Tens day is too long to be without FPL but we are back for GW 26, the penultimate week before that
double gameweek. We will see the return of Costa, Sigurdsson, Yaya, Bony & Tim Sherwood. The top
two face easy home ties whereas Arsenal travel to a revived Palace. There is a couple of relegation
six pointers and snoozefests in there aswell.

Aston Villa v Stoke

59%. You already know what that figure means. It was the much talked about win-ratio of Tim
Sherwood at Spurs but he has a very difficult job on his hands if he is to keep Villa in the top division.
Whether he can achieve that or not will depend greatly on his ability to get Christian Benteke scoring
again. There’s a good chance the Belgian could do just that this weekend as he has two goals in his
three games against Stoke.
Both these sides share the lowest shooting accuracy in the Premier League this season at just 36%
therefore expect a snoozefest. Alan Hutton is a popular FPL pick due to his eagerness to get forward
and get crosses in.

Predicted scoreline: 1-1

Chelsea v Burnley

Diego Costa is back and with 6 goals in his last 7 Premier League he is the hot favourite to score
again this weekend against relegation bound Burnley. Whether to bring him into your FPL teams is a
difficult one as he has a blank game week next week. Burnley will be very wary of Bratislav Ivanovic 
at set pieces as not only is he in red hot form but The Clarets have conceded 16 headed goals this
season, the most of any Premier League team.
With the addition of Cuadrado, both Willian & Oscar are at rotation risk and therefore it may be best
to avoid the two Brazilians in your teams. Chelsea have kept 16 clean sheets in their last 20 Premier
League home games, conceding just six in the process. Despite his impressive stat, they must be
wary of the in-form Danny Ings who has five goals in his last six games.

Predicted scoreline: 3-0

Crystal Palace v Arsenal

Palace have won just seven of their 29 Premier League London derbies but Pardew has The Eagles
playing well and they have the pace to hurt teams. However, Arsenal are at full strength now and I
expect them to have a very strong end to the season. Having at least one Arsenal midfielder in your
team is a must, but which one is best? You could make a case for every one of them. Walcott has
seven goals in his last seven Premier League starts, whilst Alexis Sanchez has 12 goals & 7 assists this
season. Mesut Ozil has been on fire since returning from injury Mesut Ozil has two goals and three
assists from three starts. Then there is Santi Cazorla who has rediscovered his form in a more
withdrawn centre midfield role. From here he can dictate the tempo and be instrumental in all of
Arsenal’s attacks.
Pardew brought on Bolasie against Newcastle and the skilful winger utterly destroyed Haidara for
the thirty minutes he was on the pitch including providing the cross for Campell to tap home. Palace
in theory should have gone on to win the game as Bolasie continued to torment and tease the
Newcastle backline.

Predicted scoreline: 1-3

Hull v QPR

Three of the last four meeting between these sides has ended in a draw and this promises to be
another cagey affair in a relegation six pointer. Both sides enjoyed 2-0 wins last time out with QPR’s
win at Sunderland ending a Premier League record run of 11 away defeats since the start of the
season. Hull’s debutant striker N’Doye helped himself to a goal and assist in his first game in England
and with just 0.2% ownership, he could be a bargain differential at just 5.5m.

Predicted scoreline: 1-1

Sunderland v West Bromwich Albion

What a boring game this will be. Two teams that first set out to not lose rather than looking to win.
Defenders are the best bet for your fantasy teams for this tie. Andre Wisdom has lost his place under
Pulis with budget defender Chris Baird preferred. Van Aanholt continues to impress and should be
included in your teams.
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe has two goals and one assist in his four Premier League games for the
Black Cats and he will fancy himself to bag again this weekend as he has three goals in his last five
against WBA.
Pulis will be looking to top goalscorer Saido Berahino to continue The Baggies’ impressive record
against Sunderland, having lost just one of their last ten meetings. However, perhaps consider taking
a gamble on record signing Brown Ideye who has scored four goals in his last 2.5 games.

Predicted scoreline: 0-1

Swansea City v Manchester United

Norwegian playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson will be welcomed back with open arms by Gary Monk who has
seen his side score just nine goals in their last eleven games, failing to notch twice in any of those
games. It remains to be seen whether Siggy can strike up the same clinical partnership with Gomis as
he did with Bony. If he can, then at 6.4m he is top 4th choice midfielder option.
Despite not playing great, Manchester United have lost just once in their last 15 league games but
they did lose to The Swans on the opening day of the season. Robin Van Persie is potentially the
most overpriced player in FPL but he does have three goals in three appearances at the Liberty
Stadium and should be fresh after being rested for the FA cup tie. He is certainly the best bet for a
United goal given mega flop Falcao’s inability to control a football and world-class striker Wayne
Rooney without a shot on target in 2015 playing from deep in midfield.

Predicted scoreline: 0-2

Manchester City v Newcastle United

Aguero, Nasri & Silva should be enough to convince you that Man City will demolish Newcastle but
when you add in the firepower of returning AFCON winners Yaya Toure & Wilfried Bony, it really is
something quite frightening. Yaya has five goals in his last six Premier League games versus the
magpies whereas Aguero has four. Newcastle have just four fit defenders for the rest of the season,
one of which is League One standard Mike Williamson. They may be unbeaten in three games for the
first time since November but Newcastle would do well to keep this down to just two. City haven’t
always been solid at the back this season and in Papiss Cisse they have the best minutes per goal
player in the league.

Predicted scoreline: 4-0