Fantasy Premier League Tips – Gameweek 26 FPL
Ours tears of joy or despair relating to GW25 are not yet dry and GW26 is already upon us and with it the trials and tribulations that a midweek game-week brings. Some will revel in the short time between game-weeks as they are forced to make quick decisions while other will struggle as they don’t have the necessary time required to analyse all of their options. Whichever category you fall into one thing is for sure and that is that GW26 is another chance for each and every one of us to move up the rankings. As a result of the short time period between game-weeks we have once again decided to take a slightly different approach to our weekly tips article and rather than tipping specific players we have instead decided to discuss a number of current issues.
The West Ham Defence
It’s hard to believe that West Ham have now kept more clean sheets in the Premier League than any other team but with 12 clean sheets from 25 games that is exactly what they have done. The great news for us fantasy managers is that four of these clean sheets have come in their last five games! With stats like these it’s hard to believe that none of their backline feature in more than 3% of teams so it’s clear that the entire Hammers defence represents a differential. So who do you choose? Goalkeeper Adrian is in great form and has picked up 37 points from his last five games, there are plenty of forwards who haven’t scored that well and at just £4.3m he represents a great bargain. Picking one of their defenders does present one or two difficulties as no one is 100% certain as to what their first choice back 4 is! However once again our tip is James Collins who has started the last four games and it’s worth noting that he has picked up bonus points in each of the last three and at just £4.1m, like Adrian, he is a bargain. If you have a little extra cash to spend you might want to consider Guy Demel who has spent considerably more time on the pitch than any of his defensive colleagues. Finally, not only are the Hammers in great form defensively they also a number of relatively straightforward fixtures coming up with three of the next five at Upton Park.
The Manchester City Attack
City have now gone two games without scoring!! While this might not be news for the majority of teams it should be remembered that City had scored 68 in their previous 23 games which is basically three goals per game. Granted Sergio Aguero is injured but you would have expected Negredo & Co to have too much for Norwich, perhaps they are more reliant on the Argentinian than we imagined. The loss of Fernandinho has also been felt as it curbs Yaya Toure’s ability to surge forward. So where does that leave us fantasy managers? Given the fact that they have back to back home games against Sunderland and Stoke before their blank in GW28 we fully expect them to be back amongst the goals. Against Norwich, Pellegrini started with Jovetic & Negredo, with Dzeko replacing Jovetic after 61 minutes and Negredo being replaced after 77 minutes and after the game he admitted that neither Negredo nor Dzeko were 100% fit. Should you have either Negredo or Dzeko in your side our advice to you would be to stick, however should you not have any of the three but want one of them for the next two games we would suggest Jovetic. The Montenegrin will be eager to prove he has a future at the Etihad and he signifies a superb differential featuring in just 0.4% of teams.
Problems at Arsenal?
Despite being hammered 5-1 by a rampant Liverpool side in Saturday’s early kick-off, Arsenal are 2nd in the table just one point behind Chelsea and they haven’t turned into a bad team overnight. However, how should they be viewed from a fantasy football perspective? If you were to look at their upcoming league fixtures in isolation you would probably think that there was nothing to be concerned about as three of their next four are at home. What the league fixtures don’t show is the fact that they have an FA Cup tie this coming weekend against Liverpool and next Wednesday they host Bayern Munich in the Champions League. So which if any of their players can still be considered a fantasy asset? Aside from their calamities against City and Liverpool the Gunners have been pretty sound defensively keeping 11 clean sheets and despite these two big defeats they still boast the 2nd best defence in the league. As a result the likes of Szczesny, Mertesacker & Koscielny have proved quite popular and many managers have doubled up on Arsenal at the back. Our advice to those of you who still have double Arsenal coverage at the back is that it might be time to drop one of them and if we had to tip an Arsenal defender for the coming game-weeks it would be Laurent Koscielny as we feel he represents the best value for money. Moving into midfield and Arsenal have been hit hard with injuries to both Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott, while Mesut Ozil has been a massive disappointment since GW15. Should you feel the need to have an Arsenal attacker in your side for the coming weeks our recommendation would be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin who impressed in the recent win over Crystal Palace and while his more senior colleagues wilted against Liverpool, the Ox at least attempted to take the fight to them. Up top Olivier Giroud has picked up three goals and an assist in his last six games which isn’t actually that bad, but when you take a look around there are a number of strikers who offer better value for money than the Frenchman who is currently priced at £8.8m.
