Dec 14

Euro Fantasy Quarter Final Tips

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Three days ago there were sixteen, now just eight remain! Title holders Spain were knocked out following a tactical masterclass from Italy, Iceland fought back from 1-0 down to earn a win over England and Croatia fell short to a late extra time goal from Portugal. In this Euro Fantasy Quarter Final Tips article, we'll be looking at the best strategy going forward and who are the best replacement players to bring in with your four free transfers. First of all, let's take a look at how the Quarter Final draw panned out:

Quarter Final Fixtures:

Poland vs. Portugal (Thursday 30th, 20:00) Wales vs. Belgium (Friday 1st, 20:00) Germany vs. Italy (Saturday 2nd, 20:00) France vs. Iceland (Sunday 3rd, 20:00) This is where it begins to get hard for Euro Fantasy managers as there are less teams to spread your player ownership across. There are half the amount of teams to choose from in comparison to Round of 16, so your chances of having a player eliminated have been doubled. Ahead of the Semi Finals you will be given another six free transfers, which is not many when you consider your squad size of 15. So if you don't want to take point hits you'll need to plan strategically and hope for no upsets. To help make sense of which teams are predicted to qualify, we've used Oddschecker to compile a table of which teams are expected to progress.

Odds To Qualify To Semi-final:

Team Odds Implied Chance
France 1/6 85.71%
Belgium 1/3 75.00%
Germany 8/15 65.22%
Portugal 4/7 63.64%
Poland 11/8 42.11%
Italy 11/8 42.11%
Wales 9/4 30.77%
Iceland 15/4 21.05%
France top the table with an 85.71% implied chance of progressing to the Semi-Finals. Opposition, Iceland have been the surprise outfit of the competition and despite beating England, we think this is where the competition will end for them. Maximising your French coverage (4 players) seems the logical move here. As always in the Quarter-Final stages of an international competition the remaining fixtures are very hard to call. Aside from France, we wouldn't recommend owning any more than two players from the remaining nations as the fixtures are too tough to call. However, the bookies odds do serve as a somewhat reliable reference point. So if you decide you want more than two players from a team other than France, we'd recommend looking towards Belgium, Germany & Portugal. When looking at who to transfer out, your first - and most likely only - port of call should be the players who have been eliminated.

Eliminated Teams & Players

Team Players (Over 5% Ownership)
England Hart (13%), Smalling (13%), Cahill (9%), Dier (8%), Clyne (7%), Walker (7%), Rose (5%), Alli (8%), Sterling (8%), Lallana (5%), Vardy (17%), Sturridge (7%), Rooney (6%)
Spain De Gea (23%), Ramos (41%), Piqué (35%), Alba (21%), Juanfran (10%), Iniesta (36%), Fàbregas (10%), Busquets (8%), Silva (7%), Morata (25%), Nolito (6%)
Croatia Modrić (18%), Rakitić (9%), Perišić (9%), Srna (8%)
Switzerland Rodríguez (5%)
Slovakia Hamšík (6%)
Hungary N/A
Northern Ireland N/A
Ireland N/A
England, Spain and Croatia's elimination from Euro 2016 will have no doubt affected numerous fantasy sides as their players are widely owned by fantasy managers. Along with the eight teams departure from the competition, we've seen two goalkeepers, twelve defenders, eleven midfielders and five attackers with 5% or more ownership eliminated. Before choosing which your replacement, it's important to check which players are suspended for the Quarter-finals and who are a booking away from suspension.

