Here’s Stefan with his article on 7 Fantasy Premier League players to avoid now that the season is 4 games in.
Fantasy Premier League 2018/2019: 7 FPL Players to Avoid
Everyone’s excited about the start of the new Fantasy Premier League season and the hype is only getting bigger after the first 4 game weeks. Many fantasy experts are giving recommendations for picking good value players that will score points and ultimately improve your fantasy premier league rank. But what about the so-called star players who keep underperforming, and fail to live up to their high price tag? Here are 7 players you should think twice before making them part of your fantasy premier league.
Petr Cech
The 36-year-old Arsenal goalkeeper from the Czech Republic is one of the most iconic players in the Premier League. Having been a regular, first-choice GK for Chelsea for 10 whole seasons, Petr won 4 Premier League titles with the Blues. He’s made 440 appearances for both teams and has an impressive 201 clean sheets. Cech’s current value is £5.0m, and with everything we mentioned, this looks like a good deal, right? Well, yeah, but there are other factors which you might want to consider choosing a different GK for your pick this season.
First, there’s the Wenger’s decision to leave the club after spending more than 2 decades in the club. This can affect how players perform , as we’ve seen many times throughout the years. Cech has been a regular for 3 straight seasons under Wenger, but now that Emery’s in charge, things could change. This becomes more obvious with the fact that Arsenal signed 26-years-old Bernd Leno from Bayern Leverkusen for around £19.2m. He fits into the ball playing goalkeeper model that Emery is looking for and there are rumours he could potentially replace Cech.
Pablo Zabaleta
West Ham’s right back is another player that had a massive drop in form as soon as he made the move from Manchester City in the 2016/17 season. Zabaleta current price is £4.3m. So far this season, he’s started only 1 game out of the 4 fixtures and it seems difficult to see him getting more. Ryan Fredericks appears the better option for Pellegrini, and that’s unlikely to change as the season progresses.
Antonio Valencia
Antonio Valencia is another defender that could be a risky investment. Valued at £6.5m Valencia seems like an expensive choice given Man Utd’s early season defensive struggles. Although the 33-year-old right back was a pretty regular choice last season, making 31 appearances and scoring 3 goals and 1 assist, Man Utd’s poor start could see more changes in the defensive lineup and even he could not be safe. Also for £6.5m you have alot of alternative choices in the better performing Liverpool and Man City defences.
Riyad Mahrez
One of City’s most recent and bigger signings, Mahrez is another player that has alot of risk attached when choosing your midfielders this season. Of the 4 games so far he’s only started 2 and has yet to get a goal or assist. On his favoured right hand side he has competition from Sterling and Bernardo Silva. In addition to that Guardiola has also favoured 2 strikers at home limiting the potential midfield places. Not what you want for £8.8m.
Ryan Sessegnon
Ryan Sessegnon is one of the most valuable hot prospects of English football. He’s just 18 years old and has been linked with some of Europe’s top clubs. However the Championship player of the year last season has struggled to adapt to the Premier League. After starting the first 2 games the £6.3m midfielder has been dropped to the bench in the last 2 games and has only recorded the 1 assist so far this season.
Alvaro Morata
It’s been all ups and downs when it comes to Alvaro Morata’s performance since he joined Chelsea last year for a massive £58m fee. The promising 24-year-old striker didn’t really match everyone’s expectations by scoring 11 goals in 31 games for the Blues in season 2017/2018 and in particular ended the season injury riddled and in poor form.
Now the question becomes, is he really worth £9.0m? Many will say not, but there are some who think that this will be the season Morata truly shows his full potential. This goes beyond the Fantasy game, as there are betting enthusiasts that like to explore interesting PL betting opportunities and benefit from Morata’s struggle last season. But as far as your fantasy line-up goes you’re looking at a player who’s only scored the 1 goal in his first 4 games and has Giroud breathing down his neck for the starting striker position which has seen Morata subbed in the 60 minute range the last 2 games.
Gabriel Jesus
Gabriel Jesus is the most expensive player on this list and for the price of £10.4m looks a risky investment. At the moment Guardiola looks like he will only play Jesus in home games where he has shown a preference to play 2 strikers. Away from home Aguero has been the favoured option and Jesus confined to a role as a late on substitute only. He looks likely to be rotated like this throughout the season although we will have to see what the extra burden of the Champions League brings. When on the pitch though he has impressed with 25 goals and 10 assists in 58 appearances for Man City so if he becomes a more secure pick then he has potential for your FPL team.
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