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 GW5, sit back and take their advice on board…
Whilst the Gameweek 4 result wasn’t what Aston Villa fans were hoping for, it was arguably the Villans' best performance of the season so far and was eye-catching from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective.
An FPL favourite from the 2020/21 season, Ollie Watkins (£7.3m), made his first start of the campaign in Gameweek 4. He registered 42 touches, seven take-ons (five of which were successful), nine penalty area touches, six goal attempts and an xG (expected goals) of 0.73, all against a Chelsea side who can't be beaten for goals conceded or clean sheets in 2021/22.
With Watkins ending the Gameweek fourth for xG 'underachievers', he was unlucky not to return FPL points and could be an excellent differential for Gameweek 5 and beyond.
With Watkins' relationship with new strike partner Danny Ings (£8.0m) showing some great signs, added to the return to fitness of Bertrand Traore (£5.9m) and Leon Bailey (£6.4m) and the hopeful availability of Emi Buendia (£6.4m) after recent international duty, the Villa attack looks strong and well worth FPL investment.
Above: Ollie Watkins' touch heatmap in Gameweek 4.
The 16.0% of managers who own goalkeeper Emi Martinez (£5.5m) will be hoping to see him pull on the gloves again in Gameweek 5. The safe pair of hands is already joint-top for 'caught saves' across the division even though he has played one fewer match than most of his opposite numbers. Remember, a goalkeeper earns an extra point for every three saves made in FPL.
Alongside the Argentinean shot-stopper, FPL managers should consider the options in the Villa defence.
The 2020/21 season highlighted how reliable the Villans' backline can be, both from a defensive standpoint as well as from an attacking one. Indeed, Tyrone Mings (£5.0m) has already registered a 15-point haul in Gameweek 2 from a clean sheet, two assists and all three bonus points.
On top of the team's 15 clean sheets, Villa defenders plundered five goals and eight assists combined last season and were the squad's top performers in the Bonus Points System (BPS) standings.
Even with tricky fixtures to come, they could be wise investments.
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