“But the weekend’s just finished!” I hear you bellow belligerently into your computer screen.
We feel you buddy but let’s not get caught out by the midweek fixtures again as has happened to so many unfortunate souls already this season.
It’s time to recoup the points that this apologetic author cost you on Saturday with one of our riskier transfer outings paying little dividends. Curse you David Silva, curse you to hell.
Anyway, onwards and upwards we go.
Three players to sign
Mesut Ozil
Fixture: Arsenal v Leicester
Price: £8.9m
Selected by: 2.9%
We love a Tuesday night league game as much as the next fellow but a huge risk exists in whether or not managers decide to rest their more important players in the less dangerous games. Don’t do it Arsene, s’il vous plait.
As has been repeated so many times in Ozil’s 18 months in London, “it finally seems like he’s going to come good and stay good.”
Since his return to fitness the German midfielder has looked unstoppable, racking up 21 points in his last two outings which is good enough for us to say “welcome aboard.”
Against a Leicester side whose manager is more intent on getting a grip on players’ throats than on Premier League points, you’d fully expect Arsenal to entertain the Emirates faithful with a few goals on Tuesday night.
The former Real Madrid playmaker is a form player so we may as well take full advantage of him now and stick him right in when he can hopefully bag us a goal and assist.
Dwight Gayle
Fixture: Crystal Palace v Newcastle
Price: £5m
Selected by: 2.2%
The Alan Pardew derby will be contested on Wednesday evening and you’d fully expect his new side to continue their fantastic run of form since ol’ Pards took over (5 wins out of 6 games).
He has managed to motivate Dwight Gayle to three goals and an assist in that time so we’re going to jump at the chance to sign him up for a match for which Ally P will have his players rearing to go.
Pardew clearly fancies the young Englishman and will be looking to use Gayle’s pace to exploit the staying weaknesses of Newcastle that were exposed when the Magpies threw away three points by conceding a last minute Crouch equaliser at the weekend.
Palace will have the extra day of rest so you’d expect them to have the legs to run at Newcastle and penetrate their defence and, with Gayle seeming to be Pardew’s favoured striking option up front, let’s bank on him nabbing a goal.
Jermain Defoe
Fixture: Sunderland v QPR
Price: £6m
Selected by: 3.4%
We’ll admit we were sceptical at first but Jermain Defoe looks like he’s going to be the man who saves Sunderland’s season.
He’s managed either a goal or assist in every game he’s played since signing for the Black Cats last month and we reckon he’s going to be chomping at the bit against the worst defence in the league.
We’re not too sure if you’ve heard but QPR are not so good away from home and Defoe can take full advantage of that when the second-from-bottom Londoners travel to the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.
If there’s any game in which he can rack up the points for us Jermain-iacs this season, this is the bad-boy for it.
Three players to sell
Vincent Kompany
Fixture: Stoke v Man City
Price: £6.4m
Selected by: 9.3%
We’re thoroughly unconvinced by Man City’s shaky defence this season and Vincent Kompany must shoulder a lot of the blame.
He was a mainstay in our FF team of 2013-14 but STARTLING STAT: City haven’t kept a Premier League clean sheet since 20 December.
We’re not saying ditch all their defenders because City’s full-backs will steal you some offensive points but Kompany hasn’t gotten a goal or assist all campaign so he’s not even popping up in the box at set plays this season.
A Wednesday night at the Britannia is not the place at which Manuel Pellegrini will be confident of getting City’s title challenge back on track and Stoke are in significantly better form than their upcoming opponents.
Mark Hughes had his Potters driven when they left the Etihad with all three points in August so expect a similarly gutsy performance this time around with a goal or two leaking through City’s substandard back line.
Stewart Downing
Fixture: Southampton v West Ham
Price: £6.6m
Selected by: 28.3%
A remarkable amount of people are sticking with Downing despite the fact that his points contribution has slowed considerably in the last couple of fixtures. The winger secured just four in his last two games which is a significant drop-off from the whopping eight that he racked up in the the two before that.
We think this fixture is the perfect time to take the risk and set the former Liverpool man free as we don’t see anything in his performance against United that suggests he will cause too much damage to a well organised Saints back line.
Downing flourished with Andy Carroll to aim for in the box but with the giant Geordie still not fully fit, we don’t think Downing is able to do as much damage.
Get a steal on your buddies who are holding tough with him and swap him out for this week, even if we might have to come crawling back to him when Carroll recovers from his knee injury.
Kyle Walker
Fixture: Liverpool v Spurs
Price: £5.8m
Selected by: 0.6%
Difficult to predict what’s going to happen when either of these sides play but the most likely outcome, or at least Brendan Rodgers’ primary gameplan, would be to put pressure on the Spurs’ full-backs.
Against the pace and trickery of Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho, you’d anticipate a couple of the Spurs back four to pick up a booking or two and Kyle Walker is undeniably the most aggressive defender that they have.
A lot of people would have been tempted to ship him in after the ten points he picked up in Spurs’ 3-0 victory over West Brom last week but this upcoming game is simply not for him.
You’d fancy the Reds to rebound from their fairly uneventful derby-day draw against Everton and attempt to give the Anfield faithful something with which to be hopeful.
Liverpool have also begun to recapture their goalscoring form at home, having scored eight in their last three Premier League matches at Anfield.
We’re predicting a yellow card for Walker and at least two Liverpool goals so Walker is a no-go for this midweek round.
