Yesterday we published a Fantasy Football article about our team for the GW24 Midweek Monster from FanTeam. We made a couple of late changes to our line-up in the hour prior to the first kick-off based on the starting team news for the Tuesday evening matches so our team now looks like this:
Whilst we correctly predicted that Crystal Palace would come down to earth (after their great weekend result against Man City) and lose to Southampton we didn’t quite get the 3 Southampton players right. McCarthy and Armstrong scored well but we could have done with Redmond rather than Shane Long. We had brought the cheaper Long in for Ings (who was benched) which enabled us to upgrade Praet for Maddison.
Our two Everton defenders were looking very good for their clean sheet points and then two goals from Newcastle’s Lejeune in the closing moments of injury time blew those points away.
So we’re sat about half-way (1,235 of 2,490 entries) with 5 players to play tonight, including our captain Martial. Our aim is to finish inside the top 20% (i.e. in the top 500) to share some of the prize fund. A couple of goals from Martial would be gratefully received, although thanks to Lejeune our chances of finishing in the top 100 seem very unlikely.
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The Premier League has now gone past its halfway stage, which means players of Fantasy Football will have an idea of whether they will be winning their divisions. It has been an unpredictable season, and some players have failed to get their season going at all. These players have been a constant headache for players of the game, but which stars should have been removed from your team by now?
Punters have also doubled down on some of these players by
betting on them to score most weeks. Gala often
offer some of the very best odds in the market, while players who have been
involved in a draft
may have been left fuming that they haven’t been able to get some players off
their squads.
Jesse Lingard
Many players may have thought that this season would have
been the one when we would see the very best of Jesse Lingard. However, the
Manchester United man hasn’t scored or assisted a goal in an entire year for
the club. That has contributed to him only been selected in 0.7% of fantasy
teams. He looks to have fallen further down the pecking order at Old Trafford
with Juan Mata often picked in his place these days.
Joe Hart
Picking a second choice goalkeeper in fantasy football is an
essential job. However, it is imperative that the second choice actually plays
games so you can swap every now and again. That can’t be said of Joe Hart, as
he hasn’t recorded a single point so far this season. His downfall has been
well-documented, and he now appears to be lightyears away from an England
call-up despite opting to join Burnley to increase his chances. It’s a sad
state of affairs, but it would be surprising to see Hart still at Burnley next
season.
Danny Drinkwater
Danny Drinkwater started the season with Burnley, and there
was a hope that a spell at Turf Moor was going to help him rediscover his form.
However, his career looks to have gone back even further, as the Clarets ended
his loan, and he begins the second half of the season at Aston Villa. He will
be given increased game time at Villa Park, but he will have to improve his
performance levels if he is to be trusted by fantasy players. He has only
recorded four points so far this season, but there is still time for him to
come good.
Danny Welbeck
The former Arsenal and Manchester United striker was another
player that was given a second chance at the start of the 2019-20 season. He
was snapped up by Watford and was expected to play a big part. However,
injuries have once again ruined any chance that he had been given, and he looks
to be further down the pecking order since the arrival of Nigel Pearson. He has
recorded just seven points this season and has been selected by 0.1% of fantasy
players.
FISO are starting a new series of weekly articles on Fanteam, Europe’s biggest daily fantasy football provider (and entering the team that we write about!). This series will focus on Fanteam’s Weekly Monster, a weekly fantasy league based on the Premier League games that kick-off on or after Saturday 3pm UK time with €50,000 worth of guaranteed prize money. That’s every gameweek, in case you were wondering. Our article will focus on a Early Entry for this weekly tournament which will help you identify game rules, tactics and the most promising players per gameweek so you can win some of that large prize money. Every gameweek, we will choose a team of eleven players from the selected Premier League matches within a virtual budget of €100 million. In that sense, the Weekly Monster is quite similar to the official Fantasy Premier League game we all know and love.
Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€50k
prize pool) Weekly Monster, which has a maximum entry limit of 3,000.
Every week, we’ll report back on how our team performed in the previous
week. A finish in the top 20% of a given week would see us win part of
the prize pool of which the winner normally takes home about €4,000.
FanTeam also offer a €2 entry Weekly Monster with a lower prize pool (of
which the winner normally gets about €500) for those who prefer to play
with lower stakes.
Before moving onto our team selection, we
want to highlight a couple of Fanteam rules that they apply to their Weekly
Monster competition and that represent some of the major differences when
comparing the game to the FPL.
Number one is that FanTeam have a rule called the ‘safety net’.
The safety net comes into play when a selected player does not start in
the Weekly Monster, because the game will then automatically replace
this player with the next lowest-priced player from the
same position (GK, DEF, MID, FOR) in the same team. By ‘next’ lowest we
mean if our player (who doesn’t start) is priced at 7m and two players
priced less than him at 6.8m and 6.5m start then our replacement will be
the 6.8m player. The automatic replacement is regardless of whether or
not your selected player does take to the field later in the game. This
rule means people who have entered a team into the Weekly Monster need
not worry too much about whether their selected players will start or
not, particularly if they know there are cheaper players for that same
club in that same position who should start instead.
Number two is that FanTeam also have a ‘stacking penalty’ for the Weekly Monster, which penalises teams that have selected more than one defenders/goalkeeper from the same club. The stacking penalty comes into play when you pick more than one defensive player (defenders or goalkeepers) from a particular club and this club records a clean sheet. The points awarded for this clean sheet will decrease by 1 point for each additional defensive player from the same club that you have selected. The stacking penalty has a maximum of minus 3 points. This rule helps stop multi-entrants from gaining an advantage by submitting block defence teams.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 24’s Fanteam MidWeek Monster is set at 7.30PM (UK time) on Tuesday, January 21st, 2020. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you can change your selections accordingly up until the 7:30PM deadline, but not after.
Gameweek
24 Weekly Monster matches
21/01/20
Bournemouth
Brighton
21/01/20
Sheffield United
Manchester City
21/01/20
Everton
Newcastle
21/01/20
Aston Villa
Watford
21/01/20
Crystal
Palace
Southampton
21/01/20
Chelsea
Arsenal
22/01/20
Leicester
West Ham
22/01/20
Spurs
Norwich
22/01/20
Manchester
United
Burnley
23/01/20
Wolves
Liverpool
How did
our Weekly Monster team fare in gameweek 23?
