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 – now inside the top 35k in 2024/25 – talks us through Gameweek 17, plus his plans for Gameweek 18 and beyond.
Gameweek 17 Review
It was a second consecutive red arrow in Gameweek 17, dropping to 34k from 25k. One free transfer was used to replace the suspended Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.8m) with Fulham’s Timothy Castagne (£4.2m), with the second free transfer being rolled. The plan all week was to buy Antonee Robinson (£4.9m) but the news on Friday that Kenny Tete (£4.5m) was going to be out long-term provided a welcome opportunity to save £0.6m for future moves.
The Alisson (£5.4m) transfer two weeks ago hasn’t exactly gone to plan but with more favourable fixtures ahead for Liverpool now, I’m hopeful that the extra investment in that position will pay off. There was no clean sheet for the double Arsenal defence but Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.3m) and William Saliba (£6.3m) will be staying in the team for the foreseeable future. In the final game of the Gameweek, captain Mohamed Salah (£13.5m) limited some of the damage caused by the likes of Alexander Isak (£9.0m), Lewis Hall (£4.6m) and Morgan Rogers (£5.4m).
The injury to Bukayo Saka (£10.5m) was frustrating with Arsenal going on to score five goals in the game but it has actually made my transfer decisions easier this week. Every cloud! Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) was a three-week fixtures play and he’s got one more of those to go this week away to Southampton. If it wasn’t for the Saka injury, he might’ve been sacrificed this week so it’s good to have him available now for that plum fixture.
- READ MORE: Best Saka replacements in FPL
Cole Palmer (£11.3m), Bryan Mbeumo (£7.6m) and Chris Wood (£6.6m) all blanked but I’ve got no plans to ship any of them. They are nowhere near being the weakest links in the squad.
Gameweek 18 Team
