Dec 14

Who to replace Philippe Coutinho with on Fantasy Premier League?

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Philippe Coutinho picked up an ankle injury in Gameweek 13 which will keep him sidelined for up to six weeks. The Liverpool midfielder is owned by 43.9% of Fantasy Premier League managers, who will now be looking for a replacement. To help find the perfect player to stand in for this season's fourth highest point scorer, we've created a list of our top five replacements.

Who To Replace Philippe Coutinho With On Fantasy Premier League?

Coutinho Replacements - FPL The table above displays the number of shots on target (SOT), goal attempts (GA), big chances (BC), chances created (BC) and total points (TP) that each player has received over the last 6 game weeks. In addition to these statistics, we also created our own fixture difficulty rating (FDR) based on total goals conceded this season. Unlike the FDR on the FPL site, this one is sorted by: Easiest run of fixtures = Highest score Hardest run of fixtures = Lowest score

#1 Gylfi Sigurdsson  

Price: £7.3m Ownership: 5.3% Next 6: TOT (A), SUN (H), WBA (A), MID (A), WHU (H), BOU (H) Even at Swansea's very worst, Gylfi Sigurdsson still manages to break down defences week in and week out. The Icelandic midfielder has been directly involved in half of the goals that Swansea have scored this season, with four goals and four assists to his name. Up until last week, Swansea were struggling to score more than once per game, but their last match against Crystal Palace showed some signs of much needed improvement. Mo Barrow continued to shine while ripping down the right wing, whilst substitutes Fernando Llorente and Jefferson Montero each added an extra element to the Swans' attack. Sigurdsson has managed a goal or assist in five of his last six matches and will continue to be amongst the points if Swansea score. According to our table, he poses the highest goal threat from our five candidates, with 11 shots on target and 23 goal attempts from his last six matches.

#2 Pedro

Price: £7.3m Ownership: 4.4% Next 6: MCI (A), WBA (H), SUN (A), CRY (A), BOU (H), STO (H) Pedro became a regular starter back in Gameweek 8 and over the course of the last six weeks has cemented a place in the Chelsea starting eleven with three goals and four assists. The Blues have too many attacking threats for opposing defenses to cover effectively and as a result, Pedro has had much more involvement in front of goal since Eden Hazard and Diego Costa usually require the majority of their opposition's attention. Pedro is currently in the best form of all five options, averaging 8.00 points per game. He also has the most desirable fixture run of the bunch with fixtures including Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

#3 Wilfried Zaha

Price: £5.4m Ownership: 3.7% Next 6: SOU (H), HUL (A), MUN (H), CHE (H), WAT (A), ARS (A) Wilfried Zaha has been flying under the radar of late and despite consistently returning points over the last five weeks, still has an ownership of just 3.7%. Crystal Palace have lost their last six matches in a row, but much to the dismay of their attackers who have managed to score an average of 1.6 goals per game. Much like Sigurdsson at Swansea, if Crystal Palace score you can expect Zaha to be among the points. He's been directly involved in 60% of their goals over the last 6 weeks.

#4 Theo Walcott

Price: £7.8 Ownership: 13.4% Next 6: WHU (A), STK (H), EVE (A), MCI (A), WBA (H), CRY (H) It had been over a month since we last saw Theo Walcott on the scoresheet, but in his first match since his wife gave birth to their second child, the winger found himself in the right place at the right time to nod in his fifth goal of the season. The goal comes at a great time, as it should boost his confidence ahead of a string of easy fixtures against the likes of West Ham & Crystal Palace, who have conceded heavily to way less potent attacks this season. Walcott has had far more big chances (7) than any of the other candidates and now that he has a run of favourable fixtures, you would expect him to return the form he displayed from Gameweek 5 to 8.

#5 Matt Phillips

Price: £5.3m Ownership: 3.7% Next 6: WAT (H), CHE (A), SWA (H), MUN (H), ARS (A), SOU (A) For my last possible replacement for Coutinho, I've selected another budget option that actually rotates quite well with Wilfried Zaha. Matt Phillips has sky rocketed up our Power Rankings over the past three weeks with two goals and three assists. His turn in form coincides with Nacer Chadli's return, which could lead to more chances falling Phillip's way as the season goes on. As you can see, the Baggies don't exactly have the easiest fixtures on the horizon, and that's where Wilfried Zaha steps in. As far as rotation goes, one of the two has a decidedly easier fixture over the next eight weeks with exception of Gameweek 20 when both players will face exceptionally weak opposition. Both are good replacements for Coutinho in their own right, but if you find a way to rotate the two and invest heavily in forwards, I'll guess that you will be very happy with the result.