Last week we did an article talking about the issues that we would be looking out for in GW21 and then said we would report back on the outcomes to help you make some of the tricky decisions or get some value in GW22. These were such things as Giroud, Yoshida and Coutinho. Well here’s the outcomes. We’ve included the original questions and then added the answers in italics underneath.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW21 – THINGS WE’LL BE LOOKING OUT FOR – THE ANSWERS
NATHAN AKE
The £4.4m defender Chelsea loanee was recalled back to Chelsea from Bournemouth at a pretty unfortunate time fixture wise for Bournemouth. Ostensibly to cover a minor but long term deteriorating injury to LWB Alonso. Conte has also said that he’s a valuable defensive utility player. I would be very surprised if he was an immediate replacement of Alonso but I’m hopeful GW21 will give some clues as to what the likelihood is.
I don’t think that anyone expected Ake to start but the hope was the game would give some clues as to the intentions of Conte with him. In the end Ake wasn’t even in the 18 and Alonso, who he was supposedly cover for, scored twice. Those signs aren’t positive for those FPL managers holding for a huge value windfall
YOSHIDA
With Fonte having put in a transfer request manager Puel is saying that CB Fonte wont play in GW21. Yoshida at £4.2m is an absolute bargain for the Saints defence and played in the EFL semi final. He played well so I’m expecting him to line up in GW21.
Yoshida started at CB in a back 4. Nothing appears to have changed with Fonte so unless Southampton make a transfer Yoshida looks great value in the Southampton defence
THE SWANSEA DEFENCE
It will be interesting to see not only what the lineup is but any positive effect that Clement will have. It started well against Palace. However it’s more a factor of who can be cheap bench fodder. Amat at £4.1m has been the cheap bench pick but didn’t play against Palace. £4.0m Kingsley should play with Taylor injured for a few weeks but long term that’s still unclear. Fernandez at £4.2m is the other potential cheap pick but also didn’t play against Palace.
Apart from Kingsley at LB replacing the injured Taylor (supposedly out for a few weeks) the back 4 was the same. £4.3m Naughton RB, £4.2m Fernandez CB, £4.5m Mawson CB. Unfortunately the 4-0 loss showed that there’s no immediate improvement from Paul Clement. At £4.2m though I think Yoshida and maybe even Collins of West Ham if he gets a few starts is a better bet
GIROUD
Will the Arsenal forward start against Swansea? He’s played 90 minutes in the last 3 games 2 at home and 1 away. He’s great value at £8.6m
Well he did start and score. Unfortunately he had to go off with an injury. This is what I said in my news article of this morning
The Arsenal striker injured his ankle when scoring just before half time and carried on to the 59th minute before being substituted as a result of it. Wenger said:
‘He has an ankle problem. I don’t know how bad it is. It’s being assessed now by the doctor. I hope it’s not bad,’
If the injury prevents further games I imagine Sanchez will go back to the striker position. Hard to see Perez being ready yet. The striker position will be a major boost for Sanchez’s owners
AFOBE OR WILSON?
Who will start as a Bournemouth forward against Hull given it’s Watford and Palace after that. It maybe irrelevant if they are rotated and share minutes and you’ve missed Hull anyway
The worst situation of all was that Afobe started and Wilson came on after 55 minutes making neither of them a viable target at the moment with those minutes
PEDRO OR WILLIAN?
Pedro played 90 minutes in GW18 and GW20. Willian played close to 90 in GW17 and GW19. Can one of them cement his place or will they share starts and minutes when they play. With Hazard losing a bit of form and Costa in competition with other premium strikers for our FPL front line can one of them become an alternative with gametime and minutes security?
The Costa “injury” meant that Hazard played as a central striker and Pedro flanked him on the right with Willian on the left. Pedro scored and although Willian assisted in the game Pedro probably left marginally ahead. However with forward Batshuayi not being favoured the front 3 against Leicester should continue until Costa is, shall we say, fit
COUTINHO’S RETURN
This is not as simple as looking how the Liverpool AM performs assuming he starts but the effect on the rest of the team. Will the front 3 be Sturridge, Firmino and Coutinho or with Henderson back could it be Coutinho, Firmino and say Lallana in the front 3. Firmino as a central striker again would be interesting.
Coutinho only played 30 minutes replacing Origi but definitely improved Liverpool. I can’t imagine he will play in the FA Cup replay at Plymouth but looks a good bet to start in GW22 home to Hull. That may see Firmino start as a Central striker/false 9 in a front 3. Sturridge still could be recalled though
JOHN STONES
£4.7m for a CB in a title chasing team? The Man City CB, after playing 90 minutes in 9 of the first 11 matches, has now started 1 of the last 5 games. Whats more he’s come on as a last minute sub in the of the other 4 so he’s not even a safe bet to at least allow someone to come off the bench and get the points. Left out against his old club maybe the end of the road as there’s not even the festive season excuse to use.
Stones did start and played 90 minutes in the disastrous 4-0 loss. Man City didn’t concede that many shots but individual bad decisions led to goals. Stones didn’t exactly cover himself in glory. At the moment 4 clean sheets this season (which is less than Burnley and Bournemouth) and an uncertain place in the team plus an annoying ability to come off the bench, even at £4.7m he doesn’t seem great value. However the stats show that Man City should be doing better so if you’re willing to gamble….
MKHITARYAN MINUTES
The Man Utd RAM with his record for Dortmund is a natural attacking midfield option but he needs to get his minutes up. With 29, 90 and 64 minutes in his last 3 it’s not ideal. Match fitness really should be there now and in such an important game starting and playing a decent amount of minutes could make him an option for Man Utd’s good run of fixtures after the Liverpool match
Played 90 minutes and although blanked he did have some set piece responsibility and with a bit of luck could have had 2 assists except for Pogba and Martial missing chances. Did play in a very advanced RAM position except for a short while towards the end when he bizarrely became an LB?
CROUCH
Could the Stoke £4.7m forward cheapie be another option for our FPL 3-5-2 formation squads. With 3 consecutive starts and 2 goals and an assist in those 3 games he suddenly looks like an option. There could be worse games for him to come off our FPL benches than Sunderland away
Incredibly it’s 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games returning in all 3 and playing 90 minutes in all 3. With Bony and Diouf at AFCON and Bojan and Walters injured it’s hard to see anyone taking his spot. Another cheapie forward option
JAKUPOVIC
Did the £3.9m Hull GK play in the EFL semifinal as rotation or is he going to be the new number 1. His performance against Man Utd certainly didn’t do him any harm. Hull home to Bournemouth is a crucial game and whoever starts has to be the new managers number 1 pick surely. Interesting is the manager is very defensive and counter attacking orientated. Will that improve the Hull defence as there are a number of cheap options available.
Jakupovic did indeed start in goal in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth. He’s quite a bargain for a 2nd keeper in our FPL squads. It was a quite staggering improvement from Hull and gives a glimmer of hope that the new manager Silva, who did incredible things with small club Estoril can repeat it with Hull.
Thats it hope you found it useful
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