Fantasy Premier League tips: Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, Jarrod Bowen and more

Cristiano Ronaldo

We’ve spent the past few weeks bemoaning the lack of forward options but hopefully you kept some cash in reserve. It looks like it’s time to move funds up front and gravitate back towards Ronaldo for an enticing set of Manchester United fixtures which begin in earnest away to Norwich on Saturday.

Those early worries that Ronaldo might not suit Ralf Rangnick’s style or system have been eased, with the interim manager insisting that he will be a major part of his plans during his six-month spell, while five shots in last weekend’s win over Crystal Palace suggested he will not lose any of his goal threat.

Bernardo Silva

It’s becoming harder and harder to ignore a Manchester City player who appears to be nailed-on and has five goals in his last five league games, which is probably why Bernardo is the most transferred-in player this week with over half a million managers pulling the trigger already.

The key question is can he keep it up? Bernardo is certainly on a hot streak and the season-long underlying statistics are not as impressive as those of some of his team-mates but have seen a sharp upturn over recent weeks, suggesting there is more to this than just a good run of form.

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Jarrod Bowen

West Ham’s fixtures are well worthy of attention with a trip to Burnley this weekend and Norwich, Southampton and Watford over the course of the Christmas period. Michail Antonio is most certainly of interest once again, though Bowen’s promise as a 6.5m-rated midfield option cannot be overlooked either.

The fourth-most transferred-in player this week, Bowen might have flown under the radar if not for scoring against Chelsea last time out. That was his first goal since October though the underlyings are strong, with an average of 0.6 npxG per game in his last five starts. With corners and West Ham’s set piece threat, there is assist potential to boot.

Diogo Dalot

Managerial changes always bring opportunities in fantasy football and Dalot looks like he could profit hugely from the appointment of Rangnick, who started him ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka on Sunday and encourages attacking play from his wing-backs, given how narrow his preferred 4-2-2-2 system is.

Wan-Bissaka also picked up a knock in the Champions League midweek, making Dalot likely to start at Norwich. There’s no harm in waiting a week or two for things to settle down and coming back when the lay of the land is a little clearer but if you need to free up funds, you could do worse than swapping a premium defender out for the 4.4m-rated full back.

Callum Wilson

Wilson is a short-term punt rather than a long-term pick and a case of ‘don’t buy, don’t sell’ given that Newcastle’s fixtures are about to go south quickly. But if you own him, do not be put off by an away day at Leicester that appears tricky on paper but could prove to be anything but.

Yes, Newcastle aren’t especially appealing themselves having only won their first game last weekend but Leicester’s defence is genuinely awful form, giving up chance after chance and could easily be punished by a player who has strong underlying numbers when on the pitch this season, despite playing for such a limited side.