Here’s our fantasy premier league team tips GW28 article where the 2nd group of the FFGeek contributors show their teams for GW28. In this part there’s the FFGeek contributor league leader Ben Wooton as well as Alex Ball, Rick Porter, Joseph Crilley, Stephen Troop and Andrew Whitfield.
Fantasy premier league team tips GW28 – FFGeek contributor’s teams part 2
Introduction
This is part 2 of the FPL managers who contribute to the FFGeek site with good histories who show their teams each week. This will give people a feel for what other managers are doing. It’s a fairly informal thing with no obligation on anyone and these teams may change at anytime before the deadline without further notice. In the future it also wont cover early transfers. It’s just to give an idea of the trends for the week no more.
See the part 1 contributors teams article here as well
Ben Wooton
Ben’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 61k, 26k and 31k.
GW27 points: 62 (FPL average 45) Total points 1,642 Gameweek rank 642k, Overall Rank: 6k, green arrow 2k, Team Value: £104.5m
Ben has used his triple captain chip
transfer summary: Grealish out for Cantwell.
Here’s the team with the transfer completed
Joseph Crilley
Joseph’s last 3 seasons OR were 28k, 7k and 13k
GW27 points: 59 -4 (FPL average 45) Total points 1,597 Gameweek rank 984k, Overall Rank: 36k, green arrow 1k, Team Value: £105.8m
Joe has used his triple captain chip
After another fairly average week, I have decided to take stock of my team’s position ahead of the three gameweeks leading up to the blank. The triple up for each of Liverpool and Wolves is pretty set (even after a Traore benching) which could provide six solid players for the blank week. The fixtures are also very strong for Southampton and Leicester, so I am also happy holding onto McCarthy & Ings and Evans & Vardy from the respective teams. That just leaves De Bruyne and Grealish from my regular starting options, both of which blank this week, though the City man will definitely not be going anywhere, especially as it looks like he could be on penalty duty now.
With Cantwell ready to come in, it seems that I do have 11 players ready to start in this blank week, although with little bench cover as just Rico is there. Therefore, it is feasible to save the transfer which could then be used to attack a potential DGW29 or to build a strong non-free hit team in BGW31. The other option is to swap Grealish out for Barnes in order to target the Leicester fixtures and provide the luxury of benching Cantwell this week. It is a decision that I will be leaving close to the Friday deadline in hope of some early team news from the Norwich vs Leicester game! As I write, my thought is that if Cantwell is starting then I will hold the transfer and keep myself flexible for the tricky upcoming weeks.
Three-way battle for captaincy this week with Vardy back on my radar alongside Salah and TAA. The consistency of the latter is simply astonishing, and I am annoyed at myself for considering the full-back as a captain more this season. I am unlikely to go with Salah this week as his season-long away form isn’t great and I am bit bored of captaining him in all honesty. Meanwhile, Watford have scored at least twice in 4 of their last 5 games so I am yet to be able to complete trust TAA with the armband. Therefore, it is currently on Vardy as an obliging Norwich seems the perfect opposition for him to break his goal drought!
Good luck all and may your arrows be green!
Transfer Summary: save transfer or Grealish to Barnes
Follow Joe on twitter here
Here’s the team pre any transfers
Rick Porter
Rick’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 1k, 30k and 2k.
GW27 points: 50 (FPL average 45) Total points 1,573 Gameweek rank 2,413k, Overall Rank: 79k, red arrow 7k, Team Value: £106.1m
Rick has played his triple captain chip
That was a bit of a nightmare. I’m amazed my rank drop wasn’t bigger. I simply had the wrong players. The hauls from players like Pope, Fernandes, Jimenez and the Wolves/Southampton back lines were gold and I owned none of them.
There’s no two ways about it, the brace from Aubameyang saved my gameweek from being an absolute disaster. If he had blanked I’d have scored just 39 and would have plummeted out the top 100k. My Liverpool assets aside (who are so well-owned they seem to barely count), he was my only returning player.
