Planning for injuries, Covid and rotation: The Scout Network’s festive FPL tips

The festive football season is in full swing and Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers were already battling with suspensions, injuries and rotation before full-blown match postponements muddied the waters further.

With chaos unfolding, we asked the Scout Network to share their plans for the Christmas period.

I enjoy planning for the Christmas schedule, with so many Gameweeks in quick succession, and it lets me put plans into action swiftly.

I’ve already targeted the fixture swings for Manchester United and West Ham, with Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) already having come into my team – although the postponement of Tuesday’s match is a spanner in the works.

Jarrod Bowen (£6.5m) is another I’m looking at, to potentially pair with the struggling Michail Antonio (£7.9m). Elsewhere, I’m searching for a differential. Phil Foden (£8.1m) looks a strong candidate to return to my team and he has just 13.2% ownership in the top 10k according to LiveFPL. An even bigger differential could be Mason Mount (£7.6m), who has an effective ownership of just 11.9% in the top 10k.

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The festive period can always be a difficult one for us FPL managers.

Man City and West Ham have good fixtures and form players in the shape of Jarrod Bowen (£6.5m) and Bernardo Silva (£7.7m), who I could look to add to my team. The postponement of Tuesday’s match at Brentford means that I can play ‘wait and see’ on Manchester United assets before settling on my player of choice, meanwhile. Whoever I add to my team between now and Christmas, I will be considering my captaincy options for the coming weeks when I buy them – as we’ll be without a certain Egyptian in the New Year.

As of now, the Africa Cup of Nations is still going ahead. Already having Keinan Davis (£4.5m) as a non-playing substitute, and with Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) up and leaving us, I will look to make sure I’m not adding too many players that may miss out in the coming weeks to ensure my substitutes are ready to be called upon. For now I plan to bench Salah while he’s away, but I’ll re-assess this nearer to the time based on other players’ form and the number of weeks he may be away.

Lastly, I set as many alarms as I can to tackle deadlines during this schedule. With so much going on, it can be all too easy to let a deadline slip past without notice, and can be really useful to have that reminder. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

FPL Nymfria

Our strategy for December is simple: go big in midfield, light on strikers and beware of Covid!

Spurs have turned a corner under new manager Antonio Conte and so far Son Heung-min (£10.3m) is the man. Manchester United’s fixtures are juicy, so we’re keeping tabs on Marcus Rashford (£9.4m) and Diego Dalot (£4.5m). Sadly, they are now moves that have to be put on the backburner as the result of Covid causing issues and the pandemic is highlighting the need to be flexible with our transfers.

With the positive coronavirus cases skyrocketing, it’s the same tactic as last season: we’re making sure we have a decent bench in December and that we’re well stocked with Baileys!

FPL Experiment Podcast

As a rule, I’m going to target low ownership, and combined with a fine attacking form and nice fixtures, what’s not to like about Jarrod Bowen (£6.5m) right now. He will be one of my priority transfers going forward.

I will also be keeping a close eye on the Manchester United attack when they’re back up and running after Tuesday’s postponement, as I’ve currently invested in Jadon Sancho (£8.9m) but I am now questioning if Marcus Rashford (£9.4m) isn’t the one to go for, playing up top next to Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m). So far he hasn’t done much for me to want him but the platform for him to perform and do a good job is definitely there. 

I will also be starting to think ahead to AFCON, making a plan for how to survive and how to get Salah back without tearing the team apart!

FPL Linn

I had plans to improve the quality of my bench over the Christmas period because there are always starting players that get rotated at this time of year. However, the Covid outbreaks at Spurs and Manchester United, as well as positive cases at Leicester, Chelsea and Brentford and a couple of flags in my team, now means that I might have to sort my bench later than originally planned.

Investing in talismen is always a good strategy for Christmas and so I will be targeting players who are key to their Premier League sides, meaning that they are less likely to spend time on the bench. Likewise, I’ll be avoiding players who are just returning from injury for fear of a repeat injury like Patrick Bamford (£7.7m) picked up in Gameweek 15 or reduced minutes as they regain match fitness.

I’ll likely spend more time this Christmas planning for my vice-captain than my captain. With Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) on such good form he’ll hold the armband over Christmas, with the vice-captain being whichever player has the best fixture that week. I’ll also be picking my vice-captain from players that are almost certain to start and watching their minutes from the previous Gameweeks carefully.

Sam FPL Family

I played my Wildcard last week and looked to take advantage of good fixture runs for West Ham, Manchester United, Manchester City and Watford. Picking my new squad wisely should set me up well for the Christmas period and hopefully beyond, meaning that my festive transfers can be used based on team news – like reacting to Tuesday’s fixture cancellation – rather fixing a team with wider issues.

Although I think the value is probably in midfield, I’ll likely go with three forwards due to the fact I can buy a £4.4m playing midfielder, but not a £4.4m playing forward. With Covid on the increase, I suspect I may need all three subtitutes at some point especially over this busy festive schedule.

FPL Partridge