With three double Gameweeks to come, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are understandably focusing their transfers and Wildcard picks on players with packed run-ins. But should that be at the expense of this season’s top Fantasy stars?
Tottenham’s 22-goal striker Harry Kane and the FPL’s leading points scorer – Riyad Mahrez of Leicester – are among those primed to punish those who dare to ditch them.
With this in mind, we asked our team of contributors the “Burning Question” – “should we sacrifice Harry Kane and Leicester assets for Double Gameweek targets?”
Andy G says…
I’m certainly selling Kane and Vardy (the two top goalscorers in the Premier League, lest we forget). Double Gameweeks are crazy; and I love them.
I have a strong inclination to keep either or both of them for a multitude of reasons but when it comes to Kane, I simply can’t afford to have a tenth of my total team value tied up in a player with “only” six games in the final six Gameweeks of the season.
As for Vardy, I wave him a fond farewell as the allure of the double Gameweek proves too much. My resistance to the points gold rush is weak, my memories of hauls gone by just so strong: I still owe Clint Dempsey a drink or four.
I’ve been Tweeting about the inevitable despair when Kane gets a bumper score for weeks now and will be eternally fretful until Spurs’ Gameweek 35 tie at home to West Brom glides by. Knowing that no sane manger will captain him in weeks 33, 34 and 37 I have little to fear from those fixtures.
However, you’ll have to pry the FPL password from my cold, dead hands to see Riyad Mahrez depart my team any time soon. I may have just been knocked off my perch for the first time this season in the Fantasy Football Scout moderators and contributors FPL league, but Mahrez is on the verge of making this Leicester fan’s wildest dreams come true. He has more than earned 38 Gameweeks in my Fantasy team without hesitation.
Stilicho says…
It is a truth universally acknowledged that an FPL manager in possession of a Wildcard must be in want of double Gameweek. Even the most jaded veterans go weak at the knees when the season ticker starts to bloom, and a sunny spring morning is not the time or place for churlish old aphorisms like “form over fixtures”.
Fortunately for those of us eyeing up a Wildcard for a bench boost in Gameweek 34, form and fixtures are beginning to align. Alexis Sanchez, Kevin De Bruyne and Phillipe Coutinho all appear to be hitting form at precisely the right time, and with the emergence for the first time this season of an effective budget enabler in Alex Iwobi, the scope now exists for a radically reshaped midfield – which has the key advantage of looking just as good on the morning of Gameweek 35 as it did the night before.
But that still leaves room for Mahrez right? Ranieri has a comfortable cushion and increasingly gives the impression of a manager keen to keep it simple, minimise risk and grind out the remaining games. Whilst that’s good new for Leicester’s defensive prospects, and I think there’s a strong case for holding your Leicester defender for the run-in, for me the fear factor around Vardy and Mahrez has gone. I have no doubt they’ll continue to score well but their ceiling seems to be sinking with every passing week, and on wildcard we can easily afford more commodious digs.
Harry Kane is a very different matter, he’s in the form of his life and looks capable of double-digits every week regardless of opposition. He also benefits, aside from Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku, from a relative paucity of pretenders. But you never know, perhaps Anthony Martial will rise from the fantasy grave and haunt the Scoutcast on Granville’s behalf? For what do we Fantasy Footballs live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?
Jonty says…
I think no single Gameweek player is safe from the axe, given the sheer volume of teams with double Gameweeks plus the high price tags of many key assets over those fixtures, such as Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and Sergio Aguero.
With just 21 points over the last six Gameweeks I have no hesitation in moving Vardy on. Mahrez is tougher to hand a P45 to, but given Leicester’s propensity for 1-0 victories recently, he is now far from essential.
Of my three Leicester players, Christian Fuchs is the one that may remain. An incredible 41 points over the last six for a bargain basement price tag means he can act as a makeweight for expensive double Gameweek options and provide a source of points as well. This is particularly the case in Gameweek 35 when Leicester enjoy a plum tie at home to Swansea.
Harry Kane is another that, on paper, deserves to remain in my squad. Nevertheless for Wildcarders like me, his 10.4 price tag can go a long way to netting another top midfield asset with a double fixture, as well as a credible striker alternative.
Can Manchester United’s Anthony Martial or Newcastle’s Alexsandar Mitrovic beat Harry Kane’s tally in Gameweek 34? I certainly think so. Also in Gameweeks 33 and 34, few FPL managers will captain Kane, which softens the blow should he explode points.
Andy85wsm says…
Is it time to shed Kane and the Leicester boys? Abso-blooming-lutely.
Double Gameweeks don’t come around often and we should pounce on them while we have the opportunity.
Transferring Harry Kane out ended up being an easy decision for me. At 10.4 I feel like I need someone I want to captain and in Gameweeks 33, 34 and 37 Harry Kane just doesn’t fit the bill.
Arguably his best remaining fixture for captaincy is in Gameweek 35 against West Brom at home, but that same week I’ll happily captain Sergio Aguero, who will be expected to start against Stoke at the Etihad.
Leicester assets are a different story. I’m finding it harder to offload them, particularly Riyad Mahrez. The Foxes’ are, however, grinding out results and just aren’t the free scoring team they once were. I think Jamie Vardy is an easy trade and there’s logic in shipping Mahrez too. Arguably it’s that Leicester defender which makes the strongest case to be retained, with the Foxes allowing just six goals so far in 2016.
However, I’ll be shipping them all out and stocking my team with 15 double Gameweek 34 players ready for a bench boost chip. I’ve been talking about the dream of fielding a full deck for a while and I just can’t turn down that opportunity.
In Like Flynn says…
While Leicester are continuing to win it seems almost sacrilegious to dump Riyad Mahrez or Jamie Vardy. But as grinding out results becomes the norm, the odds of hefty scores coming from either of them appears to lengthen.
Chasing mini-league glory is my remaining goal this season and double Gameweeks offer strong hope of achieving that. By sticking with Leicester’s assets I’ll have no chance of making up ground.
Ditching Harry Kane is tougher; while Spurs continue to be in with a shout of the title or at least beating their rivals Arsenal, his potential remains strong, even with only single Gameweeks to come. His 43 points in the last four outings may just convince me to hold tight. Currently I’d even prefer to jettison Sergio Aguero than the Spurs man, even though the Manchester City striker has that double Gameweek 34.
Mark says…
I’ve done it: they’ve all been shown the door.
Given Claudio Ranieri’s relentless 1-0 ploy, Mahrez and Vardy departed first without too much thought. Christian Fuchs followed on, silently shaping 1-0 with his fingers as he backed down the garden path, shaking his head with disbelief at my apparent stupidity. I might regret that one.
Then, literally an hour ago, after much internal struggle, I sent Harry Kane packing.
I have to admit, as he wandered out of sight, the pangs of regret began to build and even now there’s a twinge of mild panic when I look on my three-man strike force and glance at the Golden Boot race.
I’ve just sold the Premier League’s leading scorer and the protagonist within a team still fighting for the title. Few of us, however committed you are to the double Gameweek hype, are going to feel good about that.
However, as others have stated elsewhere in this article – I have to hope that Kane’s output is matched by those boosted by two additional fixtures and take comfort from the fact that I was unlikely to hand him the armband over the next six Gameweeks.
This current scenario is totally unique – I don’t believe we’ve ever had the opportunity to play risk/reward roulette with the Wildcard to this extent. While there was logic stacked up in favour of retaining some of the season’s top Fantasy performers, the urge to gamble everything just proved too overwhelming.
