FPL team tips GW18 – 4 FFGeek Contributors teams part 3

FPL team tips GW18 – 4 FFGeek Contributors teams part 3

I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.

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Introduction

This is part 3 of the FPL managers who contribute to the FFGeek site with good histories who show their teams each week. This will give people a feel for what other managers are doing. It’s a fairly informal thing with no obligation on anyone and these teams may change at anytime before the deadline without further notice. It won’t cover transfers in real time either. It’s just to give an idea of the trends for the week no more.  The teams are shown as their “final-ish” teams so they could change.  Where they have twitter accounts I have shown this and they may update them there or on our Slack Channel which is part of our subscription Patreon site but this is not guaranteed

See Also FFGeek Contributors teams Part 1 and FFGeek Contributors teams Part 2

Yaniv Salomon

Yaniv finished with an overall rank of 3k last season and 4k in 18/19 and 8k in 17/18

GW17 points:  42 (FPL average 56) Total points: 1.043, Overall Rank: 120k, red arrow: 76k Team Value: £105.7m

Follow Yaniv on twitter here

Yaniv is 1 of the 10 top managers I follow who have finished in the top 10k OR the last 3 seasons

Yaniv  has used his Free Hit as he only has 5 players with a BGW18 fixture

Transfer summary:  using the Free Hit chip

Here’s a first draft.  The crosses represent the bench players

Andrew Whitfield

Andrew finished with an overall rank of 132k last season and 6k in 18/19 and 19k in 17/18

GW17 points:  75 (FPL average 56) Total points: 1.048, Overall Rank: 100k, green arrow: 45k Team Value: £104.0m

Follow Andrew on twitter here

– Well these are worrying times, with the UK back in lockdown. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well. It certainly puts football into perspective when lives are being lost. But at the same time, our “beautiful game” can unite us too and provide us with a welcome distraction from the stresses of the world we live in. Let’s hope that the game can continue with minimal disruption and put a smile on our faces in these testing times.

– After a break for the FA Cup, we enter two crucial weeks for FPL managers, with “blank” GW18 and “double“ GW19. There will be less than 24 hours between the end of GW18 and the start of GW19, so I am going to cover my current plans for both in case I don’t get chance in such a quick turn round next week !!

Gameweek 17 review:

– “Only” the one postponed game this week, with plenty of goals flying in. No fewer than 14 players recorded double figure scores, and the “big popular premiums” Kane, Son, De Bruyne, and Fernandes all landed nice hauls, with Salah captainers the ones missing out. With Liverpool slipping up, only four points now separate the top seven teams in this unpredictable season !!

My GW17 score:

– 75 points, including six “returners “, with a 26 point captain haul from Son. So another pleasing week. Playing Coufal over Dallas proved a good call. The blank for Salah was “neutral “ as he was highly captained. A blank for Bamford was not unexpected. Fernandes, Vardy and Grealish all returned some points, to supplement the Coufal and Son returns.

– It was a classic FPL rollercoaster of “bad luck turning to good luck” !! My one transfer in of Justin for Taylor was heading for a perfect clean sheet and “nine pointer” until a late goal, and then an even later goal also denied Dias his clean sheet too. But the tide turned back in my favour in the final game when Adams’ absence brought 11 very welcome points off the bench for Soucek !!

My current overall rank.

– That’s now 10 green arrows in the last 11 weeks, from 1.6M back in GW6, steady but consistent progress and another rise this week from 145k to 100k, so I am very happy with that momentum and rank at this stage, heading into the “blank and double “

So what next ?

GW17 points

– My chip strategy remains to play the “free hit” chip in GW18 as I only have four players !! I will then have 13 “doublers “ who play twice in GW19, plus Son, and a non playing 2nd keeper, so I am still looking to keep all my options open, to play the “bench boost” or “triple captain” chip in GW19, depending on how my bench and squad is looking when GW19 arrives.

