Our Watchlist rankings, which offer player recommendations over the next four-to-six Gameweeks, have been updated over the last 24 hours.
There’s little movement between the sticks, with Southampton’s Fraser Forster holding on at the top ahead of clashes with Leicester and Villa before the schedule toughens in Gameweek 12 (MCI, ars, MNU). West Ham’s Adrian is positioned just below the former Celtic stopper and, at 5.0, is an emerging prospect with some excellent home encounters to come (AVL, NEW, SWA, LEI).
Tim Krul is the week’s main climber, having only conceded once in his last three. The Newcastle keeper’s appeal is slightly dented by the number of strong budget options in the Magpies’ defence, though, with Paul Dummett and Steven Taylor the standout options at just 4.1 and 3.9 respectively.
Meanwhile, Swansea’s Lukas Fabianski and West Brom’s Ben Foster are ones to watch, with both facing four home matches in their next six.
In defence, Leighton Baines’ grip on the top spot remains unchallenged – the left back has averaged 9.6 points per appearance over his last three and faces a string of good home matches in the upcoming weeks (WHM, HUL, QPR, STO). Ryan Bertrand remains in third, though is under threat from the climbing Aaron Cresswell, whose attacking threat and plum fixture list have seen him emerge as a superb differential option in recent weeks. Calum Chambers is also still in our top five after his huge 18-point haul against Burnley, though Arsenal do have some tricky fixtures to come, including clashes with Man United and Southampton in their next four.
Further down, Man City’s Gael Clichy has been added as a new entry with his starts looking assured now that Aleksander Kolarov is set to be sidelined for at least a month. At 5.3, Clichy offers managers a cheaper alternative to Vincent Kompany in a backline that faces QPR, Sunderland and Leicester in their next six. Steven Taylor (3.9), QPR’s Yun Suk Young (3.9) and Spurs’ Kyle Naughton (4.3) are new entries in the budget bracket, with the latter looking set to cement the right-back role with Kyle Walker seemingly out of action for the foreseeable future.
As with the defence, there’s no movement at the summit of our midfield rankings – Alexis Sanchez remains the clear leader, having notched double figures in each of his last three appearances, whilst Dusan Tadic and Angel Di Maria also hold their places in the top three.
It’s all change below them, however, with the out-of-form duo of Raheem Sterling and Gylfi Siggurdsson dropping down the standings, despite Liverpool’s (CHE, cpl, STO, lei, SUN) and Swansea’s (ARS, mci, CPL, QPR, whm) decent schedules. Stewart Downing is the main beneficiary here, climbing up to fourth after his 13-point showing for the Hammers last time out.
Chelsea’s Oscar is the new name amongst the upper echelons of the rankings, replacing team-mate Cesc Fabregas thanks to his current form and more budget friendly price tag of 8.3. Owned by just 4.1% of managers in FPL, the Brazilian has tallied three goals and an assist in his last five, and looks a great asset amongst the Blues’ ranks right now, though the explosive Eden Hazard remains the preferred option. Another factor in Fabregas’ omission is that he sits just a single booking away from a one-match ban.
The quartet of Wilfried Zaha, Chris Brunt, Moussa Sissoko and Ross Barkley are the new entries – all offer managers potential differentials across the coming weeks.
Up top, it’s the same story once again, with no one managing to topple Sergio Aguero from his seat the zenith of our rankings. Diafra Sakho does, however, move into second, with his form and fixtures making a mockery of a current 5.8 price tag. The Senegal international takes the place of Graziano Pelle, whose tightrope status and stiffening schedule sees him drop to third.
Charlie Austin, Harry Kane and Steven Fletcher are a trio of new entries and budget differential options. Austin’s current form is bettered only by Aguero, whilst Fletcher has grabbed double figure hauls in two of his last four and comes up against Leicester’s shaky defence in Gameweek 12.
