Here’s our fantasy premier league teams GW24 article where we give our early thoughts on the FFGeek team for GW24. We look back at gameweek 23, The team planning schedule, transfer thoughts plus early captain thinking.
fantasy premier league teams GW24 – some early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Gameweek 23
GW23 points: 79 (average 53) Total points 1,376, Gameweek rank 204k, Overall Rank: 101k, green arrow 41k, Team Value: £102.3m
Here’s the link to my GW23 team selection article if you’re interested
Here’s the points:
A good week when I was prepared for the worst. A 41k green arrow to 101k OR.
6 returning players above the minimum of 4 and a gameweek rank of 204 against the target of 1 million
This week I got my revenge against the template after it killing me last week and my differentials did ok.
The non template scoreboard
The Template players I have are Doherty, Wan Bissaka, Salah, Richarlison and Rashford.
So my battle with the template couldn’t have gone much better this week. Liverpool didn’t keep a clean sheet so minimal damage there. Digne scored an own goal whereas Kolasinac got an unexpected clean sheet. Sane outscored Pogba by 4 points.
As for the differentials, Foster got a clean sheet over Burnley and you know your lucks in when Morgan scores. However, the Foster clean sheet meant that Barnes blanked. Ings had a couple of chances but blanked. Hazard blanked for the 4th consecutive game and produced his 3rd set of pitiful underlying stats in the those 4 games.
I’m about 62 points off my arbitrary aspiration of last years rank of 17k which is going to be difficult. It’s still volatile, so for example often 30 points each week separates the weekly scores of the 10 top FPL managers I follow so you can’t only be assuming upwards movement you’ve also got to be fearful of downwards
The team planner
A bit bare at the moment because the anytime goalscoring odds aren’t out at the moment and because I only really have short term plans for my team
Here it is
Template replacements
This week sees Hazard and Fabianski removed from template status as you can see from my 10 top FPL managers article
My template battles are Kolasinac home to Cardiff vs Digne at Huddersfield. I hope Kolasinac can at least match his points.
Sane at Newcastle vs Pogba home to Burnley is a trickier one although Pogba is one of my targets this week which may make that irrelevant.
Differentials
The differentials have mixed fixtures. Foster is at Spurs so I could actually opt for Button at Fulham.
Hazard has been terrible 3 of the last 4 weeks but if there’s any team that can get you back on track it’s the Bournemouth defence
Barnes did everything but score against Watford but my preference would be to bench him vs Man Utd.
Ings has a reasonably good fixture v Palace at home although he too has been disappointing for the last 4
Transfer thoughts
1 free transfer £5.5m in the bank.
So my thoughts this week are with 4 players.
Pogba, Digne, Alexander Arnold and Aubameyang.
Pogba is probably the most likely and I can afford him easily even with replacing Hojbjerg. He still seems to offer good value and has penalties. It’s all backed up by excellent underlying stats as well post Mourinho. Just to make it sweeter here’s his next 6 fixtures:
Burnley (H)
Leicester (A)
Fulham (A)
Liverpool (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Southampton (H)
Digne has a great entry point fixture vHuddersfield and could be an option if Lovren isn’t fit or if Lovren isn’t likely to play. Digne could also be a replacement for Morgan. However his good fixture run only has 3 more in it before it gets decidedly mixed. So I feel I’ve missed the boat somewhat on him and he doesn’t feel that necessary even with the great entry fixture.
I want Alexander Arnold and or Gomez (assuming Gomez is the number 2 CB pick in the side) as they are just great value even with some rotation risk. Lovren being fit and first choice if Gomez isn’t fit straight away would at least provide a stop gap. Here’s Liverpools fixtures which are just excellent.
GW24 Leicester (H)
GW25 West Ham (A)
GW26 Bournemouth (H)
GW27 Man Utd (A)
GW28 Watford (H)
GW29 Everton (A)
GW30 Burnley (H)
GW31 Fulham (A)
Aubameyang I would rather not buy at the moment with City in GW25. If I going to buy him GW26 looks a better option when he starts a decent, albeit short, fixture run. I could then buy Pogba this week and then get Aubameyang for Hazard with 2 transfers in GW26 if I still feel the need to get him. I think to get him this week I would need to see him as a big captain threat v Cardiff who do have a terrible record against the top 6.
See the fixtures
Cardiff (H)
Man City (A)
Huddersfield (A)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (H)
Spurs (A)
Man Utd (H)
So plenty to mull over.
A short word on the blanks and doubles
If you haven’t seen my article on the blanks and doubles then here’s the link.
This week and weekend are going to be very informative on the future.
So remember the likely doubles and blanks are:
GW27 Blank EFL Cup final
GW31 Blank FA Cup quarters
GW32 Potential Double gameweek
GW33 blank FA Cup Semis
GW35 potential double gameweek
This week is going to be extremely informative in that we will know who the EFL finalists are that will meet Man City which will allow us to prepare for GW27. Not that much preparation should be needed. Given it will only be Everton v Man City postponed and 1 of Burnley v Spurs or Chelsea v Brighton. Most of the damage should be accommodated on our subs bench for GW27.
The weekend is 4th round FA Cup which means we will know the FA Cup 5th round draw before the gameweek starts. We’ll then be able to piece together the ties left in GW31 and GW33. At that point we can hopefully make an educated guess on the quarter finalists in order to prepare for GW31.
I’ll hopefully have an article ready for the Monday or Tuesday but here’s my early days thinking at the moment
When I started the thinking I thought you had to use your free hit in GW31 but that causes you a problem with the gameweeks ahead.
I thought that because I could see a situation where you had to ditch the top 6 teams in the run up as I thought they would make up a decent chunk of the quarters. Therefore you’d end up with a team of Cardiffs and Newcastles etc. However with 4 bench positions and the fact that Liverpool have games in both blanks, seemingly guaranteed, then you can have 3 Liverpool players in GW31 plus 4 bench players of any team as the core of your FPL team. That could potentially mean only 4 non top 6 starters which seems ok.
I think just preparing for GW31 is just about doable. The amount of transfers available to navigate GW31 is another issue as we won’t know the quarter finalists until after GW26 giving us a maximum of 6 transfers to use as preparation. That’s why some gamble transfers on potential 5th round winners may also be needed.
Anyway these are just initial thoughts. I’m hoping the weekend will make it clearer.
As I always say I’m no expert at this so any dissenting views are welcome.
Lineup decisions
If I make the Hojbjerg transfer to Pogba then the decision is only between Doherty and Wan Bissaka. Even that isn’t a decision if Lovren isn’t fit. Then it picks itself and I leave Barnes on the bench. At the moment I’ve gone Button over Foster.
Captain choice
Hard to see past a rested Salah with no FA Cup 4th round games but the poll will be interesting.
Team lineup
Here’s how the team lines up at the moment. I’ve put Lovren in just in case he miraculously becomes fit and assumed Hojbjerg is Pogba
That’s it. Hope you had a good gameweek too and found it useful in thinking about your team
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