Here’s Rob Reid (the FPL Vet) with his FPL January and February review. Rob covers a number of hot topics from the month including giving the player and donkey of the month awards. He also looks forward to the blanks and doubles and shows a high performing managers team from one of his mini leagues. Rob finished with a rank of 22k last season 4,701 in 2015/16 and 7,810 in 2014/15
ROB REID (THE FPL VET) WITH HIS FPL JANUARY AND FEBRUARY REVIEW
Hi everyone and welcome to the sixth of my monthly reviews for 2017-18 FPL season. Regular visitors to the site will remember that I ran this monthly series of articles last year and I’m pleased to report I’ll be doing the same this season. With me also doing weekly ‘Player Picks’ and showing my team along with some of my fellow contributors each week, I’ve slightly changed the format to this season’s review articles.
I’ll still continue my series of observations reflecting on the previous month’s action and also looking forward to the next month. These observations are made on some basic stats analysis combined with some personal opinion derived from watching EPL action. I’ll be doing monthly awards again. Player of the Month and Donkey of the Month return but I won’t be doing One to Watch this season as it crosses over a little with my Player Picks article. Instead I’ll be doing a Team to Watch award – the EPL team who I think could provide some strong and possibly unexpected returns over the next month, with a look at their prospects and their players.
Finally, I’ll take a look at some of the high-performing teams from the mini-leagues I’m entered in this year. It’s back to my family and friends league this month and team who’s riding the wave of a recent upturn in form.
January/February Review
11 gameweeks to go and the race for FPL overall ranking kudos and mini-league glory is hotting up. Cup and European competitions are starting to cause some fixture chaos, and with blank and double gameweeks in the horizon thoughts are turning towards how managers can manipulate their squads to maximum effect.
In terms of the league itself, Man City continue to dominate and are heavily featured in this months review. The other members of the big 6 are scrapping it out for the UCL spots while there’s a massive dogfight developing to avoid the drop to The Championship. Let’s have a look at some of the headlines from last month and some ideas moving forward.
Form is temporary, class is permanent
And no player sums this up better than Sergio Aguero. He’s been a bit part player for most FPL managers this season, not to mention Pep Guardiola. The recent injury to Jesus however has seen him cement his place in the Citizens line-up and to great effect. 8 goals and 6 bonus points in the last 4 gameweeks has him firmly on our radars, even with tough fixtures approaching. The only question is what to do with him when Jesus returns in the next few weeks?
We need to talk about Kevin
While Kun has been going about his explosive business, another City star has been calmly racking up a steady stream of points – Kevin De Bruyne. A goal, 5 assists and 5 bonus points in the last 4 weeks, continued consistent returns from the Belgian. The rotation spectre doesn’t hang quite so grimly over De Bruyne, perhaps he could be the go-to City asset for the approaching double gameweeks?
Liverpool’s Triple Threat
The Reds continue to be explosive up front and boast a number of prime FPL players. Salah is fast homing in on the holy grail that is 300 FPL points and Firmino has also bagged 2 goals, an assist and 5 bonus points in the last 4 gameweeks. Mane has been more disappointing returns-wise but served notice of his potential with a UCL hat-trick in midweek. With a guaranteed game in the blank GW31, 3 Liverpool players is arguably a must. Are you brave enough to go for these 3 though? Their defenders are well priced so could be a nice foil to 2 of the big 3.
Ugly Ducklings or Beautiful Swans?
The relegation battle is as close as ever with just 6 points covering places 9 to 19. West Brom are the ugly ducklings at the moment; 6 points adrift in 20th, only 3 wins all season and suffering off-field problems to boot. Swansea by contrast appear transformed under new management and are attracting FPL managers attention despite not having a GW31 fixture. Their defence in particular looks a good place to invest with Fabianski, Mawson and co. all good fixture options for the next few weeks.
Blank Gameweek update
I’ve already mentioned Liverpool, so the other teams without a blank in GW31 are: Watford, Bournemouth, Huddersfield, West Brom, Palace, Stoke and Everton. I have to confess I’m not overly excited by the prospects of these teams for the next 3 weeks, but needs must and we have to plan for some of these to be in our team come GW31. Stoke and Everton may play each other in the blank week, but possibly have the more inspiring attacking options while Huddersfield vs Palace might be the fixture to gamble on a 0-0, though the latter have 3 nasty fixtures to negotiate first.
Not forgetting the doubles
Gw34 looks like it could be a biggie with 16 potential fixtures however things are compounded by GW35 likely also having some blanks. The FA Cup quarter final draw has thrown up the strong likelihood that United, City, Spurs and Chelsea could all blank leaving us some headaches if we want to Bench Boost in GW34. If you’ve got it, it may therefore be more prudent to play your Free Hit chip in GW35 to bypass these headaches and prepare for another big double in GW37. Also be wary rotation. GW34 has historically been less rotation hit than GW37, look carefully for teams with things to play for at both ends of the table in terms of gametime security.
Player of the Month
An easy winner this month in Sergio Aguero. A hat-trick against Newcastle and 4 goals against Leicester served a timely reminder of how dangerous it is not to own the little Argentine, he certainly is Fantasy Football gold. The only cloud is what will happen to his game time when Jesus returns to fitness, especially with the fixtures piling up.
Donkey of the Month
It’s a double for City in the awards section this month as Raheem Sterling gets the Golden Carrot for his howler of a miss against Burnley. It’s not all bad for the young England star though – he’s having his most prolific season ever and made up for things by opening the scoring the week after ensuring that he stays cemented in our FPL teams.
Team to Watch
Liverpool may be at the forefront of everyone’s GW31 plans but there’s another GW31 playing team who have been quietly going about their business the last few weeks – Bournemouth. GW27 was a disaster against Huddersfield, but before that they were unbeaten since visiting The Ethiad in GW19 and had wins at home to Arsenal and away at Stamford Bridge.
Callum Wilson is the obvious attacking option, but I’d also consider Junior Stanislas, Ryan Fraser and Josh King, the latter who of course scored a hat-trick in the big blank gameweek last season. They’re not as tight at the back, but Charlie Daniels always presents a good attacking option with plenty of attacking intent and some set piece involvement. Nathan Ake might be another to consider as well offering threat from set pieces, while Begovic is a budget GW31 goalkeeping option.
Whoever you go for, they have perhaps the next most favourable GW31 fixture after Liverpool though they do have tougher fixtures in GW29 & 30 so it may be wise to buy players specifically in GW31 on this basis, unless you already own them.
Mini league watch
I’m in another of my friends and family leagues again this month and it’s a team who have taken the top spot in this league after a fantastic month. This manager has risen to an OR of 12k, a 52k green arrow since GW23. This rise has been down to some great transfer decisions, most notably a well played triple captain chip on Aguero against Newcastle for 51 points! This manager has a strong history and he won our World Cup League back in 2014. He’s 91 points ahead of me and looks well set up for the weeks ahead. It’s going to be a mammoth task getting anywhere near him now!
That’s all from me in my monthly review, but I’ll be back later in the week with my GW28 Player Picks. All the best everyone!
You can see Rob’s team in the FFGeek contributor articles and follow him on twitter here
Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news.
GEEK LEAGUES
Fantasy Premier League: 5379-1967
Sun: FantasyFootballGeek SGDKX9Y3
TFF: FantasyFootballGeek PIN 8000919 Passcode 1159
Sky: FFGeek 8310511
