Fantasy Premier League Week 9 Tips: Where is the Coutinho love?

Week 9 of the fantasy season sees a lot of favourable match-ups for big name players. Neil Monnery takes us through five of his likes and dislikes this week...

Five to like

Jamie Vardy - £8.6m. Two reasons for this like. One Leicester play Swansea, Everton and Stoke in their next three games but I also look at his performance when Ranieri was sacked. He kicked on once again. Maybe a fresh voice will spur him on.

Michail Antonio - 7.5m. After grabbing his first league goal of the season, Antonio will get a chance further forward on Friday night with Andy Carroll missing through suspension. Nine goals and eight assists last term means he has fantasy value. This might be the week to take a closer look at him. 

Michail Antonio is currently trading at 3.10 to score at anytime in Friday's match on the Exchange

Wilfried Zaha - £6.7m. Time to get the loudhailer out and yell, 'all abroad the bandwagon.' He has immense class and is the difference maker in this Crystal Palace team. The problem is just how hit and miss he is. Newcastle away on Saturday afternoon and the outlook is bright for another solid day for a 4th/5th midfielder. 

Philippe Coutinho - £9.0m. I still don't understand why just 10.3% of teams have selected the Liverpool player. He is a fantasy superstar and on Sunday Liverpool travel to Spurs. On that big pitch, I see plenty of room for Coutinho to play in the likes of Salah and Firmino on the fast break. I think he should be one of the most picked players in the game, I really do.

Alvaro Morata - £10.2m. When he slowly wandered off with a hamstring injury against Manchester City a fortnight ago, the rush was on to move him out. Yet he's back far quicker than anyone could have expected and is fine value at the price he's listed at. Watford at home for him on Saturday lunchtime and that is a good match-up.

Alvaro Morata is currently trading at 4.90 to score two or more in Saturday's match on the Exchange


Five to avoid

Henrikh Mkhitaryan - £8.4m. Selected by 27.4% of teams, you could be lulled into thinking he's been a fantasy stud. Well he was through three games but since then, he's failed to provide an assist to go along with a solitary goal. It seems that without Paul Pogba, the Armenian is less of a good play. Time to move out.

Spurs Defenders - Various. I am a huge fan of Spurs players in fantasy but defensively in the next two weeks they have Liverpool at home and Manchester United on the road. Both games make me feel a bit uneasy in terms of potential for clean sheets.

Riyad Mahrez - £8.4m. After grabbing his first goal of the season on Monday night, some might be tempted to roll the dice on the Algerian. Not for me though. Ever since he didn't get his move in September, he's been a pale imitation of the player he can be. Don't be fooled. 

Jordan Henderson - £5.5m. With only one goal and no assists so far in this EPL campaign, Jordan Henderson has shown that he's set to very much be the anchor of that midfield. Emre Can (£5.0m) is a better value Liverpool midfielder if you want to go down that route.

Manolo Gabbiadini £6.6m. After scoring twice against Newcastle on Sunday, some are wondering whether he's back to the form we saw when he first arrived on these shores. Next up though is West Brom with their pretty stingy defence. Not a day when I'd be backing him to score.

Captain's pick

Burnley have been just amazingly good defensively all season long but the Etihad is a different level to anything they've faced. Take your pick of Manchester City attacking players to be your captain. If you want to go elsewhere, I do like Jamie Vardy away at Swansea to score potentially more than once and Liverpool v Spurs has thriller and goals written all over it.

Over 4.5 goals is currently trading at 3.30 in the Spurs v Liverpool match the Exchange

Remember the deadline to submit your teams for GW9 is 19:00 on Friday.