FantasyBet Focus – Gameweek 21

We return to league matters this evening after the weekend was interrupted by FA Cup Third Round fixtures. Tuesday hands us a trio of matches, with Louis van Gaal looking to relieve the pressure as United travel to St James’ Park to face struggling Newcastle.

Two of the top four go head-to-head at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night, as Spurs entertain Leicester in a re-match of their weekend four-goal stalemate.

Chelsea bagged their biggest win of the season last time out and will be looking to build momentum as West Brom pay visit to Stamford Bridge. Manchester City host an Everton outfit with just a single victory in seven outings, whilst over at Anfield, visitors Arsenal will be planning to take advantage of Jurgen Klopp’s injury-stricken Liverpool.

If you are unfamiliar with FantasyBet, it is particularly accessible for those who play Fantasy Premier League, as it uses a similar scoring system and player pricing.

Check out this video to see how team creation works.

MY TEAM

Jack Butland (4.5m)
Cesar Azpilicueta (5.5m)
Ashley Williams (4.5m)
Branislav Ivanovic (6.5m)
Marko Arnautovic (6m)
Willian (6.5m)
Mesut Ozil (9.5m)
Gylfi Sigurdsson (7m)
Bojan (5m)
Harry Kane (9.5m)
Sergio Aguero (13m)

KEY PICKS

Jack Butland – The Stoke keeper has kept three clean sheets in his last four at the Britannia ahead of a home clash with Norwich. Butland remains at a budget price in FantasyBet and, despite conceding in three successive matches in all competitions, will be confident of earning a ninth clean sheet of the season. The Canaries have managed just 98 attempts on goal in their 10 away matches – only Newcastle and West Brom have registered less.

Ashley Williams – The Swans could record a third consecutive shutout at the Liberty if they keep visitors Sunderland at bay tomorrow night. Williams’ importance to Alan Curtis’ backline is obvious – he picked up maximum bonus in those home ties and in a recent goalless draw at Crystal Palace.

Willian– The Brazilian’s goal and assist against Palace last time out highlights his improving form under Guus Hiddink. Willian has now served up four assists in as many matches and with Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Oscar either ruled out or doubtful, his influence on breaking down the Baggies backline will be vital.

Harry Kane: – Handed a late FA Cup appearance off the bench against Leicester, the Spurs striker provided a well-taken penalty to level the scores. That made it seven goals in the last eight appearances at White Hart Lane for Kane, and given that only City and Liverpool have more goal attempts in front of their own fans than Spurs, he should get chances aplenty against the Foxes.

THIS WEEK’S GAME PICKS

As always, the best place to start if you’re new to FantasyBet are the free-rolls – there is a £50 pot available for this Gameweek in both the standard and flash formats.

For the three Tuesday matches, there’s a Double-Up game for £3.30 entry with a guaranteed prize pool of £120. FantasyBet’s biggest game covers Wednesday fixtures, where your compete for a £1000 guaranteed prize pool on a £5.50 buy in.

LAST WEEK

After a few near misses I landed the first big success of the campaign with a third-place finish in the £1000 pot. My 61 points was three short of second place, while KongHoward took top spot with 67, thanks to his decision to captain Anthony Martial. After deciding against handing the armband to Laurent Koscielny in FPL, I did at least get some rewards by backing the Frenchman here, who delivered 30 points and £75 in winnings. This leaves me on a season high of £174.82.

THIS WEEK’S STAKE

Although that win gives me a little more room for maneuver, I won’t be too gung-ho and will stick with slowly building the pot. I’ll enter the Tuesday Double-up, the Grand Wednesday contest, the free-rolls and both the Scout’s and my picks above in the FFScout Picks League for a total stake of £11.

I’m also considering the Wednesday Flash game that has a £250 pot but, as the squad cannot be changed after the three-minute selection countdown, I will make a decision closer to the deadline once more team news is in.

In addition, I’ll be going up against Lateriser21, the Community champion in this week’s Scout Picks. He will be taking me on in a specially set up head-to-head game for a chance to win free entry into a £500 Guaranteed ‘Big Weekly’ game worth £22. Also the Community Champion who beats the Scout Picks by the highest margin every month will win a free entry into the £500 guaranteed ‘Boss’ game worth £55.

FFSCOUT PICKS LEAGUE

MetalSoul topped last week’s Scout Picks league with a total of 65 points. Laurent Koscielny’s 15 points helped him here, while Patrick Van Aanholt (10 points) and Yaya Toure (eight) also contributed.

Once again, FantasyBet have provided a £100 pot for the FFScout Picks League – with a £1.10 stake for entry, it is now possible to enter five teams into this contest. I will enter our Scout Picks as closely as possible, given a 15-man squad is required with the 100m budget and a captain also needs to be selected.

Feel free to go up against them this week and pick your own squad on FantasyBet.