MyEG BPL Fantasy - Week 26 The Barcelona Challenge

Note: This article has been reproduced from the Stadium Astro website.

Welcome back for Week 26!

I know my title mentions Barcelona but you’ll forgive me if I deal with Europe players at the end. I’ll talk about the Premier League matches first. Here we go (again grouped by timing):

Sunderland v Manchester United

The early match. You should be set up for this already. However, if you have an injured player, then midfield = Lingard. Striker = Rooney/Martial. Patrick Van Aanholt’s penchant for attacking will burn the home side.

Bournemouth v Stoke

Crystal Palace v Watford

Everton v West Brom

Norwich v West Ham

Swansea v Southampton

Judging from the first match, chances are you’ve only got one change to make for this batch, or none. I was all set to swap Martial with Afobe after the Old Trafford match, until I read that Shawcross might be back this weekend. Stoke have a good run of matches but their form is poor. Ighalo’s always a useful pick, especially with a Palace side that hasn’t kept a clean sheet in the League yet for 2016, but check for starting lineups after Flores rotated key members of the squad (e.g. Deeney) against Spurs last weekend.

Everton play West Brom, which is a good matchup, but it’s hard for me to consider bringing in an Everton attacker knowing he won’t be around next week, even though there’s a free transfer break. I’d rather use those free transfers on fixing up my defense or injuries (or in this case my manager, see image below, who will be absent in Gameweek 27!)  Nevertheless, Lukaku finally broke his drought last week, and faces his former side again, having scored a brace the last time they met.

West Ham have the best fixture against Norwich (and they play Sunderland in the first match the following week!) but their players might be a bit tired from the 120 minute FA Cup victory against Liverpool midweek. The Swansea v Southampton match is a really tough one, both sides have done reasonably well in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Sigurdsson is a strong option, or Austin if he starts.

Chelsea v Newcastle

Forget about Newcastle, and they don’t play the week after either. For Chelsea, it’ll be interesting to see if Hazard continues to be benched, although, to be fair, he has yet to have any significant impact off the bench. Fabregas played in the No. 10 position, but I would say that’s not really his best spot, and Oscar should be there instead of being shunted to the side. Note, Cahill will start from now on (with Zouma’s heart-breaking injury) and he is also a strong threat at set-pieces. If you don’t have a Chelsea player, consider Oscar, or Costa, if you can live with the card risk.

Arsenal v Leicester

One of two big matches of the week. Arsenal head into this match on a winning note, breaking a 4 match sequence of no wins. Leicester on the other hand, are bouncing off the walls at the top. This could turn out to be a high-scoring match. Mahrez, Ozil, Sanchez, Vardy and Giroud are all useful picks, although Giroud has not scored ever since his brace against Liverpool one month ago. I can see Sanchez exploding, but I’m struggling with the funding.

Aston Villa v Liverpool

Obviously Firmino’s the in-form choice, and he was rested in the midweek loss to West Ham. Do note that Coutinho, Origi and even Sturridge returned in the FA Cup game midweek so Klopp will have options. However you decide, do bear in mind that Liverpool are in the Capital One Cup Final the week after, so they will not be involved in Gameweek 27.

Manchester City v Tottenham

The second big match of the week. Unlike the first one though, I don’t see a goal-fest here. Aguero’s supply line is damaged from injuries, and with such issues, not to mention an eye on the upcoming Capital One Cup final, I expect Pellegrini to set up his team to play more of a defensive game. This also means players like Clichy instead of Kolarov. And even though Spurs are the stronger team at the moment, the expected return of Kompany should help ensure that Manchester City should hold firm. Not a game to invest players in (I actually sold my Aguero last week, and only have Alli and Pellegrini for this one).

Here’s my team as it stands:

I haven’t really thought my transfers through yet. I still have my Euro transfer for February which I was originally going to use on Mr Lewandowski, except for something I only just realised on Wednesday, which brings me (finally!) to the title of my article:

Barcelona have a double week! This weekend they play Celta Vigo, then on Thursday they play Sporting Gijon. Since I don’t have Neymar, it just makes more sense for me to transfer in Neymar instead of Lewandowski due to the extra match. Lewandowski does have some good matchups coming up though so it’s a dilemma.

This does make it hard not to put the captaincy on Messi or Neymar though (assuming you have either of them).

Speaking of Messi, he had a minor kidney stones operation on Tuesday. I’m tracking the developments with caution, and even though Barcelona have claimed it should not impact on Messi’s playing time. I’m a bit reluctant to captain a double gamer who plays the first game, only to get ruled out from the second game, due to injury as a result of insufficient rest. It’s definitely a conundrum, one that I hope to make the right decision on. Hopefully you do too.

Good luck!