Our team
suggestion for the Weekly Monster in gameweek 24
Formation: 3-5-2 | Budget used: €100m
Goalkeeper
Our goalkeeper for gameweek 24 is based on our expectation that Southampton will be bouncing back this round after a disappointing home loss versus Wolves over the weekend. With a visit to Crystal Palace up next who we’re hoping come down to earth after their excellent draw at man City at the weekend, a nice little haul could be on the cards for Saints goalie Alex McCarthy. The Eagles are not unfamiliar with keeping the points at home, which is illustrated by the 16 points they have taken from 11 home games, but they are far from productive in those games as well. Palace have scored just 10 goals in front of their own fans all season, which bodes well for Southampton and McCarthy.
Defenders
We’ve chosen to stick to a three-man defence for GW24 with an emphasis on Everton, who are welcoming Newcastle to Goodison Park on Tuesday evening. Picking Djibril Sidibé and Mason Holgate will activate the Stacking Penalty in case the Toffees keep a clean sheet, but we would consider losing just 1 penalty point more than acceptable. As far as the Safety Net goes, only Baines is cheaper in the Everton defence than Holgate, while Baines, Delph and Coleman all have lower prices than Sidibé does. This means we have some margin in case he ends up not starting, which is a luxury we don’t have in the case of Holgate (unless Baines suddenly and surprisingly starts).
With 20 points from 11 home games, Everton
have not done too badly so far. As a matter of fact, when looking only at home
games, they are placed sixth in the league. Only Norwich, Watford, Palace and
Newcastle have scored less in front of their own fans than Everton’s 13 goals,
but only Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Sheffield United and Palace have conceded
less at home Everton’s 11 goals. At a glance, this paints the picture of a team
that doesn’t necessarily entertains at home, but that does book results.
Newcastle, on the other hand, have scored just 10 goals in 11 away games, while
conceding 22 over that same run of fixtures.
Our third defender for our gameweek 24 Weekly Monster selection is the first of three Manchester United players in the team, namely youngster Brandon Williams. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to trust the young left-back, and with Shaw in midfield against Liverpool and putting in a good shift, he might once again start for the Red Devils on Wednesday, especially considering the list of injuries at United. With 10 goals conceded in 11 home games, they boast the shared second-best defence in the league, just one behind leaders Liverpool. This round’s opponent Burnley are not particularly comfortable away from Turf Moor this season, which is illustrated by the 9 points they have brought back from 11 away games. The Clarets have also scored just 10 goals over that run of games, so hopefully United manages to shut Sean Dyche’s men out once more. We have a last-minute selection contingency plan in case Williams does not start.
Midfielders
Where we emphasised on Everton in defence
this gameweek, we’re focusing on Manchester United in the midfield with two
picks. Anthony Martial is the fourth-most expensive player overall in
the Weekly Monster this round, due to his potential for a nice haul against
Burnley at home. The injury of Rashford hurts United a lot, but this will only
make Martial even more of a focal point in attack and the expectation is that
the home team will dominate possession during most of the game. They have shown
this season that they can struggle badly against teams that drop deep and aim
for counter-attacks, but considering the 20 goals Burnley have conceded in 11
away games, we feel there could be some joy here for the French striker who is
classified as a midfielder for Fanteam’s Weekly Monster and who has scored 4
goals in his last five Premier League games. He is our captain for GW24.
To some extent, the same goes for his
teammate Juan Mata, though the big difference with the Spanish playmaker
is that the latter is far from a secured starter under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
With Pogba still (or is it again?) out injured, and both Lingard and Andreas
Pereira disappointing as number 10, we expect Mata to be given a chance from
the start on Wednesday. The last time he started was back in gameweek 22
against Norwich and in that game, he completed the 90 minutes and brought in an
impressive 11 points on Fanteam. Fred and Matic are all cheaper than Mata and
expected to start, so there is a bit of a Safety Net we can count on in case
the Spaniard is not in the starting eleven for some reason.
Besides these two Man United stars, we
have added another expensive asset to our midfield, namely Dennis Praet
from Leicester City. The young Belgian midfielder started the last two
gameweeks and recorded a more than decent 12 points in Fanteam over that
period, courtesy of a goal and an assist. These two returns were his first two
direct goal involvements of the season. As a matter of fact, the goal he scored
against Southampton in gameweek 22 was his first for the club, mainly due to
the fact that he didn’t start off the 2019-2020 campaign as a first-eleven
player after arriving from Sampdoria in the summer. Since a gameweek or two
though, he seems to have replaced his somewhat out-of-form compatriot Tielemans
in the starting eleven, at least for the time being.
Our fourth midfield pick for gameweek 24 is a mainly budget-enabling one, allowing us to bring in a potentially explosive fifth midfielder with differential potential later. Crystal Palace are definitely no pushovers, as is illustrated by their current ninth place in the league, but Southampton are one of the teams in good form currently and we’re confident they will cause Roy Hodgson’s men some trouble coming Tuesday, which is why we’re filling out our squad with Stuart Armstrong. The kindly priced Scottish midfield is a mainstay in Ralph Hasenhüttl’s starting eleven and he has recorded 18 points in the Weekly Monster over the last five gameweeks. We’re hoping Palace come back to earth with a bump after their great result against Man City.
In comparison to last gameweek, we have
gone with five instead of four midfielders this time and the fifth midfielder
is a pick that combines form and fixture: Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish.
The young English midfielder is Villa’s captain and overall best player, at
least in an attacking sense, as most of the attacks run through him at some
point. This includes a majority of set-pieces. He already has a more than
respectable 7 goals and 6 assists to his name, which represents a direct
involvement in just under 45% of his team’s goals. This Tuesday, a resurgent
Watford roll up to Villa Park and even though that one is far from in the
pocket for Villa, we do feel confident about Grealish’s potential to record a
return here regardless of the game’s result.
Forwards
The first forward for our Weekly Monster
GW24 team was also our first name of the team sheet. Leicester have just lost
two consecutive games, against Southampton in gameweek 22 and Burnley last
weekend, so it’s time for them to get back to winning ways again. A home game
against West Ham looks like a good opportunity to do so and we’re hoping Jamie
Vardy is feeling the same. He has cooled down considerably since his goal
against Man City back in gameweek 18, recording just a single assist in the
five games after that. Do remember that he did not feature in gameweeks 20 and
21, though. In any case, that’s not the kind of rhythm we had gotten used to
from Vardy this season, so we’re hoping a goal or two against West Ham will get
him back on track for the Golden Boot. He’s our vice-captain for gameweek 24.
