FPL Dilemma – Phillip vs Ritchie – Fantasy Football Tips

Today we look at two 6.0m decent, wingers who can potentially in this case cause a FPL dilemma for fantasy managers. These players are Matt Phillips (West Brom) and Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United).

Without further ado let’s analyse this FPL Dilemma!

Matt Phillips

Phillips signed for West Bromwich Albion from QPR for the 2016/17 Premier League season and looked to impress, fighting for a starting XI position. The winger could be possibly a good addition to a fantasy manager’s squad, as Phillips will most likely play on the right side of midfield, however he could be at risk of rotation.

Competition will come from other teammates such as Chris Brunt, James Mclean, Hal-Robson Kanu, Jonathan Leko and possibly Nacer Chadli, but he has been linked away from the Hawthorns.

In the 2016/17 season Phillips made 27 appearances with 26 starting XI places, scoring 4 goals and 8 assists. With a passing percentage of 67% (crossing inc) he needs to improve to consistently score points for that 6.0m price tag.

Matt Ritchie

Ritchie’s switch to Newcastle United in the championship was a surprise to most Premier League fans as he is very much a top division player. It’ll be interesting to see if he lives up to his reputation for Newcastle United as he did for Bournemouth.

In the championship he was arguably player of the season for Newcastle as he was instrumental in the title winning campaign. Statistics back this statement up. In the 2016/17 season Matt Ritchie made 40 appearances with 38 being starts in the league alone, scoring 12 goals and creating 7 assists. This is an impressive 19 goal contributions in 40 league games from right midfield.

Ritchie also takes the penalties and free kicks alongside possible rotations of Dwight Gayle and Jonjo Shelvey. This always gives an extra chance of points which could prove the difference for FPL managers.

The Verdict

I’m going to do this a little different to my previous dilemmas and let fixtures/ previous statistics do the talking.

West Brom’s 3 opening fixtures are as follows; Bournemouth (H), Burnley (A) and Stoke (H). These fixtures make good reading for Phillips, as it gives him good potential to pick up points, but the question on his starting position could be questioned. With that said however, Phillips picked up 2 assists in pre-season and is likely to get the nod.

Newcastle’s opening 3 fixtures are as follows; Tottenham (H), Huddersfield (A) and West Ham (H). These fixtures are slightly more difficult, but I can still see Newcastle picking up points. For me, Ritchie is a starting player for the opening gameweeks unless he picks up an injury. However, with notable competition coming from Christian Atsu and Rolando Aarons, if he doesn’t perform in these game weeks he could be rotated.

For me, Phillips would be the choice out of these two wingers due to fixtures; However, I still think there could be better options for midfielders for FPL managers to consider with similar price tags.

Written by James Milburn (@jamesmilburn95)

1 Response

  1. Baggiestu71 says:

    Brunt and McClean are both heavily left sided players. Chadli plays the No 10 role and Leko will most likely go out on loan. If Philips is fit he will start!

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