Fantasy Premier League Tips Gameweek 5

Fantasy Premier League Tips Gameweek 5

Welcome to Fantasy Premier League Tips Gameweek 5. Last season we moaned because there were limited options which lead to a template team forming early on in the season. This season we’re moaning because there’s perhaps too much choice. There’s just no pleasing some folk! Now the obvious thing with ‘too much choice’ is that you probably have more chance of actually missing out on points from players who you considered but passed over in favour of others. ‘Kane / Costa or Lukaku’ is a perfect example from this past week. They were the 3 main candidates to replace Kun. If you chose Kane then you were relieved but probably thankful for his late goal. And left hoping Costa wouldn’t do much more. He did. He went one better with a brace. And so if you chose Costa then you were probably relieved that you didn’t pick Kane and thought you were home and dry. And just left hoping that Lukaku wouldn’t do much more. Which of course he wouldn’t, would he? And of course… he did. The point here is that you can’t have everybody and you just have to hope that the one you pick is the right one. But were any of the above actually the ‘wrong one’? Not really, as they all did as you asked and scored, just some more than others, but predicting which one scores just a single, which one a brace and actually predicting a Lukaku hat-trick is beyond our capabilities in all honesty. Here’s who we think you should consider picking for this week and the next few beyond that…

Goalkeepers

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[/three_fifth]We may be just four games into the new season but the lack of clean sheets to date makes it somewhat difficult to tip keepers on the basis of their form. David de Gea, Ben Foster & Maarten Stekelenburg are the only keepers in the league with two clean sheets to their name. For those who already own de Gea you will of course be holding onto him but for those of you in the market for a premium keeper I feel at present there are a couple of better options and first up is Petr Cech. Following the opening day defeat at the hands of Liverpool they have subsequently conceded two in three. However as we’ve already noted this is a tip based on fixtures over form. Aside from the visit of Chelsea in GW6 their next six games are against teams who struggle for goals and in all likelihood it wouldn’t come as a surprise should they all end up in the relegation battle. So why Cech over his defensive colleagues? It’s pretty simple really, price. At £5.5m he’s the cheapest route into the Gunners rearguard. For those of you on a wildcard this week Cech should be on your shopping list.

After just four games of the season it would already appear that Spurs are once again likely to have one of the league’s most solid defences, they’ve kept two clean sheets and have conceded just two goals. Hugo Lloris picked up an injury in GW1 and as a result the Frenchman sat out game-weeks 2&3 and this has seen his price drop to £5.4m making him the cheapest route into their first choice defence. This price drop might appear insignificant but in the current FPL climate every penny saved is a penny gained. A quick look at their next six fixtures shows us that on paper their only difficult fixture is the visit of City in GW7, so those of you who do acquire him should see an immediate return on investment.

We realise that not everyone wants a premium keeper and so we’ll turn our attentions to a couple of cheaper options. On current form the best of the budget options would appear to be Burnley’s Tom Heaton. Burnley have kept just the one clean sheet from their opening four games but with 19pts only two keepers have picked up more. He achieved maximum bonus points in the 2-0 win over Liverpool and in three of his four games he has made in excess of three saves, so even when he doesn’t keep a clean sheet he will still pick up the points. Aside from Heaton it’s difficult to know who to turn to in the budget category. Both Pickford (£4.0m) and Jakupovic (£4.1m) could be benched over the coming weeks making them risky choices. Therefore we must looks to West Brom’s Ben Foster. All is not well with the Baggies but they will regularly find a way to stifle the opposition and meaning Foster will pick up clean sheets.

Defenders

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[/three_fifth]As we’ve alluded to above Arsenal have some great fixtures over the coming weeks and therefore we expect them to pick up a number of clean sheets in this period. Our #1 tip from the Arsenal defence is of course Petr Cech but for those of you who are happy with your keepers you may want to look to the men in front of him. Thanks to his goal against Southampton at the weekend Laurent Koscielny is perhaps the obvious choice but a quick look at the underlying stats would suggest that Hector Bellerin will once again be the one to own. Unsurprisingly he leads Koscielny in most of the offensive categories and also leads a number of the defensive categories. Interestingly in the recent scoreless draw with Leicester it was Bellerin who picked up maximum bonus points and this is often a good indicator as to where the defensive bonus points will go over the course of the season. Nacho Monreal also has some decent underlying stats but for me it’s a choice between Bellerin & Koscielny. If they were both the same price Bellerin would be the easy choice but with the Spaniard currently valued at £6.5m he’s £0.5m more expensive than Koscielny. If you can afford the £6.5m our advice is to get Bellerin but if you’re short on the cash we have no issue in also recommending Koscielny.

