Sadio Mane will be hoping to carry on his sensational Anfield form against Manchester City, and he leads our Premier League Fantasy Picks for Matchweek 12.
Another round of Premier League action is upon us, with Liverpool versus Manchester City the headline fixture of the weekend.
Sadio Mane has a brilliant record at Anfield, and always seems to impress against City, with the Liverpool star leading Stats Perform’s Opta-powered Fantasy Picks this week.
Leicester City and Sheffield United, meanwhile, are both in fine form and are well represented, while a certain Burnley striker will be aiming to keep up his good run against West Ham. And Tottenham’s Dele Alli is just one of the headliners on our Fantasy Hot or Not video.
Goalkeeper:
Kasper Schmeichel, Leicester City
Leicester are sitting pretty in third place, though they had to work much harder to overcome Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday than they did in their 9-0 thrashing of Southampton in their previous outing.
Schmeichel is the first of two Leicester players to feature on this list. The Denmark international has the highest save percentage in the Premier League this season (78.95), while only Manchester City’s Ederson and Sheffield United’s Dean Henderson have kept more than his four clean sheets.
Defenders:
John Lundstram, Sheffield United
Though he has been deployed in midfield by Chris Wilder, Lundstram is a fantasy Premier League defender.
He is the only player to score and keep five clean sheets this season. Lundstram also boasts the most goal involvements of any “defender” in 2019-20, with three goals and one assist.
Ricardo Pereira, Leicester City
Leicester welcome Arsenal to the King Power Stadium on Saturday and that could be good news for the impressive Pereira.
The former Porto defender has been one of the standout full-backs so far this term, and both his goals in 2019-20 have come in home matches.
No defender has scored more or had more touches in the opposition box than Pereira this season.
Midfielders:
Christian Pulisic, Chelsea
After a stuttering start to life in the Premier League, Pulisic finally seems to have found his feet.
Having scored a brilliant hat-trick in Chelsea’s win over Burnley, the former Borussia Dortmund star netted what turned out to be the winner against Watford last time out.
He has now played a role in five goals in his past four Premier League appearances, averaging a goal involvement every 42 minutes.
Forwards:
Sadio Mane, Liverpool
Plenty has been made of Pep Guardiola’s comments over Mane’s “diving”, but it seems the Senegal forward is close to overtaking Mohamed Salah as Liverpool’s talisman, if he has not done so already.
Mane enjoys his home comforts, having scored 15 Premier League goals in 14 home games in 2019 – more than any other player in the competition.
He has averaged a goal every 77 minutes, the best ratio in that time, and is sure to be a constant threat against Manchester City on Sunday.
Lys Mousset, Sheffield United
Mousset has enjoyed a new lease of life at the Blades, having signed from Bournemouth in the close season.
No player has been directly involved in more Premier League goals since the beginning of October than the Frenchman, who has scored with his only two shots on targets and provided three assists in that time.
Chris Wood, Burnley
Burnley have hit a rough patch of form but, fortunately for the Clarets, their next opponents West Ham have been faring little better.
Wood could be key for Burnley, with the former Leeds United striker having scored in all four of his top-flight appearances against the Hammers, averaging a goal every 45 minutes.
No player has a better 100 per cent record of scoring against a specific opponent in the Premier League than Wood does against West Ham.
