Chelsea have become the talk of the town in the Fantasy Premier League community as they found their groove in a 3-0 win at Burnley in Gameweek 7.
Timo Werner (£9.3m), Hakim Ziyech (£8.0m) and Kurt Zouma (£5.2m) scored, Mason Mount (£6.8m), Ziyech and Tammy Abraham (£7.2m) registered the assists and the defence kept the much-anticipated clean sheet to create whispers of double-ups and triple-ups for Gameweek 8.
We checked in with the Scout Network to get their take on which Chelsea assets we as FPL managers should be investing in.
Ted Talks FPL graphic showing the Chelsea defence with and without their new defencive assets
I’m going to focus on the Blues’ defence. I think it’s fair to say that the combined impact of Chelsea’s new defensive signings has been huge. On the three occasions when Mendy, Thiago Silva and Chilwell have played together they have earned a clean sheet. This can’t even be classed as a coincidence as the defensive statistics describe a clear drop off in chances conceded, big and small. This is a really positive sign for clean sheet potential going forward as long as these three players can stay fit and Frank Lampard doesn’t rotate them too heavily.
Ted Talks FPL
Zouma and Chilwell celebrate the Chelsea win in Gameweek 7 over Burnley
I’ve been a bit reluctant to consider another Chelsea asset since selling Werner ahead of Gameweek 4 for Danny Ings. However, with Frank’s team bang in form, and facing a Sheffield United team up next, who are yet to win a game this season, now feels like the right time for me to reconsider.
With Saiss missing out in Gameweek 7 and Wolves’ fixtures on the turn, I am considering a switch to a player I’ve had on my watchlist radar for a few weeks now, Kurt Zouma. At a cheaper price (£5.2) to his more popular counterpart Ben Chilwell (£5.9), Zouma has scored three goals to Chilwell’s one since the start of the season, and has had three more shots on target and four more shots in the box than his team mate too.
Chilwell does offer better assist potential than Zouma though, with his two assists compared to Zouma’s zero, and of course Chilwell can often be seen amongst the set pieces too. Which leads me to conclude that neither Zouma or Chilwell feel like a bad option in terms of defenders with attacking threat, in fact there could be an argument for both based on their attacking form right now. But, considering budget, and goal threat, Zouma edges it for me.
In terms of midfield and forward options for Chelsea, rotation still bothers me a little at the moment, although with Pulisic’s injury probably eases that fear slightly. With a goal and an assist against Burnley, Ziyech has been added to my watchlist.
FPL Nymfria
Chelsea’s new goalkeeper Edouard Mendy
Chelsea were a team many earmarked at the beginning of the season due to their signings and relatively attractive prices. I for one had Werner in for Gameweek 1. However, it has taken a bit of time for them to gel, unsurprisingly due to the number of new signings, but they are beginning to show signs of doing so, especially in defence.
The arrival of Mendy in goal has had an instant impact and for me makes the defence more appealing currently. I brought in Chilwell this Gameweek and he seems the safest option albeit the most expensive as he offers good attacking options from his corners and free-kick. Zouma is the one in the spotlight due to his goal return, but it’s unlikely to continue at the rate it is, so feel he might be a bandwagon pick, but if you want just a defender who’s cheaper than Chilwell and are happy with clean sheets and maybe one or two more goals this season then go for Zouma.
Mendy at £5.0m is a safe keeper pick but I personally prefer to spend only £4.5m in this position. If you are after more than shut outs go for Chillwell. The defence seems to be more settled now as well with only James and/or Azpilicueta being the rotation options at right back/right wing-back.
Their attacking options still seem a bit disjointed and I’m not sure Frank has worked out the best way to play them all yet. I really like the look of Ziyech and is the one I’m closely monitoring. I currently have Pulisic but after his injury in the warm-up at the weekend I’ll be waiting news on that before deciding to stick or move him out.
Chelsea’s fixtures are great for an attacking option in your side, but I think it might just take a few more weeks for them to click and we see their options returning regularly.
El Statto
Transfer Algorithm Chelsea FPL options
After some great displays from Chelsea lately, there is every reason to check up on their assets. The table above is extracted from the Transfer Algorithm and represent the current rating of the attacking Chelsea assets by BCV.
