Supercoach EPL Watchlist | Round 20, buy, hold, sell

Supercoach EPL Round 20 begins tonight, and there’s plenty to dive through as coaches deal with injuries, restings and a tricky round of fixtures for popular assets.

It’s a truly chaotic period of the season with round 20 ending in the early hours of Monday morning (AEDT), and round 21 beginning in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Following that we’ve got a tick over a week break where we can relax and reassess the carnage of the Christmas and New Year period.

The Cooma Stallions are ticking along nicely in 600^th overall, hopefully we can continue to see some green arrows in the rankings over the next week.

Let’s take a look at the Final Word for Supercoach EPL round 20.

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STRATEGY

It feels like a potentially good week to sit on your hands and save trades if possible.

In my view there doesn’t appear to be too many standout options this round, while we’re still getting a look at a number of players returning from injury who could get rested or limited minutes on any given fixture with the quick turnarounds.

For this reason, if you are trading ensure the relevant player is listed to start this week, despite the complications of the time zones…

With uncertainty, the early morning alarm may be worth it.

Further, there’s still some mystery around the likes of Riccardo Calafiori and Declan Rice as to their availability this week, despite both featuring highly on the most traded out list.

The exception is of course any players people have held that are out for extended periods that we know won’t feature anytime soon.

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BUY

Gabriel

Gabriel could easily sit in the hold/wait list for the reason mentioned above regarding a potential resting or limited minutes, but for those looking to pull the trigger on a defender this week he looks a good play.

With a breakeven of 18 it can certainly wait, but he returned to 77 minutes last round after a lengthy lay off where he scored 18 points with a goal.

Prior to injury he had a double digit haul in five of six games in a row.

It can wait, but it could equally pay dividends to go early for anyone desperate to trade.

Martin Ødegaard

There’s obviously a heavy Arsenal presence to this week’s trade list, but when you’re leading the league that’s probably natural.

Ødegaard is back to full health with back-to-back 90 minute games, producing double digit hauls in both.

With a -9 breakeven at $7.8m he’s rapidly on the up and is surprisingly owned by just 11% of top ranked teams.

And yes, there’s also resting risk…

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HOLD

Riccardo Calafiori and Declan Rice

Rice travelled with Arsenal’s squad for the clash with Bournemouth and is a chance to play.

He’s one of the best midfield assets in Supercoach and you’ll want him back at some stage.

Trades are beginning to get low for plenty of coaches, it’s not worth burning one on Rice in my opinion.

Calafiori is more uncertain to face Bournemouth, however he’s not carrying a major injury and should be back on deck sooner rather than later.

He’s another I believe is worth holding barring any news on severity of injury.

Patrick Dorgu

Remarkably, last weeks most traded in player is the sixth most traded OUT player this week.

He made $2.5m last week despite a disappointing score of just 5 points against the Wolves.

His breakeven is -5 so there’s guaranteed cash incoming, and the fixture is once again reasonable against Leeds.

The role is still great, so hold for one more game for the cash rise than reassess whether to hold or cash out at that point.

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SELL

Morgan Rogers

If you’re very well set up with cash I don’t mind Rogers as a long-term hold, but if you’re concerned about your squad value I’d cash in.

Up against Chelsea and Arsenal the Villa strike weapon scored just 1 point in total, with his breakeven now blowing out to 34.

A run of games against Forest, Palace and Everton (two at home) is reasonable, but he’s about to plummet in value.

If you’re happy to stick with him long term you can hold, but if there’s any concerns I’d be cutting.

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CAPTAINS

Once again Supercoaches are flocking to Erling Haaland with 74% of top ranked players giving him the captaincy armband.

He faces Chelsea at the Etihad who have conceded two goals in each of their past three fixtures.

He’s the safe play that I won’t argue with too hard, but it is a reasonable week to look elsewhere.

It’s probably more of a vice-captaincy play, but the Arsenal fixture against Bournemouth looks a promising one to target.

Bukayo Saka is coming off a down week but could easily fire, while Declan Rice would be an excellent option provided he’s named to start.

If opting for Rice, I’d definitely only give him the vice-captaincy should the injury resurface.

Ahead of both though I like the Martin Ødegaard play with a strong run of form since returning from injury.

With a five round average of 17.2 points Rayan Cherki is also a viable play.

He didn’t produce a goal or assist against Sunderland but still managed a respectable 11 points.