Here’s our fantasy premier league best midfielders gameweek 21 article where we outline the best midfielders for the gameweek and beyond. There’s a table of stats with a key underneath which gives enough information to help you make a choice over which midfielder you may want to transfer although I have notionally ranked them. It’s a bumper issue with 18 players reviewed. It’s important though to read the narrative with the next 6 fixtures coming up as this is where I highlight their prospects and cautionary factors.
fantasy premier league best midfielders gameweek 21 “ones to watch”
Just to let you know I’ve changed the recent form table shown as “last 6 games”. It now shows the consistency rate ie the number of games that a goal or assist is returned in the last 6 games played. I’ve put next to that the FPL points in the last 6 games
| FFG Rank | Name | value | Minute per FPL point 15/16 | Consistency 14/15 | % of 10pt + | Fixture ease | Last 6 games | undlyg stats rank |
| 1. | Payet | £7.7 | 14.2 m | 8/12 67% | 2/12 17% | 1/7 | 4/6 33 pts | 3 |
| 2. | Ozil | £10.0 | 12.5m | 14/19 74% | 6/19 32% | 13/19 | 4/6 41 pts | 2 |
| 3. | Mahrez | £7.2 | 10.1m | 12/20 60% | 9/20 45% | 20/13 | 3/6 55 pts | 4 |
| 4. | YYT | £8.7 | 15.0 m | 9/18 50% | 1/18 6% | 8/9 | 4/6 39 pts | 11 |
| 5. | De Bruyne | £10.9 | 13.9m | 7/16 44% | 4/16 25% | 8/9 | 1/6 25 pts | 5 |
| 6. | Alli | £5.4 | 16.1m | 8/18 44% | 2/18 11% | 7/3 | 4/6 38 pts | 8 |
| 7. | Antonio | £5.2 | 15.0m | 3/6 50% | 1/6 17% | 1/7 | 3/6 33 pts | 7 |
| 8. | Walcott | £8.4 | 16.5m | 5/13 38% | 0/13 0% | 13/19 | 2/6 22 pts | 1 |
| 9. | Arnautovic | £6.7 | 16.2m | 8/19 42% | 3/19 16% | 12/10 | 3/6 42 pts | 15 |
| FFG Rank | Name | value | Minute per FPL point 15/16 | Consistency 14/15 | % of 10pt + | Fixture ease | Last 6 games | undlyg stats rank |
| 10 | Silva | £10.0 | 17.4 m | 5/11 45% | 1/11 9% | 8/9 | 1/6 16 pts | 13 |
| 11 | Eriksen | £8.4 | 18.3m | 7/17 41% | 2/17 12% | 7/3 | 1/6 16 pts | 12 |
| 12 | Willian | £7.1 | 18.3m | 7/19 37% | 2/19 11% | 15/14 | 3/6 35 pts | 16 |
| 13 | Siggy | £6.8 | 25.6 m | 4/20 20% | 0/20 0% | 2/2 | 1/6 19 pts | 9 |
| 14 | Barkley | £7.5 | 16.3m | 8/20 40% | 3/20 15% | 14/20 | 2/6 22 pts | 12 |
| 15 | Ramsey | £8.1 | 22.3m | 3/16 19% | 2/16 13% | 13/19 | 2/6 33 pts | 6 |
| 16 | Oscar | £8.2 | 20.6m | 3/13 23% | 1/13 8% | 15/14 | 2/6 27 pts | 10 |
| 17 | Ayew | £6.8 | 18.8m | 6/19 32% | 3/19 16% | 2/2 | 0/6 14 pts | 18 |
| 18 | Wijnald | £6.9 | 16.8m | 6/20 30% | 2/20 10% | 17/16 | 1/6 24 pts | 14 |
Key:
Minute per FPL points: This is how many minutes it took to get an FPL point. The lower the better
Consistency: the % of games that a player returned a goal or assist. Sub appearances are counted
10+ point %: The % of games 10 FPL points or more are scored
Fixt ease: The ease of attacking fixtures coming up. Next 6/next 3
Last 6 games: This is the consistency rate above for the last 6 games and the FPL pts for the last 6 games
Undlyg stats rank: I’ve ranked the players according to their underlying shooting and creating chances stats
Leaders in key stats
Minutes per FPL point
- Mahrez
- Ozil
- De Bruyne
- Payet
- YYT
Consistency
- Ozil
- Payet
- Mahrez
- YYT
- Antonio
Underlying stats
- Walcott
- Ozil
- Payet
- Mahrez
- De Bruyne
Fixtures
- Ayew/Siggy
- Payet/Antonio
- Eriksen/Alli
- De Bruyne/YYT/Silva
- Arnautovic
Recent form
- Ozil
- YYT
- Alli
- Payet
- Mahrez
So only Payet in 5 categories. Mahrez, Ozil and YYT are in 4. De Bruyne is in 3. Walcott, Ayew, Siggy, Eriksen and Silva are in 1
Payet
Very interesting one this as I’m sure you’re thinking. The West Ham attacking midfielder doesn’t have the returns of Ozil and Mahrez but while they face tricky fixtures his are good. However it’s not all plain sailing. The questions are in coming back from injury how many minutes will he get in these good fixtures. He will get some sort of run out to help fitness in the FA Cup but he maybe being subbed in the 60-70 minutes in a few of the returning games. The other question is how will he adjust to Carroll as a striker as opposed to the injured Sakho. There’s no doubting the guys class and returns since he’s come to the premier league it’s just the risk factors above
Bournemouth (A)
Newcastle (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (H)
Southampton (A)
Norwich (A)
Ozil
The Arsenal CAM just keeps consistently returning. For an assist based player his 10+FPL point % at 32 is also pretty remarkable. Hopefully rested in the FA Cup
Liverpool (A)
Stoke (A)
Chelsea (H)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Leicester (H)
Mahrez
The Leicester RM has blanked in the last 3 games including a missed pen. Has shown to be a dangerous player to write off though. Fantastic actual and underlying stats. Tricky fixtures coming up
Spurs (A)
Aston Villa (A)
Stoke (H)
Liverpool (H)
Man City (A)
Arsenal (A)
YYT
The Man City DM caused me much debate over De Bruyne but the choice over who you rate highest depends on how you rate different factors. YYT has better Consistency and recent form. De Bruyne better underlying stats and the ability to really score big especially at home where the next 2 fixtures are. De Bruyne also has more of an ownership risk in not owning him which is probably more relevant with the 2 home games coming up which have the potential to be negatively rank affecting
Everton (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
West Ham (A)
Sunderland (A)
Leicester (H)
Spurs (H)
De Bruyne