– It’s a fast moving situation. I have two players on “four yellows”, I have Che Adams “flagged”, Covid cases are arising each week, games remain at risk of postponement which would clearly alter the dynamics. Then there is the small matter of 20 FA Cup ties to negotiate !! If I can get to GW19 with 14 or 15 doublers and a full playing bench all with two games – and no Covid concerns which is a big ask – I would still like to bench boost. But it won’t take much at all to derail those plans. It only needs one of the “double” teams to succumb to the virus and it’s a non starter. Bench boosting appears a high risk strategy right now, in the current circumstances.

– It would be a shame to not bench boost now having been so well set for it for a few weeks. I think it reinforces the advantage of playing a bench boost immediately after a wildcard.

– Triple captain is a genuine option too in double GW19. Salah and De Bruyne are both decent options. But then again, the triple captain chip doesn’t come without Covid risks either !!

How’s my GW18 free hit looking ?

– What’s for sure is that I am playing the “free hit” next in GW18. I have already activated this “chip”. I will leave my final team until just before the Tuesday deadline and I have a few core players and a few different team line ups under consideration. The biggest questions seem to be whether to double up on the Man City defence or attack, whether to play Kane or Son or both, and which Man Utd and Arsenal players to go for in their favourable fixtures.

– It’s usually good practice to “trash the bench “ with a free hit and put all the money into the starting eleven. But with Covid risks, spreading the cash a little to have three playing back up players, could be prudent, especially when Man City, Man Utd and Arsenal have the standout fixtures and “triple ups” on these three teams will put a lot of eggs in just three very big baskets !!

– So here is my current free hit team. I am covering the three defences with the best clean sheet opportunities and also doubling up on the Man City defence, with additional attacking threat from Cancelo and Tierney. I am doubling up on Fernandes and Rashford and going with just Son and not Kane. The Arsenal triple up could well be a trap after they were deemed relegation candidates two weeks ago !! It might be a step too far, so Lacazette could be Calvert Lewin, with Wolves without a clean sheet in ten games. I also have one solid defender sub in case Dias or Cancelo were rotated.

Free Hit draft

What about GW19 ?

– As things stand, I have 13 “doublers”. If the bench boost is looking viable, I can use the funds I have banked to upgrade in GW19 to a 2nd keeper to give me a full playing bench, all with two games. My 2nd keeper is currently Forster. An extended absence for McCarthy would be a big help and save me a transfer !! A 2nd keeper would give me 14 doublers plus Son, who has Sheff Utd. It’s as good as it gets for a bench boost and effectively gives me “29 players” !!

– The big “curveball” is Kevin De Bruyne now that Man City have been added to the double gameweek mix. It’s going to be an uncomfortable double gameweek without him !! The problem is that getting KDB in would involve two moves. I wouldn’t be averse to a -4, especially if it gets me 15 doublers, for a bench boost. However, if i also have to upgrade my keeper, that then becomes a -8. So is it better just to stick with Son v Sheff Utd instead and save 8 points and go without KDB ??

– If the bench boost is looking less viable with injuries and Covid risks, I could forget the keeper upgrade and do the two moves to get KDB for a -4, and possibly triple captain him too. With all the hurdles to clear before GW19, that could be where I end up.

– How I get KDB back in two moves is the other question. A swap from Son to KDB for the double could be funded by Grealish to El Ghazi. I don’t want to lose Fernandes or Salah for the double, and my only other route to getting KDB would be through Vardy, but that doesn’t make sense when Vardy has an attractive double too. KDB is giving me a lot to think about right now !!

– So I think my free hit in GW18 is the easy part. It’s the GW19 conundrums that are giving me most headaches . It could be that the position is much clearer depending on what happens in the FA Cup and in GW18, but there will be less than 24 hours between the two gameweeks, so it’s going to be an interesting late call.

Much to ponder !!!!

transfer summary:  Free Hit activated

The draft free hit team is above

Kev in Canada

Kev finished 48k last season 6k in 18/19 and 195k in 17/18

GW17 points:  76 (FPL average 56) Total points: 1.025, Overall Rank: 227k, green arrow: 96k Team Value: £103.2m

Follow Kev on twitter here

My initial plan when Wildcarding in GW16 was to free hit this week and bench boost Game Week 19. However I knew there was a risk to this strategy as Wildcarding so many weeks earlier has a high likelihood of some disruption.

