Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 11

Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 11

Whilst the Captains article is on a much-deserved holiday at the moment – booked online by Erling Halland in one of the few times he wasn’t finding the back of the net – we have adapted the Tips article to our team of the week. In case you missed last week’s article, what we are going to do for now is ask our writers to construct a ‘Best 11’, with fine details like budget slightly put to one side – though, of course, there are plenty of nicely-priced options in all positions at the moment. Particularly this week.

Just like the Captains article used to rate our writers’ predictive performances, let’s take a quick look at how last week’s commentators fared:
Swirly: Fabianski (2), Trippier (7), James (1), Perisic (1)
Matt: Maddison (1), Foden (11), Zaha (5), Bowen (7)
Init: Kane (7), Wilson (5), Haaland (6)

So, whilst Swirly fell at the first hurdle managing to pick three flops, Mr Differential had the exact opposite as all but one of his selections brought home the bacon. Init’s two in Kane and Wilson also deserve honorary mentions. And there’s the inevitable Haaland points, of course.

In the hotseat this gameweek, we’re joined once again by Matt and Swirly, however they’re joined this time by Stone Frog.

Goalkeeper

Kepa – Seems to have claimed the no. 1 spot under Graham Potter. This should be an amazing way into the Chelsea defence as the Spaniard is priced at only 4.4 million. After picking up only Chelsea’s second clean sheet of the season last game week against Wolves I could see Chelsea building on that this weekend against Aston Villa. Villa have scored seven goals this year but look totally devoid of ideas up top. Their xG was 0.7 with only two shots on target the other night against Nottingham Forest. This is not good reading considering Forest are one of the worst defences in the league. Not only were the Villain’s poor in this game but they are 19th for expected goals across the season. Chelsea defensive players must be licking their lips at the prospect of a quiet game and I don’t think they should expect anything less.

Defenders

Reece James: see above! One caveat to the attacking wing back is Potter proved to us all last week that Peptation might have some competition as he made SIX (!!!) changes to the starting lineup and James was one of those who started on the bench. Hopefully this means he will start this weekend against Villa. We all just own James for his attacking potential though, right? *Edit: Now I wrote the above as the Chelsea vs Milan game was going on and just as I finished I got a text from Smash saying James has gone off injured…. NOOOOOO! Well I was going to change it but looking at Potter’s comments after the game he says “we are hoping Reece will be okay. It is too early to give anything more than that”. Not the most reassuring comments but there is a glimmer of hope. If you have James I still don’t think he is a sell but if you don’t have him I wouldn’t rush out to buy him just yet. Still fancy a Chelsea defender this week, then I would now lean more towards Cucarella or Koulibaly. Not sure if Chilly starts but he could be a risky punt if you want to go there.

Max Kilman is my next pick. This one could be slightly more dodgy but whilst Wolves aren’t performing at the top of the pitch in front of goal, they aren’t the worst defensively. Now they have conceded 8 goals in their last three games but two of their opponents were City and Chelsea. They will have someone different in the dugout this weekend and coming up against Nottingham Forest who are tied for second as the worst attacking team in the league. As previously mentioned above, Forest aren’t the best defence in the league so Kilman from set pieces and a potential for CS points might just make him a nice pick this weekend.

I’ll be honest, I struggled for my third pick as I had a few contenders but saw issues with them all. I decided to play it safe with Eric Dier – the most consistent, nailed on choice with a nice enough fixture. Everton have improved over the last few games they still aren’t the best attacking side. Spurs are good defensively and I’d prefer to tip a wingback but I just haven’t a clue who Conte will play on the left and right. We know Dier will likely play 90 minutes, has a small attacking potential and has a decent chance of clean sheet points this weekend

Midfielders

As mentioned in the introduction, it’s Phil Foden who has taken the limelight from his more expensive teammate, Kevin de Bruyne. The lad who hails from Stockport is the most transferred-in midfielder so far this gameweek, as the best part of 400,000 FPL managers have seen it fit to include him in their plans. And that’s a trip to Anfield, followed by a blank!

The form the 22-year-old is currently in is, to be honest, ridiculous. Those who had a crystal ball and brought him into their fantasy squad ahead of the 3-0 victory at Wolves in Gameweek 8 will have since been rewarded with a whopping 38 points. As for their hosts this weekend, Liverpool, it’s a different story. The defence has conceded six in the last two, as the highest scoring defender still only has just 25 points to their name. That’s 25 points from eight, compared to Foden’s 38 from three.

With Trent Alexander-Arnold (or TAA, if you prefer) now facing time on the sidelines with an injury picked up from my next pick, his teammates could well have a nightmare at the hands of Pep’s men and, bar the obvious Norwegian, you can rely on Foden to also get his name on the scoresheet. That would be adding to the three he’s scored against them in seven.

