Steem Fantasy Premier League - Gameweek 16 Review

For the third time in a week Fantasy Premier League managers have to get ready for a new gameweek. Heading towards gameweek 16 I‘ve decided to take a look at some stats from the last four gameweeks to get an overview on how teams are performing at the moment.This could be helpful when taking decisions on what to do with our teams.

Firstly, and this won’t come as a surprise for anyone, Manchester City are still the side with the most attacking potential in the Premier League. Over the last four Gameweeks, the defending champions are top for penalty box touches (153), shots inside the box (41) and big chances (14). Only Liverpool and Tottenham have more shots on target under this this period.

I was about to finally sell Salah for Sterling or a Spurs midfielder this gameweek but when looking at chances conceded in the last for gameweeks I may have changed my mind. Bournemouth sits top in “goal attempts conceded in the penalty box” with 53 and with Salah expected to start at the Vitality Stadium after being benched in gameweek 15 there should be plenty of opportunities for him to score. Should he get one more week to prove his worth, and maybe even the captain’s armband?

I can see that many are going for Arsenal forwards because of their swing in fixtures, and rightly so. We should though have in mind that Huddersfield (the team Arsenal play in gw 16) defence haven’t been as bad as some might think. Stats from the last four gameweeks shows that only Manchester City, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Chelsea have conceded fewer chance per minute. In “big chances conceded” Huddersfield are the seventh worst team and with Aubameyang and Lacazette, two of the most clinical forwards in the league, they better not give away too many “big chances” this weekend.

And then a short look at teams with the “best” and “worst” upcoming fixtures (it’s of course arguable which fixtures are good or bad but at least it tells us something)

Best fixtures:
Tottenham (Next six: lei, BUR, eve, BOU, WOL, car)
West Ham (Next six: CRY, ful, WAT, sou, bur, BHA)
Arsenal (Next six: HUD, sou, BUR, bha, liv, FUL)
Manchester United (Next six: FUL, liv, car, HUD, BOU, new)

Worst fixtures:
Liverpool (Next six: bou, MUN, wol, NEW, ARS, mci)
Leicester City (Next six: TOT, cry, che, MCI, CAR, eve)
Bournemouth (Next five: LIV, wol, BHA, tot, mun)

Gameweek 16 fixtures:

Match previews

Chelsea - Manchester City

Unbeaten leaders Manchester City are targeting an eighth straight Premier League victory as they visit fourth-placed Chelsea. Chelsea, on the other hand, are aiming to respond after losing at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Chelsea have now suffered two defeats in their last three and have won just two of their past five games in all competitions, while City have won 10 of their past 11. Maurizio Sarri's men will hope that they can get back winning ways.This a big match for Chelsea as they look to re-establish a foothold in the top four. A loss here would make the gap between the teams to 13 points and at the same time an end to tChelse’s hopes of a league title. City have been the better team in recent meeting between the clubs and have now the opportunity to beat Chelsea for the fourth time in a row in all competitions, something they have never done before. This is the 161st meeting between the teams.

With no new injury concerns, ​Chelsea boss Sarri is likely have a full strength matchday squad available once again and there will for sure be changes to team that lost to Wolves earlier in the week against ​Wolves.

Guardiola and City will be without Benjamin Mendy (knee) and with young Oleksandr Zinchenko also missing due to injury Fabian Delph play as left back. Kevin de Bruyne (knee) remains out but Aguero could come back into the starting lineups after he has missed the last two matches.

Possible starting lineups:
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Jorginho, Kante, Kovačić; Pedro, Hazard, Morata
Manchester City:​ Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Delph; Fernandinho, D. Silva, B. Silva; Sané, Sterling, Agüero

Leicester- Tottenham

Leicester City are aiming to extend their unbeaten run to seven Premier League matches as they host third-placed Tottenham Hotspur. A spurs team who are seeking a second successive victory after beating Southampton in midweek and losing to Arsenal last weekend. Since Leicester returned to Premier League in 2014/15, PL matches between the Foxes and Spurs have produced 34 goaladyght Saturs. This should spell an entertaining late-evening Saturday game. Interestingly none of Spurs' last 19 PL matches have ended in a draw and Mauricio Pochettino's side have won 14 of those.

Both teams will once again rely on their top-forwards to produce goals, and rightly so. Jamie Vardy (fitness doubt for this gameweek) has scored four goals and assisted three in his last seven PL appearances against Spurs while Harry Kane has scored 13 goals in 11 appearances against Leicester in all competitions, more than against any other opponent. He has had a hand in eight goals in his last three PL appearances against the Foxes, striking seven times and contributing an assist. This is maybe something for FPL managers to have in mind when choosing the captain for gameweek 16?

And some team news. Dele Alli is likely to come back to the starting lineup. He could replace Eriksen with Champions League trip to Barcelona coming up next week. Serge Aurier should come in for Kieran Trippier, who isn’t fully fit, at right-back, while Vertonghen may replace Alderweireld or Foyth in one of the centre-back positions.

Puel will make changes to the starting lineup after rested a number of his established players for the trip to Fulham. For example Demarai Gray is likely to start on the flank while Ricardo Pereira is likely to replace Danny Simpson at right-back. Two of Leicester’s most important players Harry Maguire and Jamie Vardy both remains fitness doubts for the clach.

Possible starting lineups:
Leicester:Schmeichel; Pereira, Morgan, Maguire, Chilwell; Mendy, Ndidi; Albrighton, Maddison, Gray; Iheanacho
Tottenham:Lloris; Aurier, Foyth, Vertonghen, Rose; Sissoko, Winks; Moura, Alli, Son; Kane

Steem-pick

It feels like everybody speaks about Aubameyang when talking Arsenal forwards but I have somehow got the feeling it’s his striker partner Lacazette (9.6m) (for 2.5 million less) that has got the best chance to score big this weekend. Lacazette has only come on as a substitute in the two last matches while Aubameyang has played full 90 minutes in both of them. I expect them both to start at the weekend but if Arsenal for example are 2-0 up after 50-60 minutes I can see Aubameyang coming of while Lacazette could get a full 90 minutes. Lacazette was in really good before his injury but has also passed my eye-test in recent games and is now my steem-pick for gameweek 16 (even if I have his striker partner in my team from earlier).

Please, let us know your thoughts on the upcoming gameweek!

Disclaimer: This post is written by @matinho. The rewards of these posts are gathered in a pool to be rewarded to managers of the league and authors at the end of the season.

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