Here’s our fantasy premier league GW31 tips article where we analyse the teams of 10 top FPL managers. These 10 managers have not finished outside the overall rank of the top 10k in the last 3 seasons. Considering how variable the last 3 years have been this is remarkable consistency and shows an ability to adapt strategy in different seasons. It also gives you a view other than my own on strategy and player selection.
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW31 TIPS – ANALYSING THE TEAMS OF 10 TOP FPL MANAGERS
If the article is too long there’s a template team for the top 10 FPL managers analysed towards the end of the article. I also state which player I think will hurt you if you don’t own them
THE 10 MANAGERS STATS
This season we welcome back 4 of last seasons managers who were the subject of our article. We add to that a new 6 managers. Stats of these managers are unbelievable and every bit as impressive as last season
1. The overall average finishing overall rank of the top 10 managers in the last 3 seasons is 2,963
2. The top 10 FPL managers have not been out of the top 10k in the last 3 seasons (ie 30 times playing)
3. All 10 have finished in the top 1,000 in the last 3 seasons
GAMEWEEK REVIEW
An mixed week for the top 10 FPL managers. 5/10 had green arrows.
The average score of the managers in GW30 was 40 compared to the game average of 41. That’s 1 point and 2% below the game average score. High score of the 10 was 45. The low score was 35. A low spread of 10 even for a low scoring gameweek.
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers saw a worsening of rank to 238k compared to 233k in the last gameweek. An average rank worsening of 5k. The best overall rank is 24k and the lowest 913k.
The average total points are 1,701
The average team value dropped by £0.3m to £103.6m
If you’re interested my score was good at 59. It resulted in a 17k green arrow with my overall rank moving to 25k. I had a higher score than all 10 managers. I’m ahead in OR terms at the moment of 9 of the 10 managers. My team value has dropped to £102.6m. My total points are 1,768 pts. You can see my early thoughts on the FFGeek team article for GW31.
GK/DEFS BY PLAYER
Elliot is in 8/10 FPL managers teams
Van Dijk is in 6/10 FPL managers teams
Alonso and Mee are in 5/10 FPL managers teams
Ogbonna is in 4/10 FPL managers teams
Schindler, Naughton, Daniels and Kenny are in 3/10 FPL managers teams
GK/DEFS BY TEAM
Newcastle GK/Defs are represented 10 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Liverpool GK/Defs are represented 8 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Burnley defences are represented 7 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Swansea and Huddersfield GK/Defs are represented 6 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Chelsea GK/Defs are represented 5 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Everton, Bournemouth and West Ham defenders are represented 4 times in the FPL teams
MIDFIELDERS
Salah is in 9/10 FPL managers teams
Sterling and Walcott are in 7/10 FPL managers teams
Shaqiri is in 6/10 FPL managers teams
T Carroll is in 3/10 FPL managers teams
Son, Mahrez, Choupo Moting and Eriksen are in 2/10 FPL managers teams
FORWARDS
Kane is in 10/10 FPL managers teams
Firmino is in 9/10 FPL managers teams
Wilson and Aguero are in 4/10 FPL teams
GW30 CAPTAIN CHOICE
Kane was the captain in 9/10 of the FPL managers teams
Aguero was the captain in 1/10 of the FPL managers teams
The top 10k Overall rank captained Kane 57% and Aguero 16% and Salah 15% (provided by FPL Discovery)
The FFGeek poll was Kane 68%, Aguero 14%
The FPL advice site with the most traffic was Kane 48%, Aguero 13%
FORMATIONS
6 managers played 3-4-3
2 managers played 3-5-2
1 manager played 4-4-2
1 manager played 4-3-3
WILDCARDS, TRANSFERS AND HITS
0/10 have now played their 2nd wildcard.
None of the 10 have played their bench boost
3/10 have played their triple captain chip.
1/10 played their free hit chip.
In this round 1 manager took a 4 point deduction for additional transfers.
