MyEG BPL Fantasy – Is Week 22 time for Aguero?

Matches are coming hard and fast!

I need to cover both the midweek matches from Week 21 and preview the weekend (Week 22). There’s a lot to cover so I’ll try to be brief and focus on the fantasy aspects.

Tuesday teams:

Carroll got injured early but it had no negative impact as West Ham fought from a goal down to end up 3-1 winners against Bournemouth. Payet celebrated his return from injury by helping himself to a goal and assist, unfortunately getting carded in the process. Enner Valencia ended up with 2 goals as West Ham kicked off their favourable fixtures for Period 6 with a win. West Ham face Newcastle next with even more points potential abound. As for Bournemouth, avoid for now until we see some more consistency.

Wayne Rooney continued his return to form (in the Premiership at least) as he scored a brace against Newcastle in a 3-3 thriller. While interest in Manchester United attacking assets is being revived, it looks alarming for their defense, with Smalling the best pick ending up with -3 points. Wijnaldum did well to make a claim for inclusion in our teams, but I’d avoid the other two goalscorers (Mitrovic for his card tendencies, Dummet because the chances of him scoring again are miniscule).

Remember in my last article that I said I wasn’t convinced by Crystal Palace’s chances against Villa. Surprise surprise, Villa ended up winning as Crystal Palace’s attack failed to pay off without Wickham and Bolasie. While I wouldn’t load up on Villa players just yet, but the fighting spirit shown could be an important factor in their relegation dogfight. Crystal Palace face Manchester City next at the Etihad, better to avoid for now as well.

Wednesday teams

Defensive calamities prevailed in the high profile Liverpool-Arsenal clash which finished 3-3 (Glad I sold Cech!) Firmino finally showed the raw talent he last displayed against Manchester City back in October with 2 goals but the jury is still out as to whether he can reproduce the same performance against Manchester United this weekend. Giroud also scored 2 goals, while Ramsey did score to make up for his wrongly-disallowed goal the last time the teams met, and assisted too, while Ozil had a blank. Stick with your Arsenal players this weekend, it’s not Tony Pulis’ Stoke they’re up against, it’s Mark Hughes’ Stoke, whose play style should suit Arsenal’s. I would still exercise caution with Liverpool players though.

The other high profile match between Spurs and Leicester ended up with a 1-0 win for Leicester, allowing them to level points with Arsenal thanks to.Huth’s goal (yay!). The glaring observation is that Mahrez and Vardy (who did manage to start) both blanked for the fourth match running, raising serious questions as to whether they still deserve a spot in our teams.

The match between Manchester City and Everton turned out poorly fantasy wise unless you had defenders. Aguero had his chances but Howard was in excellent form. Still, the signs are there that an  Aguero explosive masterclass against Palace this weekend may well be on the cards. I’d also still keep KDB if you have him. Everton however face Chelsea next, if you don’t already have an Everton player, you might want to use your transfers elsewhere.

Chelsea found West Brom in a very stubborn mood as they secured a 2-2 draw. Fantasy points were not to be had as they did not come from your usual suspects, unless you brought in Azpi. As mentioned earlier, their next opponent is Everton, whose defense has clearly strengthened with the return of Jagielka. West Brom play Southampton next, but there’s no one consistent enough for me from the Birmingham side apart from Morrison, who’s now injured.

Despite the absence of Shaqiri, Stoke downed Norwich 3-1, although Norwich kick-started their own downfall when their midfielder O’Neill got sent off on the 31^st minute. None of the scorers were those you would look to in general for fantasy points (unless you consider Howson as one), although Arnautovic did grab an assist. Stoke City next play Arsenal, and while it looks difficult on paper, some Shaqiri magic could unlock the Cech defense (news says he should be back). Norwich face Bournemouth next, so if you brought Mbokani in it might be worth keeping him till then, given Bournemouth’s poor track record at defending corners.

Swansea collapsed to a surprise 2-4 loss after they were reduced to 10 men with Naughton sent off as Big Sam continues to make an impact on Sunderland’s performances. Defoe was the only one to score a brace last week, this time he went one better and came off with a hat-trick. Nevertheless, Sunderland next face the best defense in the league in Tottenham and play first anyway, so investments should be put on hold until the week after where they face Bournemouth. If you had already bought Defoe for the Swansea match, well done you, because you have the usual ex-player scoring against his old club theory, which Carroll recently demonstrated against Liverpool. Patrick Van Aanholt might also be an option for his attacking points. Swansea face Watford next, which makes it also hard to consider their players.

Finally, Southampton surprisingly defeated an out of sorts Watford, 2-0, earning a rare clean sheet. Flores will have berated his team for their performance, but you can continue to bank on Ighalo and Deeney to recover from their mini-slump for the goals, not to mention the defense as next week they face Swansea. Southampton will play West Brom, but Mane’s the only one I’d consider for now, and he’s clearly struggling.

Here’s my team as it stands:

Yes, I went for Adrian instead of Courtois to save some funds!

I am at the cusp of making the Top 100 (if only I had bought Firmino!), currently sitting at 108.

I’m looking at using my two transfers this weekend as follows:

Kane – Aguero

Payet/Alli – Wijnaldum/Chelsea players

First one is almost a certainty, second one is questionable. I’m keen on being involved in Chelsea’s revival but their fixtures aren’t the best. I should have sufficient funds though. There’s also another break after the 23^rd which I’ll use to get rid of Francis and maybe change my keeper again.

That’s a lot to read, hope you got through it! All the best this weekend!