The Premier League is back once again this week for a full round of midweek madness, and alongside it comes Gameweek 21 of Fantasy Premier League.
Our showdown with Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Thursday night rounds off the league fixture programme for the week, with the first match getting underway on Tuesday.
DEC SMASHES HIS BEST HAUL
Following our crucial 3-2 win at Bournemouth, several Gunners rewarded their millions of FPL managers with healthy points totals in Gameweek 20.
The turn of the year brought great early fortunes for many Fantasy squads, especially the 22.7% who own Declan Rice (£7.2m), his second-half brace bagging a season-high haul of 17 points. Declan’s total now stands at 119, and he has now been joined in the 100 club by a second Gunner: Saturday’s other goalscorer, Gabriel (£6.6m).
Big Gabi supplemented his GW19 return of 15 points against Aston Villa with another nine, courtesy of his first-half equaliser which laid the foundation for our victory at the Vitality Stadium. Our Brazilian’s ownership is starting to soar again, so be sure to act fast if you need him to bolster your backline.
Between them, Gabriel and Rice have already been transferred in by well over 750,000 new Fantasy squads ahead of Liverpool’s visit to N5, followed by Jurrien Timber (£6.3m) whose premium will creep up having been selected by over 33,000 new teams.
Elsewhere, Martin Odegaard (£7.8m) made it 19 points in three Gameweeks with a seven-point return on the south coast, coming by way of his assist for Rice’s first goal and two bonus performance points. Our skipper’s ownership still stands at just 2.4%, making him a smart differential for upcoming fixtures following his recent displays.
Taking a look at our opponents, there were numerous points-haulers from Liverpool in GW20 after they played out a pulsating 2-2 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
Florian Wirtz (£8.2m) has begun to repay the faith of the 10.6% of FPL bosses to have included him in their midfield, securing a second double-digit haul in three Gameweeks. His 10 points at Fulham led the way for the Reds, followed by full-back Conor Bradley (£5.0m), whose eight points rewarded just 0.2% of managers.
A late goal for Cody Gakpo (£7.3m), whose price has recently dropped due to an injury absence, saw the Dutchman grab six points as he deputised in attack for the injured Hugo Ekitike (£9.1m), who is the second-highest seasonal scorer for the Reds with 84 points, behind only midfielder Ryan Gravenberch (£5.7m) on 91, owned by just 6.8% of managers.
ROTATION FEARS
With the rigorous demands of the festive schedule affecting every club in the Premier League, this time of year sees FPL managers suffer from injuries and rotation.
One popular FPL pick to have recently found minutes hard to come by is Newcastle United striker Nick Woltemade (£7.3m). The German has come up with some vital goals for the Magpies, but has seen his price drop since the weekend having been sold by over 140,000 managers, with Yoane Wissa (£7.3m) instead chosen to start the last two games.
Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) had likewise been a regular starter, but a managerial change at Stamford Bridge potentially played a part in his benching in Sunday’s last-gasp draw at Manchester City, while Fulham winger Kevin (£5.8m) saw his run of three league starts cut short against Liverpool, only for the Brazilian to claim an assist in his 16-minute cameo.
While it is very possible that Woltemade, Garnacho and Kevin could all earn recalls, the staccato nature of their respective game-time has alerted managers. Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku (£6.4m) saw his price drop twofold over the winter as his starts dried up, having previously been a popular budget choice after three early double-figure hauls.
Ollie Watkins (£8.7m) is now a player being flocked towards after a sluggish start, now averaging seven points in each of his last seven Gameweeks. This did however include an unexpected omission from the starting XI against Chelsea in GW18, though the Aston Villa forward came on to score a double and earn 12 points from 32 minutes of action.
Finally, one of the best pound-for-pound performers this campaign - and particularly in recent Gameweeks - has been Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m). Having scored in six consecutive league games, Calvert-Lewin was still dropped from the XI away at Liverpool in GW19, albeit returning for the weekend’s draw with Manchester United.
Consequently, it is becoming increasingly difficult to spread guaranteed game-time among your squad, and almost impossible to maximise a chip such as a Bench Boost at this stage, but seven outfield players have so far played every Premier League minute this term.
Three of them come from Nottingham Forest: defenders Neco Williams (£4.7m) and Nikola Milenkovic (£5.1m), and midfielder Elliot Anderson (£5.3m), while the leading point-scorer yet to have missed a single minute is Everton defender James Tarkowski (£5.6m), who needs just four points at home to Wolves this week to join the 100 club.
Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m) and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk (£5.9m) are also solid defensive bets, while West Ham United's Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m) is the only forward to remain ever-present.
DIFFERENTIALS STRIKE AGAIN
While some highly-selected picks weighed in with double figures over the weekend such as Rice, Man City bargain Tijjani Reijnders (£5.2m) and Brentford’s hat-trick hero Igor Thiago (£6.9m), GW21 was not too dissimilar to the previous Gameweek in that plenty of differentials delivered.
Wolves put West Ham to the sword to claim their maiden victory of the Premier League season, the 3-0 win seeing multiple of Rob Edwards’ side take home plenty of points for a despairing lack of FPL bosses.
Young forward Mateus Mane is developing into a potentially smart bargain enabler at just £4.5m, earning 12 points on Saturday and now building a run of starts, presently owned by just 0.4%.
Aston Villa returned to winning ways against Nottingham Forest following their GW19 defeat at Emirates Stadium, with John McGinn (£5.4m) - selected by just 1% of teams - returning to the starting XI with a second-half brace and 15 points.
One player whose premium is bound to imminently rise is Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw (£5.1m), becoming a real asset at both ends of the pitch following his 17-point haul against Crystal Palace on Sunday, matching Rice and Thiago as the weekend’s best FPL performers.
Each still owned by fewer than 4% of squads are Man City defender Matheus Nunes (£5.4m), Everton midfielder James Garner (£5.1m) and Leeds United midfielder Anton Stach (£4.9m), the barely-selected trio having racked up 266 points between them just after the season’s midpoint.
The transfer and team selection deadline for Gameweek 21 comes this Tuesday night at 6:30pm UK time. Be sure not to miss the cut!
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