Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 9

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 9

After a tough start to the season fantasy managers around the globe were in desperate need of something special to ignite their season and then GW8 happened and in particular Sergio Aguero happened. The Argentine scored five times against a hapless Newcastle team and those who captained him raked in an incredible 50 points… spare a thought for those who didn’t captain and have chuckle at those who didn’t even own him! This prompted a significant number of managers to take an early dip into the transfer market as his price was surely going to increase. And increase it did, unfortunately Aguero has picked up a serious injury and these managers are left with egg on their faces. I won’t point out the moral of the story, you all know it already. The loss of Aguero means those who already owned him have a serious amount of spare cash and below we outline a number of options whom you might splurge it on.

Goalkeepers

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[/three_fourth]For those of you who like to play a heavy hitter in goal the best option at this stage of the season would certainly appear to be Arsenal’s Petr Cech. The Czech stopper is currently the 3rd highest scoring keeper thanks to four clean sheets from his opening eight games. The problem with Arsenal is that you just never know which Arsenal team is going to show up. After disappointing on the opening day of the season at home to West Ham they then took 10 points from a possible twelve keeping three clean sheets on the bounce, but then went and lost 2-0 against a lacklustre Chelsea team. They’ve also had two embarrassing defeats in Europe, although the absence of Cech might have been a reason for these European defeats. The key is that you need to have patience with the Goonies and with a promising run of fixtures over the coming game-weeks such patience should be rewarded. Joe Hart is another heavy hitter who has impressed and leads the way with five clean sheets. Unfortunately they’ve conceded in each of their last three games and this has coincided with the loss through injury to Vincent Kompany. The key here therefore is that Kompany equals clean sheets, so I’d certainly monitor his fitness this week.

For those of you on a shoestring budget you might want to consider Crystal Palace’s Wayne Hennessy and Newcastle’s Rob Elliott, a combination who are available for just £7.9m. Having seen regular keeper Julian Speroni pick up an injury in pre-season Hennessy must have assumed he’d be given the gloves but that job went to new signing Alex McCarthy. However Hennessy was given his opportunity back in GW7 and has subsequently kept back to back clean sheets. The Eagles have some decent fixtures over the coming weeks and there’s every chance Hennessy will add to his clean sheets. I should point out that Speroni is now fit. Newcastle currently sit bottom of the table with the 2nd worst defence in the league, however relatively speaking their fixtures are set to take a turn for the better. With first choice keeper Tim Krul set to miss the remainder of the season through injury and with back-up Karl Darlow also currently sidelined Elliott will surely be given the opportunity to make the gloves his own.

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Defenders

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[/three_fourth]After the opening eight game-weeks there really isn’t a standout defence, a point illustrated by the fact that five teams are currently tied on seven goals conceded. Everton currently sit 7th in the table and as a result a significant number of their squad are flying under the FPL radar. They’ve conceded eight goals in their opening eight games, keeping three clean sheets in the process. This doesn’t sound overly impressive but when you factor in they have played Southampton, City, Spurs, Chelsea & Liverpool in that period these stats look considerably better. They face United & Arsenal in their next two games and a clean sheet in either of these games is not out of the question, but it’s their fixtures between GW11 & GW19 which standout and with an eye on those fixtures now might be the right time to pick up an Everton defender, with our pick being Seamus Coleman. The Irish international has missed the last three games but turned out for his country on Sunday night so he should be back for The Toffees this weekend. Always a good bet for some attacking returns, he has nine goals & six assists over the last two seasons and with Everton’s upcoming fixtures we wouldn’t bet against him figuring on the scoresheet. Oh and he should also pick up a number of clean sheets.

As we’ve noted above Arsenal are having something of a Forest Gump season. However they’ve got the joint best defence in the league and have kept four clean sheets in eight games. In terms of minutes played Nacho Monreal leads the way with eight starts from eight, closely followed by Hector Bellerin. Both Koscielny & Mertesacker have had injuries meaning they’ve shared playing time with Gabriel. From a defensive point of view Monreal, who was included in Pancho’s article, has the best stats, but from an offensive point of view it’s Bellerin who leads the way and it’s because of his attacking instincts that Bellerin gets the nod this week.

Just when it looked as though United were set to put a decent run of results together they went and lost 3-0 at Arsenal. Despite this loss we’re tipping LvG to get his team back on track over the coming weeks and this is likely to involve boring football which will require some solidity at the back. Chris Smalling has been their only ever present at the back this season and it’s for this reason we include him this week. United have a couple of tricky fixtures over the coming weeks so Smalling is more suited to those on a wildcard, but don’t be surprised should they pick up clean sheets from these tricky fixtures as LvG will want to make them difficult to beat.

Crystal Palace have the joint best defence in the league and while they have only kept two clean sheets this season, they have only shipped more than one goal on one occasion. It’s also worth noting that they have kept these two clean sheets in their last two games. In keeping these clean sheets Scott Dann has picked up four bonus points to bring his tally for the season to seven and while this may not sound like many, the only defenders with more bonus points are Kolarov & Sagna. In fact thanks to a goal & an assist in GW3 Dann is the 5th highest scoring defender to date. Palace have a number of fixtures over the coming weeks from which they will be confident of claiming clean sheets from and if this is the case Dann could prove good value for money at £5.1m.

