Gameweek 22: Players to avoid, Players to consider and FPL Tip of the Week | Fantasy Premier League 2018-19

Hello and thanks for coming back to read my picks to help you achieve FPL Legend status (or at least improve your squad!)

Here are 2 players to push out of your thinking for the coming weeks. I’ll review their previous performances and lay out my thinking for you.

Gameweek 22: Players to avoid

We may now see the goals dry up for the Newcastle frontman.

#1 Salomón Rondon - Forward (£5.8m)

Goals: 5

Assists: 2

Season Points: 59

Upcoming fixtures: CHE (A), CAR (H), MCI (H)

We may well have extracted as many points as we can expect from Rondon for now. I think we can say this for all Newcastle assets because they’re coming to a really rocky period. They face 3 of last season's top 6 in the next 4 weeks (they travel to Spurs in GW25) so we can assume Rondon won’t pick up many attacking returns.

He has 3 goals in his last 6 games but the shots he has taken has reduced somewhat. He’s taken 4 shots in his last 3 games (against Watford, Fulham & Huddersfield) compared to 13 in the 3 before that (against Wolves, Everton & West Ham).

You may want to keep him as your 3rd forward for your bench but £5.8m is a lot of money to be sitting on the bench for possibly 3 of your next 4 games.

#2 Jordan Pickford - Goalkeeper (£5.0m)

Pickford hasn't kept a clean sheet in 8 games

Clean Sheets: 4

Save points: 11

Season Points: 75

Upcoming fixtures: BOU (H), SOU (A), HUD (H)

Despite his heroics for England in the summer I feel like Pickford is a bad pick right now. Selected by 14.1% of the managers, he’s the 9th top scoring goalkeeper in the game this year, largely down to back-to-back penalty saves in GW9 and GW10, which yielded 16 extra points (10 points for penalties saved and 6 bonus points).

Everton haven’t kept a clean sheet since a 1-0 home win against Cardiff in GW13. With their upcoming fixtures (until they face City in GW27) they may well keep some clean sheets, but if that’s the case I’d be looking at Lucas Digne who I previewed before GW18.

Also see : Women's World Cup 2019, Womens World Cup Schedule, Womens World Cup Standings

Gameweek 22: Players to consider

Aguero looks like he's back to his best with a goal against the Saints.

#1 Sergio Aguero – Forward (£11.2m)

Goals: 9

Assists: 7

Season Points: 92

Upcoming fixtures: WOL (H), HUD (A), NEW (A)

I’m feeling a little nervous not owning Aguero coming into these next 3 games and that’s mainly because last time Aguero faced Huddersfield he brought me 20 points as my captain (3 goals, 1 assist and 3bps!) and he’s got them again in GW23.

He missed 4 games through injury from GW13 to GW17 and then made a substitute appearance in GW18 in his comeback game. Despite that, he’s still the 7th top scoring forward in the game and is only 7 points behind 3rd placed forward Callum Wilson.

Aguero has taken 8 shots in his last 2 games and scored 1 goal (should have bagged a 2nd against Southampton too!) and averages 4.82 shots per 90 minutes, which is higher than Kane (4.25) and Aubameyang (3.56). He’s also got the highest xG90 of the ‘big 3’ forwards with 0.77.

#2 Ricardo Pereira – Defender (£5.2m)

Pereira scored an absolute screamer against City in GW19

Clean Sheets: 7

Goals: 2

Assists: 4

Season Points: 92

Upcoming fixtures: SOU (H), WOL (A), LIV (A)

Pereira is in good form of late with 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 3 games. He loves playing against Everton as well with 1 goal and 1 assist against them this season! The ball he played for the Vardy goal against Everton last time out was fantastic. He feathered through a lovely first-time ball. He can also switch from soft and silky skill to raw power! His goal against Manchester City was an absolute screamer.

He’s now the Foxes' top points scorer this season with 92 points; that’s 15 more than closest rival Kasper Schmeichel! He’s also joint 5th for bonus points this season (14 – level with Alonso) and has achieved bonus points in 5 out of the 7 games Leicester have kept clean sheets this year. That means if Leicester keep a clean sheet, he’s likely to get you bonus points as well!

He does have a difficult run of fixtures from GW24-GW26 but against Everton, Pereira was basically a winger. He’s taken 8 shots in his last 4 games and made 3 key passes.

One of the golden rules of FPL is when there’s a player OOP (Out Of Position) in a more advanced role, you should consider them for your team. And Pereira is just that.

Pundit tips

Be sure to watch as much football as you can!

Watch football. @FPL_Heisenberg tipped this in our interview prior to GW21 (which you can find here) about the value of watching football in your decision making and I absolutely agree. 9 times out of 10 I’ll sit down on a Sunday morning with a coffee and watch the highlights of the Premier League games on the internet to validate my picks / find new picks.

You’ll see how often players touch the ball in the box, where they take their shots from and how often they get into goal scoring positions. You can draw from this their likelihood of scoring in the next game and if you’re brave, even see a player who doesn’t score, yet consistently gets into good positions.

So it’s really important to watch as much football as you can. If you can’t watch it live then watch the highlights!

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!