Tips Game-week 33 – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

The last two game-weeks have demonstrated what fantasy football is all about, GW31 saw the vast majority of managers smash the 100 point barrier but then GW32 brought must of us crashing back down to earth with a bang. There are now only six game-weeks left and as some Scottish bloke once said, ‘it’s squeaky bum time’. How you approach the remaining game-weeks will probably depend on how you’re situated. Should you be top of your mini-leagues it’s possibly time to batten down the hatches and consolidate your position. However, should be trying to make up ground now is not the time to play safe, it’s time to roll that dice and gamble hard. Whichever of these positions you find yourself in we have below outlined a number of picks who we feel can be of benefit to you over the remaining weeks.

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Goalkeepers

We’re going to start with the obvious this week and tip both Petr Cech and Joe Hart, unfortunately not only are they the most obvious picks, they’re also the most expensive keepers at £6.3m & £6.0m respectively. Chelsea have the leagues best defence having conceded just 24 goals in 32 games and are closely followed by City who have conceded 28 in 30. There is little to separate them on current form either with Cech conceding four in his last eight and Hart going one better with just three conceded in his last eight – Hart has picked up five clean sheets in the last eight games to Cech’s four. A quick look at their remaining fixtures would suggest both will pick up quite a few clean sheets over the course of the next six game-weeks and therefore we fully expect them to be the highest scoring keepers between now and the season’s end. Obviously City have two double game-weeks left and consequently we would place Hart slightly ahead of Cech and at £6.0m he could prove excellent value over the final six game-weeks.
Our next tip might surprise some of you and to be honest we’ve somewhat surprised ourselves! And having conceded 12 in his last 8 games we are clearly going for fixtures over form as we tip Hugo Lloris. Ok, so their recent stats don’t make for great reading but if you ignore their capitulations to Chelsea & Liverpool, their defensive form isn’t that bad and Lloris has kept three clean sheets in the last eight. As we’ve said we are tipping Lloris as a result of Spurs’ remaining six fixtures, with their next three games against teams who are currently occupying the bottom four. There’s no denying that Lloris, despite their fixtures, is a gamble but for those of you who are trying to make up ground now is not the time to be playing safe.

A number of other keepers whom we feel warrant a mention this week are Stoke’s Asmir Begovic, Hull’s Steve Harper and Julian Speroni of Crystal Palace. Around the turn of the year Stoke were well and truly embroiled in the relegation fight as they picked up a solitary point from six games, fast forward to the beginning of April and they’re comfortably in mid table on the back of four wins and three draws in their last eight games, conceding just seven goals in this period. Granted they face Chelsea this week but it should be noted that they have already kept both City & Arsenal scoreless this season and following the Chelsea game they have a relatively straightforward run in. Unlike Stoke, Palace are very much involved in the relegation fight. If Palace are to survive to face another season in the top flight it will be as a result of a defence who has conceded just eight goals in their last eight games. The Eagles of course have a double game-week in GW34, with games against Cardiff & West Ham either side of the double game-week, making Speroni an attractive short-term option. For those of you trying to free up funds ahead of the impending double game-weeks, Steve Harper might be the man for you. Granted, Hull have a rather tricky run in and they don’t have a game in GW34 but Harper is priced at just £4.1m and they do have a double themselves in GW37.

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Defenders

Last week we asked if Martin Demichelis was showing good late season value and those of you who read the article will know we concluded that he was so it should come as no surprise to you that he is our first defensive tip this week. From a defensive point of view City have had their critics this season, but they have turned things around of late, keeping five clean sheets in their last six games and as a result of this form coupled with a relatively easy run in we feel that it would be prudent to have some City defensive coverage and of course there’s the added bonus of two double game-weeks. Of course both Aleksander Kolarov & Gael Clichy are both cheaper options than the Argentinian but then again neither are guaranteed starters so at £6m Demichelis is our tip from the City defence.

Defensively Liverpool have been rather poor this season and have conceded 39 goals to date, keeping just 10 clean sheets. They have however tightened things up at the back of late, keeping three clean sheets in their last five games and as a result maybe now is the time to invest in their defence. The obvious candidate is Martin Skrtel who has now chipped in with an impressive six goals this season, however our tip is John Flanagan. At the start of the season Brendan Rodgers was keen for the youngster to go out on loan but with little or no interest he remained at the club and as a result of injuries to others he has made the left back slot his own with Rodgers now set to reward the 21 year old with a new long-term contract. With Liverpool battling for the title they will have no easy games over the remainder of the season but they will be hopeful of picking up another few clean sheets and at just £4.4m Flanagan could prove to be an astute purchase.

