Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 3

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 3

Only two game-weeks into the new season and a number of things are becoming apparent. United’s preseason form which led to many managers having two if not three United players in their squad was possibly a false dawn and managers are now rethinking this strategy. Chelsea & City already appear head & shoulders above the rest and it will be a brave manager who does not have ample coverage from both sides. Before the season started many suggested that this could be the season of 3-5-2 and while it’s far too early to confirm if this is the case, a number of high profile midfielders have started well making it a distinct possibility. Anyway, that’s enough waffle, let’s get down to business…below we have outlined (aka waffled!!) a number of players whom we feel can deliver over the coming weeks.

Goalkeepers
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So after the first two game-weeks only two teams are yet to concede a goal and of course they are Spurs are perhaps more surprisingly Aston Villa. Spurs have a number of tricky fixtures over the coming weeks as they host Liverpool and travel to near neighbours Arsenal & reigning champions City, however they also have a number of easier fixtures against Sunderland, West Brom & Southampton. Granted their opening two fixtures haven’t exactly been testing but they have looked pretty resolute at the back and it’s for this reason that I’m once more tipping Hugo Lloris. The Mauricio Pochettino effect at Spurs is already evident at White Hart Lane and this is likely to continue with the return of his senior defenders from the treatment table. Despite picking up back-to-back clean sheets I simply cannot bring myself to tip Brad Guzan as his upcoming fixtures are nothing short of diabolical.

Tim Krul is currently the 2nd most popular keeper in the FPL and it’s easy to see why. He’s priced at just £4.5m, Newcastle have looked relatively solid in their opening two games while they’re also in the midst of a relatively straightforward run of fixtures and it’s for these three simple reasons that I’m tipping him this week. There was much talk at the beginning of the season surrounding the potential of rotating the Newcastle & Sunderland keepers, the only issue was we couldn’t be 100% certain as to which Sunderland keeper would be given the gloves. Having played the opening two games it would appear safe enough to assume that Vito Mannone is first choice and while they have yet to keep a clean sheet I would expect that to change in the coming weeks. If you don’t buy into the home / away rotation scenario you could always consider Southampton’s Fraser Forster who as I pointed out last week rotates quite well with Tim Krul until your January wildcard is available.

Typically I finish each segment with a look at the cheaper options available but this week I’m going to finish up with the two most expensive keepers, Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois and City’s Joe Hart. Both Chelsea and City have a number of difficult fixtures over the coming weeks, but on the basis of the first two games they are clearly the best two teams in the league and therefore both are capable of keeping clean sheets against any of the rest. It’s still very early days in the league and there has been no rotation but i’d expect that to happen at both clubs and while both have superb 2nd choice keepers they are likely to feature predominantly in the cup games leaving Courtois and Hart to feature in the league and Champions League.

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Defenders
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At £7.1m Branislav Ivanovic is now the most expensive defender in the FPL, but you really do get what you pay for and the Serb has already picked up a goal, an assist, a clean sheet and five bonus points. The addition of Filipe Luis to the Chelsea squad led to much preseason chat as to which Chelsea defender was the best bet for the early part of the season and on the basis of the first two games it is certainly Ivanovic. Granted he’s unlikely to pick up attacking points in every game but he’ll certainly give it a go and he has showed a great willingness to get up & down the flanks while he will always pose a threat from set pieces. As I have mentioned above Chelsea have a number of tricky fixtures over the coming weeks but to be honest I wouldn’t let them put you off Ivanovic, or any of his defensive colleagues for that matter, as they are more than capable of keeping the vast majority of teams scoreless.

Pablo Zabaleta has picked up a stunning 0 points from his first two games so it may come as a surprise to see him tipped this week. Of course he sat out the Newcastle game and then picked up a rather unlucky own goal against Liverpool on Monday night. City’s style of play hasn’t altered in any way since last season which means Pellegrini’s team rely on the two fullbacks for width and the Argentinian certainly does need any encouragement to push forward as was evidenced on Monday night and consequently I expect him to at least match the goal & six assists which he picked up last season. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, City have a couple of tough fixtures coming up, but as they demonstrated against Liverpool on Monday night they are certainly in the mood to retain their title and for that reason I suspect there a plenty of clean sheets to come!

