A lifelong Birmingham City fan, Tom relocated to Germany for five years after graduating from university, where his interest in the Bundesliga developed. He began writing about and betting on German football for FST in 2016. He's also an avid fantasy football player and closely follows the Premier League and European competitions.
Gameweek 10 is almost upon us just a few days after some decent mid-week League Cup action. Last weekend offered some entertainment to go alongside three of Saturday’s less exciting 0-0 draws. Leicester City enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 win at home to Crystal Palace and Stoke extended their streak to 4 matches unbeaten with a 2-0 win away to Hull City. Most notable, however, was Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge, where Manchester United suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at the hands of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.
Read more below to see our recent winners and find out our recommendations for who to take and who to bench for the upcoming fixtures!
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Last Week’s Winner!
Last week’s winner was John Knox’s “The real pool”, who bagged himself £20 in bet365 free bets and most importantly an FST Mug!
FANTASY FOOTBALL WINNER – WEEK 9
John Knox’s “The real pool”
DM us to claim your £20 Free Bets & FST Mug! pic.twitter.com/5Ehb6IcFsw
— Football Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) October 25, 2016
Who to Buy
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Romelu Lukaku (Everton) – Price: £9.7m
Lukaku started to gain momentum when he broke his 1139 minute goalless run with an 11 minute hat-trick against Sunderland back in gameweek 4. He followed this up with a goal and an assist against Middlesborough in gameweek 5, earning himself back-to-back “Dream Team” spots. However, it has taken him until gameweek 9 to break the 1 million fantasy manager mark despite consistent point hauls since then. Lukaku assisted Everton’s only goal against Burnley last time out, earning himself 5 points and taking his tally up to 6 goals and 2 assist over his last 6 appearances for Everton. He has the 2nd highest total score of any forward, which makes him a steal at £9.7m, especially when considering that a player such as Sergio Aguero has 15 points fewer and costs an extra £3.4m.
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Liverpool Midfielders – Price: varied
Jurgen Klopp is spoilt for choice when it comes to attacking midfielders at Liverpool. Coutinho, Lallana, Mane, and Roberto Firmino are all decent and viable options depending on your fantasy budget. Coutinho (£8.4) is currently the third best midfielder overall in Premier League fantasy and earnt 10 points last time out against West Brom – 87 minutes played, 1 goal scored and 3 bonus points. However, Coutinho tends to either hit or miss. He has scored or assisted in “just” four of his eight appearances and he’s only played a full 90 minutes in three of these, so there is some risk added to the equation.
Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino (£8.5m), who is mainly being utilised in a false nine forward role, has played the full 90 minutes in all but one match where he has started (he missed one match to injury) and has taken 20 points from his last three matches through 1 goal, 2 assists and 2 bonus points. Additionally, Sadio Mane (£9.0) was at the centre of Liverpool’s 2-1 win at home to West Brom, scoring 12 points thanks to his goal and assist, but he is also the most expensive of the bunch.
With Liverpool’s nine upcoming fixtures all being rated 3 or lower on the “fixture difficulty ranking”, now would be a wise time to invest in some Liverpool players.
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Bournemouth Players – Price: varied
Bournemouth have improved around the board as the season has progressed and come into this unbeaten in four matches. Goalkeeper Artur Boruc (£4.6m) is the joint 2nd best fantasy goalkeeper so far, keeping 3 clean sheets overall and earning plenty more points from saves. Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels (£5.0) and Adam Smith (£4.7) see themselves as joint fourth best fantasy defenders thanks to last week’s well earned 0-0 draw at home to Tottenham and both found themselves in the action going forward in Bournemouth’s 6-1 thrashing of Hull City two weeks back.
Regarding action in the final third, Bournemouth’s Junior Stanislas (£5.6) and Callum Wilson (£6.5) are some of the best value players available based on form. Stanislas missed last weekend’s match due to injury and remains doubtful ahead of this weekend, however, he might be worth picking up anyway simply as a future investment. He has a cumulative 41 point haul over his last five appearances – an average of 8.2 points per match. Callum Wilson, meanwhile, is averaging 6.33 points per match over his last three thanks to two goals and an assist. Bournemouth stand a decent chance against the out-of-form Middlesborough on the weekend.
