Fantasy picks and comparisons -Game-week 30

-Jointy Rhodes

We know your time is precious, so let us do the comparison for you.

Keepers-

Forster vs Courtois

Southampton and Chelsea have conceded the least goals in the premiership and their keepers are a safe bet for this week as they face Burnley and Hull (Both team have an awful goal scoring ratio of 0.89 per game).

Player	Courtois	Forster
Cost	5.9	5.6
Points	86	117
Fixtures	HUL(A),STK(H),QPR(A)	BUR(H),EVE(A),HUL(H)
Form (Pts in Last 5 games played)	18	20
Clean sheets	8	13
Goals conceded	23	21
Saves	55	61
Bonus	0	0

Defenders-

Ivanovic remains the most reliable fantasy defender. While Bellerin and Wilson are the in-form bargain options. Bellerin faces Newcastle who have only scored thrice in their last six games.

Player	Rose	Bellerin	Ivanovic	Alderweireld	Wilson
Cost	4.9	4.6	7.5	4.7	4.4
Points	75	42	146	65	61
Fixtures	LEI(H) BUR(A) AVL(H)	NEW(A) LIV(H) BUR(A)	HUL(A) STK(H) QPR(A)	BUR(H) EVE(A) HUL(H)	CRY(H) CHE(A) WHU(A)
Form (Last 5 games played)	21	25	32	20	21
Clean sheets	4	4	13	7	5
Goals/Assists	2/4	1/1	4/5	1/0	0/0
Yellow cards	4	3	6	2	4
Bonus	7	3	13	1	8

Midfielders-

Silva has always been applauded as the creative genius in the City engine and now  that he has added goal-scoring to his arsenal, he is as admired in the fantasy world. Coutinho has found good form but Liverpool faces a difficult fixture (Away to United and then hosting Arsenal). Mane, available at 6.6, remains a reliable cheap option. Hazard…..well just look at those stats.

Player	Hazard	Silva	Mane	Coutinho
Cost	11	9.7	6.6	7.9
Points	172	136	90	101
Fixtures	HUL(A) STK(H) QPR(A)	WBA(H) CRY(A) MUN(A)	BUR(H) EVE(A) HUL(H)	MUN(H) ARS(A) NEW(H)
Form (Last 5 games played)	33	37	20	29
Clean sheets	15	7	5	9
Goals/Assists	10/7	10/6	7/3	4/5
Yellow cards	2	4	5	2
Bonus	32	20	10	12

Forward

Kane is the headline grabber for his inclusion in the England squad and his owners would be hoping this doesn’t get to his head. They can rest assure that Kane will continue his exploits given that he is mature despite his age and faces some easy fixtures.

Costa leads the goal scoring chart and his next three fixtures read-Hull(A), Stoke(H) and QPR(A).

Given most teams already have Kane (49%) and Costa (39%), we cover two strikers who are matching their form and are not as popular. Olivier Giroud has 7 goals and an assist in his last 8 appearance as Arsenal continue the trend of finding their best form in the last third of the season. Christian Benteke looks like his former self as Tim Sherwood continues to rejuvenate Aston Villa.

Player	Kane	Giroud	Costa	Benteke
Cost	6.3	8.4	11	7.4
Points	147	87	129	69
Fixtures	LEI(H) BUR(A) AVL(H)	NEW(A) LIV(H) BUR(A)	HUL(A) STK(H) QPR(A)	SWA(H) MUN(A) QPR(H)
Form (Last 5 games played)	32	31	32	30
Goals/Assists	16/6	11/3	18/2	5/2
Yellow cards	3	5	7	0
Bonus	28	12	14	9

Bargain-Bellerin and Mane

Captain-Kane (Silva for differential)

Adios, until next game-week.

Europe’s most hotly contested spots.

-by Jointy Rhodes

Europe’s most hotly contested spots-This is a series on Europe’s top league’s most fiercely contested races. The series will cover Champions league spot, Europa League spot, title and relegation race. First up is Champions league spot and there are no prizes for guessing which league features the hottest race for UCL.

Premier league 4th spot.

