Welcome to the AM’s Players To Watch for Gameweek 33. As long-time readers of my columns will know, my advice in seasons gone by had revolved around games that would allow you to make unlimited transfers each gameweek, selecting an entirely new 11 players if you so wished. Unfortunately Yahoo Fantasy Premier League is a glorious but distant memory, while Togga, sadly, was not able to return for this campaign which put an end to the Perfect XI column I’d been penning for the past two years.
This season I’ll be a bit more general in my advice. Whether you’re playing Official FPL, FPL or Fantrax Draft, Fantrax Salary Cap, Sky Sports, The Sun, The Telegraph or any number of other the fantasy games available to fans each season, I’ll be offering my top five picks for the week ahead, mixing “must-haves” with hunch picks and players flying under the radar. Hopefully this will offer something for everyone, whether you’re considering captain options, looking to make a transfers or pick up a free agent in draft.
Last week this column focused on my work in progress FPL Free Hit squad. That ended up as my final team for Gameweek 32 and it proved a great success, returning 115 points and pushing me in to the Overall Top 20k for the first time this year. With Wildcard and Bench Boost still available, a Top 10K finish is still a possibility. On to Gameweek 33 ...
Friday 05 April
Southampton v Liverpool
Saturday 06 April
Bournemouth v Burnley
Huddersfield v Leicester
Newcastle v Crystal Palace
Sunday 07 April
Everton v Arsenal
Monday 08 April
Chelsea v West Ham
The first thing to note is it’s another reduced week with just 12 teams in action. The second thing to note is the Friday night deadline. And the third thing to note is that you should be focusing on Chelsea players at home to West Ham, Leicester at Huddersfield, Bournemouth hosting Burnley & Liverpool at Southampton. Here are the players under consideration ....[[ad:athena]]
Youri Tielemans (MF - Leicester @ Huddersfield) - Joining the club on deadline day in January, Youri Tieleman’s arrival on loan from Monaco in a swap deal with Adrien Silva was one of the more interesting moves of the window. The Belgian is regarded as one of the brightest young talents in Europe and is proving why, contributing a goal and four assists in his first seven Leicester appearances. Tieleman’s seems to be particularly enjoying the advanced midfield role Brendan Rogers has chosen for him and we can expect another productive performance from the 21-year-old at relegated Huddersfield this weekend.
Callum Wilson (FW - Bournemouth v Burnley) - Callum Wilson‘s statistics this season are impressive to say the least. The Cherries striker has been unlucky with injury again, missing eight Premier League matches, yet has played his part in 20 goals (11 goals and nine assists) in his 24 starts. His call up the England squad was well overdue, and you do wonder what he might have achieved in his career had it not been for those two devastating ACL ruptures. With struggling Burnley visiting on Saturday I expect Wilson to continue making up for lost time with another goal or two.
Andrew Robertson (DF - Liverpool @ Southampton) - Defenders rarely win Player of the Season awards, but if they did then Andrew Robertson should be right up there alongside Virgil Van Dijk for every 2018/19 prize on offer. The Scottish fullback has been frighteningly consistent over the course of the campaign, offering that rare combination of defensive solidity and attacking invention, with one of the best deliveries around. Indeed, Robertson’s cross for Roberto Firmino to open the scoring against Spurs last weekend was his TENTH assist in the Premier League, a phenomenal achievement for a defensive player who doesn’t take set pieces. I genuinely look forward to watching him play and reckon he could play a key role in another Liverpool victory on Friday night.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (MF - Chelsea v West Ham) - Eden Hazard is the obvious pick for Chelsea this weekend, and a potential option for the captaincy. However, if we look slightly further afield I really like the look of Ruben Loftus-Cheek as my fifth midfielder in a 3-5-2 formation. The England midfielder has rarely let Maurizio Sarri down when called upon this season and put in a Man of the Match performance against Brighton in midweek, bagging a goal and assist. It would be extremely harsh for RLC to find himself back on the bench for the derby with West Ham on Monday night and so at a shade over £5million in FPL he’s worth considering.
Ryan Fraser (MF - Bournemouth v Burnley) - Double Bournemouth attackers klaxon! Ryan Fraser loves playing with Callum Wilson and the feeling is mutual. The two players have combined for nine Premier League goals this season (four assists for Wilson, five for Fraser), more than any other duo in the competition so far. I was struggling to pick between them and so decided to go with both. Don’t let me down lads.
Captain Choice: Jamie Vardy (FW- Leicester @ Huddersfield) - As noted in previous columns, Brendan Rodgers held talks with Jamie Vardy on his arrival, informing the striker that he would be the main man in his Leicester revolution, and that this “arm round the shoulder” approach could do wonders for the striker’s confidence. The message has indeed gone down a treat, with the 32-year old scoring five goals in his last five appearance to help the Foxes climb in to the Premier League Top 10. Vardy will be licking his lips at the prospect of facing the Terriers and this feels like the right time to hand him the armband over Hazard.
That’s it for Gameweek 33. Check out the Rotoworld Features page to access a host of fantastic content to get you ready for the new season. If you have any questions about a specific player or your own fantasy team then feel free to post them in the comments below or hit me on Twitter (@nikarg) and I will get back to you.
Thanks for reading - good luck to all managers this weekend.
