Sponsored by FanTeam
It’s not long now until FanTeam‘s ‘Second Chance’ Premier League Fantasy game gets underway.
For those who haven’t heard already, it’s an FPL-style Fantasy game that starts in Double Gameweek 22 and runs through to the end of the season.
There is a prize pool of £100,000 up for grabs and, best of all, it’s free to enter! So if you’ve been hesitant to try a paid FanTeam tournament before, this is your opportunity to get involved at no cost.
We’ve already outlined the rules and run down a basic strategy guide, while last season’s winner of FanTeam’s £200k tournament, Josh Wooldridge, has given us his tips ahead of Friday’s deadline.
Now we turn our attention to the player list and a position-by-position guide to the best options on offer – starting with the goalkeepers.
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GOALKEEPERS
David de Gea (£5.2m)
As Josh pointed out in his recent piece, the ability to roll unlimited transfers, attack blocks of fixtures and play ‘mini-Wildcards’ with our free transfers means the perceived wisdom of never making a goalkeeper change is challenged.
This is especially true when we consider the Double Gameweeks that are about to happen and the many more that will follow later in the season, with the list of outstanding fixtures still running into double figures and more blanks happening as a result of clashes with the cups.
Selecting David de Gea (£5.2m) from the off gives two fixtures in Gameweek 22, with some decent games to follow thereafter.
Manchester United are still a work in progress and defensively still look a bit suspect, even if they have conceded only three goals in five league matches under Ralf Rangnick.
What the Red Devils are doing is allowing de Gea to rack up plenty of additional points beyond his clean sheets: in those five fixtures, he has made 21 stops and earned 10.5 save points (every save point is rewarded in FanTeam, rather than multiples of three in FPL).
Jose Sa (£4.8m)
Still available at a bargain price and playing for one of the division’s meanest backlines on current form, Jose Sa (£4.8m) is an excellent option for those FanTeam managers looking at a longer-term hold between the sticks.
Wolverhampton Wanderers sit top of our Season Ticker from now until Gameweek 35, with the anticipated big ‘double’ in Gameweek 36 a possible good time to reassess for those bosses playing their Wildcards.
Gameweeks 24-27 don’t look straightforward and there’s a Gameweek 33 meeting with Manchester City in there but otherwise, there are some juicy-looking matches for a goalkeeper who has kept six clean sheets in eight matches.
There have been fixtures against Liverpool, City, Chelsea and West Ham United within that run and while Wolves are hugely overachieving when we look at their expected goals conceded (xGC) versus actual goals against (23.73 v 14), they do have one of the division’s best goalkeepers between the posts.
Sa is near the top of the tree for expected goals prevented (xGP) and save percentage, while only two defenders and one forward have outscored him in 2021/22; the additional save points and the lack of bonus points in FanTeam levelling the playing field somewhat between ‘keepers and the players in front of them.
Hugo Lloris (£5.6m)
A bit of a harder sell given the price difference compared to the two options above, not to mention that the entire Spurs defence is available for less money, Hugo Lloris (£5.6m) nevertheless starts FanTeam’s second-half season game with a Double Gameweek.
It’s a far from straightforward one, against Leicester and Arsenal, while a trip to Chelsea then follows.
That’s why he’s lower down our shopping list as a consequence but Spurs, unlike United, do have a bit of defensive form on their side, keeping five clean sheets in the eight matches that Antonio Conte has overseen.
While the calibre of opposition and the number of matches in this Covid-ridden period has to be taken into account, Spurs have conceded only three big chances since Conte took charge – that’s six fewer than any other side.
OTHERS TO CONSIDER… AND AVOID
With the FanTeam game being a starting XI affair only, there is no room for ‘benching’ a goalkeeper when their team blanks.
So right off the bat, unless you want to book in a transfer already, we have to consider that Robert Sanchez (£4.7m), Aaron Ramsdale (£5.1m) and Edouard Mendy (£6.1m)/Kepa Arrizabalaga (£5.0m) will be without a fixture in at least one of the next four Gameweeks.
Brentford, Everton and Watford are towards the top of our Season Ticker over the next six Gameweeks, with the Bees and the Hornets also enjoying a double-header in Gameweek 22.
Jordan Pickford (£5.0m), Alvaro Fernandez (£4.6m) and Daniel Bachmann (£4.4m) are the budget-friendly options from that trio of teams but the problem is that they have fixtures and not form on their side, not keeping a single clean sheet between them in their sides’ last six matches. Watford, indeed, are without a shut-out all season.
The division’s best backline, Manchester City, have kept more clean sheets and shipped fewer goals than any other side in the division. Ederson (£6.1m) is a bit of a footnote in FPL with budget goalkeepers en vogue but in FanTeam, the aforementioned rule differences do may premium picks between the posts that bit more appealing.
The Brazilian has over 10 more points in FanTeam than he does in FPL and, despite a relative shortage of saves, he’s the 12th-highest scoring player in the season-long FanTeam game – and the cheapest within that top 12.
SIGN UP TO THE FREE-TO-PLAY SECOND CHANCE GAME HERE
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2 years, 3 months ago
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