Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the 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.
“We are in the end game now…”
The FPL chess board is now laid out with the remaining doubles clearly signposted, although the events over the last few weeks probably made some of us want to sweep all our pieces off the board.
We came into Gameweeks 30 and 31 with giddy fresh optimism as it was Wildcard time for some, notably FPL General, Seb Wassell, Zophar and late to the party Az, who played his in the second Gameweek.
The rest of them were left to start making plans to ‘dead-end’ in Gameweek 34 with the dawning realisation that their current squad would spend its final terminal hours with Darwin Nunez (£7.6m) by its bedside.
Gameweek 31 brought with it an almost comedic level of carnage. Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) vanished, Erling Haaland (£14.3m) was benched, Ivan Toney (£8.1m) did, then didn’t then did play (source Brentford FC social media) and amongst all this, permanent back-up keeper Matt Turner (£3.8m) managed to get minus one even though he never made the field. A lesson worth noting for all the bench wizards out there.
While all this was happening, the FPL Challenge came along which left us all excited, confused and muttering something about rolling deadlines in equal measure.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Phil Foden (£8.2m)? Cole Palmer (£6.0m)? No, it was Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) who threw The Great and The Good title race upside down in Gameweek 31, as Jan Kepski’s loyalty paid off – he has owned him for 24 of the 31 Gameweeks. His haul on Tuesday night sent the serial top 1,000 finisher to the top of the table overtaking Ben Crellin, giving him his ninth green arrow out of 10.
However, Ben or more accurately Phil Foden responded, and his brace put him back on the summit by the end of the week. I suspect there will be a few more twists in this battle of the FPL behemoths.
Zophar wildcarded himself to the top score of 78 in Gameweek 30 courtesy of a certain Newcastle striker. Those 23 points over the two Gameweeks saw him rise to a combined ranking boost of 21,000 places.
His FPL Wire co-host Pras was not far behind in Gameweek 30 as his patience with Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) paid off with a 15-point haul. A Bournemouth double-up in defence helped him climb even higher in Gameweek 31.
Captain choice in Gameweek 30 was at least interesting before the Mo dominance and disappointment of Gameweek 31, with Joe, Seb, Finn and FPL Gunz being early adopters of the Egyptian armband.
Of course, FPL Gunz continued down his differential path by plumping for Harvey Barnes (£6.2m) as captain, no really, in Gameweek 31, but it was last year’s FPL Champion who had the last laugh.
WILDCARDS
Three of them played the Wildcard in Gameweek 30 and there were some similarities between the three amigos.
ZOPHAR
The best initial returns came from Zophar. He had the template midfield of Son Heung-min (£10.1m), Saka and Mohamed Salah (£13.4m), joined by Palmer and Alejandro Garnacho (£4.9m).
This meant he went cheap and cheerful in defence, with Conor Bradley (£4.3m), Jamaal Lascelles (£3.9m) and Malo Gusto (£4.3m) all under £4.5m.
However, what made the FPL Wire co-host stand out was Alexander Isak (£7.8m). With his Free Hit in hand, I see much more green in his future.
FPL GENERAL
The General followed the Zophar path, with just a slight diversion toward the Darwin Nunez expressway – it remains to be seen whether this will end well.
His goalkeeping decisions also raise an eyebrow with Caoimhin Kelleher (£3.9m) and Djordje Petrovic (£4.6m) no doubt saving him a bob or two, but will they cause him a transfer in the run-up to the doubles later in the season?
SEB WASSELL
Seb’s overhaul took a different path, as he was constrained by the Free Hit spent in Gameweek 29. This meant Pablo Sarabia (£4.7m) and Eberechi Eze (£6.0m) were preferred to Saka and Garnacho in midfield, both doubling in Gameweek 34.
However, the strikers and the defenders remain roughly aligned to the template set by General and Zophar, although Daniel Munoz’s (£4.5m) inclusion is one worth monitoring – an unlikely Double Gameweek hero?
And then in Gameweek 31…
AZ
Last, and well least in terms of overall rank this year (sorry Az), the Blackboxer pulled the trigger.
Defensive injuries and uncertainty nudged him over the line, plus the lure of Salah and Darwin.
The usual suspects are in midfield; however, the overhaul did allow him to jump on the Isak bandwagon but its defence that catches the eye, with Josko Gvardiol (£4.8m) looking a secure bet into the City backline with defensive injuries mounting. Meanwhile, it looks like he will be doubling up on Palace defenders in Gameweek 34.
