Here’s Rob Reid (the FPL Vet) with his review of August in fantasy premier league. 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 review of August in fantasy premier league
Hi everyone and welcome to the first 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 my 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.
What’s on the Agenda
I’ll still continue my series of observations reflecting on the previous months 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. This month I’m looking at the main mini-league I focus on each season. This is a very competitive league which we’ve run among friends and family using the Official FPL site for 5 seasons now, and for several seasons on different sites prior to this. The league boasts 4 Top 10K finishes in the last 3 seasons (3 of these were in the Top 5K) and 10 Top 25K finishes since 2012-13. We’ve got a few very experienced FPL managers using different strategies on here so I’ll have a look at one of the higher ranked teams on here and how they have got to where they are.
I hope you find this enjoyable and of benefit once again – comments and feedback are of course always welcomed.
August Review
After a summer of anticipation, the season is now firmly underway and already we are 3 gameweeks in. All the planning that led up to the Friday night launch on the 11th August will have paid off well for some and not so well for others, as is the way of things in FPL! I’m sure there were many ‘What Ifs?’ come Monday 14th as we got some calls correct and other calls wrong. So as we head for the first international window, lets have a look at what’s happened in a busy opening 3 gameweeks.
Red Devils Look the Real Deal
10 goals scored, none conceded and the only team on maximum points. Mourinho’s 2nd season has certainly started impressively and has provided some tasty early season hauls. Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku and Martial have all racked up multiple attacking returns with David De Gea and his defensive counterparts all providing a steady stream of points at the back. It’s GW8 before United face any of last season’s Top 6 teams so it looks likely this is theme that will continue.
Wagner Composes a Fine First Act
While United’s start has surprised few of us, we certainly didn’t see Huddersfield’s first foray into the EPL starting so well. 7 points and no goals conceded for The Terriers has alerted us to a number of their budget assets. In attack, there already looks to be value in Mooy and Mounie while in defence we have some £4.5m starters who have not just given us 3 clean sheets but also some handy extras in the form of bonus points, saves and an assist. Spurs are the only top team on the fixture radar before GW9, if you’ve got them – keep them I’d say.
Predictably, it’s ‘Wenger Out!’
Arsenal starred in a thriller on the opening game night, eventually recovering to win 4-3 against 2016 Champions Leicester. Unfortunately, that’s as good with defeat to Stoke in GW2 and a 4-0 battering at Anfield in GW3. Morale looks low, Wenger seems confused tactically. Players are being regularly used out of position to fit the system and the ongoing saga around Alexis Sanchez can’t be helping anyone. Upcoming fixtures are kind, with Chelsea away being the only tricky one in the next 5. That means nothing though, if there’s no form there to match.
Who Else is in the Points…
Liverpool’s attacking players have started the season in good form – Salah, Mane and Firmino have begun well, each averaging over 7 points per game. Spurs’ main midfield assets Eriksen and Alli have also started well as have Alvaro Morata and a rejuvenated Wayne Rooney. There also seems to be plenty of points on offer at Watford although they’ve been spread around the team somewhat. In defence, aside from the clean sheets offered by United and Huddersfield, there have been significant attacking returns from last season’s star defender Marcos Alonso, Harry MacGuire of Leicester and FPL newbie Ahmed Hegazi – the latter of whom has seen the biggest FPL price rise so far along with Mkhitaryan. The question is will Hegazi’s horrible error against Stoke last week cost him his place?
And Who is Not…
Notably, Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne. 2 of the more heavily selected players pre-season, they have mustered just 4 and 8 points respectively. Kane looks to be unlucky based on his stats, which have him ranked comfortably in first in terms of goal attempts. He will come good at some stage very soon based on this, but as the most expensive player in the game at £12.5m his lack of returns understandably have managers twitchy. He’d racked up 200,000 transfers prior to the Malta v England game, though 2 goals in that match have probably spared him a price drop this week. De Bruyne is a victim of a positional change – he is playing well but is simply playing too deep. 270,000 transfers out so far has already seen his price drop to £9.9m.
Early Stragglers
West Ham, Palace and Bournemouth have all lost their first 3 games and are the early strugglers at this stage. The 2 London teams in particular have been poor and look devoid of any useful FPL players with the exception of arch-poacher Hernandez. Even his prospects look limited, if the Hammers don’t sort out their service to him, never mind their terrible defending. As for Palace, they again seem to lack identity, with Frank De Boer’s bid to re-introduce a more cultured brand of football when compared to some of his predecessors looking doomed so far. With City, United and Chelsea coming in GW6-8 it ain’t going to get any easier for the Eagles.
Player of the Month
It’s a straight fight between the United and Liverpool attacking players this month. Plenty of worthy contenders here, but I’ve given the award to Henrikh Mkhitaryan. 5 assists and 3 bonus points in the first 3 games makes him the joint leading points scorer and I suspect there is plenty more to come from the Armenian star. His statistics back his returns, with plenty of key passes and a consistently good advanced position. The question will be if United start to rotate their midfielders once the UCL fixtures start, but whether this occurs or not this looks like it will be a breakout season for the £8.3m priced midfielder.
Donkey of the Month
Plenty of contenders here. Kane’s lack of returns at his big price tag has been massively disappointing but his stats are too good to give him the carrot this month. Lukaku’s missed penalty left many managers with a big fat 0 for their captain points this week, but again his GW1 and 2 performances deny him the award. Instead I’ve given it to Cesc Fabregas for the his start of season troll act. A brainless red card in GW1 led to -1 points, a price drop and a number of transfers out for his suspension in GW2. He then followed that up with an annoying 11 points in GW3 just really rub salt in the wounds of those who picked him for GW1 then jettisoned him. So it’s the Golden Carrot for the foie gras loving Spaniard on the basis of this, thanks for the FPL troll Cesc!
Team to Watch
My team to watch for the next month is Everton. A couple of tricky fixtures at the start with Spurs and United, but then it’s Bournemouth, Burnley and Brighton for The Toffees. Koeman’s men have started the season well and I suspect could provide some well priced returns over this period. There could be some nice returns in defence or from £5m keeper Pickford through these latter fixtures and with Rooney starting his second Everton well, combined with FPL favourite Gylfi Sigurdsson’s big money transfer, late September could be the start of a fruitful FPL period at Goodison.
Mini-League Update
So I’m starting this series with a look at the leader of my friends and family mini-league. He is currently ranked 192k on 185 points after a good start to the season. Here’s his team, one transfer in GW2 Iwobi to Xhaka, though he’s already made his 2 GW4 transfers before the international games have kicked off, obviously looking to cash in on some price changes. It’s a good solid team in my opinion, plenty of points coming from defence and consistent returns from the majority of the front 7. A good start from this experienced manager.
That’s all for the first monthly review of the season – best of luck for September everyone!
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