Welcome to the eighth edition of the Fantasy Premier League 2 In 2 Out! The series where I tell YOU which two FPL players to bring in and which two players to kick out of your teams with the aim to give you green arrows for the coming gameweeks!
Solid predictions last article; I told you to bring Alli and Payet in who both returned a goal and an assist, both screamers may I add! I did tell you to bring Vardy out who assisted and scored since the last article and I also told you to take Chris Smalling out who kept one clean sheet in three games. Good predictions, not great, let’s do better.
IN
Diego Costa (Chelsea, Forward, 10.6m)
Is he back? I think so! Costa seems to have got the balance between rustling his opponents and playing his forward game perfect again. He’s scored five league goals in five league games under Hiddink and I feel there’s much more to come. Chelsea’s next three games are- Watford (A), Man Utd (H) and Newcastle (H), all three are winnable for Chelsea and more importantly for us, a good chance for Costa to bag some points. Although he’s 10.6m which is quite steep, only 6% of managers have him meaning this risk can help you gain on 94% of fantasy football managers. With the second half of the season wildcards here, now’s a chance to bring him in.
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool, Midfielder, 7.9m)
After a very, very slow start to his first season in the Premier League, Roberto Firmino is finally looking dangerous and it’s about time! He’s scored four goals and assisted once in his last three games, that’s 33 points he’s scored (don’t forget the bonus points!) in three games which is a brilliant return. The deciding factor behind this suggestion are Liverpool’s upcoming fixtures in- Leicester (A), Sunderland (H) and Aston Villa (A), three very shaky defences. Just like the last prediction, not many people have Firmino and you will gain on many managers if he delivers, 93.2% of them to be precise. Get him in, those fixtures are very very tasty!
OUT
Ross Barkley (Everton, Midfielder, 7.3m)
When I say that Everton are currently sat 12th in the table the majority of you will say “I thought they were doing better than that” and I thought the same. They’ve deflated recently and one player that has dropped form with Everton is Ross Barkley. Barkley hasn’t scored in nine league games and yet 36.5% of managers still have him, I’m not sure why. Although Everton’s fixtures are fairly appealing for them, I don’t quite fancy them in any game at the moment due to them not being able to claim three points. At 7.3m Ross Barkley is fairly cheap and you may think “who do I replace him with?”, two words- Dele Alli (5.4m), two more words- Marko Arnautovic (6.5m), one more word- Willian (7.1m). I’ve not only gIves you good reasons to take Barkley out, I’ve only gone and given you three solid and affordable replacements, that’s how nice I am. Take Ross Barkley out!
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City, Midfielder, 10.7m)
THIS IS RISKY! I’ve got Kevin De Bruyne in my team and I’m very tempted to make this change. So far this season De Bruyne has scored five times and assisted nine times but he’s SO damn inconsistent. At the start of the season he scored three games in a row, happy days! It took five games after that for him to get another, hm! Then it took him three games to grab a goal, not that bad! And since then he hasn’t scored in five, albeit he has picked up nine assists throughout the season which is lovely. I can’t tell if he’s tiring or not but in his last five games he’s only assisted once and for 10.6m, I want more. There’s no point mentioning Man City’s fixtures as every fixture is a winnable one for them but it is worth mentioning potential replacements that may offer a better return. Alexis Sanchez is now back from injury and would cost you 10.8m, a good chance to bring him in before his price rises? Another good replacement is Christian Eriksen for 8.4m who is finding good form along with Spurs. In addition to this, his injury picked up in the league cup may prove to be as bad as first thought so he may be out for some weeks. This is a very risky one and one that I’m not sure whether to do myself but I’m just putting it out there and giving you some reasons why it may be a good decision! Let me and FPL Updates what you think!
With the wildcards now here, now is a great chance to be able to reshuffle your team and be able to afford the players you may not have before with only one free transfer. Let’s hope in the next article we can talk about the lovely green arrows we received. Hope these suggestions help!
Written by Tom Mellor
