We have updated the Watchlist after the events of Gameweek 7 and midweek matches.
Raheem Sterling is the biggest name among the new additions in midfield, while James Maddison has risen considerably.
We’ve gone over the changes we’ve made to those areas of the Watchlist in this article, with goalkeepers and defenders covered earlier this week.
Midfielders
Eden Hazard (£11.1m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) remain the top two midfield options. The Chelsea man is an easy one to keep at the summit with six goals and two assists in his first seven appearances of the campaign. The fixtures have become more positive for Hazard once more with Southampton, Burnley, Crystal Palace and Everton four of his next six opponents.
Meanwhile, Favourable Fixtures returns to Salah’s entry. They face Manchester City and Arsenal in the next six Gameweeks but also go up against Huddersfield, Cardiff, Fulham and Watford. However, just one attacking return in the last four Gameweeks has forced us to drop Salah’s form to B.
Raheem Sterling (£11.1m) takes the place of Man City colleague David Silva (£8.5m) after a string of consistent starts and FPL points-scoring. The England man has registered either a goal or an assist in all but one of his Premier League appearances in 2018/19. Furthermore, he has missed just one match, the Gameweek 2 thrashing of Huddersfield Town. Meanwhile, Silva has missed two league outings thus far, played 90 minutes midweek and has two attacking returns this season. Even though Sterling is in better form than Salah, he stays below the Liverpool man on account of Sergio Aguero.
Sadio Mané (£9.9m) stays in fourth place despite a dip in form. That is largely on account of Liverpool’s fixtures swinging back to some more favourable opponents. The fact that he is still £2.8m cheaper than Salah is still a key advantage for him.
James Maddison (£6.9m) has emerged as the standout candidate among mid-priced midfielders. Leicester City are currently second for attack over the next six Gameweeks on our Season Ticker with very favourable fixtures on the horizon. Furthermore, Maddison tops the charts for chances created over the last four Gameweeks, adding 12 shots into the mix – as many as Harry Kane.
Gameweek 7 produced the second blank in a row for Ryan Fraser (£6.0m), which almost saw him slip below Richarlison (£6.7m). However, we opted to keep the Scot above the Brazilian. Richarlison is also without an attacking return in the last two weeks and faces slightly tougher fixtures over the next six. Both players face four favourable opponents and two unfavourable between now and Gameweek 13. The crucial difference is that Bournemouth’s difficult fixtures are both at home, while Everton’s are away. Richarlison edges Fraser for shots in the last four appearances, but the Bournemouth man is well clear on chances created and is cheaper too.
Below that, there is no change with Lucas Moura (£7.4m), Paul Pogba (£8.2m), Anthony Knockaert (£5.5m) and Andre Schürrle (£5.9m) propping up the midfield section of the Watchlist.
Forwards
Sergio Aguero (£11.4m) is not moving from the top of the pile for forwards. The Man City man has had more shots than any other player in the last four Gameweeks despite having his minutes managed. That tells us that when the international break gives him time to get over this minor knock, he’ll be fit and firing with some favourable fixtures. The fact that Aguero played 90 minutes in the Champions League has pros and cons. The positive is that he is clearly able to last a whole game once again, although the worry is that it might increase his rotation risk. However, given that the Gameweek 8 trip to Liverpool is Man City’s biggest match of the season thus far, we’d expect him to keep his place at Anfield.
We’ve seen nothing to discourage us from proclaiming Aleksandar Mitrovic (£7.0m) as the best forward in his price bracket. He continues to be the Premier League’s second-keenest shooter behind only Aguero and still has favourable fixtures on the horizon.
Alexandre Lacazette (£9.5m) holds off Harry Kane‘s (£12.5m) charge up the rankings thanks to his better long-term fixtures and cheaper price. The Arsenal man faces the woeful Fulham defence next before Leicester and Wolves come to the Emirates Stadium and they visit Bournemouth. Their one tricky match-up is a Gameweek 11 home match against Liverpool. Meanwhile, Kane has Man City and Chelsea between now and Gameweek 13, with three trips to tough defences in West Ham (who have the third-best defence in the last four Gameweeks), Wolves and Crystal Palace too. Furthermore, Lacazette has created more chances than Kane across the last four matches, registered more shots, and is only two behind when those are filtered by whether they were in the penalty box.
Raúl Jiménez (£5.6m) sneaks above Romelu Lukaku (£11.0m) this week. The two players have travelled in different directions in terms of form. The Wolves man has three attacking returns in as many matches, while Lukaku has blanked in two supposedly favourable fixtures. Jiménez has more attractive fixtures long-term, and at just £5.6m is more bench-able for Gameweek 11 and 12 meetings with Spurs and Arsenal than Lukaku is for Gameweek 9 and 12 trips to Chelsea and Man City.
In fact, the Manchester United man also drops below Jamie Vardy (£8.9m). The Leicester man has been outperforming Lukaku for underlying statistics and has outscored him in the last two Gameweeks too at a cheaper price. Vardy suffers a little from the form of Leicester colleague Maddison but remains a good option.
Marko Arnautovic (£7.0m) comes into the equation having registered three attacking returns in as many Gameweeks. He stays just below Lukaku considering the Man United man has had double his shots in the last four weeks of the campaign. However, Arnautovic is another forward to go above Callum Wilson (£6.3m). The Bournemouth man has been regressing slowly this season and has had exactly half the number of penalty box touches as Arnautovic from Gameweek 4 onwards.
Glenn Murray (£6.5m) creeps back onto the Watchlist at the expense of Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m). This one is entirely on account of fixtures. While Brighton’s have swung to put them top of our Season Ticker for the next six Gameweeks, Crystal Palace have sunk to the bottom. The Eagles face Arsenal (home), Chelsea (away), Tottenham (home) and Man United (away) between Gameweek 10 and 13.
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