How should FPL managers handle in-form Spurs assets ahead of favourable fixtures?

Tottenham Hotspur assets are the talk of the Fantasy Premier League once again following their recent continued form through difficult fixtures.

And now their schedule grows kinder by the week, especially after they face Liverpool at Anfield midweek.

We asked the Scout Network what their plans were for Spurs’ key assets.

FPL Family

Tottenham Hotspur’s Sergio Reguilon and Hugo Lloris celebrate after the match vs Arsenal in Gameweek 11

Spurs started the season with a lovely run of fixtures. On paper those fixtures shifted ahead of Gameweek 9 when Spurs played Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal before a trip to Liverpool in Gameweek 13. As a result of the fixtures a lot of FPL managers chose to sell the likes of Harry Kane (10.9) and Heung-Min Son (9.6m) in favour of those with better fixtures such as Kevin De Bruyne (11.8m), Bruno Fernandes (10.9m) and/or Mohamad Salah (12.3m).

However, with Spurs picking up seven points out of a possible nine vs Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal and Kane and Son still sitting first and second respectively for total points scored this season it is very difficult to sell them. Couple that with their ownership figures – Son especially at 60.3% – and owning both the Spurs attackers feels like a wise investment. After the Liverpool game in Gameweek 13, Spurs take on Leicester in Gameweek 14 where Kane has scored at least once in four of his last six Premier League matches against the foxes, in fact he has braced twice and scored four in this fixture in 2017.

However, its not only Son and Kane who look like excellent options. Spurs had kept four back to back clean sheets in the Premier League before that Crystal Palace goal in Gameweek 12. Of all the Premier League sides Spurs have conceded the least this season with just 10, are joint top for clean sheets kept, they are third best for the number of big chances conceded and are tied fourth best for the number of on target shots conceded this season.

As a result the likes of Eric Dier (5.0m), Sergio Reguilón (5.7m) and even Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (5.6m) shouldn’t be overlooked as options. After the Liverpool and Leicester games Spurs play Wolves, Fulham, Leeds, Aston Villa and Sheffield United – all of which have the potential to bring clean sheets. Reguilón also has a lot of attacking promise down that left hand side and Dier’s free kick potential, as we saw in Gameweek 12, shouldn’t be overlooked either especially at just £5.0m. Lloris also has good upside having registered three bonus points twice already this season as well as two bonus points against Burnley and five clean sheet points too.

FPL Family – Sam

El Statto

Graphic from Jumpers for Goalposts on the Spurs assets

For me it’s as simple as Son and/or Kane. As you can see from the above graphic they are almost double the points of their next player Hugo Lloris (£5.6m).

Everything creatively is going through the Kane and Son partnership, with the two combining again in Sunday’s match at Crystal Palace to provide both the assist and the goal. So far 19 of the 24 goals scored by Spurs have been scored by either Son or Kane and they have also assisted 14 out of the 24 as well!

Their ownership is such that the only real way to benefit from having them is to either have both or to trust one of them with the captains armband. They have a tricky couple of games coming up against Liverpool and Leicester but once past them they have a good run of games during the rest of December and January. The duo have proved they can score against the better teams so i wouldn’t be looking to move either out ahead of the next two.

Defensively, Lloris is probably the most settled option, especially over the Christmas period where rotation is always a worry. However, Sergio Reguilon (£5.7m) and Serge Aurier (£5.2m) do provide great attacking options as well as potential for clean sheets. Although squad depth at Spurs this season means that with these two there is always a risk of rotation with Ben Davies (£4.6m) and Matt Doherty (£5.8m) and this is enough to put me off owning them, given their price and busy schedules.

El Statto

The FPL Experiment Podcast

Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son celebrate a Spurs goal

Sometimes you have to let go of someone you love, despite how much it breaks your heart. You think you’re better off without them and then two weeks later you realise you’ve made a big mistake and you want them back.  

We’re not too concerned about the Harry-shaped hole in The FPL Experiment team for the Liverpool game. José has already demonstrated his approach to the big games and whilst Kane is more than capable of scoring against the champions, the 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Spurs serves as a good indicator of what the ‘The Special One’ will be looking to recreate.

