Tracking the Fantasy Football Veterans – Gameweek 26

After two disappointing weeks in a row, Gameweek 26 brought some light to our veterans’ squads.  In a low-scoring week overall the veterans, who are made up of previous winners, FFScout moderators and contributors and those riding high in the Hall of Fame, performed well in the main and crucially also got the better of the average top-10,000-ranked manager.

TRANSFERS

After last week’s huge transfer activity (1.35 transfers per team), this week was very quiet. Veterans made only 0.53 transfers per team. Banking a transfer seemed the popular strategy as they prepare for the impending blanks in Gameweeks 27 and 30.

Transfers by position: (% of all transfers in bracket)

– Goalkeepers: (5.56%)

– Defenders: (83.33%)

– Midfielders: (00.00%)

– Forwards: (11.11%)

Transfers In:

– Virgil van Dijk (SOT): 22.22%

– Charlie Daniels (BOU): 16.67%

– Christian Fuchs (LEI): 11.11%

Transfers Out:

– Alberto Moreno (LIV): 16.67%

– Leighton Baines (EVE): 16.67%

– Bacary Sagna (MCI): 11.11%

Defenders were the overwhelming player of choice for those that did make a transfer. With Southampton’s Van Dijk and Leicester’s Fuchs the top choices this once again, they are evidently keeping an eye on the impending blanks, as Foxes and Saints players are among only a few guaranteed of match time in Gameweeks 27 and 30. Van Dijk, who earned a clean sheet and maximum bonus, as well as Daniels, who earned an assist, provided immediate returns for their investment.

CAPTAINS

Sergio Aguero was first pick for the captaincy for the veterans as well as overall and amongst top 10,000 managers. Romelu Lukaku was second choice in all three categories. Both blanked resulting in a low-scoring week across the board.

MOST POPULAR PLAYERS

(Top starting players)

* stats for top 10,000 teams and overall can be found here.

With this table we can easily compare most popular players amongst the veterans, overall and the top 10,000 managers in Gameweek 26. As we can see there are some key differences between the veterans’ favorite players and those selected overall and by the top 10,000. For example, Odion Ighalo is owned by four out of ten top 10,000 managers but fails to make the grade amongst the veterans. Meanwhile, Alexis Sanchez, Daniels and Van Dijk are amongst the veterans key differentials.

OVERALL RANKINGS

After couple disappointing weeks, in Gameweek 26 the veterans’ average score was 48.76 points – better than overall average of 41.4 and top 10,000 average of 44.2 points. This means that the bulk of the veterans (70.59%) gained a green arrow in Gameweek 26 and their average overall ranking position is now 133,436 – 17,062 places better than at the end of Gameweek 25. With careful planing around the impending blanks now in full swing amongst the veterans, they look well placed to continue their ascent up the rankings.