Gabriel Martinelli is, of course, the player I mean when I say about dishing the injury to TAA – quite an annoying moment when you have both of them in your squad! The staple of many an FPL squad this season – appearing in 47.1% of teams, making him the most-owned midfielder at the moment – he has delivered four goals and three assists already for the Gunners. That’s all contributed towards a points tally of 55.

Arsenal will be looking for a repeat of the last time they visited Elland Road, which finished in a 4-1 victory. And who scored two of those four? Yes, Gabriel Martinelli. Fast forward to now and Arteta’s men are enjoying a run of three consecutive victories. On the basis that their West Yorkshire opposition has conceded in all but two – the shock 3-0 win over Chelsea and the less than surprising boring 0-0 draw with Aston Villa – the Londoners could well have another field day.

Leandro Trossard has a pricetag that suggests explosive, but not a long-term keep. That makes him ideal for articles like this, then! Since the start of the season, the Belgian number 11 has notched up a points run of 1, 3, 8, 6, 2, 12, 20 and 2, totalling 54 points, with five goals and two others set up so far to his name. The hauls against Leicester and Liverpool have no doubt attracted the attention this gameweek, further supported by the fact he was dangerous in the defeat at the hands of Spurs last weekend too.

As for this gameweek, the opposition is Brentford away who, just like Leicester and Liverpool, have seen their keeper have to pick up the ball from the back of the net on numerous times. In the last four, 10 goals have been put past the West Londoners’ defence – and that includes their 0-0 draw at Bournemouth. Brighton could well show themselves as proving the worriers wrong, who feared their fate once Graham Potter left for the bright lights of Chelsea, and Trossard seems to be their star man at the moment. Final fun fact – he’s scored two in two against The Bees.

It may be following on as the same selection as Matt last week, however James Maddison is just too good to resist. That’s even on the basis he did only get a single point in the defeat at Bournemouth, as Leicester City returned to the kind of performances that leave their perilous position in the league as no surprise.

Many teams rely on their star players to find the back of the net to make up for the many that are shipped at the other end of the pitch. The Foxes are certainly one of these, and they will be looking to bounce back to the kind of quality that thrashed Nottingham Forest just a week before the fateful trip to the south coast. As for the quality of the player in question, we’re looking at a name that has five goals and two assists next to it, who will be cheered on at home against Crystal Palace.

With one clean sheet so far this season, the Eagles have so far conceded 12. Whilst they have not been at the wrong end of a thrashing, they’re not unfamiliar with letting in one or two during the game either. I wouldn’t put it past Maddison to pick up where he left off the last time he was at the King Power Stadium.

Forwards

Firstly, I’ll follow the Martinelli pick with another Arsenal player: Gabriel Jesus. Arsenal’s season has taken off fast, but now it may be tempting to start preparing for the turbulence of blank Gameweek 12. Gabriel Jesus is an obvious make-weight as there is no value to lose and is currently the most transferred out forward this week. However, with five goals, four assists and still owned by 69% of teams, I would want him for the trip to Elland Road. Arsenal have scored three in each of the last three games and it would be just like FPL for the Brazilian to haul and for many managers to lament ejecting him.

Here’s the inevitable Erling Haaland pick! He has built-up quite a head of steam with 15 goals and three assists in just nine games, averaging a quite staggering 11.3pts per match and near 40 points ahead of any other player. I wouldn’t expect this to be derailed any time soon, the guy is fixture proof and this week’s trip to Anfield is no different. Liverpool have conceded 12 goals already, the same as Leeds, Palace and Wolves, with half of those conceded in the last two game weeks, plus injuries to Matip and Trent to contend with. Don’t be side-tracked by the 0-0 in Copenhagen, Man City played two thirds of the game with 10-men and Haaland was rested. I expect to see some goals on Sunday evening.

Harry Kane has been quietly motoring along with eight goals, two assists and 63 points (second overall), with only one blank back in Gameweek 1. At the current rate he could well surpass his previous best of 29 league goals. The Spurs talisman has been seeing plenty of action, with 31 shots (equal second), including 16 on target (again equal second). This is likely to continue this weekend with the opponents Everton being 19th for shots conceded (146). He does currently have a knock, which is worth monitoring, however it is felt that he is likely to be back and firing on all cylinders come Saturday.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 11. This article was written by Swirly, Matt and Stone Frog.

Follow @theswirly

Follow @MattyMcveigh

Follow @StoneFrog638

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

FIXTURE TRACKER LINK

FIXTURE TRACKER 2020/21

SET-PIECE TAKERS

Predicted Line-Ups FPL 2021/22

You can access our Live feed to these here.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/23.