Our Gameweek 15 Sleepers XI article provides Fantrax managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as one of our picks could easily make the difference in a Head-to-Head game!
We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!
Fantasy EPL Gameweek 15 Sleepers XI
For this article, we use the % rostered from Fantrax. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is required to be rostered in 60% of leagues or less at the time of writing. Therefore there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Fantrax Draft League! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.
Before we turn our attention to the upcoming weekend's fixtures, I'm begrudgingly going to take a look back at the performances (or lack thereof) from the Gameweek 14 Sleepers XI. The mid-table fixtures I highlighted proved to be a tricky proposition, with only a few of the selected players doing anything of note. A disappointing 58 point week brings the season tally to 1124.75, good enough for 86.5 points on average. That average has been dropping lower than I'd like to see of late, so hopefully this week's squad can push the score back in a positive direction. Let's get into it, shall we?
GK: Illan Meslier
Team: Leeds United
Opponent: Bournemouth (home)
Rostered: 18%
Points Last Gameweek: 19
Prospects:Â Leeds' dramatic late victory over Liverpool in Gameweek 14 rightly saw a lot of positive attention given to goalscorer and best-name-contender Crysencio Summerville, but they wouldn't have been in the match without the heroics of Meslier in goal. The keeper made a season-high 9 saves to keep the Reds at bay and will be full of confidence heading into a match against the Cherries. I don't expect him to be quite as busy this week, but I still like the youngster's chances of delivering a strong score.
DEF: Serge Aurier
Team: Nottingham Forest
Opponent: Brentford (home)
Rostered: 7%
Points Last Gameweek: 0.25
Projected GW15 Points: 7.3
Prospects: I wasn't sure we'd ever see Aurier in the Premier League again after he left Spurs, but Forest made an unlikely late bid for the Ivorian right back at the end of the summer window. Expectations have been low, especially with Neco Williams seemingly the front-runner in the position, but Aurier has slowly worked his way into the starting eleven, either in place of or in combination with Williams. Brentford have been the Jekyll & Hyde act of the EPL this season and it's tough to predict which team will show up, but they'll be without their talismanic striker Ivan Toney. Aurier has managed to put up positive scores even in 4-0 and 5-0 losses, which bodes well for a more promising score than he managed last week.
DEF: Liam Cooper
Team: Leeds United
Opponent: Bournemouth (home)
Rostered: 23%
Points Last Gameweek: 5.5
Projected GW15 Points: 10.0
Prospects: It's been a rough reintroduction for Cooper, with four losses and a draw in his first five matches back from injury, but he was a major contributor in the win over Liverpool last time out and, as I mentioned for Meslier above, the Leeds captain will look to use this boost of confidence as a springboard for his team's form heading into the World Cup break. Despite scoring twice against Spurs last week, Bournemouth have the unenviable record of underperforming their opponents' expected goals (xG) tally in every match so far this season. Cooper hasn't yet shown the consistency that made him a fantasy favorite in past seasons, but we've seen his propensity to rack up the counting stats this season, most notably with a 13.5 point performance as a half-time substitute against Leicester.
DEF: Pervis Estupinan
Team: Brighton
Opponent: Wolves (away)
Rostered: 22%
Points Last Gameweek: 20.5
Projected GW15 Points: 10.4
Prospects: The fanfare that came along with the signing of Estupinan as a Cucurella replacement at Brighton faded to near silence after a very disappointing October heading into last weekend. The Ecuadorian appeared to be on the outside looking in, but he earned a start against Chelsea and made the most of his opportunity in the 4-1 win. Roberto De Zerbi will have a bit of a selection headache now given the high-scoring performance came at the expense of regular starters Danny Welbeck and Joel Veltman. It will be interesting to see how the manager accommodates them if they're fit to return, but it would be harsh on Estupinan to miss out after such a positive display. A match against low-scoring Wolves will have fantasy managers begging for another start.
DEF: Kurt Zouma
Team: West Ham
Opponent: Crystal Palace (home)
Rostered: 42%
Points Last Gameweek: 2.25
Projected GW15 Points: 6.9
Prospects: I am still waiting for the day when Zouma rediscovers the form that made him a set-and-forget defender for fantasy managers in his Chelsea days, but so far this season his scores seem to depend almost entirely on whether West Ham are winning or losing. Despite the fact that his best scores have come, naturally, when the Hammers have kept a clean sheet, he's surprisingly only 11% reliant on goals, assists and clean sheets (GACS) for his fantasy points. Crystal Palace haven't been the most prolific attacking side and West Ham have been solid defensively, so maybe he's in line for a rare double digit outing this week.
MID: Fred
Team: Manchester United
Opponent: Aston Villa (away)
Rostered: 20%
Points Last Gameweek: 0
Projected GW15 Points: 7.2
Prospects: With Bruno Fernandes suspended for yellow card accumulation, Fred appears to be in line to deputize in central midfield. Fred has become a bit of a whipping boy for the Red Devils' struggles in the recent past, but he's shown in both real life and fantasy performances that he's worthy of wearing the badge. The Brazilian will join up with his compatriot Casemiro for Unai Emery's first match in charge of Aston Villa, a partnership that has been deployed to great success for the Brazilian national team in the build up to the World Cup. That partnership, a potentially more attacking role and an opponent being tasked with learning a new system means I'm all-in on the much-maligned midfielder this weekend.
