Hello! Welcome to another week of the blind leading the blind, or Fantasy Football Unplanned as we call it. Incredibly, my arrows are on the up after a devastating score of 65, beating the average by a mighty 14 points. I’m still 306k in the world though, so nothing to get excited about. If you followed my advice and picked Lukaku, I imagine your arrows are green too. If you captained him, I hate you. That’s how it goes.
Gameweek 25 is here now though and there’s plenty to ponder to try and keep those arrows green. Let’s get among it.
The Dilemma
I played my wildcard last week. I don’t regret it but I think my score needed to be higher as I knew the trade-off was that this week I’d have a lot of players away from home. I think you’ve got to have Sigurdsson (7.4) at home to woeful Leicester. If Swansea score, he’s going to be involved. Swansea will score. The two teams with eye catching fixtures this week are Man Utd (at home to Watford) and Arsenal (at home to Hull). Ibrahimovic (11.6) returned to form last weekend but Man Utd don’t have a game next week, whilst Giroud (8.5) was dropped but came on and scored. He’s normally good for bullying bottom half teams at the Emirates but Hull have shown some decent resolve recently. It goes without saying that Sanchez (11.8) should be a constant.
The Big Guns
Aside from Man Utd and Arsenal, there’s a huge clash on Saturday tea time as Tottenham visit Liverpool. Klopp’s lads are having a rough time, they can’t defend and they couldn’t score past Hull last weekend. But Mané (9.1) is back and you feel it’s only a matter of time before they slip back into gear, but too pricey for me this week. But can they defend? You certainly wouldn’t bet on a clean sheet. Whilst two of their title rivals are going at it, Chelsea can sit back and watch ahead of their trip to Turf Moor on Sunday lunch time. Burnley are usually useful at home but Costa (10.5) didn’t score last week so he’ll surely net here. Man City visit leaky Bournemouth on Monday night, and whilst rotation is always an issue, Gabriel Jesus (9.2) is off to a flying start and will surely play. The question is whether it is with or without Aguero (12.7). As a side note, the hero of week 24, Romelu Lukaku (9.7) is away to Middlesbrough. Those who have been consistently annoyed by Lukaku down the years will know he hits double figures once every 5 or 6 weeks usually, so don’t expect a hatful on Saturday.
Bargain bin
I’m on a real downer about Leicester this week and so many of Swansea’s players are cheaper than 5.0 if you’re looking for a cheap alternative. They’re at Chelsea next week though so don’t go mad. I also think Jermain Defoe (7.8) is a good bet to net against Southampton, who will have one eye on the League Cup Final next weekend and are already lacking defenders. Stoke have two good home games in the next three with Spurs away in the middle, which might bring Crouch (4.9) and Marko Arnautovic (7.1) into your thinking.
Also consider…
Next week is the League Cup Final so there are no games for Man Utd, Southampton, Man City or Arsenal. Whilst they will have a tasty double gameweek later in the season, they are useless to you next week, so make sure you plan sufficiently to have 11 players.
Captain
I’m going to give you three options. Firstly, the old favourite, Alexis Sanchez. At home to Hull, he should be good for points but he’s generally better away from home and didn’t pull up many trees at home to Burnley or Watford. Third time lucky? Maybe you’re like me and won’t captain in the early kick off. If so, option two is Zlatan, at home to Watford and back on the goal trail. But with no game for him next week, does that dampen his appeal? My final choice is Siggy, who I think will have a field day against poor old Leicester. But what do I know?
With that then, I have dispensed my advice. Whether you go with it or not, I wish you good luck – and may all your arrows be green.