Gameweek 7 Preview of Fantasy Premier League, courtesy of Bet365

It was another enthralling weekend of Premier League football in gameweek 6, with 34 goals scored over the 10 games. Liverpool were fantastic in their 5-1 demolition of Hull and climbed into the top 4 at the expense of their Merseyside rivals Everton, who lost 1-0 at Bournemouth. Man City have now won 10 games out of 10 in all competitions under Guardiola after a comfortable 3-1 win at Swansea, and they have a 4-point cushion at the top of the league. Man United got back to form in impressive style with a 4-1 win over champions Leicester, while possibly the game of the weekend saw Crystal Palace fight back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 away at Sunderland with a last-gasp header from Benteke securing all 3 points for the Eagles.

This week’s Dream Team was dominated by midfielders. James Milner, Phillipe Coutinho and Alexis Sánchez scored 14 points each, while Adam Lallana and Heung Min-Son picked up 15 apiece. At the back Michael Keane’s performance against Watford is worth a mention. He scored in Burnley’s 2-0 win, picking up clean sheet points and bonus points too, securing 14 points overall, a season-high for a defender in a single gameweek

Gameweek 7 Preview

We have the third Friday night fixture of the season taking place this week, so changes to your team need to be made by 7pm on Friday. It’s Everton against Crystal Palace to get us underway for the weekend, and this is a game that promises goalmouth action at both ends. Everton have only failed to score in 2 of their last 17 Premier League games at Goodison Park and had scored in all 5 of their league fixtures before last weekend’s shock defeat to Bournemouth. Palace themselves have found some form in front of goal, with 3 league wins in a row and 9 goals scored in those matches. Romelu Lukaku (£9.3m) is the obvious choice for the home side, having scored 4 and assisted 1 in his last 3 league games and also scoring in this fixture in each of the last 2 seasons. For the visitors Alan Pardew has started to play James McArthur (£4.9m) in a more advanced position in recent weeks, and it’s paid off with the Scotsman picking up 2 goals and an assist in his last 2 matches. There aren’t too many better value for money midfielders in Fantasy Football at the moment! Christian Benteke (£7.6m) is bound to cause problems for the Everton defence too, and having scored in both of his away games for Palace so far he’ll be confident of adding to his tally on Friday.

On Saturday Chelsea’s visit to Hull will be of interest to plenty of Fantasy Football managers. Hull’s dream start to the season has turned into a nightmare, with just one point gained from their last 4 games and 9 goals conceded in their last 2. Chelsea have also come unstuck in recent weeks, losing 2 and drawing 1 of their last 3 league games after winning 3 from 3 at the start of the season, but they’ll be expected to get back to winning ways here. If they are to do this a big performance may be required from a player who Fantasy Football managers seem to be losing patience with. Eden Hazard was £10.0m at the start of the season and by gameweek 4 was up to £10.3m after 2 goals and an assist had persuaded plenty of people to draft him in. Three quiet performances since then have seen his value plummet to £9.9m though, and if he doesn’t perform here the 22% of managers who still have him in their team will be seriously considering his position after next week’s international break. A game against a promoted side hitting a sticky patch should be the ideal platform to get his season back on track though, and big things can be expected from him this week.

It’s a busy Sunday with 4 Premier League matches taking place, and kicking things off that day it’s Man United v Stoke City. Stoke picked up their first point since the opening day when they drew at home to West Brom last week, but 2 draws and 4 defeats from their opening 6 matches is a poor return for Mark Hughes’ men. Things could get worse on Sunday too, with Stoke up against a Man United side who last week scored 4 against last season’s champions at Old Trafford. It would be a surprise to see many changes from United’s starting line-up from that fixture, which would mean that Marcus Rashford (£6.9m) is poised for another start. The youngster is in great form with 3 goals from his last 4 league matches and could well be amongst the goalscorers again on Sunday.

The big game of the weekend is at White Hart Lane, where Tottenham host Manchester City. These 2 sides occupy the top 2 places in the league and are both undefeated after 6 games. Man City are averaging 3 goals per game in the league so far this season and have a great recent record against Spurs. Over the last 5 seasons they’ve won 7 of the league meetings between the sides, scoring 29 goals in the process. Tottenham did the double over City last season to give that statistic a little more respectability from their side, but the man to watch out for in this game is Sergio Agüero (£13.0m). He loves playing against Spurs, having scored 10 goals in 9 games against Sunday’s opponents. He has also bagged 5 goals in 4 league games so far in this campaign and in this kind of form will always be a consideration for captain. Expect goals at both ends in this game though – both teams have scored in all but 2 of the last 10 games between the sides, so along with Agüero the likes of Sterling (£8.6m), Eriksen (£8.3m) and Son (£7.5m) could all have good points potential this week.

To finish off, one Fantasy Football pick from each of the remaining fixtures:

Swansea v Liverpool – James Milner (£6.5m)
Sunderland v West Brom – Jonny Evans (£4.5m)
Watford v Bournemouth – Troy Deeney (£7.0m)
West Ham v Middlesbrough – Stewart Downing (£5.3m)
Leicester v Southampton – Islam Slimani (£8.5m)
Burnley v Arsenal – Alexis Sánchez (£11.1m)