The Watchlist Updated – Gameweek 26 – The Forwards

Leicester’s forthcoming fixtures sees Jamie Vardy make his way to the top of our Watchlist refresh this afternoon. Chelsea’s Diego Costa is also on the march up our ladder after maintaining his goal scoring form against Man United last time out, whilst Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku’s prospects are slightly dented by a blank Gameweek 27.

With Leicester’s upcoming schedule so favourable after Sunday’s trip to Arsenal (NOR, WBA, wat, NEW, cpl), Jamie Vardy reaches the summit on the back of three goals and an assist in his last four appearances. The fact the Foxes have such a kind fixture in Gameweek 27 – at home to Norwich – when the likes of Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku face a blank is also helping boost Vardy’s prospects at this juncture. Still available at just 7.4 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), the Leicester striker is certainly making a compelling case for inclusion in our three-man frontlines over the coming period.

Although Tottenham’s Harry Kane will have frustrated many of his armband backers at home to Watford, the 10.1-priced forward holds station in second spot with Spurs’ fixture list (mci, SWA, whm, ARS, avl, BOU) still reasonably friendly over the next six Gameweeks. The Tottenham striker has also impressively hit the target with 12 of his 20 total goal attempts over the last four Gameweeks, and looks capable of continuing the form that has seen him score four goals and grab an assist in his last four outings.

While Man City’s Sergio Aguero has been in spectacular form of late, scoring seven goals in his last six matches, the Argentine suffers a slight fall in our rankings with tricky match-ups against Tottenham and Liverpool over the next three Gameweeks, along with a blank in Gameweek 27. No forward has registered more total goal attempts (21) than the 13.6-valued City striker over the last four Gameweeks, though, while he has scored an astounding eight goals in his last five league appearances against Spurs. It’s no surprise that he leads this week’s Captain Poll with 26% of the vote, then.

Although Chelsea’s Diego Costa has been an afterthought for many Fantasy managers this season, his form over the last month or so, having scored six goals and registered two assists in his last seven appearances, has firmly put the striker back on our radars. Costa continues to move up our rankings, with the champions also facing a pretty favourable run of matches (NEW, sot, nor, STO, liv, WHM) over the coming period. The Spain international leads the way among forwards over the last four Gameweeks for both penalty box touches (40) and shots from inside the box (16), so it’s perhaps a little surprising to see only around 26,000 FPL bosses have transferred the 10.6-rated front man in so far this week ahead of the plum home fixture against Newcastle. Earlier today, Guus Hiddink revealed that Costa suffered a broken nose in training but the forward is expected to wear a protective mask in order to feature against the Magpies.

Another name from the past is also returning to prominence at the moment, with Man United’s Wayne Rooney flying up the Watchlist having racked up five goals and three assists over the last six Gameweeks. The England skipper offers a genuine dual threat for both goals and assists, given he’s registered 13 total goal attempts (five from inside the box) and created 10 chances, more than any other forward, over the last four Gameweeks. Available at just 10.0 in FPL, with an ownership of only 10% and with four pretty kind fixtures over the next five Gameweeks (sun, WAT, wba, CPL), Rooney once again looks a viable option for our 15-man squads.

Five blanks over the past six Gameweeks mean Watford’s Odion Ighalo continues his descent down our forwards ladder. The Hornets also face difficult matches against Man United and Leicester in the next four, although clashes against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth in the short-term are favourable. With so many other strong options for us to consider in attack, the need to carry the 6.3-priced Nigerian looks to be decreasing at this point.

As already mentioned, the fact Everton have no match in Gameweek 27 is firmly behind the reasoning to drop Romelu Lukaku further down our rankings. The Belgian punished the 397,000+ FPL bosses that transferred him out last week with a nine-point haul against Stoke when he had been a doubt due to a back injury, and he could hand out further heartache with another big performance at home to West Brom tomorrow. His 37% ownership do face a tricky decision on whether to keep faith in the now 8.8-valued striker, though, with the blank followed by kind-looking match-ups against Aston Villa, West Ham and Sunderland.

With Bournemouth’s fixture list fairly favourable over the next five Gameweeks (STO, wat, SOT, new, SWA), Benik Afobe (6.1) moves up a spot on the Watchlist. The former Wolves striker has posted a reasonable enough seven shots from inside the box over the last four Gameweeks, and also has some assist potential, having created seven chances over the same period.

Having failed to score in his last four, and with a fairly tricky run of fixtures over the next few weeks (LEI, mun, SWA, tot, WBA, eve), Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud is a non-mover towards the bottom of our rankings. The 9.1-rated France international should still provide a reasonably reliable source of attacking points over the coming period, but with rotation also a slight concern with Theo Walcott an alternative up front for the Gunners, Giroud looks to hold limited appeal at the moment.

Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe also keeps his spot at the foot of our ladder, with the experienced striker continuing to spearhead the Black Cats’ battle to escape the drop. The former Tottenham striker has found the back of the net 10 times this season, and offers fantastic value at just 5.1 in FPL. Sunderland’s fixture list may be fairly mixed over the next month or so (MUN, whm, CPL, sot, EVE, new), but with an ownership of just 3% in FPL, Defoe offers excellent value as a differential right now.