Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 7

Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 7
Roll up, roll up! It’s the first DGW of the season and the circus magician that is Rosco tackles that one head on with enthusiasm and… scepticism. He then juggles West Ham midfielders in tandem with Jamie Mc. Init brings up the rear with a full on Newcastle carnival, a troupe seemingly full of both defending, and attacking showmen.

Goalkeeper & Defenders – Newcastle – Burnley (H) – Inittowinit

And so they did! So much so that by the 35 minute mark they had two goals and two assists between them, and Trippier made that three assists not long after. Between Botman (4.7m) and Burn (4.5m) (12 pts), and Trippier (6.6m) (18 pts) they got 42 points! Pity those who picked Schar though, as he rather let the side down! Although to be fair he still got 6, which is pretty much all we ever ask from our defenders. Pope (5.5m) got a bit lazy too, with just the one save (anyone even remember that happening?!), but again got 6 points. So just the 50 points for the Famous Five this past week.

Now, ok, this clearly will not happen every week, but hear us out as their upcoming games do at least stand up to the ‘6 point defender test’. Purely for the week ahead in question it is Burnley at home, who have managed just 4 goals so far, with just 1 away (albeit in 1 game – albeit vs Forest…). Only Luton have scored less (3). Apropos nothing, perhaps, but they have also conceded 13, which is the 2nd worst, only to Sheffield United, which as we know is only courtesy of… Newcastle.

For Newcastle’s part they have only conceded 3 at home, and 2 of those were against Liverpool. The other was a consolation in a 5-1 win vs Villa. We are painting a pretty picture here. Can you tell what it is yet?

After that it is West Ham away which may be more difficult, but then it’s the relatively goal-shy pair of Palace and Wolves back-to-back.

Tippier (31 pts) just about leads the way over Botman (30 pts). The former obviously has more long-term attacking threat, being on set-pieces, and with such a big array of threats to aim at, but at 6.6 vs 4.7 they also have a lot of different options to suit most budgets.

Midfielders – James Ward-Prowse – Sheffield United (H) – Rosco

Ladies and gentlemen, gather ’round because I’ve got a not-so-secret tip just for you. Allow me to present James Ward-Prowse (£6.2). Yes, yes, we all know about his dead-ball prowess, indeed, only a certain David Beckham has scored more free kicks (18) than JWP (17) in Premier League history, but this season he seems to be finally showing he’s no one trick pony. Thus far, he’s delivered 3 assists and chipped in with 2 goals in his opening 5 games for a rejuvenated Hammers side, serving up a steady stream of points for the 10.3% of FPL managers who have him in their sides.

It’s hard to judge David Moyes’s team’s home form given that they’ve only played twice at the London Stadium thus far; a 3-1 victory against Chelsea in GW2 and a 3-1 reverse against Man City in GW5, but over their opening 7 fixtures they have looked a significantly better side than many were expecting, (‘big six’ opposition aside). However, it’s less about West Ham themselves this week and more about their opposition.

Where to start with Sheffield United? Well, at the weekend I watched my beloved Magpies tear them to bits. 8 goals and a new record they’ll not be bragging about any time soon. Will there be a reaction? You would hope so. Will it be enough? I’m not so sure.

Following that result, Sheffield United sit rooted to the foot of the table with just a solitary point on the board. They’ve lost all three of their trips away from Bramall Lane, with 2-1 defeats against Arsenal, Forest and Spurs. The bad news doesn’t stop there. No team has conceded more goals (17), more shots (136) or more shots on target (52) than the Blades across their opening 6 matches. Furthermore, no team has conceded more headed goal attempts (31) – which is a dangerous statistic when you have a dead-ball specialist like JWP pinging in crosses, free-kicks and corners.

There’s not a huge price difference between Bowen and Ward-Prowse, if money is no object then yeah, I’d go with Bowen, but if you’re cash-poor, then JWP is a solid alternative.

