Gameweek 8 Preview of Fantasy Premier League, courtesy of Bet365.
We’ll start with Sunday’s action this week, as there’s two huge matches taking place in the Premier League. First up, Everton welcome Liverpool to Goodison Park for the Merseyside Derby. It’s well known that this fixture is usually a lively affair, and has produced more red cards than any other match since the Premier League’s inception in 1992. With this in mind, it would be wise to avoid any players who are prone to ill-discipline, with yellow/red cards and resulting suspensions a distinct possibility. Liverpool’s full backs could be well worth consideration, as both have decent disciplinary records and love to get forward to help with the attack. On the right side, Nathaniel Clyne (£5.5m) has 3 goals and 10 assists from 3 Premier League seasons, which is a good haul for a defender. On the left, Alberton Moreno (£4.7m) has forced his way back into the side recently. The Spaniard got 2 goals last year and already has an assist to his name this term. On top of this, clean sheet points could be on the cards for them – Everton haven’t beaten their local rivals in the Premier League in almost 5 years, and Liverpool have kept clean sheets in 5 of the 8 fixtures since that 2-0 defeat in October 2010. Up front, Daniel Sturridge is a big player for Brendan Rodger’s men, and he marked his first full match back from injury with 2 goals and 13 Fantasy Football points last week. He’s only in 3.5% of teams at the moment, so could help you to claw back some points on teams ahead of you if you think he’s worth the £10.5m price tag.
Following this, two of the most successful teams of the Premier League era go head to head – it’s Arsenal v Manchester United at the Emirates. Arsène Wenger endured a truly miserable night on Tuesday, with the Gunners losing 3-2 at home to Olympiakos to make it 2 defeats from 2 Champions League games. With back-to-back fixtures coming up against Bayern Munich, it’s tough to see Arsenal getting out of the group stage now, which adds importance to this season’s Premier League campaign. They’ll be keen to make amends on Sunday but have a wretched recent record against Man United, with just one win in their last 12 Premier League encounters (including an 8-2 mauling at Old Trafford). Arsenal haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last 5 matches, and United’s only clean sheets in their last 7 were both at old Trafford (against Sunderland and Ipswich). It could therefore be wise to avoid defenders from both sides and concentrate on the attacking options. Four players stand out above everyone else for this fixture. Alexis Sánchez (£11.1m) seems to have found form, hitting a hat trick last week at Leicester and following that up with a goal and assist in midweek. Theo Walcott (£8.5m) also got a goal and an assist in that defeat to Olympiakos, and has 2 goals in his last 3 Premier League matches. For the away side, Juan Mata (£8.8m) seems to be involved in everything good that they do at the moment. He has 3 goals and 2 assists from his last 4 Premier League games, and on Wednesday night in the Champions League it was his cross that won the penalty from which United, and Mata himself, scored the equaliser, and he followed this up with a sumptuous assist for the winner. Finally, it’s impossible to ignore Anthony Martial (£8.4m). He has 3 goals and an assist from 3 Premier League appearances, and his all-round play has been mightily impressive since his arrival from Monaco.
Saturday’s action, whilst being lower key than Sunday’s, still throws up some intriguing matches. Bournemouth v Watford isn’t a regular on the Premier League fixture list, but both sides have given good accounts of themselves in their 7 games since promotion from the Championship. Watford have 9 points so far and Bournemouth have 7, so the home side will be keen to secure a victory that would see them overtake the visitors in the league table. The Cherries have had some terrible luck with injuries already, with Callum Wilson now joining Tyrone Mings and Max Gradel on the treatment table, and all 3 are expected to be out for months. Glenn Murray (£5.6m) will surely be the focal point of the Bournemouth attack now. He scored 7 goals and got 5 assists from just 868 minutes on the pitch last season for Crystal Palace, so given regular game time he could rack up the points. On the opposing side, Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo (£5.2m) has bagged 4 goals already this season and his partnership with Troy Deeney (£5.3m) is causing problems for Premier League defences. Deeney hasn’t yet scored himself, but surely it’s only a matter of time based on his goalscoring exploits in the Championship and he has 3 Premier League assists to his name so far.
