Here’s part 2 of our fantasy premier league team tips GW38 articles where 4 FFGeek Contributors show their teams for gameweek 38. There’s Andrew Whitfield, Rob Reid, Alon Shamir and Scott Taylor. Between them they have 12 top 0.5% finishes in the last 4 competitive seasons including 9 top 20k finishes. That’s incredible consistency.
Fantasy Premier League Team Tips GW38 – 4 FFGeek Contributors Teams Part 2
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Introduction
It’s worth noting that the teams shown may not necessarily end up being the final teams or the transfers may have been made in the days prior to the posting . It’s an informal situation to give you an idea of trends. However the FFGeek team and the Contributor tracker team mentioned above on the FFGeek Patreon site all make transfers as articles are posted. So you’re always up to date and live
Note I am changing from FPL average to the post hits 12 top Managers average who have finished in the top 10K the last 3 seasons that I follow
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Alon Shamir
Alon’s last 5 seasons overall ranks are 44k, 1k, 123k, 4k and 2k
GW37 Points: 86 on FH (12 Top managers average 94) Total points: 2,566, Overall Rank: 7k, green arrow 2k. Team Value: £105.4m
Follow Alon on twitter here
Alon has used all his Chips
GW37 Review
My FH yielded 86 points and a jump to 7K OR, and I’m not sure how to feel about that. I managed to get an extra 20-30 points in comparison to my regular non-FH team but I didn’t get such a significant edge in comparison to this week top10K non-FHers. Mainly due to my failed captain choice in Ings.
Still, I managed to clime up the ranks, which is nice.
GW38 Preview
We are heading towards the last GW of the season! I’m very excited and to be honest quite stressed as well. It’s very important for me to finish the season inside the top 10K, and hopefully top 5K (which would mean a fourth top 5K in 6 seasons).
First, I want to mention that I have analyzed the final GW of the last 3 seasons this week, and posted my results and conclusions on Twitter. Some of them were very surprising and interesting so I recommend to check it out.
My team looks very strong on paper, but there are a few issues that may arise:
Salah may very well miss out or start on the bench according to Klopp.
Tuchel implied he is going to rotate quite heavily, which surely means Alonso is to be benched.
Matip is always at risk of rotating with Konate.
I think it is possible that Lacazette starts ahead of Nketiah this week.
The thing is that any of the above has the potential to haul big time if he starts after all.
I think that my team’s biggest weakness is no Spurs (who are facing the whipping boys Norwich). So very likely that this is what I will be trying to solve with my free transfer.
Transfers
As mentioned, I own a few players who are rotation doubts. But in the final GW it is much more difficult to justify a hit since u only have 1 gameweek to compensate for it.
Therefore I believe that unless there are reliable team leaks that suggest heavy rotation among my team, I’m going to just make a single transfer and hope for the best.
I think that Son is a very good player to own this week since he is almost guaranteed to start, faces a very weak opposition, and should be motivated to score big in order to pass Salah in the race for the golden boot. Salah is too much of a doubt after Klopp’s press conference, so I think it would be him that goes out for Son.
Captaincy
Wow. There are a lottttt of places to go with the armband this week. Any of Kane, Son, KDB, Foden, Mane, Salah (if he starts), Mount, Vardy, Maddison is an appropriate pick in my opinion.
I will take my final decision closer to deadline but Son seems to be my likeliest pick. Both for the reasons I mentioned above and also just because he is my favorite FPL player 😀
Good luck everyone. I hope for a low variance GW for a change, and a top 5K finish 🤞🤞🤞
transfer summary: Likely Salah out for Son in
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
Scott Taylor
Scott’s last 4 seasons ORs were 12k, 15k, 1k and 12k
GW37 Points: 89 on FH ( 12 top managers average 94) Total points: 2,475, Overall Rank: 54k, green arrow: 16k Team Value: £104.7m
Scott has used all his Chips
Transfer summary: Likely transfer is Salah to Son or if Spurs’ illness rumours have any truth then it will be Salah to Mane. Captain: Son or Mane. Vice: Cancelo
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
Rob Reid
Rob’s last 6 seasons overall ranks were 12k, 148k, 94k, 22k, 4k and 7k
GW37 points: 53 -4 ( 12 Top managers average 94) Total points: 2,462, Overall Rank: 67k, red arrow 23k: Team Value: £105.0m
Follow Rob on twitter here
Rob has used all his Chips
GW37 review
I’d mentioned in my write-up last week that I thought I’d struggle in GW37 and so it proved. To be fair, some of it was self-inflicted too. Salah’s injury kind of forced me into making transfers when I’d planned to roll my free and I also changed my Captain from Richarlison to Son the day before the deadline. These moves alone cost me 20 points and if I’d stuck to my original plan I’d have close to held rank instead getting a fairly nasty red arrow. I had only 2 returners in the end – Richarlison (his returns costing me overall rank due to his high effective ownership) and Alonso. Add to this a succession of 0, 1 and 2 pointers and it was never going to end well.