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Midfielders

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[/three_fourth]We waited & waited for last season’s heavy hitters to fire and when it looked like a forlorn cause up stepped Alexis Sanchez. He knocked a hat-trick past Kasper Schmeichel in GW7 and followed that up with a brace against United in GW8. Those who owned Sanchez for a number of weeks prior to GW7 had shown a great deal of patience as the Chilean had picked up just one assist from his opening six games, however his form was good as were his underlying stats and he duly repaid those who stuck with him. Arsenal have a decent run of fixtures over the coming weeks and we would strongly advise you to invest in their attack. Many will question whether the Chilean is worth £11.2m when you can get the likes of Ozil, Walcott & Cazorla for nearly £3m less, but we firmly believe he is as he is capable of returning double digit returns on a regular basis. There were doubts over his fitness as he jetted off on international duty but having scored three in two games for Chile we expect he’ll return to London in top form.

Ok, so Pancho has already covered Kevin De Bruyne in his excellent differentials article but given his form and his importance to City over the coming the weeks I feel it prudent to also include him here. Much was expected of the Belgian international following his move from Wolfsburg and despite the fact that he’s ginger he has actually surpassed all expectations. With Aguero & Silva definitely sidelined and doubts over Yaya Toure there will be even more pressure on De Bruyne to deliver and while City will undoubtedly lack a cutting edge due to the absence of Aguero, the fact that two of their next three games are at home to Bournemouth and Norwich should mean that De Bruyne’s excellent form continues over the coming weeks.

With just eight points from a possible 24 there’s no denying that Chelsea are in the midst of a crisis (it couldn’t happen to a nicer club!). Because of this form fantasy managers have been quick to ditch their Chelsea assets and understandably so. However Chelsea are set to embark on a decent run of fixtures and you’d have to suspect it’s now or never if they’re to turn their season around, therefore now might the right time to invest in Chelsea. Like his teammates Eden Hazard has seen his form dip considerably from last season, but he has still managed to pick up a goal and two assists in his last three games, and if you fancy Jose & Co to turn things around our tip is certainly Hazard.

Two mid-priced midfielders who have been in great form of late are West Ham’s Dimitri Payet & Crystal Palace’s Yohan Cabaye. With four goals and three assists from the opening eight games you wonder why one of the bigger clubs didn’t make a move for Payet. It’s not like he didn’t have any form, he claimed 17 assists with Marseille last season. West Ham have a mixed bag of fixtures over the coming weeks but as we’ve seen over the opening eight game-weeks, the Hammers prefer playing against the better teams. Whoever they play, Payet is central to everything that West Ham do and this is unlikely to change over the coming weeks. After scoring on his return to the Premier League in GW1 Cabaye looked set to become a great FPL option, unfortunately he didn’t build upon that goal. He has however popped up with a couple of penalties over the last couple of game-weeks as well as an assist in GW8, while he also picked up a goal while away on international duty. With Palace having some favourable fixtures over the coming weeks Cabaye deserves some consideration at just £6.5m.

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Forwards

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[/three_fourth]At the time of writing the most popular forward this week is Graziano Pelle with over 200k managers having transferred the Italian Stallion into their team. This is hardly surprising as the Southampton striker has bagged three goals and four assists in his last three games to bring his tally for the season to five goals & five assists. It’s also worth noting that his excellent vein of form continued when he met up with the Italian squad as he scored in the 2-1 win over Norway. Southampton have understandably struggled at times this season but scoring goals hasn’t been an issue, they’ve managed 13 in total with eight of those coming in their last three games. Having been directly involved in 10 of these goals it is clear that the Southampton attack is built around the Italian and his partnership with Sadio Mane is becoming one of the most feared in the top flight. The Saints have a couple of great fixtures coming up in the near future and we see no reason for Pelle’s great form to come to an end.

In the absence of Sergio Aguero, City will turn their attentions to Wilfired Bony in the hope that he can fill the void left by the Argentinian and the brave fantasy managers amongst us may choose to do likewise. Having scored just twice since joining City from Swansea back in January it will take some serious cojones to draft the Ivorian into your squad, but should he score even a handful of the chances that are likely to come his way over the coming weeks he will certainly fire the brave amongst us up the standings. As we saw from his time at Swansea he clearly knows where the goal is and a goal against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon will certainly give his confidence a much needed boost, while it will also lead to yet another bandwagon. I should point out that with Aguero sidelined Bony is the only striker who can play against Seville next Tuesday night as young Iheanacho is not registered and assuming Bony starts against Bournemouth there is every chance he will be substituted early if City have the game won.

Having scored in each of his last two games Romelu Lukaku is bound to blank in his next two! However we’re backing him to buck the trend and add an element of consistency to his game…we’re deadly serious, well sort of. Everton’s next two games are hardly the easiest but given their recent form we wouldn’t be at all surprised should the beat either United or Arsenal, or even both. Should Everton & Lukaku impress in these games his price is bound to significantly increase as their fixtures from GW11 are extremely enticing.

Our final two tips this week couldn’t be more different. Just over three years ago Jamie Vardy was playing non-league football before signing for Leicester for a fee reported to be in the region of £1m. Whereas Anthony Martial only made his professional debut less than three years ago and signed for United in August for a fee which could eventually rise to £58m. Despite the contrasting backgrounds both are capably leading the line for their respective clubs with Vardy the league’s current top scorer with seven goals while Martial has scored three since making his debut in GW5. Vardy has scored in each of his last five games and given the attacking football which Ranieri has Leicester playing there is every chance that this superb run of form will continue over the coming weeks. After a sensational start to life at Old Trafford, Martial has failed to score in his last two games and the bandwagon surrounding the Frenchman has considerably slowed. He will take considerable confidence having made his full international debut for France against Denmark last Sunday, setting up the opener for the one & only Olivier Giroud. Much has been made of the fact that Martial has had very few shots inside the box in his four games but he has shown in these games that he is an excellent finisher and we’re bound to see his name on the scoresheet over the coming weeks.

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Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 9. This article was written by Kop Warrior

Follow @KenLyons79

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