Premier League fantasy football tips: Consistent Anthony Gordon a strong option for midfield
Last week Bryan Mbeumo was the hottest ticket in town, now we’re all looking to remove him from our FPL squads with the news that he’s going to be out of action for a few weeks after picking up an ankle injury against Brighton on Wednesday night.
There’s no point in holding on to him, particularly as Brentford don’t have a fixture in gameweek 18.
The good news is we’re not short of options in midfield at Mbeumo’s price of £7m and below so take your pick from Anthony Gordon, Cole Palmer, Raheem Sterling, Hwang Hee-Chan, Mohammed Kudus or any of Aston Villa’s fine selection of Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Moussa Diaby or the man-in-form Leon Bailey.
Villa have another tough fixture at home to Arsenal this weekend but crucially they’re also at home to Sheffield United in gameweek 18 when Manchester City and Brentford are both blank.
My favourite picks are Gordon and Palmer as long-term signings who are continuing to deliver consistently and just remember if you go for Hwang then have a plan to sell him when the Asian Cup comes around in January.
It’s also worth considering Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson in this price bracket because Tottenham will keep scoring goals whoever they play against as Chris Sutton has been telling us since the start of the season on the Fantasy 606 podcast.
The other opportunity to point you towards this week, if you haven’t already taken it, is Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka. He costs just £4m and will replace Nick Pope in one of the strongest defences in the Premier League as the England keeper sadly faces a long spell on the sidelines with his shoulder injury.
Captaincy
Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah both play in away fixtures this weekend, Haaland at Luton and Salah at Crystal Palace, and if you’re choosing between the two then I’d go for Haaland even though Luton proved once again this week that no team is going to get an easy ride at Kenilworth Road.
If you want to do something a little bit different then I’d suggest Kaoru Mitoma or Evan Ferguson for Brighton’s home game against Burnley, or Hwang Hee-Chan if you feel that Wolves will continue to pile on the pain for Nottingham Forest.
It’s worth considering Son Heung-Min at home to Newcastle too, with the visitors’ squad severely stretched and a vital Champions League game on the way against AC Milan next week.
Fixtures to target
I was really impressed with Fulham when I commentated on them in their 4-3 defeat by Liverpool last weekend and they now face West Ham, Burnley and Bournemouth in three of their next four games.
Alex Iwobi and Raul Jimenez both helped themselves to two goals apiece in the 5-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest on Wednesday but Andreas Pereira out-scored them both with his three assists and three bonus points.
All three will cost you just over £5m but defender Antonee Robinson comes in at the slightly lower price of £4.4m. He really caught the eye in the game at Anfield and has provided three assists in his last four games.
I also think it’s time to buy into the Chelsea defence for a run of games against Everton, Sheffield United, Wolves, Crystal Palace and Luton before the end of the year.
I would probably go for Levi Colwill at £4.5m who was made captain for their game at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Thiago Silva is probably the safest pick in terms of consistent selection but he will be due a rest at some point and Reece James is definitely the one with the highest points-scoring potential, but he’s still easing his way back in after injury.
Differentials
Bournemouth are one of the form teams in the Premier League right now with three wins in their past four games but sadly Statman Dave’s man Dominic Solanke has now climbed over the differential threshold of 5% ownership.
Never fear – Dave was telling us in this week’s Fantasy 606 podcast that Bournemouth’s defensive numbers are showing good signs too and suggested Illia Zabarnyi as the man to go for at £4.4m.
Antoine Semenyo is worth a look as well, he costs just £4.6m as a forward in FPL, but just be aware that he hasn’t made it past the 70-minute mark in any of the past three games.
Bournemouth go to Old Trafford on Saturday to face Manchester United and then follow that with games against Luton, Nottingham Forest and Fulham.
Gamble of the week
I reckon an Evan Ferguson captaincy at home to Burnley is the way to go if you have an appetite for risk. I don’t so I’m going for Erling Haaland at Luton.
Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 podcast alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. You can find the podcast by searching for ‘Fantasy 606’ on the BBC Sounds app, then just click subscribe.
