With Gameweek 14 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) nearing, our pundits are starting to finalise their teams before Tuesday’s deadline.
FPL General, who has three top 500 finishes to his name, is fully committed to going without Mohamed Salah (£14.1m) and Erling Haaland (£14.9m) this season. Here, he reveals his Gameweek 14 team plans.
Gameweek 13 Review
I love you, Phil Foden (£8.1m). What a Gameweek. The most enjoyable I’ve had for years! The FPL gods finally decided to shine down on me. With no chips in play while many others were on Triple Captain Erling Haaland (£14.9m) and Free Hit, this was a damage limitation kind of Gameweek. A green arrow of 2.2m wasn’t in the script.
I toyed around with the idea of replacing Nick Pope (£5.2m) with Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.7m), but decided that bringing in captain Foden for Antoine Semenyo (£7.8m) was a much more exciting/high upside move. I followed my gut, the good old-fashioned way, and it paid off spectacularly. Triple Captain was on my mind for a day or two last week, but it felt risky enough just going with the regular captain. I’m not sure yet who’s going to get that chip, possibly Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gameweek 16.
Over the past three Gameweeks, I’ve managed to almost half my rank from 6.9m to 3.6m. Haaland scoring just once and missing a penalty over that period has been lovely. I hope it continues! Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) will have the Norwegian in his pocket on Tuesday night.
It was good to see Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m) finally register a clean sheet. Bruno Fernandes (£8.9m) chipped in with a brace of assists and three bonus points while Igor Thiago (£6.7m) continued his rich vein of form with a brace against Burnley. That’s 11 goals in 13 league games for the Brentford frontman. As I’ve got no fit Arsenal defenders or David Raya (£5.9m) at the moment, I’m hoping Thiago wipes the clean sheet midweek!
Gameweek 14 Bus Team
There are wounded troops all over the place. The Gameweek 16 free transfers top-up can’t come quickly enough! I’ve only got one free transfer this week and £0.2m in the bank. Help!
My first instinct when Ismaila Sarr (£6.6m) picked up his ankle injury was to replace him with Yankuba Minteh (£6.2m) this week. At the time of writing (Monday night), that’s the most likely transfer for midweek. The Brighton and Hove Albion winger has been great this season, and I like the next four fixtures for the Seagulls (AVL/WHU/liv/SUN).
The alternative I’ve been weighing up is Elliot Anderson (£5.4m) at Nottingham Forest. He would free up funds for future moves, but I’m leaning towards the more exciting, upside-chasing pick in Minteh. There are loads of good options in this price bracket with the likes of Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m), Dango Ouattara (£6.0m) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£4.9m). I can’t afford Declan Rice (£7.0m).
Rather than selling Sarr, one of Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.3m) or Chris Wood (£7.2m) could go, but I think the midfield transfer makes the most sense in my current structure. I’d like to stick with the 3-5-2 setup for now. I’m just going to roll with Pope and Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) until Gameweek 16 and hope for the best.
Then comes the captaincy call. It could end up on any one of Saka, Bruno, Bryan Mbeumo (£8.6m), Foden or Jean-Philippe Mateta (£8.1m). If there’s Manchester City team news before the deadline, I’ll be tempted to stick with Foden after his heroics in Gameweek 13, if it’s confirmed that he’s starting. Otherwise, I’ll go elsewhere. If the deadline were in five minutes, I think I’d switch it to Bruno Fernandes. Great fixture, penalties, minutes monster, DefCon capable and set-pieces. He’s got it all in his locker. That’s where I’ll most likely land. The fact that United don’t play until Thursday night is another factor.
Best of luck for the Gameweek folks!
