Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 24

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 24

What do you mean you haven’t activated your January wildcard? Get it activated man! Seriously though, time is running out and once the bell rings at 11:30 on Saturday morning the much discussed January wildcard will thankfully be lost for another year! Transfer ‘Deadline Day’ much like the entire transfer window turned out to be a damp squib and as a result we are left with largely the same pool of players to choose from. Outside of Cuadrado to Chelsea & Bony to City I don’t see any transfers having a significant impact on FPL and for different reasons neither are likely to be worth any consideration for a couple of weeks. Anyway, whether you happen to be on your January wildcard or you are simply trying to fix the mess you made with your wildcard we have below outlined a number of players whom we feel can deliver over the coming weeks.

Goalkeepers

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[/three_fourth]Wojciech Szczesny must be regretting sparking up a fag in the showers following Arsenal’s recent 2-0 defeat at St. Mary’s, did he really think it was a good idea? As a result of his daft indiscretion the Pole has lost his position to David Ospina, and the Colombian international has subsequently kept three clean sheets on the spin. The Gunners are one of the league’s form teams and have conceded just four goals in their last six games and for the first time this season Arsene Wenger has an almost full squad to choose from. While the likes of the returning Ozil & Walcott are not necessarily great defenders, their addition to the side is likely to mean that Arsenal have more of the ball which in turn means that Ospina has less to deal with, but as he has shown since his introduction to the side he is more than capable when called upon. At £4.8m, he is on current form the league’s best value for money keeper and should you be lucky enough to still have your January WC intact I would urge you to consider the Colombian.

23 games into the season and the top three defences in the league are Southampton (Fraser Forster), Chelsea (Thibaut Courtois) and United (David de Gea), so surely their respective keepers warrant some consideration. Southampton have been in decent form at the back of late, conceding just four goals in their last six games. They have a number of straightforward fixtures coupled with a number of tricky ones on the horizon but with both Wanyama & Schneiderlin nearing a return to full fitness I suspect that Forster will add to his impressive tally of 10 clean sheets, while it’s also worth noting that he’s £0.4m cheaper than the other two. Having missed a couple of games through injury, Courtois made a return to the Chelsea XI last week and promptly made his first significant mistake of the season! However Chelsea have a pretty easy run of games over the coming weeks and I reckon Jose will adopt a safety first approach to ensure they don’t drop any silly points. Granted they’ve got a blank in GW27, but prior to that they face Villa, Everton & Burnley. Just make sure your backup keeper has an easy game in week 27! United have the 3rd best defence in the league, just imagine what they’d be like if they had some decent defenders?! De Gea has certainly earned his team a good deal of points to date, picking up seven clean sheets in the process. If I were to rank the 3 of these in order for the remainder of the season, I’d have Courtois in first, followed by Foster & de Gea.

Both West Brom’s Ben Foster and Sunderland’s Costel Pantilimon have proved quite popular in this the month of the wildcard, and it’s easy enough to see why. Ok so Foster conceded three at home to Spurs last weekend, but he won’t face players of the calibre Eriksen & Kane over the coming weeks, in fact a quick look at their next six fixtures would suggest that three or four clean sheets are a possibility. The addition of Darren Fletcher to the midfield will bring both experience & leadership to the team, while it should also offer the defence some increased protection. Pantilimon kept his 6th clean sheets in 14 games last weekend against Burnley and while that may not sound great it would work out at approximately 16 if averaged over the course of the season and I’m sure you’ll agree that this sounds more impressive! The Black Cats have a decent run of fixtures over the coming weeks from which Panty should pick up a number of clean sheets and as I have mentioned a number of times in recent weeks both he & Foster rotate quite well until the end of the season.

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Defenders

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[/three_fourth]Arsene Wenger’s love for a bargain is most certainly being passed on to us fantasy managers this season. First of all there was Callum Chambers and now as I’ve already outlined above we’ve got David Ospina and it doesn’t stop there as young Hector Bellerin is only £4.4m. The Spanish underage international made a number of appearances earlier in the season and has featured in the last three games as a result of Mathieu Debuchy’s injury. Both his & Arsenal’s form in these three games would certainly suggest that the position is his to lose. Arsenal face near neighbours Spurs this weekend, a game in which clean sheets are typically difficult to come by, however they then have a great run of fixtures from which I suspect they will garner quite a number of clean sheets and at £4.4m the Spaniard is too good to ignore. In fact you could double up on the Arsenal defence for a mere £9.2m although given the options they provide us further up the field you are unlikely to do this! If for some reason you don’t share our enthusiasm for Bellerin, but you want a piece of the Gooners defence then you probably need to consider Laurent Koscielny, who is a guaranteed starter but is £1.5m more expensive than Bellerin. Can you justify the extra? Only time will tell!

