Whether you had a good or indifferent GW13 there is little opportunity to dwell on it now as GW14 starts in earnest on Tuesday night as Crystal Palace host West Ham to kick us off again on the merry-go-round that is fantasy football. We will as ever cast an eye over the next four weeks to give you an indication as to who we feel will prosper and who will possibly falter and tell you which players we feel may do likewise. Of paramount importance though is that you are aware that this week’s deadline is on Tuesday night at 7.30pm.
Favourable Fixtures
LIVERPOOL – Norwich (H), West Ham (H), Tottenham (A), Cardiff (H)
A surprise defeat at Hull on Sunday has dented slightly what was looking to be a very promising start to the season for Liverpool. Their fans will be hoping it was just a blip though and these things can happen. Their upcoming fixtures should see them rebound nicely from this setback.
Three home games in the next four put Liverpool firmly at the top of the favourable fixtures list this week. Add in that those home games are against Norwich, West Ham and Cardiff and we expect that there will be plenty of investment in Liverpool players over the next few weeks. Liverpool are looking irresistible at home right now having notched 11 goals in their last 3 at Anfield. A visit to White Hart Lane in GW16 is their only road trip in this sequence but given that Spurs are struggling to score and Liverpool have scored 4 in their last two away then we suspect this game could well bear fruit for them as well.
Tips
With that run of fixtures we expect there will be plenty of chances for clean-sheets coming up so if you have Simon Mignolet then we suggest you play him but many may be tempted to double up for this run. With Glen Johnson now back and fit having started the last three, he usually offers some good attacking potential whilst Jon Flanagan has filled in at left-back in the last two now so could be a very cheap way to capitalise on this fixture run.
Further forward Steven Gerrard is Liverpool’s Mr Consistent still after all these years and leads their midfield points scoring by quite some distance. Apparently not the driving force he once was but 3 goals and 5 assists so far as well as being on most set-pieces he still makes a compelling case for inclusion in our sides. Phillippe Coutinho had a five week lay-off but had started the last three prior to the Hull game and he will be looking to push Gerrard in terms of production for the rest of the season. A derby day goal was his first of the season but we expect he may well kick on from here and begin to replicate the promise he showed at the end of last season. Assuming his latest ankle injury is a minor one, and judging by the woeful performances of his stand-ins Moses and Sterling on Sunday, then he will not have much trouble regaining his place once fit.
That’s it for our Liverpool tips, we can’t think of anyone else. No? Oh ok, go on then. Luis Suarez. Not got him? Get him. Especially at home. Probably captain him. Enough said.
MAN UNITED – Everton (H), Newcastle (H), Aston Villa (A), West Ham (H)
Much like Liverpool, Man United now enjoy a run of three games from the next four at home. Everton on Wednesday could well be tricky for many reasons. The visitors will be sure to be fired up facing their ex-boss for the first time and may be out to prove a point and arrive at Old Trafford in good spirits having thumped Stoke at the weekend. Don’t discount Moyes having his boys fired up as well though for the same reasons. This one could be a cracker! Beyond that though United would expect to take full advantage of next three. Newcastle are themselves finding some form but trips to Villa and West Ham at home look good on paper for them.
Tips
Patrice Evra is once again United’s outstanding points scorer in defence which is largely down to his consistency of starts compared to his team-mates but he has also chipped in with a goal and two assists so far. United have only managed a surprising three clean sheets so far this season but this may be due in part to not having a settled back-line.
One of the stranger quirks of recent seasons has been the lack of any United midfielders that have warranted inclusion in our fantasy teams and this season is no different. If Shinji Kagawa is afforded some decent game time then he may well emerge from the pack but Moyes seems uncertain as to how to fit him in, barely playing him and then when he does seemingly out of position, which is a massive shame given the glimpses we have been afforded and his undoubted quality as evidenced from his spell with Dortmund.
Wayne Rooney is the obvious choice up top for United at the moment. 8 goals and 7 assists so far suggests he is bang in form and owned by only a surprisingly low 17% of fantasy managers he is a touch of a differential still. RvP seems to be struggling with any number of injury complaints as of late but if he can return to fitness, then he too warrants our attention again having scored 4 and assisted 2 in his last four starts.
