Welcome back for another article. 📖
Who are the best players to buy for GW21? It's a really short turnaround this week so players to buy is out a day earlier, tomorrow will be Team Selection and The Experts before the Tuesday deadline. ⏰
🧤 Goalkeepers
Goalkeepers first and top of the table is Pickford, on 4.0 points as Everton host Wolves. Have Wolves turned a corner or is it a West Ham asterisk? Everton's longer term fixtures are great either way, after Wolves home it's Villa away which won't be easy, but then it's Leeds home, Brighton, Fulham, Bournemouth, Man Utd, Newcastle, Burnley.
Though something worth weighing up is whether he's worth 5.6m, only Raya and Donnarumma cost more, and 5.6m buys you Tarkowski who has the defcon potential and a chance of a goal involvement. If I were buying any keeper this week it would actually be Sanchez, Chelsea have got the best fixtures in the league for a while - Fulham away, Brentford home, Palace away, West Ham home, Wolves away, Leeds home, Burnley home. He wasn't in the Chelsea squad vs Man City but he's reportedly back for GW21. 🔵
Unfortunate timing with the Maresca situation though - that's the only thing with Sanchez and Chelsea assets in general, it's an unknown how things will play out over that run. Things could only worsen or maybe whoever comes in gets a tune out of Chelsea and they are the next big ahead of the curve team to invest in. 📉
Despite facing Liverpool next Raya is joint third on the table with Donnarumma and Pope for GW21, and top of all keepers for the next 5. The lack of clean sheets lately has been a massive frustration though, extremely good defensive numbers but Arsenal have been finding ways to concede, not helped by Gabriel last match though he did redeem himself. On that note let's talk defenders next.
Just a quick look at the fixture ticker - who's got the best fixture run from a defensive perspective? 📊
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Arsenal remain top for the next 6 gameweeks.
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Man City in second.
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Chelsea third.
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Everton fourth.
So that lends weight to City defenders, maybe Sanchez or a Chalobah, and of course Pickford or Tarkowski. Palace are actually fifth, I'd love to get Munoz back in the team as soon as he returns from that knee injury. He should be back in a couple of weeks. Newcastle have a couple of good options, Hall and Thiaw are my favourite of the defenders, Pope is back in the team now too though he's 5.1, Sanchez looks better here. 🏃♂️
🛡️ Defenders
So Gabriel lays it off to Evanilson who puts the ball in an open Arsenal net, only to score at the other end a few minutes later to make it goals in back to back games since his return. He's got as many league goals as Pedro Neto with 20. Gabriel becomes the first defender to pass 100 points, despite only 13 of 20 possible starts. He's fourth on the table this week facing Liverpool, given the fixture he's not a must own by any means but if you're a fed up non-owner and just want him in for peace of mind fair enough. 🔴
It's Tarkowski topping the table this week on 4.9 points, then Collins, then Thiaw. Newcastle are starting to get some of their injury absentees back and he looks fantastic for exactly 5m, they've got Leeds home, Wolves away as their next 2 as well. Man City are home to Brighton which is another notable fixture, though both Gvardiol and Ruben went off injured last match and Pep says they'll be out for GW22.
As far as the cheaper guys 4.5m and under, Mukiele is top of them all on 17.7 points, Van Den Berg is on 16.3 though his spot in the starting 11 is a bit iffy right now given Ajer's form plus Collins in the picture. If you can stretch to 4.8m Cash looks great, extremely attacking - we were talking about him on the deadline stream, got an assist so still a solid 5 pointer despite conceding last match, and if you look at Villa's fixtures they're basically all good especially the home fixtures. Their run of home fixtures are Everton, Brentford, Brighton, Leeds. Plus Palace and Wolves away in that run. 🦁
⚽ Midfielders
Midfielders next, Rice just became the second top scoring player in the game after a brace and defcon vs Bournemouth, 119 points for him. Leapfrogging Semenyo's 114 points. He's on 4.3 projected points vs Liverpool so he doesn't make the table. Don't get me wrong he's a fantastic pick but it's not a pressing move, much like Gabriel given the fixture. That was his first ever brace in the Premier League, on what is his 296th appearance in the competition. 👟
Saka was benched that game, so he's had his rest and will have a good run of starts now, he can be rested in cup competitions coming up as well if need be. Cunha tops the table on 6.4 points, Man Utd are playing Burnley, Foden is second for the Brighton fixture at the Etihad, then Schade, then Saka, then Palmer. ✨
I've penciled in a possible transfer in for Palmer in GW24, it will have to be Foden that makes way in all likelihood, probably Ekitike as well because Bruno will be coming in too in a few weeks. All the more reason to try and get a few transfers banked if possible, they could be crucial for that GW24 fixture swing for Man Utd and Chelsea. Being a week or two late could prove costly. ⏳
We're waiting to hear if Semenyo plays the next match or if he'll be gone by then, Iraola was very straight forward in his presser, saying that he will play against Arsenal and if he gives the same answer for GW21 then you can do worse than playing Semenyo home to Spurs if you still have him. It took Gordon 13 gameweeks to get his first goal involvement and he's looking more in form later, the next two are incredible Leeds home, Wolves away, he's a perfect Semenyo replacement if needed, or if you need a midfielder for around that price. Cherki is 0.6m cheaper, he looks better for GW21, his next 5 have Gordon slightly ahead.
Looking at cheaper mids, Tavernier is on my watchlist for 5.6m, once Semenyo goes he'll likely play on the wing again, possible pen share plus some set pieces and an amazing fixture run from GW24. Minteh wasn't in Brighton's squad last match, unable to recover from the knock he'd picked up a couple of games ago, Paqueta also missed out in West Ham's loss to Wolves. 🚑
The only two teams we won't get a pre-deadline press conference from are Arsenal and Liverpool because they play on Thursday, so all those other doubts and flagged players we should get updates from on Tuesday before the evening deadline.
Who's got the best fixtures from an attacking perspective? I can't stress the importance of looking at fixtures from two perspectives offensively and defensively, some teams can be great defences and bad attacks and vice versa so FPL's standard fixture colours aren't the best barometer.
Man City lead for projected goals, on 12.5, then it's Arsenal, then Chelsea close behind, then Liverpool. Liverpool actually look great after the Arsenal game so it might not be wisest to let the likes of Szoboszlai, Ekitike go. Newcastle make the top 5, Gordon's the stand out for me. 🏁
🎯 Forwards
For GW21 Haaland is miles ahead of the other forwards on 7.5 points with City hosting Brighton. Man Utd have Burnley which has Sesko second on the table, definitely don't buy and the same applies for Cunha unless it's a one week punt before you plan to wildcard or something. After that Burnley game Man Utd have Man City home, Arsenal away so that's an opportunity to hop off all your Man Utd assets. 👹
We'll talk Cunha replacements in GW22's article.
Again it's a pretty bleak forwards list, Mateta, Bowen, Thiago are okay. Bowen just became the first forward to hit defcon points but that's really not what you want from one of your strikers, it's goals and assists and this list doesn't scream goals. Watkins is on a great patch form and on last week's players to buy article he was mentioned, it's just ultimately the price makes him a difficult pick. You could go Ekitike to Watkins however Liverpool have Burnley home in GW22 so it's likely worth riding out this Arsenal fixture in between with Liverpool assets, then potentially sell. 💰
Thanks for reading. See you soon for the next one. 👋