Due to the additional games added for AVL MCI BUR and MUN, I have changed my Game Week 18 plan to playing what I have now and saving the Free Hit Chip. There are two reasons why I am doing this:

1. I have four premiums playing with De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, Son and Kane. As well as 9 players (took one -4 to get this set). The free hit would not add any premiums to this so it would be for two more fringe players.

2. With the chaos COVID is causing, I could see there potentially being more than one more double game week to come still. I will use my Wild Card before the next big one in GW26 but perhaps there is another one on top of that. The Free Hit could be used there to maximise double players. In that scenario I think the Free Hit would have a better chance at more points than in a Blank Game Week. If not, I will have the next big blank week Game Week 29 in which I could still use it anyway.

The only caveat is that because I am only one or two injuries away from using the free hit chip in GW18, I decided to make my transfers a bit earlier to take advantage of price changes. If there are injuries I could free hit to reverse the transfers and build a free hit team.

Captain: De Bruyne
Vice: Kane

Transfer summary:   Alexander-Arnold and Salah out to Cancelo and De Bruyne in. Then next week I would go Kane and Son to Vardy and Salah.

Here’s the team with transfers completed

Rob Cosgrove

Rob’s last 4 seasons overall rank were 64k, 45k, 40k and 23k

GW17 points:  49 -4 (FPL average 56) Total points: 900, Overall Rank: 2,444k, red arrow: 383k Team Value: £102.7m

Free hit is active! I will run through my thoughts on each player I have chosen but please note this team could still change before the deadline!

GK

Darlow – very good clean sheet potential against Sheff Utd. Slight worry that Dubravka is available again and could lose his place
Sanchez – bench playing GK selected in case Darlow is dropped!

Defence

Saiss – Wolves’s clean sheets seem to have dried up but Saiss is so good from set pieces seems a good option
Tierney – I love Tierney he’s such a tidy LB just hope Arteta doesn’t switch to a back 5 and play him LCB. Arsenal have struggled at home this season but against an inconsistent Palace team he could bring great reward
Cancelo – a home fixture against Brighton screams clean sheet and he is defo due an attacking return soon. Rotation is a worry especially as Walker has recovered from COVID.
Lowton & Mitchell – 2 playing bench options who will cover any of my starting XI not playing

Midfield

Sterling – could be KDB but wanted a slight differential to try and claw some rank back.
Grealish – not an easy fixture against an improved Spurs defence but Villa are no pushovers this season
Fernandes – tricky fixture away at Burnley but the guy is on fire and is essential is my eyes
Son – rank killer not to own which I’ve found out the hard way!
Neto – looks a very good player driving Wolves forward and is on set pieces

Forwards

Kane – need I say more?
Wilson – great fixture and has ticked along nicely with goals and assists
Davis – 3rd bench spot should not be needed

Summary

I haven’t changed this team for a couple days now and feel quietly confident in it. I will wait to see what happens during the FA cup over the weekend with injuries etc.

My captain is Sterling. Perfect fixture and has got returns in the last 4 so could be his time to shine!

Transfer summary:  Free Hit activated

Here’s the last draft Free Hit team

FFGeek Contributors League

The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 52k last season is going ok in 3rd place with total points of 1074 and an overall rank of 32k. You can follow that team, including live transfers, on our subscription Patreon site.

You can also follow Joe’s  transfer planner team which finished with an overall rank of 32k last season currently in 21st place with total points of 981 and an overall rank of, 719k.

There’s loads of other features on the Patreon site that you can read about at the top of this page

Other Posts

Ben and Joes draft Free Hit teams

Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers

Early thoughts on the FFGeek team

FFGeek Contributors teams part 2

A fixture difficulty article

A season blanks and doubles schedule

Andrew’s strategy for BGW18 and DGW19

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