Fantasy Premier League 2017/18: Top picks for Gameweek 18
Game week 17 understandably saw some big players succumb to the frequently employed strategy of rotation. Regular starters including big names such as Dele Alli, Pascal Gro?, Leroy Sane and Kyle Walker were given a rest.
The hectic month of December is halfway through now and there is still a long way to go though, as English teams will fill our stockings with the gift of playing a lot of games this Christmas season.
The Carabao Cup is back next week and 7 out of the 8 teams featuring in it are from the top flight. You can be rest assured that there will be considerable rotation in the squads of these teams, so consider yourself warned.
Two of FPL's three most owned players, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah, blanked on midweek despite facing easy opposition. Kane continued the much dreaded curse of most transferred in player, so be wary if you have transferred in David Silva this week. Among other significant gainers, Lukaku scored the winner for United, Aguero continued his 'scores when he starts' policy and Pope impressed for Burnley with 11 points.
Let's now take a look at some of our top picks for Game week 18:
#5 Adrian (West Ham United) - Goalkeeper (£4.3)
David Moyes has warned Joe Hart that he must wrestle the starting shirt back from Adrian, who has featured in just three games this season, all under Moyes himself. The three games were all against tougher opposition, in the form of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
No team had not conceded against the league leaders, and predictably West Ham couldn't keep them out either. Adrian did fare well in that game though, having made 6 saves. West Ham then incredibly kept clean sheets against their London rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal. Adrian even managed to grab a bonus point for his performance against the Gunners.
With much easier opposition lined up now, the Hammers could be in for some clean sheets. They play Stoke City, Newcastle United and Bournemouth in their next three fixtures.
West Ham won't feature in gameweek 21 but will play two games in gameweek 22. Pair Adrian up with another cheap goalkeeper (Pope, Gomes or Lossl to name a few) and you can really capitalize on the double gameweek.