FPL Teams GW12 – 2 FFGeek Contributors With Their GW12 Teams Part 1

Contributors, Fantasy Premier League

Here’s part 1 of our FPL teams GW12 article where 2 FFGeek Contributors show their teams. There’s Andrew Whitfield and Kev in Canada. Between them they have 5 top 1% finishes in the last 3 competitive seasons including 2 top 10k finishes

FPL Teams GW12 – 2 FFGeek Contributors With Their GW12 Teams Part 1

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Andrew Whitfield

Andrew’s last 4 seasons overall ranks were 34k, 132k, 6k and 19k

GW11 Points: 59  (FPL average 42) Total points: 739, Overall Rank: 61k, red arrow: 2k  Team Value: £102.9m

Follow Andrew on twitter here

Andrew has used his wildcard

Gameweek 11 review:

An action packed weekend with the attacking full backs of Cancelo, Trent Alexander Arnold and Reece James running the show, loads of points left sitting firmly on our benches with unusually minimal rotation, three red cards including keeper Sanchez, a couple of own goals including Allison, a missed pen from Aubameyang gratefully saved by Foster, and two managerial sackings !!

City cruised past United in the Manchester derby, Chelsea were held by Burnley but stay 3 points clear, West Ham toppled Liverpool and replaced them in 3rd place, Arsenal are 5th after three straight wins, Newcastle are the only team still to win, as Norwich finally won but sacked Mr Farke , and Villa also axed Mr Smith but not as surprising after five successive defeats

My GW11 score and rank:

I had 5/11 returners in a score of 59 points. Cancelo, Trent and Raphinha were the stars, Salah was rank neutral due to ownership, and Livramento made it an astonishing seven returns in eight games. My keeper Sanchez saw red so suffered at the hands of Ramsdale owners, with Smith Rowe inflicting more damage against my alternative pick of Gallagher who I left at first sub.

A very small red arrow, down from 59k to 61k, but a bit of an escape, considering a few things that went against me. So not the best of weeks but I head into the international break in good shape and sitting very healthily well inside the top 1% of teams.

My GW11 talking points:

My attacking full backs of Trent and Cancelo were my heroes. We all know that Trent has those free kicks in his locker to go with his consistent assist threat so 12 points was a great return. Many decided to bench Cancelo in the Manchester derby but I never bench premium defenders. He followed his three assists in Europe with another two on Saturday. He is finally turning potential into points and hasn’t missed a game all season. 14 points was a delicious return.

Back to back 9 pointers for Raphinha means the Brazilian is also delivering points at last to match his outstanding ability. It would have been 10 but for taking his shirt off. Some tougher fixtures on the horizon but Raphinha is a quality player, arguably fixture proof. All eyes on his trip away with Brazil again now and his safe return !!

We all have big benching dilemnas right now. I was always going to start the highly owned Antonio as Westham are scoring goals for fun against everyone. So my big benching call was Livramento or Gallagher. When Livramento returned six points on Friday that looked a good call, until Gallagher returned 11 on Saturday !! Five points down on the call but just glad to own both. We all have tough benching calls. Many benched Cancelo..

I actually left 30 points on my bench !! Having said that, I was always playing Sanchez v Newcastle over Foster at Arsenal. The Gallagher 11 I did get 6 from Livramento instead, and McCarthur was never coming near my team. I doubt I will land 30 on a bench boost in a double gameweek that we all spend weeks preparing for.

My Sanchez v Ramsdale battle was a mini disaster this week. A Sanchez red card was not too catastrophic as the clean sheet had already gone. If Wilson hadn’t been brought down he would have scored so the red card only cost two points. He only misses one game and I have Foster to stand in next game. But the dagger in the side was the Ramsdale seven pointer. An 8 point keeper swing was significant from what looked like two closely matched fixtures, with Sanchez v Newcastle a great opportunity which looked good for the clean sheet for much of the game.

The Ramsdale, Smith Rowe, Reece James show is kicking me right now. I have Smith Rowe on my radar. I have two Chelsea defenders, Chilwell and Rudiger, but the double clean sheet went late on, and that man James grabbed an assist which could have been a lot more. Maybe I got away with that one this week. He could easily have had another monster score. What an amazing player he looks right now.

