Panic! at Dzeko

By Lawdogg (@PlanoGooner)

A cold, dreary welcome back from the emergency bunkers here at Fantasy Football 247 headquarters. With a rash of injuries, poor player performances and low scores for most fantasy teams, we’ve heard rumours of fantasy managers acting erratically so we’ve set up shop down here with our IBM Selectric III typewriters and a three-year’s supply of MRE’s.

Ditch Sterling or hold on and lose value? Is Costa healthy enough to play or worth the headache? How do I get Baines in my team? Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez is a must-have! Should I drop Fabregas to get Hazard? Should I keep Sigurdsson? Di Maria must go for, erm, someone who isn’t as good as he is…

Fantasy owners say the darndest things! People around the globe are tearing up teams they’ve spent weeks tweaking to perfection based on a single week’s results or mini-trends. We’re here to help keep your powder dry until the smoke settles.

Raheem Sterling

We think the young England International is pure class and, if we were talking about fielding a real team, we would obviously want the young man in our side. Sterling has delivered a goal or assist in five of Liverpool’s first nine games. Nevertheless, more than 35,000 fantasy managers shipped Sterling out at the weekend, resulting in a price drop with another taking place on Tuesday night.

It appears painfully obvious Liverpool aren’t the same side without a healthy Daniel Sturridge and, to an extent, Sterling isn’t the same player without him either. Mario Balotelli isn’t the solution and Brendan Rodgers’ reluctance to give Rickie Lambert 90 minutes has to frustrate Liverpool supporters.

Our Verdict: Hold or Sell, depending on the quality of your midfield. Keep an eye on Sturridge injury updates: if he has another setback then it might be time to ship Sterling. Liverpool’s manageable fixture list over the next six weeks suggests Sterling can continue to produce despite a lack of attacking talent to complement his talents. However, if you need to sacrifice someone to get di Maria or Fabregas into your side, Sterling can be that man in the short-term.

Diego Costa

We all knew we were striking a Faustian deal when we drafted Costa into our team so we really have no one to blame but ourselves. The talented striker’s hamstrings are dodgier than a John Terry legal defence.

So much has been said and written about the Chelsea striker but his re-occurring hamstring injury finally resulted in his missing a league game, and that’s something we can’t tolerate for the money he costs. It appears fantasy managers have had enough: his price has dropped a whopping £0.4 since the injury was announced, and there’s no indication the transfer free-fall will stop there.

Our Verdict: Hold. As with everything involving Jose Mourinho, this one is causing us headaches. Hold or Buy? This was close but our recommendation right now is to hold. Reports are now indicating Costa may well be fit to face QPR, and we recommend tuning in to Mourinho’s Friday presser to get the latest, possibly true update on Costa. If you haven’t sold him by now, keep him. If you have sold him, you might want to keep that free transfer in your back pocket until more news leaks out about Costa’s status for Saturday. One final note: we’re hearing rumours Costa will undergo surgery to fix his dodgy hamstring during the next international break and, if true, he would miss in the neighbourhood of six weeks of action – something to keep an eye on.

Leighton Baines

You need to get him in your squad. Now. We don’t mind waiting…

The Everton man has rewarded his owners with four assists and five bonus points in his last three games, and those without him are starting to wonder why they still have Ivanovic. Baines’ 51 points this season sees him tied for as the seventh highest-scoring FPL player this season. He doesn’t require clean sheets to score big for you and, with friendly seas ahead, there’s no reason to not hop aboard.

Our Verdict: Buy. If you’ve read our previous posts you probably could have guessed this recommendation, but the Everton defender is the one defender we think of as a “must-have.” His price is on the rise, so the sooner you hop aboard this bandwagon, the better.

Alexis Sanchez

With three goals and an assist in his last two games managers this week are clamouring about trying to figure a way to get the Chilean into their team. Our issue with Sanchez isn’t his talent; he’s clearly among the league’s elite players. Arsenal’s crowded midfield has seen Sanchez play a full 90 minutes only five times in his team’s first nine games and, with Walcott and Ramsey healthy again, something has to give. It’s hard to imagine Sanchez not playing in Arsenal’s Champions League fixtures and with no shortage of options we think it likely Sanchez will be rested for league matches if he features during the week in Europe.

Our Verdict: Wait. We’re reluctant to bring him in because we think there’s a very real rotation risk and it is likely you can’t bring him into your team without a major overhaul. Based on the money you’ll spend to get him, there are safer midfielders to have in your team for now. Wait another week and see how Arsene Wenger plays him once if everyone is healthy again.

Cesc Fabregas v. Eden Hazard

Cesc Fabregas has created more scoring chances than any other player in the Premier League this season and has a goal and eight assists to show for it. Despite this performance, owners are debating dropping Fabregas to bring in his midfield mate, Eden Hazard.

Why? The reason we hear most often is that Fabregas plays too deep to be a real threat. We admit he plays deeper than he did at Arsenal, making it unlikely he’ll duplicate the 15 goals he scored in the 2009/10 season, but goal scoring has never been the focus of Fabregas’ game. It is clear Mourinho gives him the freedom to drift forward when he wants and we don’t see any reason why he won’t continue to serve up perfect passes in the final third.

The argument for Hazard goes something like this: do you remember all those great goals last year? We do, and they were amazing, but the situation at Stamford Bridge has changed. So too has Hazard’s role. Last season the Belgian was the (real) focus of Chelsea's attack. This year they have a number of quality finishers available and this has seen Hazard’s offensive production decline.

Our Verdict: I’m bringing Cescy back. If reports of Costa needing surgery prove true, then Hazard may be the man to get as he’ll immediately play a bigger part in Chelsea’s offence. Until then though, we think it makes sense to hold on to Cesc for the time being.

Gylfi Sigurdsson

Owners are debating shipping Siggy due to tough fixtures ahead but, in our opinion, the fixtures aren’t that tough. Swansea face Everton, Arsenal and Manchester City in their next three, and we think City are the only real threat to keep quiet the Ice Man. Everton are terrible at the back this year and by the time he faces Arsenal it’s likely that the side’s injury crises will likely see them playing a llama at centre back. Llamas are cute but they can’t play defence. He’s served up seven assists this season and it appears he and Wilfred Bony have finally started to click. He’s the best sub-£7.0 midfielder, and we think an argument could be made he’s the best midfielder priced less than £8.0.

Our Verdict: Hold. There’s no reason to suggest Siggy won’t continue to produce over the next three weeks and Swansea’s six fixtures after that are all winnable.

Angel di Maria

For some reason owners are dropping di Maria after a poor showing last week, so much so that his price could potentially drop this week. *shakes head disapprovingly*

There’s a reason why ADM’s price has increased an average of £0.1 every week since he joined United. He’s class. He’s fixture-proof. He currently sits as the fifth-highest scoring fantasy midfielder, and that’s with him having played two fewer games than the rest of the midfielders in the top 10.

Our Verdict: Buy or Hold. If you have him, keep him. Selling him now means you probably won’t be able to afford getting him back into your team. If you don’t have him, get him. With his price likely to dip this week it would be the perfect time to grab him, and at a price you likely won’t see this low again this season.

Thanks again for reading. For Arsenal-flavoured rants, fantasy football thoughts and the occasional witty comment, follow @PlanoGooner on Twitter. For all the non-price related information you need to field your best XI, visit us at FantasyFootball247.co.uk and follow @FantasyFooty247 on Twitter.