FPL! FPL! FPL! FPL!
Welcome back, my devoted Fantasy Premier League managers. The time has come once again for you to make tweaks to your virtual XI ahead of the weekend’s fixtures. It can be a challenging task, balancing your expenditure, deciding whether to bin a big name in favour of a less glamorous but in-form player, not to mention choosing when to play your wildcard.
I’ve played my wildcard this week, getting rid of my Fulham duo and bringing in two Arsenal players ahead of their game against Crystal Palace this weekend, which brings me to my first tip…
1. Mesut Özil, £8.4m
I’m assuming you watched Monday Night Football. If you didn’t, I’m assuming you’ve seen Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first goal. If you haven’t, go and watch it. Now. And then transfer Özil into your fantasy team. Arsenal’s magician was on top form against Leicester. He ran the show in the second half, scoring a goal and getting the assist for one of the best team goals you’ll see all season.
The Gunners travel to Selhurst Park this Sunday to take on Crystal Palace. The South London side have not scored one goal at home this season, despite the ground’s famed atmosphere. Arsenal will, for lack of a better word, batter them. I mean absolutely destroy them. I’m talking 4-0, at least. Get Özil in your team, and as many other Arsenal players as you can – ideally Alexandre Lacazette and Aubameyang.
2. Mohamed Salah, £12.8m
A few weeks ago, I recommended that you got rid of Salah in favour of Eden Hazard. Liverpool’s Egyptian King had made a slow start to the season, while Hazard was firing. This week, it may be wise to go revert back to Salah, who is back among the goals, with two in his last two matches, benefitting from playing through the middle rather than from the right. Liverpool welcome Cardiff City, who have conceded 19 goals so far, to Anfield on Saturday. Salah is also categorised as a midfielder, despite Jurgen Klopp using him as a striker. Take full advantage of this by bringing him back in if you’ve not yet done so.
3. Callum Wilson, £6.5m
Despite always being predicted to be in a relegation battle, Bournemouth always manage to cruise to safety. Somehow, they’re sixth in the league right now, in no small part thanks to the goals of Callum Wilson and Josh King. The Cherries go to Craven Cottage this weekend to play Fulham, who have conceded more goals (25) than any other team so far this season. In fact, they’ve not lined up with an unchanged back line once this season, as Slavisa Jokanović tries to find the right defensive formula. Wilson and King will be rubbing their hands together at the prospect of exploiting this weakness, so if you need a mid-range striker, Wilson is your man this weekend.
4. Willy Boly, £4.6m
Much has been made of Wolves’ impressive start to the season, and rightly so; never has a newly promoted side looked so comfortable in the Premier League. Of course, there are reasons why they’ve been able to recruit the likes of Ruben Neves and João Moutinho, but that should not degrade from the fantastic coaching job that Nuno Espirito Santo has done with his squad. One of the beneficiaries of Nuno’s coaching has been Willy Boly, who has gone under the radar as one of the most reliable defenders in the league, playing on the left of a back three. He’s amassed 40 FPL points this season and has only been selected by 5.3% of coaches.
5. Antonio Rüdiger, £5.9m
If you think I’m putting Rüdiger in this list just because of his goal against Manchester United last weekend, well you’d be absolutely right. But looking deeper, there are more reasons to include the German international in your FPL side. Firstly, he always starts; Maurizio Sarri has settled on a defensive pairing of Rüdiger and David Luiz, and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon. He’s also the seventh highest point scoring defender in the FPL rankings right now, ahead of Kyle Walker and Virgil Van Dijk. And as an added bonus, he’s gone largely under the radar, with only 3% of managers selecting him.