MAN CITY – West Brom (A), Southampton (A), Arsenal (H), Fulham (A)
In contrast to Liverpool and United, City have three away in the next four and their home game is against title rivals Arsenal. Despite this we feel that City are building momentum and this little spell could tell us if they are genuine title contenders which they surely must be? Their away form has been patchy but this cannot continue if their home displays are any indication of what is to come from them. This is not an easy set of fixtures by anyone’s imagination but we would not be surprised to see them come through it and emerge near the top of the league come Christmas.
Tips
City’s defence is a bit of a lottery but the imminent return of Vincent Kompany could finally give us at least one nailed on starter each week assuming he stays healthy this time!
In midfield Yaya Toure is proving to be as consistent as anyone in the league and his new found free kick speciality is delighting his fantasy managers no end. Jesus Navas arrived with a word of caution for fantasy managers as his goal rate was poor in Spain but his brace against Spurs has shown his potential in this respect and he could well put himself firmly in our thinking should that form continue. Samir Nasri has never been the same player as the one who left Arsenal since his big pay rise move to the Etihad but he seems to be firmly in favour with Pellegrini and his two goals on Sunday will only further cement this.
Sergio Aguero is the obvious choice up top so we will not dwell on him too much as his appeal is obvious and immediate and hard to ignore. The intriguing alternative is his strike partner Alvaro Negredo. We shall leave you with an interesting stat on Negredo. He has only completed 90 minutes on four occasions this season for City yet he has managed 6 goals and 3 assists. At £3.1m less than Aguero he could prove to be an excellent cheaper differential
THE BEST OF THE REST…
West Brom host City in GW14 but then have Norwich (H), Cardiff (A) and Hull (H) to follow. Gareth McAuley is West Brom’s leading scorer so far from a fantasy point of view but Sessegnon, Amilfitano and Long are all vying for our attentions at the moment.
Swansea are another that have three home fixtures in the next four. Newcastle, Hull and Everton all visit the Liberty and their away fixture is Norwich. Europa concerns do seem to be a factor for Swansea and seem to be impacting negatively on their FPL season. Three at home in four though may afford them the opportunity to get their season back on track. They may need to find a striker from somewhere though unless they decide go down the West Ham / Spain route!
Difficult Fixtures
FULHAM – Tottenham (H), Aston Villa (H), Everton (A), Man City (H)
Having finally parted company with Martin Jol, Fulham will be hoping that a new manager can turn their season around. Rene Meulensteen is that man and will be hoping that he can last longer than he did at Anzhi (16 days)! He may want to do the good old ‘new manager’ trick though and stay in the stands for a few games as their next four look a bit daunting to say the least! Villa at home may be their best chance of points in this run as Spurs and City at home offer little hope and Everton away probably none!
EVERTON – Man Utd (A), Arsenal (A), Fulham (H), Swansea (A)
Having dispatched with Stoke so easily Everton will be looking to cement their place in the top four but their ambition will be severely tested this week with trips to both Old Trafford and the Emirates within a few days. Should they come away from that double header still in the top four then maybe the Fulham and Swansea games might not start to look too bad for them.
ARSENAL – Hull (H), Everton (H), Man City (A), Chelsea (H)
Being top of the league does not make you immune from a challenging run of fixtures and that’s what Arsenal have coming up make no mistake! Hull will be no pushovers fresh from their fantastic victory over Liverpool and then the next three may well define Arsenals season one way or another. They will do well to come out of that lot with anything like the lead at the top that they currently enjoy but if they do then we have serious title contenders on our hands. Time will tell…
BE WARY OF…
Southampton are a success story so far but exactly how far they have come will, and is, being tested at the moment. Aston Villa (H), Man City (H), Newcastle (A), Spurs (H) is a challenging run for them and may well indicate whether they are serious challengers for the European slots or not.
Sunderland have a way to go to climb out of the bottom three and their upcoming fixture list may suggest that this challenge is still some way off. Chelsea and Spurs at home are followed by a trip to West Ham and then they host Norwich at home. The last one being their only decent fixture on paper and even then it’s by no means guaranteed by any stretch.
Fixture Fun
As mentioned in the intro, it is worth repeating – THIS GAME -WEEK BEGINS ON TUESDAY AT 7.30PM!
