Fantasy Football Tips for Gameweek 22 in the Premier League

All eyes will firmly be on proceedings at the Etihad Stadium this weekend as Pep Guardiola looks to avoid another humbling during his maiden campaign in England, but there are still points to make in the other fixtures in gameweek 22 in the Premier League this weekend. As always, the fixtures have been examined and the tipster has provided fantasy football users with some players that should certainly come into consideration for your teams before the transfer deadline.

MATT PHILLIPS (WEST BROM)

With focuses split between those chasing Chelsea at the top of the Premier League and those scrapping for their lives at the foot of the table, West Brom’s successful season has somewhat flown under the radar thus far. The Baggies are flying high in eighth place and on course to achieve their highest finish in a Premier league campaign in four years.

Key to their success has been the brilliant form of Matt Phillips. Signed over the summer from Queens Park Rangers, the 25-year-old has made an instant impact for Tony Pulis’ side, playing a direct hand in 12 goals in 20 league appearances. In fact, only Kevin De Bruyne (9) has registered more assists in Europe’s top five leagues than Phillips (8) this season and Pulis will turn to his main creator when they welcome a poor Sunderland outfit on Saturday.

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Sunderland haven’t won any of their last six competitive matches and have lost each of their last five on the road, conceding at least two goals in each of those outings. A return to home soil will give West Brom added confidence off the back of their 4-0 defeat to Tottenham last weekend, where they have scored at least three goals in four of their last five. Don’t be surprised to see Phillips in the thick of the action as West Brom look to consolidate their place in the top half of the table.

PHILIPPE COUTINHO (LIVERPOOL)

Liverpool supporters feared their chances of winning the title were over when Philippe Coutinho was stretchered off against Sunderland in November but, to their credit, they have managed to keep to seven points of runaway leaders Chelsea. Their chances of overtaking Antonio Conte’s side remain slim but now they are back at full strength with the return of Coutinho, who was only ruled out two months.

Jurgen Klopp has eased Coutinho back into first-team action and even resisted the temptation to start the Brazilian against Manchester United last weekend. However, the Liverpool No.10 was put through his paces for more than an hour in midweek against Plymouth and will now rearing to go when the Reds host Swansea on Saturday.

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The 24-year-old has scored or assisted six goals in his last four starts for Liverpool and will be confident of adding to that when Klopp’s side host a struggling Swansea outfit. Liverpool have scored 16 goals in their last five home meetings with Swansea. Coutinho was one of the best players in the Premier League before his injury hit and he will be hard pressed to pick a better opponent to pick up from where he left off than Swansea.

KEVIN MIRALLAS (EVERTON)

There is no doubt that Ronald Koeman will hope their 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City will serve as the turning point in what has been a thoroughly disappointing campaign for the Toffees. Next up, as Everton look to make it three league wins on the spin for the first time since September, is a trip to London, where they will be looking to ensure Sam Allardyce’s search for a first league win as Crystal Palace manager goes on.

Few changes are expected to the team that turned City over last weekend, although new £20m January signing Morgan Schneiderlin will be looking to make his full debut, which should benefit Kevin Mirallas in attack, whose form has flown under the radar since Boxing Day. The Belgium international’s Everton career has been frustrating but an average WhoScored.com rating of 7.77 since Christmas is enough to put him on the cusp of entering the top 10 rated players in the league in that time. Furthermore, with the Belgian in the starting XI, Everton have won 53.8% of their league games compared to just 25% when he has not featured from the outset.

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The 29-year-old scored and assisted in the same league game for the first time since November 2013 (vs Liverpool) during the emphatic win over City and will now be looking to continue his fine form away to league strugglers Palace on Saturday. The Eagles have not scored in any of their previous four home league matches against Everton and given their current form – five defeats in last six league matches – you wouldn’t fancy them to provide any sort of test for a resurgent Everton side.

CALUM CHAMBERS (MIDDLESBROUGH)

Adam Clayton claimed not even Lionel Messi would have scored goals for Middlesbrough earlier in the season and Aitor Karanka has looked to remedy their shortcomings in front of goal – they are the league’s lowest scorers (17) – by signing Rudy Gestede and Patrick Bamford in attack this month. Question marks still remain whether either of those two will provide sufficient cover to help ease the burden on Alvaro Negredo, so, for now, Middlesbrough’s best way of securing points will still be their tight, well organised defence.

Only Manchester United (20), Chelsea (15) and Tottenham (14) have conceded fewer goals in the Premier League this season than Boro (22) and that has mainly been down to a collective effort, rather than the performances of any individual. Having said that, Karanka’s centre-back duo of Calum Chambers and Ben Gibson has been a stand out pairing for the newly promoted side this season and both will be put to the test when given the task of marking Andy Carroll this weekend.

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West Ham come into this fixture off the back of an emphatic 3-0 win over Palace, in which Carroll scored a goal of the season contender, but it’s still difficult to feel confident about the Hammers this season. They have lost six of their 10 league away matches this season, while Boro have kept three clean sheets in their last four home league matches. Chambers and co. certainly have enough to nullify a Dimitri Payet-less West Ham this weekend.