Rarely has a player been revitalised mid-season quite like West Ham loanee Jesse Lingard, and Fantasy Premier League managers can still take advantage.
The out-of-favour Manchester United midfielder has flourished since his temporary switch, with three goals and two assists already, and leads the PA news agency’s transfer recommendations ahead of gameweek 27’s fixture against Leeds.
Team-mate Michail Antonio is another man in form for David Moyes’ side, while Manchester City and Southampton enjoy a double gameweek.
Lingz can only get better
PA uses a Transfer Score rating to assess every player, combining FPL’s marks for form, cost, ownership and fixture difficulty rating (FDR).
Lingard tops the form rankings after scoring 39 fantasy points in five games since joining the Hammers – new team-mate Said Benrahma has 40 all season and Manuel Lanzini 22 while Donny Van De Beek, whose summer arrival knocked Lingard further down the Old Trafford pecking order, is more expensive and has 18 points to date.
His ownership has seen a spike since his move, jumping from under 15,000 to more than 250,000 in gameweek 23 and remaining around that level now, but that is still less than seven per cent of managers overall and helps him to a transfer score of 89 out of 100 – the similarly priced and in-form Ilkay Gundogan (77) appears in 37.7 per cent of teams.
Fixtures are the only concern – Leeds represent a free-scoring match-up for Lingard but he is ineligible against his parent club in gameweek 28, while Gundogan and City double up against Manchester United and Southampton this week before facing Fulham next week.
Leeds winger Raphinha joins Lingard and Gundogan in our midfield recommendations with a transfer score of 75.
Antonio in form but Jesus rises
Antonio has scored against Tottenham and City in West Ham’s last two outings so will be licking his lips at facing a Leeds defence which has shipped 44 goals this season – only West Brom have conceded more.
City’s double gameweek probably keeps him from top spot in our attacking rankings as his transfer score of 66 ranks two points behind Gabriel Jesus, who has started five of the last eight games for Pep Guardiola and scored twice against Wolves in midweek.
Richarlison is just behind on 62 after scoring in four straight games, in contrast to Everton strike partner Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s barren run.
Baggies boing?
What were we just saying about West Brom’s defence? There are signs that Sam Allardyce is finally starting to stabilise things, with just two goals conceded in the last four games, and Sam Johnstone is rewarded with top spot in this week’s goalkeeper rankings.
The £4.5million FPL man is still relied on for plenty of saves to boost his point total and a five-point form average helps him to a transfer score of 71, ahead of Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez after the decimal point with Ederson ranking third for City.
And remarkably there is a second recommendation from a defence which has conceded 56 goals this season – Kyle Bartley scored his second goal in six games in the 1-0 win over Brighton and is a boom-or-bust £4.4m shot.
His transfer score of 72 is a point behind Brighton’s Lewis Dunk and two ahead of Leeds’ Stuart Dallas on the defensive podium.
