Aston Villa are once again teaming up with the No.1 independent fantasy football site in 2021/22.
Fantasy Football Scout will be providing regular reports packed with hints and tips to help you, hopefully, move into the top tier of fantasy football management.
If you need some guidance ahead of GW18, sit back and take their advice on board…
Since Steven Gerrard’s arrival at Villa Park, things have going from strength to strength, meaning that Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are keen to invest in the Villans.
Ollie Watkins (£7.7m) is currently the most transferred-in player of the Gameweek, with nearly 45,000 managers buying the forward in the 15 hours directly after his midweek double-digit haul.
FPL currently has Watkins as the third most in-form forward in the game having registered 43 points since Gameweek 10.
Watkins is also the sixth highest-scoring forward, a stat made even more impressive since he didn’t start a Premier League fixture until Gameweek 4.
Moreover, Villa options are attractive in other areas of the pitch. Jacob Ramsey (£4.5m) scored his second league goal of the season to firmly put him on the radar of FPL managers.
Indeed, Ramsey was unlucky not to return a greater haul as he created and had a number of excellent opportunities throughout the win at Norwich City.
Ramsey has started in all but one of Villa’s league games since Gerrard took over and therefore could be the perfect enabler for FPL managers – although you are likely to want to play him rather than simply bench him every week!
The underlying stats also highlight Villa as one of the key teams for FPL managers to target both in terms of individual players as well as the team as a whole.
Since Gameweek 12, John McGinn (£5.8m) is fourth for expected assists (xA) across the game, which only Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.2m) Andy Robertson (£7.1) and Raheem Sterling (£10.6m) exceed.
Only four teams have registered more goals than Villa since Gerrard’s arrival and only three teams have kept more clean sheets. Villa now have a successful pass completion rate in the opponent’s half of 82.4%, up from 75.3% between Gameweeks 1 and 11.
With increased passes completed, the forward-thinking Villa FPL options become even more attractive as they are receiving the ball more successfully in the correct areas.
Likewise, between Gameweeks 1 and 11, Villa were fourth-bottom across the league for chances created with 89. Since Gameweek 12 they rank joint sixth-best with 51. Again, this makes midfielders and forwards increasingly attractive options.
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