It's slim pickings in Fantasy this week. With only four Premier League matches scheduled, there are not many valuable players outside of Liverpool. In fact, only two of the top 25 players in points in the Goal game are playing at the weekend. So, to help you out this week, we look at the five best available options and remember, you don’t have to be shy with that “unlock a transfer” button.
Mohamed Salah - Midfielder, Liverpool, £9.8m, 52.65% owned
This may be the most unsurprising Fantasy advice you’ve seen all season and you shouldn’t have to be convinced to bring in the inarguable king of the Goal game, but here we go. The Egyptian talisman currently has 47 more points than second place Harry Kane, and that gap is likely to grow in coming weeks as the Englishman will be out injured until mid-April.
Salah is also arguably the most consistent player in Fantasy as well, seeing as he’s notched points in three times as many matches as he’s blanked. A date with Watford and their 18th-ranked defence makes Salah the clear cut captain choice for MW31.
Roberto Firmino - Forward, Liverpool, £9.1m, 20.24% owned
In our Top Five Forwards article at the start of the season, we projected the Brazilian to be a 15 goal/10 assist player and, as it stands, that looks absolutely spot on. He currently sits on 13 goals and eight assists with eight matches left.
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Looking at this week in particular, Firmino stands some distance above all of the other eligible forwards, ranking higher in them in five of our seven attacking metrics over the last five weeks. Also, if you’re buying in on Firmino, feel free to just hold him until the end of the season since Liverpool will face just two top 10 defences for the rest of the season (Chelsea and Brighton).
Xherdan Shaqiri - Midfielder, Stoke, £6.9m, 5.48% owned
People may be hesitant to bring in Shaqiri considering he’s burned owners in the past and Stoke have a horrible schedule the rest of season. Those points are perfectly valid but, with so few available players this week, he’s undoubtedly one of the best options.
The Swiss star absolutely runs the show at Stoke as he leads the club in goals, assists, shots on target, chances created, crosses and corners taken. He’s in great form as well, with only Salah having scored more goals among MW31 eligible players over the last five weeks. Stoke's matchup this week against Everton is far from a frightening one, seeing as they are one of the five worst defences in the Premier League this season.
Wilfried Zaha - Midfielder, Crystal Palace, £6.7m, 1.91% owned
Touches in the box has become a new favourite for forecasting Fantasy points this season. This season, six of the top 10 players in the statistic also sit top 10 in points in the Goal game. Now, Wilfried Zaha has had more touches in the box this season than all but seven players, and he’s played in at least three fewer matches than all of them.
Crystal Palace need him desperately as well. The London outfit have yet to win a match without the Ivorian this season and score roughly three times more often when he does play. It is possible that Zaha will start up front this weekend and, even if he doesn’t, this Palace attack will certainly run through him.
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Andrew Robertson - Defender, Liverpool, £5.5m, 2.66% owned
Robertson was always going to find a landing spot in the Premier League when Hull went down last season, but even he probably won't have expected to be a vital part of Liverpool’s team this season. Robertson won the job in MW15 after Milner and Alberto Moreno both failed to make the left back spot their own.
Since then, Robertson is top ten in both crosses and clean sheets and is a regular in a Liverpool defence that sits top three in home defence - which is interesting as this week's match against Watford is at Anfield. Klopp’s men may be facing the second best attack on this week’s fixture list, but they boast the best defence on offer and it’s likely the latter will win out on the day.
