Our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers are offering regular contributions throughout the 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) campaign. Here, five-time top 1k finisher Tom Freeman shares his current squad and discusses how he’s going to use his transfers in Gameweek 21.
Settling on my transfers and captain has been more agonising than ever this week.
In the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m), Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) and Son Heung-min (£9.8m), it’s hard to know how to approach it, especially with a healthy amount of uncertainty in the upcoming Double/Blank Gameweek schedule.
At the time of writing, a Gameweek 22 return is still a possibility for Alexander-Arnold, with Pep Lijnders estimating that he’d be out for “three weeks”, so I’m prepared to keep him on my bench and wait for further info.
ESTUPINAN IN?
Instead, I could sell Tino Livramento (£4.4m) for Pervis Estupinan (£4.9m).
Estupinan can offer an upside second only to Alexander-Arnold in my opinion and has his position locked down after an impressive return from injury.
He could sometimes find himself tucked in as a third centre-back but it’s a fluid formation and I think he can continue to thrive under Roberto De Zerbi, given the fixtures:
- READ MORE: FPL ones to watch in 2024: Pervis Estupinan
With Marc Guehi (£4.5m) and Charlie Taylor (£4.0m) in reserve, I might just have enough depth so I’m not forced into making ‘wasted’ transfers at the back in the coming weeks, even if, worst case scenario, Alexander-Arnold isn’t available until Gameweek 23 or 24.
GROSS V FODEN V JOTA
Further forward, I’ve flip-flopped between Phil Foden (£7.9m) and Pascal Gross (£6.4m) as my Son replacement. Given my overall rank (400k), I’m not ruling out a move for Diogo Jota (£7.8m) either.
It’s easy to overlook Gross as he is perhaps an unfashionable pick, but I feel he can trouble Wolverhampton Wanderers and Luton Town’s defences in the next two Gameweeks.
The German is Brighton’s set-piece specialist, has three goals and six assists in 17 appearances this season and is second only to Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m) for key passes (46).
He has also become even more of an influential figure under De Zerbi since the start of December.
From Gameweek 14 onwards, he ranks joint-fourth among all midfielders for shots (20) and second for chances created (24), having been directly involved in nine of Albion’s 19 Opta-defined ‘big chances’.
“Pascal Gross is one of the best players I’ve had in my career. He’s a fantastic player. He can play everywhere on the pitch. He is fantastic in terms of attitude, passion. He’s very clever in understanding different situations. I’m lucky to have him in my team.” – Roberto De Zerbi on Pascal Gross
GAMEWEEK 21 TRANSFER PLANS, TEAM + CAPTAINCY
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