Here’s our GW27 fantasy football tips article where Andrew Ferguson reviews his GW26 teams in FPL, TFF, Sky and Sun and outlines his plans, including his blanks and double gameweek strategy for FPL and his overhaul thoughts in Sky FF, for GW27. Andrew finished top 1k in TFF, Sky and FPL plus 15k in Sun in 17/18.
GW27 fantasy football tips – Andrew Ferguson reviews his GW26 teams in FPL, TFF, Sky and Sun plus outlines his plans for GW27
fantasy premier league
Weekly score: 59 Overall rank: 50,317
Another disaster of a gameweek where Aguero and Sterling punished me, again, for going with Sane out of the trio. I ended up only fielding 10 players as Rashford and Sane didn’t start with the remainder of my bench unfit for the time being. Robertson, Son, Pogba and Salah returned as usual to give me some respectability but the rest were poor and I need to think about how I get out of this little hole.
Transfers and captaincy
I think this year as I started so well (was around 1500 OR by GW 5/6) I have subconsciously been playing defensively ever since, bringing in players a week or so behind everyone else which has cost me and is not the way I usually like to play. I am going to have to do something a little different to get back on the right track so I am thinking this week of maybe taking a bit of a gamble with my transfer and subbing out Richarlison (that isn’t the risk, good riddance!) and bringing in Newcastle’s new signing Almiron who at 0.3% ownership has the right mix of ingredients and fixtures to potentially be a big hit over the next few gameweeks.
Due to a lack of serious options in GW27 and with my current maverick hat on I am even contemplating captaining him at home to Huddersfield. The other players I am contemplating bringing in are Maddison who has a great stretch of fixtures coming up although the first game against a battling Palace team, and Anderson who is playing Fulham this week, has a good set of fixtures coming up and is serious captaincy material also this week. I could do Richarlison and Sane to Almiron and Anderson for a -4 but this the leaves me with no City and no Aubameyang for GW28; much to ponder.
My GW27 team actually looks OK, I should have 11 players which maybe gives me an advantage over players who haven’t planned for the blank and/or who will use chips that I still have in hand. With GW31 now looking like a fairly big blank I am hoping careful planning and use of my chips from GW32 onwards can catapult me back up the rankings. I am also not too worried now about taking a couple of hits over the next few weeks to compensate for getting 0’s for not having enough players playing in GW31 and GW33 whilst also hopefully making some headway along the way.
My current chip plan (massively subject to change) is:
* Dead end team into GW31 (with GW33 fixtures in mind), get as many players playing as I can
* Free Hit in GW32 for the double gameweek
* Play GW33 as normal
* Wildcard in GW34
* Bench Boost in GW35
I will still also have my triple captain to play but I am undecided on when to use this and will probably just look for the best opportunity.
Below will be my likely GW27 team but with Sane and Richarlison out for Anderson and Almiron with one of them being captain
Telegraph Fantasy Football
Weekly score: 105 and 42 Overall rank: 244 Transfers left: 10
Another decent week although a double Wolves attacking move against Newcastle didn’t work out immediately which was disappointing. My Man City players produced well and Robertson, Doherty and Pogba also scored well putting me in a decent position.
My forward planning helped me maximise the FA Cup weekend well with 42 points from City, Wolves, Palace and United and the draw will be huge in terms of next moves as the blanks will become apparent and then manoeuvring players in and out to maximise the fixtures in a linear fashion will be key to a good end of the season. I am not planning any transfers for next weekend but Sane/Jota to Aguero could be a move to make next Wednesday evening when they play West Ham. I am conscious of my transfer count and will be hoping to slow right down to give myself 7 or 8 left going into April if possible when the double gameweeks really take effect with the extra fixtures to take advantage of.
Sky Sports fantasy football
Weekly score: 98 Overall rank: 91 Transfers left: 9
Another OK week with me maintaining rank although my captaincy picks weren’t the best. I capped Salah at home to Bournemouth on Saturday who scored but nothing else whilst I did a last minute captaincy change on Sunday from Sterling to a freshly transferred Son (to guarantee a starting captain) which didn’t quite work out as planned. Overall though to be in the top 100 at this position of the season with a reasonable, if not plentiful, amount of transfers left is pleasing and gives me a great shout of a good finish.
