Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 16 Preview – Captain pick, “Who’s hot, Who’s not?” and ones to watch

Fantasy Football is coming at you thick and fast this month and here at The Yorkshire Post, we’re trying our best to keep up!
Captain's pick - Tottenham Hotspur's Heung-Min Son (Picture: PA)Captain's pick - Tottenham Hotspur's Heung-Min Son (Picture: PA)
Captain's pick - Tottenham Hotspur's Heung-Min Son (Picture: PA)

Despite two more games to come Thursday night, our Fantasy expert John Mount returns to run you through Gameweek 16’s captain picks, ‘Who’s Hot?’ ‘Who’s Not?’ form guide and ‘Ones to Watch’.

Follow John Mount on Twitter (@Gameweek38). Here are John's selections for Gameweek 16.

Gameweek 16
The midweek Premier League games gave us another goal fest to drool over as a weakened Liverpool ran riot against Everton and Mourinho was taunted by defeat at Old Trafford. Clean sheets were sparse once again in a gameweek where viewers experienced the joys of buffering, dodgy Wi-Fi and another monthly subscription.

Captain Picks
Heung-Min Son vs Burnley (H) (£9.8m, MID)
Two goals and three assists in his last four games show good enough reason to captain Son against a Burnley side who have never won at Tottenham in the league. Although he won’t be as popular as Mane or Vardy this week, Son could be a nice differential to boost you up the ranks should he deliver the goods.

Sadio Mane vs Bournemouth (A) (£12.2m, MID)
Although Mane is the joint most expensive player in the game, he is proving to be good value for it. The Senegalese international has scored four goals and provided three assists over his last five games in a stretch which has earned him 45 points - an average of nine per game! Up next is an away trip to Bournemouth who have lost their last four. Liverpool won this fixture 4-0 last season.

Jamie Vardy vs Aston Villa (A) (£9.9m, FWD)
Vardy broke fantasy football records on Wednesday by being the most captained player ever as over two million of us trusted him with the armband against bottom side Watford. Luckily, our faith in him was rewarded as he slotted home a cool second half penalty to score the winning goal. The Yorkshireman has now scored in each of his last seven games and has a favourable fixture against newly promoted Villa, proving that he has the form and the fixture to be in contention for the armband once again.

The Form Guide - Who’s Hot?
Forward – Marcus Rashford (Man United, £8.7m)
Rashford follows Vardy in being the second most in form striker in the league with six goals and three assists in his last seven games, which coincides with Solskjaer’s tactical shift to play him in his preferred left-wing position. Rashford has been involved in over half of Man United’s goals in the last seven gameweeks so with games against Everton, Watford and Newcastle coming up after the Manchester derby on Saturday, he could be a prime option going forward.

Midfielder – Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, £6.7m)
If you’re going to invest in a Crystal Palace attacker over their unreal fixture run, Zaha is definitely your man. The South London side only play a traditional ‘top six’ side twice until gameweek 31 and Zaha leads the stats for most shots, shots in the box and touches in the opposition box for the Eagles this season. With two goals in his last three games, Zaha’s upturn in form is coming at the perfect time for you to bring him into your squad.

Defender – Lewis Dunk (Brighton, £4.6m)
We’re not even halfway through the season and Dunk has already matched his goal and assist tally for the previous two seasons. Dunk’s most recent goals have shown his attacking versatility in getting onto the end of a cross vs Man United and by scoring a quickly taken direct free kick vs Liverpool, as well as potential clean sheets against Wolves, Crystal Palace and Sheffield United coming up, the Englishman’s attacking threat provides the double-edged sword that every fantasy football manager should crave.

The Form Guide - Who’s Not?
Forward - Sebastien Haller (West Ham, £7.1m)
Sebastien Haller was viewed as one of the signings of the summer when West Ham snapped up the Frenchman from Eintracht Frankfurt for £45m on the back of a twenty-goal season. Although he started the season well with three goals in his first three league games, he’s only bagged one goal since. Michail Antonio’s return from injury caused Haller to lose his place in the starting line-up for the recent away Chelsea win and with Arsenal up next and no game in Gameweek 18, now does not seem like the time to have him in your team.

