The stand out headline ahead of Double Gameweek 27 is that number one Ville Ronka has taken a hit. This is his first of the season, which shows how important these lucrative moments in the fixture schedule are to elite players.
He’s not alone in our career Top Five either. Transfers and hits as it stands ahead of the first double of the season are:
| Name & HoF Rank | Ville #1 | Marlen #2 | Peter #3 | Steve #4 | David #5 |
| Transfers DGW 27 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Points Hits | -4 | -8 | -4 | -8 | -4 |
Call me Mystic Meg but I expect a few Manchester City players might now be residing in their teams.
In Gameweek 26 Ville was the only manager in the Top Five to have Tottenham’s hat-trick hero Harry Kane in his team. Even though he didn’t captain the Spurs Star he saw his overall FPL rank rise to a season-high 18,047. The only other manager to see a green arrow was David Meechan. He crept back towards the Top 10K and currently sits at 11,674.
Marlen Rattiner remains the only manager to have been in the Top 100K all season but only just. His rank of 96,360 is a season-low that has seen him take an 8 point hit ahead of DGW 27. Also making three transfers ahead of the deadline are Peter Kouwenberg and Steve Poulsom. Gameweek 26 proved disappointing for them both as their Liverpool midfielders failed to deliver against a reinvigorated Leicester City.
This article focuses on the moves and strategies employed by the elite managers who grace the top five positions of this site’s career Hall of Fame, which does not include this season’s results. Members can see the latest top five via our Live Hall of Fame update.
For this article I have also deployed Fusen’s FPL Statistico tool to gain an extra insight into their thinking.
Before we look at their teams in more detail, here’s why they are the best FPL managers:
| Lowest rank in the last three seasons for any of the top five | 4,324 |
| Highest rank in the last three seasons for any of the top five | 49 |
POINTS, RANK, VALUE
| Name & HoF rank | Squad Value (1 MAR) | ITB (1 MAR) | Point after GW26 | FPL rank GW26 | Best FPL rank 16/17* | Worst FPL rank 16/17* |
| Ville #1 | £99.7 | £4.3 | 1,473 | 18,047 | 18,047 (GW26) | 135,324 (GW19) |
| Marlen #2 | £103.9 | £0.0 | 1,417 | 96,360 | 13,561 (GW20) | 96,360 (GW26) |
| Peter #3 | £103.3 | £4.2 | 1,496 | 8,093 | 6,126 (GW25) | 243,702 (GW07) |
| Steve #4 | £105.0 | £0.8 | 1,394 | 168,328 | 140,958 (GW06) | 845,911 (GW17) |
| David #5 | £102.0 | £2.2 | 1,486 | 11,674 | 5,615 (GW21) | 73,858 (GW09) |
*from GW6 onwards
Only one of this quintet qualified for the cup (#5), they went out in GW19.
They all still have their wildcards and the only chip that has been played is AOA.
CAPTAIN
Everton’s Romelu Lukaku was the unanimous pick from the Top Five in Gameweek 26. However it wasn’t quite the points bonanza Peter experienced when the Big Belgian put Bournemouth to the sword. I imagine his 12 points weren’t much comfort given Harry Kane’s haul.
Over the season Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez has been picked as captain 34% of the time, averaging 14.9pts when chosen. Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero follows in popularity having been handed the armband 26% of the time, averaging 14.5pts as captain, with Tottenham’s Harry Kane chosen 10% of the time and averaging 11.4pts, the third most popular.
How important is it to get your captain choice right?
| Name & HoF rank | Ville #1 | Marlen #2 | Peter #3 | Steve #4 | David #5 | Ave. (c) points | As % of score |
| Total (c) Points | 346 | 354 | 382 | 300 | 338 | 344 | 24 |
To answer this question we need look no further than the 42 points gained by Peter in Gameweek 24 when he was the only one of the Top Five to choose Everton’s Romelu Lukaku as his captain. Such foresight is reflected in the Total Captain Points table above, which almost entirely explains why he has amassed over 100 points more than fourth-placed rival Steve.
