Paddy Says – Gameweek 18

Like a tardy Santa, Paddy Power is dishing out his Anytime Goalscorer and Clean Sheet odds and we don’t even have to be a good boy or girl to take advantage of them.

But before we look into the potential for comfort and joy from Gameweek 18’s festive fixtures, let’s examine the contents of the stocking known as Paddy’s enhanced offers for new customers.

The most popular transfer-in of the Gameweek has been Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The United striker has garnered more than 390,000 new Fantasy Premier League managers based on his form (seven goals from his last six starts) and a tasty set of fixtures that starts with today’s rather obliging encounter with Sunderland at Old Trafford.

Paddy is offering new customers  4-1 on United to beat Sunderland, and seeing as the Black Cats have won away just the once all season (and kept no clean sheets), that’s decidedly generous.

Stoke City’s form on the road is better than that, but a trip to Anfield is a daunting prospect for anyone – the Reds are unbeaten at home and have been held to a draw on Merseyside just twice all season. You can get 4-1 on Liverpool making it their sixth home win in eight attempts.

The other 4-1 offer available involves Man City beating Hull.

Pep Guardiola’s team go east with back-to-back wins under their belt. On the downside, they were woeful the last time they travelled, losing 4-2 at Leicester. Previous to that, they’d won three away matches on the spin, so flooring a punch-drunk Hull should not be beyond them.

Southampton are a tough nut to crack at St Mary’s – they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets at home – so Paddy is going long on a Spurs win in Wednesday’s fixture.

If you think Spurs are up to the task, there’s an 8-1 price on them doing it.

And then there’s this week’s Acca, with 12-1 available for Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester and Man U all winning.

You know about United already, while Arsenal will entertain West Brom, Chelsea host Bournemouth and Leicester face Everton at the King Power. All four fixtures are later today.

Be sure to check the terms and conditions on all those offers and, of course, we should state that these specials are only available to those aged 18 and over. And if you’re going to wager, always gamble responsibly.

ANYTIME GOALSCORER ODDS – GAMEWEEK 18

Some of the usual captaincy suspects – Aguero, Costa – are going nowhere near Gameweek 18. Others – Kane, Sanchez – are either out of form or in a team having a bit of a wobble.

The upshot of all that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic (1.50) bestriding the Fantasy landscape like the colossus he knows he is.

His form is detailed above and his opponents below. He will surely be taking the armband in a huge number of our teams today, and his Anytime Goalscorer odds reflect that.

Liverpool’s match with Stoke at Anfield is another fixture promising home comforts, and a number of Jurgen Klopp’s men figure at the top end of the odds as a result.

Notably, the in-form Divock Origi has fallen in Paddy’s estimation from 1.57 to 1.83, with Daniel Sturridge (1.57) now the more fancied, while the third most popular transfer target of the Gameweek, Adam Lallana (2.70), perhaps offers a more tempting price.

Arsenal duo Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott are both priced at 1.80 to find the net when West Brom visit the Emirates. The Chilean has been a captaincy stalwart over the past few weeks, and he’s even provided returns during the Gunners’ last two defeats.

But he excels on the road and there’s a perfectly plausible Boxing Day scenario involving the Baggies frustrating their hosts and the home crowd, already twitchy after back-to-back defeats, not exactly improving the mood if their side struggles to break down the visitors.

Chelsea’s home match with Bournemouth would have made Diego Costa a big captaincy favourite if he wasn’t suspended. His obvious replacement, Michy Batshuayi (1.83), isn’t guaranteed a start, which makes Eden Hazard’s (2.29) price rather more attractive – if he ends up playing in the ‘false nine’ role, that is.

Elsewhere, Paddy is clearly as confused as the rest of us when it comes to second-guessing Pep Guardiola. As a result, there are three possible candidates for the ‘striker’s’ role priced at 1.90.

The 5.1% of FPL managers still hoping that it will be Kelechi Iheanacho this Gameweek might finally get their way, although Raheem Sterling did the job last time out and Nolito is also well-versed in the role.

Finding joy in all of those City options looks tricky. Maybe investing in the Big Sam Effect would be wiser – he’ll no doubt look to shore up Palace’s leaky defence first and foremost, but 2.29 on Christian Benteke scoring against Watford isn’t a bad shout.

CLEAN SHEET ODDS – GAMEWEEK 18

Gameweek 18’s leading transfer targets are almost exclusively strikers and midfielders, with only one defender making it into the top 10.

That trend-bucker is Cesar Azpilicueta, who has found his way into more than 75,000 new FPL squads this week. Chelsea are priced at 2.00 to keep visitors Bournemouth at bay and their form – nine clean sheets in their last 11 matches and four in five at home – tells you why.

The Cherries’ away form is patchy, although they’ve only been blanked on the road three times this season, but Chelsea look good to continue with their miserly ways, even without the influence of N’Golo Kante as their midfield barrier.

At number 11 in the transfer, list is the man of a thousand gurns, Phil Jones.

The United centre-half has become an integral part of Jose Mourinho’s back four in recent weeks, and that unit has now produced two clean sheets in their last three matches.

The visit of Sunderland should hold no fear for the Red Devils – David Moyes’ men have scored just twice in their last six trips – and both of those came in the same match. Small wonder, then, that United are at just 1.66 to blank the Black Cats.

The 3.25 available on Southampton stopping Spurs looks rather more attractive.

The Saints, as mentioned above, haven’t conceded at home for three straight matches and that solidity, allied to a sweet run of fixtures to come, has prompted FPL managers to make Virgil van Dijk one of only four defenders to make it into the top 20 transfers-in since last weekend.

Seeing ’tis the season to be jolly, you’d spend the rest of 2016 with a stupid grin on your face if you’d bet on Sunderland keeping it to zero at Old Trafford.

It would mean a first away clean sheet of the campaign for the Black Cats, so let’s not get carried away here, but Moyes is almost certain to park the bus at his not-so-happy old haunt, and 10.00 is a hefty price for an outcome that is possible, if improbable.