Fantasy Premier League tips gameweek 18: Ollie Watkins, Phil Foden, Gabriel Martinelli and more

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Ollie Watkins

The only thing that put us off backing Watkins ahead of gameweek 17 was Aston Villa’s reported Covid outbreak. If you brought him in anyway for the trip to Norwich, congratulations, it was his first double-digit return of the campaign.

Burnley’s away record gives us every reason to believe he could score well again at the weekend. Beyond that, meetings with Leeds, Brentford and Everton could be fruitful for the focal point of Steven Gerrard’s attack - provided those games are played, of course.

Bukayo Saka

With all the attention Emile Smith Rowe has had this season, Saka has flown a little under the radar despite generally being more involved in Arsenal's attack and putting up better expected numbers.

At 6.2m, there is now little difference in price between him and his fellow academy graduate while his ownership is comfortably below 10%. Leeds are better at home than away but are still a defence that has just conceded seven in one game.

Matty Cash

While Watkins offers a route into the Villa attack, it’s the defence that we are most interested in. Tuesday’s clean sheet at Norwich was perhaps to be expected but the way Gerrard already has his player limiting opponents is impressive.

Combine that with a bit of attacking upside and you have a useful fantasy asset. Matt Targett is cheaper at 4.7m but Cash appears to have more licence to get forward and join attacks, meaning the extra 0.3m outlay may be worthwhile.

Gabriel Martinelli

Martinelli has two goals and two assists since returning to Arsenal’s starting line-up four games ago. For a 5.2m-rated midfielder, that’s hard to ignore, even if regular minutes are a slight concern. Smith Rowe is back from injury, after all.

But Smith Rowe replaced Martin Odegaard off the bench rather than Martinelli. And though the Brazilian was eventually taken off, that was only due to cramp. It’s a risk but given the lack of options around, Martinelli’s prospects look promising against Leeds,

Phil Foden

Keeping his place among our picks for the second gameweek running, Foden picked up a healthy 12 points from the 7-0 win over Leeds and playing as a false nine, he could have had plenty more, with a goal disallowed for offside.

A trip to Newcastle is next up, with Leicester’s porous defence due to visit the Etihad on Boxing Day. Whether Foden starts is always an open question, but so too is whether those games even go ahead. In any case, he feels like the best option in City’s attack.