FPL Question Time panel reveal their thoughts on Chelsea assets and Firmino

With umpteen top 10k finishes between them, our FPL Question Time panellists are here to address the most-asked Fantasy questions of the week.

From Chelsea’s defence to Liverpool’s attack, our knowledgable quartet give us their opinions ahead of Gameweek 7.

Who’s on the panel this week?

FPL General – Contributor to the Scout site who has three finishes inside the top 400 in the last five seasons and who has a huge following on Twitter. General – aka Mark – also appears regularly on the official FPL Show.

FPL Hints – One of the most-followed names in the FPL community, a seasoned veteran as well as a Scout writer and an Official FPL panellist. Finished 110th in the world in 2011/12.

FPL Heisenberg – Well-known member of the Twitter community with a top 10k finish in 2016/17, followed by top 1k overall rank in 2017/18.

Joe – Our very own Scoutcast and video host, long-time servant of the site, keeper of the Goals Imminent table and seven top 10k FPL finishes.

Questions

Will7o20602: Is £4.5m-rated Fikayo Tomori an option and what of Chelsea’s defence in general?

FPL Heisenberg: I’m avoiding the Chelsea defence personally, as they are shipping too many goals for my liking.

They have got great fixtures coming up and Tomori is a good price at £4.5m so if you fancy them to improve with their favourable fixtures, go for it.

Joe: I’m not sold on the Chelsea defence yet and favour waiting to see how they perform at the start of their kind fixture run, which kicks off against Brighton this weekend.

Their underlying statistics certainly show promise.

While they have shipped eight goals over the last four Gameweeks, the expected goals conceded statistics suggests that they should only have let four to five of those in.

In addition, they have given up seven big chances to opponents over their last quartet of matches but 12 teams have let in more.

It is also worth noting that their 31 shots conceded over the last four matches is the third-best in the league.

If they can translate those promising figures into actual clean sheets then Tomori is a strong value option indeed, if he can keep his place.

FPL Hints: In seasons gone by, it would almost seem like a bit of a hack if you were to suggest that there was a starting defender from a team like Chelsea priced at less than £5m. But under Lampard’s youth policy that is exactly what you’re getting in the case of Tomori. 

It goes without saying that Chelsea have a generous fixture run from Gameweek 7 to 12. During this time they won’t face any Premier League teams that finished in the top eight last season. The fact Tomori has started during the last three Gameweeks is a positive sign.

However, as good as it may seem, there are some caveats. Chelsea have yet to keep a single clean sheet in the Premier League since August. In fact, they’ve conceded at least two goals per game since Gameweek 3. But then again, there haven’t been many clean sheets as a whole. 

Tomori could act as the perfect enabler when downsizing from a premium defender if it means you then have extra cash to obtain additional attacking cover from City.  He’s also a differential at 1.3% and definitely on my radar but I may wait for Chelsea to keep clean sheets before I consider their backline options.

Rod: Is Firmino a better option than Mane and Salah right now?

FPL Hints: If the form book is anything to go by, the Brazil international is certainly making a case for himself. The fact that he is cheaper than Mane and Salah is also a positive sign and I actually considered buying him as part of doubling up with Salah. 

His three goals and four assists this season can’t be ignored and is currently on course to exceed his tallies from last season. Firmino is the clear centre-forward option for Liverpool at the moment, with Divock Origi playing second fiddle and highly unlikely to challenge him in the immediate future.

The fact that Firmino was benched in Gameweek 5 had more to do with managing minutes post-international break than a rotation policy under Klopp. He ended up coming off the bench and assisting in that match, which also bodes well.

I would strongly recommend Firmino as a ‘double-up’ option alongside either Salah or Mane.

FPL General: Firmino has been excellent so far this season but I’m reluctant to say he’s better than Mo and Sadio just yet. He is offering great value at £9.5m but I still view Salah and Mane as the more explosive options who I trust a lot more for captaincy than Firmino.

That being said, when I Wildcard in a couple of weeks time, if Firmino is still delivering consistently then I’ll be giving him serious consideration – but it’s likely to be alongside one of Salah/Mane, rather than instead of.  

