Following on from Month in Review – September, here we take a look at some of the highs and lows from this month in Fantasy Premier League (FPL). We can see which players have and have not impressed throughout October, in addition to the usual figures surrounding Wildcards and Chips used. Along the way, I will also look at some of the great posts and articles that Fantasy Football Scout members have shared over the last few Gameweeks.

Goalkeepers

For the month of October in goal, the standout performers were Manchester United’s David De Gea and Arsenal’s Petr Cech. Both returned 23 points with three clean sheets. Three other keepers delivered two clean sheets throughout October but with varying points returns due to factors such as saves and bonus points. These are Wayne Hennessey of Crystal Palace (15), Boaz Myhill of West Brom (20) and Jack Butland of Stoke (24).

Dino raised an interesting question surrounding whether rotating goalkeepers is still a viable option. This is definitely something to consider over the winter.

Defence

Following on from goalkeepers, both Manchester United and Arsenal defenders did very well this month. For United, the performances of Chris Smalling earned himself 23 points, while Marcos Rojo has filled in at left-back for their last three games, returning 22 points.

For Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny (32) played only three of their four games but returned a massive haul with a goal in each of his last two games. Full-backs Hector Bellerin (25) and Nacho Monreal (20) also delivered a tidy sum.

In West Brom’s case, their defensive assets proved useful in Jonny Evans (14), Craig Dawson (13) and Gareth McAuley (19). Stoke’s Glenn Johnson rewarded his owners with 25 points for the month, with team-mates Pieters (20) and Wollscheid (21) also totting up the points.

Crystal Palace, a team not known for defensive assets, also proved useful but only for those with Scott Dann (16). A gem for some FPL managers turned out to be the very cheap Leicester defender Danny Simpson who was the latest victim of Claudio Ranieri’s tinkering. This time, however, he was brought into the side and due to an early subbing in one match, finished October with two clean sheets and 15 points. On the flip side, an early sub for Southampton’s Cedric Soares cost him a clean sheet by a painstaking 15 seconds, which for community regular Fuzzy Warbles, did not go down too well. The outcome, however, cleared up a lot of confusion for FPL managers.

As we know, West Brom have been very solid under Tony Pulis’ famous structured tactics, however Demi wonders whether West Brom’s defensive assets have run their course now that they face a tough six weeks of fixtures. Elsewhere, Jaffalito put together a members table on threatening defenders, which could come in handy for November and the near future.

Midfield

From the high-mid to premium-priced midfielders, several delivered throughout the month. Arsenal duo Alexis Sanchez (31) and Mesut Ozil (40) were quite impressive while Manchester City midfield wingers Raheem Sterling (25) and Kevin De Bruyne (28) perhaps fell short of expectations for some. Other good returns came from Southampton’s Sadio Mané (20), West Ham’s Dmitri Payet (24) and Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen (25).

In the mid-priced bracket there were several options that stood out. Popular options, Leicster’s Riyad Mahrez (25) and Swansea man André Ayew (22), continued to impress, whereas the more maverick options such as Newcastle’s Georginio Wijnaldum (35), Southampton’s Dusan Tadic (16), Spurs’ Erik Lamela (16) and Gerard Deulofeu (20), of Everton, act as food for thought.

In the lower-priced range the standout picks for the month were Tottenham midfield duo, Mousa Dembele (22) and Dele Alli (24) in addition to Bournemouth’s Ritchie (17) and Southampton’s Steven Davis (22).

Attack

There were a variety of cheap striker options presented to us in October. Odion Ighalo delivered 31 points this month to continue his 100% goal involvement record for Watford this season. As a more expensive option at 6.7, Salomon Rondon (18) may be one to watch for now as West Brom enter tough fixtures. At the bottom of the table, both Steven Fletcher (25) for Sunderland and Glenn Murray (13) for Bournemouth have been in goalscoring form despite the clear difference in their points returns.

