This time next month, the effin’ Premier League season will be over and we’re not a bit happy about it.
Having said that, it could be the optimum time to get a steal on your Fantasy Football rivals by playing a bit wisely this week.
We’d advise you to lump on Liverpool and Chelsea players this gameweek because both sides have two games in hand that will be caught up on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
Three players to sign
Raheem Sterling
Fixture: West Brom v Liverpool & Hull v Liverpool
Price: 8.5m
Selected by: 33.2%
Are there better players than Raheem Sterling that we could pick this weekend? Sure. But you forget about the double gameweek for Liverpool.
Liverpool play both West Brom and Hull in the next four days and you’d expect Raheem Sterling, the only player who’s providing goals for Liverpool this season, to contribute a fair few points.
Fair enough, WBA kept a Pulis clean sheet last week but before that they have conceded seven goals in their last two home games, while Hull have shipped eight in their last three so goals look to be on the cards for the Reds.
The beauty is, we can ship Sterling out next week if he gets cheeky and don’t have to worry about sorting out a £100,000+ contract for the greedy guts.
Eden Hazard
Fixture: Arsenal v Chelsea & Leicester v Chelsea
Price: 11.3m
Selected by: 45.1%
Not sure if we mentioned it yet, but… there’s a double gameweek for Chelsea and Liverpool.
So even if Arsene Wenger shocks the football world by nullifying a Mourinho side at the weekend, we have the chance to see Eden Hazard rake in the points against Leicester on Wednesday.
He’s the penalty-taker, a nightmare for full-backs and he’ll be looking to cement himself as player of the year against the goal factory known as Harry Kane so get on him at all costs.
He’s an investment for the rest of the season and, barring an injury at the strangle-happy hands of Nigel Pearson, Hazard won’t let you down for the remainder.
Ryan Shawcross
Fixture: Stoke v Sunderland
Price: 5.3m
Selected by: 7.1%
Sure Stoke are sat in 9th place, happy as Paul Merson with a shiny object, and with nothing to play for, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’ll just coast for the remaining five games but you forget, they’re playing Sunderland.
We have no idea where Sunderland’s next goal is going to come from, let alone their next point so a Stoke clean-sheet looks pretty nailed on this weekend.
The Black Cats have scored just one goal in their last three away games in the league so you wouldn’t think Shawcross and Co. will be in too much danger on Saturday afternoon.
Three players to sell
Leighton Baines
Fixture: Everton v Manchester United
Price: 7.1m
Selected by: 14.5%
We’re more than a little heartbroken to have to let go of Leighton Baines, the first name on our fantasy teamsheet for so many weeks.
Baines is the sixth most selected defender in the league by Fantasy Football users which would have made sense last season when Everton were keeping clean sheets for fun and their left-back was on penalty duty.
But this season they have conceded 43 goals already, four more than they did in the whole of last season, and, for some bizarre reason, Baines isn’t the regular penalty taker any more.
Last week Ross Barkley was given the honour of taking a spotter against Burnley, even though Baines was on the pitch, and missed so we’re not too sure how Baines is going to contribute much more this season.
Add to that the fact that United are playing the best football since Alex Ferguson retired and we think that Baines is too risky to keep hold of, for this week at least.
Pablo Zabaleta
Fixture: Manchester City v Aston Villa
Price: 6.4m
Selected by: 5.1%
We’re really on the war-path against full-backs this week but Pablo Zabaleta is, for want of a better word, a liability for Fantasy Football users.
We burned our fingers with him when he was dropped two weeks ago by Manuel Pellegrini.
And even if he does start, he has a tendency to hack down his man who, this weekend, will likely be the twinkle-toed Jack Grealish who will be itching to get back onto the pitch after all the plaudits he received thanks to a stellar performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup.
If Tim Sherwood has his team set up the way he did against the Reds, City’s full-backs could be in for a long afternoon and, with the frustration around the Etihad at the minute, we’re banking on Zabaleta to pick up a booking and City to concede at some stage.
Stewart Downing
Fixture: QPR v West Ham
Price: 6.1m
Selected by: 21.0%
Fantasy Football managers are really toughing it out with Stewart Downing who hasn’t provided more than five points in a gameweek since mid-January.
West Ham don’t just have their flip-flops on already but they’re blowing up their armbands while Big Sam orders a strawberry daiquiri from his reinforced hammock.
The Hammers are sitting pretty in 10th and don’t seem at all bothered about this game-winning lark, earning just 10 points since the turn of the year which would have made them relegation material if they hadn’t enjoyed such a healthy start to the season.
Meanwhile QPR have been unlucky of late and were unlucky to concede a late Chelsea goal during their last home game so we wouldn’t be surprised to see them learn from that mistake and keep their concentration for the full 90 here and shut out West Ham, Downing and all.
