Sponsored by FanTeam
The international break is over – hurrah! And with the return of Premier League football comes FanTeam‘s latest Weekly Monster, a tournament in which Fantasy managers can turn a £1.68 entry fee into an £840 cash windfall.
In a nutshell, all you have to do is build a ‘Free Hit’ squad for the upcoming Gameweek – and you’ve got right up to 15:00 BST on Saturday to do it, so you can enter even after the FPL deadline has passed.
There is a kitty of £5,880 to play for, with prizes awarded down to 604th place.
Head to the FanTeam lobby and look for the ‘Gameweek 31 €30K EPL Weekly Monster [€3K to 1st place]’ link (seen above) to choose your level of entry.
ENTER YOUR TEAM FOR GAMEWEEK 31 HERE
Az and Josh’s live stream from Thursday discusses the Monster in more detail:
A brief how-to-play guide is featured beneath our picks.
WEEKLY MONSTER FIXTURES
SCOUT PICKS FOR GAMEWEEK 31
There are nine fixtures to select players from this time, excluding Liverpool vs Watford and the midweek Burnley vs Everton clash.
The defences of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester City are backed to keep clean sheets against Newcastle United, Brentford and Burnley respectively. With uncertainty over whether Reece James will participate, the safer option of Antonio Rudiger is preferred on this occasion. Joao Cancelo has been one of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) stars of the season and plays for a rock-solid City backline. They’ve not gone more than one match without a clean sheet since Gameweek 15.
To complement the more expensive options in this side, some potential bargains like Brandon Williams and Jonny have been included. Brighton and Hove Albion have lost six in a row and only scored once in that period, so keeping a clean sheet is feasible for Williams. As for Jonny, the Wolves wing-back scored in Gameweek 30 against Leeds and has another home match this time, hosting an Aston Villa side that have struggled against sides above them all season.
Kai Havertz is in form and getting regular game time for Thomas Tuchel. He has played all 360 minutes of their last four league matches, securing his place as a crucial player for this critical stage of the season by netting four times. With possible out-of-position potential, a home fixture with Brentford looks too good to ignore.
Meanwhile, Harvey Barnes and Wilfried Zaha won’t be intimidated by their opponents. Leicester City will be confident of grabbing a result at Manchester United, whilst Zaha has quietly reached nine goals this season and hopes to make double figures against Arsenal. And the great thing with FanTeam’s Safety Net feature is if neither player makes the starting XI due to injury concerns, there’ll be a ready-made replacement from the same club ready to step in (see below for more details).
Despite blanking in his last six matches, set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse will relish whipping some dead balls into the leaky Leeds defence.
Up front, Harry Kane almost needs no explanation right now, such is his form. Until Gameweek 22, his only tally above six points came against Sunday’s opponents Newcastle. Across north London, Alexandre Lacazette is firmly established as in-form Arsenal’s number one forward ahead of Monday night at Selhurst Park.
HOW TO PLAY: A BRIEF GUIDE
Slightly different from the usual squad-based games, FanTeam managers are given a budget of €106m to build a team of 11 players that includes at least one goalkeeper, three defenders, two midfielders and one forward.
A maximum of three players are allowed from one club and captains score double points, as usual.
Here are some other minor differences to the otherwise easy-to-play game:
- There is no bench or manual substitutes; instead, there is a ‘Safety Net’ feature. If a player in your Fantasy team isn’t in the starting XI for their side, they will automatically be substituted for the next priced player from the same position and club.
- A ‘Stacking Penalty’ is given if you have two or more defensive players from the same club and they keep a clean sheet. One point is deducted for each additional asset that you select from the same side.
HOW DOES THE SCORING WORK?
FPL managers looking for a way to make their knowledge pay will have no trouble picking up FanTeam‘s Gameweek 31 Weekly Monster, with its familiar scoring system.
Think of it as FPL without the bonus points, with a few other exceptions such as shots on target and winning/losing impact points – detailed in the graphic above.
ENTER YOUR TEAM AHEAD OF THE SATURDAY DEADLINE
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