Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 21 Fantasy Forecast
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Premier League, The Hype Train's team, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL and league supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. With the 2020/21 Premier League season starting tomorrow, we provide our Gameweek Forecast predictions, speculating how we think the latest round of games will be played out. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Premier League 2020/21: Gameweek 21 Fixtures
Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 21 Forecast
Enjoy our FPL Forecast article, with each of our team forecasting how we think the Premier League will shape up this upcoming Gameweek. If you agree or want to challenge us on our point of view, get in touch with us on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain.
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 21
Everton 3-0 Newcastle
Crystal Palace 1-1 Wolves
Man City 4-0 Sheffield United
West Brom 0-0 Fulham
Arsenal 1-1 Man United
Southampton 1-1 Aston Villa
Chelsea 0-0 Burnley
Leicester 2-0 Leeds
West Ham 1-3 Liverpool
Brighton 0-2 Spurs
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 21
Top FPL player targets ahead of the upcoming Gameweek:
GK: Kasper Schmeichel (LEI, GK, £5.5mil, 10.1% ownership)
DEF: João Cancelo (MCI, DEF, £5.9mil, 17.6% ownership)
MID: Ilkay Gündogan (MCI, MID, £5.7mil, 14.9% ownership)
FWD: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE, FWD, £7.6mil, 31.7% ownership)
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
West Ham (Avoid): The Hammers have had plenty of assets in the last few weeks performing: Cresswell, Soucek, and Antonio. I was even one of the foolish 75% of players that benched Soucek as I watched a hefty three players hit that magical 1pt return. Anyway, prior to the Spurs game I was confident that Liverpool would lose the game, but, out of the blue they finally pulled a result of the hat and broke their 500 minutes scoring duck to get the win.
This game decides who finishes GW21 in 4th place in the Premier League table, something I am stilling shaking my head over, and if Liverpool show the same intensity against the Hammers then it is already settled. Liverpool looked more like their true self against Spurs and that could kickstart a new patch of good form, and typically, the Reds have a very good record against West Ham. Liverpool are undefeated in their last nine games against the London club, winning seven of them games, and more relevantly, the last three games have all been Liverpool victories.
Everton (Watch): This also translates to: Newcastle (avoid). I mentioned it last week, but my god, I am running out of superlatives to describe just how dire Steve Bruce is. I must start making up words. The only good thing right now is that Miguel Almirón is trying to force the issue, because guess what, he should have never been dropped for Jeff Hendrick, or anyone on that matter. Imagine being one of the better players in the team and seeing Hendrick and Carroll regularly start over their creative players. There is clearly a discord in the player’s camp. Bruce has no clue. I honestly think he could turn Messi into a two goal a year striker in his prime and would bench him for Carroll. That’d destroy me too. Most of the players were there when Rafa was there, which fully explains just how unqualified Bruce is to manage a Premier League club. Newcastle deserves so much better, they look like a pale ghost of their selves under Bruce, with no desire, and all those fortunate wins that Newcastle scraped have dried up. Newcastle now needs to fight, and like most clubs fighting relegation your only as good as the Captain piloting the ship, and Newcastle’s is currently steering them towards the edge of a waterfall without a care in the world. If I were Carlo Ancelloti right now, I would feel like the king at a banquet table in preparation for this game. I can’t see how Everton don’t walk away with three points, it is that simple.
Arsenal & Man United (???): Last week I said Everton and Leicester were last Gameweek’s big unknown, I even said it would be 1-1, and it happened. I’m not a betting man, but I have a similar vide about the Red Devils trip to The Emirates. I just have a feeling these teams will cancel each other out. Like last week I thought Leicester would win, and if I had a gut call, I think United are more capable of getting the win in this fixture.
