There is no rest in Ligue 1 this week. Following our
Gameweek 6 Tips, there is just enough time to assess and get some research in before the upcoming midweek fixtures.
The weekends results involved several upsets for the big sides, with Paris Saint-Germain held to their second draw in succession and Monaco losing out to in-form Lorient. Is the busy Champions/Europa League schedule beginning to take its toll on the top sides?
Gameweek 7 continues tonight; with a clean slate and yet another chance for you to take home some cash prizes and earn the bragging rights at
Mondogoal. Here are the fixtures and our Fantasy Ligue 1 Tips.
Tuesday 22nd September
Angers vs. Reims
Paris Saint-Germain
Wednesday 23rd September
GFC Ajaccio vs. Rennes
Rennes vs. Caen
Lyon vs. SC Bastia
Nice vs. Bordeaux
Troyes vs. Saint Etienne
Toulouse vs. Marseille
Thursday 24th September
Montpellier vs. Monaco (Multi-League on
Mondogoal)
Cleansheet Potential
Taking a look at the bookies odds the two sides that are far and away favourites to secure a cleansheet, are PSG and Lyon. The latter have been unpredictable this season; nevertheless, when both of these sides are playing at home, it is an easy decision to back them. Other teams odds-on for a cleansheet are Monaco and Saint-Etienne, but in our opinion Reims could prove a smart differential, as we will explain.
Goalkeeper Tips
Paris Saint-Germain have secured a cleansheet in each of their last three meetings at the Parc des Princes vs. Guingamp, so
Kevin Trapp (8.3m) appears the safe option for
Mondogoal. It's not easy to rid the mind of his two notorious errors a fortnight ago, which allowed Bordeaux back into the game to secure a cleansheet, but these errors have made his selection even more tempting. You may be thinking… wait they've gone mad, but hear us out! Trapp's value on
Mondogoal has fallen by 0.7m after this episode, but in the meantime Laurent Blanc has backed the German to pick up from where he left off. What you're left with is a keeper at a drop-down price, who we fully expect will retain a cleansheet.
The two core stats to keep an eye on when selecting a keeper on
Mondogoal are; most importantly clean sheet probability, along with saves made per game. Reims' backup keeper
Johnny Placide (5.3m) can provide both, at this bargain price. Placide entered the fray as a substitute on Saturday and due to a thigh injury suffered by number 1, Agassi, the Frenchman will continue between the sticks. If you are searching for a cheap player to free up some cash for the big guns, then Placide is your man and with a strong fixture at that. Ajaccio are struggling with a long list of injured and suspended players, meaning an unfamiliar starting XI, who will be conservative and happy with a no-score draw.
Defender Tips
We are going to take a slightly different approach with our defensive recommendations due to the noticeably popular fixtures of Paris Saint-Germain vs. Guingamp and Lyon vs. Bastia. With only single day contests available on
Mondogoal the vast majority of managers will build their defence around PSG on Tuesday and then Lyon on Wednesday, therefore we will run through your options from each side and also throw in a couple of differentials.
There is a high chance Paris Saint-Germain will line-up with the same back 4 which took to the field vs. Reims, despite the disappointing result. With Serge Aurier's suspension,
Gregory Van der Weil (7m) will continue at right back. The Dutch international was excellent in his side's Champions League opener vs. Malmo, making 4 key passes, 4 interceptions and producing 3 crosses. If he can keep up these stats he is capable of picking up around 7-8pts, which is his average over the past two games on
Mondogoal. One thing to note is that he will be marking Guingamp's tricky winger Benezet, who picks up an average of 3 fouls per game and Van Der Weil isn't exactly the cleanest of defenders, averaging over a foul per game in his career and receiving 18 yellow cards.
PSG are expected to pair
Thiago Silva (11.1m) alongside
Marquinhos (8.7m) in the centre. The Brazilian pair offer similar ‘high floor' outputs, in that that they will complete a high number of passes and interceptions, which leads to easy points on
Mondogoal. Both players are aerial threats who sit in the mid-nineties for pass success percentage.
There is a straight fight off to complete the defence, with the experienced
Maxwell (10m) and new signing
Layvin Kurzawa (9.6m) vying for the left-back slot. The latter came up with PSG's best defensive display vs. Reims, so we predict the Frenchman to get the nod. Kurzawa offers a great offensive outlet, this season per game on average he has attempted 2.3 dribbles, made 1.7 key passes and even had 1.3 shots, which is high for a
Mondogoal defender.
Moving onto the Lyon defence, and there are two quality Mondogoal selections which we choose. First up is the premium option of
Christophe Jallet (9.2m). The fullback was reinstated by Hubert Fournier, with ex-Man United right back Rafael dropping out through injury. Jallet was included in the 2014/15 Ligue 1 Team of the Year after an impressively consistent season while becoming a staple pick in most
Mondogoal sides. The 31-year-old combines cleansheet potential with attacking exploits, which is why he is so popular. Last season he made 3.3 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per game on average, as well as picking up 3 assists. On the other side of the Lyon backline,
Jeremy Morel (8.8m) creates a selection headache. The tenacious defender has a great work ethic and will bomb back and forth down the left wing tirelessly. He often finds himself in advanced positions and a goal from Morel seems more likely than anyone else in the Lyon defence.
Moving away from the big 2 and we have a great differential pick for Mondogoal. Reims travel to Anger with a squad full of confidence and motivation following their draw with Champions PSG. Angers are a side hampered by injury and suspension, so including a Reims defender could be a clever decision.
