Fantasy Football Week 11 - All You Need to Know
A lifelong Birmingham City fan, Tom relocated to Germany for five years after graduating from university, where his interest in the Bundesliga developed. He began writing about and betting on German football for FST in 2016. He's also an avid fantasy football player and closely follows the Premier League and European competitions.
Gameweek 11 is almost upon us just a few days after some decent mid-week European competition. Last weekend saw three teams score four goals in matches on the road – Arsenal’s 4-1 win at Sunderland, Man City’s 4-0 at West Brom and Liverpool’s 4-2 at Crystal Palace – making for one of the highest average scoring fantasy weeks yet!
Read more below to see our recent winners and find out our recommendations for who to take and who to bench for the upcoming fixtures!
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Last Week’s Winner!
Last week’s winner was Tommy Frodsham’s “Stretford Enders”, who bagged himself £20 in bet365 free bets and most importantly an FST Mug!
October’s Winner!
October’s overall winner was Lewis Perretta’s “Doesn’t Mata”, who also scored himself an FST Mug alongside £50 in bet365 free bets! See our transfer in and out recommendations below!
Who to Buy
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Sergio Aguero or Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City) – Price: £13.1m and £5.6m respectively
It’s been a few weeks since Sergio Aguero earnt himself a mention. Aguero’s 2 goals and 1 assist in City’s 4-0 win away to West Brom were enough to earn him the 3 bonus points for a 4th time this season and a spot on the “Dream Team” for the 3rd time this season. He took the 2nd most points overall (16 points), behind only teammate Ilkay Gundogan (18 points), who matched the Argentinians pace with 2 goals and an assist for himself.
Aguero is the most expensive player available in Premier League fantasy at £13.1m, but his consistency in the top flight and fixtures against Middlesborough, Crystal Palace and Burnley in the next three should prove his worth. Gundogan, meanwhile, though “unproven” in terms of Premier League game time, is extremely decent value for a Manchester City midfielder at £5.6m. He’s in decent form at the moment and scored a further 2 goals in City’s mid-week UEFA Champions League match against Barcelona.
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Chelsea Players – Price: varied
Since being swept aside by Arsenal in gameweek 6, Chelsea have won four successive matches, scoring eleven goals and keeping a clean sheet in each. Antonio Conte’s decision to move to a back three supported by wing backs has produced defensive stability and seen a range of Chelsea players feature in each of the last four “Dream Team”s.
Eden Hazard (£9.9m) has been the main benefactor from the switch in system, scoring 3 and assisting 1 in his last three matches. On top of his goal and assist against Southampton, he took away all three bonus points for his productive involvement. Diego Costa (£10.4m) – the Premier League’s leading goalscorer – has the 2nd highest fantasy point score of any player and benefited from his Belgian teammates new-found form with a assist for his 8th goal in 10 matches.
At the back, Azpilicueta (£6.0m), who has taken at least one bonus point in each of Chelsea’s last four matches, or Marcus Alonso, who has had more attempts on goal than any other defender since gameweek 7 onwards, also warrant interest.
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Stoke Players – Price: varied
Stoke City are well on the road to recover after last Monday’s 3-1 win at home to Swansea City , marking their third consecutive Premier League win and extending their streak to five matches unbeaten.
Wilfried Bony’s 2 goals against his former club were enough to earn him the 3 bonus points and a debut spot on the “Dream Team”. When compared with his displays for Manchester City last season, Bonyhas much more potential as he’s seeing much more of the ball in the opposition’s box, averaging a much higher touches per match and creating almost double the amount of chances. Joe Allen (£5.2m), meanwhile, seems unstoppable and continued his peak form with 2 assists, resulting in him being awarded 2 bonus points. Allen is averaging a huge 9.4 points per match over Stoke’s last five matches -his price alone is enough to warrant consideration.
Xherdan Shaqiri (£6.4m) has been finding his flow again, scoring two long-range efforts to earn him 15 points the weekend prior, and Ryan Shawcross (£4.9m), who assisted Shaqiri for one of the aforementioned goals, has been back to his best and helped Stoke take clean sheets in two of their last three. Stoke have a “winnable” set of fixtures ahead, with three of the upcoming four fixtures being rated 2 or lower in the “fixture difficulty rating”. Now would be a wise time to invest in some Stoke players.
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Liverpool Midfielders – Price: varied
Jurgen Klopp is spoilt for choice when it comes to attacking midfielders at Liverpool. Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Mane, and Lallana are all decent and viable options depending on your fantasy budget. Coutinho (£8.5m) is currently the second best midfielder overall in Premier League fantasy and earnt 8 points last time out from two assists. However, Coutinho tends to either hit or miss. He has scored or assisted in “just” five of his ten appearances and he’s only played a full 90 minutes in three, so there is that to add to the equation.
Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino (£8.5m), who is mainly being utilised in a false nine forward role, has played the full 90 minutes in all but two matches where he has started (he missed one match to injury). He took 6 points last time out and his two goals and two assists from his last four appearances give him a 6.5 points per match average. Additionally, Sadio Mane (£9.0) was at the centre of Liverpool’s 2-1 win at home to West Brom the weekend before last, scoring 12 points thanks to his goal and assist, but he is also the most expensive of the bunch.
With Liverpool’s eight upcoming fixtures all being rated 3 or lower on the “fixture difficulty ranking”, now would be a wise time to invest in some Liverpool players.
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Leicester City Players – Price: varied
Reigning champions Leicester City haven’t had many players make their way into our list for a few weeks. Nobody expected Leicester to replicate their sensational 2015/2016 season and while they have been disappointing so far, they’re upcoming schedule is reason enough to contemplate bringing in some players from the Foxes – eight of Leicester’s next 10 matches are against sides who are rated 2 or lower in the “fixture difficulty rating”.
Given that Leicester have been struggling for goals in the Premier League, especially Jamie Vardy (£9.7m), who has scored just two from his 10 appearances, we feel the best place to start here is with Leicester’s back four. Christian Fuchs (£5.4m) scored one against Crystal Palace the weekend before last and is their highest scoring defender overall. Meanwhile, Wes Morgan (£5.0) also has one goal to his name, though from earlier this season, and, notably, is yet to throw away valueable points through yellow cards, unlike Robert Huth.
Who to Bench
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)
Zlatan (£11.2m) stays on our bench list despite a hugely “winnable” match against Swansea this weekend for one reason: his price tag. His performances simply haven’t been up to scratch for a star of his calibre and United are goalless in three as a result. Ibra hasn’t contributed a goal nor an assist since gameweek 5 and, bluntly put, the money invested in him would be much better distributed elsewhere given the current form of some other forwards, such as, Diego Costa or Romelu Lukaku.
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Etienne Capoue (Watford)
People who were early to jump on the Capoue bandwagon may have already seen the best he has to offer for this season. Capoue’s 4 goals and 1 assist over Watford’s opening five matches – more than he had contributed in his past 3 Premier League seasons combined – saw his popularity skyrocket. However, the tank seems to have run dry and he’s taken just the minimum points from a series of “soft” fixtures against Burnley, Bournemouth, Middlesborough, Swansea and Hull. Now would be an optimal time to cash in on his increased price tag in exchange for in-form players from a similar price range, such as, Stoke’s Joe Allen or Man City’s Ilkay Gundogan.
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Ben Foster (West Brom) or West Brom Defenders
West Brom’s reputation for solidity at the back has outshined their actual defensive prowess so far this season. West Brom have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 7 matches and Ben Foster (£4.7m) hasn’t been grinding out enough points (34 total) from saves to instead consider, for example, Burnley’s Tom Heaten, who regularly takes away an extra point or two from saves, or Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc, who does likewise.
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Alvaro Negredo (Middlesborough)
16.6% of fantasy managers still have faith in Alvaro Negredo (£6.3m) – making him the 5th most popular foward – despite his disappointing performances since gameweek 3. Negredo’s strong start to the season, where he earnt 19 points over Middlesboro’s opening two matches from one goal and two assists, saw plenty of people snap him up early. Since then, however, the Spaniard has contributed just one assist and taken no bonus points for a disappointing average of 2.5 points per match. His price tag is, admittedly, not burning a huge hole in your budget for a striker who plays 90 minutes every weekend. However, with five of Middlesborough’s next six matches being rated 3 or higher on the “fixture difficulty rating” (Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool to name a few), you’d be much better off swapping him out for similar priced forwards, such as, Southampton’s Charlie Austin.
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Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Theo Walcott and Hector Bellerin (Arsenal), Antonio Valencia and Eric Bailly (Man United), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham)
All of the above are some of the latest doubtfuls ahead of Gameweek 11, though there are, of course, plenty of other current injuries to be aware of. Leaving doubtful players in your lineup in the hope that they are fit in time is a gamble, but it can sometimes have its reward. If you choose to leave a doubtful player in your lineup and take the risk then make sure to order your benched players. That way, if your doubtful player doesn’t feature, the players you want to be automatically switched for the absent player will be subbed in after all this weekend’s matches are finished.