Hello everyone! It’s been just over 3 weeks since the last article when I told you to bring in Boaz Myhill who conceded 7 goals in the QPR and Leicester games, which if you knew that was going to happen I just hope you put money on it! But he did recently keep a clean sheet away at Crystal Palace and picked up 8 points, so he balanced that one out. I also told you to bring in Wilfried Zaha, I wish I chose Bolasie instead now, enough said on that one! On the other side of things, I told you to take out Raheem Sterling who has made me look silly by assisting and scoring a goal since the last article, I’m glad I didn’t take my own advice and kept him in my personal team! Finally, I told you to take out Vincent Kompany, which has made the last article worthwhile! The struggling defender conceded 2 at Crystal Palace, then 2 at Old Trafford only to pick up an injury mid-game ruling him out of the following game against West Ham and possibly the rest of the season.
It’s that time of the season when you just have to go for it, take risks and don’t look back! With FA Cup fixtures hovering around we have a few double game weeks for some teams and we have to take advantage of this, so let’s get on with the suggestions!
IN
Eden Hazard (Chelsea, Midfielder, 11.3m)
Eden Hazard, the soon to be PFA player of the year. He has had a tremendous season, before the season started the Belgium would of cost you 10m, as the season has progressed his price has risen 1.3m and will now cost you 11.3. Although this is fairly expensive for a player on fantasy football, it is oh-so worth it, with a double game week playing against; Arsenal (A) and Leicester (A) you would fancy him to add to his tally of 13 goals and 9 assists this season. Hazard has featured in every league game for Chelsea so far this season so you can be certain that he is a reliable player to have. It’s a no brainer putting this man in your team and you should also put him as your captain this week while you’re at it.
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool, Midfielder, 6.7m)
My next choice is another midfielder who is having a fantastic season with a double game week coming up! Jordan Henderson has been excellent to Liverpool while Gerrard has been ruled out with injuries and suspensions. With West Brom (A) and Hull (A) coming up for Liverpool you would expect Brendan Rodgers’ team to be going out to win both of these games in good fashion. Henderson has already scored 6 and set 9 up, which is his own personal best and with a double game week and two winnable fixtures coming up you would fancy your chances for him to add to that tally. Finally, Henderson will only set you back 6.7m which is extremely cheap for the points return he brings, if you can bring out one of your more expensive players for Henderson you will be sure to have a healthy amount of cash leftover in the bank for other positions.
OUT
Santi Cazorla (Arsenal, Midfielder, 8.3m)
My first suggestion to bring out of your teams is ANOTHER midfielder that has also had a great season! Santi Cazorla has had a very good season and has really shown what he brings to Arsenal is his third year in England. But the midfielder has recently stepped off the gas while his teammates such as Ozil and Ramsey have stepped back on it! Arsenal have a very tough fixtures coming up against a very physical Chelsea side, will Cazorla be able to shine? We’ll see. Cazorla is 8.3m and has only managed to score 1 and assist 2 in his last 8 games! Which isn’t good enough for any fantasy football manager. It’s a risk, but a risk worth taking at this stage of the season, so if you’re one of the 11.1% of managers that has him, take him out!
Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton, Defender, 6.2m)
Southampton have kept the most clean sheets this season with a staggering 16 clean sheets so far, this is one of the main reasons why Southampton defenders have such a high selection percentage. Clyne is the most selected Saints defender with a huge percentage of 35.9%. With Southampton’s next three fixtures being; Spurs (H), Sunderland (A) and Leicester (A), I struggle to see where Southampton’s next clean sheet comes from as they are facing teams that all still have a lot to play for this season and will be fighting on the pitch to finish as high as possible. We all know that the real points in fantasy football are scored in midfield and upfront, so if you take Clyne out you should replace him with a cheaper defender allowing you to have more money to spend on attacking positions.
This article was very midfield and double game-week based, but you need to make sure you take advantage of these double game weeks and plan your transfers to squeeze as many points out of your team as possible and of course as we say every week, to see those green arrows! Make your changes and good luck!
Tom Mellor
