Week 27 Pre-Deadline Chat: DGW Strategy

So clearly the big topic of discussion is the double game week for Manchester City and Stoke City in Official BPL fantasy (but not in Fantrax).

Strategy session! Are you jumping in the waters and adding a couple/few Citizens and/or Potters? Or are you avoiding them?

PROS:

• Manchester City has a couple attractive fixtures (at Sunderland, home v. Stoke).
• The Citizens’ offense has been on fire with two successive five-goal outings (albeit neither coming against Premier League competition).
• With Gabriel Jesus injured, Sergio Aguero is the undisputed starter at striker. The midfield starting line-up also seems fairly settled.
• Yaya Toure may keep PK duty, making him at least a semi-attractive option
• Raheem Sterling has played well lately.
• Having players involved in double game weeks is SUPER FUN!!! After all, you may end up with a huge points haul!

CONS:

• You cannot be sure that any player(s) you pick will get two starts, let alone two games.
• Would you be shocked if Kelechi Iheanacho stole a start from Kun?
• At least with respect to Manchester City, defense and goalkeeper are particularly lacking when it comes to counting on two guaranteed starts.
• Yaya Toure may retain PK duty for Premier League action, which would dent Sergio Aguero’s attractiveness.
• While Kun has been on fire lately outside of the league, his recent performance in the league has fallen short of his usual standards.
• David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne have also had fairly disappointing seasons and KDB has actually delivered more from a fantasy perspective without Kun than with him.
• How confident are you that anybody on Stoke City is worth taking the points penalty for?
• To pick up Kun, you’ll probably need to drop an expensive player such as Diego Costa, Harry Kane, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku or Alexis Sanchez. Those players are expensive for a reason...they’re really good! If that pricey player you drop has a big game (which would be a surprise for none of them), you’ll actually end up losing out if Kun has one similarly big game along with one not-so-big game (or of course two duds).
• It’s probably not just a -4 hit you’re taking by dropping someone to pick up a double gamer. It’s a -8 hit because GW28 only features eight teams (Manchester City and Stoke City are among the many squads absent), so it’s likely you’re going to need to drop the player you pick up in order to be able to field a full team for GW28. (Yes, you get one free transfer, but that will not likely be enough.) Can you afford to take a points penalty this week to get a couple/few DGers along with a points penalty next week to drop those DGers again?
• Having players involved in double game weeks is NAIL-BITINGLY AGONIZING!!! After all, you may end up actually losing points and kicking yourself for not playing conservatively!

So what’s your plan of action? How are your teams looking and how good do you feel about them?