BCV is a value metric considering both expected points and the limited amount of money at hand in FPL. Despite being fortunate to start in Gameweek 7 due to a Pulisic hamstring, Werner seem to be the clear number-one go-to alternative from Chelsea going forward.
Given his status as a world class striker and flexibility for filling in both as a striker and on the left wing, Werner is quite likely to start almost every game. That’s easily worth another million.
The big worry for all the relevant attacking Chelsea assets are minutes on the pitch – they are a bit too many serious contenders, and need to fend off too much competition from each other to get enough out there. And despite all sexy metrics to evaluate players, minutes is the single most important one denting their appeal.
Due to this, actually staying away from them all is the Tranfer Algorithm’s preferred choice at the moment. There are safer options elsewhere, so staying on the fence is perfectly sensible.
Transfer Algorithm
FPL Poker Player graphic for Expected Points Gameweeks 8 – 11
FPL Poker Player clean sheet graphic Gameweek 8 – 11
Anyone who reads my weekly blog will know that my spreadsheets have consistently tipped up Chelsea at both ends of the pitch, so the three clean sheets and ten goals scored in the last four Gameweeks have not come as a surprise. Chelsea assets were already firmly on my radar, hence why I trebled up on them in Gameweek 5.
FPL Poker Player
Ziyech celebrates scoring Chelsea’s opening goal against Burnley
It is really difficult to ignore Chelsea at the moment.
At the start of the season it was hard to predict which of the attacking players at Chelsea would be regular starters and how quickly the likes of Werner, Ziyech and Havertz would hit the ground running in the Premier League.
With Pulisic picking up another injury in the warm-up there appears to now be less risk of rotation across the midfield positions which bodes well for us as FPL Managers.
For me, Ziyech would be my midfielder of choice from Chelsea right now. The stats look great and he is regularly scoring FPL points including a goal and an assist in Gameweek 7.
Chilwell and Zouma are the go to defenders in FPL right now and rightly so with three clean sheets in the last four weeks. However don’t overlook Mendy – at 5.0m he is a great option in that Chelsea defence.
FPL Family
What’s happening in the Scout Network?
Ted treated (not tricked) his YouTube subscribers to two videos las week. With new graphics on show, they have been the most successful uploads since the start of the season. The first upload introduced the ‘chance diagram’ which aims to help viewers visualise the type of statistic represented on the pitch. The second used a huge amount of data analysis to compile the height of defensive lines, with the aim of proviiding useful captaincy information.
After a more succesful gameweek in gameweek 5, it was back down to earth with a bump in gameweek 6 for FPL Nymfria. With a Halloween Special, FPL Nymfria gave us her Gameweek 7 Team Selection – Kane (C) Trick or Treat? Delving into her gamweek 6 review, gameweek 7 preview including captaincy picks and trending transfers.
Nymfria was joined by Glen Kightley – Everything Arsenal to choose the Gameweek 7 Dream Team on Thursday Afternoon and on Thursday evening she recorded an FPL Wildcats Halloween Themed Question and Answer Stream feat. Rey Quraishi, where they answered community social media questions and live chat questions about gameweek 7.
Ahead of Gameweek 7 El Statto had a double header of articles in the series of ” The ABC of Transfers” published. The articles saw the Introduction To TST (team strength tiers) and a full review of all teams in each tier.
The TST is a great guide to assit with transfer plans which will be updated every month as the game weeks pass
The boys from Australia were back ahead of Gameweek 7 with a brand new show. They will now be streaming live with back to back episodes.
As part of this shake up they will be bringing back the much shorter “Quickfire Preview” series that many of our fans loved. This will accompany a longer stream show, back to back.
You can join them on the longer live stream at 2pm every Thursday.
Every week the guys at Mini League Mate have started tweeting the best and worst transfers from across all MLM leagues, with regards to net gain or loss.
They have also been busy updating their Dossiers so that you can click on team names and be taken to their FPL team web page for easy reference and to check out your rival teams. An amazing new feature when you are looking to close in, catch up on, or extend your lead over your league rivals.
Kane and Son turn the screw on dominating effective top 10k ownership
3 years, 5 months agoChelsea on the bottom of the fixture ticker for defence over the next couple of months, I’ll pass