Yahoo! Fantasy Football: West Ham to take giant step towards safety

Chelsea could really throw a spanner in the works in the race for the top four if Antonio Conte’s side beat Liverpool on Sunday.

However, the WhoScored Expert isn’t looking that far forward. On Yahoo! Fantasy Football this weekend we are only interested in Saturday’s last five kick-offs, starting with the 3pm fixtures.

There is plenty to play for, particularly for those sides battling relegation. West Brom will be relegated if they fail to beat Tottenham, while West Ham will be hoping to take a huge step towards safety against Leicester.

Leicester are on the brink of meltdown according to reports and this is the ideal time to play the Foxes. They were tanked 5-0 by Crystal Palace last weekend and David Moyes’ side should make the most of that here.

Here is our Yahoo! Fantasy Football XI for Saturday’s main contest:

Goalkeeper – ASMIR BEGOVIC (BOURNEMOUTH)

Everything has gone slightly flat for Swansea since Carlos Carvalhal’s early weeks in charge of the club. They are winless in six matches and have dropped to just one point above the bottom three as a result.

Bournemouth’s results haven’t been particularly smooth either of late, but they have only lost two of their last six matches on home soil. Here, against Swansea, Eddie Howe will hope his players can inspire a late charge into the top-half of the table.

The Cherries have kept three clean sheets in a row against Swansea and Asmir Begovic will hope to keep that streak going at Dean Court this Saturday.

Defender – KIERAN TRIPPIER (TOTTENHAM)

Kieran Trippier has shared the responsibility of being Tottenham’s right-back with Serge Aurier this season, starting just 19 league matches this term.

However, as Aurier’s haphazard performances have showed during his first year at the club, Trippier has more chance of being at the club next season.

Trippier registered his fifth league assist of the season in Monday’s 2-0 win at home to Watford and is expected to retain his starting berth this weekend.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side are unbeaten in their last six away games against league strugglers West Brom.

Defender – FLORIAN LEJEUNE (NEWCASTLE)

Rafa Benitez will hope his Newcastle side can get back on track this weekend when they travel to Watford.

The Magpies have lost back-to-back games, but are sitting comfortably in midtable, three points above Watford.

The Hornets are winless in seven matches, but have likely done enough to beat the drop this season.

Florian Lejeune has enjoyed a quietly impressive season for Newcastle, which has been disrupted by injury.

In fact, only January signing Kenedy (7.11) has a higher WhoScored rating than Lejeune (7.04) of all Newcastle players in the league this season.

Defender – AARON CRESSWELL (WEST HAM)

Somewhat surprisingly, Aaron Cresswell has provided seven assists in the Premier League this season.

In fact, no defender has set up more Premier League goals this season than the 28-year-old, who is now playing as a centre-back in a back three.

The Hammers are only three points above the bottom three, but a trip to Leicester represents a good opportunity to get back on track.

Claude Puel is reportedly on the brink of losing his job at Leicester and West Ham need to take advantage.

Cresswell is the obvious supply point to West Ham’s attacking threat, having provided more assists than any other teammate this term.

Midfielder – KENEDY (NEWCASTLE)

As mentioned earlier, Kenedy is Newcastle’s highest WhoScored rated player in the Premier League this season.

Rafa Benitez is desperate to keep the Brazilian at the club next season, but will likely now face competition if he is free to leave Chelsea again.

Kenedy has weighed in with four goals since his arrival from the Blues in January, adding a real threat from the left hand side for Newcastle.

Midfielder – DELE ALLI (TOTTENHAM)

It’s been a strange season for Dele Alli. It’s fair to say he hasn’t been at his best for most of the campaign, yet the Tottenham midfielder has still scored nine goals and provided 10 assists in the Premier League this season.

It bodes well for Alli’s future that he is still able to contribute with goals and assists despite the fact he his performances have been heavily criticised for the main.

The 22-year-old has played a direct hand in eight goals in his last eight starts for Pochettino’s side and is primed to continue his good form against West Brom this weekend.

Midfielder – CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN (TOTTENHAM)

While the quality of Alli’s performances have been questioned, the same cannot be said about Christian Eriksen. The Denmark international has been in sublime form all season and has arguably been Tottenham’s best player, ahead of the likes of Harry Kane and Jan Vertonghen.

The 26-year-old became the third player to register double figures for goals and assists in the Premier League this past gameweek and has already scored against West Brom in his career.

Tottenham’s objective is to secure a top-four finish this season and Eriksen will aim to continue his fine form and carry it into the 2018 World Cup with Denmark this summer.

Midfielder – DUSAN TADIC (SOUTHAMPTON)

It’s been a miserable season for Dusan Tadic, but he as at least hit form at the right time.

Southampton are running out of time to beat the drop and the timing of Tadic’s purple patch could not be more ideal.

He is a Yahoo! Top-20 form player after scoring both goals in Southampton’s 2-1 win over south coast rivals Bournemouth last weekend.

A rating of 9.31 was good enough to secure the WhoScored Man of the Match award and Mark Hughes will hope for something similar this weekend.

Utility – JOSHUA KING (BOURNEMOUTH)

It was this time last season when Joshua King was enjoying the finest goalscoring period of his career.  In fact, only Harry Kane (21) and Romelu Lukaku (15) scored more goals than King (13) during the second half of last season.

King has struggled to rediscover his best form this time around, but has still weighed in with seven goals and three assists for the Cherries. The 26-year-old has scored in three of his last five appearances and Eddie Howe will hope he can continue his form until the end of the season to help Bournemouth climb the table.

Striker – MARKO ARNAUTOVIC (WEST HAM)

There are still question marks over David Moyes’ future at West Ham and the true impact he has made at the club, but his arrival has certainly brought the best out of club-record signing Marko Arnautovic.

The former Stoke forward had failed to score prior to Moyes’ arrival, but the Austria international has netted 10 league goals since then, despite cutting an isolated figure up front in most of West Ham’s matches.

Arnautovic has scored or assisted seven goals in his last seven matches for club and country and will hope to add to his tally in the last few games of the season, simultaneously firing West Ham to safety.

Striker – CENK TOSUN (EVERTON)

After a really rocky start to his Everton career, Cenk Tosun has at least moved to put some of the early doubts to bed.

The Turkey international is already Everton’s third top scorer in the Premier League this season, with five goals, despite only making 12 appearances.

Everton have only lost one of their last six and can continue their good form with a win over strugglers Southampton on Saturday.

Tosun will be tasked with leading the line against a Southampton side that has only kept three clean sheets in their last 26 league games.