Tracking The Fantasy Football Veterans – Gameweek 33

As we expected, almost every single Fantasy Premier League veteran that I’m tracking used their Wildcard chip in Gameweek 33, with a view to Bench Boosting in Gameweek 34. Also, Romelu Lukaku was the top captain choice with an on-paper easy Double Gameweek (DGWK) against Watford and Crystal Palace.

But the dream of a huge points haul swiftly turned to a nightmare. Lukaku failed to deliver any attacking returns and Liverpool picked Gameweek 33 to rotate many of the veterans’ newly acquired players. Another popular acquisition, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, also found himself on the bench.

To add further salt into the veterans’ wounds many of their most popular transfers out delivered, notably Leicester defenders and Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld. Of the 34 veterans in this study, made up of Hall of Fame table-toppers, FFScout moderators and contributors as well as former FPL winners, just one now has Alderweireld in their side. Meanwhile, ownership of Leicester defender Christian Fuchs has halved from 35.29% to 15.71%.

CHIPS

An incredible 91.18% of the veterans decided to used their Wildcard Chip this Gameweek, and 5.88% activated their Triple Captain Chip. All, except one, gave the armband to Lukaku. Those veterans who used their Triple Captain Chip had the highest Gameweek score, mainly because they didn’t Wildcard this week and had kept their key single Gameweek players, particularly from Leicester’s and Spurs’ ranks.  Those veterans who didn’t use any Chips in Gameweek 33 all had better scores than the Wildcarders.

VETERANS’ TEMPLATE

This table shows players ownerships amongst all the veterans after Gameweek 33 (not just among veterans who used their Wildcard).

MOST POPULAR PLAYERS

Top Starting Players

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

I have added players’ points in Gameweek 33, so it is easier to compare veterans and top 10,000 templates. It is pretty clear who had the better average Gameweek score this week when you see so many Leicester and Spurs players in the top 10,000 managers’ teams. In addition, the veterans dumped Leicester’s two-goal hero Jamie Vardy in their droves, while he happily sits in four out of ten of the top 10,000 managers’ teams.

CAPTAINS

The only veteran not to captain Romelu Lukaku was Evs, who captained Dimitri Payet by accident. The Everton striker was also the most popular captain choice overall, and among top 10,000 managers. Sergio Aguero, who scored and gained maximum bonus points, made a difference with 17.10% of top 10,000 managers handing him the armband.

OVERALL RANKINGS

After Gameweek 33, the average overall position of all 34 veteran teams is 38,312 – 3,256 places worst than last week. After Wednesday’s game between Crystal Palace and Everton, the veterans’ average score looks pretty decent and much better than after Sunday’s games. Nevertheless, only 29.41% of veterans gained a green arrow this time around. In addition, the veterans’ average Gameweek 33 score was 65.38 points, better than the overall average (56.70) but worse than the top 10,000 managers’  average (67.10).

While Gameweek 33 saw a slight setback in the veterans’ march up the rankings, their expected use of the bench boost chip in Gameweek 34 and heavy investment in Double Gameweek players could see them back on track.