To borrow a well-worn phrase from Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, we are now entering “squeaky bum time” in the season. Fantasy managers have reached the point where tough decisions are needed on which players to cast aside and which to draft in as the final ascent up the mini-league standings kicks in. While our hot topics analyse some of the heavy hitters to consider selling on, our community scribes were on hand to serve up a wealth of differential alternatives. We also received some welcome news about the health of a community regular, offer hope to the more frugal managers who play the Sky game and, as ever, catch up on all the latest statistics from our Members area as well as the ups and downs in our community leagues.
The Community Articles
After the surprise points hauls of Tottenham’s Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend during Gameweek 28 , Mata is the Juan has been taking a look at the differentials to watch out in in the double Gameweeks ahead. This is the first of a two-part series of articles, with the second to look more in depth at his highlighted players’ potential.
Another community writer with good advice about differentials is the Puntmaster, who is in buoyant mood after all three of his Gameweek 29 punts delivered. You can see his latest punts for Gameweek 30 here.
Don’t forget, if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.
The Hottest Topics
While differentials occupied the thoughts of our community writers, our hot topic discussions were focused on some of the popular players who are struggling to justify their high ownerships.
With Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero among the misfiring heavy hitters, we asked whether it is time to ditch Fantasy Football’s mega beasts. Demel is among those keeping hold of both, despite their poor returns, while John Terry’s Dog is looking to switch out Aguero when further double Gameweek fixtures edge closer.
With one of the best value price tags in Fantasy Premier League history there have been no audible calls to ditch Tottenham’s Harry Kane this week. But Innsie has been taking a look at Leicester’s formation changes at the back and believes that even Kane may struggle to make an impact this weekend.
For Forza, such faith in cheap defenders, such as those in Leicester’s ranks, is often misguided. In Someday I’ll be Saturday’s discussion on the harsh lessons we’ve learned this season, Forza listed trusting defensive rotation as among his mistakes this season.
The hand wringing continued in Wild Rover’s post lamenting the lack of movement in mini-leagues with most of us having similar sides. For many, the January wildcard was the chief villain in the Spring template. Twisted Saltergater took calls to axe the winter wildcard one step further with his idea of scrapping all wildcards and instead having rolling transfers to benefit savvy managers.
With limited transfers, opportunities to smash the template team are even rarer in the Sky game. But those who have been squirreling away their transfers were given some welcome news from D1sable, who popped by with some latest data from Sky to show just how few transfers the top 1,000 players have.
Finally, Beric delivered welcome news of some improvement in the health of popular community veteran Doosra. On our Scoutcast this week, Mark also revealed he got lucky in Mondogoal and managed to win Doosra a West Ham ball signed by the team. In addition Innsie is working on a poem for Doosra and issued this plea to the community for ideas to put into verse.
The Members Tables
The weakest teams at defending set pieces are exposed in jonesnb1987’s latest table. This will offer a meagre crumb of hope to fans of Sunderland when they visit Upton Park this weekend.
Meanwhile, Kyleshaunessy has been taking a look at the sharpest shooting strikers in the Premier League and Spencer has been delving into the attacking statistics of Swansea midfielders.
If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.
The Community Leagues
Denis Denis hit the top score in Gameweek 29 with 51 in TorresMagic‘s Last Man Standing competition. There are now 148 teams left after 55 were eliminated when the safety score was set at 26.
In Red Lightning’s Top 10K Any Season league Aaron Thornburn continues to lead and now sits in 8th place overall. The new joint leaders in Red Lightning’s FFS January Wildcard League are Andy in Asia and Grahame Fiddler, who have both scored 571 points since the end of Gameweek 20. To put that into perspective FPL leader Simon March, aka Dufflinks, scored 573 over that same period.
