Dec 14

Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 25 Headlines

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Welcome to this week's Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 25 headlines article. Once again the @fplbet team go over the main talking points within the fantasy football community and provide their insight and opinion. In this week's article we look at transferring Jamie Vardy back in, the recent form of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Fraser Forster's clean sheet run, Borthwick-Jackson's potential within FPL and whether to transfer out Romelu Lukaku.

ALL ABOARD THE VARDY TRAIN… AGAIN.

Premier League top goalscorer Jamie Vardy has scored three goals in his last two matches. Is it time to transfer Vardy back into your FPL team? Following his failure to find the net against Bournemouth back in GW20, and despite his previous goal scoring run that saw him break Van Nistelrooy's record, Jamie Vardy's ownership started to decrease. Another goalless game vs. Spurs in GW21 and only an assist vs. Villa in GW22 saw his ownership drop by £0.4m. Just two weeks later and Vardy has now scored three goals in two matches, including his wonder-strike against Liverpool, and again finds himself one of the most sought after strikers in FPL. With Leicester playing some of the best football in the Premier League and with his confidence sky high, is it now time to board the Vardy train again? His next two fixtures are Manchester City (A) and Arsenal (A), so we wouldn't expect his value to skyrocket back up and instead expect most managers to wait until GW27 where he faces NOR, WBA, wat, NEW, cry. However, at the start of the season he proved that he's fixture proof scoring vs. Arsenal (2), Man Utd (1) and Chelsea (1) so bringing him for GW25 could be a masterstroke in your mini-league if your rivals have dropped him and wait until his ‘easy-fixtures'.

SIGURDSSON ON SONG

Sigurdsson looks back to his best under new boss Francesco Guidolin and we think the signing of Alberto Paloschi could further boost his FPL potential. With four goals in his last five Premier League matches, it's fair to say that the Icelandic International is pulling the strings for Swansea City. Sigurdsson is their creative hub and seems to be at the heart of everything the club does moving forward. The arrival of Alberto Paloschi, who has found the net 60 times in Serie A, further enhances Sigurdsson's output and the pair linked up well in their 45 minute cameo together. Bafetimbi Gomis has failed to fill the void left by Wilfried Bony, however, Paloschi is more intelligent in his link-up play. This is exactly what Sigurdsson has been missing after contributing with just one assist this season, compared to ten in the 2014/15 campaign playing alongside Bony. Sigurdsson's next two fixtures are at the Liberty Stadium (Crystal Palace & Southampton), and when playing on home soil, Swansea are capable of dominating any side. Another bonus of selecting the playmaker, who is owned by just 3% of FPL managers, is his speciality from dead ball situations; Sigurdsson is the designated corner, free kick and penalty taker.

FIXTURE PROOF FORSTER

Four successive clean sheets for Fraser Forster since his return, is he now a better candidate than Jack Butland on FPL? Fraser Forster returned between the sticks for Southampton in GW21 having missed the first half of the season with a knee injury. The Saints keeper has since recorded four consecutive clean sheets including Manchester United (A) and Tuesday night's clash against Arsenal (A) where he made 10 saves and earned three bonus points. The England keeper has pushed fellow international Jack Butland into the shadows despite his excellent Premier League campaign and will remain motivated to compete with Joe Hart for a EURO 2016 role. Forster has indicated this month that - like Butland - he's fixture proof and can be played week in, week out regardless of his opposition. His next five matches are WHU, swa, CHE, bou & SUN and with an ownership of just 0.9%, now's your chance to get him before your rivals.

BACKING BORTHWICK-JACKSON

£4.0m valued Man United defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has 17pts from two starts. Is he now a viable FPL option? Following his faultless display in Gameweek 24 - securing a clean sheet and notching an assist, the young full-back is beginning to look a decent shout for a budget defender, but just to be clear, Borthwick-Jackson is not a long-term option. The Englishman, priced at 4.0m on FPL, has back-to-back starts and clean sheets for his club and is beginning to make a name for himself with a growing confidence week-in, week-out. Despite Borthwick-Jackson's popularity rising as Man United begin to climb the table, their youth full-backs are far from nailed on, as Van Gaal demonstrated recently; dropping Varela for the returning Darmian. With Rojo, Jones and Valencia missing out through injury, he is their most suitable replacement in the United backline. If you are desperate to free-up cash to bring in the likes of Sanchez or Aguero, then he is certainly worth considering as a short-term stop gap, but otherwise, especially with Van Gaal's volatility, we recommend steering clear.

GOODBYE LUKAKU, GOODBYE MY FRIEND

Romelu Lukaku's goal drought has extended to five consecutive matches. With so many strikers in form, is it time to replace Lukaku? Since his double against Stoke back in GW19, Romelu Lukaku has failed to find the back of the net and only has one assist to show from the last five gameweeks. Coincidentally, Lukaku's next match is against is against Stoke, the side he last scored against. Lukaku is owned by a whopping 46.5% of FPL players and his half-time substitution against Newcastle will be the final straw for most fantasy managers. His value will no doubt start to rapidly decrease and with a blank GW in GW27 we agree it's time to say bye to the Belgian. With so many strikers in form, there are a number of possible replacements. Aguero has scored five goals in his last three, Rooney has five goals in five games, Kane has four in his last three and Vardy who returned to the scene with two goals against Liverpool on Tuesday. If you're looking to gain ground in your mini-league, there's also a number of differential options, take Bournemouth's Benik Afobe for example, who has scored in three consecutive games and faces his former club Arsenal next.

Thanks for reading our Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 25 Headlines article. Let us know your opinions in the comments below.