With four gameweeks in the next couple of weeks, having a strong FPL squad has never been more important. This article tries to help you build your squad for this fixture congestion with Gameweek 18 in mind.
Preview: Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 18
With so many games having to be played, almost every player is susceptible to rotation. Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City, Bournemouth, and Spurs all played in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals midweek so expect some rotations there.
Captaincy Picks
On paper, Raheem Sterling is the best captaincy pick this week. City, at home to Crystal Palace, should win quite easily. With Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne back, Pep Guardiola now has more options to choose from and it could be a difficult time for the Eagles at the Etihad stadium. Sterling came off the bench to play around 24 minutes against Leicester so it is likely that he will start ahead of Riyad Mahrez. The Algerian played the full 90 minutes against his former side. Leroy Sané was not even in the squad so if you own him, he could be your captain as well. The young German scored ten points in 65 minutes against Everton.
Eden Hazard is in superb form and with a home game against Leicester, he is a strong candidate for the armband this week. Hazard scored against Brighton last week and came off the bench to score the winner against Bournemouth on Wednesday night. Chelsea are nowhere near as free-scoring as City though and Leicester won’t be easy opponents.
Other Top Contenders
After going 22 matches without a defeat, Arsenal now have lost back-to-back games. Unai Emery’s side have a lot of injuries, especially at the back, and their attacking play has suffered as well. Héctor Bellerín and Sead Kolasinac were instrumental in the Gunners’ great run and their rampaging runs down the flanks helped the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette score goals. Emery has played Granit Xhaka at the back recently which has impacted the midfield greatly as well. On paper, Arsenal have an easy looking fixture against Burnley but one should exercise caution before choosing to captain one of the Arsenal attackers. It may not be as straight-forward.
Harry Kane could be a good captaincy pick this week. Spurs are in good form and one would put them as favourites to get all three points at Goodison Park. Everton conceded two at home to Watford last time out so this could be a decent opportunity for Kane to score well.
Mohamed Salah had a poor record away from home before hitting a brilliant hat-trick against Bournemouth. He has a tough away fixture at Wolves this week but who could bet against the Egyptian scoring a couple past Rui Patricio this week.
Differentials to Consider
West Ham‘s attackers have been quite superb in recent weeks. Felipe Anderson has been pretty amazing for the Hammers this season but Robert Snodgrass has been a huge surprise in the last few weeks. They face Watford at home. This could be a high-scoring encounter with the Hornets also adding to the attacking flavour.
With Aguero just returning from injury, Gabriel Jesus might get a start this week. He scored twice last week and only played around 15 minutes midweek so he could be considered.
Newcastle might nick a 1-0 win at home to Fulham so one could consider their defensive assets this week. Javier Manquillo could be a nice and cheap option.
Top Picks
- Raheem Sterling (11.6)
- Leroy Sané (9.7)
- Eden Hazard (11.0)
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (11.5)
- Harry Kane (12.6)
- Mohamed Salah (13.1)
- Felipe Anderson (7.4)
- Javier Manquillo (4.3)
- Robert Snodgrass (5.4)
- Alexandre Lacazette (9.6)
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