Vardy is forming an attacking duo with Danny Ings this round, whose 14 goals and 1 assist helped him record a very nice 124 points in FPL and 104 points on Fanteam. Coming Tuesday, the Saints are travelling to South London where they will be facing Crystal Palace. The Eagles currently sit in 9th place, which can and should be considered quite a feat by manager Roy Hodgson and his men. The foundation of this result is their defensive solidity, which is underlined by the 10 goals they have conceded in 11 home games. Only Liverpool have conceded less. We feel that Ralph Hasenhüttl’s Southampton have hit a vein of form though, and we can see them taking the three points back to the English south coast this gameweek. If they do, you can count on Ings being involved.
As if Liverpool haven’t been dominating the talk ’round Premier League town already this season, the seemingly unstoppable Reds will also be the main topic of conversation in the Fantasy Premier League universe in the build-up to gameweek 24. That is, as you of course know already, because this mid-week round represents the first double gameweek of the 2019-2020 Premier League campaign. It’s a small double gameweek much to the delight of the membes of our FPL discussion forum, with just Liverpool and West Ham playing twice, with the latter’s appeal as a source for double points severely limited due to the fact that their games are Leicester away and Liverpool home. At a glance, and despite the return of Moyes leading to some careful renewed optimism in East London, that looks like the Hammers will be doing a lot more conceding than scoring.
Still, a punt on a potential differential like Felipe Anderson (if fit) or Haller, or on a cheap starting defender like Cresswell, could pay off handsomely. As you will very obviously notice in this piece though, we have not gone that way with our fantasy picks for this gameweek. Instead, our focus is on Liverpool and the appeal of tripling up big for their two games against Wolves and West Ham (both away). We definitely do not recommend to break up your entire team to accommodate crazy transfers, seeing as there are still 14 rounds of FPL to go after this round, but do keep in mind that many managers will be going all out on Reds assets in GW24. Not joining the herd in this sense might hurt your rankings in a bad way, though enormous green arrows will be coming your way if Liverpool mess up this DGW. The risk assessment of either scenario is up to you.
Finally, don’t forget that the deadline
for gameweek 24 is set at 18h30 (GMT+0) on Tuesday, January 21st,
2020.
How did our fantasy picks for the previous
gameweek fare?
PICK
PLAYER
OPPONENT
POINTS
Premium
Mo Salah
Manchester
United (H)
7
Premium
Sergio Aguero
Crystal Palace (H)
13
Non-premium
Danny Ings
Wolves (H)
2
Non-premium
Todd Cantwell
Bournemouth (H)
3
Differential
Neal Maupay
Aston Villa
(H)
4
Differential
Alexandere Lacazette
Sheffield United (H)
2
Captain
Kevin de
Bruyne
Crystal
Palace (H)
4
Most transferred in/transferred out
players (as per January 20th, 2020)
TRANSFERS OUT
TRANSFERS IN
POSSIBLE REASONS
GK
Schmeichel (Lei), Ryan (Bri),
Patricio (Wol)
Alisson (Liv), Foster (Wat),
Gazzaniga (Tot)
Managers
freeing up budget for Liverpool’s DGW and some upcoming swings in fixture
calendars.
DEF
Söyüncü (Lei), Pereira (Lei), Rico (Bou)
Van Dijk (Liv), Alexander-Arnold (Liv), Robertson (Liv)
Liverpool’s double gameweek and Leicester drop in form.
MID
Richarlison (Eve), De Bruyne (City), Maddison (Lei)
Grealish (Ast), Salah (Liv),
Traoré (Wol)
Managers preparing for
Liverpool’s double gameweek with a focus on bringing in the Reds’ star
midfielders and more budget-efficient picks from other clubs.
FOR
Rashford (Utd), Abraham (Che), Vardy (Lei)
Aguero (City), Firmino (Liv), Ings (Sou)
A combination of managers making budget space for Liverpool’s DGW,
Aguero rocketing to form, and Rashford’s injury.
Premium fantasy picks
Generally, we try to spread our fantasy
picks a little bit, so as to cover several promising options for each gameweek.
This also helps us to somewhat counter the Premier League’s high level of
unpredictability in terms of results, or at least it helps us to feel like it
does. For gameweek 24, we’re going all in on Liverpool, though. The Reds are
one of two teams to enjoy a double gameweek this round and in their current
form, that’s just too good to pass on, even if the two games were Real Madrid
and Man City away. They’re not though, Liverpool are playing Wolves and West
Ham away from home (on the 23rd and the 29th of January,
respectively), so our two premium fantasy picks for GW24 are Mo Salah
(£12.4m) and Sadio Mané (£12.4m).
Doubling up on these two is probably not
going to be the most common strategy for the DGW, due to the huge impact this
would have on budget availability and distribution, but it’s highly
recommendable to own at least one of the two. Not just now, by the way, but in
general as well. Salah and Mané are remarkably similar in many aspects, from
their general positioning on the pitch and their goal involvement this season
to their FPL price tag, and we feel that any of the two (or even both) could
haul big in gameweek 24. If you’re one of the undoubtedly many FPL managers who
needs to decide between these two, it’ll probably come down to a combination of
studying the stats of each player and your gut feeling. In order to help you on
your way a bit already, we’ll place a simple comparison of some of their key
stats here below:
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Bonus
Total points
Goals away
Assists away
Bonus away
Tot. pts. away
MANÉ
1745
11
8
18
146
4
3
8
58
SALAH
1619
11
5
15
133
1
4
2
41
Non-premium fantasy picks
When people are talking about Liverpool
though, the Reds’ offense is often referred to as the front three, not the
front two. Roberto Firmino (£9.4m) is the third member of the Liverpool
attack and seeing as his price tag classifies him as a non-premium FPL asset
(i.e. under £10m), he fits in nicely as our first non-premium fantasy asset for
gameweek 24. The Brazilian is a bit overshadowed by his two partners in crime
in attack, which explains his relatively low current ownership of 13.3%, but we
expect that percentage to rise a bit still before the GW24. Firmino has already
scored 7 goals and provided 5 assists this season, and what’s particularly
interesting in regard to the upcoming DGW is that 7 of those goals and 1 of
those assists were recorded away from Anfield. In other words, the Liverpool
striker doesn’t seem to phased about playing in front of hostile crowds, on the
contrary, from the stats it looks like he enjoys it. Liverpool’s opponents this
round, Wolves and West Ham, have been defensively decent so far, but they have
still conceded 15 goals in 12 away games and 14 goals in 11 away games,
respectively. If recent history counts for anything, Firmino could be in for a
big one in gameweek 24.
