Here’s our UPDATED fantasy premier league transfer tips GW30 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. UPDATED for the managers final scores and overall ranks
fantasy premier league transfer tips GW30 – analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers – UPDATED
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 29 review to date (updated)
A poor week so far for the 10 FPL managers with 3 getting a green arrow and 7 getting a red. The average rank of the 10 worsened
The average score of the managers in GW29 was 56 after taking points deductions for extra transfers into account. That’s 5 points and 10% better than the game average of 51. High score of the 10 was 76. The low score is 40 -4 = 36.
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers so far is 101k. That’s a worsening from the last gameweek of 14k. The best overall rank is just over 500th (1,785 pts) and the lowest 286k (1,612 pts). I think the median overall rank interestingly is 83k
The average total points are 1,674
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 in 10 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Pope is in 8 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Soyuncu and Doherty are in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Jack Stephens is in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Charlie Taylor is in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Button, Leno and Boly are in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Goalkeeper/Defence by team
Liverpool are represented 14 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Burnley are represented 12 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Wolves are represented 10 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Leicester and Southampton are represented 6 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Sheffield, Brighton and Arsenal are represented 3 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Midfielders
Salah is in 10 of the FPL managers teams
De Bruyne is in 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Mane is in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Hayden and Saka are in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Dendoncker, Barnes, Maddison, Grealish and Cantwell are in 2 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Forwards
Jimenez is in 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Ings and Calvert Lewin are in 6 of the 10 managers teams
Aubameyang is in 5 of the 10 managers teams
Jota is in 4 of the 10 managers teams
Captain choice
5 FPL managers have Salah as captain
5 FPL managers have Aubameyang as captain
The FFGeek poll for the GW29 captain choice was 53% Aubameyang , 19% Salah and De Bruyne
Formations
7 managers played 3-4-3
1 manager each played 3-5-2, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2
Wildcards and Chips
2 managers used their 2nd wildcard this week which is the total to date
1 manager used their bench boost this week which is also the total to date
All 10 managers have used their triple captain chip
The 2 wildcard teams
The objective seems to be to combine the double gameweek while covering for the blank gameweek. Both have scored around 44. Nothing changed from these pictures apart from auto subs
Transfers
None of the managers carried over a free transfer. 5 managers took point deductions for extra transfers.
Transfers in
These exclude wildcard transfers
Aubameyang and Sarr were transferred in by 3 managers
Jota was transferred in by 2 managers
No one else was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Vardy and Ings were transferred out by 2 managers
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 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 | 32 | 30 | -2 |
| Leno | 5 | 30 | 25 |
| Pope | 50 | 80 | 30 |
| Lundstram | 30 | 0 | -30 |
| Doherty | 8 | 60 | 52 |
| Alexander Arnold | 91 | 100 | 9 |
| Robertson | 25 | 20 | -5 |
| Soyuncu | 34 | 60 | 26 |
| Boly | 3 | 30 | 27 |
| Taylor | 3 | 40 | 37 |
| Lascelles | 21 | 0 | -21 |
| Stephens | 4 | 50 | 46 |
| De Bruyne | 82 | 90 | 8 |
| Mane | 25 | 40 | 15 |
| Salah | 90 | 10 | -80 |
| Sarr | 3 | 40 | 37 |
| Saka | 6 | 30 | 24 |
| Traore | 26 | 10 | -16 |
| Fernandes | 36 | 10 | -26 |
| Hayden | 6 | 30 | 24 |
| Cantwell | 29 | 20 | -9 |
| Aubameyang | 55 | 50 | -5 |
| Ings | 63 | 60 | -3 |
| Calvert Lewin | 18 | 60 | 42 |
| Jota | 10 | 40 | 30 |
| Jimenez | 63 | 90 | 27 |
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
Burnley defence – Pope
Wolves defence – Boly unless you can afford Doherty
De Bruyne
Salah
Jimenez
That’s 6 players. Ings and the Leicester defence are removed from the template. The Burnley defence is added. It seems to me the 10 managers are preparing for a GW31 and not using their free ht to navigate it.
That leaves 9 difference makers/bench warmers for your FPL team. The template is very narrow meaning scores could be pretty volatile going forward
One managers team
This is the manager who’s 5th of the 10 with an OR of 66k. His last 3 seasons overall ranks are an incredible 9k, 7k and 1k. His score this week was an impressive 76.
He has 5 of the 6 template players mentioned above. He doesn’t have Jimenez but his template replacement player is Jota.
His bench players are Rico, Stephens and Button
That leaves him 6 difference makers in Soyuncu, Mane, Barnes, Ings, Calvert Lewin and Grealish. His score saw an improvement in rank from 116k to 66k.
His team value is £104.4
This week his transfer was Jota for Connolly
He has 6 players with fixtures in GW31 plus Rico. So with free transfers he can field 8. The transfer of Jota suggests he may think that is enough rather than using his free hit.
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 not really achievable by many at £106.7m
That’s it. Hope you found it useful
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