Having only kept two clean sheets from their last ten games and with Arsenal the visitors to Goodison this Sunday it might come as a surprise to some to see us tipping both Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines. However this tip is with one eye on Everton’s double game-week next week when they travel to Sunderland & host Crystal Palace which we’re sure you will agree is quite enticing. Despite only keeping two clean sheets in their last ten games they have only conceded seven in their last eight games and it’s not like Arsenal have been scoring freely of late, so a clean sheet against the Gunners is not beyond the bounds of possibilities. Of course the great thing about these two full backs is that you’re not just relying on clean sheets, Coleman has six goals & an assist to his name while Baines has four goals & three assists.

A few other defenders who we would like to bring to your attention are Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar, Stoke’s Marc Wilson and Scott Dann of Crystal Palace. With Villa having conceded eight goals in their last two games Ron Vlaar is clearly another fixtures over form pick, although it should be mentioned that they did hold Chelsea scoreless in GW30. With their next two games against Fulham & Palace, Villa have two great chances of picking up clean sheets and don’t forget that they have a double in GW37. Marc Wilson popped up in quite a few fantasy teams in the early part of the season as he lined out in midfield for Stoke, unfortunately Stoke didn’t keep many clean sheets nor did Wilson pick up any offensive points. However, with Robert Huth out injured the Irishman is well and truly ensconced at the heart of the Stoke backline and has formed a solid partnership with Ryan Shawcross and at just £4.3m he’s certainly worth consideration over the remaining game-weeks. There’s not many defenders priced at just £4.0m starting on a regular basis, however that is exactly what Scott Dann is doing, the fact that Crystal Palace are more than capable of picking up clean sheets is an added bonus. As they demonstrated last week against Chelsea they are capable of holding even the top teams scoreless and with some decent fixtures over the coming weeks the acquisition of Dann could free up cash for investment elsewhere.

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Midfielders

Let’s start with the obvious again and that is without a doubt the Manchester City midfield as with two double game-weeks remaining it would seem foolish to ignore players such as the indomitable Yaya Toure and the silky David Silva. What more can we say about Toure? The Ivorian has now scored an astonishing 17 goals (they said it couldn’t continue!) as well as chipping in with five assists and he has taken over as the teams’ talisman. Some folk will moan that he’s scored direct free kicks as well as penalties but who cares, a goal is a goal. The general consensus is that Silva isn’t having a great season but the Spaniard has still managed to pick up six goals & ten assists. When City won the league two years ago he scored six and picked up 17 assists and it was widely accepted that he had played an instrumental role in securing the title and we suspect he won’t be far away from matching those stats this season. Should Toure & Silva be out of your price range you could consider Samir Nasri who at £8.1m is considerably cheaper than both and has shown some form of late with three assists in his last three games.

Down the M62 at Anfield the likes of Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling have been grabbing the midfield headlines, however in recent weeks Philippe Coutinho has started to turn impressive displays into FPL points as he has scored one and picked up two assists in this last three games. Having joined the Merseyside club in January 2013 the young Brazilian enjoyed a great start to life in the Premiership and as a result much was expected of him this season. He didn’t have the greatest of starts to the season as Liverpool ground out a number of 1-0 victories and he then picked up an injury ruling him out of a number of games and it wasn’t until GW12 that he registered his first FPL points. Of course Coutinho represents a gamble but with Liverpool very much in the title race they will be hoping that the Brazilian can maintain his recent good form and if he can, we fancy he is a good bet for fantasy points and he represents an excellent differential, appearing in just 4.3% of teams.

Christian Eriksen has frustrated many a fantasy manager this season! It wasn’t until Tim Sherwood took over at the Lane that we saw the best of Eriksen and he quickly repaid the faith which Sherwood showed in him as he claimed three goals and three assists in six games between Christmas and the end of January. However he then picked up an injury and we didn’t see him again for a number of game-weeks despite him featuring in a number of European games. In GW31 he gave us a reminder of what he’s capable of with two goals and an assist as Spurs came from two down to beat Southampton and while a number of his team mates looked like pub league players against Liverpool the young Dane managed to look lively. As a result of being out of the side his value has plummeted to just £6.5m which means he could prove to be a bargain over the coming weeks given their fixtures. A word of warning though, Tim Sherwood is possibly a few crumbs short of a biscuit so don’t be surprised if he drops Eriksen!!!

