Tips Game-week 34

We all remember the last double game-week as the fantasy points rained down amongst us, it was like everywhere you turned there were fantasy points, to be honest it was nearly too easy!! So is this double game-week likely to bring as much joy to as many fantasy managers and the simple answer to that is no it’s not. Why? Well because we only have four teams involved this time around and also the same quality of teams are not involved. That’s not to say that this double game-week should be ignored rather it should be treated with some caution. Therefore we would suggest that when you are making your transfers this week you not only consider players involved in the double but that you should also look elsewhere and with this in mind we have below discussed a number of players whom we feel can deliver not only in the double but for the remaining game-weeks.

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Goalkeepers

A couple of weeks ago we asked the following question, “Are Arsenal a spent fantasy force?” Their form over recent weeks would certainly suggest they are as they have only won twice in their last eight games, conceding 14 times in this period. However, their fixtures are possibly too good to ignore with Newcastle being the highest placed team they face in the run in and let’s call a spade a spade, the Geordies have been on their jollies for about a month now! As a result of their remaining five fixtures we are this week tipping Wojciech Szczesny, a keeper who has featured regularly on these pages over the course of the season. Despite Arsenal’s tribulations of late, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Szczesny has kept 13 clean sheets to date and as result of Arsenal’s poor form his price has dropped to £5.8m and at this price he could prove value for money over the remaining game-weeks.

Leaving aside two trips to Merseyside, City have quite an easy run in with four games at the Etihad against teams in the bottom half of the table. This run in alone would lead us to tip Joe Hart. Throw two double game-weeks into the equation and he becomes an intriguing proposition. City have the league’s 2^nd best defence, conceding just 29 goals, keeping 13 clean sheets in the process and have conceded just three goals in their last eight games. Ok, so they travel to Anfield this weekend and while a clean sheet is unlikely in this one they host Sunderland in midweek and there is certainly a strong chance of a clean sheet against a team seemingly destined for The Championship.

A couple of other keepers who warrant some consideration this week are Crystal Palace’s Julian Speroni and Stoke’s Asmir Begovic. Crystal Palace boast the 5^th best defence in the league, which is extremely impressive for a team who were playing in the Championship last season and with three clean sheets in his last four games Speroni is clearly in form. With a double game-week this week which features the visit of Villa and a trip to Goodison followed by a trip to Upton Park next week we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him pick up another couple of clean sheets. Granted they then host City & Liverpool but as they have already proved they are more than capable of stifling the top teams. We tipped Begovic last week but in doing so we pointed out that Stoke faced Chelsea last weekend and despite conceding three against the Blues the Bosnian still managed to pick up eight points thanks largely to a penalty save. Given their remaining fixtures we foresee Begovic picking up a number of clean sheets before the season draws to a conclusion and with Stoke’s ownership levels quite low he represents a decent differential.

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Defenders

As we have discussed above, Arsenal’s form of late has been poor to say the least but they do have some great fixtures over the remaining game-weeks. As a result of these fixtures it might be wise to ignore their form and play their fixtures. Given the fact that none of the teams they face in the remaining games are renowned for their goal scoring it might be wise to consider one of the Arsenal defence and our tip is Bacary Sagna. Per Mertesacker is possibly a little over priced given their form, Kieran Gibbs is made of glass, Nacho Monreal is shit and with Laurent Koscielny due to return from injury, Thomas Vermaelen is a rather risky pick, so by a process of elimination we’re left with Sagna! Just like Szczesny, Sagna’s price has dropped in recent weeks and he is now available for just £5.4m and if Arsenal can get their act together he could prove excellent value for money.

Given their current form, the fact that they’re battling for the league and more importantly, the fact that they have two double game-weeks we’re quite sure that the majority of fantasy managers will have three Manchester City players in their team for the remainder of the season. Now we realise that many of you might be looking at three from their midfield and forward line but given their fixtures we feel that their defence warrants some consideration. The obvious choice is perhaps Pablo Zabaleta who has picked up five assists this season, however the last of these was back in GW16 so this week we are again going with his compatriot Martin Demichelis. The main reason we’re going with Demichelis is because he is cheaper than both Vincent Kompany and the aforementioned Zabaleta. Demichelis has also proved a threat at set pieces this season, picking up a goal and two assists. Should you like to live life on the edge you could always consider the fantasy enigma that is Aleksandar Kolarov. When the Serb plays he is a good bet for an assist and has picked up seven of them this season, however Pellegrini enjoys toying with us and will often draft Gael Clichy into the side, so should you bring Kolarov into your squad and he gets benched don’t come crying to us!!

Defensively Chelsea have turned into something of a Jekyll & Hyde as they continue to keep clean sheets at Stamford Bridge while giving away silly goals on the road. Despite three of their remaining five games being away from the Bridge we still firmly believe that owning a Chelsea defender is quite important for the remainder of the season as two of the three game are against the Welsh sides. With the likes of Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill & John Terry failing to pick up any offensive points in recent weeks (although everyone’s favourite pikey did manage a beautiful own goal against Palace!) our tip this week is Cesar Azpilicueta. At £5.7m the Spaniard is considerably cheaper than his defensive colleagues and you can then use these savings to potentially invest in double game-week players.

Anyone who watched the Everton v Arsenal game last weekend was surely impressed with the way Everton controlled the game and with them having a double game-week against Sunderland & Palace we fully expect them to also control these games. Between them Sunderland & Palace have scored just 61 goals this season so we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Toffees pick up two clean sheets and therefore we are once more tipping their dynamic full backs, Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines. Everton have conceded just six goals in their last eight, keeping two clean sheets in their last three. Should you want to double up on the Everton defence for the double game-week but cannot afford both Coleman and Baines you could always consider their young centre-back John Stones who has filled in admirably for Phil Jagielka in recent weeks. Roberto Martinez confirmed today that Jagielka won’t play in GW34, meaning Stones’ place is guaranteed for the next two games at least.

Our final two defensive picks this week are Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann (again) and Younes Kaboul of Spurs. At just £4.0m and three clean sheets in his last four Dann would seem to be an obvious pick, with Palace having a double. Granted they host City & Liverpool in back to back game-weeks but at that price you can quite easily bench him. With Spurs having kept just one clean sheet in their last seven games Kaboul might be considered by some to be an odd choice, however if it weren’t for a rush of blood to the head from Vlad Chiriches against Sunderland on Monday night Spurs would have had a comfortable clean sheet. With Spurs having a great run of fixtures over the remainder of the season Kaboul could turn out to be great value at £4.6m

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Midfielders

No offence to the other teams involved but this double really is all about Manchester City, so where better to start our midfield discussion. Believe it or not, there are still a number of mangers out there who refuse to sign Yaya Toure! We however are getting a little bored with finding something new to write about him every week so we’ll leave you with this, he has scored 18 goals this season, only Suarez & Rooney have scored more. Given the impact that Toure has had this season David Silva has been somewhat overshadowed. However in recent weeks the diminutive Spaniard has stepped up to the plate and has turned in a number of quite impressive displays and more importantly these displays have translated into fantasy points thanks to two goals and three assists in his last five games. With an ownership level of just over 10% Silva still represents an excellent differential for those trying to make up ground, while he could also prove to be the ideal replacement for the injured Eden Hazard. For those of you who can’t afford Silva or are on the hunt for an even bigger differential you could do a lot worse than Samir Nasri. The Frenchman has started the last six games, scoring once and picking up three assists.

Given Everton’s recent form and the fact that they have this double you would assume that fantasy managers are flocking towards the Toffees midfield but given Roberto Martinez’s penchant to rotate his midfielders this has not been the case. Should you decide to invest in the Everton midfield the obvious choices are Kevin Mirallas and Ross Barkley. The problem with both is as we have already highlighted, rotation, with Mirallas starting just three of the last six while Barkley has started four of the last six. Despite the rotation both are in fine form with Mirallas picking up 23 points across the last four game-weeks and Barkley 24 in the same period. Which of the two you decide to go with could come down to price, Mirallas is priced at £7.7m while Barkley is significantly cheaper at £5.2m, however the Belgian does represent more of a differential.

Christian Eriksen arrived at White Hart Lane last summer having developed a reputation as a creative midfielder with Ajax, but like so many of Spurs big money summer signings he was an early season flop. It soon became clear that then manager AVB clearly didn’t rate the young Dane and he was eventually frozen out of the first XI. However as soon as Tim Sherwood became manager the youngster was given his chance and he didn’t disappoint. However it wasn’t long before Sherwood left him out of the squad, much to the frustration of many fantasy managers. Recently Eriksen has once more been recalled to the squad and again he hasn’t disappointed with three goals and three assist in his last three games. Given Spurs’ display against Sunderland on Monday night and their remaining five fixtures we feel that the Dane warrants serious consideration and at just £6.7m he could prove an end of season bargain.