We shall be back with another Tips / Fixtures article later on in the week to prepare you for GW15 on Saturday but until then…
Good luck everyone!
This article was written by inittowinit
Good night
Would u play lukaku or bacuna
Lukaku without a doubt.
Haha is this a serious question? Lukaku easily.
In hectically preparing for the impending GW deadine, keep Yaya (whose team’s away form hasn’t been great so far) or swap for Gerrard (who supposedly has ‘easier’ games coming up)? Also, any hints of Ozil or Ramsey not playing their next game (I got both)? Cheers!
Sanchez – well if you’re looking to get Gerrard in, why not replace Ozil with him? You don’t necessarily need 2 Arsenal mids and that way you can keep Yaya. If City are going to compete for the title, then they’re going to have to perform in away games eventually.
True, Josh. Are you saving your transfer (and if so who are you bringing in/shipping out next GW)?
Nope, probably using them both. Trying to bring Rooney in. I never should have taken him out for Benteke 5 weeks ago. In that time span, Benteke has gotten me 8 points. Rooney on the other hand has gotten 52 points! That’s a 44 point difference!!
The transfer that I’ll most likely do is Ozil out for Walcott and Benteke out for Rooney. I know Walcott hasn’t started a game yet, but Ozil is the one player who I can downgrade and Walcott should get a decent run in the starting 11 at some point. Their game against Hull would be a nice start. I could downgrade Dawson, but then that would make my defense pretty weak. Unless you can think of another mid for 10.1? Although I would prefer to keep some Arsenal coverage (and don’t mention Ramsey, that ship has sailed for me).
I think that’s astute thinking, Josh. Walcott and Rooney in sounds right. (I too brought Rooney in a while back and saw him playing deep in that game plus he didn’t do much in terms of points so shipped him out! Regretting it now but I guess the show goes on!!
Awesome. About to go ahead and confirm those transfers then haha. What about you, transfers done already? And didn’t you used to link your team before? I want to see what your team looks like :popcorn:
My team is:
Migs / Boruc
Ivanovic / Mertesacker / Dawson / Coleman / Rosenior
Ozil / Yaya / Ramsey / Barkley / Ward-Prowse
Aguero / Suarez / Remy
Got something like 741pts. I might save my transfer so I can do 2-3 moves for the weekend. Need to ship out Barkley and possibly Ivanovic if he continues to do nothing (furious didn’t get old-dawg Terry as I thought he’d be rotated). I too want Rooney in instead of Remy, or either Gerrard or Hazard/Oscar instead of Barkley though still not convinced w/ either of them Chelskis. Hazard’s recent goals and assists were somewhat fortuitous ones. Might take a punt on Ramires who’s started every game and I believe did well last year during the Xmas season (he hasn’t got much in terms of pts this season tho). Man, I spend way too much time on Fantasy! Haha.
Nice team. Yeah, if you get Rooney, then you can have that ideal front 3 of Aguero, Suarez, Rooney. I’m settling for just 2 of the 3 haha. And Gerrard would be an upgrade from Barkley and I don’t think he’ll be rested much, if at all. Can you afford to get both him and Rooney??
I know right! Roones would be ideal but I would need to downgrade Ivanovic to a £3.8 cheapie (Chester? tho I already got Rosenior) and Borat to Gazzzzzzzzzaniga. And Ozil–> Wally, Yaya–>Silva AND Ward-Prowse to Johnson (4.0). Haha! 2ft and -12pt hit. Maybe shoot for this w/ January WC!
This question is for anyone really, but who should I bench for this week? I’m thinking of benching Turner, Gabbidon, and Brady. What do you guys think?
So my starting 11 would be:
Mignolet
Coleman, Dawson, Clyne
Hazard, Nasri, Walcott, R Morrison
Suarez, Rooney, Lukaku
Josh – great squad mate. I take it then you think Ham will beat Palace? I wouldn’t rule out a Palace CS at home. On balance, though, it’s a great starttng XI
Yeah I wouldn’t do that now haha too many transfers needed for that to happen. At least you have Suarez and Aguero, and Remy is the next best option if you can’t afford Rooney. Well, he and Lukaku actually
If you still want Gerrard, then downgrading Ivanovic would be the way to go. You could look at Clark/Vlaar. They have decent fixtures coming up.
blue_moon – yeah that’s what’s messing with my mind right now! Do I play Morrison or Gabbidon? Or both?? I would prefer not to have 2 players playing in the first game of the week. I can actually see it finishing 0-0… What defender would I bench in favor of Gabbidon though? Or should I even resort to playing a (gasp!) 4-3-3??
