Welcome to AM’s Players To Watch for Gameweek 4. 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.
Before we move on to Gameweek 4, a quick look back to last weekend. The five players I recommended were:
- Aleksandar Mitrovic
- Mohamed Salah
- Marcos Alonso
- Danny Ings
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Mitrovic was the big success story of the weekend, bagging two goals and an assist. Salah bagged a match-winning goal and Alonso picked up yet another assist with all three men bringing home bonus points in FPL. Ings and Mkhitaryan both disappointed with limited contributions.
On to Gameweek 4. Here are the fixtures ...
Saturday 01 September
Leicester v Liverpool
Brighton v Fulham
Chelsea v Bournemouth
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Everton v Huddersfield
West Ham v Wolves
Man City v Newcastle
Sunday 02 September
Cardiff v Arsenal
Burnley v Man Utd
Watford v Spurs
It’s easy to pick out the teams we should be focusing on this week; Manchester City, Everton and Chelsea, with Arsenal, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Brighton also worth a look. With that in mind here are my recommendations. Note the format has been adapted slightly, with five player and a captain choice, along with some honourable mentions.
Theo Walcott (MF- Everton v Huddersfield) - I started writing about Richarlison before recalling Everton’s £50million summer signing is suspended for two Premier League matches due to his stupid behaviour in Gameweek 3. Yet it certainly still makes sense to include an alternative Toffees’ attacker with a home match-up versus second-from-bottom Huddersfield, and that honour falls to Theo Walcott. Walcott has never lived up to the hype from early in his career but he remains a deadly finisher when fit and on form and he’s shown real sharpness under Marco Silva. Two goals and an assist in three games. Terriers beware.
Glenn Murray (FW - Brighton v Fulham) - It was tempting to go for Aleksandar Mitrovic for a third week out of four - and he remains a fine pick - but a hunch is drawing me towards Glenn Murray at the opposite end of the pitch. The veteran Brighton striker tends to do well at home and will be looking to add to his excellent finish against Manchester United by notching versus a Fulham side that are great in attack but leaky in defence, conceeding a seven in three matches.
Wilfried Zaha (MF / FW - Crystal Palace v Southampton) - Wilfried Zaha has been mightily impressive playing as a striker over the past 12 months, bagging nine goals last season desite missing 10 games through injury and dragging Crystal Palace away from relegation. The Eagles’ talisman has two goals already this campaign and comes up against a Southampton side short of confidence. Expect his pace and trickery to cause the Saints defence all sorts of problems.
Benjamin Mendy (DF - Man City v Newcastle) - Not much of an explanation needed. If Benjamin Mendy isn’t already in your fantasy team then your need to move heaven and earth to find a way ahead of the Gameweek 4 deadline. Manchester City’s left back will likely spend most of the match against Newcastle as an overlapping left winger and he’ll have an excellent chance of adding to his three assists from the opening three matches.
Eden Hazard (MF - Chelsea v Bournemouth) - After a long summer Eden Hazard was eased back in slowly by Maurizio Sarri, featuring for just 40 minutes across Chelsea’s opening two games and yet he managed to pick up two assists. The Belgium was restored to the starting line up in Gameweek 3 and put in an outstanding performance, running Newcastle ragged and scoring from the penalty spot, completing the full 90 minutes. We can therefore feel confident of a start at home to Bournemouth and it seems unlikely that the Cherries defence will be able to handle Hazard in full swing.
CAPTAIN CHOICE: Sergio Aguero (FW - Man City v Newcastle) - A pretty simple choice for captain this weekend. Sergio Aguero has a terrific record in home matches against Newcastle and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see him bang in his second hattrick of the season.
Honourable mentions: Marcos Alonso, Kieran Trippier, Mohamed Salah, Pascal Gross, Marko Arnautovic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Harry Kane
That’s it for Gameweek 4. 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.
