Each week Fantasy Friday will bring tips for Premier League fantasy leagues including matchups to watch out for. Keep up to date on players injured, suspended or questionable for each week.
With the fifth week of the Premier League coming up there have been several teams that played matches in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup tournaments. This could have implications for your EPL fantasy team depending on whether they were injured or played in the game and may be benched this weekend.
For this week’s Fantasy Friday I will be focusing on young up and coming players to look at for each position. They may not be the best players for their position, but typically these young players are cheaper and can be used to fill in slots.
The thing about these young players is that they are often unproven and could definitely be a risk. They aren’t always considered as first team regulars so there is a risk in whether they will start, be subbed early, be a used substitute, or not be played at all.
However, when these young players really take off, they can be a massive boost for your team since, if they are bought early, can provide you cheap points and gain in value. This certainly isn’t always the case, so I will try to focus on some of the players who are not quite as highly rated as say Oscar, Eden Hazard, or even Theo Walcott.
As a cutoff I’m going to go with age 23 (except for keepers) and will throw in a few 24 year olds to look at.
Goalkeepers: Since it is widely considered that goalkeepers don’t fully mature till later I’m capping the keepers at age 26. There are quite a few young goalkeepers out there and many of them are quite good. This is also one area where you won’t necessarily find great value.
David de Gea: age 22 – Manchester United
Simon Mignolet: 25 – Liverpool
Tim Krul: 25 – Newcastle United
Asmir Begovic: 26 – Stoke City
Joe Hart: 26 – Manchester City
Hugo Lloris: 26 – Tottenham
John Ruddy: 26 – Norwich City
Defenders:
Luke Shaw: 18 – Southampton
Ben Davies: 20 – Swansea City
Andre Wisdom: 20 – Liverpool
Davide Santon: 22 – Newcastle United
Matija Nastasic: 20 – Manchester City
Joel Ward: 23 – Crystal Palace
Fabian Delph: 23 – Aston Villa
Kyle Walker: 23 – Tottenham
Danny Rose: 23 – Tottenham
Ciaran Clark: 23 – Aston Villa
Rafael: 23 – Manchester United
Seamus Coleman: 24 – Everton
Dejan Lovren: 24 – Southampton
Moussa Sissoko: 24 – Newcastle United
Midfielders:
Raheem Sterling: 18 – Liverpool
James Ward-Prowse: 18 – Southampton
Nathan Redmond: 19 – Norwich City
Ross Barkley: 19 – Everton
Pajtim Kasami: 21 – Fulham
Jonjo Shelvey: 21 – Swansea City
Andros Townsend: 22 – Tottenham
Aaron Ramsey: 22 – Arsenal
Leroy Fer: 23 – Norwich City
Aron Gunnarsson: 23 – Cardiff City
Forwards:
Romelu Lukaku: 20 – Everton
Matej Vydra: 21 – West Bromwich Albion
Christian Benteke: 22 – Aston Villa
Andreas Weimann: 22 – Aston Villa
Dwight Gayle: 22 – Crystal Palace
Danny Welbeck: 22 – Manchester United
Jozy Altidore: 23 – Sunderland
Sone Aluko: 24 – Hull City
Wilfried Bony: 24 – Swansea City
Ricky van Wolfswinkel: 24 – Norwich City
A possible starting lineup could include:
Goal: David de Gea
Defense: Davide Santon, Rafael, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker
Midfield: Ross Barkley, Jonjo Shelvey, Aaron Ramsey, Nathan Redmond
Forward: Romelu Lukaku, Christian Benteke
Bench: Asmir Begovic, Ciaran Clark, Ben Davies, James Ward-Prowse, Andros Townsend, Danny Welbeck, Andreas Weimann
You can check out my Premier League Predictions as well as Previews for the weekend to follow up on possible outcomes.
Injuries and Suspensions:
For week 3 there are several players that are out through injury or suspension and several more that are questionable.
