Here’s our fantasy premier league team tips GW31 article where the 2nd group of the FFGeek contributors show their teams for GW31+. In this part there’s Yaniv Salomon, Joseph Crilley, Rick Porter, Andrew Whitfield and Alex Ball
Fantasy premier league team tips GW31 – FFGeek contributor’s teams part 2
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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
All articles were written prior to the Man City v Burnley game although the points are from livefpl.net and should be accurate as of the end of the gameweek
Yaniv Salomon
Yaniv finished with an overall rank of 4k last season and 8k in 17/18
GW30+ points: 96 on BB (FPL average 65) Total points 1,882 Overall Rank: 803rd, red arrow 247, Team Value: £106.0m
Yaniv has used his triple captain chip and used his Bench Boost in GW30+
Follow Yaniv on twitter here
As for this minute, I am going for Wildcard and Free Hit next Gameweek, after my disastrous GW30+. Prior to the Man City v Burnley game I had with 87 and Kun (c) and KDB to go (strange thing to say)
That is my current team , I am still thinking of bringing in Salah for Mane but I will need to squeeze the team as I am 0.7 short for this. I haven’t made my Captain decision yet
Here’s the Wildcard team as it stands.
Summary: Wildcard used. Captain to be confirmed
Joseph Crilley
Joseph’s last 3 seasons OR were 28k, 7k and 13k
GW30+ points: 115 on BB (FPL average 65) Total points 1,795, Overall Rank: 26k, green arrow 22k, Team Value: £104.4m
Joe has used his triple captain chip and used his Bench Boost in GW30+
follow Joe on twitter here
Heading into the first gameweek following the restart, my bench boost was active with a plan to utilise either free hit or the wildcard to rebuild for GW31. After extensively scouting the opening games, I have decided to stick with the original plan of FH 31 and WC 33. The main reason for this is that I wouldn’t be confident picking a squad for the remainder of the season after just one gameweek. I feel a few more games of data will prove highly valuable as the Wildcard is the most powerful chip and this will ensure that I make the best use of it.
So free hit it is this week, and this is the core that I was looking to have in my team:
– Double Liverpool defence (TAA and likely Van Dijk) and Salah/Mane (having both mids looks impossible for budget reasons)
– Jimenez & Doherty as Wolves looked very assured
– Man Utd attacking representation
– At least one of Calvert-Lewin & Richarlison, preferably both given how poor Norwich were
Currently, I lean towards Mane as my Liverpool premium due to having more minutes in his legs, while Bruno Fernandes seems the safe choice from Man Utd. Elsewhere, I also wanted to include Son as a powerful differential with an enticing fixture and Vardy who I thought looked lively at times on Saturday with Brighton seeming a good match-up for him. Unfortunately, this starting XI came in around 1.5mil over budget so a sacrifice was required somewhere. Options included losing Vardy for a cheaper striker, downgrading Jimenez to Jota or sacrificing the second Liverpool defender.
Ultimately, I have elected for the latter option and I will instead double-up on the Wolves defence by bringing in Boly, a player who often shows reasonable goal threat and is available at a nice price of 4.8mil. Pope then slots in as keeper because of his strong save potential and clean sheet possibility with a home game against Watford.
The final decision is captaincy which currently sits on the obvious pick of Mane, but there are options all over the pitch and I will ponder this over the next day or two. Naturally, with the free hit active, there is a strong possibility of changes ahead of the deadline, but I would consider this line-up fairly locked in!
Good luck all and may your arrows be green!
Transfer Summary: Free hit
Captain: Mane
Rick Porter
Rick’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 1k, 30k and 2k.
GW30+ points: 111 on bench boost (FPL average 65) Total points 1,765, Overall Rank: 64k, green arrow 40k, Team Value: £103.7m
Rick has used his triple captain chip and Free Hit and used his Bench Boost in GW30+
Overall I’m seeing my Bench Boost as a success. Sure, Aubameyang was a let down and I’d have been better off sticking with Jimenez, but his inclusion was as much about protection as it was potential. Most others performed as expected.
The Man City match is still to come so hopefully the three I still have to play will all feature and push me further into the triple figures. Who knows, if Aguero starts and gets a couple of of goals, maybe even my captain choice will be vindicated.
