An early look ahead to Gameweek 19
| Sunday | 12:30pm | Liverpool v Leeds | Wolves v Watford | |||
| Sunday | 3:00pm | Burnley v Everton Man City v Leicester | Norwich v Arsenal Tottenham v C Palace | West Ham v Southampton | ||
| Sunday | 5:30pm | Aston Villa v Chelsea | ||||
| Sunday | 8:00pm | Brighton v Brentford | ||||
| Monday | 8:00pm | Newcastle v Man Utd |
Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline is 11:00 (GMT) on Sunday 26 December
STRONG FIXTURE
LIVERPOOL
This is set to be the last game for Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane before departing for African Cup of Nations duty. They will be hoping to leave in style, up against an injury-ravaged Leeds who are spiralling into relegation trouble following 7-0 and 4-1 defeats to Man City and Arsenal. Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham brought a Salah blank for only the second time this season, as Trent Alexander-Arnold outscored Salah for the seventh time in eight matches. His assist for Andrew Robertson continued an eventful afternoon for the Scotsman who, after providing the cross for Diogo Jota‘s goal, then went on to be sent off. Robertson will therefore be suspended against Leeds.
ARSENAL
Owners of Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Kieran Tierney will have been disappointed to lose the clean sheet at Elland Road, although Takehiro Tomiyasu was substituted before the consolation strike and bagged the points. Their good form has seen them sneak into fourth place, with a solid defence that has successfully shut out five of their last nine opponents and one of the most-owned midfielders in bargain Emile Smith Rowe.
His four goals between Gameweeks 9 and 14 saw him shoot up in both price and popularity, before missing two games with injury. Even when Mikel Arteta has benched him during the last pair of games, Smith Rowe has came on to score both times. Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard are also in-form, so it’ll be interesting to see how Arteta manages this pool of attacking talent over Christmas, starting at Norwich.
WOLVES
Sunday’s 0-0 stalemate with Chelsea continued an excellent sequence for their defence. Five clean sheets from seven matches, conceding only once against both Liverpool (stoppage time winner) and Man City (a penalty). No team has kept more during this period, although the expected goals conceded (xGC) of 7.65 suggests severe overachievement from names like Jose Sa and Conor Coady. Still, a home fixture against Watford is a good opportunity to bag another clean sheet and any remaining owners of Raul Jimenez will expect points.
INJURIES / BANS
Here is a round-up of the injuries we know of, alongside those serving or nearing a suspension.
TRANSFERS SO FAR
As of Monday afternoon, these are the most transferred in and out players of the week.
These tend to remain very similar by deadline, unless a major injury or return develops.
The form and cheap price of Martinelli has proved to be irresistible for over 178,000 managers, with the exclusion of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang likely to stabilise his game time. He faces Norwich (a) hoping to add to the three goals from two matches, with team mate Smith Rowe also a popular purchase after his successful cameos. Joao Cancelo‘s already large ownership has been boosted after an 18-point haul at Newcastle, comprised of a clean sheet, goal and assist.
Curiously, Smith Rowe finds himself amongst popular sales. Perhaps that could be managers thinking he’s now an impact substitute, although it could simply be a mass sideways move to the cheaper Martinelli. Virgil van Dijk has Covid-19 and is therefore the most-sold asset, ahead of Bernardo Silva and his failure to provide an attacking contribution to the 11 goals of Man City’s last week.
