Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 26

Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 26

Another midweek fixture means yet another small opportunity for us to come and speak to you about FPL. By way of explanation we have decided that a Captains article isn’t really worth our breath this week as surely only the brave will be plonking that anywhere other than on Salah this week. The only real debate there is whether it accompanied by the TC chip. And most will probably do that too.

Instead we have decided to bring you a Player Tips article with a view to DGW26 only. No long term planning in this one, just a simple look at what’s immediately in front on us. Usual format, split by position, and brought to you by Matt, Loud Atlas and Init.

Goalkeepers and Defenders

I’ll start with the most obvious and likeliest of candidates for our teams; Liverpool assets. Most fantasy managers will already have three Liverpool players in their teams with Trent (£8.0), Salah and Jota being owned by 47.8%, 50% and 40.3% respectively. If you are one of the few people with only two and have space for a third Pool player then you can’t go far wrong with another defender. Personally, I am already on Trent, Salah and Jota but someone I will have FOMO over is Andy Robertson (£7.1). Robbo is the 6th highest scoring defender on 105 pts even having missed six games this season. In his 105 pts, Robbo has one goal and eight assists, nine clean sheets and fifteen bonus points. In his last 5 games (missed games against Chelsea and Leicester) he has one goal, four assists and three clean sheets so he is in amazing form. For a player who has 35 points in his last five games, he has an amazing plus as he is a massive differential. Only 6.4% of people own him which is a massive difference to the previous three mentioned. If only we could get four from the one team!

If you are in the market for a goalkeeper then I would have to give a shout out to Alisson (£6.0). One of the best keepers in the league and the world, he is playing a large part in Liverpool’s clean sheets over the last few games. Liverpool have looked a bit open with both fullbacks bombing it up the field (hence Robbo’s attacking returns lately) leaving a lot of space behind. Alisson has been there to mop up the mistakes. The Palace and Burnley games really epitomised how vital Alisson is as he made four then five saves in those matches. The Brazilian got all three bonus points against Burnley and if he had kept a clean sheet in London, I’d hazard a guess he would have been amongst the bonuses then too! Similarly to Robbo, the keeper is only owned by 7.6% so a big differential if you have a FH or transfer to burn.

Liverpool has a double this week with matches against Norwich and Leeds, both at home in the fortress that is Anfield. Here Liverpool are undefeated this season, winning eight and drawing three. In those games they have only conceded six goals! These matches are prime opportunities for both clean sheets and attacking points. With Robbo and Trent bombing down the wings surely, they will have plenty chances of returning.

Two more players with a double this weekend are two players who are having brilliant seasons. There were large question marks and complaints when Arsenal spent money on a goalkeeper that had been relegated twice but Ramsdale (£5.1) is answering all his critics from preseason. He is the fifth highest scoring goalkeeper in the game with 101 points only 2 points off the aforementioned Alisson! He has two double digit hauls and 11 clean sheets which is only one less than Alisson.

If you don’t need a keeper then the other Arsenal player I think is having a brilliant season is Kieran Tierney (£5.1). The Scottish left-back has been amazing since he returned from injury back in GW15. Since that week, Tierney has got three double digit scores, one goal, three assists and six clean sheets. These returns are all of his attacking returns this season and have gotten him ten out of the eleven bonus points he has so far this year. This is a brilliant comeback from injury and shows the impact he has on that Arsenal backline. I would seriously consider getting the full back if you either don’t have cover or are playing a FH chip.

I was kind of struggling to find other defenders that might be worth it as the other fixtures are a bit dodgy. I will mention a few names just in case you need a fourth or fifth player. Digne (£5.1) has a fixture against Watford who probably are never scoring again with Roy Hodgson at the helm. Guehi (£4.5) plays two games one against Watford but the other against Chelsea who might be riding a high after winning the Club World Cup.

A back four of Trent, Tierney, Robbo and Digne will be expensive but with forwards not firing a 4-5-1 formation might just be the path for this game week and beyond.

Midfielders

At last a gloriously deluxe edition of a double gameweek. So many excellent players against so much middling-ish opposition – what could go wrong?

The team with the juiciest set of fixtures this week is clearly Liverpool. With home matches against two of the league’s weakest defences in Leeds and Norwich (94 goals conceded between them), attacking assets are a must. Mohamed Salah (13m) is the best player in Fantasy and undoubtedly the league. Get him in, even for a hit. You won’t be disappointed. At no other time, perhaps in all of FPL history, has there been a better time to captain (or triple captain!) a player of his calibre against such opposition than in this week.

Other Liverpool midfield options should also be considered, of course. Diogo Jota (8.5m), with two goals and two assists in his last five games, is the one in form. The other option is Sadio Mané (11.7m), he of AFCON-winning fame, who is also a startling differential (owned by just 2.3%). But it would take a brave soul to spend their valuable bucks on the Senegalese. Fortune favours the brave!

