Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 30

Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 30 – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16

Hello! It’s been quite a while since you’ve had to endure my waffle around these parts. Thanks to a combination of FA Cup weekends, work & moving house (I’m currently residing with the in-laws!!!) I’ve managed a few weeks off. A massive thanks to Init who has produced a number of superb articles in my absence. And what a week to make my return, the infamous GW30. We really are at the business end of the season now with our first serious blank of the season and a number of doubles just around the corner, we expect to have some news on the doubles later this week. With only five games taking place this week I would hope you have started your preparation before now! If you haven’t I imagine you will be taking a hit or two in order to field XI players and this will hand an advantage to those who do not need to take a hit this week. Whatever situation you find yourselves in we will endeavour to point you in the right direction as we head towards the finish line.

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DGW’s in waiting
The games definitely off so far and that need to be rescheduled, probably for a DGW in 34 or 37, are as follows –

Liverpool v Everton
Man City v Newcastle
Man United v Crystal Palace
West Ham v Watford
Liverpool v Chelsea
Sunderland v Everton
West Ham v Man United
Arsenal v West Brom

So add that to the possibles from GW35 and we are looking at Everton having 2 carried over somewhere (maybe even 3!), Liverpool 2, West Ham 2 and Man United 2. As well as possibly Arsenal, Watford, Palace and Sunderland with 2. Plenty to go at then, as and when they start announcing them officially, and the sooner the better!

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Goalkeepers

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[/three_fourth]If you’re in the market for a keeper this week and we suspect many of you will find yourself in such a situation we feel your first port of call should be Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel. After an indifferent start to the season at the back the Foxes now hold the league’s 5th best defence and in their last eight games they have conceded just six goals, keeping four clean sheets in that period. This weekend they face a Newcastle team who have scored just 28 times this season and just nine times in their last eight games, so we’d certainly have them down for a clean sheet this week. Granted they do not have a DGW over the coming game-weeks, but what they do have is a great run of fixtures over the coming weeks. If you’re lucky enough to still have your WC in your back pocket we’d recommend picking up Schmeichel this week and using your WC to set up for the doubles.

Staying with the double game-weeks for a moment and let’s take a quick look at the keepers who play in GW30 and have a future double. There are only two who fall into this category and they are City’s Joe Hart & Newcastle’s Rob Elliot. There is no good reason to pick Elliot even if he is only £4.0m so let’s concentrate on Hart. The City defence has come in for much criticism over the course of the season but they’ve got the joint best 5th defence along with Leicester. They’ve conceded 10 in their last eight games but they have managed four clean sheets in that period. They’ve got a mixed bag of fixtures over the coming weeks but with Kompany now back at the heart of defence we should see them pick up a number of clean sheets in the weeks ahead. It’s also worth noting that Hart is the cheapest guaranteed starter from the City defence. If you can afford him and you don’t have your WC left you really do need to consider Hart this week.

A number of other keeper who are worth some consideration this week are Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski, Southampton’s Fraser Forster and Jack Butland of Stoke. With four wins and two draws from their last eight games Swansea have moved nine points clear of the relegation zone. During this time they have conceded just seven goals, although unfortunately for those who already own Fabianski this has only translated into two clean sheets. However with the likes of Villa, Stoke & Newcastle to come in future game-weeks I reckon Fabianski is a good bet for a couple of clean sheets. Having kept six consecutive clean sheets on his return to the first XI, Forster & his defensive colleagues became flavour of the month. Unfortunately such impressive defensive form has come to a halt in recent weeks as they’re conceded five in their last three. However they are clearly a team who know how to defend and with the goals certainly not flowing at the other end of the pitch we’re backing Forster to be back amongst the clean sheets over the coming weeks. Butland was very much the poster boy for FPL keepers as he kept eight clean sheets between game-weeks 8 & 22, unfortunately he’s only kept two since then. For those of you who plan to WC in GW33 you might want to take a look at Butland for the next three game-weeks as Stoke face Southampton, Watford & Swansea, three sides who have somewhat struggled for goals in recent games.