Steven Gerrard
Liverpool’s captain fantastic has to a certain extent polarised opinion amongst fantasy managers since his return to the side from injury. An injury to Lucas coupled with Brendan Rodgers desire to field Coutinho, Sterling, Suarez & Sturridge in attack has led to Gerrard being fielded in a defensive midfield role. Prior to his injury he had scored three as well as assisting seven in just ten games and many felt that his points returns would be somewhat diminished due to his deeper role. However, this has not been the case and in the five games he has started he has scored three and assisted two. Admittedly two of the goals were penalties while the two assists were from dead balls, but we feel the fact that he has the majority of the set pieces in his locker is a massive plus. Granted we are unlikely to see Gerrard breaking forward in the manner in which he has done over the years meaning his goals from open play are likely to take a hit, however as he becomes more accustomed to his new role we feel his assists from open play will be unaffected as he sprays long passes forward for Suarez & Sturridge. Given his current form he represents a great differential as he features in just 8.1% of teams and is also great value for money at just £8.9m.
Is Triple Liverpool a Possibility?
Doubling up on players from the same team in the one position is often frowned upon by many fantasy managers but doubling up on Arsenal or Everton at the back has at times worked quite well this season, while those managers who currently have the SAS up top in their team are probably quite happy. The question now is whether or not to take it to the next level and go for triple Liverpool in attack. The initial response from most managers is likely to be one of derision but let’s take a quick look at this as a possibility. First and foremost is the fact that Liverpool have scored 21 goals in their last eight games with the likes of Gerrard & Sterling chipping in along with the likely lads up front, it should also be noted that Phillippe Coutinho has been in better form of late and has been unlucky not to pick up more fantasy points. Second of all is the fact that their upcoming fixtures suggest that the goals are unlikely to dry up, although four of their next six games are away from home and it is worth noting that 60% of their goals have come at Anfield. Finally and indeed quite significantly, is the fact that the Champions & Europa Leagues both kick off again next week meaning we are likely to see a certain amount of rotation at Chelsea, Arsenal, City, United and Spurs. Unfortunately for Liverpool and their fans, they are not involved in Europe, but this is great news for us fantasy managers as it means that Brendan Rodgers will continue to field his strongest team in each and every league game. So as you can see the notion of fielding three is perhaps not as crazy as it sounds, the only question is which three. We will assume that Suarez & Sturridge are likely to be two of the three meaning you will want to choose one of their midfields. Should you have cash to spare our advice would be to go for Gerrard, whom we have already discussed above. Conversely, should money be tight we would suggest you consider Raheem Sterling who is slowly but surely proving his doubters wrong by turning in consistent displays rather than a moment of magic here and there.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Premier League Tips, this article was written by Kop Warrior.
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Think it’s time oscar comes out of my team, a great player but not up to it in terms of FPL. Who should I replace him with? Unsure if I should downgrade to a less midfielder then try for rvp… My other midfielders are lallana, mata Barkley and noone, cheers
Duthers – I’m in the same boat, my planned transfer for tonight was Oscar to Hazard. With all these news about games being postponed I’ll be waiting for tomorrow to pull the trigger even knowing Hazard is rising tonight another 0.1.
yeah me too!
the hatty really put me behind this week, but i looked at oscar’s weeks and he usualy has a few blanks then a big points haul,so i think i’ll be keeping him for a few more weeks at least…
hopefully he delivers soon!
great article kop (and innit too for today’s earlier one)!
it’s a great job you lot do, especially to do articles for game weeks such as this, must be quite a hard job!
such a small amount od time between them…
Cheers Billis, we’re just happy that you and everyone else enjoy the articles and the chat on the site.
Thanks Bob :thumbup:
no probs!
i think it must be very hard to deliver articles on a weekly basis on top of work too!
it really is something great this site – the community and the articles really are quality!
I said this earlier.. Near the top of page one.
Thank you. Your work IS appreciated.
All of you x
Cheers Demsie
Thanks Demsie, we all enjoy doing it and thank you for being a part of it all. That goes for everyone. Except when its mid-week games straight away – we hate those!!!
Ha ha ! I can tell the articles have been written through gritted teeth 😉
if you ever need any help innit & co i’d be more than happy to help!
not that i’d be much good compared to you lot!
only my seccond season, i only bought kun recently, and still dont have hazard or YYT!
but nonetheless, if you’re desperate, you know who to call 😉
Yeah billis, same here, I doubt I would produce quality work like you guys, but I’d be happy to at least try and make a contribution.
Thanks guys we shall bear it in mind. I imagine yours might take a little bit of editing though Bob :p
I can see it now though Tekno –
This article was written by a wannabe Nazi commander…..
