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Here, five-time top 1k finisher Tom Freeman shares his current squad and discusses how he’s going to use his transfers in Double Gameweek 36.
CURRENT TEAM
The squad felt like it was in decent shape when I set up my ‘bus team’ on Saturday afternoon, armed with two free transfers and £0.8m in the bank. The original idea was to focus on bringing in additional players from Brighton and Newcastle, in turn, tripling up on both sides for Double Gameweek 36.
However, a benching, followed by an injury to Solly March (£5.3m) has forced me to rethink my plans. In his pre-match interview, Roberto De Zerbi said “Solly March is not in his best moment [for fitness]”. The winger did come on at half-time but was later substituted with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, potentially ruling him out for a while.
“I don’t know. We are enduring a very tough period with injuries but I don’t want to speak about this.” – Roberto De Zerbi on Solly March’s injury
It’s a shame, as March has made a real impact as a second-half substitute against Man Utd and Everton in the past week. I also liked his zonal matchups against Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.1m) and Dan Burn (£4.5m) in Double Gameweek 36 (more on that later), but it’s highly likely he’ll now need to be moved on. But who is the best replacement? I’ll run through a few of the options I’m considering below.
MARCH REPLACEMENTS
A sideways move to Brighton team-mate Kaoru Mitoma (£5.6m) is one option, but it perhaps feels a bit uninspiring at this stage of the season.
His output has been disappointing of late, with one assist in six, a period that has seen him miss four big chances. He’s still getting the ball in dangerous areas, but versatile midfielder Pascal Gross (£5.4m) might be a better play.
He’s owned by just 0.17% of managers inside the top 100k, compared to Mitoma’s 86.48%, and since the World Cup, ranks fourth among all FPL midfielders for created chances and expected assists (xA).
Above: Midfielders sorted by chances created from Gameweek 17 onwards
