An early look ahead to Gameweek 15
| Saturday | 12:30pm | West Ham v Chelsea | ||||
| Saturday | 3:00pm | Newcastle v Burnley | Southampton v Brighton | Wolves v Liverpool | ||
| Saturday | 5:30pm | Watford v Man City | ||||
| Sunday | 2:00pm | Leeds v Brentford | Man Utd v Crystal Palace | Tottenham v Norwich | ||
| Sunday | 4:30pm | Aston Villa v Leicester | ||||
| Monday | 8:00pm | Everton v Arsenal |
Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline is 11:00 (GMT) on Saturday 4 December
STRONG FIXTURE
MAN CITY
The champions have won six of their last seven league games and look like strong title contenders. Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo have had a wonderful season so far and they are also the main FPL candidates for their club, such is the frustrating uncertainty over their attacking assets. Phil Foden looked to have secured his place before three blanks and an injury, with Ilkay Gundogan also getting hurt after a 13-point return against West Ham. Although Cancelo is about more than clean sheets and Ruben Dias scored on Wednesday night, their defence have conceded in two consecutive games and are against Watford – scorers past Man United, Leicester and Chelsea in recent weeks. Still, you would expect Pep Guardiola’s side to do a professional job versus a newly-promoted opponent.
TOTTENHAM
The combination of hosting Brentford and Norwich in successive matches is mainly why so many bought Harry Kane, Son Heung-min or both. Life under Antonio Conte hasn’t started too well and Sunday’s postponement at Burnley only increased the awkward gap since last Thursday’s shock Europa Conference League defeat to Slovenian side NS Mura. Norwich are unbeaten in four matches thanks to three Teemu Pukki goals but they looked unconvincing in their 80 minutes against ten-man Newcastle.
LEEDS
Their injury time win over Crystal Palace pulled them further away from the bottom three and provided back-to-back clean sheets for Marcelo Bielsa’s side. Raphinha converted the penalty and is already on six goals but the Brazilian is believed to be firmly behind Patrick Bamford (when fit) and Mateusz Klich in the spot kick order. Still, he’s a no-brainer when fit and facing Brentford at home is another great opportunity for him. Defensively, Leeds look much firmer when Diego Llorente is fit and he has played all 90 minutes of their last eight matches, where they have only once conceded multiple goals.
TRANSFERS SO FAR
As of Thursday morning, these are the most transferred in and out players of the week.
These tend to remain very similar by deadline, unless a major injury or return develops.
The mass buying of Diogo Jota are continuing at a rate that matches his goal output, as an out-of-position Liverpool midfielder is too good to resist, especially when he is about to finally achieve nailed on-ness once the African Cup of Nations begins. It’s unknown as of yet whether Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis will be at that tournament, so the 145k purchases may raise an eyebrow, although his output of three goals and three assists from three matches is Salah-esque.
Bernardo is looking more like the better Man City midfield option, starting every match since Gameweek 2 and delivering four goals from the last seven, whilst the mythical James Maddison has scored 26 points since Sunday. Michail Antonio continues to be ditched – now on one goal from eight matches – with triggers being pulled on Reece James after Thomas Tuchel wouldn’t confirm if he’d be back for the weekend. Wolves forward pair Raul Jimenez and Hwang Hee-chan are about to enter a nasty fixture run, facing five of the supposed ‘Big Six’ over seven Gameweeks.
