Kop’s Bargain Basement – Fantasy Premier League tips 2014/15

Kop’s Bargain Basement – Fantasy Premier League tips 2014/15

You cannot be serious? Seriously, £100m? You cannot be serious? Every year it appears to become harder to pick a squad of 15 players for just £100m. I’m not sure how much truth there is in that, but what I am sure about is the fact that you simply cannot fill your team with superstars, you need to pick up a couple of bargains so that you can balance the books. Unfortunately, at this stage of the season it can be somewhat difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff! Below I have outlined a number of potential bargains, some risky some not so risky, it’s now up to you to decide how to best balance your squad. However before we move on I should outline the parameters I set myself, for both goalkeepers and defenders I didn’t consider anyone above £4.5m while for midfielders and forwards I didn’t consider anyone above £6.0m.

Goalkeepers
First up is Newcastle’s Tim Krul. Granted Newcastle didn’t cover themselves in glory last season and ended up conceding 59 goals, meaning they had the 6th worst defence in the league. Despite this, Krul still managed to keep 10 clean sheets and only for him the Geordies would have fared much worse. As a result of Newcastle’s poor form Krul has dropped from £5.0m to £4.5m and at this price I feel he could prove to be excellent value for money. Pardew has made what appear to be a number of astute signings further up the field and this is likely to alleviate a lot of the pressure which the Newcastle defence found themselves under last season. Following the opening day visit from reigning champions City, Newcastle have a great run of fixtures from which they will hope to pick up a number of clean sheets. It’s also worth noting that Newcastle rotate perfectly with Sunderland throughout the season, although we first need to establish Sunderland’s no.1.

There are a number of keepers who were priced at £5.0m last season but due to poor form their price has dropped to £4.5m this season, namely Brad Guzan at Villa and Ben Foster at West Brom. Now while I expect both Villa & West Brom to improve this season I would strongly suggest you avoid both for now until we can determine if they have improved defensively. If we can establish who is going to start the season between the sticks for Sunderland they then become a decent choice and personally I suspect that Poyet will go with Vito Mannone.

Every season the three promoted clubs offer up some great value for money, the trick is identifying the correct players before everyone else! Looking at the number of goals conceded in the Championship last season there is little to choose between the three keepers; Leicester conceded 43, Burnley 37 and QPR 44. Of the three my choice would be QPR’s Rob Green. ‘Arry has brought in both Rio Ferdinand & Steven Caulker and while Rio isn’t the player he once was, his partnership with Caulker is likely make QPR a solid unit at the back. Of the three the R’s probably have the easiest start to the season which also works in Greens favour. For now I’d avoid both Tom Heaton at Burnley unless they bring in a couple a defenders with some Premier League experience and Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichael as the Foxes have a horrid start to the season.

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Defenders
Let’s start by taking a look at those priced at £4.0m, although at this stage of the season it is somewhat unclear as to which £4.0m defenders will start for their respective clubs, but there are a couple of possibilities. First up is Andre Wisdom who has just joined West Brom on-loan for the season. Granted West Brom were quite poor last season but I reckon that new manager Alan Irvine will tighten things up at the back and this will see the Baggies pick up more clean sheets than last season. Wisdom spent last season on-loan at Derby in the Championship where he played as an attacking full-back, a role he could quite possibly take up with the Baggies. I would recommend you treat Wisdom with a degree of caution though as Irvine has signed Costa Rican full-back Cristian Gamboa, although Gamboa can play further up the pitch if required while Wisdom can also play centre half, so all may not be lost!

A couple of other £4.0m pound defenders worth monitoring are Southampton’s Jos Hooiveld and Leicester’s Matthew Upson. Hooiveld only played a bit part for the Saints last season, but with both Dejan Lovren having departed for Anfield and Jose Fonte also linked with a move away from the club Hooiveld might just get more of an opportunity this season. Obviously Leicester defenders are to be avoided for the opening six game-weeks, but during this opening period to the season we will see if Upson is likely to be a regular starter and if he is, he could be worth some consideration once Leicester have made it through this period. Another £4.0m defender who is worth keeping an eye on is Southampton’s Matt Targett. With the Saints having sold full backs Luke Shaw and Callum Chambers there is a chance that the 18 year will be given a chance to impress at left back and for what it’s worth he has started each of Southampton’s last three pre-season games thus far. The concern with Southampton though is that having sold so many of their stars from last season, there is a possibility that they could implode this season! Finally, Burnley’s Michael Duff made 40 appearances for the club last season and is therefore worth monitoring, however it is quite likely that Sean Dyche will bring in a new centre half and has already had two bids for West Brom’s Craig Dawson turned down.

