Same week, different Fantasy Premier League deadline.
Fresh from a bumper round of mesmerising midweek matches comes another full round of Premier League games this weekend.
The pick of the Gameweek 16 fixtures can be found in the Midlands, where top-four chasing Aston Villa host title-chasing Arsenal. Unai Emery has turned Villa into a winning machine at home and if Arsenal manage to stop their 14-game winning streak, talk of them winning a first league title since 2004 will only grow.
Manchester City were the latest club to come unstuck at Villa Park with a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday extending their winless run in the league to four matches. Despite that iffy form, City’s trip to Kenilworth Road will no doubt pique the interest of FPL managers, even if the Hatters were seconds away from earning a point against Arsenal on Tuesday.
City rank top of FPL’s Fixture Difficulty Chart over the next five: after facing the Hatters, City take on Crystal Palace (h), Everton (a) and Sheffield United (h) either side of Christmas. With a six-point gap between themselves and Arsenal forming, they need to back on the winning trail fast.
i‘s top scorers in Gameweek 15
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – 12 points vs Sheffield United: A cracking assist from Liverpool’s No 66 means he has four goal contributions in the last three gameweeks. Alexander-Arnold is now second only to Trippier for FPL points among defenders. Time to get them both?
- Bukayo Saka – 5 points vs Luton: FPL bosses may have felt disappointed to only get an assist out of Saka from a fixture against Luton but in the end, he outperformed both Mo Salah and Erling Haaland. Saka has returned in 12 of his 14 appearances so far.
- Matheus Cunha – 5 points vs Burnley: We went for the wrong Wolves attacker as Hwang Hee-chan ended up with twice as many points as Cunha. Nevertheless, the Brazilian continued his run of form with an assist for the South Korean’s winning goal.
*These players all featured in our Fantasy Football newsletter. Sign up here for our full starting XI here
They do blank in Gameweek 18, though, so keep that in mind before making your transfers. Brentford are the other club without a game that weekend so Bryan Mbeumo owners will also have to make some contingency plans. The Cameroonian came off injured during the defeat at Brighton and Thomas Frank confirmed he would be out for “weeks”.
NB: This article and the Fantasy Football newsletter were written before the Everton vs Newcastle and Tottenham vs West Ham games on Thursday night. The Gameweek 16 deadline is at 11am on Saturday 9 December.
This is an extract of i’s Fantasy Premier League tips. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every week this season for our full 11-player team, advice on the best captain and more!
Gameweek 16 fixtures
Saturday 9 December
3pm kick-off unless otherwise stated
- Crystal Palace vs Liverpool (12.30pm)
- Brighton vs Burnley
- Man Utd vs Bournemouth
- Sheffield United vs Brentford
- Wolves vs Nottingham Forest
- Aston Villa vs Arsenal (5.30pm)
Sunday 10 December
2pm kick-off unless otherwise stated
- Everton vs Chelsea
- Fulham vs West Ham
- Luton vs Man City
- Spurs vs Newcastle (4.30pm)
Ruben Dias (Man City)
City’s defence has been unusually leaky of late and they need to shore things up quickly if they are to make ground on Arsenal. Pep Guardiola’s side has conceded 11 goals in their last four games in all competitions, shipping four against Chelsea and three to Spurs in that run.
Their next four fixtures look promising from a defensive standpoint, however, as their next four opponents are among the five lowest scorers in the Premier League. If the champions are unable to keep clean sheets against teams scrapping for their lives at the bottom it is time to question their title credentials.
As ever it is tricky to work out which City defender to prioritise, but given Luton’s threat from set-pieces – as Arsenal learned on Tuesday – Ruben Dias could be the one to bring in. The Portuguese is City’s most dominant defender and will be required against a side who have scored eight goals – half their overall total – from dead balls.
Price: £5.5m Points: 32 Gameweek 16 fixture: Luton (a)
Leon Bailey (Aston Villa)
It looks as though Leon Bailey has usurped Moussa Diaby as Emery’s preferred second striker of choice. The Jamaican impressed as a second half substitute during the win over Spurs in Gameweek 13 and has subsequently started ahead of his French teammate in both matches since, scoring in each of them.
Bailey’s match-winning strike against City was a touch fortuitous, flying past Ederson after taking a hefty deflection, but his performance warranted that moment. The 26-year-old registered five shots on goal in the game, three of which were on target and from inside the box.
It’s incredibly difficult to call Villa vs Arsenal this weekend. On the one hand, Villa are formidable at home, but on the other Arsenal have developed a useful habit of edging tight games. Whichever way you think it will go, it seems a reasonable prospect that there will be goals at both ends given Emery is yet to preside over a 0-0 in the Premier League as manager of Arsenal or Villa.
Price: £5.5m Points: 55 Gameweek 16 fixture: Arsenal (h)
Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves)
Hwang Hee-chan is currently the most bought player ahead of Saturday’s deadline and while he is an excellent asset, new managers should be wary of one thing: the new manager bounce. It is possible Nottingham Forest will be under new management by the time they head to Molineux, with Steve Cooper expected to lose his job after Wednesday’s tonking at Fulham.
Nevertheless, Hwang is in his best run of form since joining Wolves and will be confident of keeping his purple patch going. The South Korean scored his eighth league goal of the campaign against Burnley on Tuesday night and has only been outscored by the heavyweight trio of Erling Haaland, Mo Salah and Son Heung-min so far.
He has been particularly productive at home too: six of his eight goals have been scored at Molineux, where he has averaged 6.86 FPL points per game.
Price: £5.7m Points: 74 Gameweek 16 fixture: Nottingham Forest (h)
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Chelsea were abysmally poor for virtually the entirety of their game against Manchester United but still posed a considerable threat on the counter-attack, largely through Cole Palmer.
The 21-year-old has instantly assumed talismanic status for his new club and continued his impressive form at Old Trafford with a calm, clever finish just before half-time. That was Palmer’s eighth goal contribution (five goals, three assists) this season, which is an exceptional return for a player of his price.
The Mancunian has been especially prolific outside of Stamford Bridge. In five away matches he has managed three goals, three assists, four bonus points and 7.8 points per game. Chelsea head to Goodison Park next before embarking on a promising run of games over the Christmas period.
Price: £5.3m Points: 58 Gameweek 16 fixture: Everton (a)
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Owning Darwin Nunez in FPL is anything but boring. The Uruguayan was benched for Liverpool’s midweek game against Sheffield United, was booked for needlessly kicking the ball away after coming on as a sub and then provided a last-gasp assist from a tackle that could have earned him a second yellow for Dominik Szoboszlai. In other words, it was a vintage Nunez cameo.
There are a few reasons why we find ourselves banging the Darwin drum yet again. One is the desperate lack of in-form forwards to pick from: only three forwards scored goals in Gameweek 15. Another factor is that he is likely to start having only played half an hour or so at Bramall Lane. And finally, Crystal Palace are in disarray right now.
The Eagles have lost five of their last seven Premier League matches and Roy Hodgson’s comments after a home loss to Bournemouth that “the fans have been spoiled here in recent times,” were as well received as a Christmas stocking full of coal. Liverpool could feast at Selhurst Park.
Price: £7.7m Points: 60 Gameweek 16 fixture: Crystal Palace (a)