Mondogoal Picks – Gameweek 9

With Sergio Aguero, Leighton Baines, Dusan Tadic and even Gabriel Obertan amongst our picks, the Mondogoal managers amongst you may well have been plundering prize pools last weekend. We’ve a lot to live up to with this week’s selection, then.

Mondogoal is a brand new daily and weekly Fantasy Football game which, in addition to the Premier League, covers all the major top-flight leagues – Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Major League Soccer (MLS). You can play games for each one, or even global contests that span across all the leagues. Mondogoal also supports contests for Champions League and Europa League in midweek.

Mondogoal is a breeze to play and the cash prizes are ramping up: there’s another guaranteed £1000 pot available for in the £5 entry weekend contest. If you’d rather have a tinker for free, there’s also a £100 prize contest on offer.

We’ve laid on a full strategy guide, offering tips to help you get started and you can read on for a full breakdown of the targets we’ve lined up for this weekend’s contests….

Saturday’s Picks

Sergio Aguero’s assault on Premier League defences continues at Upton Park and, again, it’s hard to ignore his claims for a place in our Mondogoal lineups. The Argentine has started the last three and, although he was given 90 minutes in Moscow on Tuesday, looks fresh and strong enough to rip into the West Ham defence. For 11.8, you get a player that’s delivered 14.79 points per game (ppg) – the highest of any striker.

If you opt for Aguero, you may need to save some funds for your other forward slots. There remains plenty of value on offer, not least West Brom’s in-form Saido Berahino, who goes in search of a sixth goal in front of his own fans when Crystal Palace roll up to the Hawthorns – the England U21 star will set you back 9.1.

Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic can both be acquired in the mid-price bracket, despite their consistent displays for Southampton. With Stoke the visitors to St Mary’s on Saturday, I can only see continued returns for the Saints pair and, at just 8.9 and 8.4 respectively, there’s a strong case to put faith in both again this week.

While Swansea have stuttered of late, I’ve got an inkling that they’ll put a brittle Leicester defence to the sword at the Liberty. Although Wilfried Bony looks an expensive gamble at 10.2, playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson remains at the hub of things for Garry Monk’s side, delivering 10.70 ppg, and I see the Swans bagging at least a couple in this one.

Liverpool are another side struggling for form and, while they’ll be fatigued from the Champions League runaround against Madrid, the Anfield meet with Hull City remains promising. Raheem Sterling (11.3m) is the inevitable midfield target, although Philippe Coutinho’s display from the bench at QPR could edge him into the starting lineup to offer value at 9.3 million.

Arsenal are also recovering from European exertions but have an away day that promises goals, as they pay visit to a freshly spanked Sunderland. Danny Welbeck (11.6m) and Alexis Sanchez (12.9m) may struggle to squeeze their way into our forward lines, given the competition up front, but Aaron Ramsey is back on the radar following his return from injury and may be worth the steep 13.9 outlay. Given that the Gunners have conceded in their last six, Sunderland’s own Steven Fletcher, at just 5.8, may even be worth a sniff.

Clean sheets look scarce amongst Saturday’s selection, although Southampton are, again, an obvious port of call. Nathaniel Clyne (8.9m) and Ryan Bertrand (8.0m) are regular inclusions in our Mondogoal lineups, although with Fraser Forster priced at 6.4 million in goal, the big stopper and one of his raiding full-backs look the best route, here.

Swansea looked well-placed for defensive points at home to Leicester and Angel Rangel, at just 6.8 million, looks a decent option. Elsewhere, I’m going to back the West Brom rearguard at home to Palace, with Andre Wisdom offering strong value at 6.8 million.

Sunday’s Picks

With the midweek European schedule biting, Sunday serves up three encounters to flesh out our Mondogoal contests.

While United’s meeting with Chelsea at Old Trafford is undeniably the headline act, sifting through the talent on show to find valid Mondogoal targets looks tricky. With Diego Costa expected to miss out, Eden Hazard (12.3m and 10.87 ppg) looks well-placed to play a key role and I’d go so far as to back the Belgian for another points haul. Beyond this, I’d hesitate to jump on any of the other big names with Sunday’s outcome and goal tally just so unpredictable.

Everton’s trip to Burnley looks more prosperous. We have to back the visitors here, having seen them gather their second clean sheet in a 3-0 win at home to Villa last time out. Both Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines demand our attention as attacking full-backs and, in a Gameweek that looks to have few obvious clean sheets on offer, one of these two look prime assets. Antolin Alcaraz (7.0 million) offers cover of the Everton back four against the goal-shy Clarets, if that pair are too rich for your blood. Further forward, Ross Barkley is a temptation in midfield having sparkled on his return from injury against Villa – available for just 8.7 million, he’s averaging 11.87 ppg to this point. In opposition, it’s worth noting that Burnley’s Danny Ings is priced at just 4.5 million, having returned from his own lengthy injury absence – that’s a definite option if you’re scratching around for a filler to free up funds for big investment elsewhere.

Sunday’s final encounter finds Spurs host a struggling Newcastle outfit at the Lane. Again, this one looks to boast a number of more obvious targets for our consideration. Nacer Chadli at 9.0 million and with 10.14 looks to offer value, with Christian Eriksen’s form also warranting our attention, even at a lofty 11.6 million. I’d also consider a glance at the Spurs defence here – skipper Younes Kaboul is available for a generous 7.1 million.

Monday’s Picks

Monday evening’s clash sees two teams currently struggling for form square up. Basement-dwellers QPR will view the clash with Villa as a must-win encounter and Harry Redknapp’s side will go on the attack accordingly. Mondogoal managers will be wise to avoid the assets on show, although, given that Villa have blanked in their last four outings, backing the QPR defence may not be as mad as it sounds. Richard Dunne was brought back into the R’s lineup against Liverpool and can be acquired for just 4.2 million – a gamble but perhaps an inspired enabler who may just bring in a handy clean sheet. Similarly, Ciaran Clark could well line up for Villa with injuries to both Nathan Baker and Philippe Senderos – Clark is available for just 3.5 million – the cheapest defender on offer in the player list.