Fantasy Football: Liverpool, Everton and Spring Break??

Feb 6

FPL Gameweek 26 Preview from @NiallHawthorne

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So, we’ve arrived at GW26 which will take place between February 8^th and July 23^rd by my calculations.

If you Captain a player who plays this weekend, you have an agonising wait to see the damage if he blanks. If you Captain a player who plays at the end of the GW, you have an agonising challenge to ignore all those red arrows that the FPL site will taunt you with for what will seem like an eternity.

What’s the solution? Take a Spring Break.

Yep, as with everything in the Premier League nowadays, they have got it all wrong. A winter break in spring (yes, it is spring, and if you believe it’s not then you celebrate Christmas during the bleak midwinter three weeks after Autumn ends, you bell ends) to go with their handling of VAR and racism.

So, take a spring break. Lock and load your team and then make like Jurgen Klopp and ignore your team for 10 days or so. Don’t check your rankings before Valentine’s Day (and especially not during Valentine’s Day, if you’re supposed to be paying attention to someone else…). Let GW25 happen and on the weekend of February 15^th it will be time to put your head in your hands, curse the FPL gods and start muttering ‘Wildcard’ to yourself over and over and over….

GW26 Defender: George Baldock, Sheffield United

When this season first kicked off and the name John Lundstram was being bandied about by those in the know, I first imagined a long-haired blonde Swedish dynamo. It’s like how you picture a popular radio DJ in your head before you see a picture of them and realise you have it all so very, very wrong (except for Chris Evans, who looks exactly as you’d expect).

Alas for us all, Lord Lundstram has reached the end of his FPL legendary status, so as with any parasitic organism (no offence intended), we move onto our next ‘host’.

George Baldock is the kind of name I’d expect to find in a World War II history book, standing proudly alongside his fighter plane after shooting down the enemy. He’s certainly not a name you would expect to be just three FPL points behind Lord Lundstram at this stage of the season, but he is, and you should now pick him up at no extra cost.

GW26 Midfielder: Richarlison de Andrade, Everton

If you played for Everton and you heard a rumour that Barcelona had bid £85,000,000 for your services which were rejected, you’d probably have one of two reactions:

You’d be so p*ssed off that you don’t get to play for Barca that you’d down tools and throw a sulk that Verruca Salt would be proud of.

Or…

You’d be strutting around like the lord of the manor mentioning to everyone you meet that Barcelona wanted to pay £85,000,000 for you, and you’d play like a God thanks to the extra confidence you had.

Based on his last performance it looks like Richarlison has had the latter reaction, and a home game against a Crystal Palace side without a clean sheet in about a decade is too good to ignore.

GW26 Forward: Sergio Aguero, Manchester City

Don’t let emotions get in the way of logic.

Yes, City are relatively crap this season compared to their usual standards. However, they face a West Ham United side that have conceded NINE goals in their last three games, including three to Brighton!

Pep kept his players back after school for nearly an hour the last day. I’m expecting a reaction. I’m expecting goals. I’m expecting an Aguero haul.

GW26 Captain: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

For all I’ve said about City above, you just can’t ignore Mo Salah right now. 8 goals, 3 assists and 13 BPS in his last 10 appearances, he’s now just three goals behind Vardy in the race for the Golden Boot, which he has won for the last two seasons.

An away game against the joint worst defence in the league, with his tail up, and probably with Sadio Mane back to make it that bit more complicated for the Canaries defenders…

Always Captain Salah.

GW26 Outsider: Toby Alderweireld, Tottenham Hotspur

Pretty much the only guaranteed ever-present in the Spurs rear-guard, and there are signs that Jose hasn’t lost his ability to galvanise a team and make them hard to break down. (I stress that is not based on the frankly hilarious match against Manchester City last weekend).

He’s owned by less than 5% and if Jose is getting his defensive message across (and without a reliable striker up front he’s going to rely on his defence more than ever), this may be the time to get Toby in.

GW26 Draft: Daniel Castelo Podence, Wolverhampton Wanderers

He caught the eye off the bench on debut. The words ‘Hazard-like’ where uttered by a certain pundit. Traore and his ‘natural’ physique have taken a bit of a battering recently.

He’s owned by 0.0%. What you got to lose?

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Fantasy Football – Gameweek 26 Preview Written by @NiallHawthorne