Joe: I’m going to be a pain again and suggest that the wrong question is being asked. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Robert Firmino are all good options so instead FPL managers should ask themselves how many of them should they own, not is Roberto Firmino the best.

Doubling up on attackers is a hugely viable tactic. Adding Firmino to a team turns the well-owned Mane and Salah from a shield pick to a rank busting sword. This is especially the case when you consider they have scored 11 goals between them this season. Also, each of them has between 38% to 41% goal involvement.

Yes, Firmino has eight shots on target this campaign, but Salah has only one less and Mane has six.

Firmino is not a better option. He is a great option, but that doesn’t mean Salah and Mane should be forgotten.

Hansel: I have Haller but is it worth taking a hit to get Abraham in? And could the same be said for Barnes and King owners?

FPL General: This is something I’ve been pondering myself this week. I’d love to have Tammy for Brighton this weekend but it would mean losing Barnes for a -4. Selling Barnes for a -4 doesn’t feel right with two decent fixtures coming up, so I think I’ll end up being patient with him.

If I wasn’t planning to Wildcard soon, I would be more likely to take the hit to get Abraham. In terms of Haller to Tammy for a -4, I think that’s easier to do with Haller failing to register a shot on target last two games and Lanzini being out is a big loss to their attack. I expect Abraham to continue his good form in the next couple of weeks. 

FPL Hints: The fact that Haller, King and Barnes all blanked in Gameweek 6 was rather unfortunate. I own neither of them but I see their merit as budget options. 

West Ham still have a good fixture run ahead and it does seem a bit premature to sell Haller so suddenly. After all, Abraham also blanked last weekend and if you were to switch them for a hit, you would have to somehow hope that Abraham scored a brace and gets maximum bonus points to make it worthwhile (and for Haller to blank), which all seems a bit risky.

Of course, it makes sense to move towards buying Abraham for those Fantasy managers that have a free transfer at hand. 

His 30% ownership is almost making him a must-have and he is more than capable of scoring 20+ goals this season if he is able to retain his starting berth and current strike rate. However, it may be worth giving our other budget options one last chance before we opt for him.

FPL Heisenberg: Tough one as it depends on the rest of your squad if you should take a hit for Haller to Abraham. However, I think it’s a good move as Tammy looks a great pick. Go for it!

Darrell b: With many options appearing up front and ‘big at the back’ not really working out, who should we look for in defence? Mid-price options like Otamendi or Aurier? Or do we go even cheaper down to Söyüncü or a Villa, Brighton or Burnley option?

Joe: The discussion around big at the back I think misses the point. Instead, FPL managers should look at their team as a whole and have a balanced approach across the board that can hop on bandwagons, value and emerging strategies quickly.

For defence, I favour one to three defenders that offer attacking threat that can be played almost every week. The top candidates here for me are Liverpool’s Trent Alexander Arnold, who is top for key passes over the last four Gameweeks among defenders.

Everton’s Lucas Digne is second to the Liverpool man for chances over the same period among defenders and has taken more corners over that time than any other rearguard option.

Another is Manchester City’s Nicolas Otamendi. No other defender can beat his six shots in the box over the last four Gameweeks. He already has a goal and assist to his name.

More than three of this kind of defender I think upsets the balance of the rest of the team.

I then favour filling the remaining defensive slots with those that offer mainly just clean sheet potential and bonus points. This is where fixtures, value and rotating options via the bench comes in.

Çaglar Söyüncü of Leicester is a gift. Priced initially at £4.5m, even with a small price rise, he is around £0.5m to £1m under-valued in a team with great fixtures coming up.

Sheffield United’s John Lundstram is another gem. A box-to-box sure-starting midfielder that FPL misclassified and underpriced as one of the cheapest defenders in the game.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings, Burnley’s Erik Pieters and Brighton’s Lewis Dunk are among the top five defenders in FPL’s bonus points system.

Lessons learned from Gameweek 6:

• Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth
• Leicester City 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
• Burnley 2-0 Norwich City
• Everton 0-2 Sheffield United
• Manchester City 8-0 Watford
• Newcastle United 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
• Crystal Palace 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
• West Ham United 2-0 Manchester United
• Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa
• Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool