While Chelsea were 2-1 winners of Newcastle in Gameweek 22, Fantasy Premier League managers will still left somewhat disappointed with a number of their assets.
Eden Hazard remains without a goal at home since Gameweek 7 and appears to worry those who want to captain him each week, while Marcos Alonso is seriously struggling to live up to his price point.
We’ve put these dilemmas to our panel in the latest edition of FPL Question Time, while also discussing the impact of Benjamin Mendy on Leroy Sané, replacements for Son Heung-min and Manchester United’s form.
Who’s on the panel this week?
Chief FPL Manager – A member of the Fantasy community with a huge Twitter following, “Chief” runs the FPL Hints website and has six top 1% finishes to his name.
Ben Crabtree – The proud Evertonian who was the overall winner of FPL in 2016/17.
FPL Family – The popular married couple who play FPL together, running a YouTube channel and Twitter account to document their battles.
Question 1 – Chief
The Rock: What should we do with Hazard? It’s impossible to predict when he will get his returns, which makes him incredibly hard to trust with the armband. Is he too costly for someone you can’t captain?
Chief: “It goes without saying that owning Eden Hazard in FPL can be frustrating at the best of times. Having registered 10 attacking Fantasy returns in his first eight games, he then only managed one assist between Gameweeks 9 and 13.
“Unfortunately, he’s only posted three attacking Fantasy returns since Gameweek 17 and that was with a very generous fixture run. I think it’s safe to say that we can’t trust him with the armband for the foreseeable future when someone like Mohamed Salah has proven more capable of delivering a good haul of points on an almost weekly basis.
“But before you opt to sell Hazard, do remember that he’s been involved with half of Chelsea’s league goals this season – so when they do score there’s a good chance he will be in the mix.
“In addition, in his next two games he will face Arsenal and Bournemouth. He’s registered 12 aggregate attacking returns against both teams in 20 league outings, which once again validates his threat levels.
“Have a little bit more patience with Hazard if you can, but if you don’t own Salah then by all means upgrade to him immediately.”
Question 2 – Lee
Solomon: I’ve got the age-old question of whether it’s time to ditch Alonso? If so, would you keep Chelsea cover (e.g. David Luiz), double up on Liverpool defence or do something different?
Lee: “Reluctantly, I think it is time to cash in on Alonso. Up to now, I was holding onto him, knowing that I had a fair amount of team value tied up in him – but having seen that dwindle slowly but surely over the course of the last few weeks, that’s no longer a concern.
“For me, Alonso just isn’t getting forward enough to justify the additional outlay over his competitors for that spot in our teams. Last season, we regularly saw him in the penalty area, often further forward than Morata or whichever striker Chelsea were using, regularly ghosting in at the back-post, or often just blatantly on the penalty spot waiting to pounce.
“Sarri’s system isn’t allowing for that quite as much this year and there’s much more focus on the defensive side of his game.
“This time last year, I made the fateful Alonso to Christiansen transfer, which didn’t feel right at the time, but I enjoyed the extra cash. That greed ultimately cost me.
“This year however, I look at the alternatives and I actually don’t consider them ‘downgrades’ at all. Andrew Robertson will be a popular replacement for those who don’t already own – and rightly so.
“Liverpool have only conceded ten goals all season, with only three of those at home. They also have a exemplary record against teams outside of the top six. So a fixture list that reads Crystal Palace (home), Leicester (home), West Ham (away), Bournemouth (home), Manchester United (away), Watford (home), will have many an FPL manager possibly considering a defensive double-up with Virgil van Dijk. Trent Alexander-Arnold could have been an option here but it looks like he’s set for some time out with a knee injury.
“Looking further afield, I like Periera at Leicester too, playing out of position, often as far forward as Vardy. Although I do temper my enthusiasm slightly when I look at the Leicester fixture list.
“I could also choose to save a whopping £2.8m and transfer in Southampton’s Bednarek – a regular starter it appears, under Hassenhüttl.
“I could also find a case for David Luiz if I want to continue to employ a Chelsea defender, who seems more likely to pick up assists than Alonso right now.
“The list goes on – Digne, Holebas, Doherty. The message? There’s options – and plenty of them – if you want to unlock the money tied up in Marcus Alonso.
“In 17/18, it felt like (and proved to be) a massive risk. This year however, I don’t feel that way and for me, he’s likely to make way in Gameweek 23 for Liverpool’s set-piece-taking right-back.”
