Leicester City’s injury crisis is well documented and the absence of some key players has given Brendan Rodgers and Fantasy Premier League managers a selection headache. It didn’t feel like too long a go that the Foxes were blessed with FPL options but we may need to look a little harder to find where the fantasy points will come from
James Justin, Harvey Barnes and James Maddison are amongst Leicester’s top performers in the fantasy world this season, the young trio have all surpassed 100 points this campaign, an achievement only matched by top scorer Jamie Vardy, Midfield maestro Youri Tielemans and shot stopper Kasper Schmeichel. Their absence is naturally a huge loss but as last nights display against Brighton highlighted it is also an opportunity for others to step up and make a name for themselves.
Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho
Nigerian striker Iheanacho has been in and out of the Leicester side since his arrival from Man City but he undeniably has talent and can be a match winner on his day. We have seen the best of what Kelechi has to offer in recent weeks with high quality finishes against Burnley and Brighton.
Iheanacho had a patch of games last season where he grabbed 3 goals and 4 assists across 379 minutes (a return every 54 mins), including a memorable last minute winner against Everton. If the Nigeria international can keep his place then he could be a nice differential pick costing just 5.6m.
Youri Tielemans
Sure it goes against every fantasy football rule book to put “defensive” midfielders in your team, especially when priced at 6.4m but Tielemans does so much damage from deep that the temptation is still there. The Belgian playmaker has six goals and three assists this season and is one of the first names on the team sheet for Brendan and has started every game apart from Palace away on Boxing day where Leicester fielded a rotated side.
Youri has accumulated an expected goals rating (xG) of 3.59 and an expected assists rating (xA) of 2.06 so he isn’t going to be the kind of player to take multiple shots a game and he tends not to have too many touches in the box but the fact he is over performing both these metrics shows how dangerous he is from range and the technical ability he has to score more difficult chances.
With Maddison’s return date still unclear Leicester will need to rely on players like Tielemans for set piece duties and Tielemans has been stepping up to take penalties when Vardy isn’t on the pitch which is an added boost for anyone considering Leicester’s player of the season front runner.
Daniel Amartey
Leicester will need goals from unexpected places if they are to maintain their push for a top four place and “Big Dan” obliged against Brighton, scoring his first goal in four years. Which was the Foxes’ first goal directly from a corner of the season. Now it’s unlikely that Dan Amartey will score or even play every week, but at a budget friendly 3.9m he could be an ideal bench player for those looking to spend cash elsewhere. You are unlikely to find many players that can provide the value for money Amartey does, especially if Evans is going to be out for a few more games.
Sidnei Tavares
Another budget friendly option who is getting time in Rodger’s make shift match day squad is Sidnei Tavares, his minutes will be heavily dependent on the fitness of James Maddison and Ayoze Perez but the 19 year old has been slowly integrated by Rodgers and gave a good account of himself during his professional debut against Brighton.
Naturally he had a few nervy moments and needed to adapt to the pace of a premier league game but overall his performance was a promising one and if it were not for a top class save from Robert Sanchez who tipped the Portuguese youngsters sweetly struck volley behind he may just have marked his debut with a goal.
Final thoughts
Overall it is still difficult to fit Leicester players into your FPL side mainly due to so many players being close to a return and a couple of difficult fixtures coming up for Brendan’s men against Manchester City and West Ham so it may be worth waiting a few week to see who can cement a place and for Leicester’s fixtures to turn again in game week 32 when the East Midlands side play West Brom, Palace, Southampton and Newcastle. All stats used in this article are taken from Fantasy Fantasy Football Scout.