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Defenders

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[/three_fourth]Let’s start with the City defence, not because they’re in great form but because as we’ve noted above, they play this week and will have a double game-week before the end of the season. But who to choose? At right back Pablo Zabaleta has played four of the last seven games since his return from injury with Bacary Sagna playing the other three, so rotation is clearly an issue. At left back Gael Clichy has started six of the last eight games with Aleksandar Kolarov starting just two, so it would appear as though Clichy has made the spot his own. At centre back it is clear that Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi are the favoured pairing. So, back to the question of who to choose. For me it’s a straight shootout between Kompany & Otamendi. While Clichy appears to have made the left back spot his own I wouldn’t be at all confident of him starting both games in a double. It’s difficult to compare Kompany & Otamendi as Vinny has missed so many games this season but a quick look at their stats in the three games since Kompany’s return would suggest that the Argentine is the one to go for. Granted Otamendi is £0.3m more expensive but when you factor in Kompany’s injury record we feel that Otamendi is your best bet.

There’s no stopping Charlie Daniels of late. Over the last eight game-weeks he’s picked up two goals, three assists, three clean sheets and nine bonus points. That’s not bad for a midfielder never mind a left back who costs just £4.9m. The Daniels bandwagon has well and truly left the station, and there’s no denying that Bournemouth have a difficult fixture list over the remainder of the season but he’s an attacking full-back who takes penalties and therefore he shouldn’t be ignored. At £4.2m Steve Cook shouldn’t be ignored and while he obviously doesn’t offer the attacking threat of Daniels he is ideal bench fodder.

We were quite surprised at the ownership stats of the Leicester defence, none of them feature in more than 13% of teams. Something which we feel is quite surprising given their value and recent form. So should you be in the market for a defender this week there should certainly be a Foxes defender on your shortlist and for us it’s a choice between Robert Huth and Christian Fuchs. Over the course of the season Huth leads Fuchs by a mere three points but it’s worth pointing out that Huth has played over 600 minutes more than Fuchs. Over the last six game-weeks Huth leads the way by 38pts to 28pts thanks to two goals, but during this time Fuchs’ underlying stats are actually much more impressive. He’s a constant threat down the left-hand side although this is certainly countered by the threat offered by Huth from set pieces. There really is little to separate the two but we’d slightly favour Fuchs due to his ability to pick up bonus points and the fact that he features in just 4.2% of teams.

Talking of bonus points and we really must mention Ashley Williams. The Swansea centre back has picked up 21 of them over the course of the season and this is four more than any other defender, in fact only five players in the entire game have more than him. As we’ve alluded to above Swansea haven’t kept a huge amount of clean sheets in recent weeks but they have only conceded seven in eight. What we’ve also seen in recent weeks is that Williams provides something of a goal threat with two in the last eight games. Swansea don’t score a huge amount of goals so when they do keep a clean sheet Williams is invariably in line for some bonus points and a quick look at their upcoming fixtures suggests baps for Ashley.

We’ll finish our defensive roundup this week with a couple of defenders who found the back of the oppositions net last week, Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk and Toby Alderweireld of Spurs. It was Van Dijk’s 3rd of the season and while he’s no Ashley Williams he does have an impressive 16 bonus points. Their remaining fixtures are like a packet of Bassetts Allsorts but a number of their easier games have clean sheet written all over them. Alderweireld also has three goals to his name for the season and he’s also picked up three assists and 12 bonus points. Unfortunately Spurs have some struggled for clean sheets this season despite having the league’s best defence. However they do have a ‘banker’ of a clean sheet this weekend as they travel to face Villa and while they do have a challenging run in they do have the ability to pick up clean sheets along the way.

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Midfielders

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[/three_fourth]Once again the obvious place to start is in the blue half of Manchester and our picks are unsurprisingly Yaya Toure and David Silva. Over the course of the season Toure leads the way with 116pts as compared to Silva’s 84 although the Ivorian has played close to 500 minutes more. Let’s take a quick look at some of their basic stats over the past six matches. Unfortunately neither have set the world alight with Toure claiming just a solitary goal & two bonus points, and Silva only registering two assists. So while their point’s returns don’t make for great reading it’s worth noting that Silva’s underlying stats are much more impressive than Toure’s. City are by no means out of the title race but they can’t afford any more slipups and they will need to see a significant improvement from both Toure & Silva, and given the experience throughout the team this is not something we would bet against. If we had to choose between the two we’d go Silva!

A number of weeks ago Swansea looked set to be embroiled in a relegation battle right to the end of the season, but four wins & two draws in their last eight games have seen them pull nine points clear of the relegation zone. As we’ve discussed above this is largely due to a solid defence but Gylfi Sigurdsson has also played a significant role in this resurgence scoring four and creating another in this period. He’d also scored in each of the games preceding this period and in total he now has eight for the season making this his most successful season in terms of goals. Swansea’s short-term fixtures are relatively easy and even when the games get tougher the fact that Siggy appears to have a monopoly on set pieces means he will continue to be a danger. Oh and he currently features in just 5.8% of teams making him quite the differential!

