Here’s our fantasy premier league transfer tips GW25 interim 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. We also look at Liverpool combinations they currently have.
fantasy premier league transfer tips GW25 – analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers – interim article
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 25 review so far
A mixed week overall so far for the 10 FPL managers with 5 getting a green arrow and 5 getting a red. The average rank of the 10 worsened so far by a relatively small margin.
The average score of the managers in GW24 so far was 36 after taking points deductions for extra transfers into account. That’s 2 points and 6% better than the game average of 34. High score of the 10 is 49. The low score is 29-4 = 25.
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers is 290k. That’s a worsening by 17k over the last week. The best overall rank is 33k (1,394 pts) and the lowest 1,103k (1,265 pts). I think the median score is more reflective though and that is 160k
The average total points are 1,344
The average team value is £104.7m.
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
Alexander Arnold is 10 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Soyuncu is in 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Lundstram is in 8 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Button is in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Kelly and Rico are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Stephens is in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Goalkeeper/Defence by team
Liverpool are represented 14 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Sheffield United are represented 10 times in the 10 FPL managers team
Leicester are represented 9 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Brighton are represented 7 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
C Palace are represented 5 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Bournemouth are represented 4 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Newcastle and Southampton are represented 3 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Midfielders
De Bruyne and Salah are in 10 of the FPL managers teams
Grealish is in 8 the 10 FPL managers teams
Mane is in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Dendoncker and Martial are in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Forwards
Ings is in 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Vardy is in 8 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Calvert Lewin is in 5 of the 10 managers teams
Maupay and Connolly are in 2 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Liverpool combinations
All 10 FPL managers had 3 Liverpool assets.
5 of the managers had Alexander Arnold, Mane and Salah
3 of the managers had Alexander Arnold, Robertson and Salah
1 had Alexander Arnold, Van Dijk and Salah
1 had Alexander Arnold, Gomez and Salah
So there was an equal split between double defence and double attack.
Interestingly no one has Firmino
Gameweek 25 captain and triple captain choice
All 10 managers played their triple captain chip
9 played it on Salah
1 played it on Mane
The FFGeek poll for the GW24 captain choice was 50% Salah, 30% Mane and 13% Alexander Arnold
Formations
6 managers played 3-4-3
2 managers played 3-5-2
2 managers played 4-4-2
Wildcards and Chips
None have used their 2nd wildcard but all 10 have used their triple captain chip
Transfers
3 of the managers carried over a free transfer. 2 managers took a 4 point deductions for an extra transfer.
Transfers in
Salah was transferred in by 3 managers
Calvert Lewin was transferred in by 2 managers
No one was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Maddison was transferred out by 2 managers
No one 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 also gives you live FPL ranks and live league ranks during gameweeks.
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 | 50 | 17 |
Ryan | 31 | 20 | -11 |
Lundstram | 88 | 80 | -8 |
Kelly | 56 | 40 | -16 |
Alexander Arnold | 82 | 100 | 18 |
Robertson | 25 | 20 | -5 |
Soyuncu | 45 | 90 | 45 |
Rico | 24 | 40 | 16 |
Stephens | 4 | 30 | 26 |
De Bruyne | 88 | 100 | 12 |
Mane | 75 | 60 | -15 |
Salah | 46 | 100 | 54 |
Grealish | 54 | 80 | 26 |
Dendoncker | 14 | 30 | 16 |
Martial | 27 | 30 | 3 |
Cantwell | 41 | 20 | -21 |
Vardy | 83 | 80 | -3 |
Ings | 67 | 90 | 23 |
Calvert Lewin | 22 | 50 | 28 |
Maupay | 6 | 20 | 14 |
Aguero | 25 | 0 | -25 |
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
De Bruyne
Grealish
Salah
Vardy
Ings
That’s 8 players.
That leaves 7 difference makers/bench warmers for your FPL team.
One managers team
This is the manager who’s 7th of the 10 with an overall rank of 203k. His last 3 seasons overall ranks are 9k and 7k and 1k. This week so far it’s a reasonable 40 points. He’s the only manager who’s captained Mane rather than Salah.
He has 7 of the 8 template players mentioned above and is the 2nd of the managers to sell Vardy. His template replacement player is really in midfield and is Mane
His bench players are Button, Rico and Connolly.
That leaves him 4 difference makers in Calvert Lewin, Pope, Kelly and Martial. Pope’s 10 points has rescued his gameweek.
Team value is relatively low at £103.7m
This week his transfers were Salah and Calvert Lewin in for Vardy and Richarlison
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 completely not achievable at £107.9m
That’s it. Hope you found it useful
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