The three players you need in your Fantasy Football team this week

Here's Luk-ing at you Romelu.

J-League

No major moves at the top of the J-League this week, with the leaders, Cian Tracey’s Bacuna Mata-ta, maintaining their healthy lead over Keith O’Brien’s Hon d’Cabayes in second place. 84 points resulted in a jump up to third place for Allan Johnson’s Comeback Kids, who lie 11 points ahead of a team managed by Shane Guihen, whose name we won’t be mentioning here and really should be reviewed by the Fantasy Football League’s standards committee. The top five is completed by Fionn O Riain Broin’s 69 points after a satisfactory 69 points this week.

J-League Top 5

Gameweek 16

If their Champions League exploits mark a return to form on the domestic circuit, then Arsenal are certainly the ones to watch against bottom of the table Aston Villa, a game that seems ripe for a fresh batch of trademark Olivier Giroud strikes at the near post. Leicester’s clash with Chelsea on Monday night marks the start of a really tricky-looking run of fixtures for top of the table Leicester, but Riyadh Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and company haven’t feared anyone so far so why should they start now? Elsewhere, Swansea look very vulnerable ahead of a trip to a Manchester City side that have a habit of bouncing back emphatically from setbacks like last weekend’s defeat to Stoke. Manchester United, meanwhile, are facing a defensive injury crisis ahead of their meeting with Bournemouth and the return of Philippe Coutinho could be a big boost for Liverpool when they host West Brom at Anfield.

This week’s picks

Safe bet: Olivier Giroud (£8.9 million). Will be high on confidence after his Champions League hat-trick in midweek and will spare no mercy against an Aston Villa side that are at an incredibly low ebb right now. Dark horse: Troy Deeney (£5.2 million). Having gone without scoring in the first nine games of the season, Deeney can’t stop banging them in now, with five goals in his last six outings. He’s also registered an assist in each of the last two games and is hoovering up bonus points, with the result that his total for the last four matches is an impressive 36 points. Captain’s choice: Romelu Lukaku (£9.1 million). THE form player in the league, the Everton striker has six goals, two assists and 48 points in his last six games and will be up against a Norwich defence that are conceding an average of just under two goals per game this season.

Potential to use chips

We’ll turn this one over to Bilbo Baggins… If Sergio Aguero was fit, we’d consider the triple captain option for Man City’s clash with Swansea, but because he’s out, we’d be inclined to leave all the chips alone this weekend.