Fantasy Premier League returns for a rare midweek edition as those top flight clubs look to cram in the games ahead of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. It is looking like a tricky week for many managers, so here are The Sportsman’s top three tips for green arrows in gameweek 12.
Mo Salah, Mo Salah, Mo Salah - get him in your team…
Liverpool look like they are back in business after an emotive 1-0 win over Manchester City this weekend. The 2019/20 Premier League champions have flattered to deceive so far this campaign, but against the current holders they were on top form.
If you were one of the 30% of managers that loyally stuck with Salah during his price drops and lack of goals, you were duly rewarded this week with an eight point haul. Given Erling Haaland failed to produce and now has a blank gameweek, the Egyptian becomes a great captaincy option against West Ham.
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At £12.7m, he is available at a bargain price right now, and with Liverpool looking like they are back in business, he’d be at the top of my wishlist. He’s already the most transferred in player, having been bought over 300,000 times already, and the Salah bandwagon might just be back on track.
What to do about Arsenal and Man City assets?
Arsenal and Manchester City’s blank gameweek is causing a lot of problems. They have been the two standout teams so far in the league with the likes of Haaland, Joao Cancelo, Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus key components of a lot of teams.
The Gunners have won nine from ten, so moving mountains to get those players out of your team isn’t advisable for the long term. If you still have that first wildcard, beware of moving too far away from those City and Arsenal assets. If you can get through this gameweek without using any chips, then that is the best option, and in some cases, it may even be worth playing with ten.
The reason for this is that we don’t know what circumstances will unfold over the rest of the season in terms of double gameweeks, FA Cup involvement and the like. Saving your free hit for that sort of gameweek rather than one where only two teams aren’t involved might be smarter. However, if you are maxed out on City and Arsenal players, just use your free hit for this week. Target Liverpool assets and remember, your team will revert back to what it was before you made the changes for the weekend’s games.
Don’t believe the Mount hype
The second most transferred in player after Salah this week is Chelsea’s Mason Mount. Now, I’m a big fan of him as a midfielder and it is true that Graham Potter does seem to be bringing his game to life, but if you’ve missed the boat on his two goals and two assists in the past two matches - well then I think you’ve missed the boat.
Chelsea have Manchester United, Arsenal, Brighton and Newcastle in their next five fixtures, up to the World Cup, which is a difficult set. Then we have the way his two goals came about against Aston Villa. Tyrone Mings headed one into his path from six yards out and the other was a goalkeeping mistake from a well struck free-kick. Those sort of goals aren’t going to come his way every week so for me, at that increased price of £7.7m, it’s worth looking at other options.