It was widely suggested before the season kicked off that Southampton could quite easily turn into the whipping boys of the league as a result of selling off their crown jewels. Of course it’s still early days but on the basis of their opening two fixtures I would suggest that they will be ok and that like last season there is still value to be had from their squad, particularly at the back. For me it’s a straight choice between Nathaniel Clyne and Jose Fonte. While they conceded twice to Liverpool in their opening fixture they have looked relatively solid at the back and were rewarded with a clean sheet against West Brom last week and I fully expect them to pick up a number of clean sheets over the coming weeks. A quick look at the last two seasons would suggest that Clyne will pick you up a number assists while Fonte will get you the odd goal, which highlights that both have the potential to pick you up some attacking returns. To be honest there’s not much to separate them but for now the price might sway it in Clyne’s favour as he is £5.1m compared to Fonte’s £5.5m.

Newcastle were nothing short of terrible at the back last season and this has resulted in their defenders being priced quite favourably this season. With Davide Santon ruled out with a knee injury until November it would appear that Paul Dummett is set for a an extended run in the side and given Newcastle’s run of fixtures over the coming weeks he represents superb value for money at just £4.0m. Should you be on the hunt for a defender who could possibly offer you some attacking returns you could opt for Dummett’s defensive colleague Daryl Janmaat. The Dutch full-back claimed 10 goals in his last four Eredivisie seasons and has already shown a willingness to get forward in Newcastle’s opening fixtures.
Finally, a couple of other defenders who I feel are worth a mention this week are Villa’s Alan Hutton and Spurs’ Eric Dier. I mentioned above that I couldn’t tip Brad Guzan because of their upcoming fixtures, however I’m tipping Hutton as you can quite easily park him on the bench and simply use him in an emergency and who knows, Villa might even keep the odd clean sheet during their upcoming run of difficult fixtures. Dier has enjoyed a dream start to English football, scoring in each of Spurs’ opening fixtures and these goals have made him hard to ignore. His versatility has already seen him play at centre-back and right-back in the opening games although it is worth noting that this versatility may possibly see him out of the starting XI once Kyle Walker is fit but for the short-term he’s an excellent option.

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Midfielders
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Take a look at the top scorers in each position over the first two weeks and you might be surprised at a number of the keepers, defenders & forwards, but not so the midfielders, as a number of midfielders who we expected to deliver have done just that. So let’s start with a number of the obvious candidates and they don’t come much more obvious than Aaron Ramsey. In general the Welshman hasn’t had a great start to the season but that hasn’t stopped him popping up with two valuable goals as his importance to Arsenal continues to grow. Neither goals have been impressive as both have been scored from inside the six yard box but they prove that he has developed the knack of being in the right place at the right time.
The arrival of Cesc Fabregas at Stamford Bridge this summer was greeted with much delight by both Chelsea fans and FPL managers and to date everyone is happy. Having played a starring role against Burnley he was a little more subdued against Leicester but he still managed to pop up with an assist. For the majority of last season Eden Hazard was the only Chelsea attacker worth considering from an FPL point of view, this season he will have the likes of Fabregas and Costa to contend with. As the season develops it might be worth considering doubling on Hazard & Fabregas but for now one is enough, this question is, which one? I suspect Fabregas will be more consistent while given Chelsea’s shape Hazard is more likely to pick up a few big scores, but come the end of the season there won’t be much to separate them in terms of points. If it were my choice I’d go for consistency every time, but it’s not my decision, it’s yours!

Fantasy managers around the globe have a lot to thank Spurs for, they bought Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea, didn’t utilise him correctly for two seasons before selling him back to Swansea and because when this seasons FPL was launched he was still a Spurs player he was priced at £6.0m which was a bargain…..you gotta love Spurs! Thankfully the Icelandic international has kept his side of the deal as he has already weighed in with a goal & two assists. Swansea have some decent fixtures over the coming weeks and with Siggy playing in his best position I suspect we will continue to see him amongst the fantasy points. A couple of other Swansea midfielders (Ki & Dyer) have impressed but as long as Siggy is about you’re unlikely to consider either of them.