Having already tipped Hugo Lloris we feel it wise to also include a Spurs defender this week. Toby Alderweireld was undoubtedly the Spurs defender to own last season but with the Belgian now priced at £6.5m I feel there’s better value to be had, particularly in the form of Kyle Walker. The English international has enjoyed an impressive start to the season having picked up two assists to date and this has seen him pick up bonus points in three out of four games and he represents great value at just £5.6m. It’s this attacking threat coupled with Spurs ability to keep clean sheets which makes Walker a tempting prospect. The issue with Walker is that he is likely to suffer a certain amount of rotation now that the CL has kicked off but should he not start a game it’s unlikely he will come on for a cameo so as long as you have some solid options on your bench you should in theory be able to cope with such rotation.

For the first time this season Everton started with their first choice back 4 against Sunderland on Monday night and duly picked up their 2nd clean sheet of the season. At £5.5m Leighton Baines is the most expensive of the back 4 but his attacking instincts coupled with the fact he’s on penos makes him in our opinion the best option. Aside from a trip to face City in GW8 the Toffees have some great fixtures and this should see Baines & co pick up another couple of clean sheets. Should you be strapped for cash we would opt for Phil Jagielka over Ashley Williams as he offers a slightly better goal threat. Although should Williams once again become a baps magnet we could make the switch to the Welshman.

Finally, a number of budget friendly defenders who may be worth some consideration over the coming weeks are Bournemouth’s Adam Smith and Watford’s Jose Holebas. It was Bournemouth’s Brad Smith who came in for some FPL interest before the season kicked off as it appeared as though we might have had a £4.0m starter on our hands, but alas it was not to be. However Adam has enjoyed a great start to the season with a goal and an assist already to his name. Bournemouth are faced with a trip to the Etihad this weekend but following this the have a relatively straightforward fixture list over the coming weeks and we could very well see Smith remain amongst the points. OK, had Holebas not scored at the weekend the chances of him featuring in this article were quite slim. But score he did. What’s most interesting about the Greek international is the fact that he’s being played as a wing back and is getting forward with every opportunity. Watford are yet to keep a clean sheet but they have had a number of difficult fixtures and while they have another tricky fixture this weekend with the visit of United their fixtures become significantly better from GW6 and they should at that stage pick up a clean sheet or two.

Midfielders

It’s such a shame that FPL managers cannot take a leaf out of Jürgen Klopp’s book and load up on midfielders, against Leicester on Saturday he started seven of them! Unfortunately we don’t have that luxury and we must choose just five. The problem is there’s so much choice this season and it’s made even more complicated by a number of teams offering up multiple options. So let’s take a look at these teams.

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[/three_fifth]First up is the aforementioned Liverpool midfield. Liverpool have scored nine goals in their first four games with all nine goals being scored by midfielders. Coutinho, Firmino, Mane & Lallana each have two goals apiece while James Milner weighed in with a penalty. Add to this two assists for Georginio Wijnaldum and an assist each for Lallana, Milner, Firmino & Mane and you will see what a complicated mess it is. Just to complicate it even further the bonus points have also been shared evenly among the midfielders. All of this leaves Firmino on 24pts, Lallana on 23pts, Coutinho on 20pts and Mane also on 20pts. As you can see there’s little to separate the four after the opening four game-weeks. With so little separating them we must turn to their underlying stats and for those who have watched Liverpool this season it will hardly come as a surprise to learn that Roberto Firmino has the most impressive stats of the four and it’s for this reason that he’s our #1 tip from the scouse midfield. When discussing the Liverpool midfield ahead of GW1 I chose to ignore Adam Lallana as I was sure he’d be outshone by the others and I wasn’t convinced he’d start regularly. How wrong I was. He has started each of the four games and has come to embody everything Klopp wants from his players. Against Leicester he covered 13.1km which is more than any other player in the English top flight this season. Add to this his new found end product in front of goal and he looks set to be one of Liverpool’s most important players this season. From an FPL perspective he currently represents excellent value for money at just £7.1m and represents the cheapest route into an attack which is likely to rack up the goals over the course of the season.