Despite missing 14 game-weeks Aaron Ramsey is still the 11^th highest scoring midfielder in this seasons FPL. Now this might suggest that from an FPL point of view that there hasn’t been a huge amount of quality midfielders this seasons but it also highlights just how effective the Welshman was prior to his injury, he scored eight and created six. Initially Arsenal coped quite well without him but as their injuries mounted their season went into decline and Arsene Wenger will be hoping that Ramsey’s return can provide a much needed spark. Ramsey still features in over 19% of teams but having missed 14 game-weeks we feel that it is safe to assume that the vast majority of these are ghost teams, so therefore he actually represents an excellent differential and if he can recapture his early season form he could potentially fire you to glory.

Before we move on to the forwards, two midfielders which we would like to bring to your attention are Chelsea’s Mohamed Salah and Fulham’s Ashkan Dejagah. Since joining Chelsea from Basel in January, Salah has not had many opportunities to impress but has featured in the clubs last three games scoring twice and creating one. With Eden Hazard likely to miss a couple of weeks there will be an opportunity for someone like Salah to step into the breach. The fact that the Egyptian is ineligible to play in Europe potentially increases his chances of featuring in the league as Jose may choose to protect one or two for the Champions League semis. Oh and he’s only £5.5m! A couple of weeks ago it looked like Fulham were destined for the Championship but two wins in their last four has certainly given them hope. Dejagah has impressed with two goals and an assist in his last three games and at just £4.9m he might just free up some much needed cash.

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Forwards

Let’s start with Sergio Aguero, the one man who nearly every fantasy manager is currently talking about and this is despite the fact that we don’t even know if he will start against Liverpool on Sunday, although our gut feeling is that he will start as Pellegrini will be eager to field his best XI against Liverpool. A look at Aguero’s stats over the season suggest that if he plays he scores! He has featured in just 17 games this season, yet he has still managed 15 goals and 9 assists. Despite this it would still take a brave manager to bring him in this week, but as they say, fortune favours the brave. We would advise you to check back in with us for Friday afternoons ‘Team Talk’ when hopefully we will have an update on the Argentines status. The potential return of Aguero this week casts an element of doubt over Edin Dzeko, however even if Aguero returns we fully expect Dzeko to start at least one of the games, if not both. The Bosnian is one of the league’s most frustrating strikers but has still managed four goals & two assists in his last four games and at just £7.2m he can’t be ignored.

No one knows where Romelu Lukaku will be playing next season although Everton fans will certainly hope that Roberto Martinez and Bill Kenwright can make his stay at Goodison Park a permanent one. For this to happen one would have to assume that they will need to be playing Champions League football and given their current form we would certainly not rule that out. If they do make the top 4 they will have a lot to thank Lukaku for, as the Belgian has now scored 13 and picked up 8 assists. Heading into this double game-week Lukaku is in decent form having scored four and created two in his last six games. With Lukaku’s price having climbed to £9.1m he may be out of reach for some fantasy managers and if that’s you and you fancy a punt on the Everton forward line you could always consider Steven Naismith! The Scot has played a bit part for the Toffees this season but has scored in each of the clubs last two games and is priced at just £4.6m.

Should you decide to play the fixtures over the remaining five game-weeks then you will surely need to consider Spurs’ Emmanuel Adebayor and Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud. Adebayor’s stats aren’t quite as impressive as Aguero’s but he has still managed 10 goals & 5 assists from just 16 appearances. The Togolese international made a scoring return to the side against Sunderland on Monday with two well taken goals, we jest of course, even David Moyes could’ve scored them! With a price tag of just £7.6m Ade could prove great value over the remaining weeks and he represents an excellent differential, featuring in just 4.9% of teams. Given his game time this season Olivier Giroud’s returns of 13 goals and 7 assists could be considered quite poor so he would be a gamble but with just five games left to secure Champions League football for next season the Gooners will certainly be hoping that he can finish the season with a flourish.

Our last tip this week is Southampton’s Rickie Lambert who has been in superb form of late with three goals and three assists in his last four games. The Saints have nothing left to play for this season but pride, however with a relatively easy run in we fancy that they’ll be eager to finish an already impressive season on a high and Lambert himself will be eager to remain amongst the goals as he aims to secure his ticket to Brazil. And of course, the unfortunate injury to Jay Rodriguez means Lambert should be 100% nailed on as the main striker.

Oh and it goes without saying that we’re tipping Luis Suarez!!

Thanks for reading Tips Game-week 34, this article was written by Kop.