Here’s my fantasy premier league team selection GW35 article. As is normal, I review GW34+, share my transfer thoughts, captain choice and the lineup dilemmas.
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Introduction
Firstly if you’re new to the site my last 3 seasons overall ranks are 36k, 17k and 21k.
GW34+ review
GW34+ points: 83 (FPL average 59) Total points 2,112 Gameweek rank 728k, Overall Rank: 10k, green arrow 3k, Team Value: £103.0m
Here’s the points:
So 83 points and an overall rank of 10k is something I definitely can’t complain about.
My transfer in of Aurier was also successful with 8 points. You know your lucks in when I think there were 2 disallowed goals at the end of the game. The other option I considered of Chelsea’s Azpilicueta got 1 point after conceding 1.29xG and 13 shots against one of the worst attacks in the league. So at least that 50/50 went my way.
Pope continued doing what he does best, getting clean sheets against teams in the lower half of the table. Amazingly I got the bench right and neither Calvert Lewin or Nketiah did any damage. In fact I avoided a -2 in the process.
FPL Team Structure
Regular readers may want to skip past this section but this is how I classify players in my team:
Template – 7 of the 10 top FPL Managers I follow own the player or defence
Template replacement – If I don’t own a template player then a player who is the designated replacement who will fight it out weekly for points
Bench – a player who will primarily sit on the bench
Difference maker – the rest. These will generally give you the rank boost. Not defined by ownership so not called differentials
I’ve got all the template players but my difference makers in Aurier, Maguire and even Salah now made the difference in rank. I’ve called Calvert Lewin template even though he’s on a selling trajectory.
Transfer thoughts
2 free transfers and £0.8m in the bank.
I had 2 options in my mind for this gameweek plus an easy out option as a 3rd.
The Greenwood option
My first thought was the obvious transfer of Nketiah out and Greenwood in. To do that I need to sell Maguire as otherwise I will be over the 3 Man Utd player rule. That would at least align me with every man and his dog and prevent rank drops. I would also do what I really don’t want to do which is put Brighton cheapie Lamptey in. That would give me £0.2m spare to put in Jesus either in GW36+ if I don’t Free Hit or GW37. That gives me 3 City attackers for what is a ridiculous run in. The advantage of this is that I get Greenwood and Jesus and to get in a 3rd Man City attacker I don’t need to take the nuclear option of selling Salah for Mahrez in GW36/37. That may not be that bad an option though as Liverpool’s last 3 fixtures aren’t easy and he is a rotation risk as well.
What I don’t like about this option is I just can’t believe Greenwood can keep going on as he is. He’s scored 9 goals against an expected goals of 3 and his conversion rate is 26% which is exceptionally high. He does hit the ball very hard which is one of the reasons De Bruyne can outperform his stats so consistently? But still. Also Maguire has got me 6 points in every game I’ve had him except 1 so he really doesn’t deserve to be sold.
The Vardy option
With Vardy being 3rd in the captain favourite stakes and playing the Eddie Howe “defence” getting Vardy represents a decent amount of risk mitigation. In the short term probably more than Greenwood. Eddie Howe has a habit of ****** me whenever I think about putting an attacker against him and ultimately decide not to. The Bournemouth defence could easily be Stacey, Ake, Kelly and Rico. I feel sorry for Ake. He must wonder how he’s got into this situation as he walks out playing next to those 3 idiots and with a pretty ropey GK behind him. How has Eddie Howe allowed his defence to become such a joke? I mean 4 goals conceded against Newcastle! So in the short term Vardy is a pretty attractive option.
To fund it I would put Lamptey in for Aurier or Maguire
The problem is that it isn’t that helpful for the rest of the season. Assuming I Free Hit in GW36 then come GW37 I will have 1 free transfer to put either Greenwood in (that assumes I take Maguire out this gameweek) or 1 transfer to put Jesus in for Vardy. If I put Greenwood in I’m stuck with Vardy potentially for Spurs and Man Utd and then my 3 City players would become Salah out for Mahrez or Sterling. I don’t really want the Salah gun to my head option. Id rather take the decision free of that.
FPL really is all about 50/50’s
So what do I do? There’s no right or wrong answer here. FPL really is about 50/50 calls and this is a classic. I could make arguments all night about which is best but ultimately you roll the dice and take the consequences. On the 1 hand the Greenwood option solves that short term problem and gives me more flexibility going forward albeit I am exposed to the Vardy risk. It does seem a touch excessive considering that Maguire has been ticking over nicely and I’m really not a fan off the triple attack unless it’s City who are just a juggernaut.
The Vardy option blocks off a points risk problem for this gameweek and stops me worrying about how Eddie is going to mess me up yet again. But it’s not ideal going forward unless you can live with no Greenwood in 37 and 38 potentially.
I think the Greenwood option suits me best so that’s what I’m going to do and hope Eddie can pack the defence and keep the score down. I also said on our Podcast that I wouldn’t put Vardy in so I don’t know if that’s subconsciously affecting me?
Sort everything out with a -4?
I could just do all 3 transfers by taking a 4 point deduction and be done with it. It would come under my definition of a defensive -4 as well so I could justify it if I convinced myself for long enough. However it’s so easy to just sort out all your FPL problems by taking hits and in this case I think I’m just going to take the pain as it would effectively be for 1 gameweek and I still wouldn’t captain him.
Lineup issues
The need for a strong bench hasn’t really materialised and just caused problems every week. Last week I got away with it but it’s not easy.
This week it’s Aurier vs Foden vs Calvert Lewin for 1 spot. I’m thinking firstly that Foden won’t start given he did in GW34+ although the fact that he went off at 60 minutes clouds that issue. That 60 minutes substitution is enough for me I’ve put him in the lineup. I’d be really surprised if Aurier returns or Calvert Lewin do so I’ve put them on the bench with Aurier first. Thankfully at least Lamptey can go last.
Lastly there’s the Pope vs Martinez issue. Surely Pope can’t keep a clean sheet here so I’ve gone for Martinez.
Man, I am putting out 50/50 fires all over the shop. It really wasn’t meant to be like this
Captain
So you may have seen my captain analysis article which is now fully updated. The FFGeek poll reflected Salah in the lead but it was put up before the Man Utd game. Other polls show Fernandes as the favourite. If I was sure Salah was going to start then I would go against the Polls as Burnley despite all the clean sheets can be an absolute shower at times against the top teams. I would also back Salah over Fernandes every day of the week. However with Firmino rested GW33+ and Mane GW34+ it has a rather obvious pattern feel to it. Now Salah was rested in GW30+ but does that exclude him this week. I have enough doubts to go with Fernandes.
So Fernandes it is
Here’s the lineup then:
Good luck everyone!
Other Posts
FFGeek contributors teams GW35 part 2
FFGeek contributors teams GW35 part 1
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