As planned, my Wildcard was activated soon after the GW30+ deadline and, although I’m still tinkering, I’ve pieced together this team as my starting point for the rest of the season.
I expect rests and injuries to become commonplace from here on in and, as all my chips are now spent, I have no emergency buttons to hit. Because of this I’ve tried to make sure I can lean on my bench when it’s needed. It’ll undoubtedly mean that some weeks I’ll be cursing the points I’ve left off the pitch, but that’s better than the alternative. I’ve also left 0.6m in the bank so I’m not caught short if I need to make a swift transfer.
Like most, I’m wary of Salah after he was only fit enough for the bench at the weekend, so I may switch to Mane if there’s news.
Captain chip is currently on Jimenez and Vice is Salah.
Summary: Wildcard activated.
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 6k last season and 19k in 17/18
GW30+ points: 91 on Free Hit (FPL average 65) Total points 1,711, Overall Rank: 223k, green arrow 18k, Team Value: £104.2m
Andrew has used his triple captain chip and 2nd wildcard used his Free Hit in GW30+
follow Andrew on twitter here
Well football is back !! I had forgotten how stressful playing FPL can be – but enjoyable of course too. The “new normal” certainly takes a bit of getting used to, with artificial crowd noise, drinks breaks, five subs, and goals not allowed even when they are a foot over the line !!
91 points is a bit disappointing from a double gameweek free hit that promised so much but delivered some cruel blows, particularly with so many scores over 100. But the average score in the top 10k was 95 so not too far off the pace, and I somehow still managed to escape with a small 18k green arrow, up from
241k to 223k, so I will take it and move on as the gameweeks come thick and fast !!
My GW30+ talking points:
– For much of the week, it’s felt like I was driving a Fiat Punto in a race against a Porsche Turbo – blindfolded, such is the knock on effect of “unlimited transfers” and the way the cards have disproportionately fallen in favour of those with a stored second wildcard. They have been able to pack their side with 12 “doublers”, retain three great single game players, fielding up to 27 players in a bench boost and wildcard back out. Those having wildcarded already with no such escape route faced a free hit instead, and if keeping hold of a couple of essential single gameweek players, fielding a maximum of 20 players. That’s a lot to concede in a gameweek. Damage limitation in many respects against the bench boosters.,
– This week was always going to hinge around Man City assets, in particular the choice of captain. De Bruyne was more heavily owned so was the obvious “shield pick”. He was virtually 100% owned amongst active managers and so the armbands gave him an effective ownership of over 150%, a potential rank loss if not captained, even for his owners. I took the “sword approach “ instead with Aguero, a great opportunity to attack with the most explosive striker in FPL, in a double gameweek with two great home fixtutes. Cue GROANS when Aguero was benched against Arsenal, with KDB winning the first battle 14-4 !! Then a sense of excitement and expectation of Aguero in the line up against Burnley with KDB benched turned to despair with Aguero limping off injured. At least he added an assist and KDB failed to stick the knife in from a 30 min cameo. I lost the captain battle 15-8, so not a huge loss but it felt a lot worse than seven points.
– One advantage of free hitting over bench boost was the option to “skin the bench” and put all four of the expensive doublers in the starting eleven which meant Sterling could be accommodated in an explosive City attacking triple up. With KDB and Aguero in most line ups, that luxury was affording Sterling over Mahrez and I lost that battle 21-10 !! The other expensive luxury being Aubameyang. Hmmmmm…
– When selecting three Sheffield Utd defenders, I said I would be happy with one triple clean sheet, and that’s what I got. 22 points in the first game with Lundstram starting and Henderson star man. Then -1 in the second game with Lundstram benched ,three goals conceded and Egan sent off !!
– My three “single game players” worked out pretty well. 12 points for Doherty, 7 for Alexander Arnold justified inclusion. The decision to go one game of Mason Mount instead of two of McGinn only cost me 3 points. Mount was the best player on the pitch in the first 30 mins. As Meatloaf once sang, “two out of three ain’t bad”.
