Here’s my fantasy premier league team selection DGW26 article. As is normal, I review DGW25, share my transfer thoughts, captain choice and the lineup dilemmas for DGW26. I also discuss future Chip strategy
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Introduction
Firstly if you’re new to the site my last 4 seasons overall ranks are 17k, 36k, 17k and 21k.
GW25
GW25 points: 83 (FPL average 55) Total points 1,641, Overall Rank: 37k, Green arrow 8k. Team Value: £104.4m £0.00 in the bank
I’ve used my Free Hit Chip
Here’s the points from GW25:
I’ve done an early FFGeek team thoughts article if you’re interested
So a gameweek with a 7k Green Arrow to a 37k overall rank.
Disappointment obviously was the bench and bringing in Shaw because I though I might not get 11 players on the pitch and all he did was block 7 points and cause me to take a -4 this week to get Kane in.
At least he has the chance to redeem himself in this DGW26
Transfers already completed
I’ve already done 2 transfers for a -4 points deduction. Those transfers were Antonio out and Kane in. Plus Son out and Lookman in to fund it.
Again you can see this in a separate article
So what now?
You’re possibly wondering why having done my transfers as to why I’m writing again and wasting your precious time reading this. The answer is because firstly for the sake of completeness I thought I should put up an article to show the lineup and my final decision on the team.
However more importantly I’ve been giving more thought to what I should do with my Free Hit Chip, Triple Captain Chip and the Wildcard
The wildcard
Firstly I’m pretty certain I’m going to hold this now and use it after the blank GW29 which only has 4 fixtures in it. So the wildcard would be effective GW30. It will refresh the team after having it based largely on 4 fixtures. I am a little concerned that it’s after the International Break so we could get a raft of Covid outbreaks post the GW30 deadline. Is that enough to make me defer to GW31 for the wildcard just to be certain? It seems a bit drastic to defer it 1 week for that possibility but the key thing is I don’t need to clog my head with that decision now.
For the moment its a wildcard for GW30
Triple Captain positives
It’s a good time to use the triple captain for me on Kane. He has 2 good fixtures with Burnley H and Fulham away. Albeit they are both low block teams in improving defences. Kane for me has been in good form from an underlying stats quality and shooting volume perspective so that doesn’t worry me particularly. I get alot of comfort from the fact that he didn’t play in the Europa League this week and seems pretty certain to play both games, probably with his customary 90 minutes.
Moreover at the moment there are only 2 more double gameweeks for the triple captain. Man City in GW27 and Aston Villa and Everton somewhere else. Possibly GW28.
GW27 is fraught with risk for the triple captain as logically you would put it on City and if I choose Gundogan who knows if he will play 2 games and even in those games how many minutes he will play.
I can’t rely on Calvert Lewin or Grealish/Watkins for the other double. That’s just asking for trouble.
So there is a compelling case for triple captaining Kane
Bench Boost positives
The Bench Boost for GW26 is that it is the only gameweek where I will have a GK who plays 2 games which is a decent positive even if Pope has tricky fixtures. It also has the advantage of covering Dallas and Raphinha against a side in Villa that has fallen to pieces defensively. In the last 10 games they were 18th in xG conceded and to show how bad it is they conceded 26 shots against Brighton. The average team concedes 12 in the PL per game. Alot of people will have both players in their bench boost so it makes me feel better that I would be covering it. The double gameweek at least means I should see all my players play and have no blanks on my bench.
Against that I have Coufal as part of my Bench Boost who is away to Man City. That could easily be negative points.
I had a look at what the bench boost could look like for GW27 which has a City double which protects their rotation but the fixtures aren’t great all round to be fair.
It’s a real 50/50
Logically I think I should triple captain and wear the Raphina and Dallas risk and forget about the double GK. I’t’s not that easy though
In the end I went for the Bench Boost but I could have gone either way. I imagine now I’ll risk the triple captain on Gundogan in GW27 and take the gametime risk but we’ll see
DGW26 is going to be massive
I feel that this gameweek is going to be a real rank shifter. Just so many games.
Here are the players I fear from a rank damage perspective in no particular order:
Digne, Harvey Barnes, Son, Watkins and Sterling
I’m just hoping to get through it relatively neutrally
Captain
Kane is the easy choice here. A decent leader in the FFGeek Captain poll. Vice will be Fernandes
Lineup
Fairly easy with the single gameweekers and Pope having worse fixtures than Martinez. Not really relevant anyway with the Bench Boost.
Here’s the team
Bench Boost activated
Good luck everyone!
Other Posts
Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
Early thoughts on the FFGeek Team
FFGeek GW26 Contributors Teams Part 1
FFGeek GW26 Contributors Teams Part 2
FFGeek GW26 Contributors Teams Part 3
FFGeek GW26 Contributors teams Part 4
FFGeek team transfers confirmed
The FFGeek Imaginary Wildcard for DGW26
Bandwagons and Sinking Ships for DGW26
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