Steem Fantasy Premier League - Gameweek 14 & 15 Review

Now matches start to come thick and fast. Gameweek 14 deadline is on Friday evening when Cardiff City hosts Wolverhampton Wanderers. The rest of gameweek 14 matches are played on Saturday and Sunday. Gameweek 15 deadline is on Tuesday evening. Because of only one day off between gw 14 and gw 15 I’ve decided to write a review of both upcoming gameweeks.

With 3 gameweeks in 12 days, gameweek 14-16 could almost be seen as a “mini-Christmas-period” and we will for sure see some form of rotation from several teams. This makes it more difficult for FPL managers and the depth our our squads could really be tested. For example there is only five days and 20 hours between Liverpool’s kick-offs against Everton and Bournemouth in Gameweeks 14 and 16, with a trip to Burnley in between those matches. This makes me believe there will be rotation in the team and popular fantasy assets like Alexander-Arnold (23% ownership) and Robertson (34%) in defence are not expected to play all three games. Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Fulham are the other four sides who face a Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule next week. Wolverhampton Wanderers have the “best” schedule with almost nine days between their clash with Cardiff City this Friday and their gameweek 16 match against Newcastle. Another team that also have been dealt a more favourable fixture schedule is Watford who has a Saturday-Tuesday-Monday timetable.

In this kind of period you as a FPL manager may just have to accept that one or two of your players misses a match. You could also ask yourself if for example one potential rest on an in-form asset such as Sterling is enough to not buy him or to not keep him in your team given how explosive he could prove to be in the other two fixtures. And we should remember that this is a dilemma that every manager has to face.

Gameweek 14 fixtures:

Gameweek 15 fixtures:

Match previews:

Arsenal - Tottenham

Arsenal sits fifth in the Premier League table. The Gunners are undefeated in 17 matches since losing to Chelsea in gameweek 2 and have scored at least twice in nearly all of their Premier League matches this season. If Arsenal looks solid going forward there are still things to do defensively. A main problem for Arsenal and Unai Emery so far has been that they have got exploited by runs into space in behind the defence, mainly when being counter-attacked by the opposition. In their last match against Bournemouth, Emery switched formation to a 3-5-2 but it still didn’t look great. This is something they need shape up before Sunday because Spurs, who are quick on the counter, looked really dangerous going forward against Chelsea last weekend with Son running in behind the defence all night long.

Tottenham will come into the North London Derby with seven wins in their their last eight league games. They are now on fourth place in the table. It has been Spurs best start to a Premier League season but defensively they have been fortunate only to concede 10 goals from the chances they have allowed. Positively for Spurs they have now all the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Son back in the team, all looking to have caught up good form. Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes to better his record away to Arsenal. In the five away league matches against Arsenal as a manger he hasn’t yet won. This is the worst run he has had against any opponent, in England or Spain.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the current joint-top scorer in the competition, has remarkably scored with each of his last eight shots on target in the Premier League with West Ham’s Lukasz Fabianski the last keeper to make a save against him back in August. Better for Spurs not to let him shoot.

Team news tells us that Jan Vertonghen returned at the weekend after two months on the sideline and will be in contention for a start. Mousa Dembele remains out with an ankle problem and won't return until the new year. For Arsenal Mavropanos, Welbeck and Monreal misses the match with injuries while both Koscielny and Lacazette are in contention to start the game after their injury problems.

Possible starting lineups:

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac; Torreira, Xhaka; Iwobi, Ozil, Aubameyang; Lacazette.

Tottenham:Lloris; Trippier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Winks, Eriksen; Sissoko, Alli, Son; Kane.

Liverpool - Everton

The 232nd edition of the Merseyside Derby. Historically the stats are not pretty when looking at them from the Blues’ side. Everton have last won at Anfield in 1999, and haven’t beaten the Reds since 2010. Liverpool’s current run of 17 matches without defeat against Everton in all competitions is their longest unbeaten run against their rivals. Last season both matches between the teams ended up in draws, 1-1 at Goodison Park and 0-0 at Anfield. This year, with Marco Silva as manager for the toffees we should expect a more attacking Everton side. Unbeaten Liverpool are now looking for a third successive Premier League victory, while Everton are targeting a third win from four matches. Jurgen Klopp has been unable to beat Marco Silva in their two previous PL meetings and Silva is the only manager the German has faced more than once in Premier League without winning.

If Mohamed Salah plays it will his 50th PL appearance for Liverpool, having scored 39 goals in 49 matches. Only two players have scored more in their first 50 PL matches. Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, both 41 goals, for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United respectively.

Jordan Henderson is suspended for one match after being sent off in the 3-0 win over Watford last weekend. Fabinho will hope to profit with a start in Liverpool's midfield a result. Another new signing who has struggled with playing time is Naby Keita. Liverpool's No.8 has last started a match for Liverpool at the beginning of October but is now hoping for a start. For Everton Jonjo Kenny is the only injury concern and Marco Silva is expected to make no or few changes to his quite settled starting XI.

Possible starting lineups:

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Keita, Milner; Salah, Firmino, Mane

Everton: Pickford; Coleman, Mina, Keane, Digne; Andre Gomes, Gueye; Walcott, Sigurdsson, Bernard; Richarlison

Steem-pick

Hopefully you haven’t followed my steem-picks recently because they haven’t turned out well. This time I will try my luck with a player I will look to bring into my team for next gameweek, Leroy Sané (9.3m). It feels like I somehow have looked past City midfield assets with the thinking: “you never no who plays” “why pay so much money for a player that isn’t nailed on?” But when Iooking at the scores of Sané and Sterling (11.4m) in recent gameweeks I feel I can’t ignore them anymore. Sané has scored 35 points in 3 gameweeks (2 starts) while Sterling has managed 39 points over this period. So even if the miss an odd match here and there I just feel it’s worth having one over even both. But how to get them both into my team without sacrificing too much elsewhere? This is difficult, and a question you have to ask yourself.

Good luck in gameweek 14 and 15 and please let us know your thoughts for the upcoming gameweeks!

Disclaimer: This post is written by @matinho. The rewards of these posts are gathered in a pool to be rewarded to managers of the league and authors at the end of the season.

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