Here’s Rob Reid with his FPL gameweek 21 player picks to help you decide on transfers for your team. Rob has finished 3 of the last 5 seasons in the top 0.5% of FPL managers.
Rob Reid with his FPL gameweek 21 player picks
You can follow Rob on twitter here. You can also see his GW21 team here
After the success of the previous 2 seasons, Player Picks is back again for 2019-2020 with a fairly similar format. I’ve decided to pare back the stats from previous weeks picks so that they will just include an average for the season – hopefully this should make the article a little bit simpler. Otherwise I’ll be sticking to the same format of a Banker, Ace and Joker as I’ve followed in previous years.
As a reminder, the Banker is predominantly a fixture-based pick where I follow them for 4 weeks and average the score over that period. The Ace is a 1 week pick who I think will do well and would make an appealing Captain choice. The Joker is a differential pick with less than 10% ownership who I think might do well that week. For reference, the overall 2018-19 picks averaged as follows: Banker 5.22, Ace 6.11, Joker 4.92. Hopefully (with some help as you’ll see below) we can beat that this season. I’ll start to look at the 2019-20 averages a bit later in the season when there is more data.
This season I’m also going to add a ‘Key Fixture’ analysis to Player Picks. This is where I’ll pick one fixture for the gameweek in question which I think FPL managers should consider covering in their squad. I’ll look at previous meetings, bookies odds and form in this – it might be a fixture where we already have a Player Pick, it might not! There will still also be Twitter polls where the FFG Twitter Community have an opportunity to select players, but also new for this season is a contribution from the FFG Slack Channel where Patreon users will have chance to directly contribute to the weekly picks through the Player Picks forum. So without further ado, let’s get on with this weeks Picks!
FPL gameweek 21 player picks
All 3 picks have been selected by Slack Community members this week. Here’s who they’ve gone for to start the new decade!
Banker – Jamie Vardy LEI (£10.1m) new/SOU/bur/WHU
Vardy was the clear favourite pick on Slack today – Kris, Andrew and Joe all suggested him for our Banker and with good reason. He’ll be fresh after missing GW20 and should be on a high following his wife giving birth. This should prime him to add to his 17 goals and 5 assists this season and makes him a great shout for the Captain’s armband. And look at those next 4 fixtures, at 51.5% ownership you’re just asking for trouble if you don’t own him!
Ace – Harry Kane TOT (£11.0m) – sou
The England Captain has still been going about his business this season, despite it being a fairly turbulent one in North London. He’s quietly amassed 11 goals and 2 assists, including a goal and 2 bonus points in each of his last 2 matches. Spurs visit the south coast this weekend with opponents Southampton having won 2 and drawn 1 in their last 3. This won’t be an easy one, but Kane is a good bet to add to his goal tally with Joe and Kris suggesting him as our Ace this week.
Joker – Felipe Anderson WHM (£6.6m)- BOU
Joe finishes this week’s Picks by giving us what he describes as a ‘rogue’ Joker pick! Anderson has had a somewhat forgettable season so far with just 4 assists and no goals as yet, but The Hammers have a new manager and some nice fixtures coming up including a double gameweek in GW24. This week, another free falling team visit The London Stadium in Bournemouth and there should be goals in this, with the reverse fixture in GW7 throwing up an entertaining 2-2 and one of Anderson’s assists. Can the 2.9% owned Brazilian go one better and open his goal account this week?
Key Fixture Pick – Arsenal vs Man United (New Year’s Day 8pm)
Bookies Odds
Win: Arsenal 8/5; Man United 6/4; Draw 13/5
Clean Sheet: Both teams 3/1
Selected Anytime Goalscorer Odds: Aubameyang 11/10; Lacazette 13/10; Rashford 6/5; Martial 6/4; Pogba 16/5
At the start of the 21st Century, this was the EPL clash of the titans. Fergie’s seasoned winners against Wenger’s cultured charges. Oh how times have changed. Roll forward to the twenties and The Gunners are languishing in the bottom half of the table, only 6 points above the relegation zone with an untried, untested manager in charge. United are a bit better off, 4 points of the UCL places but still erratic and inconsistent, prone to freak results both positive and negative.
Recent history has been pretty even between these 2. The last 6 league games have produced 2 wins apiece and 2 draws with only 2 clean sheets in these games – both in The Gunners’ victories. In terms of league form, the home side are really struggling with their last win coming in GW16 away to West Ham. United have fared better with 3 wins in their last 5, though in the middle of this was a surprise defeat to Watford – not quite the form of a team gunning for the top 4.
It’s the visitors who have the most interesting assets for me. Marcus Rashford (£9.1m) is having his best season ever with 12 goals and 5 assists so far and this is reflected by his near 30% ownership. Anthony Martial (£7.9m) is also a great shout and at 12.2% ownership is more of a differential – he’s got 4 goals in his last 5 and is playing out of position as a striker. On the cheaper side is £6.1m mid Daniel James with 3 assists in his last 4 starts, but he’s less secure gametime wise. United also finally kept a clean sheet last week and if £4.0m Brandon Williams can hold his place he’ll certainly be added to the plethora of budget defensive options FPL is offering this year.
For Arsenal, things aren’t very rosy on the FPL side I’m afraid. They look low on confidence and are prone to silly errors at the back. The beacon of hope seems to be the ever dependable Aubameyang who has 13 goals and 3 assists this season in spite of his clubs desperate situation. He’s £10.8m though and with so many decent cheaper options available, you’d be pretty brave to have him.
I can’t see anything other than an away win here – I’ll go for 2-1 for United. But you never know, this is a big rivalry and I’m sure Arteta will have his team suitably fired up for the clash.
That’s all from me for this week on Player Picks folks – best of luck and have a very Happy Hogmanay and all the best for 2020!
You can follow Rob on twitter here. You can also see his GW21 team here
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