Welcome to AM’s Perfect XI - Week 28 player picks. This column focuses on Togga’s Perfect XI game which you can play via their IOS and Android app. Download the apps via the link below and make sure you update regularly to take advantage of the constant enhancements:
Once downloaded, open the app and register an account. Once registered, click the Fantasy tab at the bottom of the app screen. Then from the Fantasy screen, click the arrow at the top of the app screen to select Perfect XI.
We’ve set up a Rotoworld PL Private League where you can challenge myself and the rest of the RW PL team over the course of the season. To join it download the app and then click the below link from your device, or find us from the Featured Leagues tab:
Each week I provide a Perfect XI of my own for the upcoming gameweek of Premier League fixtures, recommending 11 players to consider along with some honourable mentions for each position. The main 11 players listed won’t necessarily be the exact players selected for my own Perfect XI fantasy side. The point of this column isn’t to tell you exactly who to pick; it’s to present some ideas to get you thinking. Hopefully you’ll find the advice useful, whether you’re playing Togga’s game or looking at potential transfers for your official Fantasy Premier League team.
Follow the Rotoworld.com PL team on Twitter: Neal | Steve | Andrew | Sean | Stag | Ben | Galin | Nik |
Week 27 was awful. I made a few mistakes but the biggest was not selecting Aguero. That loss of 50 points killed my week and ended any hopes of back-to-back Top 100 finishes. 128 was my total, dropping down to 207th overall. Bleugh.
We’ve got another standard round of fixtures for Week 28 with Leicester hosting Stoke in the early Saturday kick-off, although we have to wait some time for Week 28 to conclude, as Arsenal don’t face Man City until Thursday evening. It’s important to have your fantasy team locked in ready for the first game of the weekened but remember in Perfect XI you can swap out a player from your squad right up to one minute before their match kicks off and bring in an alternative player whose match is also yet to kick off. This wonderful flexibility allows you to avoid the pain of a surprise benching or unreported last minute injury and a big fat ZERO. Just make sure you keep an eye on the starting line-ups as kick off approaches each week by following the Rotoworld PL Twitter account.
Here are your Week 28 fixtures:
Saturday 24 February
Leicester v Stoke
Bournemouth v Newcastle
Brighton v Swansea
Burnley v Southampton
Liverpool v West Ham
West Brom v Huddersfield
Watford v Everton
Sunday 25 February
Crystal Palace v Spurs
Man Utd v Chelsea
Thursday 01 March
Arsenal v Man City
As always we’ll focus on players from the teams who should win comfortably this weekend. Liverpool at home to West Ham is the pick of the bunch, followed by Spurs away a Crystal Palace. Leicester should edge out Stoke at home, Bournemouth can beat Newcastle and you have to favour Manchester City attackers away against Arsenal’s suspect defence. The remaining fixtures all look like low-scoring draws on paper so we’ll look for potential clean sheets
With that in mind, here are the players under consideration ...
KEEPERS
Nick Pope - at home to Southampton. Burnley need a result and Pope needs a stellar display to keep out the returning Tom Heaton. Expect saves and - fingers crossed - a clean sheet against the inconsistent Saints.
Honourable Mentions: Loris Karius at home to West Ham, Matt Ryan at home to Swansea, Hugo Lloris away at Crystal Palace
DEFENDERS
Virgil van Dijk - at home to West Ham. Liverpool don’t keep many clean sheets but VVD tends to accumulate defensive points regardless and offers a goal threat when forward for set pieces.
Ben Davies - away at Crystal Palace. One of the season’s top performers is certain to start after Danny Rose disappointed against Rochdale. Could add to his impressive haul of two goals and six assists from left back.
Shane Duffy - at home to Swansea. A rock at the centre of Brighton’s defence, Duffy tends to save his best fantasy scores for games on the road but I feel he could be in for a big weekend at home to the Swans.
Harry Maguire - home to Stoke. The Potters aren’t great travellers and certainly don’t score many goals away from home so Maguire has a clean sheet opportunity and is another player who can pop-up with a goal or an assist at a set piece.
Honourable Mentions: Charlie Daniels at home to Newcastle, Craig Dawson at home to Huddersfield, Nicolas Otamendi away at Arsenal, Matt Lowton at home to Southampton, Daryl Janmaat at home to Everton
MIDFIELDERS
Sadio Mane - at home to West Ham. Mane had been having as relatively low-key season for the Reds before bursting in to life with five goals in his past five games including a hat-trick in the Champions League last week. Whether he can keep that form going remains to be seen but he’s worth including given the fixture.
Dele Alli - away at Crystal Palace. Alli needs to cut out the diving for sure - it’s embarrasing. But there are signs that he’s getting his spark back on the ball and Selhurst Park was the ground where he scored his best career goal two seasons’ ago. Hunch that he’ll score again on Sunday.
Riyad Mahrez - at home to Stoke. Not for the first time Mahrez has come back to Leicester with his tail between his legs after failing to secure a transfer. His performances on his last return were outstanding and I’m betting we see something similar as he looks to finally cement a big money move away from the Foxes this summer.
Kevin De Bruyne - away at Arsenal. The league’s best player is capable of taking this fragile Gunners side apart.
Honourable Mentions: Eden Hazard away at Manchester United, Junior Stanislas at home to Newcastle, Pascal Gross at home to Swansea, Johann Berg Gudmundsson at home to Southampton, Alex Pritchard away at West Brom
STRIKERS
Mohamed Salah - at home to West Ham. No need to think about this one. Sometimes it’s ok to be a sheep. Select the outstanding Salah and watch the points roll in.
Harry Kane - away at Crystal Palace. I’m still considering going with both Salah and Roberto Firmino but I’ve been stung before by putting all my eggs in a Liverpool shaped basket. Right now it’s in-form Kane away at the injury-hot Eagles.
Honourable Mentions: Roberto Firmino at home to West Ham, Gerard Deulofeu at home to Everton, Jamie Vardy at home to Stoke, Sergio Aguero away at Arsenal, Oumar Niasse away at Watford
That’s it for Week 28. Check out the Rotoworld Features page to access a host of fantastic content to get you ready for the weekend ahead. If you have any questions about the Perfect XI game or general questions about a player or your own team then feel free to post them below or ping me on Twitter and I promise to get back to you.
Thanks for reading - good luck to all managers this weekend.