Josh – yeah, I know what you mean. My suggestion was on the basis of 4-3-3. I wouldn;t bench any of the other midfielders. My usual policy is 3-4-3, however the two occasions I played 4-3-3 served me really well. On balance, though, I’d stick with your original suggestion, but it’s a tough decision.
By the way, if it’s any consolation, I had Benteke for 6 weeks. I’m still getting over it.
Ooh that sucks. Well glad I’m not the only one! I was hoping he would break his drought against Sunderland, but he just hasn’t been the same since his injury.
Thanks for the advice though. I’m actually considering the 4-3-3 now, but one thing I just thought of is that the lineups for the Palace-West Ham game will come out about 45 minutes before the FPL deadline. If Morrison is benched again, then it’ll make my decision a little bit easier. Just something to think about. Anyway, I’m off to bed, see all you guys tomorrow!
Alvaro Morata to join Arsenal on loan till the end of the season. What do you think of that?
metro.co.uk/2013/12/02/arsenal-target-alvaro-morata-agrees-six-month-loan-move-to-emirates-stadium-from-real-madrid-4210874/
Thanks for posting this Slow!
Guys I’m about to go ahead with my transfer Baker >> Gabbidon, what do you think? My team’s linked if you need it. Thanks :bounce:
Veer – not a bad call mate for a 4th defender. Palace have some good home games coming up, and Pulis will do good things with them. You have the same dilemma as Josh as to whether to play him over Morrison this week (or you could go Dawson). Some interesting options for you re. formation.
Veer – on an unrelated matter, what was with the -24 point hit in GW 4???????
Morning all,
So my patience is finally wearing out for rvp and i have no GK (Boruc / Given)
so i’m thinking Boruc > Szcz
RVP > Roon
good move?
Morning Photek, have a quick look at Arsenals fixtures after tonight, they are quite tough! Also, just remember Rooney is on 4 yellows.
thanks init, i did see that Arsenal have EVE, city, Chel in the next 4, which aren’t easy by any stretch but when i look at other keepers like Howard, either the form or fixtures are bad.
Rooney on 4 yc is a problem, esp against his old team tomorrow, i can see him getting booked tbh.
I did a lot of searching last night for good news on RVP but i couldn’t turn up anything that made the decision any easier.
If Rooney wasn’t on 4 yc it would already be a done deal.
A comparison of Huddlestone (HULL) and Nolan (WHU). (Past 4 GW’s)
Both players have similar fixture difficulty over the coming 4 GW’s.
Huddlestone has been involved in only one of the goals Hull have scored, yet has created a comparable amount of chances to the likes of Steven Gerrard, Sergio Aguero, and Eden Hazard. Furthermore he has had a similar amount of attempts at goal to Wayne Rooney whilst receiving touching the ball on average of once per minute, equal to Gerrard, and only bettered by Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri.
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Nolan has created an equal amount of chances to that he has taken himself. Although he touches the ball over half as often as Huddlestone, he manages to create a chance roughly every 35 minutes, similar to that of Luis Suarez, and Wayne Rooney. He has been involved in some way or another of half of West Ham’s goals, and notably taking all of his attempts on goal from within the area.
Food for thought, Nolan was a good choice last season and gained me a considerable amount of points for his price tag, whilst Huddlestone could just have been unlucky not to have been involved in more of Hull’s goals thus far, and from inspection he has been the pivot of their attack.
When you say Huddleston was involved in none of the goals thus far, does this not take into account his deflected shot vs Liverpool? Anyways these 2 players fantasy wise are not prolific this season (until now at least).
My mistake KungFu, the data I use has a different definition of an assist to what FPL uses, this being a good example but another is that I have Ozil on 6 assists, where by FPL he has 7. The above post has been edited, thanks for pointing that out.
No problems Flingy! Yeah definitions differ which makes it sometimes hard to keep tabs! Liking all your stats though!