Midfielder – Raheem Sterling (Man City, Chelsea, £11.9m)
Transfer Sterling out of your squad at your own peril! Although the England star is the third top scoring midfielder in the game, Sterling’s form has been below his usual standard of late having only scored one goal in his last five games. Although his statistics for shots, shots in the box and penalty area touches make for good reading, they just haven’t been translating into points recently. Nick Pope, for example, made a terrific save from a close range Sterling shot on Tuesday, which shows that he is getting into the right areas but should be capitalising on more often, especially with tough games against Man United, Arsenal and Leicester next.

Defender - Lucas Digne (Everton, £5.8m)
Owned by 14.6% of players, Digne is the tenth most owned defender in the game despite blanking in five of his six last games and providing only one assist and clean sheet in his last eleven. Now may not be the best time to invest in Everton assets not only because they play Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal next, but because they show all the signs that suggest sacking their manager is their best option, which would add an extra layer of uncertainty to Everton performances. For £5.8m, Digne is considered a premium defender, however there are many other more favourable options for the same price.

Ones to Watch (Less than 5% ownership)
Although he didn’t start against Liverpool, Neal Maupay (0.9%, FWD, £5.8m) may have needed a well deserved rest before the busy Premier League Christmas schedule. I fully expect the Frenchman to start all of Brighton’s next three games against Wolves, Crystal Palace and Sheffield United. Maupay’s debut Premier League season has started well and as things stand, he is on course to score 11 goals this season. This favourable fixture run will provide a good chance to add to his tally.
Brendan Rodgers’ high-flying Leicester side cruised to a 2-0 vs Watford on Wednesday, in a game where Harvey Barnes (1.2%, MID, £5.9m) won the man of the match award. Harvey turns 22 on Monday and a goal away at Aston Villa on Sunday would be the present he deserves as he is the definition of ‘due a goal’. He has had eight shots in the box over the last four gameweeks and Ben Foster did well to keep two of them out either side of half time on Wednesday.
With 51 points so far this season, Vicente Guaita (1.0%, GK, £5.0m) is Crystal Palace’s joint second highest points scorer so far this season. With 16 points over his last two games and five clean sheets already this season, Guaita seems criminally under-owned. Roy Hodgson’s team is notoriously difficult to beat and as of Wednesday evening sit seventh in the league. They now go on an extremely favourable fixture run which sees them not play a team from the ‘top six’ until gameweek 22, making Guaita the perfect ‘set and forget’ goalkeeper option until later on in the season. Next three games: Watford, Brighton and Newcastle.

The Explainer
Transfers
After picking your initial squad, you receive 1 free transfer each Gameweek. Each additional transfer you make in the same Gameweek will deduct 4 points from your score.
If you do not use your free transfer, you are able to make an additional free transfer the following Gameweek. If you do not use this saved free transfer in the following Gameweek, it will be carried over until you do. You can never have more than 1 saved transfer.
For example, since you get 1 free transfer per gameweek, if you make no transfers between gameweeks, you will have 2 free transfers in preparation for the next gameweek. You will incur a 4 point hit per transfer over your free transfer allowance.
Point Scoring
During the season, your fantasy football players will be allocated points based on their performance in the Premier League. Remember, every week your captain scores double points, so pick them wisely!
Points Action
1 For playing up to 60 minutes
2 For playing 60 minutes or more (excluding stoppage time)
6 For each goal scored by a goalkeeper or defender
5 For each goal scored by a midfielder
4 For each goal scored by a forward
3 For each goal assist
4 For a clean sheet by a goalkeeper or defender
1 For a clean sheet by a midfielder
1 For every 3 shot saves by a goalkeeper
5 For each penalty save
-2 For each penalty miss
1 to 3 Bonus points for the best players in a match
-1 For every 2 goals conceded by a goalkeeper or defender
-1 For each yellow card
-3 For each red card
-2 For each own goal
For more information on the rules of the game, visit https://fantasy.premierleague.com/help/rules