For the second time we will focus on the last two Gameweeks in the same article. Again, we will use tables, so it will be easier to compare Gameweek 28 and 29’s statistics. I started to track this group of 34 managers, including those from the top of the FFScout Hall of Fame, former FPL winners and those who work for FFScout as moderators or contributors, in Gameweek 15. Back then the average overall position of those 34 teams was 156,550 and after Gameweek 17 it had slumped to 244,833. I thought that bad run must stop soon and as we shall see this bunch of veterans look well on their way to climbing the rankings in style.
TRANSFERS
Transfers by position:
In Gameweek 29 veterans averaged 1.47 transfers per team, almost one transfer more than in Gameweek 28. In Gameweek 28 they were mostly focused on defenders, while in the next Gameweek, midfielders were the prime targets.
Transfers In:
If we look at the most popular transfer targets in Gameweek 29, we see that the top four players all produced points. Gylfi Sigurdsson steered the Swans to their second successive win with his eighth goal of the season in Gameweek 29, while Yaya Toure notched his first goal in seven outings. Ashley Williams again scooped three bonus points as Swansea record clean sheet against Norwich.
Transfers Out:
After Gameweek 26 the veterans start to lose their faith in Alexis Sanchez. After that, he produced a goal and an assist in the next couple of matches. In Gameweek 29, 22% of veterans decided to sell Dimitri Payet. It seemed that they had to choose between him and Mesut Ozil, because they both will have a blank in Gameweek 30. Veterans obviously made a wrong call and the West Ham midfielder punished them with 13 points against a 10-man Everton.
CAPTAINS
In Gameweek 28 all the veterans’ top choices failed to produce more than two points. However, it was a different story in Gameweek 29 as all of them captained Sergio Aguero. He was also the most captained player overall (22.30%) and amongst top 10,000 managers (61.30%) in Gameweek 29.
MOST POPULAR PLAYERS
(Top starting players)
In the table above, among the 17 most popular veterans’ players in Gameweek 29, only three of them (Elliot, Ozil and Vardy) failed to deliver points. Fourteen others produced five or more points this Gameweek and they were the key factor for the veterans’ climb up the rankings.
OVERALL RANKINGS
Average Points
Over the two weeks covered the veterans’ average was higher than the overall and top 10,000 averages. Last Gameweek was particularly successful for veterans – their average was 13 points higher than the top 10,000 average and 31 points higher than the overall average.
Average Overall Position
After Gameweek 27, the veterans’ average overall position was 116,029. And now, two weeks later, it is 39,357 places above that. This is the veterans’ best average overall position this season. With Bench Boost, Triple Captain and Wildcard in their pockets, and with only five games in Gameweek 30, this could end up being the best ever season for veterans. It certainly didn’t look like that a couple of weeks ago.
