Dugout Discussion

Fernandes and Vardy the Fantasy focus as Bailly returns at centre-back

Bruno Fernandes (£11.0m) and Jamie Vardy (£10.1m) are the key Fantasy Premier League assets as the Boxing Day football gets underway.

Unsurprisingly, the two talismanic figures both start as Leicester City and Manchester United go head-to-head at the King Power Stadium.

Fernandes, owned by 43.5% of managers has blanked in just one away Premier League match since joining the Red Devils, today facing a Leicester defence that features Timothy Castagne (£5.7m) and James Justin (£4.9m) either side of Jonny Evans (£5.5m) and Wesley Fofana (£5.0m).

Like Fernandes, Vardy is less effective at home than he is on the road, averaging 4.7 points per game at the King Power Stadium this season.

Against Manchester United, the forward is supported by an attacking midfield of Harvey Barnes (£6.7m), James Maddison (£7.1m) and Marc Albrighton (£5.3m).

He might fancy his chances against Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s defence today, considering Eric Bailly (£4.9m) is returning to the side.

Very few deny the Ivory Coast international has the pace and strength to thrive in such an environment but he has not appeared in a Premier League match since the 6-1 defeat to Spurs in early October.

Solskjaer has explained that Bailly is operating at centre-back today, not on the right, perhaps indicating either Victor Lindelöf (£4.8m) is occupying that position.

The alternative layout, could see the two of them joined in a back-three by Harry Maguire (£5.4m) with Daniel James (£6.2m) and Luke Shaw (£4.8m) fulfilling wing-back roles.

Leicester City XI: Schmeichel; Castagne, Evans, Fofana, Justin; Ndidi, Tielemans; H Barnes, Maddison, Albrighton; Vardy.

Manchester United XI: De Gea; Shaw, Maguire, Bailly, Lindelóf; Fred, McTominay; Rashford, B Fernandes, D James; Martial.

1,330 Comments Post a Comment
  1. ZimZalabim
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    WOW Rashford

    1. ZimZalabim
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Missed a sitter

  2. ⭐ Bemba_Da ⭐
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    incredible miss by rashford

    messes up bruno assist

  3. Zimo
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Goddammit rashford. That should be a goal

  4. Cilly Bonnolly
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    That’s a sitter Rashford.

  5. Salan
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Rubbish Rashford.

    World class miss.

  6. Hazz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Trashford will off the mark.

  7. KGFC
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Rash sitter 😮

  8. Make United Great Again
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    RASHFORD YOU HAVE TO SCORE THOSE

  9. Westfield Irons ⭐️
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Did anyone punt on Aguero for GW15?
    Would have loved to now we know Jesus out...

  10. diesel001
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Bruno +bps

  11. ㅤRising
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Interesting to see what the WC template will be

  12. Salan
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    I believe I can head this at least on target.

    1. Nomar
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Easier than it looks, or we'd all be doing that instead of this.

      1. Dont_Win_Friends_With_Salah…
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        You mean harder than it looks? That was easy tbf

        1. Nomar
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 5 months ago

          Yes. Silly me.

  13. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    How TF has Rashford missed that

    Bruno should get assist points, harder to miss

    1. Flair
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Glad to see you back commenting MBP

    2. KGFC
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      And that's why he is Trashford.
      Uselessly overhyped footballer.

  14. Flair
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Wtf Rashford that was a Bruno assist

  15. Hotdogs for Tea
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    harder to miss

  16. Ozzy smith
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    That’s a disgrace from Rashford

  17. Fudgy
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Rashford is a disgusting little slime

    1. Chalobah's Witness
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      haha slightly over the top

      1. Sandy Ravage
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        Keep it merry lads

    2. Monklane
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Good to hear from someone who's achieved so much their life.

  18. HonestBlatter
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Trash...abosulte

    1. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Abosulte agree

  19. Pukki Blinders
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Bruno is hauling today

  20. Firminooooo
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    My grandmother would score that, not even kidding.

    1. Hect.OR 98th
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      So would mine, and she's dead.

    2. KEN YA DIG IT
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Haha

  21. Botman and Robben
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    I see Rashy missed.

  22. FDMS All Starz
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Rashford flying under the radar for the DGW?

    1. Zimo
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Not after that miss. Im super annoyed because i have both Bruno and him.

      1. Flair
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        Tough one that 🙁

    2. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Certainly not flying under the crossbar

    3. KGFC
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Not sure about him but his headers are definitely flying... Over the top post!

  23. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Opta have decided that was a 0.25 XA chance (The Rashford miss)

    How much more of this nonsense before Xabcd is just thrown in the bin like the garbage it so blatantly is?

    Should have been a 1.5 XA

    1. diesel001
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Not sure if you are being serious. But how can you have more than 1 for any xA? You can't score more than one goal from any assist.

      1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        That type of chance would normally be scored 1.5 times out of 1

        Harder to miss than to score

      2. Salan
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        Yes, he is wrong, but 0.25 XA is also a joke.

    2. Pukki Blinders
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      The stat is garbage. Nothing beats eye test

    3. Firminooooo
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      My grandmother has 0.99xG on that.

    4. Forza
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      1.5 xA would be more silly than 0.25 - you can't have a 150% likelihood of scoring.

      The numbers are too low, but they're too low for every player so it's still useful to compare players with them.

    5. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      *1.5 XA is obviously tongue in cheek FFS

      Opta need to be audited on their model if they gave Rashford a 25% chance of scoring there, remember they are financially incentivised to keep XG & XA as close as possible to G & A

      Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas people 😉

  24. Make United Great Again
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Rashford missing a big chance at least once per match. Lacks composure at times.

    1. Botman and Robben
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      At least he is consistent.

  25. Salan
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    What is Rashford doing? Few mistakes in less than 10 mins.

    1. G-Whizz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      *De Gea

  26. Chalobah's Witness
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Man. Albrighton is inferior to every single other player on the field. Maybe even in the whole league, okay except for Pickford maybe.

    1. diesel001
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      LOL. No way. Have you seen some of the players at Brighton, Sheff Utd, WBA, Fulham, Arsenal?

    2. ZimZalabim
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      cant be serious !?

  27. Pukki Blinders
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Why is Dan James starting he’s not even good enough for the championship

    1. Nomar
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      In fairness, he was damn good in the Championship in what at the time was a poor Swansea team.

      But United overpaid badly for him.

    2. Goodricke
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Shop window?

  28. dark91
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    De Gea looks in pain

    1. FPL Daniel
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Hendo warming up

  29. FPL Daniel
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Excellent start Justin on 2BP and Bruno on 3BP

    1. Fudgy
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Very well played mate

    2. KGFC
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      Isn't it too soon to be counting baps 😛

  30. Flair
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 months ago

    Rashford trending on Twitter already 😆

    1. SHOOTER MCGINN
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      It was a glorious miss.

    2. Fudgy
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 5 months ago

      he is starting purely based on what hes done off the pitch. its all pr.

      1. Zimo
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        Who else would start?

      2. Nomar
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 5 months ago

        Bet he scores today just to naff you off now.

        1. Nomar
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 5 months ago

          Told you so.