Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 9

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 9

GW8 was a somewhat strange game-week, as despite a significant number of players scoring double figures the average score was just 49 points which would suggest that the majority of the players who scored well do not feature in a significant proportion of fantasy teams. There has been quite a lot of talk surrounding template teams of late and the need to break away from such teams. If you are doing well in your mini leagues and you are happy with your overall ranking you may not need to worry about moving away from the template, after all the template teams are typically comprised of players that are scoring well. However, if you are trailing in your mini leagues or are simply not happy with your overall ranking the chances are that you will need to try something different if you are to make up ground. As always we here at FF247 have our finger on the pulse and this week we have decided to focus on a number of differentials whom we feel can deliver over the coming game-weeks.

Goalkeepers

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[/three_fourth]As I’ve mentioned before when it comes to your goalkeepers there’s little if any point trying to pick up a differential as there really aren’t any. There are two reasons for this, first; there is such a small pool to choose from and second; you need to take account of the defenders from the team e.g. Fraser Forster might appear to be a differential as he features in just 5% of teams, however Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand are extremely popular. So when it comes to your keepers my advice is to forget about differentials and just pick a keeper or two whom you feel will pick up the points. On this basis, my first tip this week is Everton’s Tim Howard. Everton may have the second worst defensive record in the league and have kept just two clean sheets, but ignore that and take a look at their upcoming fixtures, they’re just too good to ignore. If you fancy the Toffees to build upon their clean sheet against Villa you could always double up with Howard and one of Coleman or Baines?

It might appear somewhat strange to see Hugo Lloris included this week following on from conceding four last time out against City. Spurs have conceded 11 this season but seven of these have come against Liverpool & City and if you remember correctly Spurs took a number of batterings from the top teams last season yet still managed to keep a total of 14 clean sheets and I suspect something similar will happen this season. Their next four games are quite straightforward and they are more than capable of picking up clean sheets against all four of those teams, they then have back to back games against Everton & Chelsea, however they then have another four rather straightforward games. So all in all I wouldn’t be at all surprised should the Frenchman pick up five or six clean sheets from his next ten games.

Southampton boast the best defence in the league, they’re in great form and their next four fixtures are a fantasy manager’s dream, so I’m once again forced to include Fraser Forster. I’ve said everything that needs to be said about Forster over the last few weeks so I’ll not waffle on needlessly this week! Finally and this one is for all of you who need to free up some cash, but at long last we appear to have a £4.0m keeper who will play, I am of course talking about the household name Eldin Jakupovic! With both Allan McGregor and Steve Harper both currently side lined through injury the Bosnian is likely to feature for Hull over the coming game-weeks.

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Defenders

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[/three_fourth]Moving onto the defence and to some degree it’s a little easier to pick up a differential and perhaps unsurprisingly our first defensive tip this week is Everton’s Seamus Coleman. The Irish international has perhaps been overlooked in fantasy circles of late as managers scrambled to get his colleague Leighton Baines into their sides. Coleman had sat out the previous three league games for the Toffees due to injury but made an immediate impact on his return as he scored against Villa and was quite unlucky not to have scored another indeed it’s worth remembering that last season he scored six times. As I’m sure you’re well aware Everton’s fixtures have recently taken a favourable turn and I suspect we will see a number of clean sheets and possibly more goals from Coleman over the coming weeks and he could represent a nice little differential as he currently features in just 5.4% of teams.

Having conceded just eight goals in their opening eight games, Manchester City currently boast the joint second best defence in the league, unfortunately this hasn’t really translated into clean sheets as they have only managed just two of these! They have eleven league games between now and the end of the year and aside from games against United, Southampton and Everton they have eight games against teams they are more than capable of picking up clean sheets from. My tip from the Citizens defence is Pablo Zabaleta who currently features in just 4.8% of teams. There is of course the threat from Bacary Sagna but let’s face it, there’s a world of difference between the two. City have scored 10 goals in their last three games and with Zabaleta encouraged to get forward don’t be too surprised should the Argentine pick up a number of assists over the coming weeks.

