2 In 2 Out

So FINALLY the wildcard has arrived meaning that we can bring anyone in and anyone out and not have to worry about receiving minus points. It’s the time of the fantasy football season when we all know who the point scorers in the league are and the time of the season when we can start our teams again. Looking back at the last article I recommended Hazard and Bolasie into your teams and Forster and Dummett out of your teams, Hazard has done me proud by recently showing why he is world class whereas Bolasie is still stuck in first gear. Forster and Dummett only managed 1 clean sheet between them in the 3 game weeks since the last article was released, so good shout if I don’t say so myself. Anyways, let’s get on with the recommendations resulting in you getting green arrows.

IN

David Silva (Manchester City, Midfielder,9.3m)

David Silva, arguably the classiest footballer in the Premier League. The Spanish magician has had a very tough season so far managing only the 1 goal and only the 1 assist in the 9 Premier League games he played leading up to him suffering a knee injury which resulted in him missing 6 league games. Since returning from his injury Silva has scored 4 goals in 4 games and also assisted in a goal and the majority of these games have been played without a striker which shows just how Silva can adapt his game without the likes of Sergio Aguero in front of him. At 9.3m I think David Silva is an absolute steal considering Man City’s next 3 games are; Sunderland (H), Everton (A) and Arsenal (H), all 3 of these teams haven’t got the strongest defence and we know Silva is capable of opening any team up with one pass. Believe it or not we have had the joy of having David Silva in the Premier League for 4 full seasons now and in these 4 seasons he has managed to assist 50 times, so if you’re unsure that Silva won’t grab you points you shouldn’t need to worry as he thrives off playing in this league and will carry on to do what he does best.

Adam Lallana (Liverpool, Midfielder, 8.3m)

Adam Lallana is another player that has had a tough first half to the season and has been battling for minutes on the pitch, which I’m not sure why because we’ve seen how good he can be from last season when Lallana scored 9 goals and set 9 goals up for Saints. This is a recommendation that can either look really good or really bad but the reason I’ve chose the Liverpool midfielder is because of two factors. Firstly, when you’re picking any player to bring into your team you have to look at the fixtures coming up to make sure that the games give that player a good enough chance to deliver and score points, which is what I did and Liverpool’s next 4 fixtures are; Leicester (H), Sunderland (A), Aston Villa (A) and West Ham (H). With the expectations Liverpool fans have they will be expecting 12 points from these 4 games and they are all games which Adam Lallana can deliver in. The second factor I’ve seen that I believe puts Lallana in a good position to be transferred into your teams is his teams selected by %, you need to make sure it’s low allowing you to gain points on other managers and Adam Lallana is only in 0.8% of teams and this is definitely worth the risk to gain points of the other 99.2% of managers in the game.

OUT

Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea, Defender, 7.2m)

Along with Leighton Baines, Branislav Ivanovic is the most expensive defender in the game costing you 7.2m, is it worth it? In my opinion, no it’s not. I can understand why 24% of fantasy football managers have him in their teams; he’s played every game this season so far, he’s capable of scoring a goal or two from defence and he plays for Chelsea who has one of the strongest defences in the league. But if you’re looking for these things, why not go for the cheaper options and save money for other players?! Gary Cahill hasn’t missed a game this season yet and would cost you 6.4m meaning you would have 0.8m spare for another player and John Terry hasn’t missed a game this season yet and would cost you 6.5m meaning you would have 0.7m left over from this change. I don’t see the point in wasting all this money on a defender when there are much cheaper options out there that scores similar points and I couldn’t believe that nearly a quarter of fantasy football managers have him in their team, if you are one of them you need to take him out…now!

Graziano Pelle (Southampton, Forward, 8.0m)

I have had Pelle in my team for quite a long time now and he is showing signs of burning out, that doesn’t mean he won’t score in the future but in my opinion there are better options out there that will score more for a cheaper price, examples include; Austin (6.4m), Kane (5.3m) and Carroll (7.0m), these are just a small hand fulll of possible replacements for Pelle leaving you with a very good amount of cash on the side for other players. So far this season Southampton have really shown they aren’t going to give in easily and will keep fighting for the top 4 places they’ve been in most of the season but you have to look at Saints’ next few fixtures and ask yourself “Is it worth the risk having an 8.0m striker playing against these teams?”…Arsenal (H), Man United (A) and Newcastle (A) awaits Southampton and they are all very tough games and In my opinion it’s not worth the risk and me personally will be taking Pelle out of my team for the new year.

REMEMBER you will receive your wildcard on January 1st at 11:30 BUT if you don’t use it by February 7th at 11:30 it will go and be wasted, so make sure you don’t forget and don’t waste this opportunity! Hopefully these predictions will do me some justice and I’m confident they will, I almost hit my first 100 pointer last week and with these changes I’m hoping for the same, and most importantly I’m hoping for you to trust me and see the green arrows! Have a great new year, everyone.

Tom.

@MellorFootball

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