Dugout Discussion

Fernandes widely captained as United’s Triple Gameweek gets underway at Villa Park

Manchester United get their Triple Gameweek 35 underway at Villa Park this afternoon.

Kick-off in the Red Devils’ clash with Aston Villa is at 14:05 BST.

There is unsurprisingly plenty of interest in players from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in Fantasy Premier League, chiefly Bruno Fernandes (£11.5m).

The Portuguese schemer is the only Premier League player among the top 10,000 Fantasy managers with a double-digit ‘effective’ ownership (EO), which differs from conventional ownership in that it takes into account things like captaincies and benchings.

Luke Shaw (£5.5m) and Mason Greenwood (£7.2m) are the next most-owned United assets within the top 10k:


Looking at the overall captaincy figures, Fernandes has been handed the armband by more than twice as many FPL managers as any other player in Gameweek 35:


NameTeamTotal
FernandesMUN2243915
KaneTOT987101
SalahLIV802301
SonTOT413355
VardyLEI368438
De BruyneMCI256151
Calvert-LewinEVE241302
IheanachoLEI219436
WernerCHE181946
AubameyangARS177572

There were few surprises when the teamsheets were released, with Solskjaer making four changes from United’s Europa League semi-final against Roma in midweek.

It’s the same starting XI that would have taken to the field in the postponed clash with Liverpool last week, with Edinson Cavani (£8.0m) only among the substitutes.

Aston Villa are unchanged from their 2-1 win at Everton.

Jack Grealish (£7.5m) is still missing through injury but is back in first-team training and could be in line for a return for Thursday’s rematch with the Toffees.


LINE-UPS

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, McGinn, Traore, Barkley, El Ghazi, Watkins. 

Subs: Heaton, Wesley, Nakamba, Elmohamady, Hause, Davis, Ramsey, Philogene-Bidace, Chukwuemeka.

Manchester United XI: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Greenwood, Fernandes, Pogba, Rashford. 

Subs: de Gea, Bailly, Cavani, Mata, Telles, Matic, Williams, van de Beek, Tuanzebe.


PREVIOUSLY IN TRIPLE GAMEWEEK 35…

Image

Brighton and Hove Albion have often been their own worst enemies this season, failing to translate promising underlying and attacking numbers into meaningful results.

And they imploded in spectacular fashion on Sunday, contriving to lose a match that they had been winning comfortably and seeing two key players sent off.

Lewis Dunk and Neal Maupay will both be suspended for Gameweeks 36 and 37 as a result of their dismissals: Maupay’s sending off for dissent carries an automatic two-match ban, while Dunk’s red card – for a denial of a goalscoring opportunity, on this occasion – was his second of the season and he will also be unavailable until Gameweek 38.

Dunk had earlier opened the scoring with his fifth goal of 2020/21, a tally that only Stuart Dallas can better among FPL defenders.

Wolves may have triumphed but this was another unconvincing audition for their Fantasy assets, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side second-best before Dunk’s red card and little better thereafter.

Santo looks to be rotating in the season run-in, too, with Adama Traore only named among the substitutes before coming off the bench to draw the hosts level.

Morgan Gibbs-White rounded off the comeback in the final stages, having squandered a glorious chance minutes earlier.

GET IN-GAME DATA AT LIVE FPL

Check your own rank and in-play FPL stats on LiveFPL.net every Gameweek

955 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Is Watkins a diver?

    Looked streetwise to me.

    1. BeaversWithAttitude
      • 5 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      First yellow I've seen for simulation in a long long time. Compared to Salah, Bruno, Sterling and others, it's a bit surprising to me.

  2. Pompel
    • 10 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Funn old game - some days nothing goes your way - today everything falls right for me (rival got Watkins)

    1. AC/DC AFC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Rub of the green.

  3. diesel001
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Watkins RC.

    TGW fever!

  4. ivantys
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Everyone dives and never gets booked. He does this vs United and gets booked, nice consistency

    1. Paqueta Rice
      • 3 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Here we go. Every week we ask for the refs to discipline for this type of thing and then they do and it’s just because it’s United

    2. The Senate
      • 5 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      United have lost a net ~10 points this season from ref errors. That was not an error.

    3. Cantona's Kung Fu Kick
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      He needs to go Pool and learn from the best (Firmino and Salah) and then he won't get booked

      1. ivantys
        • 3 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Yeah that or learn from Sterling and Jesus

  5. AC/DC AFC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Simulation

  6. Danstoke82
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Oh my days. I own both Maguire and Watkins. Nightmare

    1. Royal5
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Same

    2. Pompel
      • 10 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Ouch, tough luck

    3. TomSaints
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Same lol

  7. g40steve
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    That makes the Antonio or Bamford move easy

  8. Magic Zico
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Cavani v Watkins, few mins of actions galore!

  9. Royal5
    • 12 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    What the feck? How was that a yc for dive?

  10. TomSaints
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Haha oh dear.

    Watkins, Maguire and Fernandes owner.