Next up is to a certain degree a longshot and it’s Arsenal’s very own glass ankles, Kieran Gibbs. The Gunners have struggled this season winning just twice, conceding 11 and keeping just the solitary clean sheet in the process. Their next three games are however against Sunderland, Burnley & Swansea, all of whom are horribly out of form at present and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Arsenal pick up two clean sheets from these games and if they manage this it will certainly give them a foundation to build upon. With his penchant to get forward Gibbs always offers up the potential of an assist and should he pick up a couple of clean sheets or assists over the coming weeks he might just represent a decent differential as he currently features in just 2.3% of teams.

Two final defenders whom I feel warrant a mention are West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell and West Brom’s Craig Dawson. Last week we tipped Cresswell’s Hammers team mate James Tomkins only for him to miss out through injury, so this week we have turned our attentions towards Cresswell who has started every game and picked up his first assist of the season last week. The Hammers currently sit fourth in the table and following the visit of City this weekend they have a decent run of fixtures up until Christmas. Dawson certainly has an eye for goal and averaged a goal in every 4.5 games in lower league football and has also scored six times in 15 appearances for the England U21s. He has formed a solid partnership with Joleon Lescott at the heart of the Baggies defence and I suspect he will be among the fantasy points over the coming weeks.

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Midfielders

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[/three_fourth]It’s when we get to the midfield that we can see real evidence of template teams with Di Maria, Siggy, Sterling & Fabregas all featuring in over 40% of teams. The good news however is that for those of you who are willing to take a chance there are potentially some excellent differentials out there. Last week we tipped Eden Hazard over Fabregas only for the Spaniard to go and score, nonetheless for those of you who are looking to be that little bit different Hazard is an excellent option and with Chelsea’s next three games against teams who simply don’t know how to defend I suspect that we’ll see Hazard amongst the goals over the coming weeks. For an even greater differential you could always consider Oscar who has started to deliver over recent weeks and now has two goals & two assists to his credit. He is obviously subject to a little more rotation than Fabregas & Hazard but at £8.3m he is considerably cheaper and currently features in just 3% of teams.

Ahead of the season opener back in mid-August, new Arsenal signing Alexis Sanchez was proving to be could quite popular, however largely due to Arsenal’s poor start to the season interest in the Chilean international has dropped off meaning his price is now down to £10.3m while his ownership is down to 11.3%. Sanchez sat out the Villa game and only played 28 minutes of the North London derby but this has not stopped him scoring three, claiming two assists and six bonus points. He has also weighed in with two goals in Europe and the Gooners are clearly a better team when he’s on the pitch and with them having some decent fixtures over the coming game-weeks I reckon we’ll see the Chilean on the score sheet quite a few times.

Those fantasy managers who had Dusan Tadic in their teams last weekend know all about differentials! Following on from his 23 point haul in the demolition of Sunderland he has been transferred in by over 85k managers, but despite this surge in ownership he still only features in 5.6% of teams, although this figure is likely to rise over the coming days and weeks. Fixture wise the Saints had a great start to the season and their fixtures remain kind to them for the next four weeks, so my advice is to get Tadic in now and make hay while the sun shines.

Two players who much was expected of this season were Everton’s Ross Barkley and Spurs’ Christian Eriksen. Unfortunately for Everton, Barkley suffered medial ligament damage on the eve of the season’s kick off and did not make his return to action until last weekend’s win over Villa. He only lasted 65 minutes against Villa but he turned in a near faultless performance, claiming an assist in the process. From an FPL point of view Everton’s upcoming fixtures could be described as irresistible and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the youngster turn in a number of world class performances over the coming weeks and it’s worth noting that he currently features in just 3.6% of teams. Eriksen started the season quite slowly and this has seen him completely overshadowed by Nacer Chadli. However the Dane’s form has picked up of late and this has seen him score in each of his last two games as well as claiming five bonus points. As I have already mentioned above Spurs have some decent fixtures coming up and now might be the right time to invest in Eriksen whose price has now dropped to £7.8m.