That’s how it works, though, you can’t have all the players all the time and sometimes you’re going miss out. You suck it up and move on, right? Wrong… annoyingly I can’t draw a line under this one because part of the reason my team scored so little is because a fair few of them weren’t on the pitch for long enough. After weeks thinking that I had a relatively solid team minutes-wise, GW27 saw four of my players starting on the bench. Three came on for a single-point special while Rico didn’t play at all. I was relying on some of these players to get me through GW28, so now I have to firm things up a bit to give myself the best chance of fielding 11 starters.
Transfer 1
After Aubameyang played the hero it feels odd dropping him, but I have very few sensible options. Besides, it was always the plan to lose him this week. I have the least amount of value tied up in him – meaning he’s easier to get back if need be – and a downgrade to Jimenez offers me cover from a highly-owned in-form player with good fixtures. It drops my GW28 blankers to three and also frees up a sizeable chunk of cash which gives me options across the team. I was tempted by Jota, due to his incredible recent form, but with so few matches to go on I preferred the comfort of owning Jimenez. This transfer was made on Sunday ahead of any potential price rise.
Transfer 2
My other transfer requires more thought and I’m yet to make a move. After another benching it’s pretty obvious it should be Lundstram that goes. Enough chances. He doesn’t have a match this week anyway and, with Traore, Aurier and Rico all with question marks over their heads, I need to lose another blanker so I’m not as reliant on them. An easy argument could be made for dropping Grealish, but he’s a sure starter for future weeks and that’s enough for him to stay put right now. He also has a fair chance of featuring in GW31. That could well be redundant, though, as unless Rico and Traore look to have secure starting positions by then my chances of fielding a team in GW31 without a Free Hit seem very slim. That said, it still feels like something I should be aiming for while there are still so many unknowns.
Doherty is my first choice for a Lundstram replacement, I have the money in the bank (thanks to the Aubameyang downgrade) and he’s packed with point potential. He does feel expensive though. It would leave me with 1.4m in the bank which is just enough money to upgrade Ryan to Ederson if a Man City double did turn up in GW29. He’s the only Man City asset I’d be sure would play both matches and sticking with Ryan has been my worst decision this season – a solid reason to move him out would really be appreciated.
I’ll be sitting on my second transfer until the press conferences are over and will make a call then with all the details in front of me. I think I’ll end up with Doherty though.
Depending on the news, I’m not ruling out a -4 either. For instance, if GW29 does get announced as a double for City and Chelsea before deadline then an extra transfer of Grealish to Mount would lower my GW28 risk even further and provide me a double player the week after. That’s probably worth the hit in my eyes, even if does potentially move me further away from that non-Free Hit GW31 team.
Transfer Summary
Aubameyang OUT Jimenez IN
(Probably) Lundstram OUT Doherty IN
Bench
A Bournemouth clean sheet seems unlikely even if Rico starts, so he’ll be on the bench and Noble steps up. I’m not expecting big things from Noble, but he’s as nailed to start as they come – that’s a real plus this week.
Captain
Salah again for me. Vardy vice.
Team
The team pre transfers. Assume Lundstram is Doherty…
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 6k last season and 19k in 17/18
GW27 points: 61 (FPL average 45) Total points 1,549 Gameweek rank 738k, Overall Rank: 156k, green arrow 41k, Team Value: £104.4m
Andrew has used his triple captain and 2nd wildcard
It was good to get back to a “normal” three day gameweek, after that marathon slow burner over the “winter break” !!
Very happy with my third successive green arrow. 61 points was enough for a 41k green arrow, up from 197k to 156k. Pleasing to see the “uplift “ continue from an early second wildcard in GW25, with three straight green arrows now since the wildcard, taking me up from 279k to 156k. It shows how close overall rankings are too when the top 100k is now only 16 points away. That’s the next target and I will see where I go from there. It was always going to be difficult to replicate the last two seasons but I still feel well placed for a top 1% finish.