    Not great!

    1. Gudjohnsen
      • 7 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Fernandes?

  11. Sandy Ravage
    • 8 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    First time Watkins owner

  12. Digital-Real
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    leicester to end Man Utd title dream 🙂

  13. REDMOND IN SANDALS
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Watkins dunk both out. 7 gw36 players left. Season over lads

    1. HonestBlatter
      • 13 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      No. Just use transfers to get playing 11

    2. Cruicky
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Watkins is a 1 game ban, so misses the 2nd game this week, but will be back for GW36 no?

  14. JBG
    • 5 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Is Watkins the worst diver/cheater in the PL?

    1. MrZ
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      The inexperienced maybe

  15. Maeki2
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    I have watkins but that is so nice to see. Hate this falling for nothing in penalty area and acting like someone saw your leg off

    1. Royal5
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      U blind? Henderson kicked him.

      1. Paqueta Rice
        • 3 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Watkins jumped through the air long before that contact was made

    2. Postman Ty
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      The worst part is if Henderson got the slightest of meaningless touches on him they would award a penalty. What is wrong with referees.

    3. BeaversWithAttitude
      • 5 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Looks like he was avoiding collision to me.

      1. Royal5
        • 12 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        This. There is a difference of diving and avoiding getting injured.

  16. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Now that, I love to see.

    1. Nightcrawler
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Oh yes u do

  17. HonestBlatter
    • 13 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Is it one match ban from Watkins? Back GW36?

    1. tbos83
      • 3 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Yup

  18. Londongeezaa
    • 5 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Cavani stay away from them Bruno BPS 😐

    1. Utopsis
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      THIS!

  19. thegaffer82
    • 12 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Glad I got rid of Watkins on FH. It was touch and go, it really was.

    Happy he’ll have served his ban by next GW too. I need him as numbers are short

  20. Hazz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Well at least he's back for next GW 😐

  21. Top Lad Dakes.
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Oh F off Ollie Watkins. Brought in for a hit for Vydra. Absolute idiot

  22. tbos83
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    I knew as soon as I chose Watkins over DCL it was a mistake 🙁

  23. Postman Ty
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    This season literally could not get worse...

  24. Utopsis
    • 4 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Gotta be the 1st DGW player to return negative points...

    1. Postman Ty
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      You think there's never been a red card in the first game of a double gameweek..?

      1. Utopsis
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Given the relative rarity of DGWs and RCs, and taking into account the reduced probability of both occurring concurrently... yes.

        1. Postman Ty
          • 9 Years
          2 years, 10 months ago

          There's comfortably more than 1 red card on average every season... It's far less rare than you seem to think. And I believe there have been 30 instances of a team having a double gameweek this season. Those are very good odds just for one season. You're talking about that not happening in the past 15 years? There have been more doubles this season because of covid but in any normal year there's still a very notable chance of it happening.

          1. Postman Ty
            • 9 Years
            2 years, 10 months ago

            more than 1 red card per gameweek*

          2. Utopsis
            • 4 Years
            2 years, 10 months ago

            Now we're cooking with gas!

            I'm quite worried about what you count as "very good odds".

            Let's assume your assumptions are correct. There's a total of 380 games / season. You allege 30 of those have been DGWs matches. You also assume there's 1 RC/gameweek (so, for simplicity, let's say 1 RC / 10 matches). So the probability of a RC in a gameweek in a specific match AND that same specific match being a DGW one = (1/10) * (30/380) = 0.00789 = 0.79%. A million miles away from "very good odds".

            Now, over 15 years, we use OR not AND (so basically 0.79 * 15) = 11.84%. Bit better odds, but certainly not "very good odds".

            1. Postman Ty
              • 9 Years
              2 years, 10 months ago

              First off, I said comfortably more than 1 red card per GW; the actual average over the past 10 years is 52.1 per season. Don't come at me with crap like "you allege" when you can't even look up a simple stat.

              Second, I'm not assuming the number of DGWs, I have a spreadsheet of the whole season. Again, figure it out instead of insinuating doubt.

              Third, I'm afraid you don't have a very strong grasp of statistics. 52/380 = 14% of games on average have a red card. The probability of at least one of those 30 DGWs (this is for just the first game of each DGW) having a red card is 1-(probability of no red card)^30 = 1-(0.86)^30 = 99%. It is statistically almost guaranteed at least one player gets sent off in the first game of a DGW in a season.

