Had Olivier Giroud found the net with a glancing header rather than Nedum Onuoha’s forehead, the Fantasy Football Scout Mondogoal line-up may have been in Boxing Day profit. Such fine margins decide the victors.
With Giroud’s temperament out of contention for Gameweek 19, we’re back amongst the Mondogoal player list again, piecing together our squad to compete for another £1,000 prize pot.
Mondogoal is a daily and weekly Fantasy Football game – a brand new offering for this season. It hosts contests based on the Premier League as well as all the major top-flight leagues – Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Major League Soccer (MLS). You can even play global contests that span across all the leagues.
You can enter a free contest for Gameweek 19, with a £100 prize pot up for grabs. There’s also a £5 entry game with a £1,000 guaranteed pot on show. In both cases, you’ll need to compile and enter your starting XI by 11.50 on Sunday morning.
If this sounds like your bag and you want the inside track, be sure to check in with our full strategy guide to the game. Then, read on as we pick over the fixture and player list ahead of another round of Premier League matches.
Gameweek 19 Picks
Manchester City have to form the backbone of our squad. Manuel Pellegrini’s side have reacted to a lack of a recognised striker with six goals in two matches and will surely maintain that surge against Burnley at the Etihad. The Clarets have just five goals on their travels this term, while City have earned shutouts in four of their last six. Pablo Zabaleta (9.7m) ran riot on his last home appearance with 10.47 Mondogoal points, while Aleks Kolarov (9.3m) will also be expected to start and is set to torment Sean Dyche’s side with his raids down the left. Both are worthy of inclusion for Sunday’s matches, while Eliaquim Mangala looks decent value at 7.0 and Vincent Kompany may even return from injury to offer an option at just 6.5.
In attacking areas, David Silva has returned 38 Mondogoal points over his last two outings and is difficult to ignore once again, even at a hefty 14.4. Samir Nasri, at 11.4, is the alternative if the Spaniard’s price tag is a stretch too far – coverage of City’s midfield looks essential, however.
The Villa defence looks a worthy source of some cut-price defensive talent – Paul Lambert’s side have a home clash with Sunderland, who have scored just a single goal in their last three road trips. Alan Hutton, at 9.2 looks a little pricey, even with an impressive 6.98 points per game (ppg): Ciaran Clark, at just 6.4, looks the value option here.
Hull City are an even richer source of budget potential. Having earned three precious points at the Stadium of Light, Steve Bruce’s men will be buoyant and face off against a Leicester side sitting rock bottom and with just four goals in nine away matches. I’m certainly backing the Tigers for a shut-out and, at a price of 5.6 in goal, Allan McGregor is a major consideration. Both Curtis Davies (5.8) and Alex Bruce (4.7) also look viable penny-pinching options in defence. It may also be worth taking a glance at Gaston Ramirez in Hull’s midfield – he’s available for just 5.3 and fetched a huge 19.11-point return in the win at Sunderland.
The Stoke defence helps to complete our three-man rearguard. Mark Hughes men are another to face a favourable home tie following on from a morale-boosting away win. West Brom travel to the Potteries in miserable form, with six defeats in the last eight. Stoke’s skipper Ryan Shawcross is available for just 5.2 and is the obvious candidate here.
With a cheap backline and Ramirez in place in midfield, we’ve cash to spare in attack, allowing us to back up the presence of David Silva with some similarly heavy-hitting talent.
Raheem Sterling is a player capable of blitzing defences with his pace and, having notched at Burnley on Boxing Day, I can see him tormenting the Swans at Anfield on Monday evening. At 11.0, he has to claim a recall to our line-up.
I’ll also keep faith with Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen (11.8) after he served us well once again with a late goal at Leicester. The Dane is showing some strong consistency of late and his dead-ball delivery could well be a factor in the clash with United at White Hart Lane.
Up front, I’m going to have to back Diego Costa again. He delivered 16.35 points for us against West Ham – his first double-figure Mondogoal return since November 22. Despite that, his priced has dropped to 9.8 going into Sunday’s trip to Southampton and that’s an offer I just can’t refuse. It seems likely that Chelsea will notch at least once against the Saints and, if they do, I believe Costa is the most likely to breach the St Mary’s back line.
Villa’s Christian Benteke is another kindly priced striker that looks well-placed to fetch profit. There’s every sign that the Belgian is now back to his menacing best and I can see him taking the next step up against the Black Cats’ defence. At just 9.2, I’ve no hesitation in backing the Villa man.
That leaves me with just enough funds to draft in Alexis Sanchez, a player who will surely carry the burden of creating and scoring the goals to steer Arsenal to the points at West Ham. I see Sam Allardyce’s side drawing the sting from the Gunners, forcing them on the front foot and, as a result, I’m hoping for plenty of goals, with Sanchez inevitably in the mix. Even at 14.8, he’s a player I need to have in my Mondogoal Sunday setup.
The FFS Weekend XI