It’s tempting to focus this entire article
on Liverpool players, but we shouldn’t forget that there are other games on as
well, some of which with a lot of potential for FPL hauls. That’s why our
second non-premium fantasy pick for this round is Manchester United’s Anthony
Martial (£7.9m). United were beaten by Liverpool last weekend and the Red
Devils lost their star man Marcus Rashford to an injury, so we’re hoping that
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sees the upcoming home game against Burnley as the perfect
opportunity to wash away the weekend’s disappointments with a comfortable
victory. The Clarets are having another relatively careless Premier League
season, but their away form has been below par. They have taken 9 points from
11 away games and in those 11 games, they conceded 20 goals. Martial is
United’s starting striker and in the absence of Rashford he will, more than
ever, be the focal points of their attacks. He has scored 4 goals in his last Premier
League games and for what it’s worth, one of those goals came in the game at
Turf Moor in gameweek 20.
A differential fantasy pick or two
We were not planning to include another Liverpool
player in this article and we were not really expecting to be able to include
one as a differential pick, but we were kind of surprised by the current
ownership of Joe Gomez (£5.2m, owned by 3.9%). As a result, he is our
first differential fantasy pick for gameweek 24. Basically, the only downside
to owning Gomez at this moment is the imminent return to fitness of both Matip
and Lovren, who shared his central defensive spot before they both got injured.
For the rest, he provides great value, especially this week. Before he came
into the team to partner Van Dijk at the back in gameweek 16, Liverpool had
recorded 2 clean sheets in 15 gameweeks. Since GW16, the Reds have not conceded
a single goal, courtesy of an ongoing streak of seven consecutive games without
conceding. There are a lot of factors at play surely, but looking at these
results, one might conclude that Gomez is the ideal partner for Van Dijk in the
Pool defence. His potential for attacking returns is much lower than that of
his fellow defenders, but his price lies well below theirs as well, which makes
him an excellent option for the double gameweek 24.
Besides the Liverpool DGW, one of the games that stands out from an FPL perspective is Tottenham at home versus Norwich. Spurs are certainly playing a kind of football under Mourinho, but it’s certainly not the smooth, free-flowing kind. The long-term absence of star man Harry Kane doesn’t help either, of course. These are not ideal conditions for an attacking Spurs asset to shine, but it does create a few interesting differential options. One of those is Lucas Moura (£7.1m), who in the absence of Kane fills in the number-nine spot together with Son and Alli. The Brazilian dribbler has not been in red hot (FPL) form lately, which is illustrated by his 2 goals and 1 assist in his last eight Premier League games, but he does seem to be one of the most threatening Spurs players on a consistent basis. What we are hoping, is that this weekend sees him convert that threat into returns against Norwich at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Canaries are the worst-performing team on the road this season, with just 5 points taken from 11 away games, a run over which they conceded 20 goals. Spurs, on the other hand, are fifth in the table when it comes to home games only and they have scored a decent 21 goals in 11 home games. Hopefully, Moura can add to that total on Wednesday.
As you probably guessed by now, we’re captaining a Liverpool player, as we expect most FPL managers around the world will do. The question is: which Liverpool player? It’s between Salah and Mané, with Firmino a serious consideration as a differential captaincy pick for gameweek 24. Mané has performed better in away games than Salah this season, but the Senegalese international has blanked in two consecutive games for the first time since gameweeks 6 and 7. Salah, on the other hand, has been in good form of late with 2 goals and 1 assist in his last three games (against Sheffield United at home, Spurs away and United at home). The Egyptian is also on penalties, so in the end we’ve gone with him as our captain for GW24, but Mané would be an equally promising pick.
Our valued partner Fanteam are doing the unbelievable! They are launching a Fantasy Football Event which has a total guarantee of €500,000 and a top prize of €150,000 and a maximum of 1,000 teams to compete against. This is by far the biggest Premier League contest in the history of Daily Fantasy Sports! The event is called SCOFF – Spring Championship of Fantasy Football and covers the last two Premier League gameweeks in May 2020.
Why we are telling you this now then? Because you can already start to qualify for it for the entry fee of just €1. Yes, that is right you are given the chance to turn €1 into €150,000 by playing Fantasy Football. Take some years off from work, buy a Lamborghini, or just use it as a deposit for your house; all sorts of things are possible with this win!
Its also possible to save a seat via a direct buy-in for €1,100. However, for those that have great Fantasy-minds, registering via a satellite can save you some bucks. These satellites are already live in the FanTeam lobby and we will explain them in more detail further below.
The SCOFF final then will consist of the gameweeks 37 & 38 of Premier League in daily fantasy style where the points from round 1 are added to round 2 for the final score. The two final rounds are independent, so you will be able to create a brand-new team in round two without getting any penalties – this is the real DFS experience. The final starts on the 9th of May. However, places are limited, so we recommend you to start qualifying as soon as possible!
Pay-out table for SCOFF 2020
Rank
Prize
1st
€150,000
2nd
€75,000
3rd
€42,000
4th
€25,000
5th
€12,000
6th
€10,000
7th
€8,000
8th
€7,000
9th
€6,000
10th
€5,000
11th
€4,000
12th
€3,000
13th
€2,500
14-17th
€2,250
18-39th
€2,000
40-69th
€1,750
70-90th
€1,500
These are the pay-outs, based on a prize pool of €500,000. The pool can never be smaller than this, but it can very much become bigger, in which case the extra money will be added to the prizes.
In the tournament lobby, you will find satellites for the SCOFF every day. They already started, so make sure to check them out right away! There will be different buy-in levels and different sports to qualify for the final! FanTeam have step 1, step 2 and direct qualifiers. You can qualify for SCOFF 2020 for as little as 1€! Don’t miss the chance of having a shot at winning a life changing prize playing Fantasy Football!
When major sporting events are broadcast to the world, when the camera cuts to the spectators in the stadium you will always see a range of emotions on display. From the cheerful faces of those supporting the current frontrunners to the looks of anguish from fans who are facing up to the prospect of a big loss for their team, there is a lot going on in the minds of the thousands in attendance as well as the millions watching at home.
So what it is that evokes such fervour amongst fans and is there a way of understanding their psychological makeup that helps explain the passion they feel for their sport of choice?
There is no doubt that a big part of the appeal of sporting fandom has a lot to do with tribalism. By aligning yourself with a given team, whether it is a local, regional or national side, it is possible to create and ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide which strengthens bonds with those who are in your tribe, while giving you an outside enemy on whom you can focus your ire.
In the context of a competitive match, some argue that tribalism in sport is part of what makes it so special. It also doesn’t stop fans getting stressed over internal issues, or being critical of their own tribe. However, this can tend to spill over into the real world in ways that at times proved problematic.
Escaping the everyday
Life is relatively unexciting for most of us; there are no big wins or losses from day to day and only the occasional peaks and troughs that crop up over the years. Watching sports is a way of extricating yourself from the drudgery of existence, and especially ardent fans get a weekly fix of adrenaline and emotion from seeing their team play that not much else can match.
