fantasy premier league – “ones to watch” midfielders – GW5 Buy Hold or Sell

Fantasy Premier League, Player Rankings

Here’s the GW5 “ones to watch” for Midfielders on the Barclays fantasy premier league  in the buy hold or sell format.  This will give the best midfield players at a variety of price ranges using a range of stats to make my case

I’ve provided the following stats to support the player choices and to guide you in your decisions.  I’ve now moved this to this year:

1.  Goals and assists this year.   I’ve now started using this years stats although its very early to draw a picture

2.  Time per point scored this year.  This is how many minutes it takes for a Barclays fantasy premier league point to be scored over the course of last season.  The lower the better obviously.   I’ve now moved to this years stats

3.  Rotation risk.  High, medium or low.  High is the greatest risk of rotation.

4.  Fixture ease ranking:  The link is at the bottom of the article but essentially I’ve ranked all the teams by the ease of the first 6 fixtures.  The team with the best ranking ie 1 will have the easiest next fixtures of any of the fantasy premier league teams over the next 6 games.

5.  Consistency:  The % of times that the player got a goal or assist or 2 point minimum bonus  as a % of games played

6.  I’ve also ranked them in their categories as who I think is currently the best choice

Midfielders

1. Walcott (£9.5m) BUY

  • Goals and assists:  0 goals 2 assists  Time per point scored:  23.9 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 1st.  Consistency: 2/4   50%

Has the best underlying stats of any midfielder just couldn’t turn his chances into goals in the game against Sunderland. Still the top ranked midfielder for me and only issue is whether you want to limit your Arsenal exposure to one player and just have Giroud.

2.  Michu (£8.9m) BUY 

  • Goals and assists:  1 goal 1 assist.  Time per point scored:  22.5 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 4th.  Consistency 2/4    50%

A game against Crystal Palace is always going to be a good time to BUY and that’s what’s facing fantasy premier league managers with Michu this week.  Very good underlying stats and like last year still seems to score even when playing behind the striker.  Bizarrely though  his average position was higher than Bony’s.  Has even started to create chances.  The only negative is his price.   £8.9m for a non top 4 challenging player is really expensive but you have to look at it as a short term investment for the good fixtures coming not as any long term hold. Wouldn’t buy him at the sacrifice of expense on a  forward though

3. Eriksen (£8.0m) BUY

  • Goals and assists:  0 goals 1 assist.  Time per point scored:  10  mins .  Rotation risk: medium.   fixture ease ranking: 8th.  Consistency 1/1   100%

A very impressive debut with an assist.  AVB did indeed go 4-2-3-1 and Eriksen was the creativity needed as he supported Soldado centrally and created chances.  Fixtures aren’t quite as good as they were but he’s an alternative to Soldado especially as a little cheaper and does have set piece involvement

4.  HBA (£7.2m) BUY

  • Goals and assists:  2 goals 1 assist.  Time per point scored:  12.4 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 10th.  Consistency 2/4    50%

I have been unsure about him  but the last 2 games have been very impressive.  Finally getting in to the box and shooting.  However he is one of the rare players who does have the power to make shots from outside the box mean something as a stat.  Doesn’t create chances  but quite good value if you’re trying to keep money for forwards.  If you’re going to buy him home to Hull next is the time to do it.  Has the 10th best next 6 fixtures in my fixture ease ranking so his best fixtures have now gone.  However good enough in my mind

Hazard (£9.3m)  HOLD 

  • Goals and assists:  0 goals 1 assist.  Time per point scored:  30  mins .  Rotation risk: high.   fixture ease ranking: 12th.  Consistency 1/4   25%

Very poor against Everton and returns coupled with underlying stats are  poor.  However selling before a home game to possibly the worst defence in the league just doesn’t make sense to me especially as he does have an ability to score heavily at home.  I’m holding on for one more match

Silva (£9.4m) SELL (injured return 22/9)

  • Goals and assists:  1 goals 1 assist.  Time per point scored :  13.8 mins .  Rotation risk: medium.   fixture ease ranking: 19th.  Consistency 2/3   66%

Has an injury and the fixtures are getting difficult.  If you didnt sell last week then I would but I would still sell now with the injury, the difficult game this week and the deteriorating fixtures

Coutinho (£9.0m)  SELL (injury doubt)

  • Goals and assists:  0 goals 0 assists.  Time per point scored:  28.4 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 1st.  Consistency 0/4  0%

0/4 with no underlying stats to give you any comfort that things will turn around and even with the good fixtures to come I would be sell in order to invest in your forward line. The fixtures are good though so if you have no need to sell then you may want to gamble that things will come right

Paulino (£7.0m)  SELL

  • Goals and assists:  0 goals 1 assist.  Time per point scored:  27.7 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 8th.  Consistency 1/4    25%

The emergence of Eriksen and Siggy and 4-2-3-1 means Paulino moving back and other options in the midfield.  Now’s the time to sell.

Budget midfielders

All have some misgivings at the moment

1. Brady (£5.1m) HOLD –  Was very disappointing home to Cardiff but 2nd in the fixture ease rank and pen duties makes him an option as a budget midfielder

2. JWP – (£4.5m)  HOLD –   Didn’t start against West Ham but his free kicks really made a difference in the 20 minutes or so he was in which gives me hope he will return.

3. Barkley (£4.8m) HOLD – The injury to Pienaar would have added to his game time security.  Hasn’t produced since the opening game and not really producing underlying  stats but still has real potential given his position in the Everton team.

4. Whittingham (£5.0m) HOLD –  Has really started to produce and has set pieces and pens.  Still some gametime risk if Cornelius comes back in to the team

5. Bo-Kyung Kim (£5.0m) SELL – No returns in 4 games and time to sell for me home to

6. Henderson (£6.0m) SELL –  held his place and produced underlying stats but no returns in 4 have meant a loss of faith on my part.

 

Ok on to forwards next.   Here’s the bandwagons link which will give you my views on the most transferred in and out players in fantasy premier league

http://www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-early-week-bandwagons-sinking-ships-gw5/

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