Transfers and captaincy
Overhaul time! The key decision I am juggling with is whether to go for broke a little and really try and give myself an outside chance of finishing in the upper echelons or play it safe and hope I can climb up naturally through what look like sensible captaincy and transfer decisions. I am in a couple of cash leagues and am not really challenging the top so I think I may try and land in the middle with key players like Allison, Robertson, Laporte, Pogba and a City attacker stapling together a wider team of enablers and low ownership players with the potential to score well through a combination of them being their team’s talismans, and their fixtures. The three teams which excite me initially are Leicester, Wolves and Newcastle which offer good value players, low ownership and alternative captaincy options for the remainder of the season. The players I am looking at are:
Leicester: Pereira, Maddison, Vardy
Wolves: Doherty, Jota, Jiminez
Newcastle: Schar, Almiron, Rondon
Some of them may or may not feature in my initial team as I need to ensure I cover the opening weekend of captaincies but they may come in a week or two after to ensure I maximise the amount of players in action.
My initial draft shortlist is looking something like this:
Allison – great value, Liverpool may tighten up more at the back as they try and scrape the win points
Robertson – been amazing for me this season, great value at 9m and Salah cap alternative
Laporte – same as Robertson and City cap alternative, must have imo
Paterson – good enabler and I expect Cardiff to tighten up a bit during the relegation scrap
Doherty – again been fantastic this season and a great price
Almiron – a big punt but one I really fancy. Good credentials and great fixtures
Maddison – has done well this season and has a great run of fixtures until the end of the season. Good price
Pogba – scores points in every way
Brooks – good player and great enabler at 6.3m particularly when Bournemouth’s fixtures turn in a few weeks time
Anderson – great captaincy option for the first game back against Fulham. Always an attacking threat and good fixtures for the next few weeks
Sterling – when he bangs, he bangs
Jiminez – great value and great fixtures, whats not to like
Son – in the form of his life and good value for his price
Aubameyang – captaincy option for the opening weekend against Southampton before Bournemouth then a difficult few
Note no Salah or Aguero (yet). I may be punished but if I want to make serious headway I need to take some risks. The Champions League will also play a part and may see some rotation which isn’t ideal when we are spending that much money on one or two spots. Where there is a good alternative option such as Son against Southampton or Anderson against Cardiff I will probably go this way or another option is simply to cover the them with Sterling and Robertson (who has had a few 11 pointers this season).
Current overhaul draft
This covers the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday captains and then gives me options for a transfer in for Wednesday depending on lineups or maybe just leave it on Aubameyang at home to Bournemouth before making the change on the Saturday to potentially Sterling as Arsenal’s fixtures go sour. I am going to the City-West Ham game which may sway my thinking if I see Aguero smashing them in during the warm-up so this isn’t set in stone but is my wider strategy.
I must reiterate I will be probably be choosing this route as I am going to gamble a bit and am not saying it is the best way forward in all situations. Not having Salah and/or Aguero is a massive risk and may see me fly down the rankings which is a risk I’m willing to take to try and get into the top 50. Good luck whichever route you take.
Sun Dream Team (Team 1)
Weekly score: 79 and 17 Overall rank: 94,509 Transfers left: 0/month
A good week and another rise into the top 100k, thank goodness. My all out City strategy has worked well so far in February and with a few more games to go am hoping it keeps paying up until we get our transfer refresh for March. My transfers in were a bit of a disaster this week but I do have the longer game in mind and Aubameyang and Jota have some great fixtures coming up still in February.
Transfers
None left for February
Sun Dream Team (Team 2)
Weekly score: 111 and 13 Overall rank: 3,697 Transfers left: 0/month
Similar story to above although I have jumped well back into the top 5k. Having Pogba and Lacazette sent off in Europe was a little unlucky and they will miss a game each but again, they have good fixtures coming up outside of Europe.
Transfers
None left for February
I will confirm all my transfers on Twitter (My Twitter handle is Fergi222, give me a follow!) by the respective deadlines so keep an eye out
Good luck everyone for GW27!
See underlying stats on players from GW26 the early FFGeek team article and the 10 top FPL managers we follow
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