Tracking The Fantasy Football Veterans – Gameweeks 34 – 35

Double Gameweek 34 proved a huge success for the Fantasy Football veterans I’ve been tracking this year. Made up of 34 Hall of Fame table-toppers, FFScout moderators and contributors as well as former FPL winners, this group stocked up wisely on double fixture assets, used their Chips well and also made the right captain call.

But what a difference a week can make. In Gameweek 35’s limited fixture list these Fantasy stalwarts were brought back to earth with a bump as rotation and injuries hit them hard.  Here I look back on how they fared over these two very contrasting Gameweeks.

CHIPS

All chips in the table below were played in Gameweek 34. In Gameweek 35, none of the chips was activated.

As in Gameweek 33, those veterans who used Triple Captain chip had the highest score.

TRANSFERS

Transfers by position (% of all transfers in bracket)

Transfers In:

A budget price tag, good double Gameweek fixtures and a 10-point haul against Watford in Gameweek 33 were the main reasons why Alex Iwobi from Arsenal was the most popular transfer target. However, it proved a poor move for the Fantasy veterans as the young midfielder went on to blank across Gameweeks 34 and 35.

Another to prosper in Gameweek 33 was Manchester United defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who also looked impressive in the Red Devils FA Cup clash with West Ham. But he was another let-down, mustering only one minute of play across Gameweeks 34 and 35.

A key match was Tottenham’s 4-0 thumping of Stoke when popular transfers out Harry Kane and Dele Alli punished the veterans by scoring a brace each. In the Gameweek 33 Wildcard just five veterans owned Kane and three had Dele Alli. Quick to rectify their mistake, many veterans drafted the pair in for Gameweek 35’s on-paper easy home clash with West Brom. In Gameweek 35, Kane’s ownership had rocketed to 25 and he was the most popular captain pick, while 20 owned Alli. To punish the veterans further, this too proved costly, as both blanked and Alli ended up with a three-match ban for punching West Brom man Claudio Yacob.

Transfers Out:

The transfers out list in Gameweek 34 was dominated by Crystal Palace and Everton players, who had a Double Gameweek 33. Phil Jagielka was ruled out because of injury going into Gameweek 34 and there were doubts around Aaron Lennon and Romelu Lukaku. Dumping Everton players proved a savvy move. Meanwhile, Palace midfielder Yannick Bolasie was fit, but he had very bad fixtures in Gameweek 34. He was another to punish the veterans as he scored against Arsenal and earned maximum bonus points.

CAPTAINS

MOST POPULAR PLAYERS

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

AVERAGE POINTS

Gameweek 34 proved to be the most successful Gameweek for our veterans this season. Their  average was better than the top 10,000 average by more than 33 points and an incredible 78 points better than the overall average.

But Gameweek 35 was the worst Gameweek for the veterans since I started these articles.

Overall, though, the veterans emerged on top. Combining Gameweek 34 and Gameweek 35 as one, the veterans’ average was 13 points better than the top 10,000 average and 38 higher than the overall average.

OVERALL RANKINGS

Just 5.88% of veterans had red arrow in Gameweek 34 but a whopping 82.35% achieved this unwelcome sight in Gameweek 35.  This proved a shame as it knocked around 7,000 places off the impressive rankings gain of Gameweek 34.