My three strikers fired blanks which they did for most people. The top 14 most highly owned strikers blanked. No striker over 5% owned even scored or assisted !! I brought in Toney as a fixture play but he blanked for the 5th successive game as Brentford seem to have hit the buffers. I switched out Jimenez rather than Antonio to accommodate Toney but they both blanked anyway. I could have swerved Toney and got Mbeumo but he blanked too. All my transfer calls last week ended neutral. In fact I started Livramento where I would have played Mbeumo.

Westham are a scoring machine, even if Antonio isn’t. On another day, the bounce of the ball goes for him. The Fornal goal gets parried into his path for a tap in or he scores when clean through. I am not unduly worried like some are. He will score goals and lets face it, no other strikers are putting their hands up. He could score twice at Wolves. I have brought the free scoring Vardy in as my Lukaku replacement and he has blanked three out of three. I don’t think I ever get the best of Vardy !!

So what next ?

I have 2M in the bank and one free transfer.

I won’t be doing anything at all during the two week international break, and I urge caution and patience to everyone else too. It’s tempting to make changes but with most players away playing multiple international games and all the other chaos that follows a break, it’s just far too risky. The greatest quality of an FPL manager is patience. Plan by all means, but hold all transfers !!

All my plans below could of course go out of the window if we get any significant injuries so keep that in mind when reading on.

So what changes am I considering ?

I deliberately planned my 2M transfer kitty to target the upcoming four Spurs fixtures. That includes home games v Leeds, Brentford and Norwich. If that doesn’t spark Spurs into life, then nothing will. I don’t want to go without Spurs in these four games. The fixtures are too good. If we can disregard the woeful form of Ivan Toney to target fixtures, then I think we can target Kane and Son don’t you !!

Of the two, I prefer Son. An extra point for each goal, and a clean sheet point, and he is looking the more likely to score. However, it’s very dependent on your own individual team. For me, I can use my 2M to switch Vardy to Kane easily. To get to Son, it would mean two moves and a -4 hit, still losing Vardy. I could potentially do Vardy to Jimenez and Benrahma to Son. Kane is on penalties and it’s only a four game run I am targeting. But there is a very significant factor to throw into the mix. That’s getting to Christiano Ronaldo.

I challenge anyone who doesn’t want Ronaldo from GW16 which starts v Norwich and runs into a fixture run that’s too good to be true right through to GW27. Yes Ronaldo has been inconsistent, but we have seen his amazing goals in Europe. He can score from nothing. Those fixtures look so delicious. I definitely want him from GW16.

Therefore, if I use two transfers to get to Son, I will also need two transfers to get back to Ronaldo. That’s to target a four game run only, so when Kane is on penalties. I can go Vardy to Kane in one move, then Kane to Ronaldo in one move too. For me personally, as much as I prefer Son, Kane really is my best option for my fixture planning.

I could of course go straight from Vardy to Ronaldo now. After all he does play Watford next. But those Spurs fixtures I prefer for the next four.

What if I decide to dodge spurs completely ?

If I don’t target Spurs, I can turn Benrahma into Foden. And keep Vardy. But I then cut off the Spurs route and have no route back to Ronaldo. I could go Benrahma to Jota too but that also impacts my Spurs route and Ronaldo plan. My template model says Benrahma to Foden is the effective use of 2M. But it doesn’t take into account going without Spurs or getting Ronaldo back. It would also amplify my benching dilemnas even more this week and who knows whether Pep rests Foden after the international break.

I could also roll the transfer, bench Vardy, he has Watford in GW13, and delay getting Kane, or just sit on 2M until I want Ronaldo. I don’t want to use that cash as I need it and I don’t like sitting on 2M.

I think I just want Spurs coverage. Some will be doubling on Kane and Son. I definitely want one. And Kane fits my plans. So Vardy to Kane looks my likely GW12 plan. It currently costs 1.5M for me. I have 2M so can afford to sit on this plan through the break.

Other transfers plans in my team:

I love Smith Rowe. Benrahma to Smith Rowe with cash to spare looks a good move. If I am investing in that premium striker spot, and a premium defence, I am going without the likes of Jota and Foden. So being able to have both Gallagher and Smith Rowe in my midfield with Salah and Raphinha is very appealing. Arsenal play Liverpool next, but Benrahma to Smith Rowe for Arsenal v Newcastle in GW13 looks the perfect move.

The template seems to have swung from Sanchez to Ramsdale so that’s definitely a thought. But in terms of priority, it’s behind getting Spurs and Smith Rowe.