It’s been a weird old season for sure. I’ve never known so many gameweeks to have such massive swings in overall rank. I think back to GW30 when I played my Free Hit and was on the right end of things. GW37 was very similar to this and there have been several other GWs where the impact of just 2 or 3 decisions has huge connotations. The effect of Covid in terms of cancellations, rotation and the knock-on effect of an unprecedented number of double gameweeks should not be underestimated and on reflection I’ve certainly not managed my team particularly well through large periods of this.
One more week to go then – I’m 18 points off 50k, which is now my target for the season’s end. GW38 is often a bit of a lottery and can be quite good fun so let’s see how I set up.
GW38 Team
1 free transfer, £1.4m in the bank.
I’ve got no injury concerns as of Friday lunchtime which I think must be the first time since GW1. I’m also happy with the majority of my squad. My goalkeepers both have home fixtures, as do 4 of my 5 defenders with only Cash away from home against City – he’s therefore going to start on my bench. I’ve got Captain favourite Son for a plum fixture versus Norwich with Spurs still needing a result. I therefore don’t expect any crazy team selection from Conte and as such this will see me start Kulusevski as well, hopefully he’ll do better than his nil pois in GW37! De Bruyne also has much to play for so he’ll be starting, as does my 4th midfielder Saka. My decisions therefore revolve around the remaining 2 forward players. It’s 2 from Nketiah, Richarlison, Gordon and Weghorst as it stands at the moment so this is the logical place to make my final transfer of the season as I try and chase some points towards a higher finish.
Looking at the fixtures there’s a few options. The obvious move to me seems to be Weghorst to Toney, though there is a more differential move available in midfield of Gordon to Wissa if I’m wanting to chase a bit more. There are other players I’m considering. Mason Mount is a good prospect this week I reckon. He should start having been rested versus Leicester and despite Tuchel’s promise that he’s going to rotate significantly this week, Chelsea’s fixture at home to Watford is certainly a favourable one. He’s a streaky player but does have 6 double figure hauls this season, the downside with him being that I’d need to sell Saka for the move so it might not be as good for my team overall. Another option is to go for a third Spurs player – I can’t get to Kane in one move and I’m loathe to take a hit again, so I’d probably have to bring in a defender with Sessegnon probably the best option here – he could replace Cash.
I’ve checked with Joe’s FPL Planner and Points Projection Tool and it likes the Toney move the best, so at present I think this is what I’ll going with. I’ve also checked the Planner for my team selection this week – it’s suggesting I start Ramsdale over Schmeichel in goals and bench Gordon, Nketiah and Cash. I may opt to go for Schmeichel instead of Ramsdale though – it raises the ceiling for my team with my having Richarlison and I’ve not been convinced by Ramsdale or the Gunners defence over the last few gameweeks. My only other slight concern is for Alonso’s minutes – he could be at risk of a dreaded one point bench cameo but I’ve left him in the team for the moment. Finally, the planner agrees with my Captain choice of Son and indeed he’s got the highest projection for anyone this week.
That wraps it up for season 2021/22 then. Hopefully I can finish on a positive after what has been a slightly underwhelming campaign, especially when I consider that at this time last season my transfer was geared to trying to get me into the Top 10k. C’est la vie as they say and hopefully I’ll come back stronger for 22/23! Once the GW ends, I’m going to take some time out but I’ll look to post a short season review article at some stage once the dust has settled.
Good luck this week folks and let’s hope it’s an exciting end to the season!
Transfer summary: Likely transfer – Toney in for Weghorst
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew’s last 4 seasons overall ranks were 34k, 132k, 6k and 19k
GW37 points: 62 -4 ( 12 Top managers average 94) Total points: 2,429, Overall Rank: 108k, red arrow: 19k Team Value: £104.2m
Andrew has no Chips Left
Well we are almost there !! My final write up of what has been a long and exhausting season, with Covid postponements, extra chips and lots of double gameweeks. It’s certainly challenged us to adapt to a different way of playing. On a personal level, I am definitely ready for hanging my pen up and looking forward to the summer break.