At the start of October, Aguero scored five goals against Newcastle only to pick up another injury over the international break. Rodallegabombaldinho’s article on who to replace Aguero with proved very useful as many of his options listed delivered the goods. A lot of mid-high priced forwards have been in fantastic form such as Harry Kane (27), Romelu Lukaku (24), Graziano Pelle (24), Olivier Giroud (18), Christian Benteke (17) and Jamie Vardy (34). In relation to the latter, Jose’s Magic Omelette asks the community whether Vardy is a season keeper.

Out Of Form

For Chelsea, under-pressure boss José Mourinho has his hands full with some dreadful performances and FPL points returns from popular players such as Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa. Their defensive assets certainly still look like a no-go area after letting in eight goals this month, and many will be cautious about selecting their players despite Chelsea’s somewhat favourable fixtures coming up.

Another side leaking goals is Bournemouth, conceding 13 goals this month alone. The likes of Artur Boruc and Simon Francis have hugely fallen out of favour with FPL managers this month even as cheap options. Manager Eddie Howe has a lot of work on his hands for the winter.

Fellow newly promoted team Norwich are also poor at the back with 11 goals conceded in their last four games. Ruddy and Martin have fallen from grace recently and will need to do a lot to be considered as budget options for many.

Lastly, Aston Villa, alongside Norwich, have four straight losses in a row, despite conceding three fewer goals than the Canaries in October. With the attack-minded Remi Garde announced as their new manager, it will be interesting to see how this will impact Villa from an FPL perspective. Perhaps the likes of out-of-favour options like Scott Sinclair and Rudy Gestede will emerge on our radars once more.

Watchlist Team For November

Below I’ve picked out what I believe to be the best players to consider for November’s fixtures. In his article last week, Rakkhi looked at teams and players with favourable fixtures up until the New Year, whereas I am just looking at the short term.

With some solid defensive displays last month, I like the look of Crystal Palace’s fixtures for November. Wayne Hennessey gets my vote as a cheap option at 4.0 and in attack it has to be out-of-position player Yannick Bolasie at a generous price of 6.2 and a modest 3.8% ownership. In defence, the returns of Damien Delaney and Joel Ward, looks a huge boost to Crystal Palace’s clean sheet chances, and with the added goal threat I think either could be a very good choice for November. Scott Dann is another who has impressed of late.

Though they haven’t looked great defensively recently, Everton have some great fixtures next month and a great attacking threat. Although both Deulofeu and Koné had a fantastic game against Sunderland last match and could be included here, Romelu Lukaku is my choice. He is one of those players that if you don’t own and has a good game, your rank will be destroyed from his high ownership. Strength in numbers and his price won’t set you back that much compared to other strikers.

Leicester are probably one of the most in-form teams lately next to Arsenal and have no problem scoring. For this reason, we really can’t look past Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy. Some people are going for one or the other, others are going with both. One thing is for certain: make sure you have at least one of them in your team at this stage. Though unlikely to keep any clean sheets, there have been good stats supporting Robert Huth so I would include him on the off-chance of a goal or a few random bonus points.

Lastly, Arsenal, as arguably the most in-form team, there has to be a few options mentioned. In defence, Koscielny (as mentioned earlier) has been clearing up, but I don’t fancy him to keep scoring consecutively so my pick is Hector Bellerin. Though he will set you back 5.9, I think he is worth every penny considering how far forward he roams and how involved in attacks he gets. There seems to be an emerging “Ozil or Sanchez” conundrum doing the rounds so to avoid taking sides both get the nod for me, with Olivier Giroud up top as the final striker in Walcott’s absence.

Wildcarding

398,128 total Wildcards used in October (10.2%)

1,485,095 total Wildcards used (43.4%)

As we can see, in comparison to August and September, far fewer people used their Wildcard during October. However with an international break coming up, we can expect to see this overall figure move past the 50% mark in November. Many will be bringing in-form players or perhaps changing their team to suit a trending ‘Power 5’ midfield that Jonty discussed. In another interesting hot topic from Jonty, he asked how we plan our team: form or fixtures?

Chips

Overall

Triple Captain – 23.7%

Bench Boost – 14.8%

All Out Attack – 14.6%

As an update for those of us who have chosen to hold onto our chips for a later stage, Jarvish’ did some digging into potential DGW ties for the Capital One Cup final.