The Weekly Shop – Gameweek 2

This evening, we publish the second installment of the “Weekly Shop”, where I’ll be taking an early look at those players currently under consideration for our squads across weekly and daily Fantasy Football games.

Rather than roll out our final selections, the idea is to highlight those potential recruits to monitor before entering teams into weekly leagues and contests, regardless of which game you are playing.

We’ve divided this early scouting into two sections. The “Better Buys” will look at the key players for the week ahead, generally assessing those in-form assets who are braced for a promising fixture. The “Poundstretchers”, on the other hand, are the Gameweek prospects that should offer excellent value – often one-week punts, whose lower price tags enable funds to be spent on the big-hitters elsewhere in our lineups.

In this week’s article, we take a look at what’s on offer in this week’s two featured games FantasyBet and PlayON…

Better Buys

West Ham’s Adrian is the stand out pick between the posts this week on the back of the opening fixtures. The Spaniard racked up six saves against Arsenal and also earned maximum bonus – an encouraging sign of how the changes to the BPS scoring system will benefit certain keepers. Up against a Leicester side that scored four last time out, Adrian is likely to be kept busy once again and, as Fantasy Bet uses both FPL points and prices, the 5.0m looks worthwhile, with doubts around how the Hammers back four will line-up. Adrian is available for 7.4m in PlayON and was the highest scoring backline option with 1945 points – this was far above the highest scoring defender Papa Soare’s 1325 points and suggests that spending a bit more on a keeper with the right fixture can pay off.

In defence, we’re strongly considering Nathaniel Clyne (Fantasy Bet 5.5m, PlayON, 7.9m). The Liverpool full-back should have plenty of opportunities to attack down the wing against an expansive Bournemouth and could be the answer to the Merseysiders’ lack of creativity in the opening weekend.

We return to pondering West Ham assets in midfield and will likely go with one of Dimitri Payet (Fantasy Bet 7m, PlayON 9.5m) or Cheikhou Kouyate (Fantasy Bet 5.5m, PlayON 7.9m) in our various squads depending on budgets. Both appear to offer value against Leicester, with Payet likely to be heavily involved in build up play, as evidenced by the Frenchman’s assist against Arsenal. Kouyate’s 2200 points in PlayON was the second highest score of last week – only Yaya Toure picked up more – which demonstrates that the Senegalese international’s all-round play is suited to the PlayON scoring matrix.

In the forward positions it’s difficult to choose between Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and Christian Benteke as must-haves this week. All three have fixtures where they could rack up points but none had entirely convincing performances on the opening weekend. The choice may well define the upcoming Gameweek but at least with daily and weekly Fantasy Football it’s possible to pick a separate team with each or several combinations and try to cover the chance of one netting a brace.

Poundstretchers

We’re backing Alex McCarthy as a budget goalkeeper option for Crystal Palace’s home clash with Arsenal. With Julian Speroni still injured, the Eagles keeper looks set to pick up plenty of save points, though it may well mean sacrificing the chances of a clean sheet to supply funds for the outfield. McCarthy appears to be preferred to Wayne Hennessey and is the cheapest playing keeper at 4m in Fantasy Bet, while his 6.2m price-tag in PlayON is only challenged by Watford’s Heurelho Gomes (6.1m).

The Hornets host West Brom in their first home game and, like Gomes, the defenders offer some cut-price picks. We’re always looking for out of position players and Miguel Layun (Fantasy Bet 4.5m, PlayON 5.9m) fits that category, even bagging a goal against Everton from midfield. Another budget defender Joe Gomez (Fantasy Bet 4.5, PlayON 6.2m) is set to be a viable alternative to Clyne or a cheap route to a Liverpool double up. The youngster continues to impress at left-back and, having bagged the assist for the Reds’ weekend winner, looks to have ousted Alberto Moreno, at least in the short term.

Manchester City’s home clash with Chelsea is too tricky to call and means we’ll likely be avoiding players from those teams. This should provide more to spend in midfield than usual, so I’m looking at mid-priced options this week. For example, Andre Ayew’s promising start in Swansea’s draw at Chelsea bodes well for the new signing’s prospects as Garry Monk’s men prepare for the visit of Newcastle. The Ghanaian is reasonably priced at 8.8m in PlayON and 7.0m in Fantasy Bet. There are also plenty of mid-priced options I’ve got my eye on from Southampton, Spurs and Liverpool, the choice of which will depend on the forward picks and remaining budget available.

Those big-hitting forwards mean we may need a budget option alongside them, particularly when playing three up top. Sunderland looked woeful at the back in their defeat to Leicester but still managed to score twice – Jermain Defoe netted their first and is a cut-price 5.5m in Fantasy Bet and 7.5m in PlayON as the Black Cats host Norwich. Watford’s Troy Deeney also fits the bill, similarly priced to Defoe at 5.5m in Fantasy Bet and 7.9m in PlayON.

These are the players on my radar ahead of this weekend’s weekly contests. On Friday, I’ll be back with a further look at both this week’s partner games – FantasyBet and PlayON – as I continue my quest for profit in the 2015/16 campaign.