Fantasy football tips: Players to bring in and drop for gameweek 26

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Odion Ighalo scored 16 Premier League goals for Watford, but how many will he get for Manchester United?

This is the first ever mid-season break in the Premier League and we've already seen loads of social media posts of players on holiday in luxury locations such as Rio, Dubai, Miami and the Maldives.

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So how does this affect fantasy football managers? Well, it's the same drill as normal. Sort of.

Every team will still be playing once in this upcoming gameweek, but it is stretched over six separate matchdays - starting on Saturday, 8 February and ending on Monday, 17 February - with no two fixtures starting at the same time.

But who deserves to be in your team and who should be left out? BBC Sport have taken a look at some of the options.

This gameweek's Premier League fixtures (all times GMT)

Saturday, 8 February: Everton v Crystal Palace (12:30), Brighton v Watford (17:30)

Sunday, 9 February: Sheffield United v Bournemouth (14:00), Manchester City v West Ham (16:30)

Friday, 14 February: Wolves v Leicester (20:00)

Saturday, 15 February: Southampton v Burnley (12:30), Norwich v Liverpool (17:30)

Sunday, 16 February: Aston Villa v Tottenham (14:00), Arsenal v Newcastle (16:30)

Monday, 17 February: Chelsea v Manchester United (20:00)

Fancy a transfer deadline day risk?

It was not the most exciting of transfer deadline days last week, but the last Premier League deal to be completed was one that will have caught the attention of many fantasy football managers.

With Marcus Rashford out until March, Manchester United desperately needed an attacking option and ex-Watford striker Odion Ighalo, signed on loan until the end of the season, could well be a good short-term option for you too.

Jarrod Bowen's prolific form of 17 goals for Hull City in the Championship this season earned him a move to West Ham and, surprisingly, he has been listed as a midfielder.

However, this looks to be a bad time to be picking Hammers players as they have back-to-back away games against Manchester City and Liverpool.

David Moyes' side are then scheduled to be one of four teams - along with City, Aston Villa and Arsenal - to be without a fixture in three gameweeks' time because of the Carabao Cup final between City and Villa.

Cedric Soares has moved from Southampton to Arsenal to give the Gunners extra defensive cover, but, with him currently being listed as doubtful because of a knee injury, that's one move to put on hold.

Other signings from the end of January worth looking at are Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes, Sheffield United midfielder and club record signing, Sander Berge and Wolves winger Daniel Podence, while Tottenham's Steven Bergwijn, listed as a midfielder, and Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta both made goalscoring debuts.

Premier League top goalscorers in 2019-20

17 Jamie Vardy (Leicester)

16 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

14 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Danny Ings (Southampton)

13 Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)

11 Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Teemu Pukki (Norwich), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Raul Jimenez (Wolves)

10 Chris Wood (Burnley), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)

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Who to back and who to avoid?

Your team should already be well stocked with Liverpool players, but if you need any more incentive the runaway Premier League leaders do not play any of the top eight in any of their next six matches.

Southampton also have a favourable-looking run with five consecutive matches against bottom-half sides and Arsenal also do not play any of the top eight in the next seven weeks, but, as mentioned, are set for a blank in three gameweeks' time.

Everton are at home to Crystal Palace this weekend, but then meet six top-half sides in the next seven weeks.

It is a tough run for Aston Villa as well, with Tottenham, Leicester and Chelsea - three of the top five - facing Dean Smith's side before mid-March.

Players currently out of action because of injury include Liverpool's Sadio Mane, Manchester City's Raheem Sterling, Burnley's Ashley Barnes, Chelsea's Christian Pulisic, Newcastle pair Jetro Willems and Jonjo Shelvey and Bournemouth forward Joshua King.

Three players will miss their next league matches because of suspension - Bournemouth midfielder Jefferson Lerma, Everton's Fabian Delph, who is listed as a defender, and Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Most Premier League assists 2019-20

17 Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)

12 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

9 Riyad Mahrez and David Silva (both Manchester City), Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

8 Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino (both Liverpool)

7 Harvey Barnes (Leicester), Emiliano Buendia (Norwich), Joao Moutinho and Adama Traore (both Wolves)

Who's in form?

Liverpool have kept nine clean sheets in 10 Premier League games so goalkeeper Alisson and the defence of Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold continue to rack up the points.

At the other end, Mohamed Salah has five goals and two assists in six games, Jordan Henderson has two goals and two assists in three matches, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored in back-to-back games, while Roberto Firmino made three goals in the 4-0 win over Southampton at the weekend.

Sergio Aguero may not have scored in Manchester City's 2-0 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday but the Argentine had found the back of the net on seven occasions in his previous five games before then.

Burnley have impressed in the league recently with wins over Leicester and Manchester United, followed by a goalless draw against Arsenal. Defender Ben Mee has two assists and two clean sheets from his last three games, while team-mate Chris Wood has scored three and made one in the Clarets' past five matches.

Leicester midfielder Harvey Barnes has scored in three consecutive games, while West Ham's Robert Snodgrass had a superb match in the 3-3 draw with Brighton - scoring two and making the other one.

Watford striker Troy Deeney has five goals and one assist in eight matches and Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger scored twice in the 2-2 draw with Leicester.

Most clean sheets in 2019-20

11 Liverpool

9 Sheffield United, Burnley

8 Leicester, Watford, Manchester City

Source: bbc.com