Here’s our fantasy premier league transfer tips GW35 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 GW35 – Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
Introduction
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.
This article was written after the Wednesday games
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
Their basic stats after Wednesday GW34+
The average points score in GW34+ after Wednesday games was 45.
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers was 64k. Up 12k from last week
The Median overall rank though is much better. 21k
The average total points are 2,043
The average team value was £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
Doherty is in 8 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Pope and Martin are in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Aurier and Holgate are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Button, Charlie Taylor, Martinez, Lascelles and Femenia are in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Goalkeeper/Defence by team
Wolves are represented 12 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Liverpool are represented 10 times in the 10 FPL managers team
Burnley are represented 8 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Watford are represented 7 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
West Ham are represented 5 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Brighton, Spurs and Everton are represented 4 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Midfielders
Fernandes and De Bruyne are in 10 of the FPL managers teams
Martial is in 7 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Salah is in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Foden is in 5 of the FPL managers teams
Pulisic is in 3 of the 10 managers teams
Mane, Son and Mahrez are in 2 of the 10 managers teams
Forwards
Jimenez is in 10 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Calvert Lewin is in 7 of the 10 managers teams
Rashford is in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Nketiah is in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Greenwood is in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
GW34+ Captain Choice
All 10 managers captained De Bruyne
The FFGeek Poll showed 32% were captaining Fernandes, 31% De Bruyne and 11% Kane
Formations
7 managers played 3-5-2
2 managers played 3-4-3
1 managers played 4-5-1
Wildcards and Chips
All 10 managers have used their 2nd wildcard
7 managers have used their Bench Boost
3 have used their Free Hit chip
All 10 managers have used their triple captain chip
Transfers
Transfers in
De Bruyne, Foden and Greenwood were transferred in by 2 managers
No other player was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Salah was transferred out 2 times
No one else were transferred out more than once
The top 10k overall rank vs the 10 FPL managers
Livefpl.net gives the top 10k stats and it 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 |
| Pope | 51 | 50 | -1 |
| Button | 25 | 30 | 5 |
| Martinez | 24 | 30 | 6 |
| Alex Arnold | 83 | 100 | 17 |
| Doherty | 57 | 80 | 23 |
| Lascelles | 38 | 30 | -8 |
| Saiss | 32 | 10 | -22 |
| Holgate | 15 | 40 | 25 |
| Aurier | 30 | 40 | 10 |
| De Bruyne | 95 | 100 | 5 |
| Fernandes | 93 | 100 | 7 |
| Salah | 46 | 60 | 14 |
| Pulisic | 29 | 30 | 1 |
| Martial | 51 | 70 | 19 |
| Foden | 29 | 50 | 21 |
| Jimenez | 82 | 100 | 18 |
| Rashford | 46 | 50 | 4 |
| Calvert Lewin | 23 | 70 | 47 |
| Nketiah | 15 | 40 | 25 |
| Greenwood | 46 | 30 | -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
Wolves defence – Doherty
Burnley defence – Pope
Fernandes
De Bruyne
Martial
Jimenez
That’s 7 players.
That leaves 8 difference makers/bench warmers for your FPL team. I have left out Calvert Lewin as he appears to be on a selling trajectory and Watford defence as they are just there for the FPL bench
One managers team
This was the highest scorer of the last round so far with 57 points
This manager is currently 54k overall. He has all 7 of template players.
His last 3 seasons are 2k, 58th and 7k overall ranks
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 relatively unachievable at around £108.0m
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
Join the FFGeek FPL Patreon site
* access to the FFGeek Contributor tracker team incl live transfers (36k OR)
* Weekly podcasts
* Joe’s interactive transfer planner & team incl live transfers (47k OR)
* imaginary wildcard articles
* Slack channel access
$2 & $3 tiers.
No commitment beyond 1 month
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
For more Fantasy premier league transfer tips GW35 articles follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
