Fantasy Football Week 12 – All You Need to Know

Gameweek 12 can’t come quickly enough following another two week international football break. The Premier League gave us a couple of shock results and plenty of goals last time out, so let’s hope for more of the same here. Chelsea’s 5-0 win at home to Everton and Liverpool’s 6-1 win at home to Watford, in particular, earnt plenty of points for players we recommended in the last article.

Read more below to see our recent winner 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 Meric Munene’s “Official Meric Fc”, who bagged himself £20 in bet365 free bets and most importantly an FST Mug!

FANTASY FOOTBALL WINNER – WEEK 11

Meric Munene’s “Official Meric Fc”

DM us to claim your £20 bet365 Free Bets & FST Mug! pic.twitter.com/wUrsbogihr

— Football Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) November 9, 2016

Who to Buy

1. Chelsea Players – Price: varied

   Since being swept aside by Arsenal in gameweek 6, Chelsea have won five consecutive matches, scoring sixteen goals and keeping a clean sheet in each. Antonio Conte’s decision to move to a back three supported by wing backs has produced defensive stability and seen a range of Chelsea players feature in each of the last four “Dream Team”s.

   Eden Hazard (£10.1m) has been the main benefactor from the switch in system, scoring 5 and assisting 2 in his last four matches. On top of his 2 goals and an assist against Everton, he took away all three bonus points for a second time in a row for a massive 19 point haul which put him top of the fantasy point overall leaderboard. Diego Costa (£10.5m) – the Premier League’s leading goalscorer – has the 3rd highest fantasy point score of any player and has also benefited from his Belgian teammates new-found form, scoring one and assisting one himself last time out.

   At the back, Azpilicueta (£6.0m), who has taken at least one bonus point in four of Chelsea’s last five matches, or Marcus Alonso (£6.0m), who scored his first for Chelsea against Everton and has had more attempts on goal than any other defender since gameweek 7 onwards, also warrant interest.

2. Liverpool Midfielders – Price: varied

   Jurgen Klopp is spoilt for choice when it comes to attacking midfielders at Liverpool. Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Mane, and Lallana are all decent and viable options depending on your fantasy budget. Coutinho (£8.5m) is currently the second best midfielder overall in Premier League fantasy and earnt 11 points last time out from a goal and an assist in Liverpool’s 6-1 win at home to Watford.

   Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino (£8.7m), who has solidified his false nine role ahead of striker Daniel Sturridge, took a massive 15 points from his goal, two assists and 2 bonus points last time out. He has averaged 8.2 points per match over Liverpool’s last five and is only selected by 14.8% of teams. Additionally, Sadio Mane (£9.0m) also got himself involved with two goals against Watford for a total 12 points. He is, however, the most expensive of the bunch and only got 60 minutes on the pitch last time out.

   Given Liverpool’s form and the fact that all seven of their upcoming fixtures are rated 3 or lower on the “fixture difficulty ranking”, now would be a wise time to invest in some Liverpool players.

3. Sergio Aguero or Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City) – Price: £13.1m and £5.8m respectively

   Sergio Aguero also remains on the list of recommendations for this week. Though he is the most expensive player in the Fantasy Premier League format, he is simply the essential Man City player for any fantasy side. Aguero’s goal and bonus point in Man City’s 1-1 draw at home to Middlesborough saw him take away “just” 6 points for his efforts. However, Aguero’s general consistency in the top flight combined with fixtures against Crystal Palace and Burnley in the next two should more than prove his worth.

   Gundogan, meanwhile, though “unproven” in terms of Premier League game time, is just extremely decent value for a Manchester City midfielder at £5.8m. He’s also in decent form at the moment, scoring four goals (including two against Barcelone) and assisting one over Man City’s last three.

4. Stoke Players – Price: varied

   Stoke City are well on the road to recover after their 1-1 draw away to West Ham extended their streak to six matches unbeaten. Stoke have a “winnable” set of fixtures ahead, with all three of their upcoming matches being rated 2 or lower in the “fixture difficulty rating”.

   For £7.3m and with just 1.6% of teams selecting him, Wilfried Bony could prove to be a decent investment. Bony scored 2 goals against his former club, Swansea, the match before last which was enough to earn him the 3 bonus points and a debut spot on the “Dream Team” in a Stoke shirt. When compared with his displays for Manchester City last season, Bony has a lot more potential as a fantasy player. He’s seeing much more of the ball in the opposition’s box, averaging a much higher touches per match and creating almost double the amount of chances.

   Joe Allen (£5.4m), meanwhile, though quiet in two of Stoke’s last three matches, has huge potential for such a cheap midfielder. Allen is averaging a huge 8 points per match over Stoke’s last six matches – his price alone is enough to warrant consideration.

5. Robert Snodgrass (Hull City) – Price: £5.5m

   Only 3.6% of players have Hull City’s Robert Snodgrass selected in their fantasy teams. As a winger and set-piece taker, his £5.5m price tag has to make him one of the better value midfielders available even though Hull City are a struggling side. He scored a goal – his 4th of the season – and assisted Hull’s other in their impressive 2-1 win at home to Southampton last time out. He’s averaging 6 points per match as the 12th highest scoring fantasy midfielder available and a favourable set of fixtures for Hull coming up – all four of the next four matches are rated 2 or lower in the “fixture difficulty rating” – should make him a decent investment.

Who to Bench

1. 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, Swansea and Hull. His price has been on the decline for weeks and now is probably the last time to cash on his increased price tag with an exchange for in-form players from a similar price range, such as, Stoke’s Joe Allen or Man City’s Ilkay Gundogan.

2. 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 moderate £8.1m of your budget, his performances over Manchester City’s last five Premier League matches, from which he has taken a measly 8 points, leave a lot to be desired. Manchester City are “out-of-form” both in terms of scoring goals and taking away results. City have scored one goal or less in four of their last five matches and taken just one win from these. Considering the form of some similar priced midfielders, such as those from Liverpool, we’d be looking to swap him out.

3. Alvaro Negredo (Middlesborough)

   12.8% of fantasy managers still have faith in Alvaro Negredo (£6.3m) – making him the 6th most popular foward – despite his disappointing performances since gameweek 3. Negredo’s strong start to the season, where he earnt 19 points over Middlesboro’s opening two matches from one goal and two assists, saw plenty of people snap him up early. Since then, however, the Spaniard has contributed just one assist and taken no bonus points for a disappointing average of 2.5 points per match. His price tag is, admittedly, not burning a huge hole in your budget for a striker who plays 90 minutes every weekend. However, with fiour of Middlesborough’s next five matches being rated 3 or higher on the “fixture difficulty rating” (Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool to name a few), you’d be much better off swapping him out for similar priced forwards, such as, Southampton’s Charlie Austin.

4. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

   Marcus Rashford was dropped back to the bench and didn’t feature at all last time out against Swansea after his four match goal-less and assist-less spell. Jose Mourinho mixed up his lineup with Rooney finding himself once again with a starting role alongside Pogba, Mata, Fellaini, and Carrick in midfield. Admittedly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is suspended for the next match so Rashford could find himself back in the starting eleven, however, United have a particularly difficult fixture at home to the in-form Arsenal so this could be tricky for the youngster if so.

5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Hector Bellerin (Arsenal), Antonio Valencia and Eric Bailly (Man United), Dele Alli and Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham)

   All of the above are some of the latest doubtfuls ahead of Gameweek 12, 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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— Football Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) 8 August 2016