There are a couple of midfielders who, although with tricky-looking fixtures, still warrant your time. After successive home defeats, surely something has to change at Spurs. And who better than Son Heung-Min (10.7m), South Korea’s greatest export, to turn the tide (an honourable mention to Park Ji-Sung – ah, those were the days!). The match against red-hot Manchester City will be tricky but the Burnley game looks at least appetising. Back from his muscle injury that sidelined him for a month, Son will look to be getting back in the mix.

The other major midfielder to consider is Bakayo Saka (6.4m). Much has been made of Arsenal’s defensive attributes, and rightfully so, but let’s not forget their attacking prowess. Aside from their recent game against Burnley, Liverpool were the last team to shut Arsenal out back in GW12. With Martinelli only eligible for the latter half of this DGW, and Smith-Rowe playing bit-part cameos, Saka will likely be the intended target for many a manager. He’s also their most nailed attacking asset with four goals and two assists in his last six games. With two largely favourable home games, his double gameweek could be a prosperous one.

Do you have too many expensive midfielders and not enough cash for all the ‘best’ options in other areas? Have an optimistic punt on these enablers.

Raphinha (6.5m) is probably the best player with the ‘worst’ and hardest DGW ahead of him. On paper, against Manchester United and Liverpool, it’s a toughie, but if there’s one Leeds midfielder to have, and if you’re after a challenge, it’s Raphinha.

The best budget midfielders for this week each come with a caveat. Don’t forget they’re cheap for a reason: Ismaila Sarr (5.7m) (plays for Watford!), Michael Olise (5.4m) (rotation risk!) and Maxwel Cornet (5.9m) (plays for Burnley!).

One final thought: if you’ve grown sick of having too many DGW players and fancy a single gameweek player this week, it has to be Jarrod Bowen (7m). He faces Newcastle at home, is third in the midfielders’ form table and has 21 goal involvements this season. Tasty.

Forwards

pic.twitter.com/GGO8TH0Qjs

— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) January 31, 2022

When discussing the Site Team transfers this week it looked like we may need a forward to raise some cash and Rosco said ‘(I) can’t see any forwards worth having that have a double other than maybe Laca’. 15 minutes later he agreed to buying Jiminez! That fickleness aside it did suggest that this may be a hard sell and one look at the fixtures suggests that this may indeed be the case. So let’s go take a whistlestop tour of the 8 teams with a DGW and see if we can actually justify buying anyone up top…

Arsenal (Brentford (H), Wolves (H)) have somehow left themselves with basically just the said Laca(zette) up top. That’ll be the Laca who has played in about 19 games this season and managed 3 goals. On the plus side he’s now more nailed, and has sort of been given the captaincy (although that’s very much a moving feast at Arsenal!). On the downside he’s not exactly a lethal striker. He’s also absent in GW27.

Burnley (Brighton (A), Spurs (H)) were much pitied for losing Mark Wood to the Newcastle millions and it was assumed that this may be another nail in their FPL coffin but ultimately they may have the last laugh as big Wout Werhorst is a huge upgrade on his predecessor. The downside here is that he may be injured but that’s one for Friday’s pressers and if he’s fit then his big plus side is that he follows this DGW with another in 27. Four rolls of the dice etc, what’s not to like there? Apart from the fact that he is unproven in the league and that Burnley rarely ever score…!

Palace (Chelsea (H), Watford (A)) have a mixed DGW here, but that’s the least of your problems in picking a striker as they now have more of them than the other 7 teams featured here combined! And we all know what such a situation usually means in a DGW… A SGW.

Leeds (Man Utd (H), Liverpool (A)) are the exact opposite of Palace in that they basically have no strikers to speak of. Rodrigo is one, technically, but he’s not even playing up top really, Dan James is.

Liverpool (Norwich (H), Leeds (H)) do have one, in Firmino, but Klopp has seemingly decided to finally play someone up there who can actually contribute regular goals, in the form of Jota, a midfielder. Keep an eye on the pressers though as Jota did pick up an ankle injury vs Inter so if that proves to be anything serious then Firmino may actually become a viable option here. But again be aware that he and Liverpool blank in GW27.

Spurs (Man City (A), Burnley (A)) may be the only team with a genuine bona-fide premium striker in this list; Harry Kane (in case you had forgotten about him). And even then he’s played practically every minute since GW3 and has a grand total of 5 goals to his name. 4 of those have come in the last 9 games but even so it’s not exactly screaming form, especially at his price tag.

Watford (Villa (A), Palace (H)) I have a feeling, may never score again. Woy came in and wanted to tighten the defence up, but with him that always comes with a very obvious caveat. Dennis and King have subsequently done nothing under him and despite the former still sitting 3rd in the striker charts we don’t suppose that situation will be changing any time soon!

Wolves (Leicester (H), Arsenal (A)) have been one of the surprise packages of the season so far, albeit without particularly lighting any fires. Jimenez has taken all season to get back into his stride but he now has 3 in his last 2 starts so there may be green buds there. Rosco obviously thinks so!

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 26. This article was written by Inittowinit, Loud Atlas, Matt X

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