Fantasy Premier League Tips: Who to bring in and move on this week

Neil Monnery
18 August 2016

Diego Costa is pointing the way to fantasy success

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We've finally seen how teams are planning to set up this season and Neil Monnery is back with some knee-jerk fantasy reactions ahead of Week 2...

"My colleague Joe Dyer didn't listen to me and went in on Costa and he was once again correct to ignore my words. The only downside in taking him is he risks a red card every single week. If you pick Costa he's a gamble but if he stays on the pitch, he'll score goals a plenty."

Ouchy Ayew
Andre Ayew was one of my favourite picks for the fantasy Premier League this season. Playing in a forward role with the likes of Andy Carroll causing havoc and Dimitri Payet providing the quality, at £7.5m he was an absolute steal. Yet here we are a week later and he's been ruled out for four months due to a thigh injury sustained on Monday night. Disaster.
At £7.5m I have identified three replacements if you are in a similar position. I do like Ross Barkley to finally become the player we all think he can be. Even last year in a down year he clocked up 158 fantasy points. He bagged a goal on opening weekend and I think he will create chances too.
Next up is Nathan Redmond who is only £6m. He is playing in a surprising striking role and anytime you can grab a cheap midfielder who plays as a striker then top banana. I can't pick Redmond due to my self-imposed no Southampton player rule due to my roots from the city along the M27 but if you aren't as stupid as me, you could do a whole lot worse than bringing in Redmond and saving £1.5m to spend elsewhere.
The third guy I like the look of is Erik Lamela. At £7m he is cheaper than Ayew and the way Spurs play, expect him to improve on his five goals and nine assists from last term. What I did like was the way he took his goal at Goodison Park on Saturday, he got across his man just like a centre-forward would do. If he has added that to his game then buy, buy, buy.

No love for Hart and Vorm to replace Lloris

Well this is a no brainer. If you had Joe Hart going into week 1, if he's still in your squad come week 2 then either you have a terrific backup keeper or you've already stopped caring about your team. Even if he goes out on loan to Everton and stays in the Premier League, Courtois, De Gea and Cech are all better value at this time (well maybe not Cech going on last Sunday). With Hugo Lloris also out injured for around a month, expect plenty of goalkeeping changes and Spurs backup Michel Vorm isn't a terrible short-term play at £5m

Costa is still the man

I didn't recommend picking up Diego Costa because I wasn't sure how new manager Antonio Conte would play. After 90 minutes of football we've seen that he's still clearly the main man for now and in the next three weeks they travel to Watford, entertain Burnley before a trip to Swansea. If you were on the fence like I was with regards to the Brazilian-born Spaniard then time to jump off. My colleague Joe Dyer didn't listen to me and went in on Costa and he was once again correct to ignore my words. The only downside in taking him is he risks a red card every single week. If you pick Costa he's a gamble but if he stays on the pitch, he'll score goals a plenty.

Only one shade of Gray

If you have no money and need to find a cheap nugget in midfield then I am extremely high on Demarai Gray. He looked excellent when he came on in the Community Shield and he started the league game away at Hull. He is pacy and skillful and secured an assist for getting tripped for the penalty (with an extra assist for the referee who couldn't see that the foul was outside of the box). With three home games in the next four against teams with questionable defences (Arsenal, Swansea and Burnley) then if you want to go cheap to help finance a bigger name elsewhere, you can do a whole lot worse than Gray.

Remember this week your transfers have to be completed by 19:00 BST on Friday due to the Manchester United v Southampton match on Friday night.

betting.betfair.com Fantasy Standings after Week 1

1 Spitting Llamas - 86
2 RED DEVILZ XI - 82
3 no pants dance fc - 73
4 FK Laudal - 71
5 Klopptimistic - 70
5 Ain't got a Kalou - 70
5 A Female Linesman? - 70
8 VampYMT - 69
9 Stretford FC - 68
9 The F Test - 68
9 Coysador - 68

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