Fantasy Football – What to do about our Southampton saviours
Published:
Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand are two of the top three point-scoring defenders in the Premier League Fantasy Football game, Dusan Tadic lies seventh among midfielders, Victor Wanyama is the top-scoring bargain midfielder under £5m and Graziano Pelle only has one point less than Diego Costa.
It is pretty clear that Southampton hold numerous assets this season with many managers owning at least two, but should they be retained for the foreseeable future, especially for those without the use of a wildcard?
In Southampton’s next nine fixtures they face Manchester City, Arsenal (twice), Manchester United (twice), Chelsea and Everton. This is hardly a run that promises a vast number of points.
Pelle is the obvious one to ditch, given he has only scored 16 points in the past five weeks, if the abnormal 8-0 win over Sunderland isn’t included. Furthermore, owners of Pelle since gameweek one could now sell him for a £0.5m profit.
Selling Pelle for a much cheaper striker could allow an upgrade in defence to a Chelsea player for Clyne (see below) or even a big hitter like Eden Hazard or Alexis Sanchez in midfield at Tadic’s expense (see even further below).
It would seem foolish to retain both Clyne and Bertrand for the numerous teams owning both, as clean sheets will surely dry up between now and mid January. Again it is the extra profit that can be garnered by Clyne which suggests he is most ditchable.
As for Tadic, Swansea’s fixtures look much more promising from a points perspective and Jefferson Montero may prove a good differential instead, with his 0.3% ownership.
The Ecuador international is a regular feature in opposing penalty boxes and has begun to nail down a first-team berth in recent weeks. Gylfi Sigurdsson is another alternative and possesses the biggest goal threat from the Swansea midfield ranks.
Wanyama remains a solid fifth choice midfield option at his price and is worth retaining instead of effectively wasting a transfer.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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