Here’s our Fantasy Football Tips 2021 article where we rank the FPL midfielders for GW4 and beyond. There’s stats and commentary which will help you with you FPL teams now
Fantasy Football Tips 2021 – The FPL Midfield Player Rankings For GW4
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Introduction
This article consists of a schedule ranking midfielders based mainly on last season based on their underlying stats over the whole season. xG90 and xA90 are converted to FPL attacking points adjusted by their average minutes played.
There’s also their FPL points per match as well as their value for money rating. The higher the better. Above 10 is the gold standard
The rankings are purely mathematical although there has been some subjective adjustment for performances so far this season and fixtures. The attacking players fixture ease schedule is below
Their is a new stat based on the performances in each individual gameweek where they are rated good, ok or bad in relation to their cost. The column “21/22 xVal” states how many times they were rated good and ok in the first 3 gameweeks. Prices are as of 7 September.
The Schedule
Comments on individual players
Salah
2 goals and 2 assists and returning in 2 of the 3 games is a good start. Despite that currently his non penalty xG in the first 3 games is very disappointing. However with Palace and Brentford in the next 3 now’s really not the time to even think of ditching.
Mane
Despite only the 1 goal in his first 3 games Mane has started the season well with 2 satisfactory performances out of 3. The problem is that it’s Salah who has pens and even with Palace and Brentford up in the next 3 are you really going to spend this amount of money on another Liverpool player? Especially as he doesn’t have pens and is a secondary captain option to Salah. It means you can’t justify his current price even if he replicates last season stats
Jack Grealish
Man City paid this money as Grealish gives them something different and specifically the ability to move the ball up the pitch through dribbling as opposed to passing. Given that you’d expect a decent amount of gametime. I’ve used his Villa stats above which while probably superior in minutes should be less than he should post for City. In that regard he’s started with fantastic underlying stats far exceeding Villas even though that may not be clear from a 1 goal and 1 assist performance to date. 2 good performances in my gameweek rankings
Ferran Torres
3 games as a CF/ False 9 for City and 2 goals v Arsenal have really got the attention of FPL Managers. The lack of Kane and Ronaldo coming to City has made him the default CF option although others can and have performed it. All City players are always a rotation risk. Like Grealish, 2 good performances in my gameweek rankings
Raphinha
Ignore him for now as it’s Liverpool in GW4. GW5 sees a great run coming starting with the defensive disaster that is Newcastle
Saka
Couldn’t have started the season worse with 3 underwhelming performances. Started the game in GW2 and then taken off at half time v Man City
This is all about the fixtures which are very good, last seasons performances and the entry point of Norwich. Only for the brave but there is potential for upside
Mount and Havertz
Both should benefit from the hold up play of Lukaku as they should be the most expected starts in the 2 behind Lukaku. That is a fairly bold statement given that Tuchel has Pulisic and Ziyech also who can play there. Mount is the reliable one although potentially Havertz has more upside although that’s only shone through as a false 9. With Lukaku here that maybe a position he occupies far less.
I would say put them on a watchlist for GW7 when they have Southampton, Brentford and Norwich rather than transfer them in now.
Greenwood
Give the signing of Ronaldo and the presence of Cavani it seems that Greenwood’s days as a CF maybe numbered although depending on Ronaldo’s fitness and training Greenwood may get 1 last hurrah v Newcastle in GW4. In the short term I would expect Greenwood, Fernandes and Sancho to be the 3 AMs although Pogba and then Rashford when fit could cloud that in the coming weeks. Pogba playing in the double pivot vs Wolves helps Greenwood but the team wasn’t particularly effective with him in that position as they were vs Leeds which clouds Pogba’s position and the risk to Greenwood further
Traore
3 great performances to start. If only he could put the ball in the net. The underlying stats though were absolutely top draw. The fixtures are fantastic too. It’s just whether you think he can suddenly finish given those good fixtures
Benrahma
2 excellent performances and then an underwhelming one vs Palace after FPL managers en masse transferred him in. Just about justified his price last season and you’d think this season would see an improvement. Good fixture next in Southampton but after that things are a little mixed.
Sarr
Has started the season in ok fashion with a goal in the opening game and the underlying stats were satisfactory in 2 of the 3 games. Still a bit of an unknown quantity in team and player.
However this is a pure fixture gamble with Wolves, Norwich and Newcastle next
Gray
Has caught the eye with his performances even if the underlying stats may suggest were looking at highlights as they are pretty underwhelming. Hard to know what to take from his history. 2 good seasons at Leicester and Leverkusen on limited minutes but on last full season with Leicester he was disappointing.
However the fixtures are good and he is only £5.6m so how much of a gamble can he really be?
A few players not in the schedule to explain
Fernandes isn’t in due to the uncertainty of Ronaldo. Without Pens and a secondary captain opportunity he just can’t justify his value.
Son is similar with Harry Kane. He’s also an injury doubt to be assessed
Jota is due to the uncertainty over the Firmino injury which is crucial to his gametime. Mbeumo is just about fixtures
The fixture ease schedule
Other Posts
Analysing the teams of 12 top FPL Managers
The FFGeek Contributors teams for GW4 part 1
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
The FFGeek Fixture ease schedules
How to juggle the 4 premium captains
The Bandwagons and Sinking ships
Joseph Crilleys transfer planner and points projection tool
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