Brentford and West Ham may not have hit top form, but their upcoming fixtures bode well for Fantasy Premier League managers.
When recently discussing the Wildcard chip, we predicted that Gameweek Six would be a popular time for activating a week of unlimited free transfers because there’ll be various fixture swings taking place simultaneously.
Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak have been popular early picks among FPL bosses, but they have struggled to hit the same form as last season so farGetty
Early stockpiling of Newcastle, Brighton and Fulham players like Alexander Isak (£8.3m), Anthony Gordon (£7.3m), Joao Pedro (£5.6m), Emile Smith Rowe (£5.8m) and Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) suddenly brings uneasiness.
Meanwhile, things look more promising for other sides. So, whether you’re wildcarding or not, let’s pick out three teams whose improving fixtures are worthy of attention.
ARSENAL
Four points from consecutive trips to Tottenham and Manchester City were painfully close to being all six, teaching FPL managers that bad-looking fixtures probably don’t exist for this strong Arsenal.
Now, it’s back-to-back home fixtures against newly-promoted Leicester and Southampton – a good time to reverse Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) sales.
One of last season’s best assets, the 23-year-old takes penalties and has delivered attacking returns in every match so far.
His corners set up both recent Gabriel (£6.1m) goals, steering many towards the Brazilian centre-back – possibly in a double-up with David Raya (£5.6m) or William Saliba (£6.0m).
2023/24’s best team for clean sheets (18) and preventing goals (29) already has three shutouts from these opening five matches.
And such dominance means that owning one defensive Gunner mightn’t be enough to gain rank when they do well.
Another big target should be Kai Havertz (£8.1m), who has already netted twice this time but could be asked to do some midfield work in the absence of Martin Odegaard (£8.2m).
BRENTFORD
Next in this London-themed analysis is Brentford. Tricky trips to Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham are already out of the way, meaning they now face just one of last season’s top four in their next 13 games.
Gabriel has netted in back-to-back Premier League games and forms a formidable defensive pairing with William Saliba
Bryan Mbeumo’s stock is rising among FPL managers after a strong start to the seasonGetty
The Bees may have lost all of these away days but took 22-second leads in both of the latter two, also surrounding them with home wins over Crystal Palace and Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo (£7.2m) is currently on over 530,000 purchases for this week, one of the most-bought. He feels essential, but it’s not just about his electric start that has brought four goals.
It’s also the things that haven’t yet happened – penalties and assists, where he’s without one despite setting up four big chances.
You could even punt on a cheap midfielder like Kevin Schade (£5.4m) or Fabio Carvalho (£4.8m) while Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) is injured.
Elsewhere, their defence conceding a league-high 92 shots is understandable with such early fixtures, as is goalkeeper Mark Flekken’s (£4.5m) leading number of saves (28)
Either he or Nathan Collins (£4.5m) can cover their backline at home to Wolves and Ipswich.
Before then, they host West Ham.
WEST HAM UNITED
GettyJarrod Bowen and Danny Ings could have more joy in front of goal in their upcoming games[/caption]
Investment is low in Julen Lopetegui’s side, with no outfielder owned by over 6 per cent.
Whilst their Gameweek Two win and clean sheet at Crystal Palace was impressive, only a late Danny Ings (£5.0m) equaliser stopped the other four from all being defeats.
The new manager hasn’t yet improved their defence – conceding more shots inside the box (65) than anyone else – but their fixture run looks good until Christmas, except for Arsenal away.
It gives potential to an Alphonse Areola (£4.5m) and Lukasz Fabianski (£4.0m) combination.
Star man Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) has a goal and two assists, following 16 strikes in the previous campaign that included a hat-trick.
He could occasionally be used up front but midfield colleague Mohammed Kudus (£6.3m) currently beats him for shots (12) and big chances created (two).
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