              This doesn't reflect players possibly returning other points before the red, and there are less DGWs is non-covid seasons, but the chance of it happening at least once per season is still very significant. Now consider the cumulation of all previous seasons and of course it's happened multiple times before.

              1. BUZZBOMB
                • 9 Years
                2 years, 10 months ago

                Great analysis.

                So ignite excel and please share who returned negative points before?

                1. MrZ
                  • 9 Years
                  2 years, 10 months ago

                  This.
                  He's talking about negative point not RC.
                  Fyi dunk also got RC but didn't return negative point.

                  1. Postman Ty
                    • 9 Years
                    2 years, 10 months ago

                    Literally mentioned that in my comment but ok...

                2. Postman Ty
                  • 9 Years
                  2 years, 10 months ago

                  You know full well there isn't a way to look at every players score (he's talking about since the creation of the game) in every DGW... What are you even on about.

              2. Utopsis
                • 4 Years
                2 years, 10 months ago

                There are too many flaws in this but let me pick the top 2 for the sake of brevity.

                First, why are you focusing on the 1st game of a DGW? My OG statement said 1st DGW player, not 1st DGW. Second (as rightly pointed out by Werner Brothers below), I said negative points not red card. I followed your red card logic simply to highlight the fallacy of your own argument.

                But, seeing as you are now denigrating to petty insults, let's just agree to disagree. And I won't bother commenting on your "statistics".

                1. Postman Ty
                  • 9 Years
                  2 years, 10 months ago

                  1. I ran numbers for the first game of a DGW because a player is significantly more likely to get negative points if he's send off in the first game and misses the second with suspension, that should be obvious.
                  2. If you even read the comment I mentioned players can get other points and therefore wouldn't be negative. Clearly there are no available statistics on players getting points before red cards. You can't suddenly complain about my follow up on red cards in DGWs after admitting you followed that path of commentary. I also proved the frequency of red cards isn't a 'fallacy' which is just a trendy way of trying to say someone is wrong, which you've failed to show.
                  3. You are the one who brought the condescending attitude to the table and then tried to prove something with a very lazy attempt at incorrect maths. You're not going to comment on the statistics because you know you don't understand it.

                2. Postman Ty
                  • 9 Years
                  2 years, 10 months ago

                  Fun facts:
                  - Robinson (Fulham) DGW19 got -2 this season.
                  - Jagielka (Sheffield) DGW26 got -1 this season (which was the second game, he got 1 and -2).

                  So it's happened three times already this season alone, and surely a handful of other times in the past 15 years. Maybe next time do a little research before trying to put someone down.

                  Bonus facts:
                  - Bednarek (Southampton) GW22 got -7 this season.
                  - Gibbs (West Brom) GW2 got -4 this season.
                  - Ramsay + Jankewitz (Southampton) are on -3 and -1 total points this season.
                  - Taylor (Burnley) is on -1 total points this season.

    2. Ruth_NZ
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Antonee Robinson had -2 in DGW19 this season thanks to a RC 43 minutes into the first game.

      1. Utopsis
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Thank you RUTH_NZ - the normal kind of response I would've expected to my incorrect statement

    3. Ruth_NZ
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Phil Jagielka had -1 in DGW26 thanks to a RC in the 2nd game.

      1. MrZ
        • 9 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Thanks for the info Ruth_NZ, this is what we're been looking for.

      2. Postman Ty
        • 9 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Lmao just spent half an hour going through them to find those before scrolling down ever so slightly to see you got them both. Cheers

      3. Utopsis
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Noted, thanks!

  25. TheDragon
    • 5 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Watkins will only miss 1 game?

    1. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Back for Palace.

    2. Duke Silver ☑
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Yeah. The Everton game.

  26. Top Lad Dakes.
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    0.1 off of DCL and had to go Watkins instead. Screw this game

  27. Hazz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Transfer this week:
    Bamford > Watkins

    Pain.

    1. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Two choices:

      A) Kane/Holding > DCL/Digne
      B) Bamford > Watkins

      Clown car 🙂

  28. TomSaints
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Even as a Watkins owner. I’m glad to see diving punished

  29. arkom
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Watkins only 1 game out?

    1. La Roja
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Yeah

  30. BremerHB
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 10 months ago

    Watkins & Dunk owner! My team for next week is falling apart already.

    Avoided bringing in Bruno so as not to take too many hits next week... Some weeks it just doesn't fall for you!

    1. thegaffer82
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Watkins will be back next GW, so not all is lost!

      1. BremerHB
        • 7 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Oh you're right! Silver-lining and all that!

    2. Big Hands Barry
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      2 years, 10 months ago

      Watkins will be back for next gameweek

      1. BremerHB
        • 7 Years
        2 years, 10 months ago

        Ah yes, silly me. Well that's something at least!