The 2020–21 Premier League season is being considered as one of the most unpredictable seasons with an increase in squad strength, fixture density, and some annoying injuries. Correspondingly, this year’s Fantasy Premier League has become more bizarre and entertaining with player returns being increasingly dubious. So we at the Fandemic, have decided to try our hands at creating the best possible squad that you can have to easily boss your leagues.
Gameweek 11 review:
In GW11, only Man City, Liverpool, and Tottenham managed to keep a clean sheet. However, their goalkeepers Ederson, Lloris, and Kelleher have a really low ownership rate. The highest owned GK Emiliano Martinez had his match canceled due to the coronavirus and the next highest owned Alex McCarthy lost his clean sheet to a fateful penalty against Brighton. Painful.
In Chelsea’s monumental win against Leeds United, defenders Kurt Zouma and Reece James produced significant attacking returns, and considering their string of clean sheets in the PL, they are must-haves for any squad. Patrick Bamford continued his superb attacking run extending his number of goals to 8. The game of returns continues to be in fine form for Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Kevin De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, and Mohamed Salah. Considering their fine run of form, the end of the European group stages, and the upcoming fixtures, these six players are becoming essential for any squad.
The gameweek also saw some surprising returns from some other players. Wilfried Zaha returned to the league after being sidelined for two weeks due to the coronavirus and registered a monstrous brace and an assist against a 10-men West Bromwich Albion. The Palace forward’s 18 points was the highest ever in the gameweek. Later in the week, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy scored pivotal goals against an out-of-form Sheffield united. Perez, already having scored on two separate occasions against Sheffield, didn’t disappoint as a differential pick. There were some disappointments too with Leicester’s James Justin blanking for the seventh time in nine gameweeks. The unavailability of Çağlar Söyüncü and Timothy Castagne is heavily costing the team’s defense. But the return of the Portuguese, Ricardo Pereira gives indications that the team can still perform well in defense.
Team Selection for Gameweek 12:
Playing XI:
In goal, we are going to go with Alex McCarthy. The saints’ goalkeeper’s 35 saves and 4 clean sheets in 11 games are hard to ignore. He faces Sheffield this week, and Fulham and Arsenal in the next 5 game weeks, who have relatively one of the lowest attacking returns. So, the probability of him keeping clean sheets is very high.
In the 11 game weeks so far, Chelsea and Tottenham have proved themselves to be incredible defensively with five clean sheets each. But Tottenham’s Europa League group stage run is coming to an end and we expect a lot of defensive rotations to take place before they enter the Round of 16 phase. Therefore, we decided to go for a Chelsea double-up in Reece James and Kurt Zouma. The duo has proven to be lethal in the wing and in corners respectively, and they face Everton, who haven’t had a good home form. Ben Chilwell is another good option, but our suggestion is to go for budget defenders and to use the remaining money on premium midfielders or forwards. Our third and final defender would be Ezri Konsa. The Villa defender has had 4 clean sheets in just 10 games, having also scored 2 goals in the process.
Our picks for the midfield are rather very easy to choose from. Our first choice midfielder is Mohamed Salah. With 12 goal contributions in 10 games, this player is very hard to ignore. He faces Fulham- a defensively weaker team with just a single clean sheet. Bruno Fernandes and Kevin De Bruyne are our next two choices who face each other in the Manchester derby. Although their run of form is pretty high on the charts, the two midfielders have failed to register significant attacking returns in previous derby games. But considering their pricing and the fixtures they have in the future, it’s hard to ignore them. Our suggestion is to keep your expectations low on Bruno and De Bruyne. Now that the premium midfielders are done, it’s time to go for some budget ones. We are going to go with Jack Grealish and Diogo Jota. The Villa midfielder has proven himself phenomenal and faces a shaky Wolves. Jota on the other hand has proven himself to be a good budget midfielder and faces Fulham next week.
For the forwards, we opt to go with Harry Kane and Patrick Bamford. The Spurs striker tops the table for forwards in attacking returns and the Leeds forward has enjoyed a good run of games offering us a budget option.
The Bench:
For the bench, we always suggest going with budget options who can salvage a point or two when any player in the main lineup accidentally misses the game. So we’re going to go with Illan Meslier, Tariq Lamptey, Rhian Brewster and Neco Williams.
Captain Choice:
For this week, Mo Salah is going to wear the captain’s armband. His fixture against Fulham is relatively easier compared to other probable candidates like Bruno Fernandes and KDB. Harry Kane against Crystal Palace seems like another fixture from which points can be expected and thus he’ll be carrying the Vice-Captain band.
Ones to watch out for:
Danny Ings- returns after an injury, good attacking returns, faces Sheffield United
Callum Wilson- 10 goal contributions in 10 games, faces West Brom
Heung-min Son- Can be replaced for another premium midfielder, is in a good form
Jamie Vardy- Has decent returns in the past few games, faces Brighton