MID: Morgan Gibbs-White
Team: Nottingham Forest
Opponent: Brentford (home)
Rostered: 52%
Points Last Gameweek: 1
Projected GW15 Points: 9.1
Prospects: I suppose it makes sense given he's one of the best players on one of the worst teams, but I'm almost certain Gibbs-White is the player I've called upon most frequently to the Sleepers Squad this season. That said, there's a reason he still qualifies for selection a third of the way through the season, as Forest have struggled to convince fantasy managers to invest too heavily in their players. The 1-point performance and early substitution against Arsenal isn't the best representation of the record signing's fantasy performances this season, to be fair. He almost always plays the full 90 or close to it, and has delivered scores of 8, 9, 6, 16.5 and 7 in his other matches in October. I feel confident you can bank on an improved performance from MGW and the rest of the Forest team when they host Brentford this week and would be happy to pick him up if I was looking for a midfielder to fill a gap in my roster.
MID: Lucas Moura
Team: Tottenham
Opponent: Liverpool (home)
Rostered: 9%
Points Last Gameweek: 4
Projected GW15 Points: 8.2
Prospects: Tottenham have struggled to keep their attackers fit this season, with Kulusevski and Richarlison spending multiple weeks on the sidelines and Son Heung-Min set to join them for an extended spell himself. Moura is the best available option for Antonio Conte to partner with Harry Kane, and will almost certainly get a run in the team in the lead-up to the World Cup. Spurs will also almost certainly continue with the 3-5-2 formation against Liverpool, which will see them playing on the counter. Lucas' pace will provide a few opportunities, you'd think, even if Spurs opt to sit deep and wait for their chances. It's not the greatest match-up, but Liverpool haven't exactly been a solid defensive team so far this season. If you're chasing your opponent heading into the last match this week, Lucas is one of the best candidates to come through with a big score. He may just as easily bust, but is worth the risk if you need to make up ground.
MID: Dwight McNeil
Team: Everton
Opponent: Leicester City (home)
Rostered: 42%
Points Last Gameweek: -0.5
Projected GW15 Points: 10.4
Prospects: Speaking of risk, I'm not entirely convinced McNeil will get a start this week, but with Anthony Gordon badly out of form, Frank Lampard may look to shake things up in attack. The former Burnley winger was one of the most well-rounded fantasy assets last season, so if he does manage to break into the starting lineup you could find yourself with a more than useful player for the rest of the season. Lampard does have a soft spot for Gordon, though, so that may be wishful thinking. Leicester allow 10.3 points on average to opposition midfielders, so it is a good idea to buy-in on any of the available starters, but especially those like McNeil who are tasked with more attacking contributions.
MID: Kaoru Mitoma
Team: Brighton
Opponent: Wolves (away)
Rostered: 10%
Points Last Gameweek: 13
Projected GW15 Points: 10.5
Prospects: All the latest buzz in the #DraftPL community is around Mitoma, who was very impressive in his first start for Brighton after a few promising cameos earlier in the season. The Japanese midfielder wasted no time rewarding his managers last week, providing an assist for Leandro Trossard just five minutes into the match against Chelsea. As I mentioned with Estupinan, there is some uncertainty around whether De Zerbi will name an unchanged side for the trip to the Molineux, but it's hard to imagine Mitoma being sent back to the bench here. The projections like him this week, and so do I. The fact that this is a Saturday match provides an added layer of flexibility and security to be able to pivot if he does miss out.
FWD: Patson Daka
Team: Leicester City
Opponent: Everton (away)
Rostered: 48%
Points Last Gameweek: 2
Projected GW15 Points: 9.6
Prospects: Leicester are such a strange team this season. They are scoring goals, but they're rarely coming from their starting striker, whether that's Vardy or Daka. There's been a pretty steady rotation between the two in the lone striker role so far this season, with neither doing enough to convince Brendan Rodgers they're the man for the job full-time. If the rotation scheme continues, it should be Daka's turn from the start against Everton. In full transparency, there aren't many eligible forwards this week that inspire a great deal of confidence in me to score well. If Daka isn't available, or if you aren't a fan of his early substitutions (understandable), some other decent considerations based on fixtures that may be available in your league are Yoane Wissa or Brennan Johnson. I personally think Daka is the best player of the three, and the one with the highest upside, but wouldn't fault you for playing the match-ups instead.
The Reserves
If you're playing on Fantrax with Live Lineup Changes, you should definitely keep an eye on starting lineups for the following high upside players who have some question marks around their starting status this week. If any of these guys does get a start for their team, snap them up and plug them into your starting eleven!
Harry Maguire, Defender, Man United. Opponent: Aston Villa
Ryan Christie, Midfielder, Bournemouth. Opponent: Leeds United
Mikkel Damsgaard, Midfielder, Brentford. Opponent: Nottingham Forest
Jacob Murphy, Midfielder, Newcastle. Opponent: Southampton
Emmanuel Dennis, Forward, Nottingham Forest. Opponent: Brentford
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