FPL Differential Picks (GW21):
EVE/NEW: Michael Keane (EVE, DEF, £5.1mil, 5.3% ownership)
CRY/WOL: Jean-Philippe Mateta (CRY, FWD, £6.0mil, 0.0% ownership)
MCI/SHU: Bernardo Silva (MCI, MID, £7.4mil, 1.0% ownership)
WBA/FUL: Matheus Pereira (WBA, MID, £5.6mil, 1.0% ownership)
ARS/MUN: Alexandre Lacazette (ARS, FWD, £8.3mil, 7.6% ownership)
SOU/AVL: Bertrand Traoré (AVL, MID, £5.9mil, 0.7% ownership)
CHE/BUR: Antonio Rüdiger (CHE, DEF, £4.5mil, 0.8% ownership)
LEI/LEE: Harvey Barnes (LEI, MID, £6.8mil, 6.0% ownership)
WHU/LIV: Roberto Firmino (LIV, FWD, £9.3mil, 5.4% ownership)
BHA/TOT: Joe Rodon (TOT, DEF, £5.0mil, 0.0% ownership)
Differential Captain: Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace)
Screw it, I am going with an audacious shout this week for captaincy. It’s nearing the end of January, so I am going all-in on a new arrival to the league that has caught some attention over the last week or so. When I heard the announcement of Palace signing Mateta I was surprised, but when I started to think about it, the less I was.
Signed from Mainz to give Palace more cutting edge, Mateta is most known for being a powerful force in the box, tall, and imposing, making him an opponent tough to challenge in the box. Standing at 6ft 3inches the Frenchman can easily go toe-to-toe with most of the defenders in the Premier League. The plan is clear with Palace about Mateta, as his primary strength is winning the ball in the air. Averaging over a whopping 3.6 arial duels won per game, and registering an average of 3 shots a game, Mateta constantly features in the top five attributors in the Bundesliga. Also known for his smart runs behind defenders, he has more than one trait to rely on. On paper Matata is perfect for the Premier League, and in many respects has similar qualities to Benteke and other strikers that Palace have recruited (remember Alexander Sørloth?). That is my only concern, that Palace aren’t breaking the mould in terms of their offensive style.
The Eagles also wasted Sørloth who has now found his feet at RB Leipzig. Perhaps Mateta’s roll of the dice will be better, and perhaps that fresh blood can really change things. Who knows, and that is what a differential pick is for, I’m just going to go big on Mateta making an instant Splash against Wolves, who lets face it, haven’t been the same this season. This could be a debut surprise, and I hope this 0.0% owned player does it.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 21
Formation: 4-4-2
Starting 11
GK: Kasper Schmeichel (LEI)
DEF: João Cancelo (MCI)
DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Michael Keane (EVE)
MID: Sadio Mane (LIV)
MID: Ilkay Gündogan (MCI)
MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV) - (C)
MID: Harvey Barnes (LEI)
FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)
FOR: Jean-Philippe Mateta (CRY) - (VC)
Substitutes
GK: Nick Pope (BUR)
FWD: Ollie Watkins (DCL)
MID: Bertrand Traoré (AVL)
DEF: Yerry Mina (EVE)
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 21
Everton 4-0 Newcastle
Crystal Palace 2-1 Wolves
Man City 6-0 Sheffield United
West Brom 0-1 Fulham
Arsenal 2-1 Man United
Southampton 2-2 Aston Villa
Chelsea 4-0 Burnley
Leicester 3-1 Leeds
West Ham 2-0 Liverpool
Brighton 0-2 Spurs
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 21
Formation: 3-4-3
Transfers In and Out:
With Kane injured and Bamford out of form in my personal team, it is time to refresh the forward line, with Ollie Watkins and DCL coming in for a relatively cheap frontline.
Starting 11
GK: Emi Martinez (AVL)
DEF: Joao Cancelo (MCI)
DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)
DEF: John Stones (MCI)
MID: Jack Grealish (AVL)
MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)
MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV) – (VC)
MID: Heung-Min Son (TOT)
FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewandowski (EVE) – (C)
FOR: Ollie Watkins (AVL)
FOR: Timo Werner (CHE)
Substitutes
GK: Eduoard Mendy (CHE)
MID: James Rodriguez (EVE)
DEF: Ben Chilwell (CHE)
DEF: Aaron Cresswell (WHU)
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 21
Everton 2-1 Newcastle
Crystal Palace 0-1 Wolves
Man City 3-0 Sheffield United
West Brom 0-1 Fulham
Arsenal 1-1 Man United
Southampton 2-1 Aston Villa
Chelsea 1-0 Burnley
Leicester 2-1 Leeds
West Ham 0-2 Liverpool
Brighton 1-1 Spurs
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 21
Top FPL player targets ahead of the upcoming Gameweek:
So the major talking points ahead of Gameweek 21 is obviously concerns the injury to Harry Kane. I’ve got the 12-goal Forward in my team alongside Anthony Martial and have opted to take them both out, putting in Roberto Firmino (why not?) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (the generic choice).
