Fantasy Forecast 2019/20: FPL Gameweek 14
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train's three front-men, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. In addition, we provide general insight that we believe might be relevant for FPL players, such as our personal captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 14 Deadline
For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.
How does our Forecasting work?
For three years we invited guests from the FPL Community to tackle us with picks for the upcoming Gameweek in Fantasy Premier League. We'll be taking a break from inviting guests onto this article for a year, and have introduced a new feature, Fantasy 5's, which we'll be asking weekly guests their top pick in each position ahead of each Gameweek.
For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties that will feature throughout the season.
Premier League Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with PL predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the FPL Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point.
FPL Gameweek Forecasting: Answering the regular questions that come up every single week in the Fantasy Premier League community that helps with identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, players to consider for the Draft game, the wildcard differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, without any budget, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks)
Each team must pick a Captain, labelled as (c) and a Vice Captain listed as (vc).
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 14
Newcastle 0-3 Man City
Burnley 1-1 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 3-0 West Ham
Liverpool 2-0 Brighton
Spurs 2-1 Bournemouth
Southampton 1-0 Watford
Norwich 2-1 Arsenal
Wolves 2-0 Sheffield United
Leicester 2-0 Everton
Man United 1-1 Aston Villa
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 14
Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:
GK: Vincente Guaita (CRY, GK, £5.0mil, 0.6% ownership)
DEF: Andrew Robertson (LIV, DEF, £7.0mil, 22.0% ownership)
MID: Christian Pulisic (CHE, MID, £7.5mil, 13.4% ownership)
FWD: Gabriel Jesus (MCI, FWD, £9.5mil, 1.8% ownership)
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Arsenal (Avoid): This one is self-explanatory. If you have just woken up from a coma in the last five years, then Arsenal’s downward spiral is still in effect. They still also look like a National League 2 team away from home.
Liverpool (Watch): If you have just woken up from a coma in the last five years, then Liverpool are currently Europe’s most competitive team and no longer a joke on the internet. The Reds have dropped only two points all season, and if Brighton take points off Liverpool this weekend then I will quit Twitter. If you hate Liverpool I recommend going back into a coma.
Man United (Avoid): If you have just woken up from a coma and are a Man United fan then I had bad news for you, and it isn’t just about Liverpool being the current European Champions. Things for the Red Devils haven’t been as straight forward as they were under Fergie, and to rip the band-aid off, they currently have a Championship level manager in charge. To make things worse, Aston Villa are a competitive team this year and some of their results have been unfair to them, and whilst United may have salvaged a point against Sheffield United, it is the only home fixture this weekend that I have major doubts over United’s ability to score a goal and keep a clean sheet.
Chelsea (Watch): If you have just woken up from a coma this one might send you back into the coma. The Blues have employed Frank Lampard (who retired, FYI), and the Chelsea legend has integrated youth/loan players into the main team. Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount, and Reece James are now regulars. The only news to put your feet on the ground is that West Ham are still a dead team who struggle for form, and they travel to Stamford Bridge.
Spurs (Watch): Where do we begin with this one. If you have just woken up from a coma you may think that you have emerged into an alternative universe because Jose Mourinho is currently their manager, and get this, they just sacked their only manager to have them reach a Champions League final. They host Bournemouth this week, and Jose already has two wins under his belt, and I can see a third. Maybe I’m in the coma and this is all a dream.
Leicester (Watch): If you have woken up from a coma and haven’t died of shock, I have another bombshell for you. I am not even joking…Leicester City won the 2015/16 Premier League season. They are also now managed by Brendan Rodgers and are one of the leagues best teams. Jamie Vardy already has twelve goals…he is a good striker if you remember from the Championship years. They host Everton to make it seven clean sheets in a row.
Everton (Mega Avoid): Lastly, if you have just woken up from a coma then there is at least one consistent from when you last remember football…Everton are still the same club. This is just a general statement, mostly because Everton’s next run of fixtures include four of the current top six, and Man United. This week is Leicester, then Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United, and then Arsenal. Lucas Digne owners should have heeded my advice about him before GW1. If you happen to be a person recovering from a coma Lucas Digne is a bang average left-back that scored a few goals last season and everyone overrated him.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) – Jamie Vardy (LEI): The Englishman has twelve goals to his name already this season, and with Everton coming to town that number should rise by a couple more.
(VC) – Tammy Abraham (CHE): You could honestly switch the Blues striker around with Vardy and it does not make a difference in your team this week.
(VVC) – Sadio Mane (LIV): I know that a Vice-Vice-Captain isn’t a thing, but a special shout-out goes to the Premier Leagues best player so far this season. A home tie against Brighton is going to be another one of them easy to predict fixtures where Mane will do well.
