Christmas could well and truly come early this year, with FantasyBet offering you the chance to win big in their epic Christmas Fantasy £50,000 guaranteed prize pool game this weekend! You’ve got to be in it to win it, and an entry ticket could prove to be the best £11 you spend this festive season! At the end of this article, alongside our normal Bookies’ Advantage squad, we’ll also be picking a squad for the big £50,000 game (which is slightly different because it is played across 8, rather than 10, of the Premier League games taking place).

But before we sink our teeth into the bookmakers’ odds from across the internet and analyse the relevant clean sheet and anytime goalscorer markets for Gameweek 18, let’s take a look at how our selections performed last weekend …

Following two monster returns, the Bookies’ Advantage squad produced an underwhelming 48 points in Gameweek 18. Goals from Pedro (8 points) and Jose Holebas (7), along with a clean sheet from substitute Ryan Bennett (6) and a last-minute assist from captain Harry Kane (10) was as good as it got for our side, with a number of benchings and early substitutions harming our potential (read Lacazette, Son and Jota).

Clean sheet odds

Team Best clean sheet odds Implied chance of a clean sheet Man City 1.8 56% Chelsea 1.95 51% Arsenal 1.98 51% Liverpool 2.16 46% Man Utd 2.32 43% Bournemouth 2.62 38% Southampton 2.75 36% Newcastle 2.8 36% Huddersfield 3.2 31% Tottenham 3.4 29% West Ham 3.5 29% Watford 4.3 23% Fulham 4.5 22% Everton 4.5 22% Brighton 4.85 21% Wolves 6.3 16% Cardiff 6.5 15% Leicester 9 11% Burnley 13 8% Crystal Palace 19 5%

This weekend only: Compete for £50,000 playing fantasy! ⚽ Learn More

Ahead of a home game against Crystal Palace, champions Manchester City top the bookies’ defensive rankings with a 56% chance of keeping a clean sheet. The Citizens have the second best defence in the top flight this term, having conceded just 10 goals, whilst their opponents are the joint-second lowest scorers in the division, with 14 goals in 17 games – only Huddersfield have scored fewer. We opt for Fabian Delph, who is priced at £5.5m, was rested in midweek and looks set to start at left back for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Chelsea (51%) rank second prior to their hosting of Leicester on Saturday. Maurizio Sarri’s men haven’t conceded a goal in any of their last 4 in all competitions in front of their own fans (prior to tonight’s Carabao Cup clash with Bournemouth). Another shutout looks to be on the cards given that the Foxes have found the net just once in their last 3 Premier League matches, so Marcos Alonso, who scored twice against Leicester in 2017 to garner an infamous 21 point haul, looks worthy of backing.

Arsenal (51%) and Liverpool (46%) complete the top 4 defensive prospects for Gameweek 18. Arsenal host Burnley in Saturday’s early kick off and have 3 clean sheets in their last 5 outings in all competitions at The Emirates, whilst the Clarets have failed to score in each of their last 3 on the road. Liverpool, meanwhile, have the best defence in the league, having been breached just 7 times. Their opponents on Friday night, Wolves, have performed superbly to date this season, but have blanked at home against both Watford and Huddersfield in their last 5 at Molineux. Sead Kolasinac offers solid attacking potential (he is expected to recover from injury in time for the game, but we recommend keeping an eye on the Arsenal press conference on Friday), whilst Alisson offers a good mix of clean sheet and save point potential. Both make our starting XI.

For the first time in many gameweeks, the makeup of our bench changes courtesy of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s appointment at Southampton. Ben Hamer (31%) is unlikely to feature against the Saints, but is still the likeliest £4.0m keeper to see any game time, whilst Jan Bednarek (36%) and Ryan Bennett (16%) provide superb options in defence at the same price point. This weekend they host Liverpool and travel to Huddersfield respectively.

Goalscorer odds

Player Best anytime goalscorer odds Implied chance of scoring Sergio Aguero 1.62 62% Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 1.73 58% Alexandre Lacazette 1.73 58% Gabriel Jesus 1.74 57% Raheem Sterling 1.96 51% Mohamed Salah 2 50% Harry Kane 2.02 50% Eden Hazard 2.05 49% Leroy Sane 2.1 48% Alvaro Morata 2.2 45% Romelu Lukaku 2.38 42% Callum Wilson 2.4 42% Anthony Martial 2.5 40% Henrikh Mkhitaryan 2.6 38% Pedro 2.62 38% Riyad Mahrez 2.65 38% Marcus Rashford 2.7 37% Salomon Rondon 2.7 37% Roberto Firmino 2.75 36% Willian 2.75 36% Chicharito 2.85 35% Aaron Ramsey 2.88 35% Aleksandar Mitrovic 2.9 34% Sadio Mane 3 33% Danny Ings 3 33% Joshua King 3 33% Lucas Perez 3.1 32% Richarlison 3.1 32% Bernardo Silva 3.2 31% Charlie Austin 3.25 31% Ayoze Perez 3.25 31% Jesse Lingard 3.25 31% Son Heung-Min 3.4 29% Troy Deeney 3.4 29% Xherdan Shaqiri 3.4 29% Paul Pogba 3.4 29% Gerard Deulofeu 3.5 29% Cenk Tosun 3.5 29% Mesut Ozil 3.55 28% Laurent Depoitre 3.6 28% Isaac Success 3.8 26% Gylfi Sigurdsson 3.95 25% Kenedy 3.95 25% Felipe Anderson 4.2 24% Theo Walcott 4.2 24% Roberto Pereyra 4.3 23% Ryan Fraser 4.33 23% Raul Jimenez 4.5 22% Jamie Vardy 4.5 22% Kenneth Zohore 4.5 22% Alex Pritchard 4.6 22% Matt Ritchie 4.7 21% Erik Lamela 4.75 21% Mohamed Elyounoussi 5 20% Stuart Armstrong 5 20% Grady Diangana 5 20% Chris Wood 5 20% Jurgen Locadia 5 20% Diogo Jota 5.1 20% Ashley Barnes 5.25 19% Kelechi Iheanacho 5.5 18% Aaron Mooy 5.5 18% Danny Ward 5.5 18% Jose Izquierdo 5.75 17% James Maddison 6 17% Isaac Mbenza 6 17% Ryan Sessegnon 6 17% Anthony Knockaert 6 17% Helder Costa 6.5 15% Tom Cairney 6.5 15% Jordan Ayew 7 14% Andros Townsend 7.5 13% NGolo Kante 7.5 13% Victor Camarasa 9 11% Robbie Brady 9 11% Philip Billing 9.5 11% Luka Milivojevic 10 10% Max Meyer 11 9% Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 11 9% Joao Moutinho 12 8%

