We start this week with a tip ‘o the cap to Mito (give him a follow: @TheLegendMito21) for picking up the slack last week when the regular bloke was gallivanting about in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in absurdly cold weather to watch, of all things, an American football game. Thanks mate, job well done. 

And with that business out of the way, we now return to our regularly scheduled programme…

It has been a fun ride but we all knew this day would come. After a dream start to the season Southampton’s run of good fixtures had to end eventually, and we have reached that point. With tricky matchups in seven of their next nine fixtures, it may be time to look for replacements for your Soton players. We are here to examine your Southampton players, discuss their prospects going forward and offer similarly-priced alternatives should you fancy a change during Soton’s rough spell. 

GOALKEEPER

With seven clean sheets in his side’s first eleven matches, we find it hard to believe we are thinking about ditching La Gran Muralla, but we are. In his next nine, Forster plays Arsenal and Manchester United twice and, say what you will about those sides, there’s no denying they score their share of goals. Add to that the likes of Manchester City, Everton and Chelsea, and we do not believe the future looks tough for the former Celtic keeper.

LUKASZ FABIANSKI, Swansea

Once (affectionately named) dubbed “Flappyhandski” by Arsenal fans, Fabianski has proven his doubters wrong after a strong start this season. While Southampton get battered about by the league’s elite, Swansea has a relatively easy set of fixtures ahead. After keeping five clean sheets out of eleven, we see no reason why the Pole in the Goal will not continue to rack up the points.

DEFENCE

Oh how we have enjoyed the clean sheets! Thanks to a strong start, three of Southampton’s regular back four have enjoyed hefty price rises. The value in Soton’s defence is their ability to keep clean sheets, not scoring… though Bertrand and Clyne did provide their owners nice parting gifts on Monday. With a tricky fixture list until mid-January it is time to look elsewhere. It’s time to cash in and enjoy the extra spending money.

Depending on when you hopped aboard the Soton defender bandwagon, and if you wisely chose to double up, will determine how much cash you have to spend on replacements. We think these defenders can step in and do a job for your team for the right price.

NEIL TAYLOR, Swansea

Still somehow priced under £5.0, Neil Taylor represents both great value and great points potential. Swansea’s defensive discipline, paired with an in-form Fabianski, suggest a string of clean sheets could be on the horizon. Are Swansea the new Southampton? We are not ready to go that far, but we think having a few Swans in your side going forward could pay big dividends.

CESAR AZPILICUETA, Chelsea

Affectionately known as “Azpi” in the FF247 world (primarily because no one can work out how to spell his name), the cheapest starting Chelsea defender is another we recommend. With a friendly fixture list extending into January we think Azpi will keep enough clean sheets to make you forget about the Soton defender you gave up to get him. If you have the little bit extra in Ye Olde Bank Account, we think him a fine investment for the future.

PHIL JAGIELKA, Everton

With the exception of a trip to play Manchester City in two weeks, Everton’s fixture list does not look difficult until after the turn of the New Year. Jagielka offers the same prospect of clean sheets as your Southampton defenders, and will chip in with the odd bonus point as well. After collecting a career-best 19 bonus points in 2012/13, Jagielka already sits on nine and we think it a safe bet he will eclipse that total this season. 

MIDFIELD

Whether you are a Dusan Tadic man or a Morgan Schneiderlin gal, the time has arrived for you to jettison Southampton midfield coverage you have. We will, however, offer an exception in the case of Victor Wanyama. At his price point we think he still has value as a cheap rotating fourth midfielder or a fifth midfielder to man your bench in case of injury. Here are some similarly-priced alternatives:

GYLFI SIGURDSSON, Swansea

If you are one of those that sold Siggy (tisk, tisk) due to injury fears or a difficult stretch of fixtures, it is time to bring him back into your team. In their next eight, Swansea only face one team not currently in the bottom ten in the league. With Wilfried Bony starting to find form, we believe the Siggy-Bony relationship will be a productive one in the weeks to come.

NACER CHADLI, Spurs

A trip to Chelsea aside, Chadli has a friendly set of fixtures until Christmas and we think that will see him continue his good run in the coming weeks. Given Spurs’ lack of viable striker options, Chadli is given the freedom to drift inside which has seen him snipe the kind of goals Aaron Ramsey did last year.

*Caveat Emptor*: at the time of writing, Chadli is yellow-flagged with a 75% chance of playing. If you are considering Chadli, keep an eye on his injury status before transferring him in.

CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN, Spurs

The Danish midfielder has struggled since joining Spurs from Ajax but we think (Samwise Gamgee) Mauricio Pochettino has finally figured out how and where to deploy the team’s best player. With the emergence of Harry Kane and Nacer Chadli, we think Eriksen capable of filling the void left by your departing Soton players.

OSCAR, Chelsea

The young Brazilian has flourished this season under the tutelage of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and, if he continues to be deployed in the attacking midfielder role, we think this Oscar’s no grouch. With Chelsea’s friendly Christmas programme we expect Oscar to add to his three goals and three assists. A bit pricier than the other options but, if you can spare the funds, we think you will be happy with the results. 

FORWARD

We struggled for quite some time figuring out what to do with GRAZIANO PELLE, and there are two schools of thought of what to do with the talented Italian.

One camp thinks keeping him makes since – Southampton are still going to score during their rough stretch and odds are Don Pelle will be involved more often than not. That makes sense to us, and we think the Italian will continue to reward owners who keep him albeit at a lesser pace.

The other group thinks this is the perfect time to sell high and try to get whichever premium striker (Costa/Aguero) you do not have in your side. With the well-chronicled number of cheap striking options, a Costa-Aguero partnership up top is viable without sacrificing the rest of your team.

Next week we will take a look at the hectic Christmas programme and the players we think will benefit your teams the most during that period. To that end we wanted to put this on your radar: with teams set to play eight games in the next six weeks, you can expect to see teams rest and rotate players when they can. We always stress having regularly playing players on you bench but, if you have players on your bench that don’t feature regularly, now is the time to fix that. If you have a free transfer this week you may want to make sure your bench is in order – chances are you will need them in December. 

Thanks again for reading. For Arsenal-flavoured rants, fantasy football thoughts and the occasional witty comment, follow @PlanoGooner on Twitter. For all the non-price related information you need to field your best XI, visit us at FantasyFootball247.co.uk and follow @FantasyFooty247 on Twitter. Cheers!