Other Gameweek Comments:
Barring Man City, all the conventional top six clubs (plus Leicester) are at home this weekend. This should be quite a cut and dry week with lots of home wins.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 14
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Ederson (MCI)
DEF: Andrew Robertson (LIV)
DEF: Ricardo Pereira (LEI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
MID: Hueng-Min Son (TOT)
MID: Sadio Mane (LIV) - (C)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
MID: Christian Pulisic (CHE)
FOR: Raul Jimenez (WOL)
FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI) - (C)
FOR: Harry Kane (TOT)
Substitutes
GK: Paulo Gazzaniga (TOT)
MID: James Maddison (LEI)
DEF: Fikayo Tomori (CHE)
DEF: Benjamin Mendy (MCI)
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 14
Newcastle 0-2 Man City
Burnley 2-1 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool 3-1 Brighton
Spurs 1-0 Bournemouth
Southampton 2-2 Watford
Norwich 2-1 Arsenal
Wolves 2-1 Sheffield United
Leicester 2-0 Everton
Man United 1-1 Aston Villa
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 14
Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:
If you don’t have the obvious picks from Leicester, Liverpool, Man City or Chelsea for this week’s fixture helping, when all have heavily favourable home fixtures, then that’d be a good place to start. If you’ve been unable to get rid of deadwood in the form of Pukki (just one example), then the template answers of Tammy Abraham, Jamie Vardy and co can’t be a bad solution to keep you in contention with your mini-leagues.
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Spurs (Watch):
Against my point above about this week having obvious answers with some tasty home fixtures, the only unknown variable is Spurs right now. Jose Mourinho has overseen two wins from two games and the newly anointed ‘Humble One’ takes on Bournemouth in his first Premier League home game at the club. The likes of Kane, Alli, Son and Moura, have benefitted from playing in comfortable positions (Son as a left-winger, Moura as a 10, interchanging with Alli on the right-flank). This could all result in a settled squad providing a lot of questions for Bournemouth’s defence and a potential resurrection of interested in the club as a viable FPL option again.
For me personally, I’ll be waiting to pull the trigger on any moves until the Man United game is over next week as most FPL players will be quite comfortable with the current templated attack of Vardy, Jimenez and Abraham. Kane in particular will have a hard time breaking in to the mix due to his inflated price, with Moura, Son and Alli likely to be sworn in at first notice ahead of the England captain.
Newcastle (Avoid):
My beloved Newcastle were abysmal at Aston Villa, so much so that I took a lot of flak in Hype Train FC’s WhatsApp group (from Villa and Reading fans no less). We lack any sense of goal threat and enough though we beat Man City 2-1 in the corresponding fixture last season, Steve Bruce isn’t looking up to task at getting his attack firing on any cylinder. My first tip is to play Miguel Almiron in his actual position, instead of tying him down on the right-wing. You’ll see a new lease of life if he has able to roam as a Number 10, which in turn should give Joelinton more support – the lone Forward desperately needs it and is getting zero service.
Norwich (Watch):
Arsenal fans must be cursing their luck at having to travel to Carrow Road after a streak of 7 consecutive losses ended for Norwich during Gameweek 13’s 2-0 away win at Everton. Arsenal generally struggle away from home, pressure is mounting on Unai Emery, they play Frankfurt in the Europa League, whilst fan frustrations from the ‘Wenger Out’ days are rearing its ugly head again. It’s more a damming viewpoint of Arsenal’s struggles right now than it is a glowing review of Norwich, it’s just something that many football fans have seen time and time again with Arsenal on the road.
Looking to the future:
As we head in to a busy Xmas period of fixtures, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Sheffield United have some good fixtures, so I’d suggest potentially going with one from each club. John Lundstram is an automatic if you have him, but the likes of Willems, Dubravka and Fernandez might come into contention if Steve Bruce can wrestle out of his paper bag in time to get the club ticking over Christmas, so myself and likeminded Newcastle fans aren't completely grey (or hairless) by 2020.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) – Jamie Vardy (LEI): After a run of 10 consecutive captaincy blanks in my personal team, Vardy has been the one to break the streak to return with 12 points in both Gameweek’s 12 and 13. Leicester are playing with supreme confidence and go up against a team with none (sorry Everton). The dice is being rolled on third time being a charm, with their being no reason to chance a winning formula.
(VC) – Sadio Mane (LIV): Liverpool are at home and Mane’s in-form. You don’t have to think too much about this one, other than realise by now that the main man Mane, has overtaken Salah in terms of FPL necessity this season and is the player to bank on out of the duo right now.
Other Gameweek Comments:
We’re posting our Forecast a little earlier this week and with good reason. The FPL season has firmly settled into a rhythm at this point. It’s become apparent who to bank on right now. Any double or trio from Leicester, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, John Lundstram and one or two flavours of the month.
With the ‘template’ model looking so strong this week, we can envision players not doing a great with their teams this week and will most likely bank a transfer – with the exceptions being with FPL players looking to bring in the template moulded players – Vardy, Soyuncu, KDB, Mane, Abraham, et al.
Point is, with midweek games on the horizon, it’s sound logic to bank a transfer and wait to act on next week’s games, rather than dwell on this Gameweek.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 14
Formation: 4-3-3
Starting 11
GK: Nick Pope (BUR)
DEF: Caglar Soyuncu (LEI)
DEF: Ben Chilwell (LEI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Fikayo Tomori (CHE)
MID: Christian Pulisic (CHE)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
MID: Sadio Mane (LIV) – (VC)
FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI) – (C)
FOR: Chris Wood (BUR)
FOR: Raul Jimenez (WOL)
Substitutes
GK: Paulo Gazzaniga (TOT)
MID: João Moutinho (WOL)
MID: Todd Cantwell (NOR)
DEF: Chris Basham (SHU)
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.
We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.
In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.
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All aboard.
