Here’s our fantasy premier league transfer tips GW16 article where we analyse the teams of 10 top FPL managers. These 10 managers have not finished outside the overall rank of the top 10k in the last 3 seasons. Considering how variable the last 3 years have been this is remarkable consistency and shows an ability to adapt strategy in different seasons. It also gives you a view other than my own on strategy and player selection.
fantasy premier league transfer tips GW16 – analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
Introduction
If the article is too long there’s a combined FPL managers team for the top 10 FPL managers analysed towards the end of the article.
Firstly, there are 9 new managers in the 10 this season. The only repeat manager I’ve found again finished in the top 100 last season
The criteria I’ve always been looking for is managers who’ve finished in the top 10k for the last 3 years when FPL has become considerably harder due to the amount of people playing and the information available.
It took me a long time to track down 10 managers who’ve been so consistent and I imagine it will get harder and harder
The 10 managers stats
These managers are incredible and every bit as impressive as last season.
1. The overall average finishing overall rank of the top 10 managers in the last 3 seasons is 3,800
2. The top 10 FPL managers have not been out of the top 10k in the last 3 seasons (ie 30 times playing)
3. 3 of the 10 have finished in the top 1,000 in the last 3 seasons
4. 2 of the 10 have finished in the top 100 in the last 3 seasons
Gameweek 15 review
A mixed gameweek for the 10 managers with 5 getting a green arrow and 5 a red arrow giving a relatively small average overall rank worsening.
The average score of the managers in GW15 was 56 after taking points deductions for extra transfers into account. That’s 7 points and 14% better than the game average of 49. High score of the 10 was 65. The low score was 33.
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers is 427k. That’s worsened by 45k from last week. The best overall rank is 62k (885 pts) and the lowest 1,168k (795 pts). A difference 90 points. That translates to 12k per point. A far smaller gap than a few weeks ago.
The average total points are 843
The average team value is £103.2m.
Given the short gameweek I may won’t do an early FFGeek team article but there will be a team article at the end of the day.
The combined total of individual players
I’ve generally only included where there is a minimum of a player in 3 out of the 10 FPL managers teams
Goalkeeper/Defence by player
Soyuncu is in 10 of the FPL managers teams
Alexander Arnold and Lundstram are in 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Tomori is in 7 of the 10 managers teams
Rico is in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Button and Robertson are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
McGovern is in 3 of the 10 managers teams
Goalkeeper/Defence by team
Liverpool GK/Defs are represented 14 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Sheffield is represented 11 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Leicester is represented 10 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Chelsea are represented 7 times in the 10 managers teams
Bournemouth are represented 5 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Brighton and Burnley are represented 5 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Midfielders
Mane is in 9 of the FPL managers teams
Mount, Dendoncker, Pulisic and De Bruyne are in 6 the 10 FPL managers teams
Son and Maddison are in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Pulisic is in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Forwards
Vardy is in 10 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Jimenez is in 8 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Abraham and Ings are in 3 of the 10 managers teams
Aubameyang and Connolly are 2 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Gameweek 15 captain choice
9 of the 10 FPL managers went with Vardy
1 of the 10 FPL managers went with Sterling
The FFGeek poll for the GW15 captain choice was 70% Vardy, 6% Mane and 6% De Bruyne
FFGeek contributors in the same article were 90% Vardy, 55 Aubameyang and 5% Salah.
Formations
6 managers went 3-4-3
2 managers went 4-3-3
1 manager went 4-4-2
1 manager went 3-5-2
Wildcards and Chips
None of the managers used their wildcard this week. 6 have now used the wildcard in total and none have used a chip.
Transfers
Only 5 of the managers made transfers and 5 carried over a free transfer. No managers took a points deduction for an extra transfer
Transfers in
Pulisic and Dean Henderson were transferred in twice
No one else was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Mount and Pope were transferred out twice
No one else was transferred out more than once
The top 10k overall rank vs the 10 FPL managers
Unfortunately the excellent site FPL discovery isn’t going this season. However the livefpl.net does a version which isn’t as extensive but is still very helpful. Live FPL is a must view though for live FPL ranks and live league ranks and I’d recommend anyone to use it on match days.
Here I compare the most popular players in the top 10k and of the 10 top managers and show the difference. Remember the make up of the top 10k will change week to week which is why I’ve left this to now. On the first 2 weeks it does look reasonably stable. A negative means that the top 10k ownership % is higher than the 10 top FPL managers
| Player | Top 10k | 10 top FPL | 10 top FPL – top 10k |
| Button | 34 | 40 | 6 |
| Pope | 39 | 50 | 11 |
| Lundstram | 92 | 90 | -2 |
| Kelly | 42 | 10 | -32 |
| Alexander Arnold | 48 | 90 | 42 |
| Robertson | 29 | 40 | 11 |
| Rico | 33 | 60 | 27 |
| Soyuncu | 53 | 100 | 47 |
| Tomori | 30 | 70 | 40 |
| De Bruyne | 80 | 60 | -20 |
| Mount | 29 | 60 | 31 |
| Mane | 82 | 90 | 8 |
| Maddison | 41 | 50 | 9 |
| Pulisic | 25 | 60 | 35 |
| Son | 38 | 50 | 12 |
| Dendoncker | 14 | 60 | 46 |
| Abraham | 40 | 30 | -10 |
| Vardy | 98 | 100 | 2 |
| Aubameyang | 15 | 20 | 5 |
| Pukki | 5 | 10 | 5 |
| Jimenez | 51 | 80 | 29 |
| Ings | 22 | 30 | 8 |
| Mousset | 14 | 10 | -4 |
| Connolly | 4 | 20 | 16 |
The template
I use the 10 managers as a proxy for serious managers teams and have a basic rule of thumb that if 7 of the 10 managers have a player or a team defence then I will seriously consider getting that player in.
Here’s the template on that basis. The difficulty with tracking the template is that you’re 1 game behind it as you obviously can’t see what their transfers are leading up to the gameweek opening.
Liverpool defence – Alexander Arnold
Leicester defence – Soyuncu
Sheffield defence – Lundstram
Chelsea defence – Tomori
Mane
Jimenez
Vardy
That’s 7 players. That leaves 8 difference makers/bench warmers for your FPL team.
De Bruyne is close in 6 teams as are Rico, Mount and Pulisic.
Depending on injury I suspect Abraham will come back into the template reckoning
The template is quite narrow and that means the managers teams will be more variable week to week.
One managers team
This is the 2nd leading scorer’s team for this week and the leading manager. He has 6 of the 7 template players mentioned above. He doesn’t have Jimenez and doesn’t have a direct replacement playing 3-5-2.
His bench players are the Rico, Connolly and McGovern. That leaves him 6 difference makers in Abraham, Henderson, Son, De Bruyne, Maddison and Pulisic.
Keeping Abraham and having Maddison were the reasons for his success this week.
His team value is high at £105.4m. His last 3 seasons overall ranks are 2k, 4k and 6k. His current rank is 62k and his GW15 score 64.
His transfer in was Henderson for Pope
Here’s his team:
The combined 10 top FPL managers teams
Here’s a team which tries to make a combination from the most represented players. Please note that it is meant to be a menu of players to help you choose your transfer rather than a realistic team and it’s value is not necessarily achievable. This week it is at £100.2m
That’s it. Hope you found it useful
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