Arsenal: Jack Wilshire: ankle/foot; expected back against Tottenham
Santi Cazorla: ankle injury – out till late September
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: out for 6-12 weeks (early October)
Lukas Podolski: hamstring; out 8-10 weeks
Tomas Rosicky: Thigh injury – out till late September
Mikel Arteta: out till late September
Thomas Vermaelen: back injury – questionable
Diaby: out indefinitely
Yaya Sanogo: back injury – questionable
Aston Villa:
Charles N’Zogbia: Achilles – out indefinitely following surgery
Jores Okore: knee injury – out indefinitely; most likely for the season.
Cardiff City:
Craig Bellamy: knock – questionable; 50/50
Steven Caulker: Ankle injury – questionable
Andreas Cornelius: ankle sprain; questionable
David Marshall: hip injury – questionable
Chelsea:
Crystal Palace:
Yannick Bolasie: out indefinitely: hamstring
Kagisho Dikgacoi: 1 match ban for red card
Jack Hunt: broken ankle – out for several months
Jimmy Kebe: groin – unknown return date
Patrick McCarthy – groin injury; out indefinitely
Glenn Murray: Knee – out till October/November
Jonathan Parr: questionable; match fitness
Jerome Thomas: ankle – questionable (25%-50%)
Joel Ward: calf – questionable
Jonathan Williams: ankle – out for several months
Everton:
Antolin Alcaraz: hamstring – questionable
Darron Gibson: knee – questionable
Arouna Kone: knee injury – questionable
Steven Pienaar: muscle injury – questionable
Fulham:
Dimitar Berbatov: hamstring – questionable
Matthew Briggs: hip – questionable
Aaron Hughes: thigh – questionable (75%)
Bryan Ruiz: ankle injury – unknown return
Maartin Stekelenburg: shoulder – questionable (25%-50%)
Hull City:
Gedo: lack of fitness – questionable
Robert Koren: foot injury – late September return
Liverpool:
Daniel Agger: knock – questionable
Joe Allen – Hamstring; questionable
Aly Cissokho: ankle sprain – unknown return
Sebastian Coates: out for the season with ACL knee surgery
Philippe Coutinho: shoulder – out till end of October following surgery
Glen Johnson: knee – out till mid October
Luis Suarez: serving 10 match ban; tentative return on 9/21
Manchester City:
Gael Clichy: knock – questionable
Martin Demichelis: knee – out till at least mid October
Vincent Kompany: out at least a month; groin
Micah Richards: hamstring – questionable
David Silva: thigh – questionable (75%)
Manchester United:
Darren Fletcher: out indefinitely; illness
Phil Jones: ankle – questionable/probable
Rafael: hamstring – questionable/probable
Newcastle United:
Jonas Gutierrez: hamstring – questionable
Gabriel Obertan: hamstring – questionable (75%)
Ryan Taylor: knee – out indefinitely
Michael Williamson: knock – questionable
Norwich City:
Elliott Bennett: Knee – out for several months
Southampton:
Daniel Fox: ankle – questionable
Luke Shaw: ankle – questionable
Stoke City:
Marc Muniesa: Groin – questionable
Sunderland:
Phillip Bardsley: out indefinitely; broken foot
Wes Brown: knee – questionable
Swansea City:
Wilfried Bony: back – questionable
Pablo Hernandez: hamstring – questionable
Neil Taylor – thigh; out 4-6 weeks
Tottenham Hotspur:
Emmanuel Adebayor: listed as out due to personal reasons – unknown return
Etienne Capoue: Ankle – out till early October
Nacer Chadli: thigh – questionable
Aaron Lennon – foot; questionable
West Bromwich Albion:
Ben Foster – foot; out for up to 12 weeks
Zoltan Gera: out for the season; knee
Shane Long: hamstring – questionable
Steven Reid: out till September; knock
George Thorne: out for up to 8 months; knee
Matej Vydra – hamstring – questionable
West Ham United:
Andy Carroll: out till mid-September; foot
Joe Cole: hamstring – questionable
Alou Diarra: knee – unknown return
Stewart Downing: Leg – questionable
Winston Reid: knock – questionable
Put in your comments below if you have a great fantasy tip for the Premier League. Do you agree with my tips or have some injury updates to add? Feel free to leave your EPL Fantasy tips here.