Adam Johnson must have slept with Gus Poyet’s wife! That’s the only reason we can think of as to why he has started Sunderland’s last two games on the bench. So he’s not world’s greatest player and he can drift in & out of games, but he’s clearly Sunderland’s best attacking threat as he demonstrated on Monday night with a wonderfully taken goal against West Ham. With a goal and an assist in his last two games he has surely done enough to warrant a place back in the starting XI. Sunderland as we highlighted last week have a horrid run in and it’s probably best not to go chasing their double game-weeks but if you must Johnson is clearly your best bet.

Before we move onto the forwards three further midfielders who warrant a mention are Marko Arnautovic at Stoke, Jordan Mutch at Cardiff and Villa’s Fabian Delph. Arnautovic arrived at the Britannia with a bit of a reputation and initially he failed to live up to expectations as Stoke started poorly. Stoke have been in superb form of late winning four and drawing three of their last eight with the Austrian scoring one and assisting two in their last three. With Stoke in great form and having a relatively easy run in, Arnautovic could prove a great differential over the remaining weeks. With three goals and three assists in his last three games Mutch is clearly doing his utmost to haul Cardiff to safety, it’s unfortunate that enough of his teammates are not doing likewise. With ten goals scored in their last four it would appear as though Cardiff are going to try and score their way out of trouble and with a relatively kind fixture list we wouldn’t bet against Mutch chipping in with another few goals. Fabian Delph has always been regarded as a bench player who you should expect no more than three points from, however he must have had a bang on the head lately as he’s scored one and picked up two assists in his last four games. At just £4.4m and a double game-week to come he might just be the ideal 5th midfielder for the final game-weeks.

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Forwards

It goes without saying that we are of course tipping everyone’s favourite Uruguayan Luis Suarez. We’d be dumbfounded if anyone reading this does not have Suarez in their side so we won’t waffle on about him this week!

When David Moyes rocked up at Old Trafford last summer many wondered how he and Wayne Rooney would work together and of course there were the bids from Chelsea. However the two seem to have struck up a decent relationship and Rooney is now singlehandedly keeping the Scot in a job! With Robin van Persie out injured Rooney doesn’t have to worry about getting in his space and in the three most recent games that the Dutchman has missed Rooney has scored four and picked up six bonus points. United of course don’t have a game in GW34 which might make Rooney a slightly less attractive proposition but this week they travel north to face Newcastle and we all know how much Rooney loves playing Newcastle, he’s scored ten against them in the Premier League.

The longer Sergio Aguero remains side-lined the more enticing Edin Dzeko becomes. Clearly Dzeko is not in the same league as Aguero but in his last three games the Bosnian has managed to weigh in three goals and an assist. Even when Aguero does return from injury you would have to assume that Dzeko will retain his place as Alvaro Negredo has not scored a league goal since GW21. As we have mentioned time & time again City have two double game-weeks to come and at just £6.9m we believe that Dzeko warrants some serious consideration. While City haven’t been scoring quite as freely of late they have still managed 17 in their last eight and with a number of relatively easy home games to come in the near future we suspect we will see Dzeko’s name on the score sheet a number of times.

Everton sit 2nd in the current form table with six wins and two losses from their last eight and their dreams of a top 4 finish are very much still alive. With quite an appealing double game-week just around the corner for the Toffees we suspect many of you will be looking towards their attacking options. The obvious choice is certainly Romelu Lukaku as Roberto Martinez continues to rotate his midfielders. The Belgian hasn’t exactly been in sparkling form of late but he has still managed three goals and an assist in his last five games. With it appearing unlikely that Lukaku will return to Chelsea in the summer he is very much now in the shop window and therefore we expect him to impress over the remaining weeks.

As we mentioned in our intro now is not the time to be playing safe if you need to make up ground and should you fall into this category we suggest you consider either Swansea’s Wilfried Bony or West Ham’s Andy Carroll. Swansea have certainly struggled this season but that has not stopped Bony scoring 12 times which isn’t bad for his debut season. The Ivorian has shown decent form of late with five goals in his last eight games and he could prove a decent differential over the remainder of the season as he currently features in just 6.5% of teams. Currently featuring in less than 1% of teams Andy Carroll could prove to be the ultimate differential over the remaining game-weeks. There’s no doubt that the Hammers have a difficult run in and with their safety all but confirmed they might take it easy but Carroll will still have aspirations of playing in Brazil this summer and he will be eager to prove to Roy Hodgson that he is up to the job.

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Thanks for reading Tips Game-week 33, this article was written by Kop