Our Gameweek 20 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 20 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.
As supported by the nearly 60 points put up by Bernd Leno and Kenny Tete (both sleepers) in DGW19, there is massive potential on offer when players have two fixtures. The Fulham duo put up nearly half of the 123 points scored by the Sleepers XI last week, taking the season total to 1517.25 and boosting our weekly average up to 84.25 points.
Gameweek 20 is a double gameweek for Crystal Palace, Man City, Man United and Tottenham, so there are double the number of players who could play twice this week. There are a couple complicating factors, however; for one, the relative strength of the Manchester clubs and the perceived strength of Spurs means there aren't many viable options likely to be available in your leagues. Additionally, none of the fixtures for these clubs is particularly attractive. And finally, rotation is more likely to come into play with deeper squads. Still, the allure of two bites at the apple is strong and I can't stay away from at least a few picks I think could feature twice and help win you your gameweek.
Don't fret if you can't draft anyone in from these teams, though; there are quite a few good fixtures for the rest of the league. Let's get to it.
GK: Vicente Guaita
Team: Crystal Palace
Opponent: Chelsea (away) / Man United (home)
Rostered: 23%
Points Last Gameweek: -4
Prospects: Looking at those fixtures and that GW19 score doesn't make for pretty reading, but I'm backing Guaita to be a "Leno-lite" candidate in goal this week. Palace are decidedly not as good a team as Fulham this season and Guaita doesn't hold a candle to his counterpart in fantasy terms, but he's very rarely put up a negative score this season despite his team's poor record. A makeshift Chelsea team could find it difficult to score, while United could pepper the Spanish net-minder with plenty of shots. I believe he's a gamble worth taking if you don't have a set-and-forget keeper like Pope, Raya or the aforementioned Leno.
DEF: Nathan Ake
Team: Man City
Opponent: Man United (away) / Tottenham (home)
Rostered: 49%
Points Last Gameweek: 9.25
Projected GW 20 Points: 10.9
Prospects: We're at that point in the season where Pep roulette kicks into high gear. We've already been witness to surprise benchings for Phil Foden and Joao Cancelo and the annual run of Riyad Mahrez masterclasses. Predicting which defenders are likely to get game time across two games is a crapshoot at best, and in full transparency I'm not sure there will be one who starts against United and Spurs. That said, Pep has been full of praise for Ake recently. He was rested for the shock defeat to Southampton in the Carabao Cup midweek, which bodes well for a start in the first fixture. With Ruben Dias and potentially John Stones out through injury, there is a bit less competition for the versatile Dutch defender, who can play at CB or LB. Ake hasn't been the most prolific scorer in fantasy terms, but if you're looking to buy in on City defensive assets I think he's most likely to get minutes in both matches.
DEF: Serge Aurier
Team: Nottingham Forest
Opponent: Leicester City (home)
Rostered: 19%
Points Last Gameweek: 22.5
Projected GW 20 Points: 7.3
Prospects: A former Spurs defender may end up being a better bet than the current ones this week, even with the single fixture. Aurier rolled back the clock on his fantasy career in GW19. Our very own Ryan Barnes wrote an ode to the Ivorian in this week's Ghost Point Hunters article, and with good reason; 16.5 points from counting stats is an incredible return regardless of opponent. Forest will be in high spirits following their Carabao Cup success over Wolves, and will be confident of carrying their form into a home match against a depleted Leicester City side missing their talisman in James Maddison. Another all-action display is a definite possibility here.
DEF: Matt Doherty
Team: Tottenham
Opponent: Arsenal (home) / Man City (away)
Rostered: 60%
Points Last Gameweek: 29.75
Projected GW 20 Points: 10.6
Prospects: Soooo...I'm not a fan of Spurs defenders this week. With matches against the league's top two teams, prospects are not looking good for any hopes of a clean sheet. So why am I still recommending picking up Doherty if he's available in your league? Like Aurier, he is capable of racking up massive ghost points to offset the negative points that come from conceding goals. He's going to need to come through on that potential to be a solid pick this week, though. Our Fixture Difficulty Tracker reveals that Arsenal only allow 1.8 points per match on average to opposition defenders, while Man City is an even tougher prospect at 0.8 points per match. That's an aggregate score, though, so the likely negative scores put up by players with less ghosting potential (all other Spurs defenders) contributes to those averages. This is a risky play, for sure, but the 30-pointer he dropped last week showcases his potential.
DEF: Ethan Pinnock
Team: Brentford
Opponent: Bournemouth (home)
Rostered: 48%
Points Last Gameweek: 15.75
Projected GW 20 Points: 10.6
Prospects: Another defender going through a bit of a revival, Pinnock has put up back-to-back 15+ point performances to coincide with Brentford's excellent performances since the restart. The Bees now head into a favorable run of fixtures, beginning with Bournemouth this week. The Cherries have been very accommodating to opposition defenses this season, allowing nearly 11 points per match. Pinnock is very strong in the air, and will be relishing the battle with one or both of Dominic Solanke and Kieffer Moore this week. He could be a set-and-forget option for your team for the next few weeks, if not the rest of the season.