5/10 of the managers made a transfer.
Transfers in
Schindler was transferred in 3 times
No one else was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Dunk and Adrian were transferred out 2 times
No one was transferred out more than once
FOCUS ON 1 MANAGERS TEAM
The celebrity manager we followed last season finished around the 20k mark so he’s not in the group this season. This season were going to focus on the manager each week who had the highest finish last season with an amazing overall rank of 15 believe it or not. The 3 years before that his ranks were 5,529. 1, 550 and 759. Unbelievable.
An poor score of 40 for the manager. He was the 6th highest scorer for the gameweek and his rank is now 361k. A worsening of rank of 4k from the last 2 gameweek rank of 357k. His points total is 1,659. He’s the 8th ranked of the 10 FPL managers.
THE HIGHEST RANKED MANAGER
I’ve decided to change this to just show you the team of the highest ranked manager
He scored 43 points and has an OR of 24k. His transfer was Schindler in and Dunk out. His last 3 years history are 3,874, 796 and 8,391
THE TOP 10K OVERALL RANK VS THE FPL MANAGERS
Lets look at the differences in the 2:
| GKs | Top10k | 10 FPL managers |
| de Gea | 35 | n/a |
| Pope | 15 | 20 |
| Fabianski | 6 | 20 |
| Pickford | 6 | 10 |
| Adrián | 6 | n/a |
| Ederson | 5 | n/a |
| Courtois | 5 | n/a |
| Elliot | n/a | 80 |
| DEFs | ||
| Otamendi | 49 | 20 |
| Davies | 40 | 20 |
| Alonso | 25 | 50 |
| Azpilicueta | 19 | n/a |
| van Dijk | 18 | 60 |
| Robertson | 24 | 20 |
| Mee | 14 | 50 |
| Mbemba | 9 | 20 |
| Mariappa | 9 | n/a |
| Schindler | n/a | 30 |
| Daniels | n/a | 30 |
| Naughton | n/a | 30 |
| Ogbonna | n/a | 40 |
| Kenny | n/a | 30 |
| MIDs | ||
| Salah | 99 | 90 |
| Sterling | 28 | 70 |
| Son | 25 | 20 |
| Shaqiri | 36 | 60 |
| Mahrez | 21 | 20 |
| Walcott | 21 | 70 |
| De Bruyne | 17 | 10 |
| Milivojevic | 11 | n/a |
| T Carroll | n/a | 30 |
| FWDs | ||
| Firmino | 76 | 90 |
| Kane | 75 | 100 |
| Agüero | 37 | 40 |
| J Ayew | 17 | n/a |
| Vardy | 15 | n/a |
| Wilson | 11 | 40 |
| Murray | 5 | n/a |
The top 10k favour more than the FPL managers (using more than 30% as a significant difference):
De Gea
The top 10 managers favour more than the top 10k (using more than 30% as a significant difference)
Elliot, Van Dijk, Mee, Ogbonna, Sterling and Walcott
The top 10k average score was 41 and the 10 FPL managers average score was 40.
All this information is from the excellent site FPL discovery
GW31 Players
Here’s how many GW31 players there are in each team. I haven’t tried to comment on likelihood of playing. It’s just number of players from the 8 teams
6,9,9,6,10,6,8,7,8,6
THE COMBINED TOP 10 FPL MANAGERS TEAM
This is the illustrative combines team for the top 10 managers if you like. It’s cost is around £101.0m.
WHO COULD HURT YOUR RANK IF YOU DON’T OWN THEM
Using my rule of thumb of owned by 7/10 of the top 10 FPL managers or 70% of the top 10k then the following players are in that category:
Liverpool defence 8/10
Burnley defence 7/10
Salah – 9/10 plus 99%
Sterling – 7/10
Walcott – 7/10
Kane – 10/10 plus 75%
Firmino – 9/10 plus 76%
This is not saying you should own them just think carefully before you don’t
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