Risky Business — Gameweek 12
International matches cause all kinds of problems for fantasy football managers. We are all left second guessing who will play? Who will be rested? Who will carry their form over? Will there be any injuries?
Well, we all soldier on regardless in the hope that our free transfer can spark a little magic into our fantasy football squads.
Matt Phillips
Lets kick off this week’s Risky Business with West Brom’s Matt Phillips (£5.1). Phillips was the stand out player when West Brom faced Leicester, collecting 3 bonus points for his efforts.
He got the scoring under way in the 52nd minute by assisting James Morrison (£4.6). Phillips then put The Baggies ahead in the 72nd minute after an Islam Slimani (£8.3) equaliser.
His performance against the reigning champions has seen his selection percentage double to a modest 0.2%. Phillips was dropped against Man City in GW10 but now looks likely to retain a place in the starting lineup after last weeks heroics.
After the international break West Brom face Burnley at the Hawthorns. This season, Pulis’ men score 1.2 goals a game at home compared to 1 a game on their travels. You may be pushing your luck to get a clean sheet as they are conceding an average of 1.8 goals a game at home.
Sam Vokes
The last three weeks has seen Sam Vokes (£6.1) stock rise with 3 goals, 1 assist and 3 bonus points in four matches.
He’s currently sitting top in Burnley’s FPL form table after a good performance against Crystal Palace where he found the net and assisted Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.1) for his goal. Vokes’ contribution was later rewarded with 2 bonus points from the BPS.
Vokes is currently the top goal scorer for Burnley and is only selected by 3.1% of managers. The last game week saw around an extra 20,000 managers secure his services to boost their front line.
It seems time to take notice of the Welshmans performances up front. Now, this is Risky Business so Burnley’s scoring record away is poor. They have an average of 0.25 goals a game, which doesn’t inspire much confidence.
The final decision of if Sam Vokes is the man for you will be down to whether you have faith in a players form or a team stat.
Harry Kane
Kane has been laid up injured for 5 weeks but made his return against a rampant Arsenal side. The derby clash saw the honours shared after 90 minutes.
Kevin Wimmer (£4.6) was handed his first start of the season and scored a 42nd minute own goal. Mousa Dembélé (£5.4) was brought down in the box for Harry Kane (£10.7) to place home a 51st minute penalty.
Kane has dropped in value since the start of the season with injury being the main reason for the decline. But, with him being selected in the starting lineup straight away to face Arsenal, the signs are good for GW12.
Next in the sights for Spurs is a struggling West Ham side who have been struggling to find the form of last year. The 5.2% of managers who have Kane in their squads will be licking their lips at the prospect of a natural goal scorer coming up against such a fragile defence.
To give you a flavour of West Ham’s difficulties this season, they have conceded 2.2 goals a game while playing away. They also find themselves 17th in the table with a single point saving them the drop zone.
Originally published at THREE AT THE BACK.
