The top six teams all face lower competition this weekend, with only Manchester United going head-to-head with an opponent from the top half of the table as West Ham roll up to Old Trafford.
With a number of favourable fixtures to choose from, then, Fantasy managers have plenty of options available.
Despite an extensive injury list, Arsenal assets still need to be considered as they host Sunderland, whilst Liverpool’s midweek rout of Southampton heightens their appeal ahead of a trip to Newcastle.
Spurs visit a West Brom side that have conceded three goals in four of their seven matches at the Hawthorns and high-flying Leicester City travel to Swansea, with Garry Monk’s men mustering one clean sheet in 12 attempts. League leaders Manchester City have the toughest task of the top team as they attempt to breakdown a Stoke backline that has managed five shut outs over the last seven matches.
If you are unfamiliar with FantasyBet it is particularly accessible for those who play Fantasy Premier League, as it uses the same initial player prices and has a similar scoring system.
Check out this video to see how team creation works.
MY TEAM
The weekly freeroll just covers the Saturday fixtures this week, so there are no players from the matches at St James’ or Goodison. Here’s who I’ve gone for:
David De Gea (5.5m)
Chris Smalling (6m)
Kurt Zouma (5.5m)
Nathan Ake (4.5m)
Eden Hazard (11.5m)
Sadio Mane (8m)
Riyad Mahrez (5.5m)
Mesut Ozil (8.5m)
Jamie Vardy (6m)
Odion Ighalo (5m)
Olivier Giroud (9m)
KEY PICKS
David De Gea The Spaniard was an easy choice for the keeper spot this week. United have been consistently reliable defensively at Old Trafford, only conceding to Liverpool in six matches so far. I’ve even doubled up on De Gea with Chris Smalling as West Ham should find it difficult to score with Diafra Sakho joining Dimitri Payet on the sidelines.
Kurt Zouma The young centre-half looks to have found a settled spot in Jose Mourinho’s backline, starting 11 of their last 12 league matches. After a shaky start to the season, Chelsea’s usual resilience looks to have returned with the Blues chalking up three successive clean sheets in all competitions ahead of a home encounter with Bournemouth.
Sadio Mane The Senegalese midfielder has two goals and three assists in his last five appearances for club and country ahead of Villa’s weekend visit. Bearing in mind that Remi Garde’s side have conceded 15 times in their last five road trips, the Saints will have high hopes of bouncing back from their midweek cup thrashing at the hands of Liverpool.
Olivier Giroud Many will be going with Harry Kane as their big hitter up front but with Alexis Sanchez ruled out for the home tie against Sunderland, I’ve opted for Giroud as a differential. Over the last ten Gameweeks, the Frenchman has averaged a goal every 88 minutes in the league so I expect him to pose plenty of problems for Big Sam’s men.
THIS WEEK’S GAME PICKS
The Grand weekend is FantasyBet’s biggest game, where your compete for a £1000 guaranteed prize pool on a £5.50 buy in.
As always the best place to start if you’re new to FantasyBet is the weekly freeroll, where you can set up a free team and compete against the team above for a £100 pot.
There’s also a flash freeroll with a £50 guaranteed pot in which you have a unique ‘lucky list’ of players to select from and only three minutes to select your squad.
For Saturday there are two contests for £3.30 entry, a double-up game and also a ‘progressive payout’ game – both have £50 guaranteed in prize money.
LAST WEEK
It wasn’t a great week in the £1000 game, as I ended nowhere near the money spots – Ross Barkley sat on my bench, while Ryan Shawcross’ haul of minus three points compounded my lowly final position. Jarlblidensol was top with 86 points, with a devastating midfield trio of Barkley (12 points), Kevin de Bruyne (16) and Yannick Bolasie (15) picking up half of those points. The Scout Picks saved my week, though, as a fifth place finish provided £7.50, leaving me on £112.
THIS WEEK’S STAKE
I will enter the Grand weekend as usual, both of the free-rolls, the FFScout Picks League and I’m going to give the double-up game another try for a total stake of £9.90.
In addition, I’ll be going up against Jose’s Magic Omelette, 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 £600 guaranteed ‘Boss’ game worth £55. For November S Kuqi won the prize after winning by 68 points to 65 back in Gameweek 11. Good luck to him in the big pot.
FFSCOUT PICKS LEAGUE
Stokkulf topped last week’s Scout Picks league with 81 points, Ross Barkley and Yannick Bolasie were his highest scorers, while a clever double-up of Liverpool full-backs Nathaniel Clyne and Albeto Moreno added 17 points.
As mentioned, 70 points for the Scout Picks was enough for a fifth place finish, with Kevin de Bruyne and Odion Ighalo helping us to gain some winnings.
Once again, FantasyBet have provided a £100 pot for the FFScout Picks League, with a £1.10 stake for entry. 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.
