It’s the penultimate 2024/25 article of The Great and the Good, in which Greyhead analyses the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
The Great and The Good this season are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman, Scoutcaster Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar, FPL Harry and Lateriser, FPL “celebrities” Ben Crellin, Luke Williams and FPL Fran, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Jan Kepski, Markku Olaja and Seb Wassell, and last year’s mini-league winner Geraint Owen.
“Are we there yet?”
One more week. The end is nigh, with only a few more days left before we all adopt our stress recovery positions after a tumultuous season of FPL drama.
The penultimate Gameweek saw most FPL managers prowling around Aston Villa and Chelsea players in predatory fashion, as most assumed correctly that we would see the UEFA Europa League finalists put out their B or possibly even C teams.
Ollie Watkins (£9.1m) was the star attraction in the FPL transfer superstore, while the analytics brigade clung to the belief that Cole Palmer (£10.5m) may do something. Most of us missed the fact that free-scoring defenders Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) and Marc Cucurella (£5.4m) were the obvious answer.
The sentimental ones who went for Kevin De Bruyne (£9.6m) all shouted “Kevin!”, Home Alone-style, when he missed that sitter.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
One of the tightest Great and Good title races for a couple of seasons will climax this weekend. Pras leapfrogged Ben Crellin in Gameweek 37 and goes top, with just a four-point margin separating these two titans of the FPL world.
The narrative writes itself. Can Ben Crellin be only the second manager to win back-to-back Great and Good titles? Or will Pras break his duck and join the Hall of Fame to claim this mother of all mini-leagues? We shouldn’t discount FPL Harry, who is only 23 points back in third place and just a differential captain away from winning his second trophy. All very exciting!
Here is the list of former winners for those who like their history:
- 2018/19 – Mark Sutherns
- 2019/20 – Ville Ronka
- 2020/21 – Fabio Borges
- 2021/22 – Fabio Borges
- 2022/23 – FPL Harry
- 2023/24 – Ben Crellin
Pras was the top scorer this week with 66 points. Konsa was the hero, along with Yoane Wissa (£6.9m). Not far behind him was Andy North, who has had an unbelievable run of form with nine successive green arrows. That’s taken him from 913,000 to inside the top 100,000. It’s annoying, really, as I have nothing to tease him about – he is just the man on form.
In other news, we had three more managers play their Triple Captain chips as Zophar, Lateriser and Geraint Owen all tripled down on Watkins. Now it’s just down to Tom Freeman, who is the only one with the chip to play. What will the differential duke have up his sleeve?
TRANSFERS
The message was clear: whatever you do, just buy Watkins! In a startling demonstration of originality, 14 of the 18 managers acquired his services.
Fabio Borges caught the attention with a sudden devotion to West Ham United as he chased those Assistant Manager points with Graham Potter. There was a slightly more successful move for the constantly overlooked Jarrod Bowen (£7.9m).
TEMPLATE
A couple of changes to the template this week with Watkins, Morgan Rogers (£5.8m) and Palmer making their way into the squad as a touch of Friday night fever broke out. Surprisingly, Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) remains a differential despite 41 points in the last four games.
Raya (72.2%), Areola (33.3%)
Gvardiol (94.4%), Saliba (61.1%), Williams (55.6%), Livramento (44.4%), Munoz (38.9%)
Mbeumo (94.4%), Salah (72.2%), Rogers (55.8%), Palmer (38.9%) Sarr (44.4%)
Watkins (77.8%), Wissa (72.2%), Isak (55.6%)
NEXT YEAR’S GREAT AND GOOD
Time to build some unnecessary excitement about who will be joining next year’s ranks of The Great and The Good as we take a look at the feeder mini-leagues.
Unless something miraculous happens, Huss E looks to have it sewn up as they have a 47-point gap and rank of 27th. The tricky thing appears to be tracking them down…
So, Huss or Mr/Mrs/Miss E, if you are out there, can you comment so we can get in touch and organise your Great and Good initiation ready for next year?
In terms of the invitational, well, Frasier Crane has Bench Boosted himself into pole position just ahead of long-time leader Tom Dollimore. It’s going to be a tense Sunday afternoon.
As always, I will be looking to freshen up The Great and The Good next season with some new faces. So, if there is anyone that you feel should be included, then do let me know. There’s no guarantee I will listen, obviously.
CONCLUSION
Well, here we go. After 37 weeks, we are at the final sprint finish. I suspect the last weekend will be its usual goal-fest with random benchings but rather than get frustrated, enjoy it, as it’s a long summer ahead.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised above, you can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky.
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