Manchester City will hope that their Champions League win helps them rediscover their form in the Premier League. After winning their opening 5 games without conceding a goal they’ve now lost their last 2 league fixtures and conceded top spot to local rivals Man United. A home match against Newcastle looks a banker home win on paper though – the Geordies have recorded just one away win in the Premier League in the last 10 months, sit second bottom of the table and have only beaten Man City once in the last 14 meetings between the sides. A lot of Fantasy Football managers will be once again placing their faith in Sergio Agüero (£13.2m). The Argentine striker has not yet reached his usual high standards this season, but it will be a surprise if he’s not back amongst the goals in the league soon. David Silva (£10.1m) made his return from injury in the midweek win in Germany, and will also be a popular captain choice, He scored 191 Fantasy League points last year after bagging 12 goals, 12 assists and 12 clean sheets. He has 4 assists and 4 clean sheets from his 4 Premier League games this season, and you’d fancy him to add to that if he’s in the starting line-up on Saturday.
In addition here is Bet365‘s review of Super Sunday’s action:
13:30 BST – Everton v Liverpool
Super Sunday kicks off in a big way with the massive Merseyside Derby. These sides have met 224 times since 1894 incredibly, with the last 2 results ending in a draw, which does reflect the current odds. Liverpool are marginal favourites and will be pleased to have long-lost Daniel Sturridge available again following a year’s absence due to injury. His 2 goal haul this weekend will give the Reds greater confidence in front of goal with Sturridge overtaking Torres and Suarez as Liverpool’s most prolific goal scorer in the Premier League era with a 0.65 goals per game ratio. Everton did well to earn 3 points away at West Brom last night and put 3 goals past a side who rarely concede at all. They’ve done very well in the last month and do have the superior goals for and goals against record so far when compared to their rivals, with a 3-1 win over Chelsea a key highlight. They’ll go into this match as favourites in some respect and could look to cause further distress to an anxious Brendan Rodgers who will be desperate to avoid another defeat. If we can guarantee one thing, it’s that it’ll be a full-blooded affair, with the fixture producing an incredible 20 red cards since the Premier League began; the highest of any fixture. Over 2.5 goals is a tempting 1/1 (2.00) with bet365.
16:00 BST – Arsenal v Man Utd
Following on from the Merseyside Derby, we have a huge fixture between current title-contenders Arsenal and Man Utd. The sides have met 221 times, with some memorable results over the years, including a phenomenal 8-2 United win back in 2011. Rooney has bagged the most goals in this fixture over these years, and would be a good option to score first here. Arsenal are favourites for the tie and will be very pleased with Alexis Sanchez’s return to goal scoring ways following a brilliant hat-trick at the weekend, and he could well strike again now the flood gates have opened. United also secured a strong win at the weekend and currently top the Premier League table with the league’s joint-top defensive record, so it will be a true test for both sides who will look to continue recent form. Over 3.5 goals looks attractive at 2/1 (3.00) despite United’s defensive record.
16:30 BST – Bayern Munich v B Dortmund
First of all, we’ll be live streaming this fixture with exclusions applying to Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, San Marino and USA, so please do outline the geo-restrictions and funded account requirement.
Bayern Munich have of course dominated the league for years, and this one has been no different thus far – topping the table with 7 wins from 7 games, scoring 23 goals in the process. Dortmund are 2nd in the chase however, but are 4 points shy of their rivals. Following on from his 5 goal haul in 9 minutes against Wolfsburg, Lewandowski bagged a further 2 against Mainz at the weekend – the Pole is on fire and is will be a great choice to score against Dortmund. Dortmund have had back to back score-draws in recent weeks, so Both Teams to Score will be a stand-out option at 8/15 (1.53), or Over 2.5 goals at 1/2 (1.50).
19:30 BST – Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid
You’ll be pleased to hear we’re also live streaming this colossal fixture – but similarly to above, exclusions do apply and it’s not available in Spain, Middle East, North Africa, Andorra and USA.
Our second Derby of the day comes from Madrid, with just two points separating the sides in the 2015/16 campaign so far, so this is an early title-credentials test for both! Villarreal caused an upset at the weekend, defeating Atletico 1-0 to go top of the table! This will put pressure on Atletico to avoid back-to-back losses when facing their neighbours on Sunday, but with Los Blancos so far undefeated in the league campaign and hungry to gain ground, it could be a very cagey affair. 2014/15 offered up 6 matches between the Madrid sides in all competitions extraordinarily, which led to 3 draws, 2 Atletico wins and 1 Real win in total; with an average of 1.6 goals per game. A Draw and Under 2.5 goals is 3/1 (4.0) at bet365!
All odds above are accurate as of 12:00 BST 29.09.15 and are subject to change.
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