GW 27 summary:
– My week followed the exact same pattern as last week, in that my first four players blanked, and then 6 out of the final 7 returned. The only difference being that captain Salah scored this week. You know your luck is turning back your way, when your defender crosses and your captain tucks it away with help from a keeper clanger.
Defence:
– Boly in for O’Connell was a transfer that worked well. I jumped off double blades defence to get Boly. Three successive clean sheets now for Wolves and upcoming fixtures are good too. Pity his defensive colleagues, Saïss and Doherty eclipsed him with attacking returns.
– It was a minor shock that Liverpool conceded after their recent incredible run of clean sheets, but the added bonus of attacking threat from the two full backs showed through again with assists from both Robertson and Trent which could have been much more, both bombed forward regularly, Trent in particular looked totally unplayable. Trent has not blanked since GW17 with eleven successive returns. That’s captain material.
– Henderson conceded early in goal and it seemed like every man and his dog owned Pope and McCarthy who duly got the shut outs. Henderson blanks in GW28 and GW31 ( ineligible ) . So McCarthy will get his chance. I actually left a double Southampton clean sheet on the bench !!
Midfield:
– It was strange watching Liverpool v West Ham as it was only recently in GW24 they featured in the Liverpool double gameweek. I am just about over the Mane debacle now. I half expected Mane rubbing salt in the wound having switched my allegiance to Salah this time. Honours even with a goal apiece. I didn’t think Salah looked great. It reminded me why I chose Mane in GW24 !! It was a relief to see Mane have a second goal chalked off. It was almost the dream Monday night scenario with Trent, Robbo and Salah all returning, and Van Dijk, Firmino and Mane all blanking – until Mane scored.. I expect Salah to have my armband virtually every week now.
– Blanks from De Bruyne, Grealish and Traore was disappointing, the latter worryingly benched again with a possible formation change for Wolves. He is so explosive to watch so hoping he can bounce back and counter attacking at Spurs could be ideal. Only last week, everyone was drooling over just how great Grealish was, now after one blank, he is public enemy number one and a hot potato nobody wants. That’s football for you. His fixtures do look tough but I like that he is the talisman for the side and anything Villa do, he will be behind it.
– De Bruyne is going nowhere. I can’t believe anyone would sell him, especially when you have to have him back for the City double gameweeks ahead, possibly as early as GW29 if we get a late announcement. And it now appears he on penalties too which is massive !!
Attack:
– I was particularly pleased with my three week gamble on Aubamayang over Vardy, which I took based on fixtures. Aubameyang actually made my gameweek !! I am a very template based player usually so it took me well out of my comfort zone to switch off a striker with near 40% ownership at the time, to one around 15%. That can go horribly wrong. It was a nice differential gamble success with Auba outscoring Vardy 23-6 over the three weeks.
– It’s tempting to keep Auba now but I am sticking to the plan, with Auba having no game this week and Vardy playing Norwich. I got in, took the points and I am getting back out again. Despite his goals, I just can’t trust with Aubameyang with the captaincy which makes him expensive to own, especially when he plays out on the wing. That’s not where I want my premium striker !! I want to be on the right side of Vardys high ownership risk in the Leicester fixtures that follow. Nine games without a goal for Vardy. It has to turn and it will turn and the fixtures are now there on a plate for him. I am backing him to reignite the Vardy party.
– Danny Ings has blanked four in the last five. It was inevitable I would break him by signing him. He got me a goal last week though and Jimenez scored this week. Both will stay as the fixtures for all three strikers could not be much better. In contrast, Calvert Lewin has tough fixtures but scared the living daylights out of me at the weekend, every time he attacked. I am tempted but I would break him too and Ings would carry on where he left off.
So what next ?
0.1M in the bank and one free transfer.
Every transfer is like gold dust now and needs to be done with thoughts on the blanks and doubles ahead.
