You know that the festive football season is underway when the first midweek round of Premier League games takes place.
There is a full schedule of fixtures this midweek starting on Tuesday and ending on Thursday with Amazon Prime broadcasting each one live on their streaming platforms.
December is a relentless month in the Fantasy Premier League season with squad rotation kicking in as managers look to protect their players from picking up injuries. Make sure you have a strong bench for the coming weeks.
The pick of the midweek action is on Wednesday when Erling Haaland, Mo Salah, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer are all in action. All four are viable captaincy picks based on their fixtures.
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The Gameweek 14 deadline is deadline is at 6pm on Tuesday 3 December:
Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea)
Doubling up on Chelsea’s attack is tempting given the form that they are in and the fixtures that they have coming up.
The Blues face bottom-of-the-table Southampton and a depleted Tottenham defence this week before embarking on a hugely promising run until the end of January. Beyond the next two, Chelsea’s matches until Gameweek 23 are against Brentford (h), Everton (a), Fulham (h), Ipswich (a), Crystal Palace (a), Bournemouth (h) and Wolves (h).
Nicolas Jackson looks like a great option for the foreseeable future. The Senegalese has scored four goals and provided an assist across his previous six league outings and only three forwards (one of whom will be mentioned below) have outscored him in FPL during that period.
One downside to buying Jackson is that he has to avoid picking up a fifth booking of the season in his next six appearances otherwise he will trigger an automatic one-match ban. Make sure you have decent bench options if you decide to bring him in.
Price: £8.1m Points: 78 Gameweek 14 fixture: Southampton (a)
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
The only player bought more times than Jackson since Gameweek 13 ended is Bukayo Saka and considering he has amassed 31 points in his last two appearances it isn’t hard to see why he’s proving so popular.
Saka has been sensational lately, scoring two goals and providing four assists in back-to-back wins against Nottingham Forest and West Ham to galvanise Arsenal’s title hopes.
The winger has been a creative force this campaign, so much so that he has set up at least two more goals (10) than any other payer in Europe’s major leagues. Furthermore, Cesc Fabregas, Mesut Ozil and Harry Kane are the only players in Premier League history to reach double figures for assists in a season quicker than Saka, who has done so in just 12 games.
Manchester United could be tricky opponents after thrashing Everton, but Arsenal will be confident of beating anyone at the Emirates, particularly with their starboy in such sparkling form.
Price: £10.3m Points: 98 Gameweek 14 fixture: Man Utd (h)
Evanilson (Bournemouth)
Justin Kluivert made history on Saturday by becoming the first Premier League player ever to score a hat-trick of penalties and he has Evanilson to thank after the Brazilian was fouled for all three.
The Brazilian would be a more attractive FPL option if he were the one taking the spot-kicks, but if he can keep on winning them he could prove to be just as valuable.
The summer signing from Porto has quietly become a very reliable source of points in FPL. After a slow start, he has provided attacking returns in six of his last eight matches culminating in his best score of 12 against Wolves last time out.
Currently owned by just over two per cent of managers, Evanilson could be a superb differential against Spurs who are set to be without their first-choice goalkeeper and two best centre-backs for their trip to the Vitality.
Price: £6m Points: 59 Gameweek 14 fixture: Spurs (h)
Leif Davis (Ipswich)
Portman Road will play host to a relegation six-pointer on Tuesday when Ipswich (19th) take on Crystal Palace (17th).
A win for either side would be extremely welcome considering they have both only beaten Spurs so far this season and are level on nine points after 13 games.
If Ipswich are to eke out a first home win of the campaign, Leif Davis will probably have played a key role. The left-back has created at least 20 chances more than any other teammate and is also the most creative defender in FPL.
The quality of Davis’ delivery is also worth pointing out. Saka, Palmer, Bruno Fernandes and Matheus Cunha are the only players in the division to have created more big chances than him.
Price: £4.5m Points: 36 Gameweek 14 fixture: Crystal Palace (h)
Jarrod Bowen (West Ham)
Plenty of FPL bosses are offloading Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) this week with his points drying up and Brentford’s fixture list looking tricky.
If you are looking to say bye-bye to Bryan you could do a lot worse than take a punt on Jarrod Bowen as his replacement. West Ham have been inconsistent so far but have an encouraging run with matches against Leicester (a), Wolves (h), Bournemouth (a), Brighton (h) and Southampton (a) in their next five.
Bowen has made a reasonable start to the campaign, producing three goals and four assists in his 13 appearances and remains an integral part of the team having completed a full 90 minutes in each of West Ham’s last 10 games.
He hasn’t been at his explosive best yet but you’d back him to improve his attacking numbers against some obliging defences this month.
Price: £7.4m Points: 59 Gameweek 14 fixture: Leicester (a)
