The first Premier League football of the New Year kicks-off at Upton Park, as Liverpool face a second away trip in four days. In the later matches, first and second-placed Arsenal and Leicester City both have promising home fixtures, the former welcome Newcastle United to the Emirates while Bournemouth travel to the King Power Stadium.
Manchester United have a home tie with Swansea that offers the chance for a first win in seven league outings, while neighbors City travel to Watford after a six-match win-less streak on the road. Everton host Tottenham in the stand-out Sunday fixture. The Toffees have slipped to eleventh after picking up just a single victory in six matches, while Spurs are four points clear of fifth place after Monday’s win against the Hornets.
If you are unfamiliar with FantasyBet it is particularly accessible for those who play Fantasy Premier League, as it uses a similar scoring system.
The players’ prices were originally identical to those of the official game but have now been updated, with the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Mesut Ozil costing 1m more to include in our squads.
Check out this video to see how team creation works.
MY TEAM
Petr Cech (5.5m)
Chris Smalling (5.5m)
Wes Morgan (6m)
Patrick Van Aanholt (5.5m)
Marko Arnautovic (8m)
Riyad Mahrez (5m)
Sadio Mane (7m)
Mesut Ozil (9.5m)
Olivier Giroud (13m)
Odion Ighalo (9.5m)
Jamie Vardy (7.5m)
KEY PICKS
Petr Cech – the Arsenal keeper has averaged five points per appearance at the Emirates, despite the Gunners only picking up four clean sheets over nine matches in front of their own fans. Arsene Wenger dropped Laurent Koscielny against Bournemouth and has warned more rotation is likely, though the Czech international should retain his spot to face a Newcastle side that have failed to score in five of nine away trips.
Wes Morgan – having served up a third clean sheet in seven last Tuesday after keeping out Manchester City at the King Power, Leicester will be confident of further defensive returns against a visiting Bournemouth side that have failed to score in two matches. The Cherries have conceded more goals from set-pieces than any other side and with Morgan and Robert Huth neck and neck for successful aerial duels (46) this season, I’m backing the Foxes captain to bring home the points.
Marko Arnautovic – Mark Hughes has implied the midfielder is available fit for the trip to the Hawthorns despite suffering from a slight hamstring issue prior to Monday’s trip to Everton. The Austrian’s match-winning penalty at Goodison means he now has four goals in five outings and with seven strikes to his name, is the Potters’ top scorer this term. Having notched four times away to Everton, Stoke will be full of confidence as they head to the side with the second-worst record in the division for goals conceded at home.
Odion Ighalo – Many thought the Hornets striker would stop scoring with some tough fixtures over the festive period. Goals in six consecutive matches have proved doubters wrong, though, with Ighalo taking his tally to 14 strikes and five assists with a consolation at home to Spurs last time out. Given his stunning form, a home tie with City should not be a deterrent.
THIS WEEK’S GAME PICKS
The Grand Saturday is FantasyBet’s biggest game, where your compete for a £1000 guaranteed prize pool for a £5.50 buy in – it covers the seven afternoon kick-offs on Saturday this week. In the Flash format there is a guaranteed £250 game for £5.50 entry.
LAST WEEK
An unremarkable couple of weeks with no high finishes. In the Boxing Day matches, Sunderland’s goal at the Etihad prevented lots of clean sheet points from City defenders, while heavily backing Arsenal in their 4-0 defeat at Southampton was disastrous.
My pot was whittled down to £107.07, so I have to hope my luck turns in 2016 after mediocre results in the first half of the season. In truth, though, some near misses of the lucrative top spots was encouraging and at least I’m still in profit and should be able to take more risks towards the end of the campaign.
THIS WEEK’S STAKE
So far I’ve just entered The Grand Saturday contest and the FFScout Picks League this week, though I’m also considering an entry into the big Flash game. There is no community Champion to take on so it will be a quiet round for the opening Gameweek of the New Year.
FFSCOUT PICKS LEAGUE
SuperSaiyyan topped the Boxing Day Scout Picks league with 88 points – Harry Kane provided him 26 points as captain, while Kevin De Bruyne (16 points) and Glen Johnson (11) also served up double-figure hauls.
The Scout Picks managed 74 points for a 13th place finish, fortunately Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels replaced the rested Sergio Aguero with eight points from the bench.
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 three 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.
