As more premium Fantasy Premier League options emerge in midfield, our Watchlist has been updated accordingly.
We’ve taken a look at the four positions and come up with our list of best players for the Christmas period.
As expected, midfield is where we see the most changes, while several fixture swings have been factored in too.
Eden Hazard (£11.0m) is the biggest mover on the Watchlist this week as he has finally knocked Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) off his perch in the midfield section. The combination of the Chelsea man’s form and fixtures is simply too good to resist. It’s Leicester (home), Watford (away), Crystal Palace (away), Southampton (home), Newcastle (home) in the next five for Maurizio Sarri’s men. Furthermore, having recovered from an injury, Hazard benefits from being the only FPL asset to be consistently involved in attacking returns for his side.
Just below the Belgian are the Manchester City duo of Raheem Sterling (£11.6m) and Leroy Sané (£9.7m), who sit either side of West Ham’s in-form Brazilian Felipe Anderson (£7.4m). Both clubs have favourable fixtures over Christmas and all three players sit in the top seven midfielders for form on the official FPL website. The trio all have encouraging underlying statistics over recent weeks too, so we believe their form is sustainable.
It is Salah’s price that counts against him compared to the four options above him, that and the tougher nature of his fixtures. Liverpool’s schedule has dropped to Unfavourable for Alisson (£5.8m), remaining blank for Andrew Robertson (£6.5m) and Salah, given their potential for attacking returns in their upcoming schedule. But they cannot compete with the run of matches in front of Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham.
Not a lot changes in the forwards’ department as Harry Kane (£12.6m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.5m) retain the top two spots due to their form and fixtures. Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (£6.4m) rises to reflect West Ham’s incredible Fantasy appeal, while Fulham’s fixtures keep Aleksandr Mitrovic (£6.8m) just above Raúl Jiménez (£6.2m) for one more week. The Cottagers face a trip to Newcastle this weekend, with Wolves hosting Liverpool. While the Molineux side are ranking fairly poorly on our Season Ticker, with the Reds, Tottenham and Manchester City three of their next six, at the same time they will face Fulham (away), Crystal Palace (home) and Leicester (home) in that time, offsetting their fixtures as blank on the Watchlist.
Marcus Rashford (£6.9m) joins the forwards with Manchester United’s appealing run of games. They face Cardiff (away), Huddersfield (home), Bournemouth (home), Newcastle (away) in the next four Gameweeks.
Jonas Lössl (£4.5m) is the new name among the goalkeepers to reflect the appeal of Huddersfield Town’s upcoming fixtures. Over the next six Gameweeks, they face Southampton, Fulham, Burnley and Cardiff. The Terriers’ shot-stopper comes onto the Watchlist in place of Kasper Schmeichel (£5.0m), as Leicester’s fixtures stiffen up.
Mat Ryan (£4.5m) remains at the bottom of the goalkeeper pile, while there is no Brighton representative among the defenders anymore. That’s because the Seagulls now rank as low as 19th for fixtures over the next six Gameweeks, according to our Season Ticker.
Meanwhile, Newcastle options take a hit all across the Watchlist. The Magpies run of appealing fixtures is coming to an end, once a Gameweek 18 meeting with Fulham is out of the way. After that, it’s Liverpool (away), Manchester Home (home), and Chelsea (away) in three of their next five. Accordingly, Martin Dubravka (£5.0m), DeAndre Yedlin (£4.5m), now back from suspension, and Salomón Rondón (£5.7m) who drop in their respective categories.
Everton’s fixtures are travelling in the opposite direction, as they face Burnley (away), Brighton (away), Leicester (home), Bournemouth (home) and Southampton (away) after their Gameweek 18 meeting with Spurs at Goodison Park. That is good news for Lucas Digne (£5.0m) who has the form and underlying statistics to suggest he can deliver attacking returns against those sides. Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) may find clean sheets a little harder to come by, but the fixtures are there nonetheless.
Elsewhere in defence, Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m) creeps just above Yedlin and Calum Chambers (£4.2m), despite Crystal Palace’s awful fixtures. While the Eagles face Manchester City (away), Chelsea (home) and Liverpool (away) between now and Gameweek 23, home matches against Cardiff in Gameweek 19 and Watford in Gameweek 22 are ones in which starting Wan-Bissaka looks likely for his owners.
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