This can become quite addictive, with fans essentially integrating their team into their own psychological makeup, adopting them as a surrogate partner or child and thus having incredibly strong feelings, whatever the outcome of each match that is played.
This is also why it is very difficult for fans to make others understand their psychological attachment to the teams they follow; it is equivalent to saying that you are in love with an inanimate object. Brains are brilliant at forming associations and relationships. It is simply the case that sometimes this can be with an amorphous entity like a sports team, rather than with another person.
Building self-confidence
Any fan who is invested in their team’s success will also feel partly responsible for any victory that is achieved, just as they will feel a crushing sense of personal failure whenever a loss inevitably comes along.
This creates an interesting link between self esteem and the sports team you support. It also means that those who support teams which are more often the victors than the losers can develop a degree of self confidence to the point of outright arrogance, at least in certain unchecked cases.
Of course such psychologies tend to play out more conspicuously in short bursts, immediately following a good or bad result for the team. Positive thinking and confidence can come about in the wake of a well deserved win, while gloominess and frustration can bubble away in the aftermath of a loss.
Fans can make the best of things by being aware of the psychology at play so that they can process its effects on their mental health, rather than ignoring potential pitfalls or indeed overlooking the benefits.
FISO are starting a new series of weekly articles on Fanteam, Europe’s biggest daily fantasy football provider (and entering the team that we write about!). This series will focus on Fanteam’s Weekly Monster, a weekly fantasy league based on the Premier League games that kick-off on or after Saturday 3pm UK time with €50,000 worth of guaranteed prize money. That’s every gameweek, in case you were wondering. Our article will focus on a Early Entry for this weekly tournament which will help you identify game rules, tactics and the most promising players per gameweek so you can win some of that large prize money. Every gameweek, we will choose a team of eleven players from the selected Premier League matches within a virtual budget of €100 million. In that sense, the Weekly Monster is quite similar to the official Fantasy Premier League game we all know and love.
Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€50k prize pool) Weekly Monster, which has a maximum entry limit of 3,000. Every week, we’ll report back on how our team performed in the previous week. A finish in the top 20% of a given week would see us win part of the prize pool of which the winner normally takes home about €4,000. FanTeam also offer a €2 entry Weekly Monster with a lower prize pool (of which the winner normally gets about €500) for those who prefer to play with lower stakes.
Before moving onto our team selection, we
want to highlight a couple of Fanteam rules that they apply to their Weekly
Monster competition and that represent some of the major differences when
comparing the game to the FPL.
Number one is that FanTeam have a rule called the ‘safety net’. The safety net comes into play when a selected player does not start in the Weekly Monster, because the game will then automatically replace this player with the next lowest-priced player from the same position (GK, DEF, MID, FOR) in the same team. By ‘next’ lowest we mean if our player (who doesn’t start) is priced at 7m and two players priced less than him at 6.8m and 6.5m start then our replacement will be the 6.8m player. The automatic replacement is regardless of whether or not your selected player does take to the field later in the game. This rule means people who have entered a team into the Weekly Monster need not worry too much about whether their selected players will start or not, particularly if they know there are cheaper players for that same club in that same position who should start instead.
Number two is that FanTeam also have a ‘stacking penalty’ for the Weekly Monster, which penalises teams that have selected more than one defenders/goalkeeper from the same club. The stacking penalty comes into play when you pick more than one defensive player (defenders or goalkeepers) from a particular club and this club records a clean sheet. The points awarded for this clean sheet will decrease by 1 point for each additional defensive player from the same club that you have selected. The stacking penalty has a maximum of minus 3 points. This rule helps stop multi-entrants from gaining an advantage by submitting block defence teams.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 23’s Fanteam Weekly Monster is set at 3PM (UK time) on Saturday, January 18th, 2020. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you have an hour to check the starting line-ups for the 3PM games, so you can change your selections accordingly up until the 3PM deadline, but not after.
Gameweek
23 Weekly Monster matches
18/01/20
Arsenal
Sheffield
United
18/01/20
Southampton
Wolves
18/01/20
Norwich
Bournemouth
18/01/20
Manchester City
Crystal Palace
18/01/20
Brighton
Aston Villa
18/01/20
West Ham
Everton
18/01/20
Newcastle
Chelsea
19/01/20
Burnley
Leicester
19/01/20
Liverpool
Manchester
United
How did
our Weekly Monster team fare in gameweek 22?
Our team suggestion for the Weekly Monster in gameweek 23
Formation: 3-4-3 | Budget used: €99.0m | Focus on players from Man City, Southampton and Norwich
Goalkeeper
With Wolves’ exertions in the FA Cup on Wednesday when losing against Man Utd, we feel that Southampton may have the edge over them this weekend. Wolves are not on the best of runs at the moment whilst Southampton have beaten Spurs and Leicester in their last two EPL matches. So we’re picking 3 Southampton players, starting with McCarthy in goal, on the basis that if they beat Wolves there’s a chance all 3 players will then get in the points (and each earn the win bonus point).
Defenders
As is the case for the midfield and the forward line, our first defensive pick comes from the Manchester City roster. We wanted to select Ben Mendy, but seeing as he might be rotated with either Zinchenko or Angeliño, with Oleksandr Zinchenko being the most expensive of the three, and considering the Safety Net is in play, we’ve gone with the Ukrainian. If he starts, we’re fine, and if Mendy or Angeliño ends up starting, the playing asset will automatically replace Mendy in our Weekly Monster lineup. In gameweek 23, City are welcoming a goal-shy (10 goals scored in 11 away games) and injury-ravaged (currently 8 potential starters are flagged in FPL) Crystal Palace to the Etihad, and we can honestly see this going only one way. Eagles boss Roy Hodgson might be able to figure out a way to avoid a thrashing, but what we hope for most of all are points from Zinchenko/Mendy/Angeliño at both sides of the pitch. If we’re online in the hour up to 3pm and Mendy starts we’ll swap him in for Zinchenko to reduce our budget (useful in a tiebreaker).
Our second defender for gameweek 23 is this season’s FPL favourite John Lundstram, whose Sheffield United are visiting the Emirates to face Arsenal this weekend. At a glance, this might look like a strange pick, but let us explain. First of all, Sheffield are performing astonishingly well so far his season (they currently sit in sixth, four positions above Arsenal). Second of all, Lundstram plays as a box-to-box midfielder. Third of all, Sheffield play the kind of energetic and at times gritty football that Arsenal tends to have problems with. And fourth of all, despite the improving performances and results of late, and despite the positive messages coming from the club since Mikel Arteta’s appointment as head coach, this is still Arsenal, with an Arsenal defence and an Aubameyang-less attack. True, Lundstram away at Arsenal is a punt, but if there is one team from the traditional top-6 that could get into real trouble in a home game like this, it’s Arsenal.
