Fantasy football scout tips gameweek 14: Eden Hazard, Shkodran Mustafi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and more

How many of our picks are in your team?

With 2017-18's first mid-week round of Premier League fixtures comes the first quick turnaround in gameweeks for fantasy football managers.

The short space between matches means, in theory, it is easier to chase bandwagons, fix short-term issues and make up for lost points.

With that in mind, how many of our gameweek 14 scout picks are in your team?

Eden Hazard

If you have a spare £10.7m lying around, it should be spent on a certain Eden Hazard. Masterful in the first half at Anfield on Saturday, he registered an assist late on, setting up Willian’s cross-cum-shot equaliser.

Chelsea are about to embark on a long run of favourable fixtures and Hazard appears to be coming into form at just the right time.

Relegation-threatened Swansea City are first up at Stamford Bridge, with an out-of-sorts Newcastle United visiting west London at the weekend.

Pascal Gross

It is no secret that Pascal Gross is one of the outstanding budget picks of the season. Brighton and Hove Albion’s creator-in-chief is not as prolific as the similarly-priced Richarlison, but he does have one key advantage over his Watford counterpart.

While Richarlison’s poor shooting record means he struggles to collect bonus points, Gross hoovers them up even when he does not score and assist, with three taken this weekend from Brighton’s 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

On Tuesday night, Chris Hughton’s entertain bitter rivals Crystal Palace, who remain rooted to the bottom of the table. It is still not too late to invest.

Shkodran Mustafi

In defence, you could do far worse this week than bring in Shkodran Mustafi, who has 21 points from his last two outings.

Arsenal have conceded just one goal with Mustafi in the side so far this season and their opponents this gameweek, Huddersfield Town, have scored just three goals away from home all season. All three came in their opening day win at Crystal Palace.

It is worth bearing in mind that Manchester United visit the Emirates this weekend, but Arsenal’s schedule is fairly kind otherwise.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

With attacking returns in three of his last four outings and priced at just £4.5m, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is now a staple in the teams of many top managers.

The Crystal Palace midfielder is typical bench fodder, allowing funds to be spread elsewhere, but for those who play a five-man midfield he still chips in with points.

As mentioned, Palace travel to Brighton on Tuesday night and their run of favourable fixtures is set to continue for a few weeks yet.

Asmir Begovic

Bournemouth’s defensive turnaround in recent weeks has rightly turned heads.

Eddie Howe’s side have three consecutive clean sheets and generally look to be running a tighter ship, though some gentle fixtures have helped their cause.

Burnley’s visit to the south coast on Wednesday will not strike too much fear into the Cherries’ defence and though Charlie Daniels remains the stand-out option, Asmir Begovic at £4.5m is worth considering in goal.

Andreas Christensen

As mentioned, Chelsea’s fixtures are too good to ignore from now until February, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Their two highest-scoring defenders Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta will set you back almost £7.0m each, however, so it may be wise to consider riskier, cheaper options.

Andreas Christensen has started the last three games and costs just £5.4m. He is a rotation risk with David Luiz’s situation still unclear, but even if the Dane misses one match in every four, he could still provide value for money.