Of course there is a whole plethora of defenders priced at £4.5m who will play regularly but obviously the key is to identify the ones who are likely to amass the most points, whether that’s through clean sheets or goals & assists. For me, of all the defenders priced at £4.5m it is Newcastle’s Fabricio Coloccini who currently looks like offering the best value for money. Colo has struggled with injury over the past two seasons but it has been reported that the Argentine has been putting in extra work over the summer to ensure he plays the full season and should he be fit for the entire season I feel that Newcastle will improve on the 10 clean sheets they amassed last season. With new boy Siem de Jong having been made vice-captain I imagine Coloccini will be keen to lay down a marker to show that he’s still the captain.

Both Hull and in particular Crystal Palace offered up some great value for money at the back last season and hopefully they will do so again this season! Hull provide us with three defenders priced at £4.5m, namely Maynor Figueroa, Liam Rosenior & James Chester all of whom appear likely to start the season for the Tigers. It’s worth noting that Rosenior scored one and picked up three assists in Hull’s final 12 matches last season and this might just give him the edge over the others. Perhaps unsurprisingly three of Palace’s regular back 4 from last season have had their prices increased to £5.0m, however Adrian Mariappa remains at £4.5m and therefore he is likely to prove a popular choice this season. I should also point out at this stage that both clubs have relatively easy starts to the season and should offer up some early season clean sheets.

A couple of full-backs who are worth some consideration are Neil Taylor of Swansea and Sunderland’s new signing Billy Jones. With Ben Davies having moved to Spurs, Neil Taylor will in all likelihood reclaim the left back slot which he lost to Davies at the beginning of the 2012/13 season after he broke his ankle. Swansea weren’t at their best last season, however I suspect that Gary Monk will go back to basics and will try to make them difficult to beat. Aside from trips to face United & Chelsea in game-weeks 2&4 the Swans have a number of early season fixtures from which they could quite easily pick up a number of clean sheets. Following the departure of Phil Bardsley to Stoke, Sunderland moved quickly and replaced him with Billy Jones. Should you decide that you want some Sunderland defensive coverage at the beginning of the season my tip would be Jones until we can firmly establish who the first choice keeper is.

Before we move onto the midfield let’s take a quick look at the three promoted teams. Unfortunately there’s not much to get excited by from any of the three! Had Leicester not been handed the fixtures from hell to open their season I would certainly be recommending Richie de Laet who picked up two goals and five assists in the Championship last season, for now I’d suggest we wait and see how Leicester negotiate these fixtures. Rio Ferdinand obviously isn’t the player he once was but if he can keep himself fit throughout the season he could prove popular at just £4.5m.

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Midfielders
So onto the midfield minefield! With the most commonly used formation in fantasy football still being 3-4-3 we often choose to pick up a cheap 5th midfielder and understandably so, although a quick look at last season’s £4.5m players tells us that the highest scoring of these players only amassed 69 points! So let’s take a look at this season’s £4.5m players, although I already suspect that there will be slim pickings. Marc Albrighton currently features in just over 12% of teams but as NZ Alex pointed out in his profile of Leicester, Albrighton’s stats leave a lot to be desired. If you’re hell bent on having a £4.5m midfielder you could always consider Cheick Tiote from Newcastle who will be a regular for the Geordies but is unlikely to score you many points. In all honesty, I’d recommend steering clear of the £4.5m midfielders for now, just wait & see which of them show some form.

Moving onto those midfielders priced at £5.0m and luckily for us fantasy managers there are quite a few here that are worth some consideration. First up is Southampton’s Steven Davis who chipped in with two goals & seven assists last season and finished the season with 110 points. Clearly there has been big changes at St Mary’s over the summer and it remains to be seen whether or not Davis is handed a regular spot although I suspect he will and he could therefore prove to be value for money again this season.

Aston Villa were anything but impressive last season but one player who caught the eye from time to time was Ashley Westwood and he ended the season with three goals & two assists. For those of you who are building a squad for just the opening three game-weeks well then Westwood could be worth some consideration as Villa’s opening three fixtures offer them the chance to get off to a decent start.

I doubt there have been many players who have moved from Sunderland to Newcastle or vice versa over the years but that is exactly what Jack Colback did earlier this summer, albeit on a free transfer. The ginja ninja is hardly a point’s magnet but he did weigh in with three goals and three assists for Sunderland last season and should he be afforded regular starts by Pardew I suspect he could become quite popular. It’s also worth noting that he has had his share of corners in Newcastle’s opening pre-season games although I’m not sure if this will continue.

New boys Burnley offer up a trio of potential £5.0m midfielders; Matt Taylor, Michael Kightly and Scott Airfield. Taylor didn’t have a great time at West Ham, however if he can rediscover his form from his Bolton & Pompey days (39 PL goals in 9 seasons) he could prove decent value for money. Kightly & Airfield managed 13 goals & 9 assists between them last season and if they can replicate this form they too could become possibilities.

