The special thing about this matchday is that only 8 of the 20 teams in the Prem. League are playing over the weekend and therefore the selection of players that could be taken is much smaller than usual. In addition, the captaincy selection will be particularly exciting, as frequently picked players such as Salah, De Bruyne or Ronaldo, for example, will not be available. 

Goal:

Jose Sa (63₵, Wolverhampton): In the last five matchdays, the Portuguese never made less than 200 points and is in 1st place in the GK held statistic. On Friday, Wolves face Leeds at home, who are 6th in the shot statistics this season. Only Liverpool, Man. City, Man. United, Arsenal and Chelsea have recorded more shots this season. If Jose Sa keeps this up and can continue to show his strength on the line, then Leeds should be the ideal opponent for him. 

Defence:

Luke Thomas (58₵, Leicester): The 20-year-old homegrown is getting more and more into his stride at Leicester, showing what he is made of both on the pitch and at SPITCH. He has broken the 200-run barrier twice in the last two games and the Englishman will be keen to show what he can do against Brentford. 

Cristian Romero (86₵, Spurs): The centre-back on loan from Atalanta was always performing strongly before his injury, but now after his injury he is not quite managing to deliver points consistently. However, he scored against Brighton during the week and I am sure that the 23-year-old will give everything against West Ham in the city derby for the very important three points. He is also one of the strongest defenders at SPITCH, averaging 226 points and a 70% tackling rate. 

Benjamin White (93₵, Arsenal): The centre-back, who was bought from Brighton in the summer for 58 million, has shown his class time and again at Arsenal, but he has played particularly well in the last five match days and is performing accordingly at SPITCH. With 273 average points in the last five matchdays, the best conditions are created for him to score really strongly against Arsenal’s next opponents Villa. 

Caglar Söyüncü (94₵, Leicester): Of course, Leicester’s defensive boss is not to be missed this season. At 25, Caglar Söyüncü is one of the most solid centre-backs in the Premier League and has shown how valuable he is to the Foxes for several years now. In his last three games he averaged 288 points and won 80% of his duels. The Foxes may not be in the form of their lives, but Söyüncü could shine against Brentford. 

Midfield:

Martin Ödegaard (72₵, Arsenal): Especially away from home, the Norwegian shows where his qualities lie, as in his last six away games he set up three goals, scored three himself and only remained goal-less in one. However, this statistic does not show up so well in his SPITCH points, as several of the games were postponed matches and therefore do not count in the statistics. Aston Villa always show their class, but with Arsenal’s team form and Ödegaard’s away strength, the Gunners are considered favourites. 

Joao Moutinho (64₵, Wolverhampton): The oldest and most experienced player at Wolves is so slowly managing to score consistently at SPITCH. He has averaged 320 points in his last six games, but his scores have varied from 568 points to 132 points. But those who watch him play know that the 35-year-old is a very ambitious footballer and has a lot of scoring potential every matchday. 

Ruben Neves (77₵, Wolverhampton): The midfield partner of Joao Moutinho is for me one of the strongest U25 midfielders in the Premier League. His all-round qualities mean he can convince me every time and it’s not just on the pitch that the 24-year-old looks really good. At SPITCH, he is averaging 367 points in the last five games and the last matchday on which he scored under 280 points was 18 December, the weekend before Christmas! So for 77₵ he has been very, very good value for money for quite some time and should not be missing from any line-up. 

Christian Eriksen (84₵, Brentford): I think Kaspar Hjulmand’s news that Christian Eriksen will be called up to the national team again put a smile on every football fan’s face. After his cardiac arrest at last year’s European Championship, it was unclear whether the 30-year-old would ever be able to play again, and then he was not even allowed to continue playing in Serie A.  But then came his transfer to Brentford and after very hard work, the Dane has now been back on the pitch for two games and scored 274 and 322 points. Last game he already made his first assist of the season and since he has been in the starting eleven Brentford have won all their games, even if they were “only” against Burnley and Norwich. 

Attack:

Bukayo Saka (82₵, Arsenal): He is in absolute top form at SPITCH. In his last three matches he averaged 435 points, scored two goals and gave one assist. In these three matches he also shot on goal nine times, thus collecting an average of 195 points per match from goal shots alone.He should definitely be on everyone’s radar now, and some might even give him the captain’s armband.

Harvey Barnes (82₵, Leicester): The 24-year-old winger is at his best in front of his home crowd. He has been involved in a goal in each of his last six games at the King Power Stadium. With such home strength, the English talent is definitely worth considering. 

Other alternatives:

Other players to keep an eye on are Sergio Reguilon (87₵, Spurs), who is back and scoring really strongly, James Maddison (63₵, Leicester), who also has a sher strong form at home and Patrick Bamford (91₵, Leeds), who was allowed to play a bit in the last game after a long injury break and has shown us many times how big his scoring potential is.