Gameweek 15 review
The weeks are starting to fly by and we’re now officially half-way through the season! Hope you’re reasonably happy with where you’re ranked and ready to push on for a nice finish – or just enjoy the game for what it is, a nice distraction and/or addition to the usual Fantasy Premier League stuff we’ve all come to love. I, for one, am very glad to have had part of the FFS community with me throughout the first half, and I’m hoping to keep as many of you as possible interested for the remainder of the season. Be sure to leave a comment about any future content besides the review/preview that you’d like to see!
Gameweek 15 didn’t throw us too many curveballs as far as results go, most of it was within the realms of the expected. AIK defeated a lacklustre Elfsborg side by 3-0 and Icelandic forward Kolbeinn Sithorsson (9.3m) was the star of the show, racking up 2 goals, 1 assist and 1 offensive bonus point. One of Daniel Sundgren’s most likely replacements in the right wingback-position, Robert Lundström (5.9m), got 1 assist and 1 offensive bonus point, just barely missing out on the clean sheet since he got subbed off in the 54th minute. One to watch for the future, especially after blank gameweek 18.
Göteborg had a disappointing afternoon in Falkenberg, dropping two points after a 96th-minute equaliser by Carl Johansson (4.6m). Owners of Victor Wernersson (5.7m) will be thanking the fantasy gods as he was substituted just minutes before, banking the clean sheet. Lasse Vibe (8.3m) went off injured early in the first half and Göteborg now have a slight issue with the attack, given that they’ve sold Benjamin Nygren and Patrik Karlsson-Lagemyr (6.7m) is out injured for the rest of the season. Early reports indicate Vibe will miss out on GW16, possibly back for GW17/18.
Häcken had a dominant performance at home to Örebro, with 18 shots (11 on target) to Örebro’s 2 (0 on target). The talking point from that game is Daleho Irandust (9.4m) who came away from it with 1 goal, 2 assists and 2 offensive bonus points. The elusive playmaker has struggled to live up to his price-tag this season, mostly down to fitness. If he’s back and firing, he’ll definitely be an interesting option. Häcken does have an incredibly tricky Europa League qualifier coming up against AZ Alkmaar so his minutes might be a bit managed but if they get knocked out, he’s one to consider for the second half of the season.
The three most popular captains in the top 1k for gameweek 15, courtesy of GoktugErce:
- Muamer Tankovic (9.3m); Captained by 25.5%, Effective Ownership of 113.2%, scored 7 points.
- Alexander Jeremejeff (9.8m); Captained by 25%, Effective Ownership of 74.3%, scored 6 points.
- Giorgi Kharaishvili (8.7m); Captained by 12.2%, Effective Ownership of 53.4%, scored 3 points.
Gameweek 16 preview
Many managers will find that their squads are, as TAT eloquently put it, “lit like a Christmas tree” because of injuries and suspensions to popular players. As I described regarding the suspension tightrope, there are also a lot of players who are just one yellow card away from a suspension. While it shouldn’t dictate your transfers (it’s going to be an issue all year), it is something to keep in mind and a reason to have a decent bench going forward. Blank gameweek 18 is swiftly approaching and with limited transfers, you’ll need to plan if you want to get 11 players out with no AIK, Norrköping, Malmö or Sundsvall.
