Allardyce appointment set to get Big Ben chiming

After securing just one clean sheet from 17 Premier League games, Alan Pardew paid the ultimate price, as he was relieved of his duties at Selhurst Park. The Eagles didn’t waste anytime finding a replacement either, with Sam Allardyce taking over the reins following his short stint in the England hot-seat.

Big Sam is likely to focus on improving Palace’s leaky defence, to ensure that Premier League safety is secured for another season but he is also likely to be licking his lips at the prospect of Christian Benteke spearheading his attack.

Allardyce is famed for his route one football, however, it’s Palace’s upcoming fixtures that really catch our eye. The Eagles are about to embark on a 10-game sequence that will see them face only one of the big 6 – Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal, a side Big Sam has got the better of on more than one occasion, much to the Frenchman’s disgust.

Bringing in Christian ‘Big Ben’ Benteke will enable us to alleviate a couple of mistakes that we have made during the course of this FPL campaign, an ill-fated punt on Kelechi Iheanacho when there were too many unanswered questions and our habitual over-spending on that fifth midfielder.

Benteke and Adam Forshaw come in, at the expense of Iheanacho and Josh King.

Mistakes will happen throughout the course of a Fantasy Premier League season – the key is rectify, eliminate and learn from them!

The GW18 captaincy dilemma

Harry Kane was given the arm-band in Gameweeks 16 and 17 but unfortunately the England front-man failed to deliver the goods. Bringing in Zlatan Ibrahimović as a transfer replacement for Kane was certainly a consideration ahead of GW18 but that would mean instigating multiple transfers, something we were not prepared to do.

Kane has a difficult-looking fixture in GW18, with Spurs travelling to Southampton, so Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne look like better arm-band candidates. Chelsea have a home game against Bournemouth, while Manchester City travel to the KCOM Stadium, where they will face Hull City. Both sides are expected to score heavily in GW18.

If game minutes were guaranteed, the Man City man would be the obvious choice but Pep Guardiola is just too unpredictable and he is sure to have one eye on that upcoming game at Anfield, where he will want his talisman to be firing on all cylinders.

Diego Costa is suspended for the Blues so this looks the perfect opportunity for Hazard to step up to the plate!