Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 27

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 27

There’s a blank gameweek for Chelsea, Spurs, QPR & Leicester this week! If this is first you’ve heard of this you must be living under a rock. Chances are the vast majority of fantasy managers will be seriously effected as the likes of Ivanovic, Fabregas, Hazard, Costa, Eriksen & Kane all have ownership rates in excess of 25%. The question is, should you decide to bench three of these can you rely on your remaining players to all start for their respective clubs? I suspect many of us will end up fielding nine or 10 players this weekend. Of course you might decide to take a hit in order to field 11, but we believe a strong case can be made for playing with nine or ten this weekend. Enough of that waffle, we’re not here to talk about who’s not playing, we’re much more interested in those that play as they’re the ones who’ll earn you the points. Having once more dragged ourselves away from the cricket, we have below outlined a number of players whom we feel can deliver over the coming weeks.

Goalkeepers

[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]I read an outlandish rumour on Monday morning which suggested that only Fraser Forster has kept more clean sheets this season than Simon Mignolet. I decided to check for myself and imagine my astonishment when I found that it was not just a rumour, it was a fact! The Belgian has come in for plenty of criticism this season, much of it from Liverpool fans and much of it deserved. He endured a horrible start to the season keeping just four clean sheets in his opening 15 games and as a result he was dropped in favour of Brad Jones, which simply accentuates just how bad Mignolet had been, although in fairness to him he wasn’t getting much protection. An injury to Jones threw Mignolet a lifeline and he hasn’t looked back, keeping six clean sheets in nine games since his return to the side. Now Liverpool have some tough fixtures over the coming weeks with fixtures vs City & Arsenal as well as hosting United in their next six, so logic dictates you should avoid Mignolet and his colleagues. However very few would have predicted that this Liverpool side would keep five consecutive clean sheets away from home, so don’t be too surprised should Mignolet add to his clean sheets over the coming weeks. At £5.2m there are cheaper keepers but none in such form and with the Liverpool’s defence having been so poor in the early part of the season, Mignolet represents a decent differential.

I’ve tipped a number of players from the Manchester City defence over the course of the season and each time I’ve regretted it come Saturday or Sunday evening! They say insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results, so it should come as no surprise to see Joe Hart included this week. City actually have the league’s 3rd best defence, unfortunately they’ve kept just eight clean sheets and last week’s clean sheet was Hart’s first since GW17. Now while it was only Newcastle last week and we all know that City love to beat the Geordies, the return of Yaya Toure had an immediate effect. While Toure is not known for his tracking back, he’s the teams driving force and when he’s in the team City invariably play on the front foot meaning their defence is under less pressure. They travel to an inform Liverpool side this weekend and have the Manchester derby in GW32 but in between they face Leicester, Burnley, West Brom & Palace and with Yaya back in the side I suspect we will see a number of City clean sheets. If you’re shipping out either Lloris or Courtois this week as a result of their blank you could certainly consider Hart as a replacement.

Clean sheets were difficult to come by last weekend with just four across the entire gameweek, but unsurprisingly two of them came in the one game as Sunderland and West Brom played out the scoreless draw we all expected. Take a look at the upcoming fixtures of both Sunderland and West Brom and you will see that both are capable of picking up some more clean sheets over the coming gameweeks. Ben Foster has now kept 10 clean sheets this season with four in his last six, while Costel Pantilimon has kept seven clean sheets although his have been more sporadic. Both keepers are priced at £4.6m and in terms of their fixtures between now and the seasons end there is little to separate the two, although I would certainly favour Foster simply due to the Pulis effect. With the likes of Baird & Wisdom having lost their places in the West Brom team and PvA possibly having lost his place in the Sunderland team, there is an argument to be made that both Foster and Pantilimon are the best options from their respective defences.

[divider_1px]

Defenders

[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]It’s always quite frustrating when a player you own picks up a three match suspension as you may be forced into selling him and possibly losing money on him. However for those who didn’t own him at the time of his suspension there is always the opportunity to pick him up on the cheap when he returns and one player currently in this box is Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand. Ok, so at £5.7m he’s not cheap and he may only have dropped by £0.2 but it’s better than nothing and he is now £0.1m cheaper than Fonte and £0.4m cheaper than Clyne. Southampton were a little unlucky to concede twice against Liverpool on Sunday, no defence / keeper could have done anything about Coutinho’s strike while young Matt Targett should have done better for the 2nd goal. Despite these two goals the Saints have conceded just four in their last six games and with three of their next four against West Brom, Palace & Burnley I suspect that their goals against column is unlikely to be troubled. Bertrand’s underlying stats have been quite impressive this season and with his price having dropped to £5.7m now might be the time to get him. Toby Alderweireld has missed the last five games through injury and as a result his price has dropped to £4.8m. At the time of writing we don’t know whether Toby will be back this weekend, so check back with us on Friday for Team Talk and if he’s fit & available for selection he deserves some consideration as at £4.8m he’s a potential bargain.