As I have mentioned above, I fully believe that Jose will look to keep things as tight as possible at Chelsea as we move towards the business end of the season. Of course they have some of the best attacking talent in the league but Jose has always been a safety first manager and now that they have a five point lead he’ll want to keep it that way. And it’s not like they’ve been shabby at the back of late, they’ve actually kept eight clean sheets in their last 12 games, so if you are yet to invest in their defence I would suggest that now is the time to do so. Who do you choose? I’d suggest you go with the safe option and pick John Terry who has started every game this season and along the way he has picked up 11 clean sheets, as well as chipping in with three goals. At £6.0m Azpilicueta is £0.7 cheaper than Terry and he will start more often than not, but he is subject to rotation. If you’ve got balls of steel you could take a punt on Kurt Zouma. The French U21 international has started two of the last three games in place of Gary Cahill and impressed beside Terry in last weekend’s top of the table clash. Only time will tell if he will maintain his place, but if he does he is potentially the bargain of the season.

Manchester City have the league’s 4th best defence, unfortunately they’ve only translated that into seven clean sheets and they haven’t managed to keep their opposition scoreless in the past six games. Therefore it might come as a surprise to see Gael Clichy included this week, but six of their next eight games are against teams in the bottom half of the table. It is often suggested that Clichy is subject to rotation with Aleksandar Kolarov and while there is an element of truth in this it is worth noting that the Frenchman has started 14 of the last 16 games. Given their recent defensive form Clichy would certainly be a risky choice but sometimes it is necessary to take a risk if you are going to move up those rankings!

A number of budget defenders who warrant some consideration are West Brom’s Andre Wisdom, Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt and Swansea’s recent signing Kyle Naughton. Given their upcoming fixtures it would seem wise to have some West Brom representation in your defence. There are a number of cheaper options than Wisdom, namely Craig Dawson & Chris Baird, but as we saw last week it would appear that Pulis is yet to decide on his best defence and therefore I feel that Wisdom is currently the best choice. Since his arrival on these shores we’ve all been waiting for PvA to turn in a big display and he duly obliged last weekend as he picked up 12 points against Burnley. Sunderland have a decent run of games over the coming weeks and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Dutchman pick up another few clean sheets and assists along the way. Following his move from Spurs Naugthon went straight into the Swansea team and they subsequently kept their first clean sheet in five games. While that was just a coincidence, Naughton does potentially represent great value for money at just £4.3m as Swansea have a number decent fixtures on the horizon.

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Midfielders

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[/three_fourth]Arsenal are no longer a one man team! While it was only a pathetic Villa side last Sunday, they did dismantle them with ease, scoring five, all without their talisman Alexis Sanchez. In recent weeks Santi Cazorla has made the case that he is a better option than the Chilean. In his last 11 games he has scored six & picked up five assists, and hit a double figure score four times in the process. In the same period Sanchez has scored four & picked up five assists, and hit two double figure scores. So there really hasn’t been a whole lot to separate them, but Cazorla is £2.9m cheaper and features in just 11.7% of teams as compared to 35.2% for Sanchez. So if you need to make up some ground in a mini-league it would appear as though Cazorla is currently the better option of the two. I will however offer a caveat here and state I still fully expect Sanchez to be the main man at the Emirates over the remainder of the season. Staying with Arsenal for a moment and if it’s a differential you’re after then Theo Walcott is the man for you. The English international made his first league start of the season against Villa and promptly found himself on the score sheet. The Gunners have a wealth of midfield talent and there is likely to be an element of rotation as the season progresses but Walcott currently features in just 0.7% of teams and if he can recapture the form he demonstrated in the 2012/13 season he will prove a fantastic differential, although I do expect his ownership to grow quickly over the coming weeks.

Manchester City have appeared rather laboured in recent weeks and have won just two of their last six games. One bright spark in recent weeks has been David Silva and since his return to the side following injury he has scored five & claimed two assists in eight games. Their fixtures are set to become considerably easier and with Sergio Aguero having started the last two games he is closing in on being 100% match fit which is good news for Silva as we have seen in the past that they have a great understanding. With an ownership level of 17.3% he can’t be considered a differential but this figure is still half of the levels of Fabregas, Hazard & Sanchez meaning that should he continue to perform as he has done in recent weeks he is likely to prove very beneficial to his owners.

Christian Eriksen is one of the leagues form players and having been benched for two consecutive games back in November he is now a key player in a Spurs team who are firmly in the hunt for the top four. Since his return to the starting XI he has scored six & picked up two assists in the subsequent 12 games. Spurs have a number of difficult fixtures over the coming weeks as well as a blank in week 27, however they currently sit 3rd in the form table with four wins and a draw in their last six games. If you plan carefully you can bring the Dane in now, bench him for GW27 and take advantage of an extremely enticing double gameweek in week 28.