We’ve decided to play the field. De Bruyne, Fernandes and Salah all look like the grass might be greener on the other side. From Gameweek 16 however, Kane’s fixtures look irresistible and so, our plan was for a little midfield Christmas romance – then return to Mr Dependable. 

Spurs’ Gameweek 14 and 15 fixtures against Leicester and Wolves do present a problem though. Luckily in Gameweek 13 Wolves face Chelsea and Leicester play Everton, which should give us an understanding of how competent those 2 sides are at the back against strong opposition. 

Our rationale for ditching Kane was that De Bruyne, Fernandes and Salah look like better captaincy options over the next three Gameweeks in comparison to Kane. Being without Kane, is giving us separation anxiety though!

We transferred Son out due to his ‘ injury’ before the Manchester United game, only for him to heal quicker than Wolverine! It’s Christmas and as George Michael put it …..”once bitten, twice shy”.

Of the two, we prefer Kane. He is revelling in his new role under José. He’s registered 10 assists in the Premier League this season already. More than his previous three seasons combined (nine). Following this weekend’s draw Kane has been involved in 28 goals in all competitions this season (15 goals, 13 assists) more than he recorded in the entire 2019/20 season (24 goals and two assists). José said in the Amazon documentary he wanted to make Kane one of the world’s best – it looks like we’re witnessing his step up to the top tier. 

We had been keeping an eye on Reguilón after his early season performances and this article has prompted us to delve deeper into his stats. Thank you Fantasy Football Scout! From an attacking perspective, they don’t make for great reading. Spurs are just so defensive. If you opt for a Spurs defender, you’re only doing so for the clean sheets. With that in mind and given his recent collection of bonus points, Lloris could be the best Spurs defensive option.  

The FPL Experiment Podcast

FF Titan

Tanguy Ndombele, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Kane celebrate a goal for Spurs

Form-wise Spurs are playing well, both defensively and they have been scoring regularly, as well as having not lost since the opening day of the season vs Everton. Spurs also have a nice run of fixtures after their visit to Anfield to play Liverpool in Gameweek 13, when they play Leicester, Fulham and Leeds. 

Kane we believe to be an essential FPL pick right now. He has already contributed 19 goals this season (nine goals and ten assists), his xG is the third highest at 7.66 and his xA is third at 4.34. Kane also has the added bonus of being the Spurs penalty taker which is always a great asset for an FPL player to have.

Son has been equally prolific in terms of goals scored so far with ten, on top of this he also has four assists to his name. However, Son’s xG (4.00) and xA (2.10) rank far lower than Kane. This season is difficult for us as FPL managers in terms of which of the premium assets we should own. We feel that Son is a great option for the 60% of managers who already own him, however we aren’t convinced that managers should take a hit to bring in Son. It has been a difficult season for FPL managers to decide on which premium midfielders to own so if you don’t already own Son maybe now is the time to trust in one of the other more differential midfield options.

Defensively, Spurs assets are looking good too. They have kept five clean sheets so far this season, including four in the last five Gameweeks. Hugo Lloris (5.6m) is a solid goalkeeper pick, but his price tag may be putting managers off, given the availability of other quality goalkeeper picks at below 5.0 such as Emi Martinez (4.8m) and Alex McCarthy (4.6m).

Our differential Spurs pick is Eric Dier (5.0m). The English defender is slowly but surely becoming the lynchpin of the Spurs defence. He is amongst the first names on Jose Mourinho’s team sheet and is now on direct free-kick duties, especially for kicks from a further distance. He has taken a few quality ones to date and is unlucky not to have scored yet – especially in Gameweek 12 where he was denied by an excellent save by Vincente Guaita (4.9m). Over the course of the season, we can expect him to find the net with his set-pieces at least once.

FF Titan

Ted Talks FPL

Graphic from Ted Talks on the number of Clean Sheets kept by the Premier League sides

When anyone mentions Spurs these days, the next words out of their mouths are usually Son and Kane. The two players have developed a partnership which is on course to be the most prolific in Premier League history. Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard have 36 goal combinations together in the Premier League, the highest ever. When Son and Kane combined again in Gameweek 12 against Crystal Palace, it left them needing only five more to beat that record.

So, with the duo involved in a very high percentage of the goals scored at Spurs, is it vital that we own both?