But before then, one last final push to get us over the line and improve those all important ranks. We are almost there !!
It’s shaping up for a thrilling climax to the season with lots still to play for in the final round of games this weekend, at both ends of the table.
Gameweek 37 review:
Dropped points from Man City at West Ham, where a missed Mahrez penalty could have all but sealed the title, but they still have the league firmly in their own hands. Liverpool kept their hopes alive despite Klopp putting out his B team At Southampton. Spurs need just a point to join Chelsea in the champions league places after a Harry Kane penalty was enough to see off Burnley, and Arsenal flopped badly at Newcastle.
All to play for at the bottom too, with Burnley and Leeds set for a nervous final day after taking one point each from the week. Everton left it late but dramatically came from 0-2 down to beat Palace 3-2 and seal a remarkable escape from the drop !!
In FPL, it was all about Leicester attackers plus Richarlison and if you managed to captain one of them then well done, especially Maddison after his 25 big points. Free hitters generally did well but didn’t have it all their own way as many doubled up on Everton and Villa defences who conceded in both games. The Ings captains fell flat, as did those gambling on single game Son.
Non Free hitters looked on in dismay as many of their single game players they were relying on, such as Trent, Robertson, Cancelo, Saka etc either blanked or were rested altogether. But Reece James and Alonso did strike a blow on the final night of action.
My GW37 score, rank and wrap up:
A very disappointing gameweek for me. I was braced for a tough one with about 40% of engaged managers in the top 100k playing their free hit. But a big captain fail saw me suffer a significant red arrow that has put paid to my strong finish after what had been a welcome rise up the ranks in the last two months.
I scored 62-4 = 58 points, with just THREE returners !! Richarlison, Watkins and Alonso were my returners, although Richarlison was a negative on my rank. Remarkably, if I had captained the Everton man, like I planned all week, I would have had a green arrow, despite only three returns !!
After a run of 6/7 green arrows had taken me from 226k to 71k, I was looking for a strong final push towards 50k, with a bench boost in hand in GW36. But a disappointing red arrow on bench boost last week was followed by a further setback this week, down from 89k to 108k.
So If I had nailed the captaincy this week, it would have gone a long way to getting me out of jail, and I could have survived against the free hitters. It was a pivotal and significant moment in my week.
I had been on captain Richarlison in GW37 for a couple of weeks and only jumped off him in the last 24 hours. I nearly always captain a very clearcut captain poll favourite. I also captain a double gameweek player, for two bites of the cherry and to keep hope alive over the two games. So to change plans with the Everton man being such a strong captain choice, and see it backfire, was very disappointing.
The late injury to Mo Salah was the catalyst for change. As a Son owner, I switched Salah to De Bruyne. But for Kane owners, they moved Salah to Son. Free hitters were also able to include both Kane and Son too as well as De Bruyne, which drove up the ownership of both Son and Kane. I was left facing a position where both the Spurs men could hurt me if they went nuts v Burnley. So I got spooked and I captained Son to ensure I still gained from his points, and provide insurance for a big Kane haul, as they always hunt as a pair. The Son captaincy covered the extra Kane threat.
As it happened, Sons effective ownership was over 100% but not by as much as I anticipated, and Kanes ownership was also well down on my estimates. Kane returned with no Son involvement but the damage was small. Son could easily have braced with two great efforts saved. Of course it’s easy to judge the outcome rather than the decision and it could have gone both ways.
Richarlisons effective ownership was over 100%, so his points hurt rather than helped, and the difference between the armband on Son or the Everton fan cost me 16 points. Many only owned Richarlison on free hit. He is all mine this week as free hitters let him go so i have his points all to myself. Hopefully he can keep up his great run.
The enforced Salah out transfer meant I had to ditch plans to move the potentially injured Watkins to Ings. And that worked in my favour !! I gained a fortunate 7 points from being forced to stick with Watkins who I didn’t expect to play the first game. So that Salah injury forced me to take the armband off Richarlison but inadvertently meant I had Watkins over Ings.
