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4,968 of you entered a Sorare Academy team last week and we are hovering around that 5k player mark every week. Sorare is picking up in popularity and hopefully, it won’t be long before we hit 10,000! We have 15 cards to win each week now, so there are even more chances to win.
Enter a team now and try to join the list of winners – get started here. It only takes a few minutes and it’s totally free.
Let’s look at last week’s winner and then turn our attention to the upcoming tournament.Â
Last Week’s Winner
ATo971 absolutely smashed it this week, well clear of the chasing pack. Three of his team made the maximum score of 100. In fact, Ato really wasn’t far off a maximum possible score with his ‘French connection’. Mainly, though, I suspect ATo has matched quality players to some tasty fixtures.Â
The brave choice was Christopher Nkunku versus Dortmund – I am not sure how many saw a 4-1 win for Leipzig there – but it certainly paid off.
There were 14 other winners behind ATo though and there were just 17 points covering the whole chasing pack!
Entering a team for this week
It’s really easy to play, and to make it even easier, I’ll share some team selection thoughts for the weekend.
Fixtures
Just like in FPL, I tend to start with a look at the fixtures. I have a tool on my site available here.Â
The green column on the right is the algorithm’s prediction of the team’s chances of winning.Â
Bayern have a plum fixture and since they tend to score highly anyway, you can bet that many managers will be heavily stacking players from this team. That can be a double-edged sword – it will be likely to get you points but then you still need differentials that will get your nose in front of the pack.
Roma might be a great shout with such a kind fixture against Salernitana, and they will likely fly a bit more under the radar.
Real Madrid, Inter, and PSG provide good options too. And AS Monaco will be worth a look for some differentials.Â
Form
The Academy makes it really easy to see how players have been doing recently. Joshua Kimmich above has been on a solid run with an average of over 75 points (out of 100 max) in the last five fixtures. And he hasn’t scored less than 74 in the last four games. With a kind fixture, it’s very likely he’ll be a popular pick.
You can click any player and get this quick info on the recent performance and scoring of each player. In some Fantasy games, I am one of those nerds who gets out the spreadsheets and tries to optimise my team. But in the Academy, as a free-to-play game with just one Gameweek to worry about, I just relax and play mainly for fun.
We can also just search for Bayern players in general and see who is looking in form. Dayot Upamecano has been scoring highly lately and would be a good defensive pick. Lewandowski is off form by his standards but I still would not bet against him.
Benzema looks a strong pick at Real Madrid. Kroos is also consistent but as the Academy shows he has only managed mid-50 scores recently.
It could be a good week to punt on Roma. Blast from the past Henrikh Mkhitaryan might be the best bet, while Lorenzei Pellegrini is also talented. Chris Smalling could similarly be a decent defensive choice or Rui Patricio in goal. Salernitana are dismal opponents who have failed to score in the last 2 matches.Â
Looking at Inter, I am a somewhat nostalgic Hakan Calhanoglu fan. His form has not been brilliant but he scored last time out and the fixture is kind this week.Â
For PSG, there are no surprises. Neymar. Kylian Mbappe. Lionel Messi. Any will work! Achraf Hakimi could also be a strong choice in defence.
The Final Cut
I have gone for three big hitters in Kimmich, Mbappe(C) and Benzema but I am targeting the Roma defence and hoping Salernitana are as toothless as they appear as my differentials.Â
Remember the Friday deadline is at 11:00am UK time! Good luck…
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