There are a lot of competitive games hard to call this week which makes selection a little harder at the top end of the field, though there is a wealth of cheap defensive options. Justin (LEI), Holgate (EVE) are value for their roles and it might be worth dropping to a cheap forward and add another mid to premium midfielder – Maddison, Barnes, Salah, Fernandes, Son, Zaha, Grealish, Mane, and Sterling are all better options than the current state of Forwards right now.
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Spurs (Avoid): Jose’s team look like easy targets this week, but in truth they’ve been a little uninspiring for a long time now and quite fancy Brighton to nick a point – this will serve my mental health well as a Newcastle fan when I have to endure us losing against Everton and hoping that nobody else picks up a result below us.
Fulham (Watch): What a colossal fixture between two teams looking destined for the group. If (most likely when) Newcastle lose to Everton, both Fulham and West Brom will be going at a million miles an hour. Fulham have been playing the better football and even though they hung at times against Brighton, this is a winnable fixture again a Big Sam side that is leaking 3+ goals in every game since the club ousted Slaven Bilic.
Chelsea (My head is spinning): Phil on our team has let me know that he expects Thomas Tuchel to rotate quite heavily, and as a Manager has a tendency to do this at every club he is at. Chelsea passed without purpose against Wolves, with roaming full-backs crossing to nobody in the penalty area after nice passing sequences. Based on the Wolves game, it might be a night of Burnley chasing the ball in a narrow that that has one goal in it.
Liverpool (Watch): Jurgen Klopp’s men had a good flow at Spurs and looked threatening all night against a Spurs defence that managed to be worse than their opponents – a team with no central defenders other than the highly-inexperienced Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams left. West Ham are robust defensively, but with marauding full-backs of their own I expect The Reds to pick them off as the game wears on.
Man City (Watch): Any combination of Cancelo/Dias/Stones and Gundogan/Foden/Sterling are essential this week as City are in that mood where they’re winning big and getting points across the pitch
Newcastle (Social Distance): The rest of the team here are now, after months of stating that Newcastle will be alright this season after an ok start to the campaign,, have at long last come around to my way of thinking that Steve Bruce and his team are likely bound for the Championship. My club has been ripped of its soul, every game is tough to watch and there is virtually no goal threat. Everton looks like another guaranteed loss and I’m not going to comment any further this week aside from almost accepting my fate so I can watch tomorrow’s game without any bloated expectations that we will have more than a couple shots at goal – a real shame as Jordan Pickford might be rotated and he’s never liked playing Newcastle.
Gameweek 21 - FPL Captaincy Picks:
Essential: Joao Cancelo (MCI)
Alternative: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)
Differential: Harvey Barnes (LEI)
Other Gameweek Comments:
This is a bit of a flux of a Gameweek. I suffered with 41 points last week and have been forced into taking another hit, a regular occurrence this season having dropped 56 points from transfers. It’s left me in a constant unhealthy cycle of players coming in and out at a whim to the point where I don’t have many sure-fire captaincy picks, so have just thrown it on Joao Cancelo whilst he is the peak of his powers. I don’t ever like to put the armband on a player in the first game of the week, even though I fully expect Newcastle to get rolled over by Everton tomorrow afternoon.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 21
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Alphonse Areola (FUL)
DEF: Joao Cancelo (MCI) – (C)
DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)
MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
MID: James Maddison (LEI)
MID: Phil Foden (MCI)
FOR: Ollie Watkins (AVL)
FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE) – (VC)
FOR: Roberto Firmino (LIV)
Substitutes
GK: Bernd Leno (ARS)
MID: Bukayo Saka (ARS)
DEF: James Justin (LEI)
DEF: Mason Holgate (EVE)
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