Not sure what Google search would make of that
that did make me smile!
there could always be a who not to pick atricle! 😉
Don’t bother coming to me.. Under ANY circumstances. !!
Fulham should seriously be ashamed of themselves and don’t deserve to stay in the prem if they get away with cancelling the liverpool game because they are knackered from the United game! Tube strike my arse! If the Arsenal game can go ahead then the Fulham game can!
If the game doesn’t go ahead you would still be mental to transfer out Sturridge or Suarez!
Did they not play Sheff Utd the last time a strike was on, too?
Yeah good question! Anybody know if they did?
That’s what I don’t get Mark. Arsenal have come out and more or less just shrugged their shoulders at it all. I really can’t see Fulham getting away with it, I’ll be shocked if it’s not on.
Last season didn’t Arsenal and West Ham have their game postponed because of a rail strike?
Horse you are spot on it was Arsenal v West Ham on Boxing Day 2012. Arsenal do seem to be unperturbed this time though and I saw a quote earlier saying they did not consider it to be of a concern to them this time.
I’ve had a bit of a defensive nightmare recently and the guy I bought in to use my Aguero money was Terry. Who hasn’t played a game since ! Brilliant.
Back 7 of
Marshall Mannone
Sagna Terry Azpi Bruce Vlaar
Should I swap out Terry for a another premium ? Or leave him in. At the min I have 2 starting defs but I don’t really want to play Vlaar this week. Tezz back next GW. I’m unsure of a defensive plan. And if liv match is off I’ll be 5 down and pulling my hair off.
I know we get the teams before deadline and all that but Any ideas on a bit of a plan ? So I know where I’m going…
Ooh I have 1FT and 1 mil itb
Demsie how about switching Terry to Coleman? Palace at home so I would expect a good chance of a clean sheet plus he’s the top points scoring defender for a reason. Evertons fixture run isn’t too bad either I dont think.
That’s actually a really good shout mate and it’s what I’ll do i don’t have 3 defs starting. It just pains me to get rid of Terry with him not even playing a game for me but I suppose you gotta masked these tough choices.
If Bruce plays and the LFC goes ahead, would you be happy to save the FT ? and play Azpi, Sagna Bruce ? 2Ft would come in real handy very soon I’m thinking..
Well Bruce hasn’t played the last 2 either so Coleman, Azpi, Sagna looks better to me. I know the FT would be great to keep but you may be down to 10 men otherwise. Probably best to wait it out and see if Vlaar starts. I can’t honestly remember the news on him from today but I think it may have been that he had an outside chance.
Cheers chicken.. I must admit those 3 do look a lot better and being down to 10 is not cool. I’ll wait for the lineups tonight.
Thanks for the help mate
i heard terry didn’t play as a precaution and was slightly injured, so i’d expect him to start this week
for the short term though, Southampton have great fixtures, and fonte or shaw are bargains imo.
Cheers billis mate but Jose has come out today saying that Terry is missing this GW also.. So a decision needs to be made.
oh okay sorry demsie
like i said though, southamton’s next 5 are Hull City, West Ham, Liverpool(not so great) Crystal Palace & Norwich so not so bad on that front.
maybe a man c defender possibly?
They havent been fab at the back but they haven’t been terrible.
a good pick i think would be ivanovic!
straight replacemant and he has an assist, a goal and 5 bps in his last two!
Also. That pic of James Collins is phenomenal. Deserves a mention imo
Hahaha! It’s brilliant.. he best not rise tonight!
If Bruce is starting, and Vlaar isn’t, should I still take out Bruce?
As in the long term, Vlaar will play, whilst Bruce won’t…
…however, taking out Bruce would mean having to play Sagna…
…any thoughts / opinions would be much appreciated!
i think i’ll have to play kos is gabbidon doesnt play again…
then again, are man u really better in attack than everton?
but yeah, i’d get bruce out, maybe put in fabio if you want to keep a cheap defender. I think he’s the best in his price range…
a sunderland defender wouldn’t be a bad shout either!
Yeah you are probably best doing that James – take out Bruce I think. I expect Arsenal will keep this one tight anyway so Sagna may not be the worst punt for the week if it’s needs must.
Bob, Sunderland have City, Arsenal, Blank and Liverpool!
yyyeeaahhhhh…
forgot about that…
mannone served me well so that’s the lines i was thinking along, but they certainly aren’t the team to be betting on for the next few weeks though!
sorry about that.
I’ll omit you from the shortlist for the new Fixtures article writer then eh… 😉
i guess this name will keep on growing then!
It will be an article itself soon Bob