The Dugout Discussion – Monday

In a Gameweek blighted by numerous injuries, Fantasy managers will be looking for Southampton to come to the rescue at Villa Park this evening. Ronald Koeman’s side roll up to the midlands on the back of four straight clean sheets and with the hosts having scored just one goal in seven Gameweeks, another shut-out for the Saints could well be on the cards.

Nathaniel Clyne (22.4%) and Ryan Bertrand (32.5%) are amongst the four most popular defenders in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game right now but with the fixtures turning against Koeman’s outfit, many have a dilemma on their hands ahead of a run of matches against City, Arsenal and United.

Further up the field, Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle could also be on their last outing for many. The Serbian’s underlying stats continue to impress but, aside from his incredible 23-point haul at home to Sunderland in Gameweek 8, he’s struggled for any semblance of consistency and has blanked in seven of the first 11 rounds of fixtures.

Pelle’s drop in shooting accuracy has been a real concern to his owners. The Italian has failed to register a single attempt on target over his previous three appearances and has now netted in only one of his last five league outings. Another blank this evening may well be the final straw, though with Villa beset by backline injuries (Ron Vlaar, Philippe Senderos and Nathan Baker are all out), Pelle will be confident of grabbing the goals before the fixtures take a turn for the worse.