Not owning Reece James is scary right now with how he is playing. Rudiger to Reece James looks more than a luxury sideways move. It’s looking an essential move. Probably not my top priority but having both attacking full backs looks like a cheat code to easy points.

A look at GW12:

We all have massive benching headaches right now. GW12 is no exception. An out of form Toney plays Newcastle, an out of form Antonio but in a free scoring Westham team plays Wolves, an in form Raphinha plays at Spurs, Livramento plays Norwich on the back of seven returns in eight !! I don’t bench premium defenders. So that leaves Gallagher who I have just left 11 and 13 on the bench in the last two weeks !! Maybe Pep or Tuchel rotate after the international break and solve the dilemmas. Rotation is usually rife after a break.

Sanchez has a one match ban and I have Foster coming in. Not an ideal fixture v Man Utd but he just scored 11 points at Arsenal !!

Of course if any significant injuries occur during the break, everything changes and it could all look very different indeed.

Captain I will probably stick with Salah v Arsenal

Enjoy the international break everyone. Give yourself a few days away from FPL. It will still be here when you come back. Friends and family are precious and we live in uncertain times. Give them your attention and come back refreshed and raring to go again

Good luck everyone !!

Transfer summary: to be confirmed but possibly Vardy out and Kane in

Here is my current GW12 set up. Assume Vardy is Kane

FPL Teams GW12

Kev in Canada

Kev’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 52k, 48k and 6k

GW11 Points: 67  (FPL average 42) Total points: 733, Overall Rank: 83k, green arrow: 43k  Team Value: £103.5m

Follow Kev on twitter here

Kev has used his wildcard

This was the first week of very tough benching decisions. The reality is Ben Chilwell, Reece James and João Cancelo are ABSOLUTE MUSTS right now and all three could be benched to no suprise. So we need the deep benches to protect the 11. Fortunately we can get midfield studs at 5.5M right now that are playing very well. Just remember that as painful as the bench points are THEY ARE A GOOD THING. It means you know the players that you may have to use as cover in other weeks are capable of scoring. It also means that the players on your bench are going to likely be going up in value to help you come the 2nd wildcard.

A quick note on Antonio.
Antonio had an xG of 0.07 and an xA of 0.00 today vs Pool. He has been out of his sizzling form since GW3. Now due to West Ham’s ability to score and Antonio’s reasonable price, I think it is worth it to just hold him right now. However, I do think that benching him vs difficult competition makes a lot of sense while he is out of form. I am happy I benched him this week, as I had a 50/50 with him and Cancelo at the beginning of the week. The reality is there are so many good players that are in form and also have good fixtures. Gallager, Smith Rowe, Livramento. Etc. Just because they are cheaper does not mean we should play Antonio over them in my opinion. I am playing Antonio vs Wolves of course, but I won’t be vs Man City or Chelsea. The same way I won’t play Vardy vs Chelsea this week. It also depends who my other players play too though.

This week, the bench challenges look even more difficult. As of now my bench is Mbeumo vs Newcastle! Mount! And Vardy! Hahah that’s not right. However, who would you swap them with? Raphinha? Gallagher vs Burnley? Livramento vs Norwich? Livramento has ONE BLANK IN HIS LAST 8 and plays Norwich! I have to start him. It’s tough to stomach though and if it backfires, will hurt even more due to the player prices.

As for my transfer, I may just roll my transfer because I already have so many good options this week. I have been so focused on getting a Spurs player as a place holder for Ronaldo. Well I need to hit to get one and I’m getting Ronaldo in only 2 weeks from now so that hardly seems worth it. If I just keep Vardy then I can play him vs Watford then swap him to Ronaldo afterwards. Save myself messing around with Kane.

It is not an easy decision between rolling, changing Mount to Jota while Firminho is hurt, or taking a hit to change Vardy and Mount to Kane or Son. However I think I should roll and decide the week after.

So for now I am rolling.

Captain Obvious – Salah.
Vice Raphina.

Transfer summary; likely carrying over the free transfer

Here’s the team assuming no transfers are made

FPL Teams GW12

The FFGeek Contributors League

The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 8k last season and 52k the season before. It has started ok in 3rd place with total points of 753 and an overall rank of 28k. You can follow that team, including live transfers as well as the FFGeek team currently also in 3rd position at 28k and the team run by Joe’s Transfer Planner in 1st place on 18K, all on our subscription Patreon site

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

FPL Teams GW12
FPL Teams GW12

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Analysing the teams of 12 top FPL managers

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