Oh, and he Wildcarded Foden out but let’s not dwell on that.
TRANSFERS
Talking of which, a moment of silence now for all those who sold Phil Foden. Pras, LTFPL Andy, Jan Kepski, even the GOAT himself Fabio moved on the Mancunian marvel at precisely the wrong time.
Gameweek 31 seemed to be time for some FPL spring cleaning with Pras and FPL Harry going particularly heavy on the hits, both taking minus eights to make four transfers.
The best of the Gameweek 30 trades was Fabio Borges who kept it simple by bringing in Cole Palmer, who deferentially returned 15 points for the FPL GOAT.
- Ben Crellin: GW30 (no transfers), GW31 (Richarlison, Watkins > Salah, Mateta)
- Jan Kepski: GW30 (no transfers), GW31 (Foden, Watkins > Salah, Mubama)
- Mark Sutherns: GW30 (Kerkez > Gusto), GW31 (Son, Watkins > Salah, Darwin)
- Harry Daniels: GW30 (no transfers), GW31 (Kaminski, Trippier, Gordon, Watkins > Pickford, White, Salah, Mateta)
- Andy LTFPL: GW30 (no transfers), GW31 (Fernandes, Foden, Watkins > Salah, Sarabia, Darwin)
- Seb Wassell: GW30 (Wildcard), GW31 (Son > Saka)
- Fabio Borges: GW30 (Barkley > Palmer), GW31 (Foden, Watkins > Salah, Mateta)
- Zophar: GW30 (Wildcard), GW31 (no transfers)
- Pras: GW30 (no transfers), GW31 (Trippier, Foden, Richarlison, Watkins > Richards, Salah, Eze, Darwin)
- Andy North: GW30 (Bowen > Salah), GW31 (Watkins > Haaland)
- Joe Lepper: GW30 (Foden > Salah), GW31 (Watkins > Darwin)
- Jon Ballantyne: GW30 (Cash, Bowen, Watkins > van Dijk, Salah, Darwin), GW31 (Areola > Raya)
- FPL General: GW30 (Wildcard), GW31 (no transfers)
- Tom Freeman: GW30 (Barkley > Salah), GW31 (De Bruyne, Watkins > Sarabia, Haaland)
- Finn Sollie: GW30 (Estupinan, Foden > Gusto, Salah), GW31 (Watkins > Darwin)
- Marko Miseric: GW30 (no transfers), GW31 (Maddison, Watkins > Salah, Haaland)
- Az Phillips: GW30 (Kerkez > Gusto), GW31 (Wildcard)
- FPL Gunz: GW30 (Reguilon, Barkley > Gusto, Salah), GW31 (Maddison, Morris > Barnes
GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
Darwin is the major new entry this week as the temptation proved too great with the injury to Ollie Watkins (£8.8m).
The other major changes since we last looked are the arrival of the cheaper Gusto as a makeweight to see the return of the King, Salah. It is now just him and Cole Palmer who reside in the exclusive 100% ownership club.
CHIP KINGS
As it’s chip season, I had a quick look at the success or otherwise so far of The Great and The Good. The table below shows how many points they have added to the team.
Free Hit success is calculated as points above the FPL average, with Wildcard calculated the same way but averaged over a five Gameweek period.
Az is top, but that is mainly because he has used all five of his chips. Highlights include his accidental Bench Boost of 18 points, which may actually leave a few sweating with the favoured Gameweek 37 potentially looking prone to rotation.
FPL General is second, with his Free Hit and Bench Boost in hand, he gained the most points above the average from his late Wildcard in Gameweek 20 and his early overhaul looks to be just as effective in Gameweek 30. Zophar is not far behind due to his strong start from his second Wildcard.
FPL General, Zophar and Andy North are probably thankful they didn’t Free Hit in Gameweek 29. Jon Ballantyne has made the most gains on this chip, and he played it back in Gameweek 25. Sometimes it pays to listen to Fleetwood Mac, young readers please do look them up on YouTube, and go your own way.
CONCLUSION
The Salah blank, the Haaland benching and the Saka squad omission should put us all on alert that even though the path to the final Gameweek looks predictable, the FPL Gods may yet have different ideas. Good luck to you all and may your arrows be green, just not as green as mine.
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.
