Jaysus, more games already?
The business end of the season is hitting full tilt as the fixtures are coming thick and fast with this round of midweek matches. It’s time to start taking some risks people.
We urge you to look very carefully at Tottenham this week as, despite their Cup final defeat on Sunday, they have a double week as the kind folks over at Fantasy Football are considering Spurs’ games against Swansea and QPR as part of the same matchweek. Ah the loopholes.
Three players to sign
Danny Rose
Fixture: Spurs v Swansea AND QPR v Spurs
Price: 4.9m
Selected by: 5.9%
Not typical to be selecting a defender immediately after they lose a Cup final 2-0 but we feel this is a must.
As mentioned above, Spurs have a couple of games this matchweek so it’s worth lumping on one of their less popular players at this stage.
Step right up Mr Daniel Rose. The left-back is our pick of players to stick into our backline for this week.
Rose loves a strike from outside the box and popped up with a goal to drag Spurs back into the game in their last Premier League outing, a 2-2 draw with West Ham.
While we’re not guaranteeing another Rose goal, you’d expect him to be part of a defence that keeps at least one clean sheet against Swansea or QPR.
The R’s have failed to score in their last three home games and Swansea have been far from goalscoring threats since Wilfried Bony abandoned ship with a boatload of money.
Add to that the fact that Rose has the deadly targetman of Harry Kane to whip crosses into. We’re sold.
David Silva
Fixture: Manchester City v Leicester
Price: 9.5m
Selected by: 21.8%
Man City have already been written off as title contenders and probably rightly so after their defeat to Liverpool on Sunday lunchtime.
But that doesn’t mean that Manuel Pellegrini won’t have his players primed and ready to give it one more big push as the run-up begins for May.
And City won’t be given a better chance at getting their season back on track than a home tie with Leicester.
With loose cannon Nigel Pearson at the helm, it’s difficult to know which Leicester will show up but the fact that City were seldom troubled by the Foxes during their 1-0 win at the King Power earlier in the season would suggest that a City win is all but nailed on.
And if that is the case, you’d expect David Silva to be pulling the strings for the reigning champions the way he has all season. He’s one of few players to have played consistently well for City throughout this campaign and he has all the tools in the world to be able to split the Leicester defence with an assist or two.
He was unlucky not to find the net in the dying minutes against Liverpool and, before that game, he put in a typically breathtaking performance against Newcastle when he amassed 17 points.
Santi Cazorla
Fixture: QPR v Arsenal
Price: 8.7m
Selected by: 18.0%
8.7m is an absolute steal for a player of Cazorla’s quality.
Since the turn of the year he’s scored more points than teammate Alexis Sanchez who is still valued at 11.4m so we’re jumping all over the little Spaniard.
He’s Arsenal’s go-to penalty taker and QPR conceding a spot-kick against the nimble-footed Arsenal forwards is not the most far fetched thing that we can expect.
Cazorla’s also in tip-top form at the minute and you’d expect him to at the very least secure an assist against a QPR side who looked destined for the drop.
Three players to sell
Danny Ings
Fixture: Liverpool v Burnley
Price: 6.0m
Selected by: 8.9%
The headline for this article is very harsh because Danny Ings has been one of the players of the season but, hey, “must” rhymes with “bust” so what do you want from us?
Ings has kept Burnley above water throughout this campaign but, come May 24, every team will finish where they deserve to finish and we don’t think Burnley will have enough to say afloat.
They have a nasty run of fixtures with their next five coming against Liverpool, City, Southampton, Spurs and Arsenal so there’s no better time to take him out of the team. All good Ings come to an end, as it were.
He’s come off the boil in recent weeks, having failed to impact either of Burnley’s last two games in terms of goals or assists.
And there’s no team more in-form team than Liverpool at the minute so you wouldn’t fancy Sean Dyche’s lads to trouble Mignolet too much at Anfield.
Phil Jagielka
Fixture: Stoke v Everton
Price: 5.6m
Selected by: 12.3%
We’re sorry but Everton are turning into a right old Aston Villa his season.
The Toffees have won just the one of their last 11 Premier League games which is relegation form, truth be told.
We’re not going to go so far as to say that they could go down this season but it’s difficult to see them keeping too many clean sheets.
Everton’s marking for set-pieces against Arsenal was laughable (we literally laughed) and the centre-backs and goalkeeper look like shadows of their last-season selves.
Jagielka has to get the chop from you stubborn 12.3% who are battling on with himthis week, especially when you consider how in-form the awkward Peter Crouch has been in recent weeks.
Stewart Downing
Fixture: West Ham v Chelsea
Price: 6.7m
Selected by: 28.7%
How in the holy hell do more than 25% of you still have Stewart Downing taking up space in your team?
West Ham are in turmoil after their last three fixtures, losing 4-0 to West Brom in the FA Cup, throwing away a two goal lead against Spurs and being embarrassed 3-1 by Crystal Palace.
And the pressure is showing no signs of letting up as they host table-topping Chelsea, who will be buzzing after their 2-0 League Cup victory over Spurs, on Wednesday.
In his last ten Premier League games, Downing has provided just one goal and two assists which is form that doesn’t justify the amount of people who are soldiering on with him.
Ship him out because he won’t even have the consolation of a clean-sheet against the freescoring Blues. Stewart Downing, nil points.