The GW28 blank is here:
– I wonder how many casual players will be logging on to their teams on Friday to face the shock of seeing half their team not playing this week. It’s staggering that over 300,000 “transfers in” have been made this week to buy players who have no game this week !!
– Most studious players have prepared well for GW28. Many will go into this week with a full bench of GW28 blankers. But that’s taking big risks on the rest of your players starting, including your “bench regulars”. How many managers will have a bare eleven including the likes of Rico, Kelly, Dendoncker, Brandon Williams etc. How many will also be taking hits too to get to eleven. I expect to see plenty of teams with ten or less on the field this week, so hoping I can gain on those that come up short.
– I have four GW28 blankers but McCarthy covers Henderson in goal. I could bench all the other three but I want 12 available players with a back up, so I am going to bench two and lose one. De Bruyne is going nowhere. So it’s either Grealish or Aubameyang.
– I am not really buying the Harvey Barnes thing at all. I think Grealish is a class above him, despite the fixtures. Barnes is not a nailed starter and as a young player, that will bring inconsistency. I don’t really want to sit Aubameyang on the bench when Vardy is playing Norwich. The way I see it, do I think Vardy will outscore Aubameyang over the next two fixtures when Vardy plays Norwich and Villa , and Auba plays nobody and West Ham ? I can always take a view after those two games if Vardy doesn’t reignite himself in those two great fixtures, which I think he will. I don’t rule out a switch back to Aubamayang if he doesn’t. It’s in your hands now Mr Vardy in these next two. Remember the Friday night this season when Vardy went nuts away from home in a 9-0 win. That would be nice.
– That leaves me about 1.2M in the bank. My original plan was Auba to Vardy, and Grealish to Maddison, which I have the money for. But I prioritised O’Connell to Boly last week instead and I am not taking a hit. I could switch Grealish to Barnes but I would rather switch him to Maddison despite his form. Maddison is on free kicks and corners so if Leicester do turn the corner, I would expect Maddison to be at the heart of it. I can have a closer look at Barnes and Maddison in Fridays game. I will just bank the cash for now.
– The “third mid” I would really prefer would be either Richarlison, or Martial or Fernandes but they are just out of reach. I would like to beef up midfield a bit with one more stronger player alongside Salah and De Bruyne.
GW31 – the big blank:
We still have only two confirmed fixtures for GW31 which coincides with the FA cup quarters. It will likely end up with four or five.
– My options are still open to “free hit” or “not free hit” in GW31 and much will depend on the outcome of the FA cup 5th round games wedged between GW28 and GW29 next midweek. I would urge everyone to await those results before making any GW29 transfers next week !!
– I have potentially three Liverpool and three Wolves. If Pompey were to upset Arsenal, that would add three Southampton, if Newcastle lose to West Brom, that brings in Grealish and Lascelles. Eleven could just drop in my lap and preserve the free hit. The most likely scenario is I will be a bit short and as I have wildcarded already, I am not going to build a GW31 team and then struggle to transition to the double gameweek players . I am currently planning to free hit in GW31 and get a strong eleven out when many can’t, but let’s see what the FA cup 5th round throws out.
– If Liverpool knock out Chelsea, then I think we are all free hitting as it would be carnage !! It’s a wait and see. Even though many will try muddle through GW31 to save the free hit, based on the more likelier outcomes I don’t think the free hit will be half as valuable as people think later on. We might only get 2-4 teams with doubles in GW34 when the free hit would seem to fit best, and that I can plan for, and the much bigger double is likely to be in GW37 when the bench boost will be popular. I don’t feel the lack of a free hit or wildcard is going to hinder me too much during the double gameweeks.
– Currently I favour free hit GW31 and without the wildcard, building my team from now for good coverage of players with doubles in either GW34 and GW37, with the bench boost favoured in GW37.
GW28 line up:
– I will be fielding 12 potential starters. Likely to bench Stephens alongside the non playing De Bruyne and Grealish. Mooy can be an interesting differential with a rare start v Palace.
