Search icon

Football

15th Apr 2016

Fantasy football cheat sheet: Double, double, John Stones is in trouble

Sinking form

Darragh Murphy

Double gameweeks can be such a wondrous occurrence in the world of Fantasy Football.

But you must tread carefully, captain wisely and consider both fixtures before you hit that ‘confirm team’ button.

Most Premier League teams will be playing twice in this FF gameweek. It will benefit some but have dire consequences on others.

Here are our picks for gameweek 34.

Three players to sign

Manchester United v Watford - Premier League

Danny Mills mightn’t rate him just yet but we certainly do.

Manchester United, and their stellar defence, are definitely one team who can earn you plenty of points this gameweek.

The second tightest defence in the Premier League host both Aston Villa and Crystal Palace who combined have scored just 57 goals in this campaign.

Palace have taken the foot off the gas considerably since the turn of the year and Villa have been reduced to cycling uphill on a bike with no pedals since about the second game of the season.

This should be a routine six points for Louis van Gaal and if he keeps faith with prodigious young defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah, you can clean up without splashing out.

Manchester City FC v Sevilla FC - UEFA Champions League

Hopefully, Kevin de Bruyne uses up all of his goals before he comes up against Ireland in Group E this summer.

He’s certainly making a good stab at it, having scored three in four across all competitions since returning from long-term injury.

The Belgian playmaker is the vital cog that has been missing from Manchester City’s midfield for so long as he takes so much of the onus off of David Silva.

Chelsea essentially have nothing to play for and Newcastle are playing as if they have nothing to play for so Kevin de Bruyne, who is selected by surprisingly few, can run riot in this gameweek.

Swansea City v Arsenal - Premier League

Wouldn’t it just be typical Arsenal to go undefeated from now until the end of the season, when it’s all but irrelevant?

We’re not saying that that’s going to happen but we’d be fairly confident of the Gunners going 2-0 this gameweek.

Tony Pulis’ anti-excitement dust is finally hitting the veins of West Bromwich Albion while it’s clearly still coursing through the body of former club Crystal Palace.

Neither side are exactly prolific in front of goal and Nacho Monreal is the best value-for-money in terms of Arsenal’s guaranteed starting defenders.

Three players to sell

Liverpool v Everton - Premier League

Everton’s goal difference is simply bizarre.

They’ve scored a whopping 52 goals in the Premier League this season, with only the top four having scored more.

But, defensively, they’re a bag of shit disguised as a bouquet of flowers with 42 goals conceded this season (only Aston Villa, Sunderland, Norwich and Bournemouth have let more in.)

All of this promotion of John Stones’ playing it out from the back is all well and good, and it may pay off in the long-run for him to make the many mistakes he has this season, but he’s useless for FF players.

Southampton are in great form, with three wins in four, and Liverpool will be buoyed by Istanbul 2.0 on Thursday night so expect Everton to have conceded a fair few over the next 180 minutes of game time.

Watford v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League

Don’t get me wrong, I love me a bit of Odion Ighalo but his dry run doesn’t justify his 19.8% selection rate.

The man who had scored 14 goals in the league up until January 1st has only scored the one ever since which suggests he may already be in his flip flops now that Watford are safe.

West Ham, now that the FA Cup is out of their minds, will have a top four finish as a priority so will be putting it to the Hornets while Tony Pulis will have Pulised the daylights out of his West Brom side.

There shouldn’t be many chances against the two teams against whom Watford come up this gameweek and it’s time to say goodbye to Ighalo for the season.

1899 Hoffenheim v AFC Bournemouth - Friendly Match

Bournemouth are safe and Jurgen Klopp won’t rest until his players are bereft of energy in their legs.

Liverpool are certainly going to consider the Europa League their main focus between now and the end of May but the chasm in player quality should tell in this fixture.

Matt Ritchie is quite expensive considering the fact that potential PFA Player of the Year N’Golo Kante is valued at only £5 million.

Ritchie hasn’t done anything, Fantasy Football-wise, in his last three games so we’re hanging up his boots for him for the season.

WATCH: Liverpool BOTTLED the title race 🤬 | Who will win the Premier League?