Getting your team selection correct in Draft Premier League is just as essential as your pre-season draft or your weekly waiver wire claims. And that’s exactly why we’re here to help with our Gameweek 16 Start and Sit article! We’re here to help you with some of the big Fantasy EPL decisions you may need to make for the upcoming fixtures.
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Gameweek 16 Start and Sit
Whether you’re an obsessed EPL fan like our Fantrax HQ team, or a casual player new to the world of Fantasy EPL, you know to start your attacking players against relegation-threatened sides. We’re not going to waste your time dealing with the obvious! The goal of this article is to delve into notable players across each Fantrax position and let you know if you should be starting or sitting those players.
Our format is as follows: We will be choosing 2 different teams. One will be our starts of the week, made up of non-obvious, low-rostered players. The other will be our sits of the week, made up of highly rostered, normally started players. We will keep track of how each team performs in next week’s article for full transparency.
Now let’s see the teams!
Starts of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Dubravka | G | NEW | @LEI - Sun 9:00AM | 12% |
| Craig Dawson | D | WHU | @BUR - Sun 9:00AM | 17% |
| Issa Diop | D | WHU | @BUR - Sun 9:00AM | 3% |
| Victor Lindelof | D | MUN | @NOR - Sat 12:30PM | 22% |
| Lyanco | D | SOU | @ARS - Sat 10:00AM | 2% |
| Marc Albrighton | M | LEI | NEW - Sun 9:00AM | 9% |
| Scott McTominay | M | MUN | @NOR - Sat 12:30PM | 21% |
| Michael Olise | M | CRY | EVE - Sun 11:30AM | 29% |
| Jonjo Shelvey | M | NEW | @LEI - Sun 9:00AM | 23% |
| Joao Pedro | F | WAT | @BRF - Fri 3:00PM | 15% |
| Joelinton | F | NEW | @LEI - Sun 9:00AM | 31% |
Average % Rostered: 17%
We generally like starting most of your Manchester United, Brentford, and Watford assets this week as they each play defensively suspect sides. Joelinton continues to be under-appreciated and under-rostered, so we’ll pick him again to start versus Leicester City who has been conceding goals for fun, as of late. Shelvey’s a start in a similar vein and should have a monopoly over set pieces, in the continued absence of Fraser and Ritchie from the lineup. We like starting any West Ham defenders you have, particularly the 2 CB’s Dawson and Diop (due to others’ injuries) as they’ll be sure to get plenty of aerials against Burnley. Albrighton and Olise are 2 of our riskier plays, and non-guaranteed starters, but both have good matchups and plenty of upside. If Pedro doesn’t start, we also love starting Cucho Hernandez this week against Brentford.
Sits of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emiliano Martinez | G | AVL | @LIV - Sat 10:00AM | 85% |
| Matthew Cash | D | AVL | @LIV - Sat 10:00AM | 95% |
| Valentino Livramento | D | SOU | @ARS - Sat 10:00AM | 83% |
| Nelson Semedo | D | WOL | @MCI - Sat 7:30AM | 75% |
| James Tarkowski | D | BUR | WHU - Sun 9:00AM | 91% |
| Kyle Walker | D | MCI | WOL - Sat 7:30AM | 91% |
| Stuart Dallas | M | LEE | @CHE - Sat 10:00AM | 94% |
| Abdoulaye Doucoure | M | EVE | @CRY - Sun 11:30AM | 82% |
| John McGinn | M | AVL | @LIV - Sat 10:00AM | 99% |
| Raul Jimenez | F | WOL | @MCI - Sat 7:30AM | 99% |
| Ollie Watkins | F | AVL | @LIV - Sat 10:00AM | 98% |
Average % Rostered : 90%
Benching your players facing Liverpool and Manchester City is generally a smart strategy, and this week is no exception with our Sits of the Week XI being led by Watkins and Jimenez, in addition to some of their teammates, facing the 2 top tier sides. Dallas has Chelsea and is part of an injury-stricken Leeds side who likely won’t see much of the ball against a (potentially) rebounding Chelsea side and Doucoure out-performed expectations earlier this season, but has returned to Everton amidst their slump. Walker and Livramento if not unspectacular, and without clean sheets will likely have quite low floors against their opponents.
Last Week Performance
Last week our “Starts of the Week” scored 100.25 behind a nice defensive showing including Sanchez (24.5) and Telles (18). The squad managed over 100 with 2 non-starters (Perez and Ritchie). On the other hand our “Sits of the Week” scored 83.25 points with 2 non-starters Cresswell and Benrahma. Another successful week, where our Starts XI, despite being only 23% rostered on average, beat our Sits XI, who were 92% rostered, by 17 points!
Check out Draft Society’s Fantrax Weekly Player Projections page for more player evaluations for the upcoming week!
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