– That leaves the two big disappointments of the gameweek. Two blanks each for Grealish and Aubamayang. Auba did have a “goal” ruled out by a toenail but he represented a big opportunity missed for free hitters who could squeeze in the biggest four premium assets.
– So all in all I think you can sense the over riding feeling of frustration. That’s FPL for you. We take the green arrow and we move on !!
Plans for GW31+:
– So that’s my free hit over and I now get back my original team, which to be honest I could not be happier with. I spent the three month lockdown period making free weekly transfers with the remaining block of fixtures in mind. I love the resulting team, having moved in assets from Man Utd and Wolves in particular.
– This week looks fantastic on paper. I have nine “home” fixtures if that means anything, but it’s more about how the fixtures line up. They couldn’t be better.
– I have Salah and Alexander Arnold at home to Crystal Palace for the “title party”. Salah will be my captain, provided I get positive indicators that he will start. Many wildcarders will have switched to Mane instead,but it’s not inconceivable that Salah starts and Mane sits it out instead. I will be monitoring very closely.
– I have Jimenez and Doherty at home to Bournemouth. The Cherries looked bad on Saturday and my Wolves pair look essential “season keepers”. It’s a great fixture and possibly even a captain fixture.
– I am tripled up on Man Utd at home to Sheff Utd, with Rashford and Bruno Fernandes ( I don’t care which is on pens ) as well as Maguire. United have four clean sheets in six and fixtures are fantastic. Bruno Fernandes looks essential despite his heavy weighting of points from penalties. The bonus from this fixture is that Dean Henderson cant play against his parent club, with the defence further ripped apart with Egan suspended and O’Connell possibly still injured. Cue Bruno and Rashford to deliver.
– Calvert Lewin faces a Norwich team that looked awful at the back first game, Pope has a decent chance of a clean sheet. De Bruyne can always deliver whatever the fixture and can punish those who leave him put this week.
Bench boost opportunity:
– Looking at the fixtures, I think this week represents as good a time as any to play bench boost. There are no more double gameweeks and fixtures look appealing. I have Lascelles at home to Villa. I am also going to cash in Lord Lundstram as his place is back in doubt and fixtures stiffen for the blades. So I am going to bring in Boly for Lundstram in time to play Bournemouth. So defensive bench players for Newcastle v Villa, and Wolves v Bournemouth, plus a second playing keeper, plus Saka. I think it’s a decent opportunity.
– As games arrive, the likelihood of injury and rotation increases and the effectiveness of bench boosts diminish, as bench players auto sub in for missing players and leave the bench empty. So I am going to play it with this in mind too. It also means I can then ditch my second playing keeper and reinvest the funds into my starting eleven.
– I can’t remember ever having being “chipped out” with seven games to play if I do play it. Then again we don’t usually get zero blank gameweeks and zero double gameweeks in the last seven weeks. It’s a unique situation. In some ways I will be able to relax and just play my natural game and I quite like that !!
Chip and transfer plans:
Unless injuries change things, which of course they easily could, it will be …
Summary Chip – Bench boost. Transfer – Boly in for Lundstram
Good luck everyone in GW31+ !!
Alex Ball
Alex’s last 5 seasons overall rank were 523k, 17k, 10k, 28k and 3k
GW30+ points: 89 on Free Hit (FPL average 65) Total points 1,684, Overall Rank: 371k, green arrow 33k, Team Value: £105.5m
Alex has used his all his chips including his Free Hit in GW30+
Follow Alex on twitter here
It started so well and ended so badly. I went with a simple approach on FH- all in on dgw players. It certainly has made me think about how I play my FH next time.
My plan all along had been to roll this week but Leno’s injury has meant a transfer needs to be made, I have 5.1. I’m not sure who will make it, unfortunately I’m 0.1 short of Patricio which is a shame. Leno’s understudy could be great value at 4.2. Foster is also an option but likely I’ll go for the obvious shout of Pope. Not sure on capo. No Salah at all in the derby is a worry and he was who I had planned on.
Good luck all.
summary: Transfer to be confirmed
The FFGeek contributors League
Unfortunately it’s not been updated on the FPL site as I write this .
See the part 1 contributors teams article here as well
Other posts
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
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