At long, long last, Manchester City and their array of Fantasy Premier League assets finally decided to show up in Gameweek 10 by putting five past Burnley (again).
If you followed i‘s advice last week and brought Kevin De Bruyne into your tea, you will have been rewarded by a solid 10-point return from the Belgian. Commiserations, however, to those who went with our newsletter pick Joao Cancelo who fell victim to the dreaded “Pep roulette”. You can’t win them all…
For the second week running, City appear, on paper at least, to have the best fixture to target from an FPL perspective as they host Fulham at the Etihad. City have won the previous six meetings at the Etihad, scoring 19 goals and conceding none and are unbeaten in their previous 39 home games against promoted teams, winning 35 of them.
Nevertheless, putting all your eggs in Pep’s basket is a risky business given his propensity to rotate, City’s inconsistent form thus far and Fulham’s gradual improvement in recent matches. There are plenty of other assets to consider at both ends of the pitch and a number of tasty fixtures to come this weekend, including the small matter of the north London derby.
So, without further ado, here are i‘s five best picks for Gameweek 10.
Harry Kane (Spurs)
We are swimming against the tide a little with this pick given Harry Kane is currently the fourth-most transferred out forward in FPL – a trend that has continued from last week when his price dipped from £11.0m down to £10.9m.
Dig into the stats and it isn’t hard to see why FPL managers are selling the game’s second top-points scorer en masse. Over the past two gameweeks, 124 players have registered more shots in the Premier League than Kane (one) while 65 players have created more chances than his two – one of which was an assist for Son Heung-min against Manchester City.
It is important to note that Tottenham have adopted a safety-first approach in those two matches against City and Chelsea, though, and Jose Mourinho is unlikely to be as pragmatic up against an Arsenal team that has made the worst start to a Premier League campaign in the club’s history.
Historically, Kane loves the north London derby having netted 10 times against the Gunners in total and if he is on the scoresheet again on Sunday he will become the top-scoring player in the history of the fixture (ahead of Bobby Smith and Emmanuel Adebayor for the stats nerds out there).
Price: £10.9m Points: 86
Raheem Sterling (Man City)
If you are after a Manchester City midfielder as a season keeper, Kevin De Bruyne is unquestionably your man, given his (relative) security of starts and ability to collect FPL points regardless of the fixture. The Belgian was not the top-scoring player in 2019-20 by some freak accident, he’s pretty handy with the ball at his feet.
An alternative strategy, however, is to gamble on another member of Guardiola’s all-star cast to be an explosive differential in the short-term. Those who took a chance on Riyad Mahrez last weekend, for instance, were treated to a hat-trick and a mammoth 21 points. This week, Raheem Sterling is our pick from the City midfield for that very reason.
Sterling was an unused substitute on Saturday meaning he hasn’t returned a single attacking return since Gameweek 5 and. naturally, his ownership has plummeted as a result to just 4.4 per cent. Sterling is too good to struggle for much longer and a home game against Fulham gives him a golden chance to get back on track, despite their recent upturn.
Price: £11.4m Points: 34
Diogo Jota (Liverpool)
It is becoming increasingly difficult to overlook Diogo Jota, who was on the scoresheet again at the weekend during Liverpool’s 1-1 draw against Brighton. That strike took him to nine goals in his opening 14 games for his new club, while he has registered attacking returns in four of his last five Premier League games.
Unsurprisingly, that form has seen Jota’s popularity and price on FPL shoot right up: he is now the sixth-most owned midfielder in the game and his price has risen from £6.3m in Gameweek 7 to £6.8m ahead of Gameweek 11. If you are yet to board the Jota bandwagon, fear not as he still represents outrageously good value.
Such good value, in fact, that since his start against Sheffield United in Gameweek 6, Jota has registered more shots on target (seven) than his far more expensive teammates Sadio Mane (£12.1m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.2m). The 23-year-old will be desperate to maintain his rich vein of form when his former club Wolves travel to Anfield on Sunday evening.
Price: £6.8m Points: 46
Reece James (Chelsea)
Over the past five gameweeks, Chelsea rank top or joint-top in the Premier League for: clean sheets (four), goals conceded (one) and shots on target faced (nine). Over the entire season, meanwhile, they have the best expected goals against (xGA) tally in the entire division with 8.53.
Put simply, Chelsea’s defence has gone from porous to watertight in recent weeks and having at least one of their defenders is a wise move. Ben Chilwell (£6.2m) is the popular pick, but the difference in price between him and Reece James (£5.1m) is not reflective of their abilities. They are both excellent going forward and arguably rival Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson as the best full back pairing in the league.
Since regaining his place from Cesar Azpilicueta in Gameweek 5, James has attempted more crosses (32) than any other defender and were it not for wayward finishing, he would have added to his one assist against Brighton in Gameweek 1. James should get chances to whip crosses into the box against an adventurous Leeds United side in Gameweek 11.
Price: £5.1m Points: 47
James Maddison (Leicester City)
Leicester City were diabolical against Fulham on Monday night, particularly during the first half, but they have an ideal fixture to bounce back from that setback as they face Sheffield United on Sunday. Chris Wilder’s side have endured the worst start to the season of any Premier League team in history – taking one point from 10 games.
The departure of Dean Henderson appears to have hit the Blades particularly hard as they have conceded in every game so far this season. That raises the prospects of Leicester’s attackers including James Maddison who finally seems to have overcome the hip problem that plagued his end to 2019-20 and his start to 2020-21.
Since his debut Premier League debut in August 2018, no player has scored more goals from outside the box than Maddison (nine) and in Aaron Ramsdale he faces a goalkeeper who has conceded more goals from outside the box (13) than anyone else since the start of 2019-20. A perfect storm awaits at Bramall Lane…
Price: £7.0m Points: 26
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