GAMEWEEK 14 IS upon us in the Fantasy Premier League, with our league running in association with Champions Travel.
In December the fixtures tend to come thick and fast and no more so than in the title race, there’s ground to be made – or lost – by fantasy managers.
Here’s a few tips for this weekend:
1 Time for a change?
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Ctrl + V) has taken his time to come to the boil at Manchester United but of the evidence of Wednesday’s EFL Cup quarter-final is anything to go by, then now might be the time to introduce the Armenian.
At £8.9million he doesn’t come overly cheap and the fact he’s not played so much as a full 90 minutes for the Old Trafford club in the Premier League might put some off – not to mention the sum total of five points this term – but the omens look good.
Mkhitaryan was the Bundesliga Players’ Player of the Season last term and that shows his undoubted quality. United have Everton away and then Tottenham at home in their next two outings. Thereafter, though, it’s Crystal Palace, West Brom, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and West Ham.
[adrotate group=”80″]2 Sadio might be your Mane
With Philippe Coutinho sidelined until the New Year and Liverpool still possessing a number of appealing fixtures in the coming weeks, there will be an exodus of the Brazilian this weekend.
To try and maintain the status quo, perhaps it’s best to try and take in one of Coutinho’s teammates to fill the void and Sadio Mane seems to tick the right boxes.
Liverpool have Bournemouth, West Ham and Middlesbrough to play in the coming weeks.
3 Charlie’s choice
Charlie Austin, at £6.9million, is certainly tempting. Southampton beat Everton last Sunday with the former Queen’s Park Rangers frontman striking in just 44 seconds. A personal haul of nine points brought Austin’s tally for the season to 58.
And a glance at the Saints’ fixture list before Christmas might provide further reason to purchase Austin – they’re due to take on Crystal Palace. Middlesbrough, Stoke City and Bournemouth.
4 Grant aid?
Stoke City are a team who, by and large, have been improving in recent weeks, notwithstanding their disappointing loss at home against Bournemouth the weekend before last.
Lee Grant is firmly Mark Hughes’ No1 now at the Britannia Stadium and Stoke, last week, enjoyed a decent away win at Watford.
Grant will be hopeful of keeping another clean sheet tomorrow, when his team welcome Burnley – a team who have only picked up one point on their travels this season.
5 Northern promise
Gareth McAuley of West Bromwich Albion enjoyed his time at Euro 2016 with Northern Ireland and the central defender is an option back in the Premier League for fantasy managers as well.
McAuley already has three goals this season – including one last Saturday against Hull City – and only three defenders in Fantasy Premier League have more than his 55 points this term.
West Brom’s next two home fixtures are against Watford and Swansea City, albeit either side of a visit to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
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