This article is part of our FPL Transfer Watch series.
After a week that saw two matches for every team, this upcoming weekend sees only five. With the FA Cup using up the majority of the top teams, that leaves a number of particularly unbalanced matches.
This includes Norwich City against Manchester City, Aston Villa against Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City against Newcastle. The slate also includes Bournemouth against Swansea City and Stoke City against Southampton. With that in mind, let's take a look at six players of the 10 teams playing this weekend.
Transfers In
Charlie Daniels (DEF)
Contrary to popular opinion, this is not the man who famously played the fiddle on a number of Marshall Tucker Band albums, nor the person who wrote "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," but rather a left back for Bournemouth who has been on a fantastic run of form this season. Since Jan. 16 (eight matches), he has two goals and three assists while also keeping three clean sheets. As a result, Daniels has found himself the most added player this week.
However, one should tread lightly with Daniels. While they have a good matchup against Swansea City this week, on the horizon are matchups against Spurs and Man City in consecutive weeks. While he has been on a tremendous run of form, this is unchartered territory for the 29-year-old, who scored just one goal in 42 matches in the Championship last season and has scored more than two goals just once in his career—in League One (England's third division) in 2012-13.
Gylfi Sigurdsson (MID)
Since the turn of the calendar to 2016, few outside of Roberto Firmino have gone on a tear like Sigurdsson. After two goals and one assist in 2015 (19 matches this season), Sigurdsson has six goals in 10 matches since the start of 2016. After scoring seven goals and adding 10 assists last season, many were wondering what happened to the Icelandic attacking midfielder, but eventually, his class on set pieces and better play from the Swans have helped bring his goal total back up. With Bournemouth this week and Aston Villa the week after, there's never been a better time to add Sigurdsson.
Toby Alderweireld (DEF)
Since arriving from Atletico Madrid over the summer, it took a slight adjustment period with his new teammates after spending last season on loan at Southampton. However, since the opening three matches, Alderweireld has been sensational. Spurs have kept nine clean sheets, a number that probably should be higher, but their high press leaves them susceptible to the counter-attack. Furthermore, for a center back, Alderweireld's three goals and two assists give him upside few center backs have. Beyond that, he's quite disciplined, collecting just three yellow cards in 38 matches across all competitions. With a plumb matchup against Aston Villa this weekend, if he's not already in your lineup, now would be a good time to add him.
Transfers Out
The top-12 players are either injured or not playing this week (or both). Furthermore, the rest of the top-25 is filled with players who are either not playing or are injured.
Georginio Wijnaldum (MID)
Wijnaldum was a hot pickup a few weeks back after scoring goals in back-to-back matches - against Manchester United and West Ham no less - but a dry spell finds him as one of the most-dropped players of the week. Over the past six matches where Wijnaldum hasn't scored, Newcastle haven't fared much better. Over that span, the team has just three points and has been outscored 14 to 4.
Newcastle seem to fare as Wijnaldum does, collecting points in each of the six matches he's scored in while earning just 12 points in the other 23. With a tough matchup against the pace-setters in Leicester City, who shut them out at St. James' Park in November, Wijnaldum will likely run barren once again.
Andre Ayew (MID)
As Sigurdsson's stock rises, Ayew's seems to plummet. Ayew has four matches with a goal and an assist this season, including two since the start of 2016. He has the ability to take over a match but often disappears for lengthy stretches of time. With a match against Bournemouth, whom he scored and assisted against back in November, Ayew is probably worth a pickup this week, particularly with as many as half the teams not playing in the Premier League over the weekend.
Matt Targett (DEF)
After a lengthy spell outside the squad and then on the bench, Targett made a pair of starts against Watford and West Brom and tallied an assist in both. He's started three other matches and gotten into another, but he has yet to score or create an assist since. More troubling, after not making it off the substitute bench against Bournemouth, he was sent down to the U-21 team against Sunderland. With a return to the squad probable, but a emergence back in the starting XI unlikely, Targett has no fantasy viability with players above him on the depth chart fit.
