With the next Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline almost upon us, we’re getting insight and team reveals from our panel of Hall of Famers and guest writers. Here, three-time top 500 finisher FPL General talks through his Gameweek 4 squad – and the three transfers he has lined up.
The break is finally over! That was a long two weeks. I barely remember who is in my team, never mind what happened in Gameweek 3…
After the opening three Gameweeks, my overall rank is 392k – which is a great foundation to build on. It is inflated by the successful Triple Captain play, of course, but overall, I’m happy with how my campaign has started. I’ve been fortunate to avoid injuries and suspensions up to this point. Hopefully, Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) is fine having picked up a knock on England duty.
The last time I made an FPL transfer was back in Gameweek 38 of last season! It feels good to have three frees available for the weekend and no major issues in the squad.
Gameweek 3 Review
Captain Erling Haaland (£15.2m) did the business again with another hat-trick. Three in a row would be epic! He’s the obvious captain choice again for Gameweek 4, with a home tie against Brentford.
His strike partners Alexander Isak (£8.5m) and Joao Pedro (£5.7m) made it a total return of 51 points from the forwards, which played a big part in achieving the green arrow. Isak is the most transferred-out player this week, while Pedro is the most transferred-in. That makes me feel good as an owner of both. A lot of folk are going Isak to Pedro to fund a move for Mohamed Salah (£12.7m), while others are losing the Newcastle striker for Haaland. At the time of writing, Isak has 625k fewer owners than he did in Gameweek 3. His goals against Wolves (away) and Fulham (away) are going to be even sweeter now!
Crystal Palace talisman Eberechi Eze (£6.9m) finally produced the goods with a 10-pointer but Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) continued to disappoint. He’s firmly on the chopping block this week despite having a good fixture. He’s likely to make way for a more reliable, bigger hitter. Diogo Jota (£7.5m) blanked as well but for as long as he keeps getting starts, he’ll be going nowhere, especially with Nottingham Forest (home) and Bournemouth (home) next up for Liverpool.
Elsewhere in midfield, Mr. Consistent, Bukayo Saka (£10.1m), is averaging eight points per game but I’m open to losing him for the next two Gameweeks to accommodate Salah.
Gameweek 4 Bus Team
It’s been a big test of patience during the break not to make any moves but I’ve managed to stay strong and resist it. I did consider activating the Wildcard on the Saturday night of Gameweek 3 but with Pedro getting good minutes again and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) only getting an hour, among a few other factors, I decided that it wasn’t the right time for a squad overhaul.
I’m eyeing up a Gameweek 6 Wildcard to bring in the likes of Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) from Brentford and to get on triple Arsenal for their good run of fixtures from that point. The plan is to sell Saka and Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.0m) this week, along with Fernandes…
There’s a wide range of paths I could take when it comes to replacements. Getting Salah is the priority. I want him for Gameweek 5 in particular for the captaincy when Haaland faces Arsenal and Liverpool are at home to Bournemouth. I’d love to get Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) in too, but that would leave just £4.7m to spend on the second midfielder. For that reason, I’m probably going to settle on Andrew Robertson (£6.0m) instead. He’s not a bad alternative for £1.0m less.
With £5.7m left to spend on another midfielder, there are four on my current watchlist that are affordable: Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m), Emile Smith Rowe (£5.6m), Morgan Rogers (£5.1m) and Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m). Of these four, Rogers and Minteh have the best fixtures. Two home games before a Gameweek 6 wildcard is very attractive. The question is, which one is the better FPL pick? My initial plan was to use Rogers as the Salah enabler this week but I’m leaning towards a more exciting two-week punt on Minteh. It’s going to be a close call on those two.
An alternative path I’ve looked at is going Alexander-Arnold in defence and Cole Palmer (£10.6m) instead of Salah. Palmer over Salah would open up the Noni Madueke (£6.6m) or Kaoro Mitoma (£6.6m) possibilities but I keep coming back to Salah being the priority. So, Alexander-Arnold will have to wait until later. I wouldn’t mind a Conor Bradley (£4.9m) start this weekend…
GOOD LUCK!
Hopefully, there will be no major surprises in the pressers on Friday afternoon!
Good luck this weekend, everyone.
Check out this week’s General’s Orders video on the Fantasy Football Scout YouTube channel and the latest episode of the 59th Minute Podcast.
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