As part of FISO’s special series of weekly articles on FanTeam, Europe’s biggest daily fantasy football provider, we will actually be entering the team we write about each week into the game. Our article will focus on an Early Entry for their Fantasy Premier League tournament held each week in order to help you identify game rules, tactics and the most promising players per gameweek, so you can win some of that large prize money.
Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€75k prize pool) Main Event. The winner takes home a cool €7,500. FanTeam also offer a €2 entry Weekly Monster with a lower prize pool for those who prefer to play with lower stakes. Join the discussion on FISO’s FanTeam forum.
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. Do though check out the Predicted Line-Ups for the Premier League clubs as well as the latest injury news (click on ‘Team’ to sort per club rather than the default ‘date’) before finalising your picks.
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. This is regardless of whether or not your selected player does take to the field later in the game. This rule helps people who have entered a team into the Weekly Monster not to 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. A reasonable tactic can be to select two players from two different clubs for your Goalie and Defenders, which would see you incur just 2 single-point deductions if you nail both clean sheets correctly.
Gameweek 23 €75K Weekly Monster matches
Our team suggestion for the Weekly Monster in gameweek 23
Formation: 4-4-2
LEEDS UNITED
With a home game against Crystal Palace coming up next Monday, we have identified Leeds United as a potential source of points for this weekend’s FanTeam €75K Weekly Monster tournament. The Whites are going through a good season on their return to the Premier League and they are playing very entertaining, attacking football under Marcelo Bielsa. Results are not always easy to predict when it comes to Leeds, but their games usually end with plenty of goals. In 21 league games, they have already scored 36 goals and conceded 38. Their opponents Palace are not in bad form themselves and just coming off two consecutive victories, but they do boast one of the leakiest defences in the League. Only West Brom and Leeds themselves have conceded more than their 37 goals. In the past four games, they have conceded 8 goals, though it should be noted that this run did include encounters with Man City and West Ham.
As far as Leeds assets go, we have gone with an attacking double-up consisting of Patrick Bamford and Raphinha. Both players were a doubt to feature in gameweek 22 due to injury niggles, but both of them started and returned. Bamfy added an assist to his totals of 11 goals and 7 assists, while Raphinha scored a goal to make it 4 goals and 4 assists for himself this season. Both are expected to start against Fulham and we wouldn’t be surprised to see them return for their owners once again. Also, Bamford is on penalties and Raphinha takes corners from the right side.
Our third White is Stuart Dallas, the former winger who has become a very interesting out-of-position fantasy asset over the course of this season. He started as a roaming full-back, and is still registered as a defender on FanTeam, but Bielsa has started to deploy him in a starting central midfield role with plenty of freedom to get in front of goal now. We’re expecting Leeds to dominate against Crystal Palace and Dallas to get chances to add to his current 4 goals and 2 assists. On top of that, the Eagles have scored just 4 goals in their last five games, so points at both ends of the pitch could be coming Dallas’ way on Monday.
WEST HAM UNITED
For gameweek 23, we have also opted for a triple-up of West Ham assets as the Hammers prepare for an away game against Fulham. The Cottagers have improved since the start of the season, it’s true, but they still look like one of the prime candidates for relegation. Scott Parker’s men haven’t won a game since gameweek 10 and they have conceded 6 goals in the last four games. West Ham, on the other hand, have won five of their last six games and currently sit very nicely in fifth place, just two points off 4th placed Liverpool.
David Moyes’ men have scored 11 goals over that run and their attack has been bolstered considerably by the return of Michail Antonio. For our GW23 selection, we have selected the English forward and his Czech teammate Tomas Soucek. Antonio had his first start back in gameweek 19 after an absence of several months, and he has recorded 2 goals and 3 assists since then. Soucek is one of the surprises of the 2020-21 Premier League campaign as he has proved himself to be much more than a controlling midfielder. His current 8 goals and 1 assist are testament to that.
Seeing as their opponents Fulham have also scored just a single goal in their last five home games, we felt that Aaron Cresswell could be a smart fantasy pick for this weekend. Thanks to 8 assists and 7 clean sheets, he is currently the third-highest-scoring defender on FanTeam. He is a fixed part of West Ham’s starting eleven and often involved in set-pieces as well, both in terms of corners and free-kicks. The Hammers are in good form and on track for European football, so they will be looking for the three points at Craven Cottage and Cresswell could be one of the fantasy beneficiaries.
BURNLEY
It’s been a while since we selected more than one player from the Clarets, especially when considering the fact that Nick Pope is not one of those players. For the coming weekend though, we are putting some of our money on Matt Lowton and Ben Mee, two nailed-on elements of Burnley’s defensive set-up. The Clarets found their qualities just in time this season and are currently 8 points above the relegation zone in 17th place. As far as Lowton is concerned, we are aiming for a clean sheet as he has not yet posted an attacking return yet. Mee has done a bit better in that sense with 2 goals in the last seven games.
Sean Dyche’s side are facing Brighton on Saturday afternoon and the Seagulls are going through a bit of a purple patch at the moment. They have taken 10 points from the last four games, and that run included away games against Leeds and Liverpool, and a home game versus Spurs. They did, however, score just 3 goals in their last five games. They play more than decent football, but they are lacking a killer touch up front. Despite their good form, we envision the clash with Burnley at Turf Moor to become a low-scoring affair with hopefully a clean sheet for the home team.
SINGLE SHOOTERS
For this weekend, we have spent a considerable part of our budget on two single picks, namely Bruno Fernandes and Raheem Sterling. We’re starting with the United talisman, who is preparing for an encounter with Everton at Old Trafford, where Southampton were dispatched 9-0 just a few days ago. Bruno contributed to that massacre with 1 goal and 2 assists for a total of 16 FT points. Though we’re not expecting such a haul against the Toffees on Saturday, we do think that he will, as usual, play a central role in most of United’s attacking intentions. Everton have conceded 6 goals in the last four games and it will be a mammoth task for them to keep out the Red Devils.
Our second joker pick for gameweek 23 of FanTeam’s €75K Weekly Monster is Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, who has been in reasonably good fantasy form of late. In his last four Premier League starts, he has recorded 3 goals and 1 assist for a total of 30 FT points. The risk is, of course, rotation when it comes to City assets, but the FanTeam safety net will replace Raz with Mahrez of Gündogan should he not be in the starting eleven. In any case, our team will contain one major attacking City asset for when they visit Anfield on Sunday.
GOALKEEPER
Finally, our goalkeeper for the upcoming round of Premier League action. With three victories in their last five games, Sheffield United are actually showing a bit of form for the first time this season and it can’t be seen separately from their improved defensive performances. While the Blades have conceded a total of 35 goals overall this season, just 3 of those goals were conceded since gameweek 22. That’s why we have gone with Aaron Ramsdale for our gameweek 23 FanTeam squad this time. Sheffield United are definitely not favourites when they host Chelsea on Sunday, but don’t write them off too quickly. The Blues have scored just 4 goals in their last five outings and a Blades outfit enjoying a bout of growing confidence could well be a very annoying game for them to play right now.