Plenty went against me. Schmeichel was rested in the best game of his double, Cancelo conceded, Trent and Robertson failed to make it on to pitch in a week when they were great differentials, De Bruyne failed to follow up his four game haul once I signed him, Saka and Martinelli blanked. But Alonso did chip in with a crucial goal on Thursday night !!
So what next:
I have 0.3M in the bank and one free transfer.
It will be interesting to see what the free hitters do with Salah. The picture is pretty unclear after Klopp said “Not sure what we’ll do for the weekend. There’s no chance we take any risks. It looks good. The boys take steps. My preferred solution is they’d play at the weekend for rhythm reasons or maybe be on the bench. I can’t say 100%.”
The non free hitters pretty much all sold him last week, so free hitters could have a right differential golden nugget up their sleeves if he does start this week with him dropping back into their teams. Will the lure of Son or De Bruyne tempt them off Mo ? Or maybe those chasing their mini leagues fancy a punt on Mane instead ??
It’s a week that throws up some attractive fixtures for Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Spurs in particular. So my premium defenders look well set up – if selected.
Schmeichel v Ramsdale is a tough call which could go either way. Ramsdale is 12 games without a clean sheet so doesn’t inspire confidence. I might lean towards Schmeichel, if only because I have Richarlison up against Ramsdale.
Martinelli is an uncertain starter and is the weak link in my midfield alongside Son, De Bruyne and Saka, who is now looking very tired. There isn’t too much At Martinelli’s price point. Ideally I would prefer Nketiah but it’s not worth two moves to switch Martinelli to Nketiah. I am tripled on Arsenal as a Saka and Ramsdale owner. Martinelli is a huge differential at my rank level so maybe this is payback time.
Watkins faces Man City away. I may look to keep it simple and move Watkins to Toney, who plays Leeds.
That would also fund an easy upgrade from Broja to Nketiah, if it wasn’t for me holding Martinelli as my third gunner.
I would absolutely love to get Matty Cash to Reece James, and have an amazing line up of five attacking full backs of James, Alonso, Cancelo, Trent and Robertson. But the Watkins to Toney move would leave me just short. That would have been a definite move for a hit and play James over Martinelli, if funds permitted.
I could choose Wissa of Brentford instead of Toney and then do the Cash to James move.
So I am not certain but I might just throw Toney in for Watkins and leave it there.
I will update my transfer plans on Twitter, at least an hour before the Sunday deadline.
Captain will be on Son, chasing the golden boot v relegated Norwich. I absolutely love the guy who has been a sensation all season. I really hope he can nick that golden boot.
My team below is before transfers, with Watkins to Toney my possible transfer.
A final word:
It’s been a pleasure to have the platform for my rambling thoughts once more. I really appreciate all the weekly words of encouragement that I have received through the season and it really does make everything worthwhile to know that I have helped people in some small way.
It’s been a fluctuating season and ultimately not a vintage one in terms of my rank, but what’s important is that we all analyse and take lessons away that we can use to be better managers next season. I have definitely done that.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy summer. Life is short. Look after yourself, your loved ones and cherish every day. There are far more important things in life than football.
I am looking forward to a break from our beautiful game. But time flies. I hope to be back next season, if invited ( Geek note: Definitely!) , feeling refreshed and ready. Before you know it, the game will be launching and we will all have Mitrovic and Haaland in our GW1 drafts !!
Stay safe!
transfer summary: Possibly Watkins out to Toney in
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
The FFGeek Contributors League
The highlighted FPL Transfer Planner Team finished is currently in 1st place in the FFGeek Contributors League with an overall rank of 3k. The team is run solely by Joseph Crilleys Transfer Planner and Points Projection Tool. You can follow that team, including live transfers.
There’s also the FFGeek Contributors Tracker Team which finished in 8k last season and 52k the season before. It’s in 17th place with an overall rank of 110k. The FFGeek team currently also in 18th position at 139k
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Other Posts
Joe’s Transfer Planner Team OR 3k
Analysing the teams of 12 top FPL managers
Joseph Crilley’s Transfer Planner and Points Projection Tool
The Bandwagons and Sinking Ships
Defender and Gk Rankings and Transfer suggestions
Midfield Player Rankings and Transfer suggestions
Forward Player Rankings and Transfer suggestions
The FFGeek FPL Podcast – A Special on Joseph Crilley’s Transfer Planner and Points projection Tool
FFGeek Contributors Teams for GW38 – Part 1
The FFGeek Imaginary Free Hits for GW38
The FFGeek Captain Poll and Transfer Polls
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