So after a long 2 weeks over the International Break it’s now a short week with the fantasy premier league gameweek 5 deadline being 19.00 UK time on Friday. This article focuses on the FFGeek team performance in GW4 and then some thoughts on GW5 ahead.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GAMEWEEK 5 – SOME EARLY THOUGHTS ON THE FFGEEK TEAM
FFGEEK TEAM PERFORMANCE
GW4 points: 63 (average 44) Overall Rank: 49k (green arrow 268k) Team Value: £100.5m (+0.2m) no hits taken
Here’s the teams points:
So a very successful week where pretty much everything went right. I often say that FPL is all about 50/50 decisions and last week the 50/50’s went my way.
The first was whether to sell De Bruyne or not. I didn’t do so only because the alternatives all had tricky games and I knew I had problems coming up so I kept him for one more week in order to prioritise the fire fighting I knew I would have to do. That worked out well with De Bruyne getting 9 points through 2 assists. His average position if you saw my tweet from yesterday was anything other than deep so I’ll most likely keep him for the moment although I think he’s over priced.
The other was starting Ben Davies. I made a fairly late call when it looked like Hazard was going to be fit to bench Willian. That worked out well with Davies getting 14 points.
Both those 50/50 decisions I could have taken the other option and the gameweek and my overall rank would look completely different.
I’m pleased with 49k at this stage but it’s very early. Last season I had a horrendous run around GW10 which started at 9ok odd and ended up at 625k. I then had a good run to finish in 22k overall. It’s a marathon not a sprint is a saying for when things are going badly but believe me it’s one when things are going well. 50/50’s are what they say. I got them right next week which means I’m waiting for payback when they go wrong.
THOUGHTS FOR FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GAMEWEEK 5
Firstly here’s the fixtures for GW5. Remember the gameweek starts on Friday 19.00 UK time
Lineup issues
Just so it illustrates where I’ve got problems here’s what my team lineup would look like without me using any of the 2 transfers I have.
So pretty good fixtures all round. Brady is the player I’d like to bench but there’s no point in that unless I can bring in a defender for Mason and go 4-3-3 I’ve been hoping to get to a stage where I could have my 2 £4.5m defenders being Everton and Liverpool. Unfortunately Koeman doesn’t seem to be able to settle on Martina or Holgate at RB and TAA for Liverpool had a nightmare against City and there’s Gomez to replace him and Moreno (LB) as other alternatives. Robertson could spoil the Liverpool LB £4.5m party. So I’m not sure I want to take a crack at that at the moment. The other possibilities for a £4.5m defender for this week are Huddersfield, Palace and Newcastle all of which have some potential for a clean sheet even if none excite me.
Transfer targets
Willian, Stephens and Tadic plus Mason at some stage are all transfer targets out.
Willian is probably the immediate issue with Hazard back. He was on the bench against Leicester although that in part would have been down to the international break travelling for Brazil. If he starts in the Champions League tonight against Azerbajani giants Qarabag then that will definitely be the top target to go. No plans at the moment for his replacement. I find it difficult to decide until I’ve done all the player ranking analysis.
Tadic was also dropped as Pellegrino is starting to look like Claude Puel in disguise as JWP returned and Boufal started. Tadic didn’t even start for Serbia against the ROI so hard to blame it on that. He has 1 more game at the weekend at Palace before GW6 v Man Utd when he will be a more focused target.
Stephens is the other issue with Hoedt starting at the weekend and Van Dijk coming back into the squad and gaining fitness. Yoshida got benched at the weekend but that had to be down at least in part to playing for Japan.
So those are the issues and I’m balancing them against another 1 transfer rollover especially as I could gamble on the Saints 2 playing. GW6 is also the start of good fixtures for Arsenal and Everton so transfers could be handy for them.
Going the other way is KDB out for Alli for Spurs fixtures. I’m still a bit nervous about a double up though at this stage of the season although Spurs fixtures really are good. I’d be surprised if that’s where I end up this week.
GW5 captain
Hard to look past Harry Kane although Liverpool also have a good fixture against Burnley now without Heaton and Keane. Everton’s performance against Spurs though could tempt some people onto Lukaku. I’ll wait for the Polls but if Kane is leading them by a distance then he will be my captain.
Squad structure chat
So at the moment I feel a good core of the team is the front 3 and Davies and Bailly. Davies at some stage will have Rose back although none looking immediate. De Bruyne for the moment is also a potential core player although he looks far too expensive for a 1 dimensional assist based player. However midfielders are at the moment split into 2 groups. Assisters and goal scorers. If thats the case I’d like them to be way cheaper than De Bruyne. The 2 GKs are there until I use the WC.
That leaves Willian, Tadic, Brady and Stephens as transfer targets with fixtures if I’m brave enough to leave the core alone. I’d prefer Stephens to be replaced by a permanent core player but I’m reluctant to go for someone more expensive than £5.0m and they have to be in the expected top 7. That player doesn’t exist until the Liverpool/Everton full back conundrum is sorted and they are questionable as both home and away options. The other 3 will be continual transfer targets based on fixtures. Having the ability to go 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 if I replace Mason will help flexibility with those players to get better fixtures each week
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