Question 3 – Ben
Chris Hamblett: Is it worth being in Sané now given that Mendy is due back soon?
Ben: “If you don’t own Sané then he’s definitely tempting given his big-hitter potential at a reasonable price of £9.6m. The impending return of Mendy does throw an extra element to weigh up before parting with the cash, though.
“The reasons to bring him the German in stem from being in good form, so will likely score points until Mendy comes back. This also means he’s less likely to be rotated given he’s earning his place in the team and has little competition for his spot currently.
“At the moment Manchester City have been playing with a left-back and a winger, rather than using the left wing-back role Mendy excels in. As good as he is going forward, he probably can’t compare with Sané in that department and could easily play a more conventional left-back role. So there remains the possibility that both Mendy and Sané could play in the same side although we cannot be sure.
“Something else worth considering is that even when the Frenchman returns to fitness, Guardiola may still ease him back into the side rather than bench Sané for him straight away.
“Manchester City’s fixtures are less exciting after Huddersfield and Newcastle with Arsenal and Chelsea to come. Many will fancy the defending champions to score a couple every game, but it would be a lot more pressing to buy Sané if the fixtures were a little better.
“Overall I think if you want Sané and have the money then go for him. Mendy could even end up proving to be a red herring like World Cup hangovers and Christmas rotation.”
Question 4 – Sam
Mike: Who is the best Son replacement?
Sam: “With Son flying out to the Asian Cup, and likely to stay there until early February, the FPL community are on the hunt for a replacement.
“There are a number of good options out there, some which will require money in the bank or additional transfers but many can be straight swaps.
“Prior to Sunday’s injury to Sissoko the obvious candidate at Spurs was Christian Eriksen. In many ways I think he was overshadowed by Son’s brilliance recently, having scored four times between Gameweek 17 and 22.
“However the Sissoko’s injury means Eriksen might play deeper and allowing the now-fit Erik Lamela to take one of the more advanced rolesc
“With a far cheaper price tag than Eriksen, and of course with ownership of just 0.4%, he could be a lovely differential in a brilliant run of fixtures.
“Looking beyond Spurs, the most obvious midfield replacement is Pogba. With four goals and five assists in five matches under Solskjaer, the Frenchman is in fine form, and with appealing fixtures I can only see this continuing.
“Sticking with alternatives from the top-six clubs, Shaqiri at Liverpool also looks a nice pick. Although he didn’t return FPL points in Gameweek 22 his movement and creativity is adding a whole new dimension to Liverpool’s attacking play.
“Again Liverpool are currently on a run of fixtures which sees them play five of the next eight at Anfield and those matches – with the exception perhaps of Manchester United in Gameweek 27 – all look excellent and will surely see attacking returns for Shaqiri, if he can continue to start.
“If you can find a little bit more budget, Sané (£0.9m more) Sterling (£2.6m more) and Kevin de Bruyne (£1m more) all offer excellent alternatives as Manchester City continue to look incredibly threatening moving forward.
“For a cheaper Manchester City replacement, Bernardo Silva has been an ever-present in the Manchester City line up since Gameweek 13 and will save you 1.1m to reinvest elsewhere.”
Question 5 – Ben
Rojojojo: Do Manchester United assets (eg Rashford and Pogba) have too much value to pass up on for the next few fixtures, being much cheaper than other top six options?
Ben: “I hoped from an FPL point of view that Solskjaer taking over could rejuvenate some Manchester United assets to expand the pool of players to look at.
“Whilst this has happened, the assets that have improved are ones that provide great value and should be highly owned over their appealing schedule, where five of the opposing teams are 13th or lower. This might not create quite the diversity in teams I had wished for.
“Pogba has delivered big, looks on form and very hungry for goals. Rashford looks like someone’s told him that defenders hate him running at them, so to keep doing it.
“Defensively, back-to-back clean sheets with Shaw also getting bonus recently makes £5m look a good price for him, with £4.8m for Lindelof also a great option to collect points on the cheap.
“Given price tags, only Martial and Lingard look like they could offer good alternatives to the above but buying either one means a double up in midfield or not owning Pogba, which at the moment looks a risky strategy.”
“The form suggests we should pick two or three Manchester United players, the fixtures encourage you to pick two or three of their players and the prices are currently at mates rates so we have to capitalise while we can.”
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