This article is part of our Fantrax Waiver Wire series.
Ahead of each Premier League gameweek, I'll take a look at sub-50 percent rostered players on Fantrax whose situations may have changed or improved, and assess whether or not they are worth a pickup in season-long leagues.
GOALKEEPER
Lukasz Fabianski (40-percent rostered): Fabianski has been a regular in the keeper streaming section this season and finds his way back with a home matchup against Nottingham Forest this weekend. Forest are not a team to fear in terms of goal output and Fabianski has a decent floor having made eight saves in his previous three matches.
Illan Meslier (21 percent): Meslier finds his way as a pickup recommendation this week with a strong matchup home against Southampton. Leeds haven't won a match since before the World Cup, but Meslier has save upside with 11 in his past three matches and Southampton are not a team who should put multiple goals past the French keeper.
DEFENDER
Stefan Bajcetic (43 percent): Bajcetic has started four-straight league matches for Liverpool, with two of the starts resulting in over 13 fantasy points. Bajcetic is misclassified as a defender on Fantrax, making him eligible for clean-sheet points and while the offensive upside isn't necessarily there, Bajcetic gets floor points from defensive actions in the midfield. Throw in a double gameweek with matches against Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton and Bajcetic makes for an excellent stream at defender.
Vitaliy Mykolenko (45 percent): It's rare that we've recommended anyone from Everton this season, but the club is starting to stabilize a bit since Sean Dyche took over as manager. Mykolenko is a nailed-on starter for the club and has shown some attacking upside with 41 crosses and 15 chances created in 23 appearances. He also gets two matches this week, though the second is an away trip to Arsenal.
MIDFIELDER
Philippe Coutinho (47 percent): Coutinho put up 15.5 points after scoring a goal during Saturday's 4-2 loss against Arsenal. On name value alone it's interesting to see Coutinho below 50-percent rostership, but it's been a rough season for the attacker. Saturday's match was Coutinho's first start for Villa since October and while he cashed in with a solid performance, is it enough to keep him in the starting XI moving forward? Coutinho will likely never return to his best seasons with Liverpool, but he has the skill set to be a valuable Fantrax player if he can consistently start for Villa in the coming weeks.
Hamed Traore (34 percent): Traore is up 19 percent since his inclusion in last week's article, but he remains a strong midfield pickup after a 9.5-point effort against Wolves. Traore has a game suited for Fantrax purposes as he crosses and creates chances on top of goal and assist upside. The midfielder also took both corner kicks in the match Saturday despite Marcus Tavernier's return to the starting XI, adding to his floor. It's a tough matchup against Manchester City upcoming, but Traore is worth an addition to manager's lineups who are looking for midfield depth.
FORWARD
Adama Traore (48 percent): Traore has three-straight matches of over 10 fantasy points, despite starting just once in that span. He also has just one assist and no goals in those three matches, showing that he doesn't need to have goal involvements to be valuable. Traore's game is well suited for Fantrax as he not only gets points from shots, crosses and chances created, but his massive amount of fouls drawn adds to his floor. The only question is playing time as he's been unable to carve out a full-time spot in the starting XI week to week.
David Datro Fofana (23 percent): Another week, another Chelsea January signing to talk about. Fofana drew the start against Southampton on Saturday, earning 8.5 points despite not scoring and getting subbed off early. Fofana had an impressive goalscoring record at Molde before moving to Chelsea and is an actual out and out forward unlike Kai Havertz who has been filling in at the role. Chelsea are desperate for a forward who can score goals and if Fofana continues to get run he's worth a pickup at minimum to monitor his success moving forward.
