Fantasy Preview – Match Week 12

This week I head straight into my tips for your fantasy teams ahead of the round of Premier League fixtures scheduled for this weekend.

13

Buy: Sergio Aguero – Forward, Manchester City, 13.0

Aguero is expected to be back for the Liverpool match in W13 so feel free to jump back in on him at, what may be, the lowest price he will reach this season. David Silva should be back fit around the same time and I do not need to tell you how good those two play together.

11

Buy: Diego Costa – Forward, Chelsea, 11.0

So let us start this off by saying this is a bit of a gut call. Yes his shot accuracy is 14% lower than last season which you would expect to stabilise a bit, but Chelsea are struggling on the whole except for … Willian. The Brazilian continues to play well and send chances in that Costa should start finishing any week now.

Sell: Eden Hazard – Midfielder, Chelsea, 11.0

There are still plenty of holdouts (17.6% of owners) but frankly it is time to move on from Hazard. He has scored just four points in the past three weeks combined behind zero goals, assists, or shots on target and notching just one chance created. He may well turn it around, but I will let someone else bite that bullet at 11.0.

9

Buy: Harry Kane – Forward, Tottenham 9.3

Kane scored against Aston Villa and then again facing Anderlecht in the Europa League yesterday. He is once again targeting the corners of the goal that benefitted him so much last season and with Dembele, Eriksen, and Lamela finding form, everything is looking up for the Tottenham striker. All this is to say what Hugo Lloris wrote on Kane’s match ball after his hat trick against Bournemouth – ‘He is back’.

8

Buy: Sadio Mane – Midfielder, Southampton, 8.0

I know he had a weirdly disappointing match against Bournemouth last week, but Sunderland should be little threat to his fantasy day. In his last five matches, Mane has scored three goals, notched one assist, put 1.2 shots on target, and 2.4 successful take-ons. After this weekend MW11 should look like a blip in the middle of a strong run of matches.

Sell: Juan Mata – Midfielder, Manchester United, 8.8

After starting the season incredibly well Mata has quickly falling off the pace. The Spaniard has earned just eight points over the past four matches, and two of those points came from clean sheets! Manchester United’s attack looks like a sinking ship at the moment and Mata cannot scoop all the water out.

7

Buy: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Midfielder, Swansea, 7.2

I will admit that I thought Siggy was back after the Aston Villa match only to disappoint against Arsenal last week. Fortunately, his next two opponents, Norwich City and Bournemouth, sit 18th and 20th in defensive efficiency which should help revitalise an underperforming Swansea City attack. If Sigurdsson fails to deliver the over the next two match weeks it is unlikely he will do so any time soon.

Sell: All Forwards, 7.0-7.8

They are all either too expensive, ineffective, or injured. Seriously, just don’t.

6

Buy: Willian – Midfielder, Chelsea, 6.8

As I mentioned earlier, Willian is the only Chelsea player performing above, or even at, their expectations. He has created eight chances in their last three matches and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Aside from a tough matchup against Tottenham in MW14 Willian and Chelsea have a relatively easy run until MW19.

Sell: Diafra Sakho – Forward, West Ham, 6.5

Sakho continues to deal with injury and faces competition from Mauro Zarate and Andy Carroll when he comes back. Even if he wins his spot back after the international break he will face a rough next four matches (Everton, Spurs, West Brom, Manchester United).

5

Buy: Steven Fletcher – Forward, Sunderland, 5.0

Fletcher has quickly become entrenched in Sam Allardyce’s side scoring three goals and notching one assist in the last four matches. He faces a tough run of fixtures, but at 5.0 he is one of the better cheap goal gambles.

Sell: Wes Hoolahan, Midfielder, Norwich, 5.1

It was not too long ago that I was excited by the cheap point potential in this Norwich City side, but it has quickly eroded. Not only has Hoolahan been in and out of the Norwich starting eleven, but their next matches are against Swansea, Chelsea, Arsenal, Watford, Everton, Manchester United, and Tottenham … so that is not great. Nathan Redmond is the only player I would keep throughout that run.

4

Buy: Joel Ward – Defender, Crystal Palace, 4.4

Ward earned a clean sheet in his first start since MW4 and looked good in doing so. At 4.4 Ward is solid enough individually to give you a chance at goals and assists and Crystal Palace’s defence continues to be a surprisingly good clean sheet gamble.

Sell: Nemanja Matic – Midfielder, Chelsea, 4.8

He is still selected by 4.1% of teams. Stop it.

TEB Fantasy Football League Table after MW11 (top 25 of 257)

	#	Team	Manager	GW	TOT
	1	fifty-fifty	Ramchandra Ram	73	637
	2	E Pluribus Anus	Rory Jackson	69	635
	3	Cabaye-Bye-Bye	Matthew Freeman	67	631
	4	Best Weston	Asher Weston	68	601
	5	Dynamo Dan Dan	Daniel Bright	82	600
	6	Chelsea Dagger	David Gilbert	66	596
	7	Wilfried Zahaha	Michael Bellairs	63	595
	8	Money Cabaye Success	Matt Jones	44	594
	9	Oxted Eagles	Julian Chenery	82	590
	10	Crystal Phallus FC	Simon Dixon	64	588
	11	khabarmantra	Asif Naim	69	585
	12	Cabaye’ my lover..	Greg Ross	54	582
	13	How The Mighty Rise	Clive Mitchell	64	580
	14	The Eagle has landed	gary ward	67	579
	15	Mané Kurian FC	James Kearney	61	575
	16	South London’s No. 1	Josh Rufus	68	574
	17	best of best	Anamika singh	65	573
	18	Los Bosteros	David Walsh	60	572
	19	MurderOnZidanesFloor	Tom Harding	59	571
	20	crystanbul	Edmund Brack	72	569
	21	HXB	Joe Lipski	52	569
	22	Chamakh My Bitch Up	Ryan Grant	64	568
	23	Fortress Selhurst	Shane Sayed	61	568
	24	Stompasaurus Bum’B’s	Kev Davis	56	563
	25	npl XI	david champion	68	563