Getting your team selection correct in Draft Premier League is just as essential as your pre-season draft or your weekly waiver wire claims. And that’s exactly why we’re here to help with our Gameweek 4 Start and Sit article! We’re here to help you with some of the big Fantasy EPL decisions you may need to make for the upcoming fixtures.
Gameweek 4 Start and Sit
Whether you’re an obsessed EPL fan like our Fantrax HQ team, or a casual player new to the world of Fantasy EPL, you know to start your attacking players against relegation-threatened sides. We’re not going to waste your time dealing with the obvious! The goal of this article is to delve into notable players across each Fantrax position and let you know if you should be starting or sitting those players.
Our format is as follows: We will be choosing 2 different teams. One will be our starts of the week, made up of non-obvious, low-rostered players. The other will be our sits of the week, made up of highly rostered, normally started players.
Now let’s see the Gameweek 4 Start and Sit contenders!
Starts of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illan Meslier | G | LEE | @BHA | 24% |
| Cesar Azpilicueta | D | CHE | LEI | 58% |
| Joe Gomez | D | LIV | BOU | 31% |
| Raphael Varane | D | MUN | @SOU | 42% |
| Joel Veltman | D | BHA | LEE | 48% |
| Harvey Elliott | M | LIV | BOU | 61% |
| Joao Moutinho | M | WOL | NEW | 26% |
| Miguel Almiron | M | NEW | @WOL | 43% |
| Dwight McNeil | M | EVE | @BRF | 78% |
| Che Adams | F | SOU | MUN | 49% |
| Goncalo Guedes | F | WOL | NEW | 52% |
Average % Rostered: 48%
As it’s starting to become more clear which players will be key to their teams’ respective successes in the Premier League this season, we’re seeing a greater gap between players that are worth rostering and those that aren’t. This helps to account for the jump up from 23% average rostership in GW3 to nearly 50% this time around. The week’s standout fixtures feature many of the traditional top 6 teams as well, so finding lower rostered players who should perform well is a bit of a mixed bag.
In goal, I’m tipping Leeds keeper Illan Meslier to rack up enough saves against Brighton to earn a positive score regardless of the result at Elland Road. On the other side of the pitch, I’m backing Joel Veltman to put up another respectable outing for a Seagulls side that has been one of the Premier League’s best defenses across the opening three fixtures, even as he comes up a white-hot Leeds attacking contingent, largely due to his ability to build a solid base of peripheral stats (ghost points). The remainder of the backline is made up of some high-profile names, with Joe Gomez, Raphael Varane, and Cesar Azpilicueta all looking to roll back the clock and deliver performances more befitting of their previous stature. The match-ups bode well for each of them to reach double digits, particularly with clean sheets.
Speaking of turning back the clock, Joao Moutinho put in an imperious performance in the engine room for Wolves in his first appearance of the season last time out, delivering 10 points in less than 60 minutes. The arrival of Matheus Nunes appears to have unlocked his elder compatriot to have more of a free role in the middle of the pitch. On the other side of the age spectrum, Harvey Elliott has been one of the best performers in a lackluster Liverpool side this season and will be hoping to keep his place in the team for what should be the Reds’ most winnable match so far against Bournemouth. Miguel Almiron has finally arrived as a Premier League footballer this season, and will relish the opportunity to kick on from his goalscoring performance against City last week, while Dwight McNeil will be hoping for a recall after being left out of the starting lineup in GW3. I have faith that the former Burnley winger will be restored and have a point to prove to his manager when the Toffees take on Brentford this time out.
Up top, I’m calling on Che Adams to play from the start after four goals in his last two competitive matches, though Ralph Hasenhuttl is proving to be the most difficult manager to predict thus far. Goncalo Guedes should be a safer bet to start after a promising debut for Wolves in GW3, and is another player who looks like he won’t be overly dependent on goal involvements to get his points this season.
Sits of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jose Sa | G | WOL | NEW | 93% |
| Matty Cash | D | AVL | WHU | 97% |
| Kyle Walker | D | MCI | CRY | 98% |
| Aaron Cresswell | D | WHU | @AVL | 98% |
| Rayan Ait-Nouri | D | WOL | NEW | 90% |
| Youri Tielemans | M | LEI | @CHE | 98% |
| John McGinn | M | AVL | WHU | 98% |
| Jorginho | M | CHE | LEI | 82% |
| Jesse Lingard | M | NOT | TOT | 93% |
| Declan Rice | M | WHU | @AVL | 89% |
| Jamie Vardy | F | LEI | @CHE | 88% |
Average % Rostered: 94%
There aren’t many highly rostered goalkeepers who don’t have attractive matchups this week, so I wouldn’t recommend dropping any of them, or even picking up a second goalkeeper so you can sit one. From the options with more than 80% rostership, though, Jose Sa is perhaps the least likely to earn clean sheet points against a high-flying Newcastle attack. Don’t hesitate to start him if you already have him in your team, though. I’m a bit more skeptical of Sa’s teammate, Rayan Ait-Nouri, who has scored well in fantasy but has been the subject of criticism for his defensive displays on more than one occasion this season. He may be replaced by Nelson Semedo, but even if he does start I’m not expecting a clean sheet, so you may have better options available to you this week. Aston Villa’s poor defensive showing so far leads to the inclusion of Matty Cash, while Aaron Cresswell and Kyle Walker are much more reliant on clean sheets for their points than they used to be and capable attacking opponents with Villa and Crystal Palace paying them visits, respectively.
I’m sticking with the Villa-West Ham match as a difficult one for more defensively oriented midfielders John McGinn and Declan Rice, both of whom have failed to reproduce their fantasy production from last season just yet. That duo is joined by another opposing pair, Jorginho from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Leicester City. Both these teams have struggled for form this season and neither player has contributed much to make me think this is the week they justify their rostership percentages. The final slot in our five-man midfield belongs to Jesse Lingard, who may just be feeling a twinge of regret for choosing Nottingham Forest over West Ham considering the absurd number of players jockeying for positions, including his attacking midfield berth. A match against Tottenham isn’t the time to take a gamble on him rediscovering his Hammers form, if you can help it.
Up top, Jamie Vardy ploughs a lone furrow. There were a couple other forwards who I considered calling in based on their matchups, but form (Wilfried Zaha) or fixture (Raheem Sterling) made me question recommending that you bench them. The Leicester City legend has been a fantasy stalwart for years now, but we may finally be witnessing his decline alongside the rest of a Foxes team that has quality, but not composure this season. He has been the man for the big occasion, so he may yet surprise us with a trademark performance, but the safer money has to be on him keeping in line with his extremely subpar fantasy output in a match against Chelsea.
Make sure you also check out our official EPL content partners The Draft Society for all the latest! Check out their Fantrax Weekly Player Projections page for more player evaluations for the upcoming week!