Tottenham and Everton Fantasy Premier League Double Gameweek 20

leighton baines 1824842c Premier League Gameweek 20 Fantasy Preview

Baines is too expensive 99% of the time, but could this be the 1%?

Happy New Year. Van der Vaart’s hamstring. Scott Parker’s knee. Rotation. Rest. It’s that time of the year… Let’s take a look at the upcoming Fantasy Premier League gameweek – GW 20: our first “double gameweek” of 2012.

I. Liverpool @ Manchester City: No Luis Suarez? No problem. Funny Feeling Friday Craig Bellamy bagged a brace as Liverpool beat up on Newcsatle at Anfield 3-1 and now head to Manchester City in form and with confidence. Gerrard is gaining match fitness and looking to get his scoring touch back, and Suarez and/or Bellamy are always dangerous in and around the area.

Manchester City have lost a bit of their attacking touch in their past few fixtures – a 0-0 at West Brom followed by a 0-1 loss at Sunderland. You have to think that they manage to find the net at home. Three straight goalless games with the likes of Silva, Aguero, and Balotelli up front? Highly doubtful…

The bad news for Manchester City (lack of goals during Christmas period) is counter-balanced by the good news: 3 clean sheets in their last 4. (Sunderland’s Ji scoring the only goal against MCFC in that time – a 93rd minute winner). A nice, little run for Mancini’s men which has seen captain Vincent Kompany rack up the points, as his FPL price has skyrocketed to 6.6M. Liverpool will provide a tougher test, but don’t be surprised to see a 4th clean sheet out of 5 for Mancini’s men.

In the end, I think Manchester City will have too much in the midfield areas through David Silva, and while Suarez / Bellamy / Gerrard may combine to make it interesting, I’ll go for a home win despite the recent struggles in front of goal.

Prediction: 2-1 Manchester City win

II. West Brom @ Tottenham, Everton @ Tottenham: It’s a double gameweek for Everton and Tottenham, and you have to think that fantasy managers will benefit from having at least 2, if not the maximum 3 Tottenham players in their side. The team has suffered a slight dip of form with the 1-1 draw at Swansea, and could be missing part of the spine of their team in combative central midfielder Scott Parker (knee injury), but the likes of Bale, Adebayor and Van der Vaart (if fit) are superb captain options.

Everton should see some investment with cheap midfielders Leon Osman and Royston Drenthe (injury or illness doubt?) perhaps preferred more so than new loan signing Landon Donovan (7M and classified as a midfielder). Leighton Baines has been a disappointment for his fantasy price (8M) this season but he does have 3 goals to his name and the set piece specialist could return an assist or goal over the 2 fixtures, though a clean sheet is less likely as Everton have been far from solid at the back this season. Bolton’s position in the league table isn’t great, but no one would be shocked to see them grab a goal at Everton, as they are an inconsistent but surprising team. Don’t bet the house on 2 Everton clean sheets…

Add a Tottenham player or two, and perhaps a Baines or Osman to the mix and you should see a very nice fantasy score in the upcoming week. Tim Cahill is an against-the-grain selection – in the past few years he’s been immense for Everton, but it would take a truly confident fantasy manager to put faith in the misfiring Australian. Don’t be surprised if he pops up with a late header to win one of Everton’s two fixtures, though… Bale, Modric, Adebayor and VDV are much better acquisitions.

Prediction: Tottenham 2-0 over West Brom, Tottenham 2-1 over Everton

III. Studs & Duds: Everton and Tottenham players are a must own. We should see a reaction from Chelsea at Wolves after the miserable 1-3 home loss to Aston Villa. Juan Mata is the main man there: Stud. Perhaps Frank Lampard will see a rare start and reward us with a penalty kick or deflected strike for a goal. A stud if he starts.

Aston Villa are full of confidence and at home to Swansea. Agbonlahor is a stud despite his poor finishing at Stamford Bridge. Could former blog favorite Stephen Ireland return to fantasy stardom? He was immense at Manchester City a few seasons ago, and at 5.6M, may be worth a look in the second half of the season with regular starts. He’s just on the stud/dud fence for now, however, as he’s yet to nail down that starting spot. I have a hunch he’ll keep the starting spot but let’s wait and see… Amazingly, last year’s fantasy darling Charles N’Zogbia, picked up just his second assist of the season at Chelsea, and at just 6.6M could be a bargain stud going into the second half of the year as well. Stud at home to Swansea. Remember, he scored 14 league goals for Wigan in the past 2 years. Stud.

Swansea defenders go from studs to duds. We all love Vorm but he’s a dud on the road at Aston Villa.

Robin van Perise could be rested at Fulham, and I think Arsenal will have a difficult time at Craven Cottage, so the Gunners go from studs to the stud/dud fence. Play them, but don’t be surprised if RVP gets a rest and Walcott and/or Gervinho don’t crack the Fulham back line.

Yakubu is a stud at home to Stoke and Stoke defenders (usually reliable – but we warned you that they would concede against Wigan! And they did…) go into this one a bit bruised and battered. Huth, Shawcross, etc. are decent plays but not studs. Duds, in fact.

Clean sheets look tough to come by this week but the attacking talent will be exciting. Manchester United at Newcastle means goals – and Rooney could be the man to return to the starting lineup and finish with 1-2, after Berbatov took the plaudits the last few games. Nani has been poor in the last 2 games but looked amazing against Fulham a few weeks ago on the road so perhaps he combines with Valencia once again for some nice returns. Both studs despite the 3-2 home shock loss to Blackburn.

IV. Gameweek 20 Best Eleven:

GK: Guzan

D: Baines – Walker – Terry

M: Bale – Mata – Osman – Nani

F: Adebayor – Yakubu – Sturridge

Subs: T. Howard – N’Zogbia – Evra – Warnock