Just before fantasy football heads off for a well earned break to make way for another round of international games, the clamour for new blood that will earn those all important points to fantasy teams continues. Here are my buy and sell tips for your teams ahead of the latest round of Premier League games.
BUY
Ilkay Gundogan – Midfielder, Manchester City, 5.6
Clearly having overcome his injury Gundogan has been on fire of late with four goals in his last two matches (all competitions). He is bombing forward much more frequently so there is every chance this is sustainable to an extent. Gundogan is the perfect option for those who want to zig the Joe Allen zag.
Joe Allen – Midfielder, Stoke City, 5.2
Or you could just stick with Joe Allen whose recent success looks equally sustainable as he has been playing in the hole behind Wilfried Bony rather than deeper in the midfield. Obviously, you can’t expect the return from his last five matches (four goals and two assists) but he should be able to keep churning out very solid performances. This week he faces West Ham United who are still floundering in the bottom five of defence.
Joshua King – Midfielder, Bournemouth, 5.4
King is the the latest to receive the ‘gets to play Sunderland’ award. He also currently leads shots on target for Bournemouth which has, perhaps surprisingly, been one of the five best attacks in the past five weeks. With Junior Stanislas likely set to miss out, King will likely see even more of the ball.
Christian Fuchs – Defender, Leicester City, 5.4
He is one of the few Leicester players that has been able to duplicate last season’s success. In fact he is the club leader in both successful crosses and key passes. As for the defence, Leicester have actually been phenomenal at home having conceded just twice (best in the league). The long-term view is just as nice as the champions will face just three top ten attacks in 2016.
Matthew Lowton – Defender, Burnley, 4.5
Like Fuchs, Lowton has the best attacking statistics of all the defenders at his club. The defence has been sneaky good, still ranking top five in clean sheets earned and with Tom Heaton behind them they always have a shot at a clean sheet regardless of the opponent. Lowton should not be your star defender by any stretch but he offers plenty of value as a third or fourth midfielder.
SELL
Alvaro Negredo – Forward, Middlesbrough, 6.3
Carried over from last week, but still surprised to see how many people still have him in their teams. He continues to average less than a shot on target per game, which I suppose should not be that surprising considering Boro have created just five more chances (64) than Sunderland’s league worst (59). He got you an assist if you ignored this advice last week, but you should not have to resort to hoping for assists from a forward in Fantasy Premier League.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Forward, Manchester United, 11.2
His 33.7% ownership rate will continue to drop so every week you hang onto him the more value you are going to lose. As for performances, Zlatan is currently on his longest goal drought since 2006! If that was not enough to convince you, know that United face three of the league’s best five defences in the next month.
Riyad Mahrez – Midfielder, Leicester City, 9.1
Mahrez finished last season with the most points of any fantasy player. This season, he’s sixth… on his own team. He is simply not creating chances and currently fails to even make the top fifty in key passes. He’s not dead to me by any stretch, but his current performances certainly do not merit his price tag.
Toby Alderweireld – Defender, Tottenham Hotspur, 6.4
The Belgian looks set to miss out again this week and even if he wasn’t, the schedule Spurs face is daunting. Tottenham seem to have reverted back to their annoying one mistake a game which prevents them from securing the clean sheets that their talent should provide. They have three straight London derbies so now may be the time to shift away from Tottenham defenders.
Chelsea Defenders
Their four straight clean sheets have caught many an eye but I’m not buying just yet. All of the starters cost 5.8 or more which, considering they will face three top ten attacks in the next five, is too much for my blood at the moment.
TEB FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE – TOP TEN
| Rank | Team & Manager | GW Round Score | TOT Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1  |
ROD’S ROCKETS – john bridge | 81 | 597 |
| 2 |
Glen’s Eagles – Glen Samuel | 83 | 585 |
| 3 |
himanshu_utd – HIMANSHU SAJWAN | 67 | 565 |
4  |
Soper’s No Hopers – Mike Soper | 82 | 557 |
| 5 |
Cabayern Palace – Trevor Lewer | 70 | 546 |
| 6 |
Dynamo Dan Dan – Daniel Bright | 78 | 545 |
| 7 |
Super Alan Pardew – Robert Naish | 88 | 538 |
| 8 |
Dep’s Destroyers – Derren Depledge | 83 | 536 |
9  |
Yohan Kebab – Fletcher Law | 68 | 530 |
| 10 |
waddon_massive – Steve Larden | 51 | 529 |