Our third defender is selected using the same principles as our Goalkeeper. We think Norwich have a good fixture this weekend taking on Bournemouth at home and consequently we’re selecting three players from Norwich, one of which is their captain Grant Hanley. This also means we won’t incur any stacking penalty as all 4 players in our defence are from different clubs.
Midfielders
Our midfield is built around two main men
and one of those two is Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne. The Belgian
midfielder is displaying an almost terrifying consistency in the Premier League
this season, with 5 goals and 6 assists in his last ten games. In gameweek 22,
he brought our Weekly Monster team a very welcome 10 points, making him our
best-performing player of the week. This weekend, KDB and his teammates are
hosting Crystal Palace, which is why we have selected the midfield maestro
again this gameweek. Lately, Guardiola has been experimenting with a different
formation at times in which the offensive wingers are more or less sacrificed
for a wider line at the back and a second striker up top. This has not been
positive for the likes of Sterling and Bernardo Silva, who haven’t played a
minute over the last two gameweeks (well, Sterling played 1 minute in GW21).
Therefore, in comes Mr. Consistency De Bruyne, who looks to be City’s most
rotation-proof asset and capable of delivering a decent haul against Palace
this Saturday.
Our second premium name in midfield is
Liverpool’s Mo Salah, who will be facing arch rivals Manchester United
at Anfield on Sunday. The Egyptian forward scored a goal in GW21 and provided
an assists in GW22, so he has been in pretty good form lately. If we look back
in time a bit further, we see two blank 3-pointers in gameweeks 19 and 20,
preceded by scores of 13 and 16 points in rounds 16 and 17, respectively (Salah
did not feature in GW18). Manchester United have already conceded 15 goals in
11 away games and this weekend, Salah will most likely be facing the very
talented, but still very young Brandon Williams at left-back. On top of that,
Liverpool’s star attacker has a clear preferences for playing in front of his
own fans this season, which is illustrated by the fact that 9 of his 10 goals
this season were scored at Anfield. It’s always hard to predict the outcome of
regional derbies like this, but we could see Salah have a field day on Sunday
afternoon. Salah is our vice-captain for gameweek 23.
Our third and fourth midfielders are Stuart Armstrong of Southampton and Alexander Tettey of Norwich. We’ve already explained the reasons for choosing these two clubs and we’re hoping these two can provide an assist for our two strikers from Southampton and Norwich. Budget constraints mean we can’t afford someone more expenssive than Tettey.
Forwards
Like we did in defense with Zinchenko and
in midfield with De Bruyne, we’re starting our offensive lineup with a
Manchester City player as well, namely Sergio Aguero. Between gameweeks
12 and 21, the Argentinian striker just scored a single goal, which was mainly
due to ongoing injury issues. Gameweek 22 saw him return to the Premier League
spotlights in style though, scoring a hattrick and providing an assist to help
his team to a 1-6 victory at Villa Park. Rotation was and is a serious risk for
Aguero, as it is for the rest of his City teammates, but we’d be surprised to
see Pep bench a Kun in red hot record-breaking form. Purely in theory, the
Cityzens have the easiest fixture out of all (traditional) top clubs) as they
are welcoming a Crystal Palace side suffering from a lack of goals and an
overflowing treatment room. Aguero is also our captain for gameweek 23.
Our second pick for the front line is Norwich striker Teemu Pukki, who was injured last weekend, but reported to be fit in time for this weekend’s home encounter with Bournemouth. The Cherries are struggling badly at the moment and these struggles have seen them steadily descend down the Premier League table. Currently, they sit in 19th place, meaning there is just one team below them and that team is… you guessed it, Norwich. In other words, we’re betting here on a true and authentic bottom-of-the-table clash, one of the least predictable types of games. The visitors have booked just two victories in the last twelve games and they have scored only a single goal in their past five games, back in gameweek 19 versus Arsenal. Over that same period, they also conceded 11 goals. The Canaries haven’t done much better, to be honest, but they have shown a bit more reason for positivity. Their last victory was booked all the way back in GW13 against Everton, but they did draw four out of the subsequent nine games. Over that run, they scored 11 goals and 3 of those goals were scored by Pukki. In other words, Norwich have not completely lost their scoring touch, so we hope Pukki will be building on his total tallies of 9 goals and 3 assists this season on Saturday.
Completing our starting eleven for this week’s Fanteam Weekly Monster is possibly the most in-form Premier League striker of the moment, namely Southampton’s Danny Ings. Over the last 11 gameweeks, the Englishman has scored an incredible 10 goals. Over that run, he has only failed to return twice, against West Ham at home in GW 17 and versus Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in GW 19. When we decided to focus on Southampton as one of the main clubs from which to select players, he was the first name on our team sheet.
As we said this team has been entered into the 20 euro FanTeam Weekly Monster and we hope to report back next week that we’ve shared part of the 50,000 euros prize pool. You can also follow discussions about FanTeam games on FISO’s FanTeam Forum.
It’s no denying
the reigning Champions League champions are quite impressive this season, with
the Reds winning streak still unbeaten. The Anfield giants remains every soccer prediction punters leading favourite
for the Premier League title this season.
With a double
gameweek for Jurgen Klopp’s men, it is vital that Fantasy Premier League
manager have three of Jurgen Klopp’s men in their team.
Liverpool,
however, must first find way past a tricky Gameweek 23 fixture with an
unpredicted Manchester United side, but is worth bulking up your squad with
point-scoring Reds ahead of their Gameweek 24 fixtures against Wolves and West
Ham United.
With that in
mind, we have included, courtesy of Tyler P. Williams of gooner news,
three of the club’s most valuable players to have in your squad along with
other must-own assets from elsewhere in the league.
Roberto Firmino, Liverpool
Following the
Reds 1-0 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur in Gameweek 22, former Manchester United
captain Gary Neville lavished praise on the Brazilian saying:
“Any manager in the world would love to have him
as their centre forward”.
In recent game
weeks the Brazil international has underlined why he should be a serious
contender for the starting spot for every manager in any Fantasy Premier League
squad, racking up 25 points in four matches.
Firmino,
however, might not score as many as his teammates in likes Mohammed Salah and
Sadio Mane – currently the CAF best player in Africa, but it’s worth noting
that the former Hoffenheim striker is also £3m cheaper than the pair of them.
