Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the Gameweek 29 transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
This season’s names are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman, Scoutcasters Seb Wassell and Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar and FPL Harry, FPL ‘celebrities’ LTFPL Andy and Ben Crellin, FPL champion FPL Gunz, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Finn Sollie, Jan Kepski and Jon Ballantyne, and last year’s mini-league winner Marko Miseric.
“Points? Where points?”
Everybody was Free Hit fighting – twice as frightening if you hadn’t planned for the blankest of Blank Gameweeks.
With very few points on offer and some dire differentials, never forget Sergio Reguilon (£4.4m). It led to the inevitable bickering over what is the best chip strategy, an answer we won’t know until the end of the season.
The lead-up to Gameweek 29 saw all those Free Hit managers pick pretty much the same team, with only the eighth attacking spot a point of contention. Those who gambled on Rodrigo Muniz (£4.6m) won but no one from The Great and The Good did, unfortunately.
Elsewhere, we did have some who avoided using the chip. In fact, FPL General, Zophar, FPL Gunz and Marko Miseric each have three chips ready for their final run. I see green arrows in their future.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Do not adjust your set if you think the scores look similar this week, with two-thirds of them playing the Free Hit.
In the battle to be the least bad, Az won the day with his Vitinho (£4.4m) pick proving slightly more effective than the herd choice of Reguilon, whose seventh-minute red card ironically saw him foul the Burnley defender.
This pulled Az to a green arrow of approximately 60k, placing him just outside the half-million mark. Don’t call it a comeback yet but his seeds of a recovery are growing.
As for the lowest score, that belongs to FPL General after his eight-point hit meant he totalled just 13 despite having a full eleven. Still, at least his Free Hit remains intact, unlike FPL Harry who managed no more than 15 points!
GREAT AND THE GOOD TRANSFERS
Not much action here, as transfers were left to the brave minority looking to dodge a chip.
Andy North, still basking in his Wildcard glory – Patreon incoming – was one of those but did use his transfer to bet on Ivan Toney (£8.2m). Sadly, he failed to deliver.
Alongside James Maddison (£8.0m), they were the popular picks with many taking hits to secure such services.
- Andy North – Solanke > Toney
- FPL General – Saka > Kudus, Solanke > Toney, Garnacho > Bowen
- FPL Gunz – Garnacho > Maddison
- Jon Ballantyne – Haaland > Toney, Foden > Maddison, Odegaard > Bowen
- Marko Miseric – De Bruyne > Son, Gross > Maddison
- Zophar – Solanke > Toney, Hwang > Maddison
GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
A Frankenstein monster of a template thanks to the Free Hit playing havoc. Many of the names joining this will no doubt quickly leave once normal service is resumed.
SEASON STATS
A casual glance at the season-long stats now. Mark Sutherns will still be treating everyone to a drink at Fantasy Football Fest with his large team value. Will it help with his late-season Wildcard? He has £4.5m more than Marko Miseric, which is like having a whole extra Tyrick Mitchell.
FPL Gunz continues to make transfers and hits at an alarming rate, again highlighting his win-or-bust strategy with 52 so far and counting. That’s 14 more than our league leader Ben Crellin.
In terms of captaincy, despite a failure this week, Jan Kepski continues to be the one to follow with 464 points – a quarter of his overall score.
CONCLUSION
After a week low on excitement, it’s time to take a short break before launching into the final straight. However, it’s best not to rest on your laurels as now is probably a good time to plan your journey until the end of the season, seen as Double Gameweeks 34 and 37 have become just that little bit clearer.
Whether you decide to base that plan on instinct or an algorithmic FPL sat nav is up to each manager.
If you want to dig further into the data then do have a read of the Mini-League Mate dossier. Under ‘Join an existing league’, enter your name and email together with league code MLM0001. It’s all free!
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article then you can find me here on Twitter.
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