Fantasy Premier League 2018-19, Gameweek 17: Players to avoid, Players to consider and FPL Tip of the Week

This slideshow will preview 3 players to avoid, 3 players to consider and one golden tip to help you improve in FPL.

Popular players to avoid for the coming weeks

Here are 3 players to push out of your thinking for the coming weeks. I’ll review their previous performances and lay out my thinking for you.

#1 Mat Ryan - Goalkeeper (£4.6m)

Clean Sheets: 3

Save points: 12

Season Points: 58

Upcoming fixtures: CHE (H), BOU (A), ARS (H)

Brighton don’t have a favourable fixture until GW24 (where they face Fulham at home) and they then embark on a great run of fixtures. In the next 7 gameweeks they face 4 of last season's top 6, as well as Everton, West Ham and Bournemouth. Couple that difficult run with the start of the AFC Asia Cup, where Ryan will be starting between the sticks for Australia! Avoid him for now – there are better options to consider.

#2 Rúben Neves - Midfielder (£5.0m)

Goals: 2

Assists: 1

Season Points: 45

Upcoming fixtures: BOU (A), LIV (H), FUL (A)

I was surprised to see Neves was in 13.6% of teams (I imagine a lot of those teams are now ‘dead’) so if he’s in your team – he needs to be moved out! He’s taken 41 shots this year (on average 3 per game) yet only 8 of those have been on target. Both goals have been from set pieces (1 penalty and 1 free kick)

Coupled with an on-off ‘good game – bad game’ schedule (Spurs, Palace, City, Wolves) for the next 7 games, his returns will be limited.

#3 David Silva – Midfielder (£8.7m)

Goals: 5

Assists: 2

Season Points: 72

Upcoming fixtures: EVE (H), CRY (H), LEI (A)

Value drop potentially coming, he’s injured! Owned by 9.9% of managers and despite his sparkling form, his injury was confirmed today in Pep Guardiola's press conference.

Pep reveals David Silva [hamstring] is going to be a "few weeks". De Bruyne and Danilo will not feature tomorrow in the Champions League. Aguero is also out, although he could return to the matchday squad this weekend. #MCFC
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) December 11, 2018

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City have great fixtures and even Kevin De Bruyne is on his way back, so it’s worthwhile looking elsewhere in the team.

Check out the next page for the Pundit's views on who you may want to consider instead!

Players to consider for the coming weeks

#1 Raheem Sterling – Midfielder (£11.6m)

Goals: 8

Assists: 7

Season Points: 106

Upcoming fixtures: EVE (H), CRY (H), LEI (A)

Starting with the obvious, Raheem Sterling provides excellent value for money this season. 16th in the league for shots (32), his conversion rate is 25%. In fact, 8 of his 17 on target shots have led to goals (47%). He, of course, will be prone to rotation but has only been rested in 3 out of 16 games, and hasn’t made a bench appearance so far this year. I expect him to be in the City team more and more.

2nd for overall points this year and 4th for top scoring for bonus points – yet only the 16th most owned player, Raheem could really help you boost your rank!

#2 Heung-Min Son – Midfielder (£8.5m)

Goals: 3

Assists: 3

Season Points: 51

Upcoming fixtures: BUR (H), EVE (A), BOU (H)

Son was rested at the start of the season after a hectic summer including a World Cup and winning the Asian Games with South Korea, he’s back with a bang now. With 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 4 games, Son has really hit form now.

With electric pace and the potential to lead the line, as seen against Leicester, he has the potential to bag some great points over Christmas. One point to note, he may be selected and miss 2 games in January in the AFC Asian Cup. So make sure you’ve got a strong bench!

And those fixtures are great, especially against the fragile Burnley and Bournemouth, it’s hard to ignore Son. And let’s be honest, he’s got the greatest smile in football!

#3 Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández – Forward (£6.4m)

Goals: 4

Assists: 2

Season Points: 43

Upcoming fixtures: FUL (A), WAT (H), SOU (A)

A real ‘fox in the box’ option up front for a great price, Chicharito has 24 points in his last 3, consisting of 3 goals, 1 assist and 3 bonus points. He’ll be getting great service from the in-form Felipe Anderson, and seemingly the first choice until at least the new year with Arnautovic being injured, he could rack up the points for you.

He’s only owned by 4.8% of managers so could be a great route into the West Ham attack to get the jump on others in your Mini-League!

Keep reading for the Tip of the Gameweek!

Tip of the Gameweek

There's no need to rush after last week's top scorers

Here's a quote from the movie Toy Story which aptly sums up the situation:

“Sheriff this is no time to panic”

“This is the perfect time to panic! I’m lost, Andy is gone. They’re going to move from the house in 2 days and it’s all your fault!”

What’s the message?

DO NOT PANIC!

You will have bad gameweeks. You’ll have big rank drops. You’ll see others fly past you in your Mini-League after you’ve had a terrible week of 34 points (true story – happened to me this week!) but you need to keep your cool.

You’ve made a plan, stick with it. James from the Planet FPL podcast said earlier this year that often the best thing you can do after a bad week is nothing. And, I agree. You'll be tempted to rush in last week's big scorer, to chase points. You'll be tempted to take lots of hits to tear your team apart. I implore you not to be rash(ford)!

Take a step back, evaluate all the data you have and remember you’ve made a plan... and that plan didn't include a 16 point hit which involved bringing in James Tarkowski!

You can find me on Twitter @FPL_Jim, where you can send me any questions, send me a direct message if that's your thing and I'll always get back to you!

Edited by Raunak J