Here’s my fantasy premier league team selection GW29 article. As is normal, I review GW28, share my transfer thoughts, captain choice and the this week nonexistent lineup dilemmas for GW29. I also discuss future Chip strategy
fantasy premier league team selection GW29 – the FFGeek team
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
A reminder of the additional Patreon content
$2 plus Vat per calendar month
* Weekly podcasts with myself and the FFGeek Contributors
* All the articles on www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk advert free
$3 plus Vat per Calender month (plus the above)
* access to the FFGeek Contributor tracker team incl live transfers (52k OR in 19/20)
*access to Joseph Crilleys transfer planner and points projection tool
* access to the the Patreon Planner team runs from Joe’s planner projection tool incl live transfers (32k OR 19/20)
* Imaginary wildcard articles
*Bandwagon and Sinking Ships articles
*Slack Channel access
*access to private FPL leagues
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
Introduction
Firstly if you’re new to the site my last 4 seasons overall ranks are 17k, 36k, 17k and 21k.
GW28
GW28 points: 50 (FPL average 60) Total points 1,845, Overall Rank: 39k, green arrow 1k. Team Value: £102.6m plus £1.6m in the bank
I’ve used my Free Hit Chip and Bench Boost Chip
Here’s the points from GW28:
So grateful for the smallest of 1k green arrows to 39k overall and that somehow Bruno Fernandes managed to blank despite having an excellent game.
I won’t go into more detail about the gameweek as I did so in detail in my early FFGeek team thoughts article
Transfer thoughts
2 free transfers and £1.6m in the bank
First some context on Chip strategy
I have my triple captain and my wildcard left. At the moment I am planning on wildcarding in GW31 mainly as my players have good fixtures for GW30. That’s especially so for the 3 Leeds players who play Sheffield Utd and I may not have anyone except for Raphinha in my wildcard team. Spurs also have Newcastle as well. Everton have Palace and West Ham have Wolves so on that basis Calvert Lewin and Coufal would be difficult to move on. Chelsea playing WBA is the attraction for a GW30 wildcard but who knows who will play with Tuchel rotating heavily and that’s made worse by the International Break thrown into the mix. Even Rudiger isn’t totally immune from rotation.
So GW31 looks the likely wildcard which means I only have GW29 and GW30 to think about transfer wise and no further on.
For my triple captain chip Spurs still have a yet to be arranged fixture vs Southampton and Aston Villa v Everton so I think Kane will be the beneficiary of the triple Captain Chip assuming he gets a double gameweek out of the postponement.
In reality I don’t particularly see this week as a rank enhancing possibility. I’d like to just get through it and GW30 to my GW31 wildcard in no worse a rank position than I am now. I know a lot of managers will see this as a sword rank enhancing possibility but there’s too few games and 2 much chance of weird outcomes for me to look like that. I’m definitely looking at it with rank shield eyes on.
Back to the transfer options
Yesterdays Europa League games certainly had an effect on the landscape. I think Aubameyang starting and only having started 3 of the last 7 PL games plus came on as sub for 3 of them makes him a risky pick for me after yesterday.
Conversely Bale being a sub in the Europa gives him more chance of starting and given his popularity I’m pretty certain I’ll bring him in. It’s just how which I’ll explain below
The 2nd transfer will be a Brighton defender again for the same reason. There is logic to it though as Newcastle at the best of times are a good bet for a clean sheet against them but without Wilson and Saint Maximin plus doubts over Almiron they are virtually irresistible. The choice of Brighton defender is Dunk vs Veltman. I prefer Dunk from an attacking point of view but Veltman definitely isn’t far behind. They play Man Utd in GW30 so will be on the bench for that. For reasons I will explain below the price difference could be a material factor for me.
The other popular player I’d like to bring in is Lingard but a -4 for the privilege doesn’t really appeal with Arsenal quite a tricky fixture defensively as are Wolves in GW30
The Bale Conundrum
Remember as part of this I’d quite like to have Bruno Fernandes back in GW30 vs Brighton. I think Kane will be the GW30 captain favorite vs Newcastle but still.
For a bit of context due to fixtures in GW30 the players I am willing to take out are one of the City defenders and Salah. Shaw plays Brighton and Calvert Lewin plays Palace. City at least have a tricky fixture vs Leicester as does Salah vs Arsenal.
With Bale I have the choice of a straight swap vs Son or taking Salah out.
The straight swap vs Son is nice and easy. I also do Dias or Cancelo to Veltman and I can then either swap Bale for Fernandes in GW30 or do the straight Salah to Fernandes swap. Simples as the Meercats used to say (UK readers only)
The swap of Salah to Bale to preserve Son for either a surprise but not totally shocking appearance v Villa and for a possible appearance for GW30 v Newcastle is more problematic. It also seems to be a bit difficult to take someone out for a game who has a history of surprising returns from injury. It means I have a potential triple up of Spurs v Newcastle if Son is fit. Great if you think of Spurs as the team that played Palace but not so great if you think of them as the team that played Arsenal and the shambles vs Zagreb. City are really the only team that I generally would even consider tripling up on and that would involve a ton of wincing itself. However it is Newcastle and it is a 1 game thing and Son may not even be fit.
The complexity involves Fernandes coming in for GW30 in that scenario. If Son isn’t fit for GW30 then it’s a simple straight swap. If only life were that simple as managers (Bielsa apart) always seem to want to be cagey about fitness. If Son could be fit then I have 2 choices. A straight upgrade of Gundogan with £0.3m to protect me hopefully from price changes or an upgrade of Lookman but with a -4 taking out Pope. I dislike -4 hits at the best of times let alone for 1 game against a player who probably won’t be a captain option but it at least gives me a meltdown scenario.
The other obvious option is to just not worry about Fernandes. It’s one game against a very good defence in Brighton.
There’s no right answer here. I could bring a ton of mathematicians in to model every scenario and they all would probably give me a different answer. It’s just one of those times you have to make a decison and hope for the best
So I’m going to roll the dice and take out Salah for Bale and Dias out for Veltman and hope for the best
Captaincy
The FFGeek Captain Poll has Kane miles ahead although that was before the Zagreb disaster where he played 120 minutes. I’m not flipping elsewhere but it does make the vice captain decision a bit more important in case it resulted in a injury that we won’t get told about. I’m going to go for Raphinha because I feel at least he will definitely play. Bale would be the other option but his gametime makes me a tad nervous.
Lineup
Given how I’ve been leaving points on the bench it’s a pleasure to not have to think about this
Here’s the team after transfers have been made
Good luck everyone!
Other posts
Analysing the teams of 10 top managers
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
The FFGeek Captain and Transfer Polls
FFGeek Contributors Teams Part 1
FFGeek Contributors Teams Part 2
FFGeek Contributors teams Part 3
Follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
Auto join the FFGeek FPL league
