👋 Welcome back for another article.
Who are the best players to buy for GW14? It's a rapid turnaround with last gameweek having just ended and the next round of games starts on Tuesday. No time to waste.
🧤 Goalkeepers
A few stand out fixtures defensively this week:
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Arsenal play Brentford home.
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Liverpool play Sunderland home.
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Crystal Palace are away to Burnley.
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Raya is the top keeper this week on 4.2.
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Then Alisson just behind, then Henderson.
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Alisson is back in the starting 11 for Liverpool after missing their CL tie with illness.
I've been having a good look at FH14, given the potential of those 3 fixtures in particularly defensively, plus the attacking options, and you can throw in Man Utd home to West Ham on Thursday to close the gameweek off. FH15 and FH16 also have a very strong case though. Those of you that still have the chip, when are you looking at?
Realistically you probably don't want to spend a transfer in goal unless it's for Raya, or perhaps if you've got someone like Roefs, Vicario, then you could consider it. Petrovic looks the best cheap keeper, still only 4.5m and is on 17 projected points for the next 5 which is top of all 4.5m keepers, and basically tied with Henderson and Lammens who are 5m. Though Bournemouth did pick up a few suspensions last match which could make that Everton home fixture trickier than it needed to be.
Who's projected to get the most clean sheets? Over the next 6 gameweek range:
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Arsenal are top with 3.
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Then Man City 2.3, Liverpool 2.3, Newcastle 2.0.
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Sunderland, Leeds, Wolves, Burnley, West Ham form the bottom 5.
Dyche has had an incredible impact on Forest so far and we might see their numbers improve, it's just a shame they're expensive from last season. Savona is only 4.5m but when Aina's back he could be a risk. Williams is cheap but he's on 4 yellows.
🛡️ Defenders
One of the headlines of GW13 was Senesi picking up his fifth yellow card of the season, so he's suspended and will be back next weekend for GW15 when they're home to Chelsea. So it's very much an opportunity to sell him. Top this week is Munoz, though as a word of warning he is 1 yellow from suspension himself—if you've got him or thinking of buying then hopefully that fifth comes in GW15 because you probably wouldn't have wanted to play him vs Man City anyway. He is 5.9m though, Lacroix looks the best like-for-like replacement price wise, if you've already got a Richards or Guehi you could still double up, and then move one of those two on later to hop back off the double up.
We can afford to make some atypical transfers for want of a better word given there are two more gameweeks because all 12.5m managers will be topped up to 5 free transfers in GW16 ahead of AFCON.
Brentford home is an amazing fixture for Arsenal, though Thiago's in immense form lately. The big question is will Arteta change any of the backline? Calafiori and Timber in fullback vs Chelsea, he probably won't want to change both as that might be rocking the boat too much, so buying the fullbacks may carry a slight risk, but it's one of those where you'll struggle to get any read on it, and over a longer period they could end up missing 1 each before the new year anyway. Saliba wasn't in the squad vs Chelsea after picking up a knock in training, also one to monitor.
This week the defenders table is basically Arsenal and Palace, but one team worth highlighting who I'm looking at soon is Newcastle. It's Spurs home next which is okay but not fantastic, that said Tottenham are averaging just 9.5 shots and 3.2 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season; both of which are their lowest averages on record in a season. However, if you look at their fixtures from GW15, nearly all of those you'd be comfortable starting a Newcastle defender in: Burnley, Sunderland, Man Utd, Burnley again, Palace, Leeds, Wolves, Villa.
Thiaw got the headlines after that brace vs Everton for a 16 pointer, he's been a great signing for Newcastle. Which Newcastle defender is not all that clear right now:
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Trippier's out for a month so Livramento looks very good.
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Hall is back though he's the most expensive at 5.2m.
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Burn is one of Howe's favourites and nailed for 5.1m.
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Thiaw nice and cheap at 4.9, same as Livra.