Fantasy Football: Wildcarders must take a punt on Everton man

With a two-week international break now upon us, this is sure to be a Fantasy Football period where numerous managers seriously consider playing their wildcard.

This is especially the case as bosses consider ways of getting both Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa into their striking ranks and sort out some under-achieving defences.

Here are three questions that potential wildcarders will be asking themselves in the next fortnight

Is Angel Di Maria now becoming as indispensible as Costa?

Di Maria has helped himself to a goal and an assist in three of the last four Premier League gameweeks now, with hauls of 14, 11, 2 and 13 points in this period.

He also had six shots in the victory over Everton, which no other player bettered over the weekend, and mixed this up by creating a further five chances for teammates.

His numbers speak for themselves, but with Chelsea and Manchester City upcoming within the next three fixtures, the Di Maria bandwagon may not prove worth jumping onto at this time.

Is Leighton Baines worth £7m?

Big-budget defenders haven’t been especially points friendly so far this season. In fact, 17 of the top 23 defenders in terms of Fantasy Football points still cost £5.5m or less.

Baines’ selectors have had an especially difficult time of it with Everton having the worst defensive record in the Premier League thanks to conceding 16 goals, plus his rare penalty miss against Manchester United.

However, Everton’s clean-sheet prospects are much greater with Aston Villa, Burnley, Swansea and Sunderland their next four opponents, while Baines will reward teams with attacking points soon.

He created four chances against Man Utd and is averaging more time in the opposition half than his own this season. For players looking to make up ground, some big Baines contributions look just around the corner.

Is Alberto Moreno the defender I should be getting rid of?

After scoring 13 points in Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Tottenham thanks to a goal and a clean sheet, Moreno was one of the most transferred-in players ahead of Gameweek 4.

The result has been five points from the four weeks since, leaving many managers wanting to ditch him.

However, it is worth keeping faith in Moreno a little longer with QPR and Hull up next, while only Southampton and Chelsea have conceded fewer chances from inside their box than Liverpool this season.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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