The time has come to find out who is within touching distance of cup glory having made it through to the semi-finals of our two Fantasy Premier League competitions, taking place in Gameweek 25.
The Fantasy Football Scout Cup’s highest-ranked remaining manager, 32nd-placed Elvarus, powered his way past David Slade 86-50 to set up a mouthwatering semi-final clash with former FPL champion Tom Fenley, who won his quarter-final encounter with Brakeff 73-60.
Tom has experience of dealing with pressure on his side and, should he decide to prioritise this cup tie with his chips, he could even call upon a second Wildcard, an option that is not open his opponent, who used it last Gameweek. Both have all their other available chips to play.
In Elvarus’ favour, he has two free transfers to Tom’s one, as well as being 6,752 places ahead of the former FPL number one.
This transfer advantage could be key as both currently have near-identical teams, with thee main difference among fringe players, such as Swansea City’s Jordan Ayew for Elvarus, while Tom has Everton’s Oumar Niasse.
This could leave the captaincy decision as key, with both Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Sergio Aguero strong options in both line-ups.
The tie may even be decided by goalkeepers. Both own Adrian, but while the West Ham stopper is Tom’s only starting keeper, for Elvarus he is second to David De Gea, who may be fielded should he gamble on a clean sheet for United’s trip to Spurs.
The second semi-final sees 2,441-ranked ezdmanx take on TH14.
Despite being 8,101 places behind, TH14 has the slight advantage of experience with ten previous FPL campaigns under his belt, including a 117-placed finish in 2014/15. Meanwhile, Ezdmanx is now in his seventh season, with 18,272 his highest end-of-campaign placing.
Both have all their available chips to play and also go into this match with two free transfers. As with the other semi-final, careful use of these will be vital to success as they also have broadly similar teams.
In midfield, Ezdmanx’s selection of Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard is his only differential to Stoke City playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri for TH14.
Up front they also have Harry Kane, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino and Huddersfield’s Collin Quaner. A shift from Kane to Sergio Aguero, possibly also backed with the captaincy, may be something the pair are considering.
A clean sheet for Manchester United at Wembley will help Ezdmanx, who is expected to field Phil Jones. While TH14 will be hoping Man City’s Nicolas Otamendi ends a run of three straight blanks when West Brom visit the Etihad Stadium.
The results from the Fantasy Football Scout Cup quarter-finals can be found here, while the semi-final draw is here.
In the quarter-final of the Members Cup Root (rank 1,272) edged past the round’s highest-placed manager The Albatross (rank 1,039) by just two points.
He now faces rrcmc, who, at 83,472nd spot, is the lowest-ranked remaining competitor. However, he is the more experienced of this pair with a pedigree of 11 campaigns, including one top 10,000 finish, and also has two free transfers to Root’s one.
Root, who is in his eighth season and finished in the top 500 in 2012/13, only has one differential up front, with Firmino squaring up to rrcmc’s Jamie Vardy.
Both their midfields could do with an early spring clean, with Root needing to replace Crystal Palace midfielder Ruben Loftus Cheek and possibly West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic. Meanwhile, rrcmc is currently relying on former bandwagons, Brighton’s Pascal Gross and Lingard, to shine.
Wembley could once again prove a key battleground in the Cup, as Root’s Jones and rrmc’s Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen vie for a clean sheet.
Both have their second Wildcard and Free Hit chip to call on. But only Root has his Bench Boost intact, while rrcmc is the only one with his Triple Captain chip remaining.
The other semi-final involves a tussle between 29,911-ranked Gloria Kanchelskis and graslauk, who is in 4,687 place.
This pair have impressed over their relatively short FPL careers, with Gloria Kanchelskis netting two top 5,000 finishes in his four previous campaigns, and graslauk finishing in 1,938 in 2016/17, which was his third season.
They also have just the one free transfer available but Gloria Kanchelskis is a chip down, having played his Triple Captain in Gameweek 22.
There are further differences in their team set-ups with Gloria Kanchelskis favouring a blend of 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 with Bournemouth forward Callum Wilson and Lingard swapping starting roles.
In contrast, graslauk has opted for a 4-5-1 formation, with Harry Kane up front and Everton duo Niasse and Dominic Calvert Lewin taking bench spots. This has freed up funds to afford Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, while Gloria Kanchelskis looks almost certain to replace his midfield differential, Arnautovic.
Graslauk’s strategy also means he has covered his opponent’s Otamendi, Jones and Alonso picks but can also call on Shkodran Mustafi, for Arsenal’s trip to Swansea. Gloria Kanchelskis’ defensive differential is Chelsea’s ‘cursed’ centre back Andreas Christensen, who, through injury and illness, has only completed 60 minutes once in the Blues’ last five league run outs.
You can view the full results from the Members Cup quarter-final can be viewed here, while the quarter final draw is here.
Good luck to those involved in our semi-finals over Gameweek 25.
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