Top 3 budget options for your FPL team Gameweek 5 – Fantasy Premier League 2019

This season of FPL is in full swing and a lot of the big hitters are already hitting top gear. Liverpool lovebirds Mane and Salah have started the season in great gusto. Trent has already given us 3 assists and a clean sheet. Sterling, KDB and Aguero all have already scored at-least 35 points. The likes of Kane, Aubameyang, Vardy, Son, Pepe, etc all have a run of great fixures.

Pranil Sheth - Fantasy Premier League 2019

Accommodating so many big-hitters in one team almost becomes impossible and we need all the help we can get in terms of Budget enablers for your FPL team. Keeping that in mind, I am going to recommend 3 budget enablers for your FPL team. This week I am going to leave out Ashley Barnes and Haller both of whom I recommended in my article last Gameweek. These two are great frontline budget options for your FPL team in addition to the names I will recommend in this article.

My top 3 budget picks for your FPL team are as follows:

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#1 Nicolás Otamendi (£5.4M)

Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion - Premier League

Gameweek 4 saw Aymeric Laporte stretchered off after just 36 minutes. The Frenchman has damaged the cartilage in his knee and it doesn’t look like he could be playing competitive football in 2019. Keeping that in mind, a budget city defender has appeared in the form of Argentine Nicolas Otamendi. While you maybe argue that Zinchenko is offering that value already, it is worth noting that Benjamin Mendy is expected to be fit after the international break and with Champions League football on the horizon, we could see rotation in that spot.

While you may think that £5.4M is not exactly budget for a defender, the value that Otamendi offers is staggeringly good. We are talking about a team that kept 20 clean sheets last year. Otamendi is the most natural replacement for Laporte at left centre-back. He started for 13 out of 17 matches that Laporte did not play in his natural position last year.

In addition, we all remember Otamendi making darting runs in 2017-18 when he scored 4 goals. This is from 24 attempts he had inside the box in that season telling us that his goal threat is massive. He ended that season as a £6.4M defender (starting at £5.5M) and that is probably what is true price is. This tells us that he could be a million underpriced with this opportunity arising for him. In addition, Man City have a flurry of favourable fixtures as well with them not facing a single team from the top 6 until they face Liverpool in Gameweek 12.

Man City have already made an arrangement with Otamendi for him to miss the second international game for Argentina this International break which means we should see him start for City this weekend vs. Norwich.

#2 Manuel Lanzini (£6.5M)

Watford FC v West Ham United - Premier League

A true sleeper in FPL, Manuel Lanzini missed most of last season because of a serious knee injury. That said this little Argentine magician has started this season with a bang having already clocked two assists so far this season.

Playing behind the French striker as a number 10, Lanzini offers a good amount of goal threat as well as assist threat. He also takes a fair share of set pieces which adds to his FPL pedigree. This West Ham team has a lot of goals in them with Haller, Felipe Anderson, Lanzini and Yarmolenko all players of high calibre.

If Pellegrini can get them going, we could see a lot of goals at the London Stadium this season. We are already witnessing the signs for the same. West Ham have carved out 12 Big Chances in this first 4 Gameweeks this season. Only Man City and Liverpool have created more Big Chances so far this season. In the last two weeks alone, no team has had more shots in the box than West Ham.

These are certainly good signs given West Ham’s fixtures in the next couple of months. Right until Gameweek 12, West Ham has only one game versus last season’s top six. That too, against Manchester United at home who are having struggles of their own.

Lanzini’s stats are very encouraging as well. Only De Bruyne (16) has created more chances than Lanzini (14) this season. In addition, Lanzini has 7 goal attempts to his name with 5 of them coming inside the box which tells us that when he does shoot, the shot is on more often than not.

While Lanzini might not be an explosive asset, there are signs that he will offer great value for the £6.5M for the next few weeks and should continue trickling with returns on a consistent basis.

#3 Matthew Lowton (£4.5M)

Burnley FC v Liverpool FC - Premier League

Having written about Barnes and Haller last week and with Laporte’s injury this week, I thought it would be useful to add one more budget defender to this piece. You might want to shift some of that money from defence to attack which is why I think it is handy to present you with a very steady £4.5M defender option. Step forward Burnley right-back Matthew Lowton.

While most of you own Pope (if you don’t, you should definitely consider him), I see no problem in doubling down on that Burnley defence until December. In the next 10 Gameweeks, Burnley face only Chelsea at home from last year’s top six. Having had a topsy-turvy campaign last season, primarily due to their struggles with the Europa League, Sean Dyche’s Burnley outfit have turned the corner in 2019.

Despite having faced Arsenal, Liverpool and Wolves, Burnley have conceded the least amount of Big Chances in this division. Given their fixture schedule and no Europa distraction this time around, it is reasonable to expect a fair amount of clean-sheets from your 4.5M asset.

For the £4.5M you pay, you won’t just get clean sheet points though. Lowton has posted some impressive creative statistics so far this season. Lowton has already created 5 chances this season and having both Wood and Barnes to aim at, he has a decent chance of bagging an assist or two.