No sooner has the week 15 Premier League matches ended and we have week 16 with just a day to rest in between. The December fixture pile up has started even if there is a brief interruption of the Premier League schedule coming up. Week 16 and 17 are here with midweek matches taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be quickly followed by Saturday, Sunday, and Monday matches. No point in wasting time with idle chatter.
Week 16 Predictions:
| Time | Home | Away | Final Score | |||
| Tuesday, December 13 | ||||||
| 14:45/19:45 | Bournemouth | 1 | v | 2 | Leicester City | |
| 14:45/19:45 | Everton | 1 | v | 3 | Arsenal | |
| Wednesday, December 14 | ||||||
| 14:45/19:45 | Middlesbrough | 1 | v | 1 | Liverpool | |
| 14:45/19:45 | Sunderland | 0 | v | 3 | Chelsea | |
| 14:45/19:45 | West Ham | 0 | v | 0 | Burnley | |
| 15:00/20:00 | Crystal Palace | 1 | v | 3 | Manchester United | |
| 15:00/20:00 | Man City | 2 | v | 1 | Watford | |
| 15:00/20:00 | Stoke City | 1 | v | 1 | Southampton | |
| 15:00/20:00 | Tottenham | 3 | v | 0 | Hull City | |
| 15:00/20:00 | West Brom | 2 | v | 0 | Swansea City | |
Week FPL 16 Matchups
Sunderland v Chelsea: Chelsea remain my number one fantasy pick throughout this holiday season. Week 16 they travel to Sunderland and all attacking options should be on the table. Particular attention should be paid to goal scoring leader Diego Costa.
Man City v Watford: Man City may have slumped to a massive 4-2 drubbing by Leicester City, but they will certainly not make the same mistakes again in Wednesday’s match at home against Watford. The problem with Watford is that their fantasy value in the official game is hard to gauge. Their previous attacking options haven’t performed nearly as well this season (see Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo). Deeney continues to start and play every match, but isn’t putting in the FPL points. Even their highest FPL points scorer, Etienne Capoue, has been lukewarm. The positive with Capoue is that his lowest week points total for this season has been 2. Which is what he has scored in the past three consecutive weeks. Not too bad for a player at 5.0.
I would say that all Man City attacking options should be on the table for this one, but it’s best to avoid their woeful defense. The same could be said for a Watford team that has allowed 14 goals on the road.
Tottenham v Hull City: While I’m not sure if Harry Kane actually played in Sunday’s match, this is the match to pick him and consider him for a captain pick for the week. Son is another solid choice along with Christian Eriksen who is finally starting to look good again. Both Danny Rose and Kyle Walker may have been torched on Sunday against United, but this entire Spurs defense should show what they can do against a Hull team that has scored just 14 goals this season.
Manchester United: Now is the time to start adding United players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic. They begin this holiday period with back to back away trips to struggling Crystal Palace followed by West Brom. West Brom has played well this season (4 points behind United), but have allowed 10 goals at home this season, which is similar to United’s 9 goals scored on the road (while also allowing 10). After these two matches they have even stronger fixtures against Sunderland and Middlesbrough at home before their New Year’s trip to West Ham. Not a bad set of fixtures against opposition lower in the table than they are.