I’m doubling up on four teams again this weekend, with Man United’s home clash against West Brom looking an obvious source of defensive returns.
Liverpool’s improved form under Jurgen Klopp has persuaded me to invest at both ends of the pitch, whilst I’m also backing free-scoring Leicester and Man City to bring in the points against Watford and Aston Villa respectively.
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.
MY TEAM:
This is the team I will play in the freeroll:
GK: David De Gea (5.5m)
DEF: Chris Smalling (6m)
DEF: Alberto Moreno (5m)
DEF: Jeffrey Schlupp (5m)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (10m)
MID: Sadio Mane (8m)
MID: Ross Barkley (6.5m)
MID: Riyad Mahrez (5.5m)
FOR: Wilfried Bony (8.5m)
FOR: Olivier Giroud (9m)
FOR: Christian Benteke (8.5m)
KEY PICKS
David De Gea: A double or even a triple up of Louis van Gaal’s defensive assets looks a viable option as United seek a fourth consecutive shut-out at home to West Brom. Although Matteo Darmian is suspended after picking up five yellows, the likes of Marcos Rojo or Phil Jones are also worth considering alongside Chris Smalling, bearing in mind that the hosts have conceded just a single goal in front of their own fans.
Alberto Moreno: Jurgen Klopp’s penchant for attacking full-backs brings the Spaniard onto my weekend radar. Since the new manager’s installation, Moreno has fired more attempts on goal than any defender and with visitors Crystal Palace scoring just once in the previous three, the left-back could be poised for points at both ends of the pitch.
Riyad Mahrez: The Leicester winger was avoided by many last week but is now the highest scoring player in the game after serving up a 15-point haul away to West Brom. Six double-figure hauls in nine starts, for an outlay of just 5.5m, make Mahrez a must-have as the Foxes welcome Watford to the King Power.
Olivier Giroud: With Theo Walcott still absent, the consistent Giroud is set to lead the line once again for Sunday’s north London derby. Despite limited minutes, the Frenchman has scored in five of the last seven league matches and continued his fine form in midweek by netting away to Bayern Munich.
THIS WEEK’S GAME PICKS:
This week FantasyBet has set up a special game for the Super Sunday matches, it’s a £5.50 entry game with a £400 guaranteed pot.
FantasyBet has changed their biggest game slightly, and renamed it The Grand Saturday. The game only spans Saturday’s matches, and you can 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 set up a weekly team and compete for £100 for free.
LAST WEEK
A 32nd place finish with 57 points in the Grand Weekend was enough to bring in a £9.00 return – I went with Kevin de Bruyne as captain, who let many sides down with only five points against Norwich. LArsenal topped the big pot with the likes of Romelu Lukaku (14 points), Riyad Mahrez (15 points) and Laurent Koscielny (15 points) all helping to bring in over £200. I had mid-table finishes elsewhere for another £1.10 of winnings to leave me in a small profit once again on £101.31.
For the inaugural Community Champion head-to-head, I entered the Scout Picks up against S Kuqi, who prevailed by 68 points to 65. I correctly captained Romelu Lukaku for 28 points but S Kuqi jumped ahead on Monday night with Harry Kane (seven points) and Danny Rose (11 points) winning him an entry to the ‘Big Weekly’ game.
THIS WEEK’S STAKE
I will enter the Grand Weekend and £100 freeroll mentioned in the Game Picks above, and as usual the FFScout Picks League this week.
I may enter the Super Sunday game depending on how I get on with the Saturday fixtures. The £1.10 Sunday Budget game looks good value so a team goes into that, for a total stake of £7.70 so far.
In addition, I’ll be going up against Prophet, 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.
FFSCOUT PICKS LEAGUE
Lassieham won the FFScout league last week with 77 points. Ryan Bertrand stood out with 11 points in defence, while Yaya Toure (nine points) and Harry Kane as captain (14 points) helped clinch first prize. The Scout Picks ended up in 30th with 55 points after I also captained Kevin de Bruyne here.
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.