Euro 2016 Suspended Players

Team Suspended For Quarter Finals One Yellow From Suspension
France Rami, Kante Koscielny, Giroud
Belgium Vermaelen Meunier, Vertonghen, Witsel, Fellaini, Batshuayi
Germany Kimmich, Boateng, Khedira, Ozil
Portugal Pepe, Carvalho, Quaresma
Poland Kapustka Piszczek, Jedrzejczyk, Pazdan, Grosicki, Krychowiak
Italy Motta Buffon, Sirigu, Chiellini, Bonucci, Barzagli, De Sciglio, De Rossi, Eder, Zaza, Insigne
Wales Taylor, Davies, Ramsey, Vokes
Iceland Halldorsson, Sævarsson, Skulason, Arnason, Bjarnason, G. Sigurdsson, Gunnarsson, Sigthorsson
The host nation will be without Adil Rami and N'Golo Kante due to suspension. Umtiti or Mangala are expected to stand in at centre back whilst Coman could be gifted the start, with Pogba dropping back to support with Matuidi. Denayer is expected to stand in for Vermaelen, whilst Kaputska & Motta usually feature from the bench so their suspensions will have no impact on their team's starting XI. With eliminations and suspensions in mind, here's a look at our top replacements for each position.

Defensive Tips for Quarter Finals

Italy have proved a solid outfit defensively and their strongest squad (not the rotated team that lost to Ireland) is yet to concede in the competition. Emanuele Giaccherini (€5.1) provides the bonus of being classified as a defender, when actually being utilised in an advanced midfield position. It will be a tough task overcoming Germany and even if a clean sheet is too much to ask for, building on his goal and assist is not out of the question. Wales managed to defeat Northern Ireland in Round of 16 despite their only attempt being on target being the own goal from Gareth McAuley. This week's opposition have kept three clean sheets on the bounce, so they could see even fewer chances come their way. With this in mind, Thomas Meunier (€4.5) offers unrivalled value in the €4.5 bracket and appears to have nailed down the right-back slot. If you're looking for a nailed-on, bargain defender then there's no better option than Portugal's Raphaël Guerreiro (€4.0). Despite missing the Hungary game through injury, he's still ranked as one of the most creative defenders left in the tournament, contributing 16 crosses and creating 6 chances in his three appearances.

Midfield Tips for Quarter Finals

There's not much to say about Dimitri Payet (€8.1)... except if you don't have him on your team, then do yourself a favour and transfer him in as soon as possible. He's the frontrunner to receive the Player of the Tournament award, having contributed with two goals and an assist already. Payet is ranked inside the top 10 for average number of shots, key passes and dribbles per game in Euro 2016. Kingsley Coman (€6.5) was labeled ‘the most successful teenage footballer” having already won major trophies at Juventus, PSG and Bayern Munich by the age of 20. The youngster was handed an opportunity to prove his worth from the bench as France trailed Ireland by one goal to nil during the Round of 16. Thrown on at halftime, Coman's pace and directness was pivotal in his country's turnaround. Eden Hazard (€9.5) struggled to replicate his form of 2014/15 in the Premier League this season, but was and truly back to his best for Belgium in their latest outing. He was exceptional in all areas, scoring, assisting and attempting 12 dribbles in Belgium's rout of Hungary. If he can continue in his form then he is a must-have entering the latter stages of the tournament. Joachim Low seems to have found a nice balance with Muller playing as an inverted right-winger and Julian Draxler (€6.5) providing the width on the opposite flank. The former recorded his first goal and assist of the tournament versus Slovakia, and was the obvious Man of the Match, as Germany eased into the Quarter Finals. His ownership will have increased after that performance, but still an excellent choice at this price.

Forward Tips for Quarter Finals

Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between a player coming into form and chasing last week's points, nevertheless, we're recommending Antoine Griezmann (€10.0) after his brace against Ireland. His PPG is just 0.5 less than Dimitri Payet and he's currently the joint top goalscorer alongside Bale and Morata. Against Ireland alone he managed to conjure up eight shots, five of which were on target and two that found the back of the net. Mario Gomez (£8.0) has found the back of the net in two successive matches since he was given the nod over under performing Mario Gotze. Germany have now scored six goals in Euro 2016 but not many managers have profited from their attacking play, however, now that Gomez seems a nailed on starter you can expect his ownership to rise ahead of the Quarter-finals.

Thanks for reading our Euro Fantasy Quarter Final Tips. Why not check out our Quarter Final Captain Tips and Quarter Final Statistical Analysis!!