Here is our FPL players PPM article where we concentrate on each teams top PPM player and give our view on their future prospects. I also say how the individual player performed in the FFGeek team. This article focuses on Sheffield United and Southampton
FPL players PPM – each teams top Points Per Match player – Part 7
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
Stats are from the free site understat
Sheffield United – John Lundstram £4.9m
Surely it doesn’t come much better than a £4.0m defender in FPL who ends up playing as a midfielder in a team that can actually keep clean sheets.
Only Matt Doherty had better attacking underlying stats converted to FPL points than Lundstram in my attacking defenders article.
Only Burnley and Liverpool had more clean sheets than Sheffield United when the league was suspended. However, Sheffield do have the biggest gap between actual goals and expected goals. A decent proportion of that has to be down to the outstanding shot stopping of Dean Henderson who is 4th in the save % stats but still whether that’s sustainable will always make you nervous especially with someone with no previous PL history to draw on.
If it all sounds too good to be true it wasn’t until he started to be benched. In the last 5 gameweeks he only started 1 game. That game though was the last game before suspension of the league and was an FPL 12 pointer for Lundstram against Norwich. Lundstram was widely praised for his display.
The question surrounding Lundstram is his place in the team. That has to be the case for anyone who is benched in 4 of the last 5 games especially when his replacement is the clubs record signing in Sander Berge.
Has his last display been enough to get back into the side? Who knows? That’s the gamble you have to take if you’re putting him in.
The FFGeek team use
Lundstram was in my starting lineup for 11 games and on the subs bench for 7. His average PPM for me was 4.2 which is below his PPM average of 4.7. However still a good return.
I personally wouldn’t risk him in my team due to the gametime risk. I’d probably go for the cheap defensive version of O’Connell at £4.7m rather than risk having to do a transfer if Lundstram is benched again.
Southampton – Danny Ings £7.1m
The 17/18 season was with Liverpool
If you look at the underlying stats only, this season looks like business as usual for Danny Ings but the reality is anything but. This has been a breakout season. The key to this season is that he suddenly started to be able to finish his chances and outperformed his xG significantly whereas all previous seasons he under performed it. Is the new injury free Danny Ings a better finisher or is this an outlier season? Only time will tell.
His season can be split into 2 bits. Between GW7 and GW22 where he got 13 of his 15 goals at a PPM of 6.6 and the rest of the 13 gameweeks where he scored 2 goals and 1 assist at a PPM of 2.6. During that run between GW7 and GW22 he was over performing his xG at an exceptional rate and that slowdown eventually did come as he scored 1 goal in the last 7 gameweeks. He also was given what seemed to be a few proactive injury avoiding benchings.
He also seemed to lose penalty duties this season to Ward Prowse which is why the stats are non penalty xG. In my latest player ranking article for forwards where underlying stats are converted to FPL points he was 16th over the season and 19th over the last 10 gameweeks. It wasn’t helped by an average minutes played of 73.
However what helped his PPM apart from over performing his underlying stats was his amazing ability to collect bonus points. Incredibly only Aubameyang accrued more than Ings 28. Aubameyang I understand why. He is a low shot volume scorer so tends to get bonus through not missing the target. I haven’t done enough work to recognise why Ings got so many.
The FFGeek team use
Regular readers will now I’m an Ings supporter which is why people may find it surprising that I only had him for 6 gameweeks at an average of 2.6 PPM and sold him after GW6 just before he went on his golden run. To be fair he had been a sub for the 2 previous games and his next 3 were Spurs, Chelsea and Wolves so it was an understandable sale.
Southampton’s fixtures overall to the end of the season are a bit mixed so it may depend on how they are grouped in deciding whether to use him in my team again.
fixture ease schedule for attacking players
Here’s a graphic where the teams are ranked by the ease of the defences for the remaining outstanding fixtures to the end of the season. Ignore GW36-38 and just look at them as a block for the end of the season which could quite frankly end up in any order
The only other Southampton player I’ve had is GK McCarthy who I purchased just before Pope went on his run. McCarthy averaged around 3.5 PPM.
A fixture ease schedule for defensive players
Here’s a graphic where the teams are ranked by the ease of the attacking teams for the remaining outstanding fixtures to the end of the season. Ignore GW36-38 and just look at them as a block for the end of the season which could quite frankly end up in any order
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
Other posts
catching up with the 10 top managers
Best fixtures until the end of the season attackers
Best fixtures to the end of the season defenders
Each teams top PPM player – Arsenal and Aston Villa
Each Teams top PPM player – Bournemouth and Brighton
Each teams top PPM player – Burnley and Chelsea
Each teams top PPM player – Palace and Everton
Each teams top PPM player – Leicester and Liverpool
Each teams top PPM player – Man Utd and Man City
Each teams top PPM player – Norwich and Newcastle
Latest news on the premier league restart
A deep dive on the 10 top FPL managers stats
Andrew Whitfield gradual wildcard
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