Telegraph fantasy football pundit Stephen Troop reviews December and looks forward to January

Telegraph fantasy football

Last seasons top 1k Telegraph Fantasy Football overall finisher Stephen Troop reviews December and looks at what January has in store for us and his teams

TELEGRAPH FANTASY FOOTBALL PUNDIT STEPHEN TROOP REVIEWS DECEMBER AND LOOKS FORWARD TO JANUARY

Telegraph Fantasy Football – December Review

Hi all. This is the fifth instalment in my monthly series of articles covering Telegraph fantasy football. I will give an overview of my team’s performances to date and reflect on the last few game weeks. I will then look ahead to the next month and outline current plans and players on my watch/transfer list. Please leave feedback in the comments after so I can improve these going forward.

December was a hectic month with 4 gameweeks and 7 lots of fixtures. It was mixed fortunes for my teams. Please note that stats below include games from 1st January only.




Team Review

 telegraph fantasy football

A big jump for my now top team, thanks mainly to a double Chelsea defensive transfer (Alonso+Christensen). Alsonso had a great December however Christensen has now missed 2 clean sheets through illness which is unfortunate. Sterling also performed well in December.

2 teams have significantly dropped. This was mainly due to having the wrong city attacking players in Sane and Jesus. I have recently rectified this to have De Bruyne and Sterling which will stop the rot. I also brought in Valencia who got injured his first game.

A lack of a second Liverpool attacker has also cost me, although Firminho and Coutinho have been brought in last week as part of a 3-0 over Kane who played early on boxing day and had their match with West Ham postponed. Coutinho now also appears “injured” though.

I have a number of (supposedly) short term injuries with Lukaku, Salah, De Bruyne and Coutinho who heavily feature in my teams. There is also concern that Kane could be ill for tonight’s match.

December Review – The winners

Kane

For most of the season he has produced shooting stats far ahead of anybody else and far ahead of himself last season however with only a small proportion classed as ‘big chances’ his expected goals hasn’t been as high as you’d expect. However he is explosive, proven by 2 hattricks in 2 games and justified the decision to keep him. With Swansea and West Ham up next he has the chance to get 2018 off to a good start.

Lingard

A surprise package among United’s poor December. 4 goals and an KC in his last 5 games and his favourable fixtures continue in January. Whether he can keep up this form is the question and midfield options are already pretty crowded which explains his lowly 3% ownership

Alonso

Chelsea’s wingback/centre forward had a great December, scoring twice, setting up 1 and had 4 clean sheets in a row. He now has 5 goals for the season and no defender has more shots and touches in the opposition box.

Liverpool’s ‘Fab 3’

Salah seems to be a given in these articles and everyone has him now but for those who doubled or even tripled up with Coutinho and/or Firminho based on the nice fixtures were well rewarded in December. Firminho has 4 goals and 4 KC’s in his last 5 games (the blank coming against Burnley where he was used as a sub). Coutinho has 3 goals and 3 KCs in the same timeframe. Injuries and transfer speculation will halt further investment in Liverpool for now.

Everton defenders

The big Sam affect has been seen recently meaning Kenny (£2.1m) and Pickford (£3.2m) are on my radar. With Kenny you have the danger of Coleman coming back from injury but this isn’t expected very soon, meaning you have a bargain over the next couple of months at least. Pickford makes a good Forster replacement if like me you are still stuck with him in teams and are losing patience.

Mahrez

Now joint 2nd in the midfield standings, level with De Bruyne and Sterling but only a 7% ownership. His 5.1m price is looking justified over the last couple of months following the appointment of a new manager with all the underlying stats to back up his points tally. Will Leicester be able to keep hold of him in the transfer window, and if not where will he go? Could be an ideal Coutinho replacement (both in fantasy football and real life) if Coutinho ends up at Barcelona.

Arnautovic 

Often been deployed as a striker under Moyes, he has managed 5 goals in the last 5 games. He has good fixtures coming up and 2 PL games this week. If you have the transfers, he could be a good short-term replacement for Salah as he sits at a kind £3.9m price tag. He has generally been very hit and miss in the past and has already had 1 red card this season too so there is an element of risk if you do bring him in.




December Review – The losers

Hazard

I had high hopes when I brought the Belgian into my teams facing a run of good fixtures and good November form but after a run of 5 games with just 1 KC to show for it, and being benched for the plum home fixture against Stoke, he has had to make way again. His underlying stats aren’t great either. Historically he is explosive rather than consistent, and tends to fare better with a striker in the team so I could be punished here.

Sane

3 KC’s in the last 8 matches is poor returns for him and has been heavily overshadowed by the cheaper Sterling. Looked short on confidence in his last match too. There is no doubt in his quality and ability to turn this around and should be more assured of starts with the injury to Jesus ruling out using 2 strikers up front. KDB and Sterling still look better options though.

Stoke

Not of big concern to fantasy managers as only Choupo Moting has any form of ownership but have now by far conceded the highest number of goals in the league and look in big trouble. How long Mark Hughes is up for debate but the fans are restless. After Man United then have some good fixtures but no fantasy assets that I’m considering.

January Preview – Ones to watch

Aguero

The injury to Jesus looks long term meaning Aguero should play almost every game now. Sterling may occasionally play a false nine if Pep decides he needs a rest but we all know how good Aguero can be on his day. He also has had more shots (total, in the box and on target) than anyone else bar Kane over the last few weeks. With Lukaku and Morata out of form he could be a useful addition to your team. It all depends how reliant you want to be on city going forward. Most of the teams in the top 5k seem to be heavily invested with city assests so depends if you are chasing or protecting a lead in your mini leagues.

Pogba

Back from injury and was impressive against Everton yesterday. United’s fixtures remain strong through January and his £4.6m is fairly kind. I suspect he remains a differential in active teams and should Salah’s injury be long term it’s an easy swap.

Ibe 

Yes, hear me out. Whilst Ibe hasn’t hit form since signing for Bournemouth from Liverpool over the last few weeks has shown a significant attacking threat. He has had more goal attempts over the last 4 matches than anybody other midfielder and is 2nd for shots on target behind Salah. This has resulted in 0 goals but stats suggest that goals could be coming. If in need of a enabler (£2.8m) and want to gamble then he is an option. Represents a big risk though.

January Plans for my teams

Kane returning and Aguero are my main transfer plans plus other Spurs assets for the additional fixtures.

I won’t be making any specific transfers for the FA cup games coming up. I find it can be easy to waste transfers here when most players don’t start. If you are swimming with transfers and spot an opportunity of a good player starting against lower league opposition it could be worth the risk, but only if you want to keep this player afterwards. Using 2 transfers is a waste, unless they are scoring at least 15-20 points which over 1 game is unlikely.

Good luck tonight and for January

Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news

Geek Leagues

Fantasy Premier League: 5379-1967
Sun: FantasyFootballGeek SGDKX9Y3
Sky: FFGeek 8310511

You may also like to read one of these too: