Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 26
Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 26.
It’s been a long time since I wrote my first Tips article, just before Halloween, and GW11 clearly saw a vastly different FPL landscape to what awaits today. Liverpool’s key players and a mere £5.1m version of Adama Traoré were just about all whom I picked out wisely back then. In fact, with many high-profile blanks and injuries as of late, things are looking considerably spookier now…
Speaking of Liverpool, their PL dominance has reached NSFW-esque territory, but I’ll refrain from (m)any unsavoury quips. For now. Recommending anything Liverpool-related at all from this point onwards is arguably futile — surely, now, only die-hard Citizens have held onto Ederson, Sterling and any hopes of emulating their past seasons’ far greater points tallies, both within FPL and in reality — only the most foolish of online horses around still need leading to that water. Any excuse to float a set of somewhat left-field suggestions and (when it inevitably all goes awry) claim that I covered the blatantly obvious without even mentioning them once! Complaining that “errRrr, non, I did nottt read le incidenttt” won’t wash over anymore. Anyway, like Arsene, let’s begin swiftly and then end with a whimper.
Goalkeepers
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images.
Top shelf: The Bear Who Shall Not Be Named (£6.1m) got injured in his first match, then missed the following 7 fixtures, then returned for what ended up being his team’s only match in which they dropped points, then blanked again for a further 4 matches before being red-carded. Does that sound like good value? Well, he’s now claimed 69 points(!) in just 10 matches, ‘re-returning’ in his true form: an animal. Unlike certain ‘top-shelf’ goalkeepers, he’s a season Kepa, with 6-point returns unlikely to paws in the near future.
Mid-price: whilst both Hendersons have been amazingly consistent lately, Newcastle have hit home form and Martin Dubravka (£5.0m) looks primed to combine saves with a taster of clean sheets until mid-April, if you trust Brucey with the supposedly ‘easier’ fixtures. If not, Arsenal (A) up next should provide him with some points, albeit unlikely to be save-related…
Bargain basement: Alex McCarthy (£4.4m) remains a standout. The Saints have surfaced as the third-best form team in the PL over the past 5 matches; their next 5 fixtures (3 of which being at home) are nothing short of sumptuous. Shane Long personally approves of this tip — don’t disappoint him.
Defenders
Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images.
Top shelf: I covered my arse by saying “I needn’t even remind you” about a “pair of potent full-backs” in that GW11 article. Sadly, though, I failed to say “don’t sell one for Mané to captain him as part of a 4-point hit” afterwards. Matt Doherty (£6.1m) is owned by a mere 4.1% of managers and, although their 3–5–2 formation of last season is no longer preferred, his raiding runs down the right-hand side can still terrorise the frail defences that he’ll soon encounter in front of jeering crowds — a true Irishman in his element.
Mid-price: George Baldock (£5.1m) has the potential to be Lord Lundstram’s permanent successor in squads — the latter’s owned by 44%+ of managers, more than any other defender, and only slightly less than poor Rosco is by his wife — if The Lord has genuinely lost his place, it’s an issue that most of us will have to tackle. George has 6 goals contributions (equalling The Lord’s tally!) and has played 90 minutes in every PL match thus far, with just 23 goals conceded in the process.
Bargain basement: as a crazy differential, Bernardo (£4.3m) has now found a starting role within a Potter-led revolution, but I’m only chucking him in to get locked up with Matt for his very similar tip from the last instalment. At least Adam Webster (£4.4m) had 3 goals to his name beforehand!
Midfielders
Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images.
Top shelf: Heung-Min Son (£10.0m) is on back-to-back goals and faces Aston Villa (A) on the weekend after next. That’s the same fixture that allowed Man City to run out as 6–1 winners and, as Spurs won 2–0 against them, surely 8 goals will be scored by Son and his pals? Nick can hopefully validate this theory for you.
Mid-price: Riyad Mahrez (£8.5m) has a blank coming up. Pep, who’s not yet named the same starting XI all season, will probably demote him to the bench. However, in this price bracket, a punt for West Ham (H) has the potential to be golden; 16 goal contributions produced in just 1,261 minutes really speaks for itself.
Bargain basement: Jordan Henderson (£5.5m) is not a name that I ever expected to type here. However, with goal-and-assist maestro performances in 2 of his last 3 matches in the PL and playing full of confidence, you could certainly do far worse than this unexciting engine. Ahhh, shit, I’ve just mentioned another member of Klopp’s army by name…
Forwards
Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.
Top shelf: Sergio Agüero (£12.0m) has apparently lost his guaranteed penalty-taking role whilst on the pitch but, quite frankly, (a) he’ll almost certainly regain it after that Gündoğan failed attempt against Spurs and (b) it really doesn’t matter either way. With just over a third of the season remaining, his Golden Boot charge has escalated but not necessarily peaked, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.8m) hunting him down from 2 goals behind and with a very favourable schedule to (golden) boot. Vardy, in contrast, appears to be doing a Paula Radcliffe this year.
Mid-price: Raúl Jiménez (£7.7m) has fooled so many of us and yet, still, less than a quarter of managers own him. What more can this wolf do? Continue his remarkable consistency against lesser opposition soon to face him, probably, but we’ll see. It’s never too late to jump (back!) onboard.
