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Hello and thanks for coming back to read my picks to help you achieve FPL Legend status (or at least just improve your squad!)
GW24 was a bit of a disaster for me. 38 points and a drop in rank down to 61K. All eyes are on City and Everton this week ahead of our first double of the season. City’s title hope took a hit after they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at St James Park, Newcastle's first home win against the top 6 this season.
So, I still stick by my statement last week that their assets should be avoided for now. I’ll have a keen eye on new signing Almirón at £6.0m. I’ve also previewed a couple of city players and you could either opt for 1 or both!
Check out the next page for the Pundit's views on who you may want to consider instead!
Fantasy Premier League 2018-19: 3 Players to avoid for the coming weeks
#1 Marcos Alonso – Defender (£6.5m)
Clean Sheets: 10
Goals: 1
Assists: 7
Season Points: 120
Upcoming fixtures: HUD (H), MCI (A), BLANK
Alonso’s price (and performances!) have been on a steady decline over the last few weeks and he’s now back to his original starting price!
The Spanish LB is without an attacking return since GW11 and Chelsea have conceded in their last 3 premier league games. This culminated in him losing his place to Emerson for their crushing defeat to Bournemouth in GW24 and in the 5 games prior to that he failed to take a single shot in 3 games (against Newcastle, Palace & Watford).
He failed to make a key pass in 3 games as well (Arsenal, Southampton and Palace) so he may well not feature this weekend in a plum fixture at home to Huddersfield!
If all that still hasn’t got you convinced then Chelsea have no fixture in GW27 due to the League Cup final and that fixture is still to be rearranged.
#2 Callum Wilson – Forward (£6.4m)
Goals: 10
Assists: 8
Season Points: 114
I was relatively shocked to see that the Bournemouth frontman had undergone minor surgery to fix an issue with his knee. That means he’ll be out for a month now so you will want to move him out if you’ve still got him.
He’s been on fire this season and has only had a couple of small injuries (missing games against Liverpool, Everton & Chelsea) and I was really pleased to see him stay with the Cherries this January!
#3 James Maddison – Midfielder (£6.7m)
Goals: 5
Assists: 4
Season Points: 83
Upcoming fixtures: MUN (H), TOT (A), CPAL (H)
Maddison started the season in good form with 2 goals, 1 assist and 2 bonus points in his first 6 games and I thought we’d found a midfielder who would tick over returns consistently in a good team who’d finish in the top half of the Premier League.
In recent weeks it feels like Leicester City boss Puel doesn’t really know what to do with Maddison! He’s been in and out of the team (only 3 starts in the last 5) and without a goal since GW15.
I’ll be keeping my eye on Belgian starlet Youri Tielmans (£6.0m) who has joined the Foxes from Monaco on loan until the end of the season. It will be interesting to see how Puel plays him as he scored 18 goals in 53 games (in all competitions) for Anderlecht in 2016-17 and has 5 goals in 20 league games for Monaco this season.
Fantasy Premier League 2018-19: 3 Players to consider for the coming weeks
#1 Sergio Aguero – Forward (£11.3m)
Goals: 11
Assists: 8
Season Points: 113
Upcoming fixtures: ARS (H) & EVE (A), CHE (H), BLANK
It’s no secret I’ve got a real soft spot for Aguero and he could really do the business in this double gameweek. @FPL_vs (great account to follow if you like to check players records against specific clubs) posted a tweet earlier this morning of Aguero’s record vs Arsenal (12 games – 5 goals & 2 assists) and vs Everton (9 games – 2 goals & 1 assist) and it looks good!
With 3 goals, 1 assist and 3bps in his last 5 games he’s got the form behind him and he’s also got the joint-highest xG90 with 0.70 (Salah & Aubameyang are the same). Aguero takes plenty of shots too averaging 4.77Sh90 and has the 6th most shots in the league (72) despite missing 4 games through injury.
PEP ROULETTE CAVEAT – he may not play the full 90 in both games so he is a rotation risk!
#2 Raheem Sterling – Midfielder (£7.3m)
Goals: 10
Assists: 10
Season Points: 144
Upcoming fixtures: ARS (H) & EVE (A), CHE (H), BLANK
The second City player I’ll give you to whet your appetite is Raheem Sterling! He’s the 4th highest points scorer in the game this season and is playing for a City side which need some wins if they’re to keep the pressure on Liverpool.
Sterling has slight form coming into the double this week with 1 goal, 3 assists and 3bps on his last 5 games. His underlying stats for the Newcastle game were particularly poor with 0 shots and 0 key passes and was fairly anonymous.
His previous 4 games though he averages 1.5 shots per game as well as 2.5 key passes per game. He’s also joint 6th in the PL this season for bps which displays his effectiveness.
PEP ROULETTE CAVEAT – he may not play the full 90 in both games so he is a rotation risk!
#3 Virgil van Dijk - Defender (£6.5m)
Clean Sheets: 12
Goals: 1
Assists: 3
Season Points: 119
Upcoming fixtures: WHM (A), BOU (H), MUN (A)
I think if you don’t have 1 Liverpool defender – you probably need 2! I have selected VVD as he’s a straight swap for Alonso at the same price, and if you can’t afford the extra £0.3m for Robertson (the best defender in FPL this season!) then VVD is a great option.
Liverpool have conceded in 4 of their last 5 games but a big reason I’ve put a Liverpool defender in here is for Blank Gameweeks. Liverpool are out of both the English cup competitions which means they won’t be hit with a blank GW this season. Hence, he will be useful for GW27, GW31 and GW33.
Liverpool also only play 3 of the top 6 (away at United in GW27, Spurs at home GW32 & at home to Chelsea GW34) before the end of their season. Add to this, barring injury, he’s nailed in that Liverpool backline he may be one you want to consider.
Pundit tips
Do you play your triple captain chip? I gave you my strategy for navigating this double GW in last week’s preview so this week it’s do you play your triple captain?
There are many chip strategies out there – the one I plan to follow (as laid out by @PlanetFPLPod in their Series 2 – Episode 38 podcast) is below:
Free Hit – DGW32
2nd Wildcard – GW34
Bench Boost – DGW35
Meaning there may well be no better time to play your triple captain to take advantage of a Double Gameweek (DGW) this season! I heard on @DiveFPL podcast this week there was only around a 40% chance that Chelsea will have a DGW outside of current scheduling.
There is a slight chance they’ll have a triple GW to come – but even if that were to happen I could only really see players like Kepa or Kante (Maybe Rudiger/Luiz) playing full 90 all 3 games. And if Chelsea go deep into the FA Cup and/or Europa League then they will likely rest their assets in the Premier League to focus on getting Sarri his first piece of silverware!
Added to this – you will only really consider Hazard (or maybe Higuaín if he hits form) for the triple and with how much he’s trolled this season I still don’t think you’d feel super confident. So in my mind, this week could be a great opportunity to stick the chip on Sané, Aguero or Sterling – who I’m confident will feature in each game!
For what it’s worth – keep your eyes peeled on my Twitter account on Saturday morning to see if I’ll play my Triple Captain this week!
You can find me on Twitter @FPL_Jim, where you can send me any questions, send me a direct message if that's your thing and I'll always get back to you!