If I had a vote for player of the season, and it still surprises me that I don’t, my vote would most certainly go to Riyad Mahrez. He showed some glimpses of his potential last season as Leicester produced their very own great escape but none of us were expecting him to produce 15 goals & 11 assists across the first 29 games of the season. City have had a number of standout performers this season but it’s Mahrez who adds the creative spark to the team. After suffering a dip in form between game-weeks 18 & 22 when he failed to register any attacking returns he has bounced back with two goals and four assists in the subsequent seven game-weeks. They’re in great form and have great fixtures so there’s no reason not to get him. However with an ownership of just over 67% I suspect the vast majority of you already own him.

Outside of the aforementioned players the options are quite slim when we consider form, teams who play this week and teams with some decent fixtures ahead. However you might want to consider the Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri or Bournemouth’s Matt Ritchie. Shaqiri has a goal & two assists in his last four games and features in just 1.9% of teams. As we’ve mentioned above Stoke players are probably just for those who plan to WC in GW33. Much was expected of Matt Ritchie this season and while he has possibly not lived up to expectations he has delivered of late with one goal and four assists in his last six games and like Shaqiri is an excellent differential featuring in just 1.6% of teams. Christian Eriksen probably deserves a mention given the fact that Spurs sit 2nd in the table and play Villa this weekend.

For those of you who like a punt we’ll leave you with none other than Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey. Granted Newcastle are going down faster than Devine Brown but from a fantasy perspective they do have that all important double to come. Since joining the Geordies he has picked up three assists from seven games the 3rd of which came last time out in the 3-1 defeat to Bournemouth, a game which saw him claim two bonus points. As we said he’s a massive punt but he currently features in less than 2% of teams and is available for £5.3m.

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Forwards

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[/three_fourth]If you don’t already own Sergio Aguero this is the week to get him, particularly if you don’t have your WC. The Argentine has started the last 10 games since returning from injury and in that period he has scored nine times and this has resulted in 11 bonus points. This has seen his price rise by £0.5m to £13.6m and given the fact that he plays this week and will have a double at some stage over the coming weeks his price will continue to rise. What’s most impressive is the fact that he’s managed nine goals in a team playing poorly, just imagine what he could do if his teammates can step up to the oche over the coming weeks. News of Kevin De Bruyne’s return to training will be a welcome boost as they have certainly missed his creative talents over the past number of weeks. But back to Aguero and this weekend when City travel to face a Norwich team who have conceded 18 goals in their last eight games. The following week is the Manchester derby and Kun loves to score against their bitter rivals. To be honest the opposition rarely matters when Aguero is on form.

Harry Kane was undoubtedly the breakthrough talent of last season and much was expected of him this season. Despite Spurs currently sitting in 2nd place Kane really hasn’t hit the headlines this season. This is despite the fact that he’s scored 17 goals from 21 games and is well placed to surpass the 21 goals he scored last season. Can Spurs win the league? I said quite a few weeks ago that they could and a few of you laughed at me. I still firmly believe that they can and if they manage this I feel Kane will easily surpass last season’s total. Kane will have a great opportunity to fill his boots this weekend as Spurs travel to Villa.

As I’ve said above Riyad Mahrez would get my vote for player of the season but Jamie Vardy wouldn’t be that far behind him. He hasn’t quite been as explosive as Mahrez, he’s claimed just three double figure scores as compared to the 11 achieved by Mahrez. He has however been remarkably consistent delivering returns in 21 out of 29 game-weeks. As we’ve made note of above Leicester have some great fixtures over the coming weeks so there really is no reason for you not owning Vardy.

The problem with Aguero, Kane & Vardy is that occupy three of the top four places in terms ownership so they’re anything but differentials. However outside of the three of them there are slim pickings for those of you in need of a forward this week. Let’s just take a quick look at seven teams and their options;

Norwich – Seven goals in their last eight games would suggest you’re better off looking for an eskimo in the Sahara.
Bournemouth – With four goals from nine games Afobe is worth some consideration.
Swansea – I’d rather take my chances with no forwards.
Stoke – With a goal and an assist in his last two games Mame Biram Diouf is a short-term possibility.
Southampton – If Shane Long is available he’s worth some consideration.
Villa – You’ve got to be kidding me!!
Newcastle – I’d prefer to have a Norwich or a Villa forward.

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Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 30. This article was written by Kop Warrior

Follow @KenLyons79

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