Midfielders – Jarrod Bowen – Sheffield United (H) – Jamie Mc

Photo by West Ham United FC/Getty Images)

The King is dead; long live the King!!!
Don’t fret, Mr West Ham; Mark Noble, is still very much alive, but in my opinion there is now a new Mr West Ham. This player will no doubt never ever have to buy a drink in the East End of London again after his Europa Conference League winning goal. I present to you, West Ham living legend; Jarrod Bowen (Hammer Fan nods in agreement).

West Ham have started the season well with Bowen playing 90 minutes in all 6 league games. Bowen currently has 39 points which is joint fifth for all players in the game. Bowen has scored four goals with one assist and awarded 5 bonus points (over 2 games).
Flying slightly under the radar, Bowen has an ownership of just 9.6% which is fifteenth for all midfielders in the game. Bowen has had a price increase of £0.1m so far this season to £7.1m (making him a very easy transfer from the under-performing Raheem Sterling at the same £7.1m price).

At the time of writing, 134,273 managers have transferred Bowen into their squad with 29,787 managers deciding to now go without. Bowen is currently at 54.4% (44,424 further transfers required) in FPL Statistics and will no doubt have a further £0.1m price rise as we approach the game week 7 deadline.

West Ham have a decent-ish run of fixtures over the next 4 game weeks verses Sheffield United (h), Newcastle United (h), Aston Villa (a) and Everton (h). Looking longer term, their fixtures are more than decent until the end of January 24 (game week 22) with only Newcastle United in game week 8 and Arsenal in game week 19 rated above 3 in the Fixture Difficulty Ranking.

As for me, I had two free transfers this game week and I have taken my own advice onboard. I went early and managed to sell Raheem Sterling for £7.1m (before his £0.1m price drop) and transferred in Bowen for the same price with a remaining free transfer up my sleeve for later in the game week, or to roll onto the next game week.

Forwards – Carlton Morris – Everton (A), Burnley (H) – Rosco

Ah, the allure of a double-game week, back for the first time this season to mess with our minds and our FPL teams. In the last few years, we had DGW’s in what felt like every other week. This year we were promised a more normal season, yet here we are, just 6 game weeks in with another one, and it’s a doozy. So, roll up, roll up, get your tickets for the rollercoaster ride that is Luton vs Everton and Burnley & Newcastle vs Burnley. Wooooohoooo.

All joking aside, should we be tripling up on either of these sides? I wouldn’t go that far. However, if you have a player from either side, then sure, play them, you might get 2pts twice if you’re really lucky, given how some of our players have been returning, that may not even be so bad. But I don’t think I’d waste valuable transfers bringing a DGW player in, only to use another to ship them out. That said, if you are thinking of playing your WC in the coming weeks, and can bring in a DGW player without too much disruption then Carlton Morris is the man I’d look to.

Morris has scored 50% of Luton’s goals this season, before you get too excited though I should tell you that only amounts to 2 goals. But two goals is two goals and it’s more than plenty of others with a more established EPL pedigree.

As mentioned, Luton’s upcoming double-header includes Burnley at home and Everton away. Whilst Luton have just a single point in their opening 5 fixtures, a trip to Goodison is about as good as it gets given that the Toffees have lost all 3 of their home games by a goal to nil. Then it’s back to Kenilworth Road to welcome a Burnley team with the worst record in the league for just about every bad stat of note. Whilst Burnley have only played a single away fixture to date, their home form suggests we shouldn’t expect too much.

I’ve seen some managers with Free Hit and Wildcard drafts that go all in on Luton and Burnley. Of course, you have to play the game your own way… I suggest it’s not that way though.

In summary, you could do a lot worse than Morris, if truth be told. Not many strikers have been doing the business and at £5.5m, you could, if budget allows, get him in as your 3rd striker and then simply leave him there till you wildcard.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 7. This article was written by Inittowint, Rosco and Jamie Mc.

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