The Man City RM is probably covered sufficently in YYT’s section above
Everton (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
West Ham (A)
Sunderland (A)
Leicester (H)
Spurs (H)
Alli
The Spurs CAM has been another young sensation from the Spurs stable. Seems likely to hold the position too with Demebele injured although even when Dembele returned for 1 game recently he held it. Good fixtures too
Leicester (H)
Sunderland (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Norwich (A)
Watford (H)
Man City (A)
Antonio
The West Ham AM has started very brightly in the premier league. The risk here in the ranking is that we are basing it on limited data of matches which is never ideal. There’s some comfort in that least season in the Championship with Forest he scored 14 goals and 14 assists in the 46 game season. With Lanzini injured he should also be able to hold his place. The Liverpool game showed how consistently he was getting into the box
Bournemouth (A)
Newcastle (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (H)
Southampton (A)
Norwich (A)
Walcott
How the Arsenal RWM hasn’t scored in the last 2 games is beynd me. You’re relying on excellent underlying shooting stats here to return at some point. Has gametime risk when Sanchez returns which could be in a couple of gameweeks
Liverpool (A)
Stoke (A)
Chelsea (H)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Leicester (H)
Arnautovic
The Stoke LM has been a big bandwagon over the last couple of weeks. Even played as a false 9 recently. Stats are reasonably good for the price. Has some pen duties but I suspect only when Bojan is off the pitch. The one thing for sure though is that if you are going to buy him, home to Norwich next is the time to do it
Norwich (H)
Arsenal (H)
Leicester (A)
Man Utd (A)
Everton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Silva
For the price and for a Man City CAM you’re expecting a lot better than what he’s dished up to date. Underlying stats say it’s not bad luck either as they’re pretty ordinary. 2 good home games next are a good to gamble if you’re willing to let history, fixtures and his CAM position over ride the season stats
Everton (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
West Ham (A)
Sunderland (A)
Leicester (H)
Spurs (H)
Eriksen
A real downturn in form after putting in some reasonably consistent performances prior to the dip. Good fixtures and set pieces are the positives.
Leicester (H)
Sunderland (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Norwich (A)
Watford (H)
Man City (A)
Willian
The Chelsea set piece man has followed the upturn in form since Hiddink became manager. Is it an initial improvement or something more permanent is the question although they didn’t win the title last season for nothing. All the playing attacking midfielders have some gametime risk when Hazard returns although Willian has been pretty safe this season albeit mostly under Mourinho
West Brom (H)
Everton (H)
Arsenal (A)
Watford (A)
Man Utd (H)
Newcastle (H)
Sigurdsson
For such a previously consistent player this season has been a disaster. Dreadful actual and pretty poor underlying stats too. Fixtures (including Sunderland next) and set piece responsibility are the only reasons to be interested
Sunderland (H)
Watford (H)
Everton (A)
West Brom (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Southampton (H)
Barkley
The Everton CAM is a very popular player and it’s easy to see why as the 3rd top point scoring midfielder for the reasonable price of £7.5m. Also playing as a CAM in such a strong attacking side close to a striker in Lukaku who’s absolutely on fire. He also has the ability to score big. However he’s been pretty inconsistent in his returns and his recent form hasn’t been that good. Add to it some tricky fitures and little in the way of underlying stats and you have a group of negatives staring back at you for all those positives
Man City (A)
Chelsea (A)
Swansea (H)
Newcastle (H)
Stoke (A)
West Brom (H)
Ramsey
The Arsenal midfielder moved from the right to his favoured CM position after the injury to Cazorla where he initally rolled back the years with 24 FPL points in 2 games against the whipping boys of Sunderland and Villa. However it’s been 4 blanks since then although to be fair he’s done everything except score. Stats this season aren’t great although the RM position he’s played most of the season really isn’t his best position which distorts things
Liverpool (A)
Stoke (A)
Chelsea (H)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Leicester (H)
Oscar
Seems to have become the Chelsea CAM and penalty taker under Hiddink although as I said with Willian all the attacking midfielders may face rotation risk when Hazard returns. Same choice as Willian as to whether this is the real Chelsea or not. Good home fixtures on which to gamble though
West Brom (H)
Everton (H)
Arsenal (A)
Watford (A)
Man Utd (H)
Newcastle (H)
Andre Ayew
Only good fixtures and Sunderland next can justify any thoughts of a transfer with some pretty hopeless stats for the Swansea AM
Sunderland (H)
Watford (H)
Everton (A)
West Brom (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Southampton (H)
Wijnaldum
Returns are bolstered by the 4 goal haul against Norwich but overall the actual and underlying stats are pretty hopeless. Has looked far more threatening recently in a CAM position. Fixtures aren’t helpful
Man Utd (H)
West Ham (H)
Watford (A)
Everton (A)
West Brom (H)
Chelsea (A)
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