The fact is that there are plenty of other premium players firing at the moment; Salah, De Bruyne, Fernandes and Jamie Vardy (10.3m), amongst others. Due to the budgetary constraints in our teams, we can’t afford all of them but there is no doubt in my mind that all will continue to perform. The dilemma we have is to determine the extent to which they all perform. Kane and Son may be highly involved in the goals that Spurs score, however Spurs are likely to score fewer than other top sides, due to their defensive nature under Mourinho. I don’t think it matters whether you own neither, one or both of the Spurs lads as long as you try to maximise the number of premiums in your side without it negatively affecting the balance of your squad. With this in mind, those following that strategy will likely opt for Son over Kane considering the monetary saving.

However, one key player that many FPL managers are overlooking is the Spurs captain and goalkeeper Lloris. I’m starting to think that he may be worth the money. In previous seasons premium goalkeepers have never represented much value considering that their cheaper counterparts always supplement their diminished clean sheet potential with saves and bonus points.

The defence graphic above shows that Spurs are one of the top teams for number of big chances conceded, along with Chelsea, Manchester City and to a lesser extent Newcastle. This shows defensive integrity & enhanced clean sheet potential. The main reason why Lloris will provide better value than Edouard Mendy (£5.2m) and Ederson (£6.0m) is due to the number of small chances that Spurs concede. Spurs don’t usually dominate possession as much as other top teams, which affords their opponents more time on the ball and more opportunities to shoot, albeit speculatively. This affords Lloris manageable saves and enhances the impact he’s having on the game and the bonus point system.

Lloris has had 31 saves this season, compared with Mendy’s 13 and Ederson’s 19. Spurs have scored more than two goals only three times this season which furthers Lloris’ bonus point potential as the outfielders won’t dominate the BPS. Lloris has eight bonus points so far this season, compared with none for Mendy’s and just one for Ederson’s.

It’s worth noting that Martínez and McCarthy both have the same number of clean sheets as Lloris and similar save/bonus stats. Both are a lot cheaper too. It is my belief that by the end of the season, Spurs will have consistently attained more clean sheets than Villa and Southampton, making Lloris the best set and forget goalkeeper.

Ted Talks FPL

What has been happening in the Scout Network?

FPL Family

Lee and Sam were absolutely delighted to have one the Silver Award for the Best in Fantasy Football Video category at the Football Content Awards last week. It was a shame that the awards ceremony couldn’t have happened at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as originally planned but the FPL Family were thrilled to have been recognised with the award. Lee appeared on Scoutcast Matchday with Gianni in Gameweek 12 to watch the Leads vs West Ham game.

Lee and Sam are now preparing for the FPL Family Derby in Gameweek 13 when Liverpool play Spurs – could make their next live stream interesting viewing! Lee will also be appearing on this weeks FPLShow to look ahead at Gameweek 14 at the weekend.

FPL Nymfria

FPL Nymfria was awarded the Bronze Award in the Best In Fantasy Football video category of the Football Content Awards last week – well done Nymfria on this fantastic achievement. This weeks Nymfria released a video looking back at Gameweek 11 considering her team selection ahead of gameweek 12.

Nymfria also had a guest appearance from Mark Sutherns this week on her Dream Team stream. Nymfria, Mark and the FPL Community took on the Gameweek 12 – 1 Week Wildcard to try and pick who would be the best players to own for that Gameweek. 

Mini League Mate

Mini League Mate have made some big updates this week. These updates include the quickening of the process of sending of the packs to patreons and trialling overnight sends so you have it when you wake up, to get the information that all FPL Managers want about their Mini Leagues to them as quickly as possible. The updates also saw the adding of some new awards within a brand new Hall of Shame section. They completed this current update with some tweaks to the layout of the dossier.

FF Titan

This week FF Titans continued their discussions on the topic of mental health, this time discussion the powerful FPL community spirit.

The Titans also explored the possibilities of double Gameweeks and the usefulness of the FPL ICT Index for picking your players.

Ted Talks FPL

This week Ted has continued to put out his excellent regular content. He has also been continuing to produce videos for the Scout Notes on some of the games from the weekends action. For Gameweek 12 you can find Ted’s videos on the Scout Notes for Leeds vs West Ham as well as for Fulham vs Liverpool.