The Weekly Shop – Gameweek 4

Our midweek regular arrives for your perusal this evening, as we take an early look at those players currently under consideration for our squads across weekly and daily Fantasy Football games.

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 Fantasy Bet and PlayON…

Better Buys

Liverpool’s new-look defence has now kept three straight clean sheets and Simon Mignolet (Fantasy Bet 5m, PlayON 7.6m) echoed Petr Cech’s (Fantasy Bet 5.5m, PlayON 7.6m) heroics in the goalless draw at the Emirates to maintain his 100% start to the season. Both keepers are now handed favourable fixtures this time out. Liverpool entertain out-of-sorts West Ham at Anfield, whilst Cech travels to Newcastle on the back of a man-of-the-match performance for his new side – he could be in line for another clean sheet, given that hosts Newcastle sit bottom for both shots (20) and attempts in the box (12) so far.

Aleksandar Kolarov (Fantasy Bet 5.5m, PlayON 8.5m) appears to have confirmed what many Fantasy managers have always suspected – if given an extended run in the Manchester City side, the full-back could become an essential Fantasy pick. Since returning to the first team after the 4-2 defeat to Manchester United last term, the Serbian has now played the full 90 minutes in City’s last nine league matches. All of those matches have resulted in victories, and with seven clean sheets accrued, the left-back looks indispensable, having racked up three goals and an assist over that period.

Manchester City and Chelsea both have home ties that will see their usual big-hitter assets taking up those midfield and forward spots in our Fantasy teams. From City, David Silva and Yaya Toure will be popular picks as they host Watford, while Eden Hazard is likely to be the go to choice from Chelsea as Crystal Palace travel to Stanford Bridge. There are now alternatives at both clubs, with summer signings offering the chance to break from those more obvious picks. Raheem Sterling (Fantasy Bet 9m, PlayON 11.9m) and Pedro – available as a midfielder in Fantasy Bet for 9.5m and as a forward in PlayON for 12.5m – could provide quality differentials that are slightly kinder on the budget than there more established team-mates.

In the forward positions, Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa and Christian Benteke are also set to be the prevalent choices. Mid-priced options could prove to offer more value, however, with Southampton hosting Norwich and Stoke welcoming West Brom. Graziano Pelle has not scored since their opening fixture but the Saints have fired 24 attempts in the box over the first three, only bettered by Arsenal. The Italian must start putting those chances away more regularly and is available for 10.6m in PlayON and 8m in Fantasy Bet. Stoke’s Mame Biram Diouf (Fantasy Bet 6.5m, PlayON 9.1m) has carried on last season’s form, looking for a third goal in as many outings this term – the Senegalese scored six in the final seven at the Britannia over the run-in in 2014/15.

Poundstretchers

Stoke will be hoping to record a first clean sheet of the season against midlands rivals West Brom this weekend. Keeper Jack Butland (Fantasy Bet 4.5m, PlayON 6.7m) has made 13 saves so far, including six in the visit to Norwich last time out. This is Stoke’s second home fixture and gives the young keeper a chance to impress again after only conceding late-on to Philippe Coutinho’s long range strike in the opening match of the season.

Southampton kept out newly promoted Watford in the 0-0 draw at Vicarage Road and Ronald Koeman’s side look set to keep back-to-back clean sheets with the Canaries visiting St Mary’s this weekend. Matt Targett should start again as Ryan Bertrand remains absent and the youngster offers excellent value at only 4m in Fantasy Bet and 6m in PlayON – all the more so given that he was utilised as a left wing-back against Watford last week as Ronald Koeman switched to a 3-4-1-2.

After backing Riyad Mahrez in the first installment of the Weekly Shop, the midfielder has established himself as a reliable budget option every week since and remains at 5.5m in Fantasy Bet, while an 8.2m price-tag in PlayON still makes the winger a tempting prospect as Leicester travel to Bournemouth. The Cherries also offer budget options against a Foxes side yet to keep a clean sheet with Matt Ritchie (Fantasy Bet 6m, PlayON 8.2m) and Callum Wilson (Fantasy Bet 5.5m, PlayON 7.8m) following his hat-trick against West Ham worth considering here.

Aston Villa host Sunderland with both sides yet to inspire much confidence so far this term. Tim Sherwood’s men should expect some attacking returns against a Black Cats team that visit Villa Park having conceded eight in three, including four to Leicester City in their last away fixture. Rudy Gestede (Fantasy Bet 6m, PlayON 7.8m) scored 20 goals in 39 appearances for Blackburn in the Championship lasts season and netted the winner against Bournemouth in his Premier League debut.

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 – Fantasy Bet and PlayON – as I continue my quest for profit in the 2015/16 campaign.