Imagine a world where you can wildcard and pick the team you want every single gameweek. Not only that, but you can make some sweet dosh while doing it!

In the Fanteam Weekly Monster, you pay an entrance fee and pick a team of eleven players with a budget of £105m from the Saturday & Sunday games. Top 20% of teams make the money and the top prizes are pretty decent! The scoring works the same as the full season fantasy game but with a couple of extra rules to consider:

Stacking Penalty - If you have two or more GK/DEF from the same club and they get a clean sheet, players beyond the first will get reduced points. One defensive player will be unaffected, the second will get -1 point, the third will get -2 etc. I’m not sure I’d let this put me off a particularly juicy matchup but something to think about!

Safety Net - If a player in your team doesn’t start, they will be replaced by another player at the same club in the same position at the start of the match. The player chosen will be of equal or cheaper price (as close to the price of the replaced player as possible) and, if equal in price, then the player with the highest form value will be chosen. This can be useful if you want to pick a more expensive but risky player (e.g Perisic, a City mid) but be warned! If they come off the bench and haul, you will still keep the player that they were replaced with at the start of the match!

The players prices are recalculated every week and are very much dependant on the matchup. This means you can potentially grab a bargain when a player with outrageous form has a slightly tricker matchup.

Here are the GW2 matchups:

While Man City vs Bournemouth is a no-brainer, the other teams with exploitable matchups that stood out to me are West Ham(vs not) and Leeds(vs sou). While both teams are away from home, I feel like their opponents are offensively and defensively weak enough that we can stack a few of their players with confidence.

Here are some good value players for your lineups this week:

Goalkeepers

Meslier(vs sou) - £6.4m - While Leeds aren’t exactly known for their defensive record, I think this price is just too good to pass up. While they did manage a goal against Spurs in GW1, Southhampton’s 6 shots in the box, 0 big chances and xG of 0.5 make me think that a Leeds clean sheet isn’t impossible!

Fabianski(vs not) - £9.1m - It would be unfair to judge West Ham’s defensive performance against Man City last week, but I would expect them to have a much easier time against newly-promoted Nottingham Forest. Forest looked fairly hopeless against Newcastle, recording a league low of 5 shots and an xG of 0.1.

Defenders

Trippier(vs bha) - £7m - While Brighton did make Man Utd look pretty silly on Sunday, they did also concede a fair few chances. The majority of those chances came down their left flank, so Trippier could well be on for some attacking returns. While it was against Nottingham Forest, they also recorded the best defensive stats of any team in GW1.

Coufal(vs not) - £8.5m - I don’t mind a defensive double-up against Nottingham this week. I would go for Coufal on account of him being £0.1m cheaper and getting forward slightly more than Cresswell last week, but it’s a bit of a toss-up between the two.

Midfielders

Bowen(vs not) - £10.7m - We continue our abuse of Nottingham Forest with the West Ham talisman. While he might be a bit pricey for some given that he never really got going last week against Man City, I fully expect him to bounce back here. If he gets back to the form he was in at the end of last season, I could see him doing some real damage.

Maddison(vs ars) - £6.6m - A player of Maddison’s quality being this cheap feels too good to pass up. He is absolutely central to everything that Leicester do and you’ll never be surprised to see him popping up with goals and assists. Arsenal may have kept a clean sheet against Palace but, given they conceded 2 big chances in the process, you might say they were fortunate to do so. Don’t be surprised if they don’t pull it off again this time.

Wissa(vs MUN) - £7.0m - Man Utd look all kinds of shaky at the back against Brighton, conceding 10 shots in the box and 2 big chances. Wissa was the most advanced player up the pitch for Brentford against Leicester, so he might well make a nuisance of himself.

Forwards

Toney(vs MUN) - £7.5m - I would also expect Toney to benefit from Man Utd’s defensive frailty. He recorded 2 big chances and put one away against Leicester and, with penalties also in his locker, I see no reason why he can’t bring home further attacking returns this week.

Bamford(vs sou) - £8.3m - While he only managed an assist last week, he also recorded 2 big chances. Southampton let Spurs run riot last week and allowed most of their chances through the middle, so there’s a very good chance Bamford will clock his first goal of the season!

Stats taken from Fantasy Football Hub