– Captain will be Salah. I don’t want a Friday night captain. There is nothing worse if it goes wrong. Vardy will be vice.
Transfer summary:
Will be Aubamayeng out and Vardy in.
Good luck in GW28 !!!
Here’s the team pre transfer. Assume Aubameyang is Vardy
Stephen Troop
Stephen’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 43k, 52k and 64k
GW27 points: 52 (FPL average 45) Total points 1,531 Gameweek rank 1,995k, Overall Rank: 242k, green arrow 4k, Team Value: £103.8m
Stephen has played his triple captain chip
Another average week for me with little movement (+4k to 242k) which has been the story of most of my season really.
A good (albeit lucky) 9 points for Pope. 10 for Alexander Arnold and 4 for Robertson despite conceding 2 was nice too. Jimenez with a goal (no BPS +YC though) and captain Salah the other returners. 2 disappointing bench 1 pointers from Lundstram and Traore (at least they didn’t block any decent points). 2 a piece from Vardy and Ings and a blank from Grealish completes the gameweek.
Looking ahead and it’s the first blank gameweek of the season. I have 3 players not playing this week. De Bruyne, Grealish and Lundstrum. Lundstram is definitely going, and despite my like for Grealish in terms of personal motivation, being a focal point and generally looking a good asset, a blank followed by some pretty horrendous fixtures seems the logic sell. De Bruyne could have a DGW29 and I’d want him back straight away so he’ll be benched. Traore is an issue I’ll have to deal with later.
So who to get?
Midfield options look slim but I’ll likely go for Barnes. Strong fixtures for Leicester and Barnes has produced some decent underlying numbers. I don’t have huge faith in the Leicester midfield in general but options are limited around this price point. Mount is also an option. Also good fixtures but hasn’t been producing the underlying numbers Barnes has. There is also a possibility of a DGW29 for Chelsea and if we get news before the deadline then it’ll make the decision easier.
Captain is currently on Salah, but am not hugely confident given Salah’s away form. I don’t have more confidence with anyone else though esp Vardy who on paper should be my captain.
Good luck all
Transfer summary: likely Grealish out for Barnes
Follow Stephen on twitter here
Here’s the team pre transfers
Alex Ball
Alex’s last 5 seasons overall rank were 523k, 17k, 10k, 28k and 3k
GW27 points: 61 (FPL average 45) Total points 1,493 Gameweek rank 738k, Overall Rank: 530k, green arrow 118k, Team Value: £105.4m
Alex has played his triple captain chip and 2nd wildcard
The greens continue! That’s 1.8mil to 530k In 4 game weeks. As usual with fpl there is regret. At the last minute I was tempted to play my bench boost But decided against. That cost me 25 points! A BB score I’d have been very happy with. Ah well, I’ll play in 29 instead.
On to this week. With the wildcard played so recently I should get 11 players out (assuming Traoré plays!) I’ll wait till the last minute as we may get Leicester team news but all be well I’ll sign Barnes for Grealish. There will be a lot of money on the bench this week but it’s only a week. I was tempted by Aubameyang to Vardy but decided I want to hold Auba for his nice fixtures. I’ll be rolling my other free transfer and with more news on blanks and doubles I’ll likely use both next week.
Good luck all.
transfer summary: likely to be Harvey Barnes in for Grealish out
follow Alex on twitter here
Here’s the team pre transfers:
FFGeek Contributors League
The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team is going well in 7th place with 1,593 points and an overall rank of 41k. You can follow that team, including live transfers, on our subscription Patreon site.
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Geek note: If you join our Patreon site you will get access to an FPL contributor tracker team which combines the contributors individual teams each week to show their favourite players, transfers and captains. It will always be completed on a Friday/Saturday in a normal gameweek. There will also be an accompanying spreadsheet so you can drill down further. Currently 1,593 points 41k overall rank
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Other Posts
Bandwagons and sinking ships for GW28
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
The FFGeek captain poll for GW28
FFGeek contributors GW28 teams part 1
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