You have got no excuse to recruit him ahead of his side’s promising run of
fixtures.
Cost: £9.3m Points: 100
Sadio Mane, Liverpool
Judging by how
impressive the duo of Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah they have been so far this
season, it is hard to justify who to own and who to drop due to their price
tags stretching north of £12m. But realistically, most Fantasy Premier League
manager must pick one and drop the other.
For the second
half of the 2018-19 season and the first half of the 2019-2020 season, Sadio
Mane has outplayed his fellow African man, being directly involved in five or
more goals for the Merseyside outfit.
What’s more
interesting is the fact that Mane has been more productive against Manchester
United than the “Egyptian Messi” who is yet to score against the Red
Devils so far in his career.
It would be
surprising to me if Mane reaches double figures in Gameweek 24.
Cost: £12.4m Points: 143
Andy Robertson, Liverpool
Robertson
playing in the shadow of fellow fullback Trent Alexander-Arnold for most of the
season, have seen him mostly been dropped by host of manager out there.
However, The Scotsman has consistently delivered for most FPL manager who stick
him, breaking the 100-point barrier in Gameweek 22.
Robertson has
also outscored Alexander-Arnold in the previous three Gameweeks by 24 points to
20, with one assist and three clean sheets to his name for Liverpool in three
fixtures.
With of three of
the last seven fixture between Manchester United and Liverpool ending 0-0,
Robertson stands a good chance of earning FPL managers cleaner sheet points
than his fellow teammates.
Cost: £7m Points: 104
Honourable
Mentions
Jordan Pickford, Everton
Players from the
Blue side of the Merseyside have also shown their worth in recent weeks to many
Fantasy Premier League manager.
Since the
arrival of former Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti at the Everton dugout in
Gameweek 19, the Toffees have conceded just three goals and earned two clean
sheets. In that time, Jordan Pickford has scored 16 points between the sticks
for FPL manager and could benefit further from his new side impressive run of
form.
Everton take on
West Ham United, Newcastle United, Watford and Crystal Palace in the next
coming weeks and the Englishman will fancy his chances between the sticks of
adding to his six clean sheets this season – it’s worth to keep an eye on!
Cost: £5.3m Points: 71
Danny Ings, Southampton
Danny Ing’s prior to his arrival at Southampton has FPL manager ownership of about 220,000, according to gooner news, but seen his stock risen impressively with a reported 1.5m ownership in just 10 gameweeks thanks to a rich run of form which has seen the former Liverpool striker score nine goals.
The Saints
exorcised early season demons when they defeated Leicester City 2-1 last
weekend and they could stave off any relegation battle in the coming Gameweeks
when they take on Wolves, Liverpool, Burnley, Aston Villa, West Ham, Newcastle
and Norwich.
However, whilst Wolves and Liverpool do represent crunch formidable opposition, I would encourage FPL manager sticking with Danny Ings who has already find the net against Nuno Espirito Santo and Jurgen Klopp’s side this season, as well as Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Cost: £6.8m Points: 123
As the Premier
League actions this weekend, host of Premier League football prediction punters in the likes of
Forecastr would all be well prepared for winning many tipsters incredible
betting success in the long run and you can take advantage of this for as
little as $20.
Well, one thing we learned from gameweek 23 for sure is that Sergio Aguero is definitely back in the mix after his 20-point haul against Villa, courtesy of a hattrick, an assist and 3 bonus points. In combination with Kane’s injury and Aubameyang’s suspension, this could result in some interesting transfer activity over the coming days. The second-highest points scorer in the Fantasy Premier League official game plays for the sky-blue team from Manchester as well, as Riyad Mahrez bagged 2 goals and 1 assist for a sweet 17 FPL points. Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucouré completed the podium for GW23 with 14 FPL points, thanks to a goal and an assist against Bournemouth. Behind the Frenchman, three familiar FPL forum names followed with 12 points (Rashford, Digne and Azpilicueta).
Where gameweek 23 offered a plethora of good
candidates for the captaincy and premium players with favourable fixtures, the
pickings are slimmer this weekend. Liverpool and Manchester United are meeting
at Anfield on Sunday, while earlier that day, Leicester are paying Turf Moor a
visit. Chelsea are visiting Saint James’ Park on Saturday to try and break down
a resilient Newcastle defence, and Arsenal and Sheffield United are kicking off
at the Emirates that same day. The only top-6 team with a favourable fixture,
on paper that is, are Manchester City, who are hosting Crystal Palace on
Saturday afternoon. Instead of premium options from the traditional top teams,
this gameweek there could be some good alternatives to be found at the likes of
Norwich (at home versus Bournemouth), Brighton (at home to Aston Villa) and
even West Ham or Everton (who are playing each other in London on Saturday).
Finally, don’t forget that the deadline
for gameweek 23 is set at 11h30 (GMT+0) on Saturday, January 18th,
2020.
How did our fantasy picks for the previous
gameweek fare?
PICK
PLAYER
OPPONENT
POINTS
Premium
Jamie Vardy
Southampton
(H)
5
Premium
Kevin de Bruyne
Aston Villa (a)
9
Non-premium
Anthony
Martial
Norwich (H)
8
Non-premium
Richarlison
Brighton (H)
10
Differential
Jonny Castro
Newcastle
(H)
2
Differential
Troy Deeney
Bournemouth (a)
7
Captain
Jamie Vardy
Southampton
(H)
10
Most transferred in/transferred out
players (as per January 15th, 2020)
TRANSFERS OUT
TRANSFERS IN
POSSIBLE REASONS
GK
Ramsdale (Bou), Pope (Bur),
Fabianski (Whu)
Ryan (Bri), Henderson (She), McCarthy (Sou)
A
combination of injuries (Ramsdale, Fabianksi), bad fixtures (Pope), and good
upcoming fixtures.
DEF
Kelly (Cry), Pereira (Lei), Rico (Bou)
Williams (Utd), Alexander-Arnold (Liv), Robertson (Liv)
FPL managers starting their preparations for Liverpool’s double GW24.
MID
Alli (Tot), Traoré (Wol),
Maddison (Lei)
Mahrez (MC), Richarlison (Eve), Grealish (Ast)
New form players announcing
themselves.
FOR
Aubameyang (Ars), Jimenez (Wol), Rashford (Utd)
Ings (Sou), Aguero (MC), Vardy (Lei)
Injury doubts (Rashford) and suspensions (Auba) in combination with Ings’ ongoing goalscoring, Aguero grabbing the headlines, and Vardy returning.
