Two-time Indian Fantasy Premier League (FPL) champion Lateriser is chipping in with his own Q&A, discussing Arsenal’s defence and ranking the best cheap forwards.
Our writers are providing regular articles throughout the season, with only subscribers able to access every single one. You can still get 40% off a Premium Membership by signing up here. Once aboard, you’ve locked in the price of your Premium Membership for good, so long as you don’t cancel!
Whilst Zophar has a weekly Q&A session, it’s been a while since I did one myself. The international break is a perfect time to take a few questions.
Q: Do you think Arsenal’s defence is worth investing in? Could Martin Odegaard’s (£8.2m) return mean they’re back to last year’s clean sheet numbers, or is something still missing?
(via @ArwynVobe)
It has been frustrating to own an Arsenal defensive double-up since Gameweek 6, to say the least. The Gunners had by far the best defence – arguably in all of Europe – last season and things haven’t quite been the same this time.
Over the latest six Gameweeks, they are still only behind Liverpool for expected goals conceded (xGC). This means they’ve been slightly unfortunate in this run and a few extra factors haven’t helped.
For example, injuries throughout the team mean they haven’t had a settled defence. We’ve seen five to six different back-fours, which is a far cry from the stability of Ben White (£6.2m), William Saliba (£6.0m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.1m) plus one more.
Also, the team has picked up a red card on three occasions, where at least two of them would’ve likely brought a clean sheet. Fixtures haven’t been particularly easy, either. Once they complete their clash against Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 12, they will have faced all of the top 11 except Fulham. Therefore, they sit second on our Season Ticker over the next 10 Gameweeks.
With two of the Arsenal backline in place, I feel quietly confident of making gains by finally collecting clean sheets. I definitely think they’re worth investing in and White’s injury likely provides us with a defender that’s just £5.5m – hello, Jurrien Timber.
As you mentioned, having Odegaard back will add to their team balance and I wouldn’t worry about investing in them. In fact, I think they are very much a strong buy for the upcoming festive period.
Q: Do you think having three budget forwards is viable, given the options in that price range?
Q: Can you rank the sub-£7.0m forwards? I know you’re going for Alexander Isak (£8.5m) but talk us through the other two options with Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) and Emile Smith Rowe (£5.7m) in the team and also if one or neither is there.
(via @spydergz and @Sifat_zaman3)
We find ourselves at a place where there are lots of budget forwards currently in play. Some of which are genuinely good options.
Let me start with my immediate preference: Joao Pedro (£5.4m). At first, I was sceptical about the amount of options Brighton have up top and was genuinely worried about his minutes. But it wasn’t his impact off the bench against Manchester City that changed my mind, it was this post-match quote from his manager.
“He makes a difference. I think every Premier League club has this one player who makes the special things, and I think he’s exactly that player for us.
“He’s not only a great player, he’s also a great leader. I think we underestimated a little bit regarding [his] leader skills. He’s a great leader, he’s very demanding. He demands a lot from his teammates, he always sets the standards really high, and I think he’s a big role model for all the young players.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Joao Pedro
The fact that Fabian Hurzeler mentions every team having “this one player” did it for me. He seemingly views Joao Pedro as talismanic and Brighton are one of the best teams that have a cheap forward.
Coming in so cheap when the Seagulls also sit second on the Season Ticker between Gameweeks 12 and 24 makes him a great set-and-forget option. Yes, due to the availability of options and fixture congestion, he might miss out on the occasional start. Yet the team’s attacking potency, fixtures and his penalty duties make him the number one for me.
Next up for me is Matheus Cunha (£6.8m), who is showcasing his ability and class in many Wolverhampton Wanderers matches and they still have a good fixture run until Gameweek 20.
At number three, someone not fancied much in the FPL community but a striker that I wrote about in my previous article. I’m talking, of course, about Evanilson (£5.9m) who I bought last week and have already been repaid via an eight-pointer. One of the reasons I really like him is that Bournemouth are a good team in transition and their fixtures suit this style of play that makes use of his pace.
So is a frontline made up purely of cheap forwards viable? I see many FPL managers owning all of Cole Palmer (£10.9m), Mohamed Salah (£12.9m), Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) and one of Mbeumo or Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) in this period, accommodating this with a budget frontline.
I don’t particularly see any problem with this because they are long-term plays. However, I do want to bring up that – if at any time you want a certain Erling Haaland (£15.2m) back in – it’d probably mean an extra transfer or two is required. If you’re spreading funds around, it means committing to a non-Haaland structure or collecting many free transfers, just in case.
There are now some great picks in the mid-price bracket like Isak – good run of fixtures for a while – Kai Havertz (£8.0m) and Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m). Balancing your squad by including one of this trio would be better, should Haaland be wanted in future. If I were on a current Wildcard, I’d probably balance it out with at least one mid-priced striker rather than all three being cheap.
Q: Do you think team value is more or less important than in previous seasons?
(via @charman_mi21777)
In general, I don’t think team value is incredibly important but it always comes down to the availability of good-value picks. Last season we had the insanely low-priced Palmer and team value suddenly didn’t matter as much – though there is always something you can do with the extra cash.
Yet this year it’s difficult to afford all big hitters and the pricing is great. From a season-to-season perspective, I’m not quite sure if the importance of team value changes greatly but I do think that making transfers early in the week is justified in its first half.
The deeper we go, the need to make transfers for team value purposes decreases. It’s less often that the extra £0.1m or £0.2m will matter, where waiting for information from team news and leaks is greater than the increment in value.