Next we’ll turn our attentions to the Manchester City midfield. City have played four & won four and already top the scoring charts with 11 goals. So where do we start? The obvious options are Kevin de Bruyne & David Silva and then you have the likes of Sterling & Nolito while both Leroy Sane and Jesus Navas will also figure. We all expected that de Bruyne would do well under Pep and with a goal and three assists from the first four games this is certainly the case. United just couldn’t cope with his movement and technique on Saturday and he demonstrated an air of confidence that suggested he’ll comfortably improve on last season’s seven goals and ten assists. At £10.5m he’s the 2nd most expensive midfielder but you get what you pay for and with an ownership of just 6.2% he currently represents a great differential. Raheem Sterling has enjoyed a great start to the season under Pep and this has seen him claim a pair of goals and assists, and he was rewarded for his impressive start by being named Premier League player of the month for August. The issue I have with Sterling is Leroy Sane, who replaced him after 59 minutes of the Manchester derby. After 59 ineffective minutes Pep had no hesitation in hauling Sterling off. Obviously it remains to be seen what sort of an impact the German will have but he will certainly be given every opportunity and this could very well impact on Sterling’s minutes. Silva has always oozed class and this has been very evident this season but this has translated into a solitary assist and there is the potential that he will become the player who assists the assister. Nolito has enjoyed a great start to life in Manchester with two goals and an assist already to his name but like Sterling I have an issue with his game time, it’s not like he’s going to score twice every time he comes off the bench with 22 minutes left. So there you have it, if you want a City midfielder spend the cash and get KDB!

Next we come to the perennial underachievers Arsenal. The Gunners haven’t enjoyed the best of starts to the season but have won their last two scoring five times in the process while they also scored three in their opening weekend defeat to Liverpool. On the face of it we currently have three options to choose from in the form of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil & Santi Cazorla. In terms of minutes played there’s little to separate Sanchez & Cazorla with the Chilean playing 298 minutes compared to the Spaniards 282 minutes while Ozil lags behind on 177 minutes. Cazorla currently leads Sanchez by 28pts to 22pts so there is very little to separate them. Thanks to his returns in recent seasons Sanchez is the obvious choice and come the end of the season he is quite likely to be the highest scoring of the three. There is also the argument that Cazorla wont score a penalty every week but with the way referees are currently dishing them out he should get the opportunity from the spot regularly enough. While his two goals have been from the spot Cazorla is matching Sanchez in terms of underlying stats and in some categories he leads the way. We’re not forgetting about Ozil, however it appears as though he’s yet to get up to speed and therefore we currently see it as a choice between Sanchez & Ozil. Given the fact that Cazorla is currently £3.4m cheaper than Sanchez and also that his underlying stats are quite impressive our current preference between the two is actually Cazorla.

The final midfield we’re analysing this week is West Ham and here we have a straight choice between Dimitri Payet and Michail Antonio. Before the season kicked off this appeared to be a no brainer, Payet all day long. Thanks mainly to Payet’s talent but also the fear that Antonio would once again play at right back. These fears came to fruition in GW1 when Antonio started at right back. Since then however he has been fielded in a more advanced position and this has seen him score four in three games. Thanks to the Euro’s and an injury Payet’s season really only started against Watford on Saturday and what a start it was as he picked up a couple of assists one of which came courtesy of a fabulous rabona. Given Antonio’s current form and the fact that he’s currently £2.3m cheaper than Payet we have no hesitancy in tipping Antonio over Payet!

Of course there are options outside of these four teams and a number of players who are currently of interest to us are Etienne Capoue (obviously!), Robert Snodgrass and Wilfried Zaha. Ahead of GW1 we highlighted Capoue for those of you wanting a £4.5m midfielder. However we weren’t quite expecting a return of three goals, an assist and eight bonus points from his first four games which has left him as the highest scoring player in the game. The question now on many people’s lips is whether or not the Frenchman can now be considered as a 4th midfielder and given his current form we feel as though he can. Following this weekend’s visit of United the Hornets have a great run of fixtures and we expect Capoue to remain amongst the points. Snodgrass clearly hasn’t reached the heights of Capoue but with two goals and five bonus points already he has enjoyed an impressive start to the season. Hull have some tricky fixtures coming up but we expect Snodgrass to be at the heart of their attacking play. According to Alan Pardew, Zaha is good enough to play for Barcelona. Whatever! Against Middlesbrough on Saturday he did however give us a glimpse of his capabilities with a goal and an assist. His direct style and willingness to shoot means he warrants some consideration particularly if he can harness that talent.

