Our Watchlist player rankings have now been revised following the first Gameweek of the 2018/19 season.
The Watchlist can be found in your sidebar on desktop, or via your slide-in menu on mobile or tablet. It acts as a collection of our current thoughts on player selection for each position, also citing the factors that affect their ranking on the list.
As a general rule, we try to commit to just one player per position per club. However, in some cases we where we believe double-coverage is advisable, two players will be listed instead. We’ve already got two key examples of that this week.
With just one Gameweek played so far, fixtures are playing a slightly bigger role in our rankings than form, although there are some options whose opening weekend performances show some great promise regardless.
Goalkeepers
In goal, we’ve promoted Manchester City’s Ederson (£5.5m) to the top in light of his more appealing fixtures compared to David De Gea (£6.0m), and his superior form too. The fluctuating defensive situation at Manchester United limits De Gea’s potential and it’s a trip to Brighton and a home match with Spurs in the next two weeks. Chris Hughton’s men have scored in six of their last seven home meetings, including the Amex Stadium’s final match of 2017/18, where the Seagulls were 1-0 winners over Man United. Meanwhile, City have already kept one clean sheet away from home against a new-look Arsenal and now have a run of matches against the six most recently promoted sides to the Premier League.
Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m) joins the goalkeeper section after his role in Crystal Palace’s win over Fulham. Not only does he have potential bargain attached to him, the Welshman’s fixtures are also very promising. After facing Liverpool at home, Palace face Watford (away), then Southampton (home), Huddersfield (away), Newcastle (home) and Bournemouth (away) in Gameweek 7.
Defenders
Benjamin Mendy (£6.0m) experiences a slight rise from second to first place among defenders now that that Man City schedule look so appealing and he has demonstrated how advanced his position is at the club. The only factor that had him below Andrew Robertson (£6.0m) for Gameweek 1 was the difficulty of fixture, City away at Arsenal while Liverpool were at home against West Ham. Both players have form on their sides as they kept clean sheets, registered attacking returns and claimed bonus points on opening weekend.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.1m) has shot up the rankings as the ultimate value candidate. Despite his price rise, he is still the cheapest playing route into the impressive Crystal Palace defence, offering offensive returns and bonus points too – as Saturday’s win at Fulham demonstrated.
We’ve also allowed ourselves a second Palace defender in Patrick van Aanholt (£5.5m) considering that the left-back is in a significantly different price point to Wan-Bissaka. Van Aanholt continues to offer an advanced position and assisted Jeffrey Schlupp’s (£4.5m) goal at Craven Cottage.
Luke Shaw’s (£5.0m) goal-scoring display against Leicester City has pushed him up on the Watchlist, as another full-back offering attacking involvement.
Jose Holebas (£4.5m) is a new appearance after assisting twice and keeping a clean sheet on opening weekend. The Watford man has some short-term fixture appeal with a trip to Burnley in Gameweek 2 and a home match against Crystal Palace in Gameweek 3, before Tottenham and Man United visit Vicarage Road.
Midfielders
There were some big changes in the midfielders department. Braces for Sadio Mané (£9.5m) and Richarlison (£6.6m) see them rise into the top three, behind only Mohamed Salah (£13.0m). Both of them have Gameweek 1 form on their side as well as more appealing fixtures. The appeal of both Salah and Mané re-affirms the suggestion that doubling-up on Liverpool’s attack has serious merit.
Bernardo Silva’s (£7.5m) goal-scoring display at the Emirates Stadium pushes him up on the list of midfielders, while Riyad Mahrez (£9.0m) drops after being substituted before the hour-mark. However, in both cases, the return of Raheem Sterling (£11.0m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.0m) does mean they have to carry rotation risk as a factor.
Eden Hazard (£10.5m) is another riser following his earlier-than-expected return to competitive action, in which he provided an assist for Pedro’s (£6.5m) second-half goal at Huddersfield Town. In fact, he replaced the man he assisted in Gameweek 1 ahead of Gameweek 2. However, currently he carries just the factor of form with rotation still a risk with him after the World Cup and recent comments made by Maurizio Sarri.
Dropping down as a result of those players is Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£7.0m). His performance against Man City has given him a form rating of C, and he also carries a rotation risk. However, once a trip to Chelsea is out of the way the fixtures will become a lot kinder for Mkhitaryan and the Arsenal assets.
Double-figure hauls for Roberto Pereyra (£6.0m), Ryan Fraser (£5.5m) and Ruben Neves (£5.1m) pushed them onto the Watchlist, although for now that is based mostly on Gameweek 1 form.
Forwards
As you can probably see the forwards section is looking rather bleak ahead of Gameweek 2. Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) sits at the top based on the upcoming fixtures for Manchester City, but his two-point display against Arsenal means that his current form can be rated no higher than a C. Furthermore, the Argentinian also carries a rotation risk with Gabriel Jesus (£10.5m) and Sterling both capable of playing his position against Huddersfield.
Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) was one of the few forwards to receive a large jump after his late goal at Man United. It was a busy short spell on the pitch for the England international, so with fixtures on his side in the next six weeks he may be turned to by Fantasy managers. It’s a home match against newly-promoted Wolves next, then trips to Southampton and Bournemouth in between Liverpool and Huddersfield’s visits to the King Power Stadium.
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