week, for me.
Hey NIN. I know, stupid hit. If I use my wildcard the hit would disappear right? But that would be a stupid thing to do as well or would it be damage control? Anywhoo..Kane cappo. Yeah he could hurt me badly if my league opponents captain him and he goes bananas again. Maybe I should play it safe since I have been such a fpl douche lately! 😉
You all set?
Nah. Keep the wildcard. Very few still have one so it could well come in handy at a later date. Once all three get good game time then it should work out okay. If all three kick off then just having them, even on a -12, is damage control in itself. Hopefully that is the case.
Yeah i’m all set. I made my transfers last night. Decided to fold in the end and buy Eriksen in place of Cazorla. Also sold Giroud for Austin. 2 FT’s spent. Hopefully they are profitable ones :thumbup:
Sound advice NIN. Will have to prey that Eriksen eats his protein bars before the game so that he is fit as a fiddle!
If only I also had my 2FTs haha. Oh well. Can;t wait to see the havoc this DGW will undoubtedly create! Good luck to you and…regarding United, we better step up a notch because the next few weeks will be crucial to our season!
Cheers. Good luck to you too. As for United: I just don’t know what to say anymore. Results are pretty good in general, but man are we poison on the eyes. Physically sickening, at times.
That’s a good point, I bet a lot of people will have the armband on Aguero and miss the midweek deadline and still score big.
I have Kane, so shallmake him Captain. I think I should move Puncheon to Eriksen, useless Jones to Rose and finally useless Defoe for Austin wjhat di you guys thionk for a 4PT HIT?
Some interesting picks there Musungu. Be wary of getting rid of Puncheon, though. Someone on here vociferously advocated selling him last week, and he bagged 3 assists.
Yep, that was me – and I also said to bring in Siggy instead, who turned out to be injured. I still don’t rate him, but Palace’s form has certainly picked up under Pardew.
Luckily I limited my own transfer activity to shipping out Pikey for Bertrand, which turned out OK.
Hey guys, squad is :
Ospina (Heaton)
Bertrand, Terry, Van Aanholt (Baird, Jones)
Sanchez, Silva, Eriksen, Downing (Sinclair)
Aguero, Kane, Pelle.
I’ve lost patience with Pelle, and I’d be happy to lose Sanchez. Should I get another player in for the DGW? Have 1 FT and 0.5 itb.
Elchico90 – Pelle -> Austin for sure. Pelle has been found out, big time. Useless player. Three DGW’s is plenty so that transfer would be the only one i’d do. Team looks really good.
Not sure why Pelle still starts for us to be honest
Nor i, Tom. Preseason i predicted he would be the flop of the season. Then he went mental for a few weeks and looked really good. Since the Sunderland mauling, though, he has been so bad. His FPL points tally really masks the truth.
Long should get a chance every once in a while, and I’m not saying that just because I’m Irish!!
hasn’t scored and only given 1 assist in 10 gameweeks
Wish we played Long more often
You should get Big Sam in as gaffer.
Thanks NIN, appreciate it. Captain will be tough choice between Eriksen and Kane. Hoping to get Coutinho and Giroud in over the next 2 GW’s
Would having four DGW players be overkill? Currently have Kane and Chadli and am planning on getting Rose and Austin. Thoughts on these 2 free transfers.
Pieters – Rose
Pelle – Austin
Cheers
Can someone help me out as a technophobe? – I’m trying to put the picture of my team on here. I’ve copied the URL to my ‘Gameweek History’ into the ‘Website’ field of my profile.
What do I now need to do to make my team appear so you can all see it?
Hi Fox, what you have done there is link your team to your profile name so when you click on your name it takes you to your FPL history page. That’s a good start but it’s separate from posting a pic of your team in the comments. In order to do that you need to save a picture of it and then when you are commenting there is a little box on the left below the comment box which says ‘choose files’. Just click on that and select the picture from wherever you have saved it. Once selected there should be a small preview of it next to the ‘choose files’ box. Then just press post comment as normal.
Morning Boss, did you have a good weekend ? I know i did.
Foxy, take a screenshot of your squad, come back to FF247, do your writing then below you will see choose files, click on that and your photos will appear, including your screenshot, select that particular photo then click post comment.
Hey fox, what type of device are you using (pc, tablet , mobile etc)
I’ll just assume pc for now, take a screen shot of your team by using your print screen button, open up your paint program, select edit and paste, you can use the crop function in paint to select the area of your team, save it as either a png or jpeg file in my pictures, when you come to post click the choose files button which is just below the leave a reply box and select your saved image from there.
Andy, how about using an iPad?