Much was expected of Raheem Sterling this season and in fantasy circles he has been a disappointment. However maybe we are a little harsh on him. In a rampant Liverpool side last season he finished with nine goals & seven assists, this season he already has five goals & seven assists. Obviously he has played more regularly this season but this has been in a team shorn of the attacking talents of Suarez & Sturridge. Slowly but surely Liverpool have been improving of late and actually sit top of the current form table and while they are set to embark on a run of difficult fixtures the return of Daniel Sturridge is likely to have a positive impact on Sterling and the rest of the team.

For those of you on the hunt for a midfield differential you could do a lot worse than consider Stoke’s Jonathan Walters or even the Newcastle pair of Yoan Gouffran & Remy Cabella. Last week I tipped Walters & his Stoke colleague Victor Moses, unfortunately I favoured Moses over Walter…so close but no cigar! In recent games Walters has been leading the line in with Crouch benched & Diouf at the ACON, how long this will continue is not known but even if is dropped deeper he is a decent option given his price & Stokes upcoming fixtures. There’s no denying that either of the Newcastle pair will be a gamble but both have shown some decent form of late. Both feature in less than 1% of teams while Cabella is a £1.0m more expensive at £7.1m Gouffran has scored in each of his last two games while Cabella scored last time out against Hull. Which of the two to choose? After getting the Stoke call wrong last week, I’ll let you decide!

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Forwards

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[/three_fourth]Daniel Sturridge made his first appearance in a Liverpool jersey since GW3 off the bench last weekend and didn’t waste any time reminding the Liverpool fans what they’d be missing. Mario, if you’re reading this, that’s how it’s done. I suspect Sturridge will get some more minutes from the bench in tonight’s FA Cup replay against Bolton and depending on how that goes he may or may not start the derby on Saturday evening. At £11.2m he’s not cheap but he is certainly a differential, don’t let his ownership of 9.6% fool you, he hasn’t played since GW3 and therefore the majority of these teams are ‘dead’ teams. As I have highlighted above Liverpool have a number of testing fixtures over the coming weeks but they have been playing well of late and will go into these fixtures with a degree of confidence.

Arsenal are a team bang in form, they have won five of their last six, scoring 14 in the process. They have a number of key players returning from injury and one of the beneficiaries of this is likely to be Olivier Giroud. With the likes of Sanchez, Cazorla, Walcott & Ozil playing behind him he will certainly be given plenty of opportunities to get his name on the score sheet, something he has managed seven times this season and importantly he has two in his last two. Given their form & fixtures there is most certainly a case for doubling up on the Arsenal attack and for those of you who aren’t afraid of eggs & baskets you could possibly consider tripling up. With so much competition for places in midfield Giroud is possibly the safest bet, after all his only competition is from Danny Welbeck! His ownership levels are now just below 10% which should still be considered a decent differential.

Hands up if you expected Harry Kane to have the impact that he is having this season. Those of you with your hands up, you don’t fool any of us, nobody predicted this! He now has 10 goals for the season, a figure only bettered by four players and this is despite sitting out a number of games at the start of the season. Kane has now risen in price to £6.1m having been as low as £4.8m in GW12, but despite this rise he is still phenomenal value for money. Can you really afford to do without him? Not only is he scoring, but he is scoring at a rate of a premium forward and he frees up so much cash to be invested elsewhere. It baffles me as to why he features in only 39.4% of teams, there are obviously a lot of dead teams out there!

Sergio Aguero is close to being fully match fit and with City’s upcoming fixtures you are likely to watch their matches from behind the couch if he is not in your squad. Having missed five games through injury he has appeared somewhat rusty since his return, but against Chelsea last week there were brief glimpses of the sharpness we all expect from him and take for granted. There’s not much I can say regarding the Argentine which you don’t already know so I won’t waffle on, just do yourself a favour and take a look at City’s upcoming fixtures.

I’ll leave you this week with a player who currently features in just 1.4% of teams but given the fact the he’s only just arrived on these shores this figure is hardly surprising, yes I’m talking about Jermain Defoe. He’s wasted little time settling into life on Wearside (something which can’t be easy to do!), he claimed an assist on his debut and followed that up with a goal last weekend. As I have already indicated above, Sunderland have some a relatively easy run of fixtures over the coming weeks and at just £6.0m Defoe could prove great value for money. Should he build upon his start a strike force consisting of both Kane & Defoe would free up a significant amount of cash to be invested elsewhere in your squad.

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WooFBet
WooFBet is back! We are delighted to announce that our official partners, WooFBet, are again running a whole host of prize competitions, which will please many of you who are slowly building a lovely retirement nest egg, while others continue to persevere in the hope that this week will be their week! There will be an article later in the week to explain the tournaments in more detail but for now get yourselves over to WooFBet.com as this week they have over €650 in free entry prizes and the start of February’s Manager of the Month competition, which has a total payout of a whopping €1000. You also have the option to create your own tournaments and head-to-head challenges. Choose your rules and buy-in fee, and invite friends or leave it open for the public to challenge you.

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Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 24. This article was written by Kop Warrior

Follow @KenLyons79