Bargain basement: Gabriel Martinelli (£4.6m) has recently been more reliable than almost any other Arsenal asset (ignore my Dubravka comment above) in FPL history. He’s getting 90 minutes on a regular basis now under Arteta’s guidance; his pair of goals and the 4 accompanying BPs have rewarded the faith in Brazilliance that may well explode without warning if Arsenal suddenly stop drawing.
On that penultimate note, I’m drawing this out somewhat, so good luck and goodbye! All of the best for the longest of Gameweeks ahead.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 26. This article was written by James.
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Sheffield United stats for Lundstram replacements for same price bracket. O’Connell has the best stats unless you go for one of the wing backs. Stevens and Baldock are better but they are 0.5 more
, Chris Basham
FPL price: 4.5m
FPL points: 79
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
xG: 0.27
xA: 0.89
Bonus: 3
Yellow cards: 4
Red cards: 0
Goal attempts: 5
Crosses: 23
John Egan
FPL price: 4.5m
FPL points: 80
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
xG: 1.15
xA: 0.35
Bonus: 3
Yellow cards: 2
Red cards: 0
Goal attempts: 13
Crosses: 2
Jack O’Connell
FPL price: 4.6m
FPL points: 86
Goals: 0
Assists: 1
xG: 1.92
xA: 1.97
Bonus: 6
Yellow cards: 3
Red cards: 0
Goal attempts: 11
Crosses: 33
Thanks, all useful stuff. I’m thinking of poshing it up with Stevens – or Southampton’s Stephens.
I really like Stevens. I wanted him since day one, just a bit too expensive (at least that is what I used to think back then).
Looks like Sterling is out for 2-3 weeks. What to do here, 1.0ITB. Switch Sterling back to Mane or someone else?
Son :scratch_one-s_head:
I like the Son pick, he’s on great form at the moment.
I guess Mane is worth the risk. But that’s a tough one. We don’t have much to go on
Have you got 2FT? If so I’d swoop on Kun, downgrading Sterling to someone who’ll enable that. Almost worth a hit, actually.
Evening everyone!
A bit like the start of the season, I’ve been pondering through about 17 different options on what to do with my team! One thing is for sure, I definitely want Aguero and it’s a given on having three Liverpool players in your side. I’m going to give Lundstram one more chance as Wilder is being a Coy Roy about him. As for Mane, even if he does get fit, I can’t help but think he’s got Atletico only three days later which I imagine Klopp would prefer he played the most minutes for.
With that in mind, what do you think to Mane, Vardy and Greenwood to Hayden, Aguero and Firmino for a -4?
That’s a tough one. It looks good this week but not so good long term. It’s really hard to know as we don’t have anything on Mane
I regret not selling Mane last week. Now I don’t know what to do with him!
What moves get you to Kun minus the hit?
I could do Vardy and Maddison to Aguero and Traore or Barnes but then Mane is a risk – or, alternatively, Mane and Greenwood to Aguero and Hayden but then I’d then only have two Liverpool. It’s a real head ache!
Many thanks James, only just got round to sitting down and reading this so apologies for my tardiness in time-keeping… oh hang on… :wink2:
That was another great read from you, really enjoyed that. I think I commented last time (may have been privately!) how you’d taken your writing up another level and this bears (pardon the pun) testament again.
Only an A- though, as you tipped Jordan Henderson…. :rofl:
I applaud the inclusion of Jordan Henderson :good:
You buy him….
Now you just sound like Cookie!
Thank you, init, you bloody charmer. As for my writing, well, even a broken clock (that I use for my daily scheduling :wink
is right twice per day!
I’ll be back on tonight later to discuss GW26 transfers. Have you come closer to deciding on whether to prioritise TAA or Agüero tonight?
TAA is the sensible option. Or is it…? No, basically.
2 FT and only 0.2 ITB
Thinking to do Kun → Vardy and JWP → Mahrez ( can’t see any other player at around the 6.2 bracket with OK upcoming fixtures, apart from Fleck who has a blank in 28 or Traore who is doubtful)
Any other bright ideas?
Ivan…. :no:
It’s not nice so I won’t link it up but you may want to google JWP and injury.
Traore should be fine by the sounds of it.
Init, that’s true but both are marked with a knock at 75% chance.
JWP has a longer streak of good fixtures.
JWP won’t be playing soon, IMO
Ivan, you need to google what happened to him last night, it was a tad more than a knock!
Might not be that bad (thank god):
, Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl is confident the injury is not serious.
He said: “I think it is not that bad, I think it is only a cut on the knee. That is a positive message for me.”
Correction
Init is right, just checked. Traore is it Tornado :good:
Init, agreed. Do you think the combo above with Traore is OK?
I’d say so.
And yes, not sure where they get 75% from after that! I can only assume the FDR guy who GP grumbled about in his fixtures article is also in charge of injury news!
Cheers init, that is my captain sorted. I was really wanted to go with Ings but Kun might just do a bit better.
Simply can’t trust Salah for that game. By the time he decides to score, pool will be up with 3 goals from Firmino, TAA and Henderson and he will be rested for the UCL game. Plus, only two away goals doesn’t look good.
I didn’t know that was all he had. Hmmm… You may have swung my captaincy.
But yes, totally agree on game time in that one. He’d have to accumulate quickly because he ain’t getting a full game that’s for sure!
Yes, I am sure Mane will be ready to play and will outscore him again, leaving shocked the many who ditched him :wink2:
Hello,
Any ideas on what I should do with this lot? 1FT & 0.2 ITB
Probably good to save actually, unless you can get to one of the Saints defenders via Kelly.