With just two days remaining for the GW30+ deadline following Project Restart, we start off with a Double Gameweek with rearranged fixtures for Manchester City, Arsenal, Sheffield United and Aston Villa.
The fixtures in GW 30 for these teams are as follows –
Manchester City – Arsenal (H) Burnley (H)
Arsenal – Manchester City (A) Brighton (A)
Sheffield United – Aston Villa (A) Newcastle (A)
Aston Villa – Sheffield United (H) Chelsea (H)
Manchester City undoubtedly have the best fixtures and assets among all the teams having the DGW. Let’s have a look at the best players to consider for the DGW30+ keeping chip strategies and budget in mind.
Kevin De Bruyne is probably the best of the City lot in terms of being nailed and consistency. No midfielder has created more chances, big chances or registered more assists than the Belgian, while only Salah has fired more goal attempts than the former Chelsea man. KDB easily looks the best safe option this week.
Sergio Aguero is another standout option. Only Jamie Vardy and Aubameyang have scored more goals than the Argentine despite him having missed a considerable amount of minutes this season. Also, in home matches, only Vardy and Rashford have scored more goals than the former Atletico Madrid man. With game time and Jesus in there being an issue, if he gets two starts in DGW30+, non-owners could be watching City matches sitting behind a sofa.
Other two attacking options to consider are Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez. The former Liverpool man has been the most underperforming player in the league this season FPL wise. No player has recorded more big chances than Raheem Sterling this season. The number of goals he has scored should have been much higher based on his chances to score. Riyad Mahrez, on the other hand, is a cheaper alternative to Sterling. Despite having far less number of minutes played, only Kevin De Bruyne has created more big chances than the Algerian, who has pretty much returned in almost every game in which he’s played. Mahrez, as compared to Sterling is comparatively less nailed on, especially with Sane and Bernardo in the mix, however, his minutes per goal involvement show that he could return even with limited minutes.
Defensively, the return of Laporte will help City a lot. Whenever he’s played, City have conceded around 1 big chance per game and kept a clean sheet in 50% of their matches. However, with Laporte coming back from an injury and with matches now coming thick and fast, we could easily see his minutes managed. This makes Ederson the best nailed on option in the City defense, almost guaranteed to play 180 minutes across both the games.
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Arsenal have mediocre fixtures with both being away matches. Aubameyang is the only decent, nailed on option from Arsenal with him being on pens as well. No forward has scored more goals in away matches than the Gabonese. Apart from him, Leno is another option for consideration. Only Dubravka has amassed more saves than the German this season and with good fixtures coming up for Arsenal, he could even be a hold beyond this DGW30+.
Apart from these two, the options look limited. Players like Pepe, Nketiah and Lacazette could be good one-week punts to opt for, however, none of them are guaranteed 2 starts. Pepe among these three is the standout differential option with him being on some free-kick and corner duties. In the last four gameweeks pre-lock-down, no Arsenal player has created more chances than Pepe while only Richarlison has created more big chances among all midfielders.
Sheffield United provide us with some intriguing options for the double. They’ve been defensively sound this season, which makes triple Sheffield United defense a great option to go with this gameweek. Their opponents Aston Villa and Newcastle are two of the worst attacking sides in the league. Villa are 4th from the bottom for big chances over the season and lie worst for big chances/xG over the past 10 GW’s. Further, Newcastle have the fewest shots in the box and also the worst xG over the season. Egan, Stevens, OConnell, Baldock, Basham, Henderson are the best nailed on options to consider.
Lundstram isn’t included here due to the concerns over his game time. However, if we get some early team news and we see Lundstram in there, he’s probably the best option of the lot, especially having scored a brace in one of their friendly matches as well. So, keep an eye on the early team news.
Apart from the defense, Fleck is the only other viable option in attack, with him being on setpieces. Both Aston Villa and Newcastle rank first and second respectively for attempts conceded from setpieces for this entire season.
Although Aston Villa don’t have a great set of results under their belt, they do have motivation with regards to staying up in the league. Over the years we’ve seen, usually, such teams perform well at this stage. Jack Grealish is an absolute no brainer to have – on all set pieces, penalties, basically at the heart of everything Villa do. Only KDB has created more chances and provided more assists than Grealish in home matches this season. This bodes well for the Englishman with Villa having two home games in double.
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Apart from Grealish, there aren’t many decent options to consider. However, the return of McGinn could provide us with a good cheap option. Villa are averaging around 2 big chances and 1.5 goals per game in the games he has played. Samata has been posting some good stats as well for his price recently, having had 5 shots in the last 3 games, all inside the box. With Wesley still out, he’ll continue leading the attack.
Their defense doesn’t look very inspiring, however, Matt Targett looks a good cheap option to have for managers with budget constraints. In his 20 appearances this season, he has created 23 chances, 7 big chances and registered 3 assists.
These were all the best options you can consider for DGW30+. Make sure the players you select adapt to your chip strategies keeping their fixtures in mind and not having to make additional transfers down the line to take the players out.
Hope this piece helps you make the right decisions. Good luck for the double. Until then, let the arrows stay green!
Written by Samson Baretto | Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images | Read more FPL Related analysis here
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