MID: Marc Albrighton
Team: Leicester City
Opponent: Nottingham Forest (away)
Rostered: 0%
Points Last Gameweek: 7.5
Projected GW 20 Points: 8.5
Prospects: I can clearly remember making a recommendation for a player that was 1% rostered earlier this season, but I believe this is the first time (maybe ever?) that a player registering on 0% of rosters is a viable pick. Albrighton has historically been a strong fantasy performer and a good player to stream in good match-ups, but he's found himself far down the pecking order at Leicester this season. With injuries to James Maddison and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, he's been afforded the opportunity to break back into the starting lineup in the Foxes' last two matches. Albrighton should take his fair share of set pieces, which is always a positive sign for potential fantasy points. Pick him up this week if you've got a roster spot to fill - he's virtually guaranteed to be available!
MID: Cheick Doucoure
Team: Crystal Palace
Opponent: Chelsea (away) / Man United (home)
Rostered: 18%
Points Last Gameweek: 13
Projected GW 20 Points: 17.6
Prospects: While Doucoure has spent most of the season in the category of holding midfielders not worth rostering, he's recently begun delivering solid fantasy scores (13, 8.5, 9.5 across the last 3 GWs). I'm frankly not sure whether his uptick in ghost point output coincides with any sort of tactical switch for Palace, but the timing couldn't be better heading into a DGW. A reversion to the mean is possible, of course, but typically unattractive defensive midfielders tend to become decent bets in double gameweeks. The Malian maestro is projected to be one of the highest scorers this week and should be a starter in both matches. Worth a punt? I think so.
MID: Douglas Luiz
Team: Aston Villa
Opponent: Leeds United (home)
Rostered: 50%
Points Last Gameweek: 1
Projected GW 20 Points: 9.1
Prospects: I made a late adjustment to include Luiz in the Sleepers squad this week, following news of a hamstring injury for John McGinn and the transfer of Alex Moreno. Both of those bits of news increase the likelihood that the Brazilian midfielder will take a higher percentage of set pieces for Villa in the coming weeks. With this fixture being the early kickoff for the week on Friday, you could also bet on Jacob Ramsey if he's returned from injury, but Luiz should be a safe bet for a start here and will look to get back to the double digit scores he was putting up prior to the 1-pointer last time out.
MID: Hakim Ziyech
Team: Chelsea
Opponent: Crystal Palace (home)
Rostered: 37%
Points Last Gameweek: 3.5
Projected GW 20 Points: 11.8
Prospects: Nothing is going right for Chelsea at the moment. The injury and now suspension crisis in attack leaves Graham Potter with few options to make the changes that are so desperately needed to get them back to winning ways. Ziyech found himself on the bench for the loss to Fulham, but should be in line for an immediate recall against Palace. The Moroccan is a set piece specialist and one of those players, like Riyad Mahrez, who is a must-play when he's in the starting lineup. Chelsea's attack is nowhere near as strong as City's (they could really do with a true number 9), but Ziyech should manage more than the 3.5 he put up when he last started against much more difficult opposition than the Eagles.
FWD: Jordan Ayew
Team: Crystal Palace
Opponent: Chelsea (away) / Man United (home)
Rostered: 32%
Points Last Gameweek: 11.5
Projected GW 20 Points: 16.8
Prospects: It goes without saying at this point that Patrick Vieira is a big fan of Ayew. The Palace manager has regularly started the Ghanaian even at the expense of arguably more talented players like Michael Olise. Thankfully, he's recently figured out how to accommodate both of them in the lineup, helping us fantasy managers avoid the rotation headache that was in effect for the early stages of the season. That tactical switch has resulted in Ayew being deployed as a central striker with Olise and Zaha flanking him, which is a pretty potent attacking unit. That said, it didn't work well in the 4-0 loss to Spurs last gameweek, so there could be changes on the horizon. Ayew should be a safe bet for 100+ minutes given his positional flexibility and workrate. Even in a 4-0 loss, he managed an impressive 11.5 points. That's a good sign for his prospects across two games, even if they are against difficult opponents.
FWD: Wilfried Gnonto
Team: Leeds United
Opponent: Aston Villa (away)
Rostered: 9%
Points Last Gameweek: 19.5
Projected GW 20 Points: 9.6
Prospects: I actually had Gnonto lined up as one of my selections prior to the news that Crysencio Summerville is set to be sidelined for a month through injury, but it's now even more likely that the young Italian will get another start for Leeds this week. Jesse Marsch is facing his own injury crisis with the absences of Sinisterra, Bamford and now Summerville, but Gnonto has been a revelation in limited minutes and will be eager to prove he deserves his place in the starting lineup even when his manager has the full complement of attacking options at his disposal. We've got a limited sample size to work with, so it remains to be seen whether Gnonto can follow up his excellent performance against West Ham with another double-digit performance, but the upside potential is definitely there for the talented teenager.
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!
Rayan Ait-Nouri, Defender, Wolves. Opponent: West Ham
Carney Chukwuemeka, Midfielder, Chelsea. Opponent: Crystal Palace
Fabio Vieira, Midfielder, Arsenal. Opponent: Tottenham
Patson Daka, Forward, Leicester City. Opponent: Nottingham Forest
Samuel Edozie, Forward, Southampton. Opponent: Everton
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