Moving onto those midfielders priced at £5.5m and there are two that immediately caught my attention and they are Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic and Stoke’s new signing Steve Sidwell. Granted, Matic plays as a defensive midfielder for Chelsea but he still managed to chip in with 4 assists in 17 appearances last season, while he also chipped in with 6 goals in 56 appearances for Benfica. Sidwell managed to pick up seven goals and two assists last season, which may not sound impressive but it’s worth remembering that he was playing for a terrible Fulham side.

We finish our midfield round up with a trio priced at £6.0. Obviously these guys are too expensive to be your 5th midfielder unless you plan on playing 5 in midfield, but they are potentially strong enough to be your 4th midfielder. The three players in question are Swansea’s prodigal son Gylfi Sigurdsson, Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon and Robert Snodgrass of Hull. Will we ever forget the impact that Siggy had on fantasy football when he joined Swansea on loan in January of 2012? In just 18 appearances he went on claim 7 goals and 5 assists, happy memories. He then joined Spurs in July 2012 and to be honest his career stalled at White Hart Lane, making just 26 starts over the two seasons. However when he did feature for Spurs he still looked impressive. Should he manage to recapture his form from his first stint at Swansea he could prove to be phenomenal value. Puncheon has become somewhat of a cult figure for one member of the FF247 team and that is hardly surprising when you consider that he has picked up 12 goals and 9 assists in his past two seasons. If Palace can pick up from where they left off last season and given their fixtures this is a distinct possibility well Puncheon could wind his way into many of our teams. Following Norwich’s relegation from the Premiership Hull moved quickly to pick up Snodgrass and I suspect that many fantasy managers might soon be doing likewise. The Scot has 12 goals & 11 assists over the past two seasons and you would expect him to improve on those figures this season given that he is now surrounded by better players.

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Forwards
For those of you who have plans to play 3-5-2 you are obviously on the hunt for a striker priced at no more than £5.5m. Having had a look at those priced at £4.5m I cannot see anyone worth considering while there are slim pickings available at £5.0m. The most obvious is Everton’s Steven Naismith who weighed in with three goals and two assists in Everton’s last eight games last term. However, it’s unlikely that the Scot will be a regular as Martinez is quite likely to bring in another striker. There are of course others priced at £5.0m, but Naismith is probably the best of a bad lot!

Moving onto £5.5m and the quality doesn’t improve a whole lot but you do have a number of players who are at least guaranteed to play regularly. With no date set for Christian Benteke’s return both Andreas Weimann and Gabby Agbonlahor are likely to see plenty of game time in the early weeks of the season. However, given the fact that Villa have some horrid fixtures between game-weeks 4&8 and also the fact that they only managed nine goals between them last season it might be best to wait and see how they start the season.

Also priced at £5.5m and perhaps the best option is Leicester’s David Nugent. Nugent made 46 appearances for the Foxes last season, scoring 20 and picking up 12 assists. I should also point out at this stage that he is also on spot kick duty. Obviously Leicester have a difficult start to the season but if you plan on playing 3-5-2 this shouldn’t be a factor as Nugent will more often than not be benched. One other forward who warrants a small mention is Sunderland’s Steven Fletcher. The Scot was injured for large parts of last season meaning he struggled to get a run in the side. However in each of the previous three seasons he reached double figures which proves that he knows where the goal is.

We finish this article with a look at those forwards priced at £6.0m. These are probably too expensive for those of you looking for a cheap 3rd striker to bench but for those of you looking for a cheap 3rd striker to play as part of a 3-4-3 then these are the lads for you. The most obvious players within this category are probably the Hull duo of Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic. Both Long and Jelavic joined the Tigers in January of last season, with each of them scoring four over the remainder of the season. Granted these stats aren’t the greatest but with Robert Snodgrass and Tom Ince having joined over the summer you would have to assume that there will be more chances created this season.

The final two who I feel are worth are mention are Burnley’s Danny Ings and QPR’s Charlie Austin. Ings picked up 21 goals & 7 assists last season and with his strike partner Sam Vokes side-lined with knee ligament damage Ings is likely to be the focal point of Burnley’s attack. Also, with Vokes out, Ings will most likely be on penalties. Injuries meant Austin only made 31 appearances last season, however this didn’t stop him being the clubs top scorer with 17 goals. As it stands Austin is the clubs no.1 striker and penalty taker, but as we all know Harry loves a transfer, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised should he bring in a new striker!

One final note of caution! You will probably have realised by now that there is an element of risk attached to nearly all of the players discussed above, but after all, you get what you pay for. Over the first few game-weeks a number of cheap players will establish themselves, some of whom may be included above, others may not. The most important thing is that you identify these players as soon as you can and get them into your squad.

Best of luck and happy tinkering!

Thanks for reading Kop’s Bargain Basement – Fantasy Premier League tips 2014/15. This article was written by Kop Warrior Follow @KenLyons79

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