The Optimal Dead Team Squad 2015/16

The Optimal Dead Team Squad is a theoretical 15-man Fantasy Premier League squad, costing no more than 100.0m in Gameweek 1 that, with no transfers, Wildcards, Chips, captain changes or bench changes, would have scored the most points during the season. Auto-subs and auto-promotions from vice-captain to captain are allowed though, so it is important to select the right bench players to fill in for the Gameweeks that players in the starting XI miss.

In most seasons it is not too difficult to construct a theoretical dead team squad to outscore the FPL Champion and one might have expected the new chips to make it more difficult than usual for the theoretical dead team squad to beat 2015-16 FPL Champion Dimitri Nicolaou. It actually turned out to be surprisingly easy to beat him with a dead team.

This was probably because of the number of affordable players who have outperformed the more expensive ones, maintained their form throughout the season and avoided injuries. This meant that there was hardly any need to make any compromises between price and performance. Even if a bigger budget were available, the only more expensive serious alternatives would probably be Christian Eriksen and Alexis Sanchez

After some discussion with FFScout community members TorresMagic and Balders, I have come up with the following theoretical dead team squad which would have scored 2537 points at an initial cost of 99.5, beating Dimitri’s score (2458) by a massive 79 points.

This involves Riyad Mahrez taking the armband, with Sergio Aguero vice captain. The only game Mahrez missed coincided with Aguero’s five-goal haul in Gameweek 8 against Newcastle. Can this optimal dead team be improved further?

In contrast, Simon March, FPL champion of 2014/15, had a far tougher season. Only after great work by Billy Gilmore’s computer program were two optimal teams found that would have beaten him, and then only by a mere two points.

This indicates that, whereas 2014-15 was a very difficult one for the dead team squad, in 2015-16 it was easier than usual for managers who got off to a good start to maintain their high positions and more difficult than usual for experienced managers to catch them.

The Optimal Squad

The starting XI

David De Gea (MUN, 5.5m) 142 in 32 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 1-4, 30 & 35)

Laurent Koscielny (ARS, 6.0m) 153 in 32 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 3, 8, 19 & 28-30)

Christian Fuchs (LEI, 5.0m) 150 in 32 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 3-7 & 11)

Vincent Kompany (MCI,6.0) 76 in 14 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 6-9, 13-17, 19-25, 27, 31-33 & 35-38)

Riyad Mahrez (LEI, 5.5m, Captain) 240*2 in 37 Gameweeks (missing Gameweek 8)

Mesut Ozil (ARS, 8.5m) 200 in 34 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 4, 22, 30 & 37)

Dimitri Payet (WHU, 7.5m) 171 in 28 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 13-19, 30, 35 & 38

Dele Alli (TOT, 5.0m) 166 in 33 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 2, 14 & 36-38)

Sergio Aguero (MCI, 13.0m, Vice Captain) 184+25 in 29 Gameweeks (missing Gameweeks 9-12, 15, 16, 18, 27 & 36, auto-promoted to captain in Gameweek 8)

Jamie Vardy (LEI, 6.0m) 211 in 36 Gameweeks (missing Gameweek 35 & 36)

Harry Kane (TOT, 9.5m) 211 in 38 Gameweeks

The Bench

Joe Hart (MCI, 5.5m, Bench) 37 in 6 Gameweeks (played Gameweeks 1-4, 30 & 35)

Marko Arnautovic (STK, 6.0m, Bench 1) 127 in 21 Gameweeks (played Gameweeks 2, 4, 8-19, 22, 27, 30 & 35-38)

Hector Bellerin (ARS, 5.5m, Bench 2) 158 in 31 Gameweeks (played Gameweeks  3-9, 11, 13-25, 27-29, 31-33 & 35-38)

Toby Alderweireld (TOT, 5.0m, Bench 3) 46 in 13 Gameweeks (played Gameweeks 3, 6-8, 14-16, 19, 30 & 35-38)