Here’s our fantasy football tips article where Stephen Troop reviews GW3 for his FPL, TFF and Sun teams as well as his plans for GW4 in these formats
fantasy football tips – Stephen Troop reviews GW3 and previews GW4 for his FPL, TFF and Sun teams
All in all a poor week I have to say, but my teams don’t appear to be at a stage I need to panic yet.
Telegraph fantasy football
Stephen finished last season at around 1k overall rank
weekly points 39 , overall rank 30,933
A really poor week though it feels a bit unfortunate. My 2 transfers used so far have been positive. Zaha scored (plus 2 points on Monday when I made the transfer) compared to Sanchez’s 1 point and Mkhitaryan got a KC after Mahrez was limited to a sub appearance again. Mane and Salah did ok and only Jota failed from midfield to get any returns. My defence was horrible. 1 clean sheet out of 5. DDG with 0 points and Van Aanholt/Coady with 1 point.
Only 4 teams had clean sheets, 2 of which were Cardiff and Huddersfield whose ownership in defence is low. (I do have Patterson in one team being oop) so where did it go wrong compared to other teams? I Can’t say for sure but I dropped equally across all 3 days so I suspect it’s 4 factors.
1) I think a lot of teams have double Liverpool defence (potentially more). Certainly DDG over Allison has been costly so far and Allison is by some way the highest owned keeper now.
2) Kane/Tripper are hugely owned and both got good scores.
3) Lot of transfers for Richarlison/Jota/City midfielders/other underachievers working better than Mkhitaryan for people. Though not many hauled, I notice Mitrovic’s ownership is now 9%,
Alonso’s has risen too. Plus Sunday was a good day for cheaper Fulham assets, Hazard/Alonso owners etc
4) Some random surprises for fairly high owned players e.g. Maguire’s long range goal
I think the decisions following these sorts of weeks are what can make/break your season and I have to see the positives. The team itself looks fine so will be sticking to my original plan of Mane>Kane this weekend after Mane has played. There is an option of doing Mane>Hazard>Kane but prefer at this stage of the season not to take that risk. I’d love Alonso and Hazard but there are just no easy ways of getting them in as well as Kane. Liverpool face some tough fixtures over the next few weeks so have no desire to double up on their defence yet.
Fantasy premier league
Stephen finished last season with a rank of 52k OR
weekly points 51, overall rank 323,721
A fairly poor week in FPL too (1 point above the average). My double transfer of Mahrez>Mkhi and Costa>Pedro didn’t get me any instant benefit. Richarlison’s red was the lowlight. On the plus side, King got 9 points which was a relief after his first 2 games and Mendy got 2 bonus despite no other returns. Robertson continued to do well and I got my captain pick right. Few players I’m unhappy with but don’t feel its bad enough to wildcard.
Richarlison>Walcott seems to most likely transfer this week, although holding and playing Wann Bissaka is also an option. Captain will be Aguero. Would have done King > Mitrovic as Chelsea away seems a natural exit point but it doesn’t see worth the -4 if I do go Walcott. Wildcard will be used when I want Kane in. It is very difficult to get Kane in without losing Aguero or Salah and I’m not prepared to do that yet.
Dream Team
weekly points 35, overall rank 132,065
A poor week here too. Defence (other than Hart) was great with an unexpected Laporte goal. Midfield was a disaster. I swapped Eriksen to Mane and Mahrez to Mkhi and both got zero points. Richarlison’s red means I’ll be down to 10 men this week but given his price I may have just kept him anyway. September’s transfers will be used to get Kane in.
If you’re looking for player suggestions or general articles see the following:
Joseph Crilleys GW4 Wildcard team
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Following 10 top FPL managers teams
The fixture ease schedule for players with good fixtures ahead
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