Having already tipped both Simon Mignolet & Joe Hart I’m now going to take a step closer to Bedlam and tip a defender from each. Last week I tipped Alberto Moreno and the Spaniard was subsequently benched for the visit to Southampton, although he did come off the bench and got booked! While I still feel that Moreno is a decent pick I’m going for a safer pick this week in the form of Martin Skrtel. The Slovak has seen considerably more game time than any of his defensive colleagues, missing just three games this season. Like those around him Skrtel has made a number of mistakes this season but he has turned in a number of impressive displays of late and perhaps somewhat surprisingly he has picked up 17 bonus points to date, a figure only surpassed by Gael Clichy. Like Skrtel, Vincent Kompany has come in for plenty of criticism this season and he certainly didn’t cover himself in any glory against Barca on Tuesday night, but thankfully City don’t face such quality in the Premier League. As I have outlined above I feel that City will be a better defensive unit now that Toure is back and I’ve opted for Kompany as he appears to be the only defender guaranteed to start, Clichy has sat out the last two games while Zabaleta has also been benched a number of times this season. There’s no doubt that Kompany hasn’t played as well as in previous seasons but City should still manage to keep a number of clean sheets over the coming weeks.

As usual we’ll finish up with a number of defenders from the cheaper end of the market and this week’s offerings are West Brom’s Craig Dawson, Sunderland’s Santiago Vergini, Swansea’s Kyle Naughton and Hull’s Paul McShane. Having started the last four games, three at right back, Dawson would appear for now to have secured a starting spot in the Baggies defence and at £4.4m he represents decent value for money, particularly when you look at their upcoming fixtures. We don’t know if PvA has lost his place in the Sunderland defence but with the Black Cats keeping a clean sheet last weekend he’s unlikely to return this week. Following this weekend’s trip to Old Trafford, Sunderland have a run of fixtures from which they could very well pick up a number of clean sheets. Vergini has flown under the radar this season but he has started all but the first game of the season and at £4.4m he’s only £0.1m more expensive than PvA. While Swansea have leaked a few goals of late they have a number of fixtures over the coming weeks from which clean sheets are a possibility and at £4.3m the attacking Naughton warrants some consideration. Dirt cheap defenders come & go with Paul McShane currently looking to be the best option, he’s £3.9m and has started Hull’s last three games. With Hull’s next three games against Stoke, Sunderland & Leicester now might be the right time, if there’s ever a right time, to bring a Hull defender into your squad.

[divider_1px]

Midfielders

[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]At the time of writing the top 5 midfielders to be transferred out this week were unsurprisingly made up of Chelsea & Spurs players, with David Silva the most transferred in midfielder, which is also not surprising. Silva has been in imperious form of late with seven goals & four assists in his last ten games, and it would appear that he’s becoming a consistent fantasy asset, something he hasn’t always been. His link up play with Aguero has always been a thing of beauty with the two of them consistently on the same wavelength and with a relatively easy run of fixtures over the coming gameweeks I firmly believe that the Spaniard will continue to deliver. If money is tight or you’re looking for a differential you could consider Samir Nasri who at £8.2m is £1.3m cheaper than Silva and features in just 2.1% of teams compared to Silva’s 19.5%. The problem is that Nasri is notoriously inconsistent, but he has looked impressive of late picking up a goal & assist in each of the last two games. There’s no doubting that Silva is the better option but should your circumstances require a gamble Nasri is certainly that!

Arsenals next six or seven fixtures scream pick me! The problem is, which one of them do you pick? On current form it’s difficult to tip Alexis Sanchez, in the two games since his return to the team he has looked off the pace and is a long way off the devastating form he showed earlier in the season. There is however no denying his talent and while I’m not tipping the Chilean this week I wouldn’t be at all surprised should he get on the scoresheet against Everton (see what I did there?!). Despite two goals in his last three games Theo Walcott is far from a guaranteed starter, so that just leaves Santiago Cazorla and Mesut Ozil. Cazorla has played more minutes than any other Arsenal midfielder this season and has turned in a number of superb performances. Of late his performances have dipped somewhat, however a penalty in the game against Palace highlighted just how important penalty takers are within FPL. On his return to the starting XI following a lengthy lay off, Ozil gave us all a timely reminder of what he is capable of, with two goals and three assists in three games. However against Palace last weekend he turned in a rather abject display, although most of his teammates could be accused of the same. Everyone is entitled to a bad game and I expect both Ozil and Arsenal to turn things around against Everton on Sunday afternoon.

