Following on from our semi popular Premier League predictions, we offer our weekly EPL Fantasy preview – The Own Goal FPL Week 29.
Each week we’ll attempt to give a quick round-up of some of the points of interest in Fantasy Premier League.
We used to do a podcast through our Fantasy United team, but who’s got time for that these days.
So much football it’s hard to keep up, and here is our best effort.
So enjoy The Own Goal FPL Week 29 preview.
Disclaimer: We are Ipswich Town fans, so have no prejudice against any side in this division. Or the next, come August 2019.
FPL Week 29 – WHO’S HOT
Here’s a quick rundown of who is catching the eye from the midweek and beyond.
NEWCASTLE
Four wins at home in a row now, fourth in the last six form overall, and up to 13th place and six points clear of relegation. We’ve already gone on about Miguel Almiron and while there have only been the appearance points so far, a big bag O points is coming soon. Salomón Rondón, is looking better each week, and at 5.9 is value. As is midweek scorer Sean Longstaff at 4.5. Fabian Schar though smashed home the goal of the midweek, and with a clean sheet shoveled up 15 points.
SADIO MANE
The in form Liverpool man at the moment. Has six goals in his last six games for a total of 48 points. Mo Salah in the same period has three goals and 33 points. Mane scored two in the midweek 5-0 win.
LIVERPOOL DEFENDERS
Assists and goals galore, with a clean sheet as the cherry. Take as many as you can cram into your side on this form. 2 assists for Andrew Robertson, 3 assists for Trent Alexander-Arnold, and two goals for Virgil van Dijk. It’s all good.
ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE
Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette has in five of his last six matches for the Gunners. It seems to have inspired the usually underperforming Henrikh Mkhitaryan into action. He has 30 points in two games courtesy of two goals and three assists.
HUDDERSFIELD
A shout out for the Terriers going down with a fight. Secured a double against Wolves for the season. Worth a look for cheapies if the form continues. They play four of the bottom six in the next six weeks. And just one from the top six. More Mooy or Mounie?
FPL WEEK 29 – WHO’S NOT
BRIGHTON AWAY
Just can’t take them away from home. Glenn Murray wasted a few great chances to score.
FULHAM
Going down. But worth keeping an eye on players like Sessegnon in anticipation of avoiding the drop for another EPL side next season. Tom Cairney and Aleksandr Mitrovic seem the only ones who will get a gig in the EPL next season.
Now Caludio Ranieri has got the boot. So maybe we’ll look into this more next week.
CARDIFF
Two big losses at home in a row. There is some value to be had, but no point if they’re getting flogged.
FPL Week 29 – NEW MANAGER BOUNCE AT LEICESTER?
With Claude Puel’s exit and Brendan Rodgers arrival at Leicester, there opens an opportunity for some players to shine, who can no longer hide behind the excuse of the underperforming manager. Here’s a few worth considering. New manager Rodgers has a bit to prove, as do the players. They play in the dreaded Week 31.
JAMIE VARDY – Value 8.8 – Form 3.0 – Total 98pts
After Claudio Ranieri got sacked in 16-17, Vardy went on to score five goals and two assists in the following five games from the sacking. By season’s end, he had eight goals and five assists. He’s already scored one goal.
JAMES MADDISON – Value 6.6 – Form 2.8 – Total 95pts
Due for a turnaround – averaging under 2 points a game for his last eight. Loves to have a shot, soon a lot of them will gone in. Looked sharp against Brighton.
YOURI TIELEMANS – Value 6.0 – Form 2.0 – Total 8pts
In from Monaco, he has looked good without scoring any points in his few games for Leicester. Scored five goals and an assist for Monaco this season so far, not bad in a Monaco side who have been poor this year in Ligue 1. Secured an assist in midweek.
HARVEY BARNES – Value 5.5 – Form 2.2 – Total 17pts
A very handy prospect for the Foxes, who returned to the club after a loan at Championship side West Brom, where he scored nine goals and provided seven assists in 20 games. Got an assist in the coach killing loss against Crystal Palace last weekend, and looked good midweek.
HARRY MAGUIRE – Value 5.4 – Form 2.6 – Total 73pts
Not the greatest season for someone who was supposedly off the Man Utd in the summer. Probably need to wait to see how Leicester will change defensively, but Maguire does chime in with the occasional lazy goal.
FPL Week 29 – HEAD to HEAD – SALAH or SADIO
Is Mo Salah worth the big price? Or is there sense in taking Sadio Mane, and spending the difference elsewhere. There’s always a risk in getting rid of one of the best players in the Premier League in the past two seasons, but to help you feel better about it, here are some Head to Head stats.
| Stat | Salah | Sane |
| Form | 3.6 | 8.2 |
| Bonus Points | 15 | 16 |
| Total Points | 195 | 154 |
| Total Points per Million | 14.4 | 15.9 |
| Next 4 Games Opp History * | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| Everton (Matches,Goals,Assists) | 2-1-0 | 1-0-0 |
| Burnley | 1-1-1 | 4-1-0 |
| Fulham | 1-1-0 | 8-3-0 |
| Spurs | 7-5-0 | 8-2-0 |
- Score is adding the goals and assists together and dividing by the total number of matches played against all 4 sides.
Winner – Mane wins 3-2
FPL Week 29 – CAPTAIN? MY CAPTAIN?
The difference between a great week and an average week is the choice of captain, so to save a bit of time here is the stats for a selection of choices against this week’s opponent. Not that always works as Mo Salah proved this midweek.
We’ve ranked them by Number of Goals/Assists per match.
| Player | vs | Matches | Goals | Assists | AvgPerMatch |
| Aguero | Bournemouth | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Sterling | Bournemouth | 7 | 10 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Rashford | Southampton | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 |
| Aubameyang | Spurs | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1.0 |
| Hazard | Fulham | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1.0 |
| Kane | Arsenal | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1.0 |
| Vardy | Watford | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0.8 |
| Lacazette | Spurs | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0.7 |
| David Silva | Bournemouth | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0.5 |
| Salah | Everton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 |
| Mane | Everton | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0.5 |
| Son | Arsenal | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0.4 |
| Sane | Bournemouth | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.3 |
| Eriksen | Arsenal | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0.1 |
| Pogba | Southampton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
We suggest: Aguero, Sterling, Rashford or Vardy
FPL Week 29 – OUR TEAM
You can’t give off tips without putting your money where your mouth is, so our team details are here for your information. Feel free to pick our team apart at your leisure.
FPL – Electric Higuita Exp
FPL Week 29 STATS AND STUFF
Here’s some slightly useful information about upcoming games for each team. We have a table showing the split between top and bottom 6 teams, and the sweet middle for each teams next six weeks.
Following on from that, we have designed a measure to rank each team’s next 6 games in difficulty. Using opposition ranking, points, factoring in home and away fixtures, and using a calculation of current form.
With thanks to Transfermarkt for and WhoScored most of the above stats.
