After a busy league cup midweek fixtures, the teams will be again ready to battle it out in the Premier League. The Gameweek will open with a Merseyside derby and the North London derby will follow in the later stages of the weekend. Manchester City will have the chance to chip into the top four with Southampton being likely to retain their no. 2 spot.
Defenders and Goal-keepers
Looking at the Saints’ current form, one can safely assume that they are going to keep the clean sheet in an easy home tie against QPR. Nathaniel Clyne (5.3) and Ryan Bertrand (5.1) will bring smiles into their fantasy managers’ faces. A trickier call would demand Burnley defenders in squad but it will be a risky card to take the pit.
The two derbies will see a fair bit of goals and so their defenders or goal-keepers have a high chance of getting beaten in the process. But considering Leighton Baines’ good record against Liverpool, the English defender, priced at 6.9, may prove to be more than useful.
Stoke slipped last time against QPR but their backline has proven their worth. Keeping that in mind, the likes of Shawcross and Pieters can earn some routine points against a rattled Newcastle unit.
Midfielders
Amidst Manchester United’s heart-breaking turnouts, the only solace is found in Di Maria from the fan’s standpoint. Di Maria (9.6) is a proven ball player and that’s why after last two matches’ plenty of points, he is again expected to tear up the opponents; finding himself in Fantasy Dream Team.
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil (9.0) just found himself in some kind of form against Aston Villa, but it is advisable to keep an eye on him for one more match before including him into your squad. On the other hand, Erik Lamela (7.9) has not yet caught the eye for the North Londoners and may soon find himself in scoring mode.
Apart from that Dusan Tadic is a high bet to score against QPR with Schneiderlin being the Saints’ best midfielder this season costing only 5.8 m. The players who can be again trusted to outsource constant points are Fabregas, Sigurdsson with City’s David Silva raging to be added into this list pretty soon.
From the lower budget lot, Downing (5.5), Dyer (5.7) and Chadli (6.2) are some of the good buys who can award you points in a pretty regular basis.
Forwards
The forward options have widened in the last few weeks with Leonardo Ulloa (5.8), Danny Welbeck (7.2) and Graziano Pelle (7.7) hitting the headlines. Naismith (5.5) will have to make way for the aforementioned rising stars.
The main attacking force should get distributed between Diego Costa, Falcao and Aguero. Manchester United captain Rooney has failed yet to leave a mark whereas the former Atletico Madrid striker Costa is now the leading scorer of the League. Though the Spainard last time hit the post against City, this time he is trusted to get the ball past the goal-line.
Transfer tips
It’s time to get rid of Newcastle defenders this week as they are having a great problem in defence which their manager is not finding the solution of. Instead of the Magpies; backline, one can opt for the Saints’ defenders.
Naismith has not started the last match for the Toffees and had Roberto Martinez planning similar ideas in near future, Leonardo Ulloa should act as a replacement for the Scot.
Captain tips
The likes of Di Maria and Costa have made the choice of captaincy easier for the past weeks. If you have both in your team, then toss a coin and choose between the two.
As always, barring the regularity, the ambitious ones can hope for an Aguero hat-trick against the tigers. Aguero did not play the Capital One cup match against Sheffield Wednesday following a knock but is expected to start at Hull afresh.
I’ve pooped myself
well, Falcao was given an start last gameweek and will continue this week as well. He has shown what he can do, and betting on him as captain will worth taking a risk.