Here’s our fantasy premier league transfer tips GW38 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 GW38 – Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
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 (43k OR)
* Weekly podcasts
* Joe’s interactive transfer planner & team incl live transfers (40k OR)
* imaginary wildcard articles
* Slack channel access
$2 & $3 tiers.
No commitment beyond 1 calender month
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
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.
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 Sundays GW37+ game are
The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers was 74k. Down 6k from last week
The Median overall rank though is much better. 31k
The average total points are 2,182
The average team value was £104.6m.
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 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Doherty is in 7 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Pope is in 6 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Martin, Martinez and Tarkoski are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Holgate, Button, Charlie Taylor, Lascelles and Femenia are in 3 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Goalkeeper/Defence by team
Burnley are represented 14 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Wolves are represented 12 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Liverpool are represented 10 times in the 10 FPL managers team
West Ham are represented 5 times in the 10 FPL managers teams
Midfielders
Fernandes is in 10 of the FPL managers teams
De Bruyne and Martial are in 9 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Salah and Foden are in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Sterling and Pulisic are in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Forwards
Greenwood is in 7 of the FPL managers teams
Vardy is in 5 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Ings is in 4 of the 10 FPL managers teams
Rashford, Wood and Calvert Lewin are in 3 of the 10 managers teams
GW37+ Captain Choice
4 managers captained Martial
3 managers captained Fernandes
1 each captained Rashford, Salah and Sterling
The FFGeek Poll showed 34% were captaining Fernandes, 17% Martial and 11% Aubameyang. Other polls had Martial and Fernandes closer
Formations
Not done this week
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. None used it in GW37+
All 10 managers have used their triple captain chip
Transfers
Transfers in
Tarkowski was transferred in 4 times
Wood was transferred in 2 times
No other player was transferred in more than once
Transfers out
Calvert Lewin was transferred out 3 times
Pulisic 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 | 55 | 60 | 5 |
| Martinez | 26 | 40 | 14 |
| Alex Arnold | 66 | 90 | 24 |
| Doherty | 58 | 70 | 12 |
| Lascelles | 23 | 30 | 7 |
| Saiss | 35 | 20 | -15 |
| Aurier | 23 | 20 | -3 |
| Tarkoswki | 19 | 40 | 21 |
| De Bruyne | 84 | 90 | 6 |
| Fernandes | 95 | 100 | 5 |
| Salah | 43 | 50 | 7 |
| Pulisic | 33 | 40 | 7 |
| Martial | 68 | 90 | 22 |
| Foden | 28 | 50 | 22 |
| Stering | 28 | 40 | 12 |
| Ings | 51 | 40 | -11 |
| Jimenez | 49 | 10 | -39 |
| Vardy | 22 | 50 | 28 |
| Wood | 12 | 30 | 18 |
| Rashford | 33 | 30 | -3 |
| Greenwood | 56 | 70 | 14 |
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
Greenwood
That’s 7 players.
That leaves 8 difference makers/bench warmers for your FPL team.
One managers team
This was the 2nd highest scorer of the last round so far with 23 points
This manager is currently 24k overall. He has all 6 of the 7 template players. His template replacement player for Greenwood is Rashford.
His last 3 seasons are 9k, 7k and 1k overall ranks. He has his Free Hit chip left only.
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 very achievable at around £106.0m
For more Fantasy premier league transfer tips GW38 articles follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
