Pass or Shoot: EPL GW-6 Fixture Analysis

Welcome! I hope that Game-week 5 was kind to you, especially if you were one of the many managers who used the wildcard in FPL. Following on from the international break, we had two thrilling derby games in which the points were shared, with the addition of late drama and a red card. What else could we want? Following on from game-week 5, we take an early look at some of the stand-out fixtures for game-week 6.

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Here are the fixtures for Game-week 6:

Friday

• Aston Villa vs Leeds

Saturday

• West Ham United vs Manchester City
• Fulham vs Crystal Palace
• Man Utd vs Chelsea
• Liverpool vs Sheffield United

Sunday

• Southampton vs Everton
• Wolves vs Newcastle
• Arsenal vs Leicester

Monday

• Brighton vs West Brom
• Burnley vs Tottenham

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Pass

Chaos for the Cottagers

As a long suffering owner of Aleksandar Mitrović, I would advise you to avoid Fulham entirely (I try to offload on a weekly basis, but other injuries/positions take precedence). The Serbian target-man is usually a ray of light in this side, but frustratingly he missed a penalty in GW-5. There is currently better value out there. This team has lost four games already this season; it lacks conviction. Fulham faces Crystal Palace who have had an average start so far, Wilfried Zaha is worth a punt due to his four goals this season, otherwise I wouldn’t be looking any further than this.

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Beware of the Blades

Sheffield United may have gotten off the mark in their draw against Fulham in the last game-week, but the Blades are a shadow of their former selves. We know they were never overly forthcoming with goals, but their once-reliable defence also looks susceptible, even having conceded only seven goals this season. This isn’t a huge number, but it’s spread to deny precious clean-sheets; there are better value defensive assets out there.

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No Guarantees with the Gunners

Arsenal is increasingly becoming a side that is quite frankly boring, although gaffer Mikel Arteta has made a noticeable difference in improving the side’s performance and resiliency. Captain and Talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has historically been a good source of points, and with his move to midfield in FPL there was hope for fantasy studliness, but he hasn’t really made this count. The Gunners are looking solid, but they don’t exactly excite when it comes to Fantasy Football, especially with their top scorer Alexandre Lacazette not guaranteed to start.

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Shoot

Merseyside paves the way

Liverpool faces the aforementioned lackluster Sheffield United. Regular service has been restored, forwards Sadio Mane and Mo Salah on the scoresheet again. This game may not be a complete drubbing, but the two premium picks mentioned have great potential (my money is on Salah because the game is at Anfield). Just around the corner, league leading Everton continues to be a reliable source of fantasy points. Having a trio of Lucas Digne, James Rodríguez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin wouldn’t be the worst idea.

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Spurs’ Deadly Duo

If you own both Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane, you have the privilege to be smug. Between the two, they have notched up an amazing nine assists and twelve goals in their last four EPL games. Such numbers are just too stunning and impossible to ignore, regardless of whom they play. Fortunately for Spurs, Burnley is another team that has struggled to live up to past defensive achievements, conceding eight in three to sit rock bottom. In their first fixture last season, Spurs meted out a 5-0 thumping (both Son and Kane both scoring and assisting). Captain at the ready!

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Citizens Advice

Manchester City has lacked consistency. What the Citizens don’t lack is a multitude of attacking options who can do serious damage to an improving West Ham side who are still prone to conceding goals. They have been dominant against the Hammers in the last few seasons, dishing out a 5-0 victory in the league last season in which Sterling scored a hat-trick and Aguero got on the scoresheet too. Sergio Aguero is now back from injury, starting against Arsenal in game-week 5 amid doubts surrounding Kevin De Bruyne’s return. It’s worth noting that West Ham has scored eleven goals in the last four matches, so there are possible returns here.

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Looking elsewhere, there is a tasty, but sensationally hard to predict fixture between Manchester United and Chelsea. For me, Chelsea would slightly edge this, but the Red Devils look to have built up a bit of confidence again after their 4-1 victory over Newcastle. Marcus Rashford and Kai Havertz look viable options.

Aston Villa faces Leeds, which is another difficult scoreline to predict. Aston Villa will be favored because of a strong start to the season and recent attacking spoils. Leeds like to both score and concede pretty evenly, so this could be a good source of (attacking) points!

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How did you do in the previous game-week? Did you use your wildcard? Or has your foresight brought you through with a free transfer in hand? And are the volatile prices in Fantrax settling down now that we have a handful of game-weeks in the database? Please let us know your early thoughts on game-week 6 in the comments below!

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