fantasy premier league transfers GW25 – analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers – final article

Here’s our fantasy premier league transfers GW25 final article where we analyse the teams of 10 top FPL managers. We’ve added the managers scores to the earlier interim article.  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 transfers GW25 – analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers – final article

Introduction

For ease the new bits are in italics

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 FINAL

A good week for the 10 FPL managers with 9 getting a green arrow and 1 getting a red. The average rank of the 10 improved by a huge margin as a result

The average score of the managers in GW24 was 85 after taking points deductions for extra transfers into account. That’s 32 points and 60% better than the game average of 58. High score of the 10 was 98. The low score was 61.

The average overall rank of the top 10 FPL managers is 160k. That’s an improvement by 113k over the last gameweek. The best overall rank is 14k (1,443 pts) and the lowest 614k (1,320 pts). I think the median score is more reflective though and that is 77k

The average total points are 1,393

The average team value is £104.8m.

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

 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

Here’s 1 of 2 managers with a 98 score

This is the manager who’s 9th of the 10 with an overall rank of 321k. His last 3 seasons overall ranks are 3k and 8k and 6k. 

He has 7 of the 8 template players mentioned above and doesn’t have Soyuncu.  His template replacement player is Gomez.

His bench players are Woodman, Dendoncker, Rico and Kelly.

That leaves him 3 difference makers in Calvert Lewin, Guaita, and Son.

Team value is relatively low at £103.1m

This week his transfers were Gomez in for Aurier.

His 98 score moved him up 405k in overall rank from 726k to 321k.  He’s made that big move up without having to move away from the template.

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

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 1,429 points 26k 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 1,406 points 63k 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

Following the teams of 10 top FPL managers

Andrew Whitfields wildcard

Costas Chari’s wildcard

Rob Reid’s wildcard

Potential blanks and double gameweeks

Fixture Ease rankings

GW25 player rankings for defenders and GKs

FFGeek contributors show their teams part 1

FFGeek captain poll

GW25 midfield player rankings

Blanks and double gameweek updates

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