With just a couple of hours until the Gameweek 26 deadline is upon us, we offer a trio of overlooked options for your perusal. All three ply their trade up top and have home fixtures on their agenda over the next couple of evenings:
Peter Crouch
After starting each of the first two Gameweeks, the big target man took up bench-warming duties under Mark Hughes as the new Stoke manager looked for alternatives up top. A return to the first-team in Gameweek 9 saw Crouch notch at Old Trafford and, since then, he’s become firmly established as the Potters number one frontman.
Crouch has now racked up five goals and four assists over his last 17 starts, netting against the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Southampton for a side that have lost just twice in front of their own fans all season.
Hughes’ men have beaten Chelsea and United at the Britannia and also drawn with City – a sign of their home capabilities as Swansea pay visit tomorrow evening. Garry Monk’s side can brace themselves for an aerial bombardment, then, as the Potters look for Crouch to provide the cutting edge – at 5.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), 7.8 in the Sky Sports game and 2.5 in the Sun Dream Team, he could be poised for a prosperous evening against a defence that last chalked up an away clean sheet back in Gameweek 5.
Nikica Jelavic
A January move to Hull has brought the Croatian back onto the Fantasy radar after months on the periphery at former club Everton. Jelavic supplied a pair of assists in the opening couple of Gameweeks for the Toffees before the loan arrival of Romelu Lukaku put paid to his game time, with just two brief sub appearances to his name from Gameweek 6 onwards.
Snapped up by Steve Bruce last month, he’s been immediately installed to the Hull first XI and, alongside fellow new boy Shane Long, has reinvigorated the Tigers’ attack. As yesterday’s Big Numbers members article highlighted, Jelavic has registered some hugely impressive underlying numbers over his four appearances for the promoted club, suggesting he’s been a little unlucky to grab just one goal so far.
Priced at 6.9 in FPL, 8.0 in the Sky Sports game and 3.0 in the Sun Dream Team, Jelavic has a home game with Southampton this evening and also has Cardiff, Newcastle and West Ham over the next four Gameweeks as he looks to rediscover his top form and clinch a place in his nation’s World Cup plans for Brazil.
Luuk de Jong
Handed the lone forward role in Newcastle’s loss to Chelsea last weekend, the Dutchman impressed without quite managing to deliver. As we pointed out in the Big Numbers article, though, de Jong’s stats suggest he could be one to monitor – over the past two Gameweeks, no striker has managed more shots on target than the Magpies’ new loan acquisition.
With this in mind, we give him the call ahead of tomorrow night’s home encounter with Tottenham as Alan Pardew’s side look to recover from back-to-back defeats. Priced at just 6.5 in FPL, 7.6 in the Sky Sports game and 2.0 in the Sun Dream Team, he just may be worth a flutter as he looks to grab the goals that could make his move to Tyneside a permanent one.