A trio of cheaper midfielders whom I feel are currently worth some consideration are Hull’s Mohamed Diame, West Brom’s Chris Brunt and Newcastle’s Gabriel Obertan (ask Chins!). Diame has been in scintillating form of late with four goals in his last five games and still features in just 2.2% of teams. Brunt has three assists in his last four games and features in just 0.2% of teams while the one and only Gabriel Obertan has a goal and an assist in his last two games and features in just 0.5% of teams.

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Forwards

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[/three_fourth]Just like Everton, Romelu Lukaku has had a rather slow start to the season, although he has still managed to find the back of the net on three occasions as well as claiming an assist. Everton were notoriously slow starters under David Moyes and given their early season fixtures it’s perhaps not that surprising that they have endured a slow start this season. Last weekend saw Everton start what I’ve already described as an irresistible run of fixtures and just as importantly we saw Everton turn in their most impressive performance of the season as they beat Villa 3-0. That game saw the return of Ross Barkley who has the ability to draw players to him thus creating space for others and I fully expect Lukaku to benefit from this extra space over the coming weeks. At £9.0m the Belgian isn’t cheap but given the Toffees fixtures he could yet prove excellent value for money and he currently features in just under 10% of teams.

Christian Benteke made his first start of the season last weekend against Everton and while both he and Villa struggled throughout the game, Villa fans will be happy that he’s back and his match fitness will improve over the coming weeks. Despite not having any attempts on target the Belgian did have a goal ruled out for a foul and fans will be hoping that the goals are just around the corner. Villa’s form of late has been poor but they have some great fixtures over the coming weeks and should Benteke hit form he won’t be £7.9m for long and at present he is a massive differential as he features in just 0.3% of teams.

Much was expected of Wilfried Bony this season following on from his superb debut season in which he scored 17 goals for Swansea. However 2nd season syndrome is a well-known phenomenon which better players have suffered from in the past and Bony certainly appeared to be suffering from it over the first six game-weeks as he registered just a solitary assist. He has however scored in each of his last two games and this would suggest that slowly but surely he is starting to regain the form of last season. The only issue with the Ivorian is that following this weekend’s game against Leicester the Swans face Everton, Arsenal & City so perhaps it is best to wait a few weeks before giving him serious consideration.

Abel Hernandez has yet to play 90 minutes for Hull but this hasn’t stopped him scoring three goals in his first five league appearances for the club. Despite these goals he has dropped in price to £6.9m and features in just 0.3% of teams. Hull have a mixed bag of fixtures over the coming weeks but I wouldn’t bet against the Uruguayan remaining amongst the goals and with Nikica Jelavic potentially side lined for the next four weeks Hernandez will be the main man up top.

Three of the league’s most in-form strikers are all priced under £6.0m and all feature in less than 10% of teams, of course I’m talking about West Ham’s Diafra Sakho (£5.6m, 3.5%), West Brom’s Saido Berahino (£5.7m, 9.2%) and Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse (£5.9m, 1.5%). Having previously only played lower league football in France no one could have expected Sakho to have had the impact he’s had at Upton Park. The Senegalese international has scored four and picked up two assists in his last five league games and I wouldn’t bet against this scoring run continuing in the weeks ahead. Berahino has four goals in his last three games and with the Baggies next three fixtures against Palace, Leicester and Newcastle don’t be surprised if he maintains this fine form. Newcastle are a shambles of a club and you never really know what to expect from them, well you do and it’s not much, but since his return from injury Cisse has four goals and an assist from four appearances. Newcastle have some decent fixtures over the coming weeks and if you’re looking to save some cash for Christmas well then Cisse could be the man for you!

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

Follow @KenLyons79

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