The Watchlist Updated – Gameweek 5 – The Midfield

Following yesterday’s review of the latest movements among the goalkeepers and defenders on our Watchlist, which offers player recommendations for the next four-to-six Gameweeks, this afternoon we turn our attention to the midfielders. Swansea’s Andre Ayew is on the rise after a 13-point haul against Manchester United, while Sunderland’s Jeremain Lens moves back into our thoughts after providing attacking returns for the fourth consecutive match.

David Silva keeps his place on top of our rankings, with Manchester City’s upcoming schedule (cpl, WHM, tot, NEW, BOU, mun) still very favourable. The Spaniard, now priced at 10.2 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), grabbed his fourth assist of the campaign in the 2-0 win against Watford, although the fact he only registered one goal attempt against the Hornets is a slight concern.

Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez just about hangs onto second spot this week, with the Foxes fixtures (AVL, sto, ARS, nor, sot, CPL) still looking fairly reasonable. The 6.1-valued midfielder was forced off at half-time at Bournemouth with a back problem, but should be available for the Gameweek 5 home clash against Aston Villa. Mahrez is still the highest scoring midfielder in FPL this season with 36 points.

Although Alexis Sanchez suffered a blank once again on Saturday, his hugely impressive underlying statistics mean he keeps his place towards the top of our ladder. The Chilean has managed 15 shots from inside the box this season, five more than any other midfielder, while his 41 touches in the penalty area are nearly double the number Silva and Eden Hazard (both 21) have managed. Arsenal do face Chelsea and Man United in the next six, but the other four matches (STO, lei, wat, EVE) offer hope the 11.0-rated midfielder will soon be delivering the goods for his 12.5% ownership.

After blanking against Sunderland in Gameweek 3, Andre Ayew was transferred out by over 26,000 FPL bosses. Having registered a goal, assist and full bonus against Man United on Sunday, the Ghana international is one of the most sought-after options once again. The 7.2-priced midfielder is joint-fourth among midfielders for total goal attempts (13) and second for shots in the box (ten). With the upcoming fixtures in his favour (wat, EVE, sot, TOT, STO, avl), it’s little surprise to see the former Marseille attacker is the second most transferred in player this week, with 145,000+ Fantasy managers drafting him in.

Despite blanking in West Ham’s last two matches, where the Hammers have scored six goals, Dimitri Payet remains a good option in the mid-price bracket. The 7.6-valued playmaker created three chances at Anfield on Saturday, and should regularly be in the mix to pick up assists with set-piece duties in the locker. Although Payet has only managed two shots from inside the box, the upcoming schedule for Slaven Bilic’s side (NEW, mci, NOR, sun, cpl, CHE) offers four favourable match-ups for the Frenchman to find his form.

With Eden Hazard blanking once more against Crystal Palace, and only managing one goal attempt, we’ve made Pedro our preferred Chelsea midfield option. The Spaniard registered four shots from inside the box against the Eagles, and created five chances, one more than the Belgian. Coming in at 9.5 in FPL, the former Barcelona attacker looks much better value than the 11.4-rated Hazard at this point, although the fixtures (eve, ARS, new, SOT, AVL, whm) still look fairly tricky for the champions over the next six Gameweeks.

Yaya Toure keeps his place around halfway up the ladder despite failing to get amongst the points against Watford. The Ivory Coast international was limited to four goal attempts from outside the box on Saturday, although he did create two chances for his team-mates. As already mentioned, with City’s fixtures still very favourable, the 8.9-priced midfielder still looks a great option for Fantasy managers.

He’s been knocking on the door for a while, but Jeremain Lens has finally made it back onto the Watchlist, having scored his first goal of the season in Sunderland’s 2-2 draw at Aston Villa. The Dutch international has also bagged three assists so far this term, and with the schedule (TOT, bou, mun, WHM, wba, NEW) favourable for the Black Cats, the 6.5-rated midfielder looks a viable option, although his underlying statistics, having managed just two shots from inside the box, and created five chances, are perhaps lower than you’d expect.

One player who might offer strong value is Norwich’s Nathan Redmond. The Canaries upcoming fixtures (BOU, liv, whm, LEI, new, WBA) are somewhat mixed but, priced at 5.6 in FPL, the England U21 international has produced three shots from inside the box and created nine goalscoring opportunities so far. Redmond already has two goals and an assist to his name this season.

The big faller in this week’s update is Bournemouth’s Matt Ritchie. Now down to 5.8 in FPL, the Scotland international has yet to register attacking points, and has only created four chances for the Cherries. He’s also managed just nine penalty box touches, less than Redmond (14) and Lens (12), with the one plus point the still-favourable schedule (nor, SUN, sto, WAT), which should provide the midfielder the best possible platform to start rewarding his dwindling ownership, which now stands at just 2.5%.

Although the upcoming fixtures (wba, MUN, SWA, che, LEI, liv) aren’t in his favour, Sadio Mane remains in our thoughts after the attacker produced his best performance of the season in Southampton’s 3-0 win against Norwich, bagging two assists in an 11-point haul. The Senegal international now looks great value at 7.8 in FPL, although those difficult fixtures will probably limit any further investment.

Having registered double-digit scores in the last two Gameweeks, Crystal Palace’s Bakary Sako had to be included in our latest refresh. The former Wolves attacker has registered more shots from inside the box than any other midfielder over the last two weeks (eight), and although he faces two difficult fixtures up next (MCI, tot), the schedule thereafter (wat, WBA, WHM, lei) looks very kind for the 27-year-old, who priced at just 5.5 in FPL, offers fantastic value. The only slight concern is the competition for places in the attacking midfield positions at Selhurst Park, with Jason Puncheon, Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha all vying for spots. If Sako remains in such good form, though, it will be very hard for Alan Pardew to leave him out of the starting XI.

While Philippe Coutinho drops in our rankings because of his sending off against West Ham, which will see the Brazilian miss the trip to Old Trafford in Gameweek 5, the 8.1-rated midfielder clings onto a place on our ladder by virtue of Liverpool’s two plum home fixtures against Norwich and Aston Villa in Gameweeks 6 and 7. If the playmaker fails to produce the goods in those fixtures though, expect plenty of sales ahead of the tougher match-ups (eve, tot, SOT) that follow.

Another faller this week is Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri, although the Swiss international was very unfortunate on Saturday, with his chances of registering attacking returns made extremely difficult after the Potters were reduced to nine men in the first-half against West Brom. The upcoming schedule (ars, LEI, BOU, avl, swa, WAT), bar the trip to Arsenal next weekend, remains very favourable, so those 60,000 FPL owners who drafted the former Bayern Munich attacker in last week should certainly keep faith with Shaqiri for the time being.