Fantasy Premier League tips: Captain Jamie Vardy in GW17, get Tottenham's Serge Aurier

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  • Each week, Sport360 will bring you tips for the English Premier League’s official fantasy football game. Fancy pitting your wits against us? You can join “Sport360 Fans League” using the code: zj04s8

    Gameweek 16 in Fantasy Premier League produced a healthy average score of 54 while confirming that Jamie Vardy is simply a must-have right now and Tottenham assets should be on your radar if not in your side already.

    A Vardy brace saw Leicester City emerge as Liverpool‘s sole challengers for the Premier League crown with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa after Manchester United all but ended neighbours Manchester City‘s ambitions of retaining their title for a third successive year, beating them 2-1 in the derby.

    GW17 sees the defending champions travel to manager-less Arsenal as Jose Mourinho takes his Spurs side to face compatriot Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves outfit.

    Elsewhere, attractive home fixtures await United, Liverpool, Leicester and Chelsea who clash with Everton, Watford, Norwich and Bournemouth respectively.

    Here are a few tips to help guide you through.

    CAPTAIN – JAMIE VARDY | LEICESTER CITY | 10.1M

    How do you look past Jamie Vardy at the moment? He’s on an eight-match scoring streak and has his sights set on his own record of 11. With Leicester taking on a deplorable Norwich defence at home, the striker looks primed to extend that run to nine games.

    Even at this stage, Vardy should have the Golden Boot on his mind having amassed a healthy lead in that particular race with his 16 goals so far putting him well ahead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Tammy Abraham tied for second with 11 strikes each. If he is going to finish on top of the pile, this is the sort of fixture he’ll want to capitalise on.

    With 34 goals conceded, Norwich are the second-worst defence in the league and have allowed a whopping 41 shots from inside the box in their last four away games.

    Vardy is in the form of his life and is dominating the underlying stats. In the last four GWs he’s seen 10 big chances come his way and leads the league with 16 shots from inside the box in that time, scoring five goals and bagging one assist.

    The 32-year-old has delivered four double-figure hauls in the last seven GWs and has the most points this year with Sadio Mane’s 109 coming closest to his tally of 128.

    Jamie Vardy

    ALTERNATIVES

    SADIO MANE (12.3m) blanked just twice in his last eight appearances and is proving to be a reliable asset. He’s the top-scoring midfielder this season and faces Watford at home this time – the third worst defence in the league.

    KEVIN DE BRUYNE (10.2m) may be facing Arsenal away but the Gunners have kept just two clean sheets all season with the last one coming in GW8. The Belgian tops the league for the most key passes per game (4) and crosses per game (3). Arsenal’s defence are bound to concede from that sort of assault.

    BOLD CHOICE

    MASON MOUNT (6.6m) has delivered just once in the last six GWs but there are signs that he could rediscover his early season form. In the last four outings, he’s managed 12 shots – only Christian Pulisic can match that figure for Chelsea.

    Mason Mount

    Mason Mount

    ONE TO GET

    SERGE AURIER | TOTTENHAM | 5.0M

    Under Mourinho Serge Aurier is clearly being encouraged to go forward more while the left-back remains more conservative and his potential for attacking returns has grown as a result. He has two assists in the last four games and picked up a clean sheet last weekend at home to Burnley – the first of many for a Mourinho side one would assume. At just 5m, he looks like a great prospect.

    Serge Aurier

    ONE TO AVOID

    PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG | ARSENAL | 10.9M

    After bagging three goals and an assist in the last four GWs, this seems rather harsh on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. However, the Gabon striker’s performances have been a little hit and miss. Arsenal as a team are hardly reliable at the moment with Freddie Ljungberg as interim boss and they face three of the top six in the next five GWs. Simply put, Auba’s 10.9m price tag could be far better spent.

    Aubameyang

    Aubameyang

    BARGAIN BUY

    DANNY INGS | SOUTHAMPTON | 6.3M

    Vardy’s hot-streak is popular knowledge but Danny Ings can be proud of the one he’s put together as well. He’s now hit the back of the net in the last five games running for the Saints. He takes on a struggling West Ham side at home this week. Ings has more points this season (84) than Harry Kane (83), Roberto Firmino (73) and Sergio Aguero (72). Talk about value for money!

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