Here’s our fantasy premier league transfer tips GW18 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 GW18 – 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 17 review
A mixed gameweek for the 10 managers with 6 getting a green arrow and 4 a red arrow culminating in a small red arrow overall average.
The average score of the managers in GW17 was 62 after taking points deductions for extra transfers into account. That’s 6 points and 11% better than the game average of 56. High score of the 10 was 78. The low score was 54 -4.
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers is 399k. That’s worsened by 12k from last week. The best overall rank is 53k (1,016 pts) and the lowest 1,184k (913 pts). A difference of 103 points. That translates to roughly 11k overall rank per point.
The average total points are 970
The average team value is £103.9m.
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
Rico is in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Pope and Martin Kelly are in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Button and Robertson are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
McGovern and Tomori are 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
Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are represented 6 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Brighton and Burnley are represented 5 times in the 10 managers teams
Chelsea and Norwich are represented 3 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Midfielders
Son and Mane are in 8 of the FPL managers teams
De Bruyne is in 7 the 10 FPL managers teams
Dendoncker and Pulisic are in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Mount is in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Maddison and Alli are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Mount is in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Forwards
Vardy is in 10 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Abraham is in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Rashford is in 4 of the 10 managers teams
Ings and Jimenez are in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Connolly is in 2 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Gameweek 16 captain choice
10 of the 10 FPL managers went with Vardy
The FFGeek poll for the GW16 captain choice was 74% Vardy, 11% Mane and 7% Salah
FFGeek contributors in the same article were 85% Vardy, 8% Salah and 8% Mane
Formations
5 managers went 3-4-3
2 managers went 3-5-2
2 managers went 4-4-2
1 manager went 4-3-3
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
8 of the managers made transfers and 2 carried over a free transfer. 1 manager took 4 point deduction for an extra transfer
Transfers in
Rashford was transferred in 3 times
Abraham was transferred in 2 times
No one else was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Jimenez was transferred out 4 times
Mount and Tomori 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. 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 | 33 | 40 | 7 |
| Pope | 31 | 50 | 19 |
| Lundstram | 91 | 90 | -1 |
| Kelly | 68 | 50 | -18 |
| Alexander Arnold | 41 | 90 | 49 |
| Robertson | 23 | 40 | 17 |
| Rico | 36 | 60 | 24 |
| Soyuncu | 53 | 100 | 47 |
| Tomori | 6 | 30 | 24 |
| De Bruyne | 61 | 70 | 9 |
| Mount | 28 | 30 | 2 |
| Mane | 85 | 80 | -5 |
| Maddison | 60 | 40 | -20 |
| Pulisic | 13 | 60 | 47 |
| Son | 52 | 80 | 28 |
| Alli | 35 | 40 | |
| Dendoncker | 11 | 60 | 49 |
| Abraham | 56 | 60 | 4 |
| Vardy | 98 | 100 | 2 |
| Jimenez | 19 | 30 | 11 |
| Ings | 13 | 30 | 17 |
| Rashford | 40 | 40 | 0 |
| Connolly | 2 | 20 | 18 |
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
Mane
Son
De Bruyne
Vardy
That’s 7 players. That leaves 8 difference makers/bench warmers for your FPL team.
One managers team
This is the leading scorer’s team (78 points) for this week and the manager who’s 3rd in overall rank out of the 10 managers (137k OR).
He has 6 of the 7 template players mentioned above. This manager doesn’t have Son and his template replacement is Alli.
His bench players are the Rico, Dendoncker and Tomori and 1 of his GKs. That leaves him 4 difference makers in Rashford, Zaha, Jimenez and 1 of his GKs.
3 of his 4 difference makers returned and his template replacement player was neutral.
Team value is high at £104.8m. His last 3 seasons overall ranks are 6k and incredible 200 and 6k.
His transfer in was Rashford and Alli for Aubameyang and McGinn
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 £106.9m
That’s it. Hope you found it useful
More content
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 1010 points 70k overall rank
You also get:
Weekly podcasts with the Geek and the other contributors
Joe’s interactive transfer planner and points projection tool plus PlannerTeam Currently 1000 points 107k overall rank
FFGeek private leagues
Access to the FFGeek Slack channel for discussion with the contributors and members
NEW Weekly FFGeek contributor imaginary wildcard articles
$2 and $3 tiers per calendar month. No commitment beyond 1 month
Other posts
FFGeek league codes:
fantasy premier league: fnqq66
Sky Sports fantasy football: fantasyfootball.skysports.com/leagues/join with PIN 8426114
Telegraph fantasy football European Super League: League PIN: 8186902 League Passcode: 2113
Sun Dream Team:
Classic League PIN: SGDKX9Y3
Social Media
For more FPL best fixtures GW18 follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