Join our Christmas Fantasy tournament this weekend🎄 Compete for £50,000

Arsenal’s home game against Burnley, who have conceded 33 goals in 17 games this season (only Fulham have conceded more), sees strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette top the bookies’ attacking estimations with both having a 58% chance of scoring (Sergio Aguero is omitted as he is too much of a doubt having just returned from injury and started in midweek cup action). The pair have been involved in 28 top flight goals for the Gunners this term (Auba: 10G, 4A, Laca: 6G, 6A) and are hard to separate, but we choose to give Lacazette our captain’s armband given he started on the bench on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup and, therefore, should be fresher.

Salomon Rondon (37%) completes our front line. Newcastle’s Venezuelan hitman has been consistently scoring points of late, with 4 goals and an assist in his last 6 appearances. A home game against Fulham’s aforementioned leaky defence looks promising this weekend, with the Cottagers still to keep a clean sheet this season.

In midfield, Raheem Sterling (51%) and Leroy Sane (48%) look like a deadly duo ahead of Manchester City’s plum home game against Crystal Palace. Both were rested on Tuesday night (Sane completely, Sterling featured off the bench for 24 minutes) whilst Riyad Mahrez played the full 90, so the pair look primed to start on Saturday. In their last 6 Premier League games, Sterling has scored 5 goals and assisted a further 4, whilst Sane has struck 3 times and laid on 4 more for his teammates. With Roy Hodgson’s men conceding 3 times in both of their last 2 away games (vs West Ham and Brighton), everything looks to be in place for some big points on Saturday.

Completing our starting XI are Anthony Martial (40%) and Pedro (38%). Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes charge of Manchester United for the first time on Saturday when they travel to Cardiff, and will surely restore the in-form Frenchman to the Red Devils first team – before his recent 2 game injury spell, he had bagged 7 in his last 7 starts. Chelsea’s Spanish winger, meanwhile, has scored 3 goals, provided 1 assist and chalked up 7 bonus points in his last 4 starts for the Blues, and has a home game against Leicester to look forward to this weekend.

Taking the first spot on our bench is Cardiff’s Victor Camarasa (11%), who registered his third attacking return of the season with an assist last weekend, whilst he has also been confirmed as the taker of Cardiff’s next penalty by Neil Warnock. He welcomes Manchester United to South Wales on Saturday.

Dream Team GW18

As we mentioned earlier, this weekend you have the chance to compete for a share of £50,000 here at FantasyBet! The Christmas Fantasy game, which has a buy-in of just £11, features 8 of the 10 Premier League fixtures this weekend, with Wolves v Liverpool and Arsenal v Burnley not making the cut. With that in mind, we propose the below squad, complete with reasoning for our new additions…

Harry Kane (50%) and Chicharito (35%) replace the Arsenal strikers up top, with both players in good form. Kane has 4 goals and 3 assists in his last 6 top flight starts for Tottenham, whilst the Little Pea has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 4 for the Hammers. Kane, who dons our captain’s armband, will be expected to recover from a cold to travel to Everton on Sunday, whilst Chicharito hosts Watford on Saturday.

Our cheaper front line means that we can afford Eden Hazard (49%) in the middle of the park. The effervescent Belgian has produced returns in each of his last 4 games, with 5 assists and a goal over that stretch.

In defence, Steve Cook (38% chance of a clean sheet) comes in for Sead Kolasinac ahead of Bournemouth’s favourable home game against Brighton. Over the past 4 gameweeks, Cook has displayed more goal threat, with 4 attempts, than any other Cherries’ defender. David De Gea (43%), meanwhile, replaces Alisson in goal. The Spaniard is probably the safest pick from the United rearguard ahead of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge, which is a trip to Cardiff for Saturday’s late kick off.

On our bench, a spare £0.5m allows us to upgrade Victor Camarasa to Alex Pritchard (22%) for his home encounter with Everton, whilst Aaron Wan-Bissaka (5%), whose services will hopefully not be required given he travels to The Etihad, comes in for Ryan Bennett.