Sky Sports Fantasy football – potential bargains part 3

I’ve repeated the context below of this article for people who havent read the 3 articles in order.  Remember these tips can change in their importance as transfers happen. Don’t worry though in the week before the opening game I will review all teams, including potential bargains,  so this can be updated

Heres the context again then:

With quality over all the premier league this season and the likes of Rooney and  Aguero looking near must haves in our Sky Sports Fantasy Football team, finding value elsewhere is going to be essential.  Here’s the first of a series of articles  identifying  value in a player (ie a potential bargain)  after looking through all  teams in the Sky Sports Fantasy Football format.

I’m doing them in the best fixture order in my article  “fantasy premier league – analysing the opening 6 rounds of fixtures”.  See at bottom of page.  For those who need a reminder of the rules see my article “Sky Sports Fantasy Football Summary and key points”.  Again the link is at the bottom of the page.  You can also hit the tag at the bottom of the article for related Sky Sports fantasy football or hit the tab on the site

Generally players will be value for the following reasons:

(1)  Injuries to another player or a transfer of another player from the club has given them unexpected game time

(2)  sky sports Fantasy Football believes they may not be first choice for their position

(3)  They have transferred in from a lower ranked team.

With no reserves and limited transfers in the Sky Sports Fantasy Football format its vital that value is weighed up against the risk of the player not playing.  Therefore,  value players in your team should be thought about carefully and I wouldn’t start with 8 but a well chosen sprinkle may be necessary.

Rest assured we at fantasy football geek  will be keeping an eye out in pre-season for their prospects.  By the way for this article I will ignore out of position players as I will be doing a separate piece on these players.  Out of position is a player who plays, say, as a forward but is classified as a midfielder in the Sky Sports Fantasy Football game.

Here goes then. Remember it goes from best opening 6 fixtures to the worst. Part 2 here will concentrate on the 10 teams with the worst opening 6 games

Norwich

Manchester City

Reading

Pogrebnyak – Striker (£7.2m)

QPR

Adel Taarbt – Midfield (£5.2m)

Incredibly talented and took QPR to promotion single-handedly  with 19 goals and 16 assists in 43 games.  QPR having an easy schedule last year meant many put their faith in him to be the next Charlie Adam.  Unfortunately history has shown that he let an army of followers down with a appalling shooting and temper tantrums last year.   His price reflects that and he’s now priced at a level similar to his team mates (SWP is £5.1m).  Its just that he seemed to be getting a grip on the premier league towards the end of the season with 2 goals and 6 assists in his last 3 games and if its that form we see rather than the early season form then he could be a real bargain

D Cisse – striker (£7.5m)

Arsenal

Stoke

 Andy Wilkinson – Defender (£4.2m)

Did get rotated with Shotton quite a bit last year but with stoke out of Europe hopefully that will be diminished.  wont get you many Man of the Match performances in Sky sports Fantasy Football or any 60 point passing bonus’ but should be at right back for clean sheets.  20 games last year, hampered by a few injuries and rotation with no goals and assists but one of the few players away from the probable relegation battlers that has a good chance of starting.  Fixtures mean I would monitor rather than jump in

Liverpool

Aquilani and J Cole – Midfield (£4.4m and £4.7m)

With Liverpools terrible fixtures to start there’s no need to put these 2 in your line up unless theres a clear steer they will start but keep an eye on them as they are both at ridiculously low levels for a Brendan Rodgers coached Liverpool team.  We’ll be keeping an eye on the friendly list to see how they shape up for possible selection.  The reason I’m putting them on the bargain monitor list is that they both have the potential to contribute to Brendan Rodgers possession football more so than say Downing.

Fabio Borini – Striker  (£7.7m)

With Andy Carrol seemingly certain to depart this is a real bargain possibility for a Liverpool striker.  See my article on him below for an in depth analysis on him.  Suarez as a comparison is £9.6m and Carroll (£8.6m).  According to Sky Sports fantasy football he’s the 33rd best striker by value which is ridiculous if he starts for Liverpool.  to put it in to context he’s the same price as Mackie, Dembele, Shane Long and Bendtner.  A real bargain.

Southampton

Lallana and Lambert –  Midfield (£4.9m) and Striker (£6.8m)

The 2 stand out performers in Southamptons promotion season last year and really the only options to pick.  Having the worst opening 6 fixtures of any team including away to City t start with,  I’m staying away.  Again if you need a cheap filler than these 2 ae the best options.

Lallana is very good value at £4.9m.  Even relative to his team mates he looks good value.  Cork for example is £4.6m. 11 goals and 10 assists in 38 games is a pretty impressive record.  He’s priced in Sky Sports Fantasy football  the same as Benayoun, De Jong, Albrighton, Whitehead, Whelan, Fox of Norwich and Obertan of Newcastle.  I would probably pick Nolan of West Ham with the easier start at the same value at the moment though.

Lambert with 25 goals in 39 games last year was the Championships top scorer.  Again he’s one of the few strikers in his price range tat is guaranteed to play and he has penalty duties to boot.  He’s the same price as Petric, Anichebe and Kenwyne Jones all of which have game time issues hanging over them.