Here’s our fantasy premier league DGW34 team focus Crystal Palace article. The first of 3 posts where we focus on the 3 teams with 2 games in DGW34. We look at the lineups, the best options and some indepth stats
fantasy premier league DGW34 team focus Crystal Palace
There’s alot of graphics and stats so if all those bore you go to the summary at the end
Last 3 lineups
Here’s the last 3 lineups from the excellent site football lineups
So the same team has been played in the last 3 games which is handy.
Here’s the injury list from the great site physioroom
This is the last pass and position map from the fantastic site 11tegen11
The fixtures
Liverpool (A) DGW34
Spurs (H) DGW34
Burnley (H)
Man City (A)
Hull (H)
Man Utd (A)
The options outlined
Defence and GK
Big Sam has been in charge for 15 games and in that they have kept 5 clean sheets. 3 at home and 2 away. Apart from the Arsenal clean sheet all against lower placed sides. Only the Bournemouth clean sheet has happened without CB Sakho (who is ineligible v Liverpool) in the team. The bookies tend to agree offering £6.50 and £6.00 for the clean sheets.
The fixtures are tricky and it would be easy to suggest that they won’t get a clean sheet in either game.
Hennessey (£4.3m Points Per Match 3.3) is the first choice GK.
The defence is a little less straightforward. CB Sakho is inelgible for the Liverpool match as he’s on loan. CB Kelly (£4.2m PPM 1.5) and should get through both games but will lose his place if Tomkins recovers from injury.
That leaves RB Ward £4.8m as the safe option and Van Aanholt (4.9m PPM 3.3)who is just back from injury as the high risk/reward attacking option. The risk is whether he plays 2 games so soon after recovering from injury. The reward is that he’s an attacking monster.
Ward has played every minute of all 32 games but has so far only gained 1 assist. Thats a goal or assist every 2877 minutes. Van Aanholt has scored 1 goal in 5 games and 417 minutes for Palace and 3 goals and 1 assist for Sunderland in 23 games. Here’s the squawka comparison for underlying stats which is quite compelling
Midfield
3 players to choose from here. Zaha (£6.0m PPM 4.6) Townsend (£5.8m PPM 3.4) and Puncheon (£5.1m PPM 2.4). Cabaye and Milivojevic play too deep for me although annoyingly Milivojevic has pens if that’s enough for you.
Here’s some basic stats:
Zaha’s stats are definitely acceptable for a player of his price. Townsend is a bit more hit and miss. He’s got form but not consistency. Puncheon has got terrible stats.
Here’s the squawka comparison for underlying stats:
So very interesting. Zaha shoots the most in the area although he’s no Coutinho, Alli or even Nathan Redmond in that regard.. Townsend takes the most shots is no surprise but a decent percentage from outside the box. Whats interesting is the difference in Key passes which is one of the major metrics for assists. Zaha’s stats are terrible. He’s half the likes of Tadic, Barkley and even Jesse Lingard. Thats a major surprise.
Forwards
Here’s Benteke (£7.2m PPM 3.7) stats vs Negredo of one of the other DGW teams Middlesborough (£6.2m PPM 3.7) just so there’s something to compare to:
Both quite similar with good form. Benteke over the season is on the edge of being ok for the price
Here’s the squawka underlying stats comparison:
Bentekes are pretty good. He’s no Aguero but for the price they are ok.
Summary
It’s a classic case of form vs fixture.
In defence it’s hard to see a clean sheet with 2 games against Liverpool A and Spurs H. So if you’re going that way look for the save points of GK Hennessey (£4.3m) or the potential attacking value of LB Van Aanholt (£4.9m). Ward maybe the cheapest and most gametime secure but he offers little in the way of attacking threat. The risk with Van Aanholt is that he doesn’t play 2 games having come back from injury. Hennessey at GK should at least give you save points.
In midfield both Zaha (£6.0m)and Townsend (£5.8m) have recent form. Zaha has performed well over the season for the price. I’m still not wild on someone who plays so wide and his key passes stats are quite frankly alarming considering the assists he has. However what Zaha does pass is the eye test. Watching him he always looks a threat so that is an alternate view to getting bogged down in stats. Townsend is a shoot from anywhere merchant and who knows what you’ll get from him. He certainly is in good form though.
Upfront fwd Benteke (£7.2m)has a reasonable record for the price and reasonable underlying stats. He will be desperate to score at Liverpool given his history and they are vulnerable at set pieces. He has scored against Everton and Chelsea but thats only 2 returns in 9 games against the top 7 sides.
The bookies certainly don’t hold much hope of success if you look at the odds above
Personally I’ve got Zaha. My front line is Ibra, Kane and Lukaku so no room for Benteke. I may rolll the dice with Van Aanholt or go for the save points of Hennessey but I’ve yet to decide.
Double gameweeks are about taking chances though. They offer real upside potential. So if you are willing to take that chance then Hennessey, Van Aaanholt, Zaha and Benteke are where to look.
One thing worth mentioning is that Palace are at home to Burnley in GW35 which is a good carry over fixture.
Good luck what ever you do
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