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Sunday’s Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea means they and Arsenal are out of action. For those who still have their Free Hit available, this could be the time to use it.
In injury news, Robin Koch is unlikely to feature after suffering a nasty head injury on Sunday. Diego Llorente is out for the foreseeable future with a hamstring strain. Scott McTominay is a doubt due to illness. Joel Ward is being assessed for a knock.
Gameweek 27 kicks off on Friday, so ensure you get your transfers and team selection submitted by 1:30 PM EST.
Due to the quick turnaround between gameweeks, the highest-scoring manager from the NBC Sports League will be announced in next week’s post.
Let’s take a look at this week’s fixtures:
Friday, February 25th
Southampton vs. Norwich City
Saturday, February 26th
Leeds United vs. Tottenham
Manchester United vs. Watford
Crystal Palace vs. Burnley
Brentford vs. Newcastle
Brighton vs. Aston Villa
Everton vs. Manchester City
Sunday, February 27th
West Ham vs. Wolverhampton
Tuesday, February 15
Burnley vs. Leicester City
The App is Back! Don’t forget to download the NBC Sports EDGE app to receive real-time player news, mobile alerts and track your favorite players. Plus, now you can check out articles and player cards. Get it here!
Easy Run of Fixtures Coming Up
If you don’t have any Wolves players in your squad, now could be the time to bring them in. Bruno Lage has built the team’s success on a solid backline, and you would fancy them to continue performing well defensively looking at their opponents.
Wolves - West Ham (A), Crystal Palace (H), Watford (H), Everton (A), Leeds United (H)
GK - José Sá (£5.2mil, 112pts)
DEF - Conor Coady (£4.7mil, 98pts)
DEF - Romain Saïss (£5.0mil, 90pts)
DEF - Max Kilman (£4.6mil, 90pts)
Difficult Run of Fixtures Coming Up
Manchester United have struggled to break down teams this season. That’s the problem Watford and Tottenham present alongside difficult away trips to face the two best sides in the land.
Manchester United - Watford (H), Manchester City (A), Tottenham (H), Liverpool (A)
Wout Weghorst (£6.5mil, 21pts)
To the tune of Tears for Fears’ “Shout":
Wout, Wout, he gives it out,
These are the goals that we sing about,
Look out,
He’s coming for you,
Look out.
I love this chant I came across on UpTheTerrace.com and thought I’d share it with you all.
At £6.5 million, Wout Weghorst is a forward you seriously have to consider. His best season came in 2020/21 at VfL Wolfsburg, scoring 20 goals and providing eight assists. That was under Oliver Glasner, who has a similar approach to Sean Dyche playing direct, vertical soccer with loads of counter-attacking built off a solid backline.
The Clarets and Weghorst are a match made in heaven, and he has averaged 4.6 points a game since joining. This is the perfect time to transfer him in with a Double Gameweek against Crystal Palace and Leicester City if you haven’t already.
What I also like about Weghorst is how involved he’s been with the play. Per FBREF.com, he has touched the ball 155 times, averaging 31 a match. Sixty-three of them have come in the attacking third and 13 in the opposition’s penalty box, which is decent considering Burnley’s defensive style of play.
Harry Kane (£12.2mil, 83pts), Heung-Min Son (£10.8mil, 129pts), Dejan Kulusevski (£6.0mil, 16pts)
We’ve seen the best and worse of Tottenham these past few days. They pulled off an incredible performance to beat Manchester City 3-2 at The Etihad on Saturday. Wednesday, they were brought straight back down to earth, losing 1-0 to relegation-threatened Burnley.
Many of you will be thinking Spurs players can’t be trusted, and you’re right when they’re playing against defensive sides who sit deep and concede possession. Tottenham can have a lot of joy on the counter against teams who press aggressively with a high defensive line. No one’s more committed to that style of play than this week’s opponent Leeds United, who conceded 16 goals in their last four matches.
With Liverpool’s big hitters Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, and Diogo Jota unavailable, Harry Kane and Heung-Min-Son could be your best options. I like Dejan Kulusevski at £6.0 million but proceed with caution, there’s a possibility he drops to the bench for Lucas Moura.
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