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Stoke Players – Price: varied
A revived Stoke City saw two players debut in this season’s fantasy “Dream Team” after last weekend’s 2-0 win away to Hull City. Xherdan Shaqiri (£6.3m) was one of them. He converted two long-range efforts to earn him 15 points and become last week’s top player. He was joined by Ryan Shawcross, whose assist for Shaqiri’s opener helped Stoke on their way to a second successive victory and clean sheet. Stoke have a “winnable” set of fixtures ahead, with five of the upcoming six fixtures being rated 2 or lower in the “fixture difficulty rating”. Now would be a wise time to invest in some Stoke players.
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Chelsea Players – Price: varied
Since being swept aside by Arsenal in gameweek 6, Chelsea have won three successive matches, scoring nine goals and keeping a clean sheet in all of them. Antonio Conte’s decision to move to a back three supported by wing backs has produced defensive stability and seen Chelsea players feature in each of the last three “Dream Teams”.
Diego Costa (£10.3m) failed to contribute to Sunday’s 4-0 win at home to Manchester United, only the second match this season where he has neither scored nor assisted, but still remains a valuable asset to any fantasy side.
At the back, either Gary Cahill (£5.9m), who scored last time out, or Marcus Alonso (£5.9m), who assisted one in the same match, warrant interest. Alonso in particular, though earning fewer points, had more attempts on goal (6) than any other defender since gameweek 7 onwards and has provided six chances for team-mates down the left hand side.
Who to Bench
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)
Zlatan stays on our bench list this week. Ibrahimovic slipped away from the fantasy forward top 2 for the first time after gameweek 7 and his performances simply haven’t been up to scratch for a star of his calibre. Ibra has taken away just one goal and one assist over his last six Premier League matches and we have to question whether his (now) £11.3m price tag could actually be distributed better elsewhere given the current form of some other forwards.
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Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Sterling is another that has seen his form run dry over the past few weeks. Though he only takes up a much more moderate £8.4m of your budget, his performances over Manchester City’s last three Premier League matches, from which he has taken a measly 5 points, leave a lot to be desired. Manchester City are struggling overall – without a win in six competitive matches – and considering the form of some similar priced midfielders, such as those from Liverpool, we’d be looking to swap him out.
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Etienne Capoue (Watford)
People who were early to jump on the Capoue bandwagon may have already seen the best he has to offer for this season. Capoue’s 4 goals and 1 assist over Watford’s opening five matches – more than he had contributed in his past 3 Premier League seasons combined – saw his popularity skyrocket. However, the tank seems to have run dry and he’s taken just the minimum points from a series of “soft” fixtures against Burnley, Bournemouth, Middlesborough and Swansea. Now would be an optimal time to cash in on his increased price tag and make a profit in a transfer for a cheaper player, such as, Stoke’s Joe Allen.
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Jermaine Defoe (Sunderland)
Sunderland’s overall performances so far this season haven’t helped Jermaine Defoe’s cause going forward. Defoe remains reasonable value for a striker at £7.3m, especially when considering he’ll be playing 90 minutes every week. However, he has failed to score in any of Sunderland’s last three appearances and the Black Cats have a particularly difficult fixture against the inform Arsenal this weekend. His role as the lone striker will be simply ineffective until Sunderland start to provide him with better support.
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Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly (Man United), Leighton Baines (Everton), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham)
All of the above are some of the latest doubtfuls ahead of Gameweek 10, though there are, of course, plenty of other current injuries to be aware of. Leaving doubtful players in your lineup in the hope that they are fit in time is a gamble, but it can sometimes have its reward. If you choose to leave a doubtful player in your lineup and take the risk then make sure to order your benched players. That way, if your doubtful player doesn’t feature, the players you want to be automatically switched for the absent player will be subbed in after all this weekend’s matches are finished.
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