Gameweek 16 sees AIK face Helsingborg at home, a Helsingborg side that in GW15 lost goalkeeper Kalle Joelsson (4.2m) to injury. He’s going to have to get surgery on his knee and will be out for a while, possibly back later in the season. With regular first-choice keeper Pär Hansson (4.3m) still out that means they will probably have to get someone new in, but until they do that, the third choice keeper Ian Petterson (4.0m) is going to have to step in. He is however just 16 years old (!), and away to AIK might not be an ideal first game… Rumours state that ex-Manchester United backup keeper Anders Lindegaard is being linked with a move to Helsingborg. AIK pose the question to us “how much do we really care about blank gameweek 18?”, as their fixtures surrounding the blank are great with Helsingborg (H), Sirius (a), Blank, AFC Eskilstuna (a) and Kalmar (H). The extra game will be a huge factor for most, but for the lucky few that’s not riddled with blankers, suspensions and injuries, maybe a punt or two could pay off…
Göteborg has a very nice home-fixture with AFC Eskilstuna coming to visit. Without Lasse Vibe, it will be up to Giorgi Kharaishvili (8,7m) and Robin Söder (7.4m) to put them to the sword, while Victor Wernersson will be looking for yet another clean sheet. Malmö plays at home to Sirius and should be able to clinch another three-pointer, owners of Arnor Invi Traustason (8.7m) will have to get him out soon as he’s looking at a spell on the side-lines due to an injury sustained against Djurgården. Keep track of line-ups, minutes and injuries for Malmö and Norrköping as they both play in Europa League qualifiers on Thursday night.
A gung-ho Hammarby side (9-4 goal difference in the last two GWs) will try to keep the positive vibes going at home to Elfsborg. Alexander Kačaniklić (8.4m) and Muamer Tankovic are both good options and it will be interesting to see how many minutes new striker-signing Aron Johansson (9.0m) will be getting in this game, and the ones to come. You’d expect him to be eased into it given how little he has played in the last couple of years, so Nikola Djurdjic (10.0m) could start up top now that Vidar Örn Kjartansson has returned to Rostov, rather than as support striker/midfielder that he’s mostly been utilised as this year. For Elfsborg, Pawel Cibicki’s loan deal has expired and he’s now back at Leeds.
GW16 also sees the cup begin and assuming you weren’t one of the unlucky 886 (out of a total 33 654 fantasy managers), you will have qualified so no need to worry just yet! The cup will work like the FPL cup and once most of the dead teams are knocked out, it will start becoming an interesting side-game to keep track of.
Players to target
Daleho Irandust (9.5m) looked electric against Örebro and he has a high ceiling, away to Sundsvall who’s sold keeper William Eskelinen (assuming he starts, with their important qualifiers against AZ Alkmaar coming up), he looks an intriguing prospect. With the attacking potential around him, this is a strong Anders Christiansen (10.0m) challenger for the second half of the season. Also consider Ahmed Yasin (8.5) who’s now back from his three-game suspension.
Alexander Kačaniklić is, like last week, backed for more attacking returns. He’s now on 3 goals and 3 assists from the last 2 GWs and Hammarby continue to have a good schedule, along with no blank. At the time of writing, he’s still just in 6.3% of the squads and another haul could see those numbers sky-rocket.
Captaincy thoughts
Last weeks captaincy shouts find themselves yet again in the recommended category, thanks to form and fixtures. Muamer Tankovic has Elfsborg at home and given he’s EO is over 100% most weeks in the top 1k, he’s probably going to be a popular choice this week again (and for good reasons). Chasers might be tempted by a rouge Kačaniklić captaincy punt and both could do well this GW.
Alexander Jeremejeff will be fancying his chances of continuing the impressive run of form he’s in away to Sundsvall. Meanwhile, Giorgi Kharaishvili failed to make a mark against Falkenberg but will still be backed to deliver something at home to AFC Eskilstuna. Finally, bonus point darling Anders Christiansen plays at home to Sirius and “AC” is on five goals from his last five home games… Rotation shouldn’t be an issue but keep an eye out for his minutes in the Europa League qualifiers.
That’s that for this week, how many players do you have with a flag going into GW16?
Are you up against a “dead” team in the cup?
Who will be your captain this week?
Don’t forget to leave a comment about any future content besides the review/preview that you’d like to see, and best of luck to you in GW16!
Meltens
5 years, 2 months ago
Great article!
I had in my head that there weren't games this weekend (like Eliteserien).
I'm looking pretty solid but captaincy is a tough call