Forwards

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[/three_fifth]Zlatan Ibrahimovic now features in a staggering 63.2% of teams. With four goals and six bonus points over the first four game-weeks he has already repaid those who’ve had him from the beginning. Against City last Saturday United were quite poor and Zlatan was anonymous for large parts of the game but following the mistake by Bravo the Swede produced a finish that not many others would have been capable of. United enter the Europa League this week which means they will play Thursdays and Sundays and we’ve all seen the problems this has caused for other teams in the past. However United should have a squad big enough to deal with this and we don’t expect Zlatan to feature in these Europa games. Given his form and his ownership figures those FPL managers who have to date done without the Swede are taking somewhat of a gamble. Yes he’s expensive but he’s fixture proof and is a readymade captain, something we can only say about a small handful of players. Owning Ibra would appear to be a no brainer but with Kun set to return in GW6 can we afford to have such a massive chunk of our budget tied up in just two players particularly with so many options available in midfield and options also starting to emerge up top. Only time will tell.

GW4 saw both Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku open their accounts for the season. Kane endured a miserable European championships and this carried into the Premier League as once again he failed to score in August, he’s never scored a PL goal in August. He’s looked completely off the pace this season and while he didn’t look great against Stoke he is now off the mark and there’s every chance the goals will now begin to flow. The return of Mousa Dembele should also have a positive impact on Kane’s return as it is a widely held belief that Kane performs much better when the Belgian is on the pitch. Aside from the visit of City in GW7 Spurs have some great fixtures over the coming weeks and we fully expect to see Kane on the scoresheet a number of times. I’m not quite sure if the old saying ‘form is temporary class is permanent’ can be applied to Lukaku but over the last four seasons he has scored 60 goals which is rather impressive for such a frustrating player. The key is clearly to own him at the right time and with five goals in his last two games for club & country now would appear to be the right time. Everton’s fixtures would also appear to suggest that now is the right time. Both Kane & Lukaku clearly have the abilities to become alternatives to Ibra & Kun, and at £10.9m & £9.1m respectively they will free up some cash to be spent elsewhere.

Everyone’s favourite cretin certainly deserves a mention this week. Of course we’re referring to none other than Diego Costa. The Brazilian has scored four times to date and against Swansea he even managed to pick up maximum bonus against Swansea although many would argue he shouldn’t have been on the pitch when he scored his 2nd. Despite his ability to pick up yellow cards he always finds a way not to pick up a 2nd yellow. Chelsea have a number of difficult fixtures over the coming weeks but form over fixtures would certainly suggest that Costa should be considered.

A number of other strikers who we feel warrant a mention this week are Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke, Watford’s Troy Deeney, Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe and Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson. Palace have struggled in front of the opposition goal this season with just three goals from four games. Benteke didn’t have the ideal pre-season as he didn’t feature in any of Liverpool’s friendlies so it will take him some time to get up to speed. His goal last weekend will have given his confidence a boost and I wouldn’t be surprised should this be the first of many. As we’ve already mentioned Watford’s figures take a turn for the better after this weekend and with an ownership of just 3.2% Deeney could be an excellent differential. Their comeback against West Ham will have done wonders for them while Deeney’s goal should serve as a reminder of his qualities. Only for Stoke are so bad Sunderland would be bottom. They’re terrible and I’ll wager anybody’s money that come the end of the season they’ll be knee deep in the relegation battle. However in Jermain Defoe they have a striker who knows where the goal is and will always score on a fairly consistent basis. Given the style of football Eddie Howe wants Bournemouth to play they will always create chances. Wilson enjoyed a great start to life in the PL last season but injury cut his season short. He’s started slowly this season but just like Benteke & Deeney he scored his first goal of the season last weekend and at £6.4m he could be the ideal 3rd striker.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Premier League Tips Gameweek 5. This article was written by Kop Warrior

Follow @KenLyons79

Fixture Tracker – the next 6 games