Here’s our fantasy premier league team selection article for gameweek 9 where we outline our transfers and the issues related, team selection debates and the captain choice. It promises to be a very challenging week due to injuries and gametime risk for the FFGeek team and not one I’m looking forward to.
fantasy premier league team selection – the FFGeek GW9 team
The Team
Firstly here’s the team. The transfers are Westwood out for Kevin De Bruyne and Aguero out for Pelle
The transfers
It promises to be a very difficult week for injuries with Kolarov, Gomez and Aguero ruled out through injury. Furthermore Mahrez and Sanchez (also with Arsenal playing Bayern Munich midweek) are late back from international duties and both need to be assessed. Mahrez was also an unused sub in the last game ostensibly due to the need to defensively watch the wingers of Norwich. Whether that means he will also be at risk against Cedric/Mane and Bertrand/Tadic away to Southampton remains to be seen. Add to that Pedro who was also on the bench against Southampton plus Targett who’s lost his place now that Bertrand is fit and you have 4 who definitely wont start and 3 who have big gametime risk. Thats not the recipe for a great week.
So how to deal with that?
There was very little debate in my mind over the first transfer that being Aguero out Pelle in. With Aguero looking like he’s out until the 21st November a transfer was a must. If you read my “ones to watch” article then Pelle seemed to be the compelling choice for a transfer with the good stats in all the main categories. Add to that some good fixtures ahead and it seemed like a no brainer. So far so easy.
The 2nd transfer and whether to do it was anything but straight forward. Given the injury’s I find it difficult to rationalise transferring out 1 of the 2 midfielders in Westwood with no gametime issues. However my thinking has been that with Man City having 3 very good fixtures in the next 4 games then some attacking coverage of Man City seemed essential. Once that decision had been made then De Bruyne is a no brainer. It’s just whether you do it at all and if you do who you transfer out. With a defence in tatters and midfield with gametime issues taking a hit for someone who was going to be playing seems the wrong decision. However away to Chelsea Westwood could quite easily be a yellow card 1 pointer so it doesn’t seem to be a great loss.
Why choose Westwood in the midfield for the exit? There was no way Sanchez is going anywhere. Pedro was a possibility but with Oscar and Willian in South America and Pedro not having that much gametime in the international break there seemed to be a good chance that he will play. Also transferring someone out before a home game to Villa is not really something that sits easily with me. It’s difficult to take Mahrez out after the season so far that he’s had and being on the bench with the “tinkerman” Ranieri isn’t a sign of anything permanent. I did think of taking Shaqiri out but with 3 ok fixtures next he seemed to have better points prospects than Westwood so while I had the money from the Aguero sale it seemed the better option.
As to the defensive situation, 4 point hits to sort out the defense are never my favourite as it seems too much cost for too little potential reward with the often maximum being 6 points and it only takes 2 goals or a yellow card and 1 goal to be reduced to 1 point. If I could take a 4 point hit for anyone with certainty in the City defence I may do it but with so much selection rotation apart from the injury prone Kompany then it seems difficult to justify anyone with longevity in the City side. I could have taken a hit for an Arsenal defender but again with Bayern midweek Tuesday who could you guarantee to start? At the moment then only Darmian and Richards seem likely to play and even Darmian can’t be certain after his 2nd hauling off at half time recently. I did think of all the out attack chip as at most I will have 2 defenders playing but with Pedro, Mahrez and Sanchez with gametime risk it seemed a bit of a waste especially now that I have 5 attacking players with scoring potential in the team.
Going forward I only have 1 transfer that I want to make and thats Lukaku in gameweek 11 for Evertons good run of fixtures. Gameweek 10 will have to be a defence repairing one. I would have liked to get Payet in for gameweek 10 but that would only have to be if Pedro is again benched.
Team selection issues
The now rotating front 8 will always give me a selection issue now as there’s no automatic bencher of Westwood. If, and it’s an impossibly big if, that Pedro, Mahrez and Sanchez all start then they are better points prospects to me than Shaqiri so he got the bench. I’m always going to have to face potential regret in that selection and the obvious risk is 3 one point substitute appearances from the 3 above but I will live with that risk. Also picking who will start and who won’t of the 3 is an impossible task.
Kolarov and Darmain will always be selected and I’ll keep Kolarov on the pitch in case of some miracle over night cure. Again although Targetts unlikely to play he makes more sense even as a 1 point potential only home to Leicester than Richards who goes to the bench. Gomez seems likely to be out for sometime according to reports.
So it ends with the rather bizarre position of Shaqiri and Richards, 2 of the more certain starters on the bench. However if both don’t actually end up starting for my team I’ll be amazed so it’s not that big a deal.
Captain decsion
It really was a toss up between De Bruyne and Pelle. In the end I thought that with De Bruyne likely to play centrally then he seemed the better bet although it was close. Pelle becomes vice. See my captain article for the stats and info to help you pick
I have to say that it’s been a while since I can remember a gameweek that I’m less look forward to. Hope you’re in better shape and good luck to all.
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