TRANSFERS
| Hits taken | Two hits taken, all teams made at least one transfer |
| Players in | Mané x2, Barnes, Barkley, King, Funes Mori, Maguire |
| Players out | Sanchez x3, Stanislas, Francis, Anichebe, Ake |
As expected Sanchez was the most sold player amongst the Top Five, Merseyside providing the replacements in the shape of Liverpool’s Sadio Mané and Everton’s Ross Barkley. Bournemouth’s Junior Stanislas was also shown the door after disappointing in recent weeks, replaced by teammate Josh King in Marlen’s team.
| Name & HoF rank | Ville #1 | Marlen #2 | Peter #3 | Steve #4 | David #5 | Average |
| Total Transfers | 24 | 31 | 39 | 35 | 35 | 33 |
| Total Points Hits | 0 | 28 | 64 | 44 | 44 | 36 |
| Total Immediate Points Gained from Transfers | 127 | 185 | 217 | 199 | 192 | 184 |
| Minus Points Hits | 127 | 157 | 153 | 155 | 148 | 148 |
| Value (m) | £103.8 | £103.7 | £107.3 | £105.6 | £104.1 | £104.9 |
| Total Benched Points | 259 | 121 | 199 | 214 | 146 | 188 |
Despite seeing his rank slip to a season-low Marlen was the only manager to get a double figure immediate points return. Josh King and Everton’s Funes Mori bringing in 7 points each.
PATIENT vs STUBBORN
– How long do you hold onto a player who is not scoring well in FPL?
Below is a table of stubbornness. Looking at the outfield players who have played more than 10 GWs and have low average points when they’ve played/started.
Players whose names are in bold currently feature in their teams.
| HoF rank team | Player | GWs in team | Ave. Points (Played) |
| #1 | Allen | 10 | 2.5 |
| #1 | Williams | 19 | 3.5 |
| #1 | Pieters | 11 | 3.9 |
| #1 | Benteke | 21 | 3.7 |
| #1 | Firmino | 10 | 4.5 |
| #2 | Lovren | 15 | 3.7 |
| #2 | Hazard | 10 | 5.2 |
| #3 | Valencia | 18 | 3.8 |
| #3 | Firmino | 12 | 4.9 |
| #3 | Hazard | 10 | 5.0 |
| #4 | Ibrahimovic | 13 | 5.5 |
| #4 | Firmino | 21 | 5.0 |
| #5 | Evans | 10 | 3.1 |
| #5 | Lovren | 15 | 3.2 |
| #5 | Hazard | 10 | 5.1 |
West Brom’s Gareth McAuley has been removed from the list this week as he is clearly no longer underperforming. He now averages over 4 points when he starts, which for a defender is not a bad return.
FORMATION
| Three teams | 4-4-2 formation |
| One team | 5-4-1 formation |
| One teams | 3-5-2 formation |
Defenders are all the rage at moment. 4-4-2 has been the popular choice over the past three weeks, and this week David even opted for a 5-4-1 formation. Rotation played a key part in that decision with managers benching expensive non-playing assets such as Ibrahimovic and Sanchez, who remains in two teams.
Over the course of the season 3-4-3 has been favoured 60% of the time by the career Top Five HoF, with 3-5-2 second with 21%. 4-4-2 is the third most popular on 9%.
PLAYERS
| Players in 5 teams | Ibrahimovic, Lukaku, Alonso |
| Players in 4 teams | Alli |
| Players in 3 teams | Eriksen, Sigurdsson, Phillips, Coleman, Brunt, McAuley, Foster, Heaton, Pickford |
| Attacking players under 6m | Phillips x3, Stanislas x2, Snodgrass x2, Barnes x2, King, Anichebe, Fletcher |
The attacking players under 6m in value continue to frustrate with popular choices Matt Phillips, Junior Stanislas, Robert Snodgrass and Ashely Barnes all leaving owners infuriated. Josh King at least provided some comfort to Marlen.
TEMPLATE
In defence Everton and West Brom provide the majority of players, Alonso remains the settled Chelsea option.
Spurs players Eriksen and Alli occupy two berths in the centre of the park. They are joined by Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson and a Liverpool midfielder in the template. Roberto Firmino the alternative to Mané. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku the expensive options up top.
But with so many transfers made ahead of Gameweek 27 it seems likely all have brought in at least Aguero and one City midfielder, with Raheem Sterling the likely candidate. This is likely to mean that Lukaku may have been jettisoned, perhaps for just a week.
Meanwhile, with no Gameweek 28 fixture and a tough home tie against the Toffees, one of their Tottenham assets may also have departed. For those with cash in the bank they may also have used their hits to discard injury doubt Matt Phillips.
Goalkeepers – Foster / Heaton
Defenders – Alonso, Coleman, Brunt, McAuley, (Chambers)
Midfielders –Alli, Eriksen, Sigurdsson, Mané / Firmino, (Phillips)
Forwards – Ibrahimovic, Lukaku, (Barnes)
I apologise if it freaks any of them out seeing their moves analysed in this way, but for us lesser mortals I hope it provides insights on how to play the game successfully.