Premium fantasy picks
The clash of the week is taking place at
Anfield in gameweek 23, where leaders Liverpool are welcoming their arch rivals
Manchester United, and our first premium fantasy pick will be featuring in this
match. When it comes to home games, Mo Salah (£12.3m) definitely knows
where the goal is judging by the fact that 9 out of his 10 Premier League goals
this season have been scored in front of his own fans. Man United have been
mediocre when it comes to results away from home, taking just 12 points from 11
away games so far this season, scoring 12 goals and conceding a worrying 15
goals over that run. With the young Brandon Williams most likely filling in for
the injured Luke Shaw at left-back for United, more than a few managers will be
eyeing the possibility of Salah taking advantage of the situation, despite the
United youngster’s good performance in gameweek 22. We’re expecting Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer’s men to put up a decent fight at Anfield, but it’s hard to imagine
Liverpool’s front three not causing them some serious trouble over 90 minutes.
Our second premium fantasy pick for
gameweek 23 is Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (£11.8m), who rocketed
himself back to the top of the scouting lists of millions of FPL managers after
bringing home 20 FPL points last weekend. In many cases, this pick could be
seen as a typical “chasing the points” kind of pick, but not in the case of
Aguero. After his recital against Villa, the Argentinian striker is now the
most prolific foreign player in the history of the Premier League, as well as
the player with the most hattricks in the PL to his name. This means that, when
it comes to Aguero, you’re never chasing the points as much as you are
anticipating the next haul. Despite missing six games entirely and playing less
than half an hour in five other games, Kun still has 13 goals and 5 assists to
his name as it stands. As a matter of fact, of the 11 games that he started
this season, he has only failed to return in three of them. Up next is Crystal
Palace, who are expected to dig in deep and hope for a collective off day for
City’s offensive line. With Aguero is red hot record-breaking form, that’s
probably wishful thinking from the Eagles, though.
Non-premium fantasy picks
In gameweek 7, with Spurs away, Chelsea at home and Wolves away up next, barely anyone even considered Danny Ings (£6.8m). Three goals in three games saw him pick up some exposure, but his consecutive blanks against Leicester and Man City then caused managers to largely ignore the Saints striker again. Between gameweek 12 and gameweek 17, he then scored 5 goals in 5 games again, which made many FPL managers notice him and think “No way he’s going to keep that up”. Well, in the six games since then, Ings scored another 5 goals, bringing him to a more than respectable total of 14 goals and a single assist for the season so far. The Englishman is finding himself in the form of his life now that he has been able to leave his injury troubles behind him for a prolonged period of time and the best thing, both from manager’s Ralph Hasenhüttl’s perspective and an FPL manager’s point of view, is that he seems to be completely fixture-proof. Six of his goals have come against opposition currently placed in the top-8, 2 goals were scored against Everton and Arsenal, and the remaining 6 goals were scored against teams currently placed ninth or lower in the table. Wolves are up next as Nuno Espirito Santo’s men roll up to Molineux and even though this is going to be everything but easy for the Saints, Ings has shown that he can turn up anywhere, at any time this season.
The 2019-2020 Fantasy Premier League
campaign brought us a few genuine bargains at the start of the season, with
several players having enjoyed considerable price rises already. Norwich
midfielder Todd Cantwell (£4.9m) definitely belongs to this category,
though his change in price has not been as comet-like as it has been for some
other bargain gems like John Lundstram and Caglar Söyüncü. The young English
offensive midfielder seems to have made the number-14 jersey his at Norwich,
which is not surprising when looking at his tallies this season: 6 goals, 2
assists, 10 bonus points and 86 FPL points from 17 starts. That’s a direct
involvement in 36% of all of the Canaries’ goals this season. Add his price tag
to the equation and you get value that few other players in the official game
can offer. This weekend, Norwich are hosting a Bournemouth side in free-fall
who are now just one place above them in the table. A victory could reduce the
gap from six to three points and more than a few eyes will be on Cantwell to
help orchestrate that victory.
A differential fantasy pick or two
On paper, we feel the Brighton versus Aston Villa game
on Saturday could offer some serious differential value on both sides.
Considering Brighton’s OK home form (10th in the home games table
with 16 points, 15 goals scored and 15 goals conceded from 11 games) and Aston
Villa’s problems away from home (19th in the away games table with 7
points, 14 goals scored and 23 goals conceded from 11 games), we have decided
to highlight Seagulls striker Neal Maupay (£5.9m) for this one. The
French striker has not been overwhelming this season, but 7 goals and 1 assist
from 17 starts is not terrible either for a budget asset from a mid-table team.
Manager Graham Potter likes to rotate and shuffle his starting lineups around
quite a bit, especially in attack, but Maupay has proven to be a constant in
Brighton’s starting lineup, as is illustrated by the 16 games in which he
played at least 78 minutes. That includes the first four games of the season,
which were his first games in the Premier League. We feel that Brighton are the
favourites on Saturday and that Maupay could be the one to consolidate that
feeling.
For an FPL manager, there is something strangely discomforting about a big name player with a big price tag and a very low ownership. That’s because usually this indicates a premium player who, for whatever reason, is underperforming enormously. In some cases though, it simply means that you have come across a very good player who has simply been overshadowed by a teammate and Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette (£9.3m) is one of these cases. With just 12 starts from 22 games, it’s been an up-and-down season for the Frenchman so far, but Mikel Arteta seems to have big plans for him, considering he let him play at least 81 minutes in each of the four Premier League games since his appointment. Lacazette’s return of just a single assist over that run is disappointing to say the least, but don’t forget that Aubameyang is normally the star man up front for the Gunners. With the Gabonese striker now out suspended and expected to return for the GW25 game versus Burnley, we can see the French forward taking over the role of focal point in attack and building on his current tallies of 5 goals and 3 assists, at least temporarily. His price tag of £9.3m makes him quite an expensive punt, but with an ownership of just 2.0% and a relatively favourable set of fixtures coming up, he could be a big differential as well.
We immediately had our eye on the Manchester City versus Crystal Palace game for this week’s captaincy, especially after Pep’s men handed out a 1-6 whooping at Villa Park last weekend, but the problem is, as usual, the danger of rotation. City started with two strikers and Mahrez in a number-10 role in GW22, resulting in a second consecutive benching for Sterling, and it’s unclear whether this will once again be the starting lineup at home to Palace this Saturday or if Guardiola will revert back to the usual 4-3-3. Aguero is obviously a potentially explosive choice for the armband and we find it hard to imagine that Sterling will be benched for a third time in a row, but if you want to play it safe with your captain, Kevin de Bruyne is probably (once again) your best pick. He’s our pick for the armband in any case.
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