Fantasy Preview – Match Week 6

This has been an awful week for fantasy players.

With the return of European football we have been dealt a whole bunch of line up and injury issues as we head into MW6 with far more questions than answers. Let us quickly catch you up on what has happened and what it means for your fantasy team.

Injuries

Luke Shaw – Manchester United

What happened – suffered a horrendous leg break against PSV Eindhoven and will be out for the rest of the year.
Who benefits – Daley Blind/Marcos Rojo

Willian – Chelsea

What happened – suffered a hamstring injury against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Who benefits – Oscar/Kenedy

Eric Dier

What happened – knock to the knee from a sliding tackle against Qarabaq.
Who benefits – Dele Alli/Tom Carroll

Line Up News

Based on the line ups used for European fixtures I have concerns about the playing time of the following players.

David Silva – Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City
Wayne Rooney – Manchester United
Eliaquim Mangala – Manchester City
Nicolas Otamendi – Manchester City
Santi Cazorla – Arsenal
Ben Davies – Tottenham
And, as always, all Manchester United midfielders!

Now that we have gotn that out of the way, let us jump straight into my suggestions on who you should start and sit for MW6!

Hold: Sergio Aguero – Forward, Manchester City, 13.2

I am hedging my bets here and saying whether you have him or do not have him in your team, leave it that way. You can look at Manchester City’s chances created and assume he qill find the back of the net, or look at the West Ham United statistics and realise that he may well not. Save for one crazy match against Bournemouth, West Ham have conceded just two goals, keeping three clean sheets in the process.

Buy: Alexis Sanchez – Midfielder, Arsenal, 11.0

Suggesting you buy is a bit strong, but it is hard to not like him this week considering how porous the Chelsea defense has been this season. Sanchez has had several excellent chances this season and is currently putting about two shots on target a match. It is only a matter of time before he scores.

Sell: Diego Costa – Forward, Chelsea, 11.1

There are eleven strikers with more points than him in the official game, and all of them are at least £2 million cheaper. This Chelsea attack was already stagnant and will now be missing both Pedro and Willian through injury against an Arsenal side with three consecutive clean sheets. No thank you.

Buy: N/A

Sell: Wayne Rooney – Forward, Manchester United, 10.3

Whether it be Marouane Fellaini (ha!) or Anthony Martial, Rooney now has competition for the striker position, and based on his performances I do not love those odds. With Luke Shaw going down to a horrendous leg injury, Darmian is the only Manchester United player I am confident about owning.

Buy: Yaya Toure – Midfielder, Manchester City, 9.0

With David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne battling it out for a spot further up the pitch, Toure is now the safest Manchester City midfielder to own. He easily could have had an assist and a goal late in the Crystal Palace match and looks to be fully back to his 2013 self.

Sell: Harry Kane – Forward, Tottenham Hotspur, 9.4

This is more than him just missing Christian Eriksen. His confidence and reaction speed both seem to have dropped a bit and 9.4 is a lot of money on a striker who is missing clear cut opportunities. I’d much rather be a week late on picking him up than a week early and have to deal with another 2 point game.

Buy: Phillipe Coutinho – Midfielder, Liverpool, 8.1

Many people dropped Coutinho after his red card against West Ham, but I think he is about to bounce back in a big way. Liverpool have, historically, run roughshod over Norwich City and Coutinho will be the one setting up most of those opportunities unlike …

Sell: Roberto Firmino – Midfielder, Liverpool, 8.2

He has not just been fantasy irrelevant, he has been real life irrelevant. With Coutinho back in the fold this week I would highly recommend swapping the two, stashing the 0.1, and getting the better player into your team.

Buy: Dimitri Payet – Midfielder, West Ham United, 7.6

Just as all things go through Eriksen at Tottenham, if a goal is scored for West Ham, odds are Payet is involved. He has the fourth most chances created this year (16) and ninth best in successful take-ons (12), so while his 36 points already looks impressive, even more production is heading your way. I do not particularly love his match up against Manchester City this week, but anything under 8.0 is a steal for Payet.