Hamari Traore (6.9m) caught our eye and was prominent in Reims defensive shape and offensive counterattacks. The standout stat, which makes the Malian appealing for
Mondogoal, is his ability to intercept. Traore, on average, makes 5 interceptions per game, ranking him third in Ligue 1 for this stat.
The final defender worth mentioning is Nice's
Ricardo Pereira (4.4m). The Portuguese U21's striker is currently playing as an attacking left back at Nice, which is the reason why he is classified as a ‘defender'. On Saturday, we included him in one of our
Mondogoal teams and he raked in a massive 16.2pts, with two assists to his name. The big question is, will the 21-year-old continue at fullback or will Nice field him in his more natural forward role? Keep your eyes peeled because at this price he could prove to be Gameweek 7's best bargain.
Attacking Potential
The attacking potential often mirrors that of the Cleansheet potential and this is the case with PSG and Lyon the clear favourites to score. Other teams to consider are Lorient, Rennes, Saint-Etienne and Monaco. Also the match-up between Lorient and Caen has goals written all over it.
Midfielder Tips
PSG have won their last 6 home matches vs. Guingamp and have scored at least twice in their last 10 fixtures at the Parc Des Princes. They will dominate again, so
Marco Veratti (12.6m), is a great pick. He controls the tempo of his sides play and on average completes an astonishing 110 passes per game in Ligue 1, which equals 5.5
Mondogoal points purely just from open play. If you've been searching for a midfielder with a 'high floor' in Fantasy Football then there's no one better than Marco Veratti this week. The only downside for the defensive midfielder, on
Mondogoal, is that he rarely scores or assists, however, he did conjure up a couple of shots on target vs. Reims.
If the last sentence put you off Veratti, then
Angel Di Maria (10.9m) provides a more explosive, but less reliable choice at
Mondogoal. The Argentine is beginning to show glimpses that he is back to his best and at times looks, as Thiago Silva recently said, "unstoppable". He will not pick up the pass points of his counterpart, but Di Maria is, without doubt, more likely to score or assist. The winger attempts 3 shots per game on average in Ligue 1 and during PSG's victory over Malmo in the Champions League, he managed a ridiculous 7 dribbles in the match. Both players will be popular on
Mondogoal, but be sure to way up your options before deciding.
We were surprised to hear that
Bernardo Silva (10.4m) would not start the match vs. Lorient on Sunday, despite his busy Europa League schedule. Nevertheless, he was substituted in, just 36 minutes into the contest as an attempt to grab a hold of the match. Silva plays alongside our defender tip Pereira for the Portuguese U21s, but is struggling to find the form that saw him compete for the Player of the Tournament award in that competition, narrowly falling short to fellow countryman William Carvalho in the end. Silva is what we call a ‘foul magnet'; he wins 3 fouls on average every game and is never afraid to be direct and run at the opposition; perfect for
Mondogoal. Last season the agile midfielder finished the season with 9 goals and 3 assists and we are tipping him to use Thursday's fixture at Bordeaux as his 2015/16 springboard.
Lorient vs. Caen means goals. There have been over 2.5 goals scored in Lorient's last 3 games and over 2.5 goals in Caen's last 4 matches. Our advice for this match-up is to back the home side and we feel Lorient's number 8,
Yann Jouffre (8.3m) offers the best value and most potential in their midfield. This season Jouffre has an average points per game of 13.09 on
Mondogoal, having started just 2 matches the winger has 2 assists, 1 goal and a Man of the Match award…not bad for 136 minutes of play. If Lorient continue their tantalising form then Jouffre will be at the forefront.
Forward Tips
The unpredictable figure of
Alexandre Lacazette (9.9m) is back in our tips and has ended his goal drought, albeit from the penalty spot. For Lacazette a goal means a confidence boost, it doesn't matter how it came about. Everyone knows he's quality and can change the outcome of a match in an instant and now that some of the weight has been lifted off his shoulders, the 24-year-old will be desperate to rediscover his form which saw him finish top scorer last season. This fixture vs. Bastia is the perfect opportunity to do so having found the net four times in 6 appearances versus The Blues.
If you are after a budget forward, we advise selecting
Majeed Waris (6.5m) of Lorient. The last time the Ghanaian played on home soil… well synthetic turf, he completed the full 90 minutes with a goal and assist under his belt. Shots on target are important on
Mondogoal and Waris attempts 3.7 per game on average, which is the fourth highest in Ligue 1 this season. We are backing Lorient to follow up their nail biting 3-2 win vs. Monaco and secure their third win on the bounce.
Whenever
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (15m) steps onto a football pitch, he enters the spotlight. Usually this is down to his exceptional ability and somewhat arrogant attitude, however, this time the main focus is upon him for other reasons. The Swede has failed to live up to his stature, so far failing to score in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League this season. After fluffing a must-score chance on Saturday, a bandwagon of doubters has appeared. Lack of confidence and Ibrahimovic are words rarely used in the same paragraph, let alone sentence, therefore we believe this is just a blip in performance and not the end of career, slope of decline that some extremists are stating! The towering forward has set Guingamp in his sights and will aim to use the negative talk as positive fuel to switch the headlines in his favour.
Edinson Cavani (11m) is the other option from the French Capital, the Argentine and his counterpart scored 5 goals between them in their last meeting with Guingamp, so they will hope to link up for more of the same. Cavani is on fire at the moment with 6 goals in his last 4 appearances so will have a high ownership on
Mondogoal. Laurent Blanc has praised the striker saying “Edinson is a player that scores 30-odd goals every season, I hope his run continues”, this will further fill the player with conviction and he will enter the field with fire in his eyes.