The UEFA Champions league is Europe’s premier contest and it brings clubs revenue, exposure and a shot to compete with the continent’s best. England currently has four slots for the UCL-top three spots enjoy automatic entry while the fourth one progresses after a two legged qualification match. The race for England’s fourth spot is perhaps Europe’s most hotly contested

The contenders-

Manchester City 2nd spot 58 points

Arsenal 3rd spot 57 points

Manchester United 4th spot 56 points

Liverpool 5th spot 54 points

The pretenders-

Southampton 6th spot 50 points

Totenham 7th spot 50 points

Recent results

Manchester City’s loss at Turf Moor was a setback to their title credential and they must be sweating over Arsenal’s perennial rise in the last third of the season and Liverpool’s red hot form since their last defeat in December to bitter rival’s Manchester United. United themselves put up their best performance since Louis Van Gaal took over in a 3-0 win over Totenham, and now believe that they can usurp city for the second spot.

Southampton put up an excellent performance to deny Chelsea three points but find themselves six points off the fourth spot. Totenham, meanwhile, were dreadful in their 3-0 defeat to United, a game where they took 88 minutes to test De Gea.

All distractions off?

Of the six teams fighting for next year’s UCL, only two remain in the current competition and chances of their progression look very slim. Arsenal face an uphill task of going to the Principality of Monaco and overturning a 3-1 deficit. Monaco haven’t conceded at home in the UCL proper so far and the three away goal  loom over Arsenal like a skeleton carrying a scythe.

Manchester City face Barcelona, who lead the tie 2-1. The difference could have been more had Messi converted his late penalty. Overcoming an in-form Barcelona at Camp Nou seems unlikely given City’s recent struggle.

The other distraction comes in the form of the FA cup which sees Arsenal paired against Reading in the semifinal while Liverpool faces Blackburn Rovers in a quarter final replay, the winner of which will face a rejuvenated Aston Villa under new manager Tim Sherwood.

The key personnel

City-Kompany

The Manchester CIty captain has been criticized recently for poor performances and City looks short on defensive options. Demichelis continues to be reliable but Mangala looks like he hasn’t adjusted to the premier league yet. City has no one but themselves to blame as they let go of Nastasic while youth option Rekik is on loan to PSV.

Kompany will have to rediscover his form if City are to hold the second spot. Anything less would not suit the ambitious City project.

Arsenal-Ramsey

Ramsey was simply scintillating against West Ham, who were helpless against his forward charges. The Welshman has been involved with everything good happening at Arsenal recently-from banging the winner in last year’s F.A. cup final to playing a key part in the 2-0 victory against City, which many believe to be a turning point for Arsenal.

Arsenal fans will be hoping for more of the same from Ramsey.

United-Van Gaal

It would be a shame if such an expensively assembled squad misses out on UCL action. Van Gaal has had a tough time at United-injuries, exits from cups, endless tinkering (not the Guardiola type), media rants, Falcao, comparison with Moyes, diving…..the list seems endless. Even the good things happening at United so far had a negative undertone to them-victories criticized for poor performances, unbeaten streaks criticized for being mostly draws. The 3-0 victory against Spurs is perhaps the first time Van Gaal has been allowed a breather for a long time. The performance this time was superb-United were in cruise control and took an early lead, added two more before halftime and kept Spurs quiet for the rest of the game. It was a complete performance, the kind which United need to keep up with Arsenal’s and Liverpool’s streak.

Liverpool-The defensive unit

The scoreline read 3-0 to United at Old Trafford as Mignolet watched from the sidelines. Rodgers had talked to him before the game and told him he had been dropped for an indefinite period. This game would become a turning point for both Liverpool and Mignolet. Rodgers was pleased with the three man defense despite the loss and his present system of three defenders and two holding midfielders has served Liverpool very well. Meanwhile Mignolet responded to being benched by improving his handling of crosses and being more confident coming out of his zone. In the last six games he has kept four clean sheets and conceded three.

Of the top five sides, Liverpool have scored the least number of goals and have conceded the most (tied at 30 with Arsenal). Their goal difference is also weak compared to the sides currently sitting in UCl spot.The Liverpool defense will have a crucial say in the remaining game.

Special mention

Ligue 1

Ten points separate the top six sides (Make it seven shall Montpellier wins their game in hand against Monaco.) and only three will qualify for the UCL. Bordeaux’s win over PSG, which came in the headline for Zlatan’s after-match reaction, has added more spice to the race.