Welcome to the latest in our new regular article series gathering our community’s tales of joy and woe from the last Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game. This will look at the key decisions made that proved either inspired or saw overall rankings plummet. We also find out what lessons our community has learned from their key captaincy, transfer and benching decisions over the week.
This week has already seen celebration among those investing in Manchester City’s attack and Leicester’s defence. Meanwhile those clinging onto some of Liverpool and Chelsea’s stars and investing early in Arsenal’s double Gameweek 37 attacking assets were left counting the cost.
The Rough
Faith in Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, who he captained, and an early purchase of Aaron Ramsey proved costly for Moin. Both players brought in just six points between them and saw his overall rank plummet from 60,000 to 113,000.
Jawain, who appeared on this week’s Scoutcast, took the season-defining move of captaining Alexis Sanchez over Sergio Aguero. With Sanchez drawing a blank it all but ended his dream of winning FPL. He was second in the overall rankings and just 27 points off top-placed Dufflinks, but now sits in sixth, staring at a 40-point chasm between him and the summit.
Team selection was the undoing of Suarezista, who benched 27 points from Kasper Schmeichel and Patrick van Aanholt, among others. “As I am seven points away from the top 1,000 it really could be deciding my season,” he laments.
Feeling Blue was another to have a high-scoring bench which included Jordan Henderson; he also captained Sanchez. He estimates these decisions cost him 37 points this week.
The Smooth
Icon may have left 20 points on the bench during Gameweek 36, but John Terry, Sergio Aguero and Wes Morgan helped him to a huge Gameweek score of 104. He is now sitting pretty at 536 in the FPL rankings.
Alexsander Kolorov is arguably the ultimate flair player. No one knows whether he will start or last 90 minutes, but every now and again he scores a belter of a free kick to delight his maverick owners. Mr Irwin was among those to join Kolorov’s fan club this week after dropping Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta for the Manchester City left back. It was a decision that helped him accrue an impressive score of 103.
This week’s Dimitar Berbatov smooth operator award goes to 2013/14 FPL winner Tom Fenley who has made amends in style after forgetting to confirm his Gameweek 34 wildcard and racking up 52 points in hits. For Gameweek 36 his wildcard was successfully confirmed and earned him a whopping 111 points thanks to his shrewd investment in Manchester City stars such as Alexsander Kolorov. With three Arsenal and Sunderland players already lined up for Gameweek 37, this former champ has proved that class is indeed permanent.
To see more of this week’s Rough with the Smooth submissions click here.