Sell: Graziano Pelle – Forward, Southampton, 7.9

Falling a price category is not enough for me to let him off the hook. This Southampton team has very little attacking flair at the moment and Pelle is not particularly adept at creating chances for himself. Now he faces a Manchester United side that is only allowed three goals all season and this looks like an easy sell.

Buy: Jamie Vardy – Forward and Riyad Mahrez – Midfielder, Leicester City, 6.2

Am I a little bit late on these guys? Yes, but that does not make them any less valuable. Sure, you can look at Mahrez’s incredible +0.7 since MW1 and think he has grown too much in price, but I honestly cannot think of a player in fantasy who I would rather have on my team right now. Vardy is obviously benefitting from Mahrez, but he has contributed ten chances created himself, ranking best among forwards.

Sell: Jefferson Montero – Midfielder, Swanse City, 6.0

After being one of the best early buys of the season he has quickly dropped through the ranks having missed the past two matches for Swansea City. Wayne Routledge is no great shakes and Montero may soon get his spot back but, while flashy on the ball, he’s not the one to create or finish the goals.

Buy: Mark Noble – Midfielder, West Ham United, 5.0

With two goals and an assist in his last three matches, Noble, Kouyate, and Payet seem to be forming quite the formidable midfield. You do not love the Manchester City match up this week, but getting any of the West Ham triumvirate into your side is an excellent long term investment.

Sell: Marc Albrighton – Midfielder, Leicester City, 5.2

Albrighton has cooled considerably after a red hot start to the season wherein he had one goal and three assists the first two weeks. Since then he has failed to notch either a goal or an assist and has created fewer chances in the past four matches (4) than in MW1 (6). He is still an important part of an on-form team, but the fantasy value just isn’t there anymore.

Buy: Allan Nyom – Defender, Watford, 4.5

The Watford defense is tied for second with the most clean sheets (3) and is now facing a Newcastle United side who have scored the fewest Premier League goals (2) and the fewest shots on target (10).

Buy: Dele Alli – Midfielder, Tottenham Hotspur, 4.9

Tottenham were already missing Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, and Mousa Dembele, and then Eric Dier limped off on Thursday against Qarabag. There just are not that many bodies to go around and based on the glimpses we have seen from Alli, he could be quite impactful both in the Spurs midfield and your fantasy line up.

TEB Fantasy Football League – Top 25 (of 257) after MW5

1	The Moon Kestrels	Stuart Ions	40	266
2	The Eagle has landed	gary ward	62	260
3	fifty-fifty	Ramchandra Ram	54	256
4	all the best	Manoj Kumar	47	253
5	Soper’s No Hopers	Mike Soper	39	253
6	E Pluribus Anus	Rory Jackson	60	251
7	Crystal Phallus FC	Simon Dixon	56	248
8	Money Cabaye Success	Matt Jones	67	246
9	The Remarkable Ones	Mark Saunders	37	246
10	Eglwysbach FC	Joe Roberts	57	242
11	The untouchables	Alex Clark	56	242
12	Depay’s tuna canoe	John Munnelly	32	241
13	Hugh Jorgans	Alex Smit	63	241
14	@Dare_To_Soar	Ryan Begley	47	240
15	npl XI	david champion	37	240
15	Get off my Hangeland	Tom Hope	44	240
15	Carthage Eagles	John Deeks	49	240
18	CHB_98	charlie baker	40	239
19	Verdens Bedste Far	David Macdonald	49	235
20	you dons	lindsey champion	47	235
21	Black Star Eagles	Daniel Opoku	47	234
22	How The Mighty Rise	Clive Mitchell	47	232
23	MBDTF FC	Marcello Carbone	43	232
24	Fortress Selhurst	Shane Sayed	48	232
25	Usual Suspects	Tony Saunders	49	231