In the world of fantasy Football, Christian Eriksen was one of the stars of the latter part of last season and many expected him to carry this form into this season, unfortunately this has yet to happen. Instead he has been outshone by last season’s flop, Erik Lamela. Against QPR, Spurs were hardly tested but they kept the ball well, scoring four in the process, and you really would have expected Eriksen to be among the points, but sadly he wasn’t and there have been suggestions that he could turn into one of those players who assists the assister! Lamela on the other hand picked up a couple of assists and was rather impressive as he continues to build upon the form he demonstrated in preseason. Spurs have started the season well and Lamela could be the key if they are to build upon this start.

Our final midfield tip this week is Sunderland’s Sebastian Larsson. The Swede has had a couple of quiet seasons scoring just one goal in each of the last two seasons as compared to 21 in the previous four seasons. He has started the season brightly with a goal, an assist & two bonus points from the first two games and with Sunderland having some decent fixtures over the coming weeks he could prove a worthwhile investment at £5.6m.

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Forwards
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With news reverberating around fantasy circles that Diego Costa has suffered a hamstring injury and may be out for up to 4-6 weeks, many managers are frantically searching for a replacement. Let’s take a look at a number of possible replacements, but before you make any changes we would strongly suggest you wait and see what Jose has to say on the matter.
Last week we tipped Kun Aguero and he certainly didn’t let us down. The Argentine has started both games from the bench this but on each occasion he has scored within minutes of his introduction and despite only playing 31 minutes this season it is already clear that he is the best striker in the league. If, and it’s a ‘if’, he can stay fit this season he will comfortably score 20 goals and at this early stage it is hard to pick another striker in the league who you would confidently expect to score 20 this season (aside from the aforementioned Costa). Currently he can be considered to be a differential as he features in just 6.2% of teams but this number will continue to grow and he won’t be a differential for long. Granted City play Arsenal & Chelsea in game-weeks 4 & 5 but they face Stoke at home this weekend, a game we fully expect him to start and should you decide to wait until after the Chelsea game he could quite conceivably have four or five goals to his name. You’ve been warned!

I’m sure even the most ardent of United fans will accept that United have been quite poor in their opening fixtures and to be honest none of their players have stood out, well some have stood out but for the wrong reasons. On paper their opening fixtures were quite easy and Fergie’s United would have six points in the bag at this stage. Despite their poor start I still believe LvG can & will turn things around and in Wayne Rooney & Robin van Persie he has a couple of strikers with the potential to ignite United’s season. Saturday’s game against Burnley will hopefully give us our first glimpse of Angel di Maria in a United jersey and this will then give us a better idea as to how LvG plans to set the team up over the coming weeks. I also suspect that United will be keen to bounce back following their midweek defeat to MK Dons and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Rooney and RvP on the score sheet.
I think most of you will agree that Emmanuel Adebayor has the potential to score 20 goals this season, after all he has managed it before, albeit back in the 07/08 season. The problem with Adebayor is that if he’s not in the mood on any given day he’s unlikely to score. Put him in a team that’s playing well & winning and he’s more likely to perform rather than if the team is playing poorly. Spurs have started the season well and Ade opened his account with a goal and an assist last weekend against QPR and this will have given him a boost ahead of this weekend’s visit of Liverpool. There’s no denying that Ade would be a gamble but on his day he’s capable of scoring against the best of defences, let’s just hope he’s on his day regularly over the coming game-weeks.

Liverpool were anything but convincing in defeating Southampton in the opening game-week and on Monday night they looked like a team who had sold their best player! They have a difficult fixture away to Spurs this weekend but following that they have a run of games during which you would expect them to rediscover their scoring touch. Of course the obvious choice & safest is Daniel Sturridge and he proved against Southampton that he hasn’t lost his scoring touch over the summer. However, should you fancy an early season gamble you could always take a punt on ‘Mad’ Mario Balotelli. Nobody aside from Brendan Rodgers is quite sure what effect the Italian’s arrival will have on the shape of Liverpool but it’s unlikely he was bought to sit on the bench and should Rodgers manage to get best out of Mario just like Prandelli in Euro 2012 he could be a potential fantasy star. Either way, sit back and enjoy the fun!!

Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 3. This article was written by Kop Warrior

Follow @KenLyons79

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Fantasy Football Podcast featuring our very own Calvin Clyne