Jose Mourinho’s sacking should see heightened interest in the Chelsea line-up as the champions welcome Sunderland to Stamford Bridge. Manchester United have a point to prove at home to Norwich, having failed to score in two of their last three at Old Trafford, whilst Newcastle look for a third successive victory as Aston Villa roll up to St James’ Park on Saturday evening.
On Sunday, seventh-placed Watford seek a fourth straight win against a Liverpool side that’s picked up just one point in their last two league outings. The biggest match of the weekend arrives at the Emirates on Monday night as Arsenal’s title rivals Manchester City visit North London with a faltering away record, having picked up two points in their last four on the road.
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 player prices were originally identical to those of the official game at the start of the season, and have now been updated, with assets such as 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
The weekly free-roll covers all ten fixtures, with my starting XI as follows:
Jack Butland (4.5m)
Daryl Janmaat (4.5m)
Kurt Zouma (5m)
Alberto Moreno (5m)
Aaron Ramsey (8m)
Georginio Wijnaldum (6.5m)
Riyad Mahrez (6.5m)
Juan Mata (8.5m)
Romelu Lukaku (9m)
Harry Kane (9.5m)
Mauro Zarate (5m)
KEY PICKS
Jack Butland The Stoke keeper is now seven points ahead of Heurelho Gomes in the leaderboard after picking up a seventh clean sheets in nine matches at Upton Park. Whilst weekend visitors Crystal Palace are more prolific on their travels, it’s difficult to look past the young Englishman for shot-stopper duties this week, given that he kept Man City at bay in his previous appearance at the Britannia.
Daryl Janmaat Having kept three clean sheets in their last six outings, Newcastle will be confident of rebuffing a Villa side that’s scored just twice in their previous four road trips. Even if they do concede, Janmaat offers the best chance of attacking points from Steve McClaren’s back-line after picking up a goal and a pair of assists already this campaign.
Aaron Ramsey The Welshman has ably filled in for the sidelined Santi Cazorla in the centre of the park, producing two goals and an assist in the last couple of Gameweeks. Back in his preferred position, Ramsey is enjoying a patch of form reminiscent of the 2013/14 season and could prosper against a City team that have conceded six and scored just once in their last four away trips.
Romelu Lukaku The Belgian is averaging 6.8 points per appearance for the Toffees this term and has 10 goals in as many league outings. That consistency makes Lukaku easy to select against a Leicester defence that’s devoid of the suspended Robert Huth at Goodison. Granted, the league leaders have back-to-back clean sheets away from the King Power but those were at Swansea and Newcastle – Everton are a different proposition altogether, having netted 11 times in their last three at Goodison,
THIS WEEK’S GAME PICKS
As always the best place to start if you’re new to FantasyBet is the Weekly Freeroll, where you can set up a free team and compete against the team above for a £100 pot.
The Grand Saturday is FantasyBet’s biggest game, where your compete for a £1000 guaranteed prize pool on a £5.50 buy in.
There’s also the Super Sunday+Monday game, which has £300 up for grabs, each team costs £3.30 to enter.
LAST WEEK
A week of treading water in which I recovered my stake but failed to make much profit, though keeping the bank-roll intact is key to long-term gains. I won £9 in the Grand Weekend game but was well off the top places – my haul of 53 points was far behind Bateman’s winning score of 81. A backline that included Allan Nyom (12 points), Glen Johnson (8) and Jack Butland (11) showed that defensive picks can make the difference.
A couple of small returns in the free-rolls left me on £120.47.
THIS WEEK’S STAKE
I will enter the Grand Saturday contest, both of the freerolls, the FFScout Picks League and the
Saturday Double-up game for a total stake of £9.90.
In addition, I’ll be going up against The Red Devil, 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
The NBK topped last week’s Scout Picks league with 75 points –captaining Riyad Mahrez was the key decision, though it was well-balanced squad with six other players providing six points or more.
The Scout Picks managed 20th place – we also had Mahrez but captaining Harry Kane proved to be a mistake. 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 two 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.