Over the course of the season quite a few people have suggested that Philippe Coutinho needed to work on his shooting, judging by the screamer he scored against Southampton last weekend he has certainly done that! The little Brazilian has been one of the keys to Liverpool’s recent resurgence, starting every game since GW15, and in his last 10 games he has weighed in with two goals & five assists as well as well as nine bonus points. Raheem Sterling hasn’t reached the heights this season which many expected him to, but he has still claimed six goals, seven assists & 15 bonus points. He has played up top a number of times this season which demonstrates his versatility to the team, however once Rodgers feels Daniel Sturridge is 100% fit it’s unlikely we’ll see Sterling lead the line although this is unlikely to affect his returns. Sterling’s current ownership levels currently stand at 29.4% but I suspect that a lot of this is down to dead teams, while Coutinho is certainly a differential featuring in just 4.8% of teams. If you’re on the hunt for a cheap 5th midfielder you might want to consider young Jordan Ibe who has started the last three games and is priced at just £4.4m. Like a lot of similarly priced players there are no guarantees that Ibe will start every game but he has impressed of late.

Staying with the budget friendly midfielders and there are a number with quite low ownership levels who might be worth a punt over the coming weeks and they are Swansea’s Ki Sung-Yeung (3.8%), West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate (0.3%) and Aston Villa’s Scott Sinclair (0.1%). Ki has been in great form since his return from the Asian Cup scoring two in three games to bring his tally for the season to five, making him the clubs leading scorer. Kouyate is a defensive midfielder and therefore is usually one to avoid in FPL but like Ki he has enjoyed success since his return from the ACON and has also scored two in three. Let’s be honest, Scott Sinclair was never good enough to join City and as a result he only made 13 league appearances across three seasons, although a serious injury didn’t help. He now has a chance to rebuild his career and Tim Sherwood is the type of manager who’ll tell Sinclair that he’s great and to just go out and play, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him chip in with a few goals over the coming weeks.

[divider_1px]

Forwards

[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]We said a number of times in recent weeks that Sergio Aguero was improving game by game following his return from injury. He picked up an assist in GW23 and another in GW24, and finally sparked into life in GW25 with two goals against Stoke, following that up with a goal & an assist last time out against Newcastle. The issue with Aguero is that you’re always waiting for his next injury which will invariably mess up your plans but at the same time you really can’t afford to go without him as he’s unquestionably the best striker in the league. City have a tricky fixture away to Liverpool this weekend but they then have a run of four games which should have fantasy managers salivating as City will in all likelihood significantly improve their goal difference in these games. So, Aguero is in form, his chief creator is in form and City have some great fixtures over the coming gameweek …… if he’s not in your squad already, get him in!

Olivier Giroud was restored to the Arsenal line-up last weekend and he duly obliged with a goal and two bonus points. There are clearly goals in this Arsenal side, they’ve scored 15 goals in their last six games and only on two occasions over the entire season have the failed to register a goal. This is hardly surprising when you consider they’ve got the likes of Sanchez, Cazorla, Ozil & Walcott doing their thing in midfield. So as we’ve said a number of times of late Giroud is bound to score with such quality creating the chances. As we’ve already pointed out the Gunners have a great run of fixtures over the coming weeks, but their fixtures through until the end of the season are also quite enticing and at just £8.3m the Frenchman could yet prove something of a bargain, while with an ownership rate of 10.9% he also represents a small differential.

Brendan Rodgers is slowly easing Daniel Sturridge back into the Liverpool side but when he played 90 minutes against Besiktas last Thursday night many felt that this was an indication that he was now fully fit, unfortunately he was back on the bench for last Sundays trip to Southampton, much to the frustration of many fantasy managers. Given his price and the uncertainty over his game time it would take a brave manager to pick the English international, but at this time of the season it is often the brave decisions which lead to significant returns. Should Sturridge be on your watchlist I would suggest you take note of his performance against Besiktas in the return leg on Thursday night as well as what Rodgers has to say in his weekly press conference.

To trot out an old cliché, goals win football matches. The battle to beat the drop is typically won by the team which can score goals as invariably these teams are poor at the back. In Nikica Jelavic and Dame N’Doye Hull may have found a partnership to secure their premiership safety for another season. In the two games he has started since his arrival from Lokomotov Moscow, N’Doye has two goals and an assist while Jelavic has also scored in each of those games. Having won both of these games, the Tigers appear to have come into some form and with a decent run of fixtures either of these two could be worth a punt. I’d slightly favour N’Doye as he’s £0.2m cheaper and it’s worth noting that he has scored goals everywhere he has played.

Our final tip this week is West Ham’s Diafra Sakho who scored his first goal last weekend since January 1st. The Senegalese international enjoyed a purple patch earlier in the season in which he scored in five consecutive games but due to injury and the return to fitness of Andy Carroll his returns dropped off. However with big Andy sidelined for the remainder of the season, Sakho is likely to lead the line and with his value having dropped to £5.5m he could be worth a punt.

[divider_1px]

Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 27. This article was written by Kop Warrior

Follow @KenLyons79

[divider_1px]

WooFBet

We would like to remind you 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! If you haven’t done so yet we recommend you get yourselves over to WooFBet.com as this week they have over €300 in free entry prizes and a whopping €1475 in guaranteed pots. 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.