Gameweek 14 Preview of Fantasy Premier League, courtesy of Bet365.
Only one place to start this week’s preview, and that’s the King Power Stadium. If you’d been told at the start of the season that Manchester United would be directly below Leicester City in the Premier League table after 13 matches you’d have expected Louis Van Gaal to be out of a job by now, but incredibly it’s a top of the table clash. The hosts are a point clear of second-place United after a scintillating start to life in Leicester for Claudio Ranieri. Jamie Vardy’s inspired form means that he’s on the cusp of setting a new Premier League record for goals in consecutive matches. He’s scored in all of his last 10, which means he shares the record with Ruud Van Nistelrooy, but a goal on Saturday evening would put him out on his own. If there’s a repeat of last season’s 5-3 victory, when a Vardy penalty put Leicester in front for the first time in the match at 4-3, then this would be a fitting way for the record to be broken. Vardy has 93 Fantasy Football points already this season, and £7.4m is a bargain for the highest-scoring forward in the game. The only player to gain more points than him this season is teammate Riyad Mahrez, who is available at the even cheaper price of £6.7m. A word of warning though – Leicester have a nightmare fixture list starting on Saturday, with Man United, Swansea, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool and Man City to face before the end of the year. If you’ve not already got either of them it might be best to avoid them for the next month or so.
Earlier in the day there are 5 games, with surely the best potential for Fantasy Football points coming from Everton’s trip to Bournemouth. The Toffees are unbeaten in their last 4 games in all competitions, scoring 12 goals in those matches, and have lost only one away game this season. Bournemouth on the other hand have not won in their last 8, losing 6 of those and conceding 19 goals. Last week Everton demolished Aston Villa 4-0, and Villa are the only side that sit below Bournemouth in the table. A similar result could be on the cards, so Romelu Lukaku (£8.9m), Ross Barkley (£7.0m) and Gerard Deulofeu (£6.3m) are all worth a look this week. Lukaku has 7 goals and 3 assists from his last 7 Premier League games and last week became only the fifth player to score 50 Premier League goals before turning 23 years of age. Barkley has 3 goals and an assist from his last 4 league games and Deulofeu has a goal and 4 assists from his last 5. Plenty of form players to choose from there!
Moving onto Sunday’s games, and the 12pm kick-off should provide some real entertainment. Tottenham host Chelsea in a game that finished 5-3 to the hosts last season, building on Spurs’ recent stranglehold over Chelsea at White Hart Lane. The Blues have only won there once in the Premier League in their last 9 visits, and with the sides’ respective form this season it is difficult to see that run ending. Tottenham are 10 points and 10 places ahead of Chelsea in the league, and Sunday’s visitors have conceded in every away league match this season. The in-form Harry Kane (£9.5m) will surely therefore be a popular choice for Fantasy Football managers this weekend. He has been back amongst the goals recently, with 7 in his last 5 league games. What’s more, Tottenham have an enticing run of fixtures coming up, and if Kane can score this weekend he’ll be eyeing up Jamie Vardy’s record soon!
Liverpool’s home game against Swansea and Arsenal’s trip to Norwich wrap up the weekend’s action, and both will be fancied for victories. Liverpool seem to be finding form under Jürgen Klopp, having won 4 of their last 5 matches in all competitions. In fact, if you take into account the run of draws at the end of Rodgers’ reign and the start of Klopp’s then they’ve actually only tasted defeat once in their last 14 games. Tactically Klopp got everything right in the 4-1 win at Man City last time out, and Roberto Firmino (£8.0m) bagged his first Liverpool goal as well as 2 assists. He played up front at the Etihad, and after a performance like that he could be played up there again on Sunday. With potential points for a clean sheet and 5 points for goals rather than 4 (as he’s classed as a midfielder rather than a striker), he could be a shrewd purchase for your team.
Arsenal will be keen to get back on track following a surprise defeat to West Brom last time out, and a game against one of the most porous defences in the Premier League could be exactly what they need. Alexis Sánchez has a hamstring problem but it looks like Arsène Wenger is still set to start him at Carrow Road, in part due to Arsenal’s annual injury crisis meaning he hasn’t got many other options. Sánchez (£11.5m) continues to impress more in Europe than in the Premier League so far this season, but he’s surely due a league goal after 4 games without. He scored twice and set up the other on Tuesday night as the Gunners cruised to victory against Dinamo Zagreb to keep their Champions League dream alive, and he’d be an excellent addition to your side. Mesut Özil (£9.1m) scored the other goal on Tuesday, and he’s a man who has been in consistently good form this year. He has 9 assists and a goal from his last 7 league outings, and from his 12 league appearances this season he’s scored 3 Fantasy Football points or more on 10 occasions.
Saturday
Sunderland v Stoke
Aston Villa v Watford
Bournemouth v Everton
Crystal Palace v Newcastle
Man City v Southampton
Leicester v Man Utd
(5.30pm Sky Sports 1)
Sunday
Tottenham v Chelsea
(12.00pm BT Sport 1)
West Ham v West Brom
(2.05pm Sky Sports 1)
Norwich v Arsenal
(4.15pm Sky Sports 1)
Liverpool v Swansea