With Gameweek 15 upon us, it’s nearly time for the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfer top-up!
In this piece, we offer a reminder as to why using your free transfers this week – and not rolling – is a good idea.
We also offer some tips about what you can use your free transfer(s) for – from one-week punts, long-term investments and strategic forward planning to a simple squad reshuffle.
WHY YOU SHOULD USE YOUR FREE TRANSFERS IN GAMEWEEK 15
The reason that we should all be using our full free transfer allowance this week is, of course, thanks to a summer rule change.
Every FPL manager receives a top-up to the maximum of FIVE free transfers before the Gameweek 16 deadline to help with the impact of players leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Therefore, if you have any free transfers still saved up when the Gameweek 15 deadline passes, they will essentially go to waste.
Now that we’ve explained the reasoning, let’s discuss what to do.
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR FREE TRANSFERS IN GAMEWEEK 15
DEAL WITH INJURIES / SUSPENSIONS
Starting with the more obvious points, dealing with the increasingly troublesome pile-up of injuries and suspensions – and/or players at risk of one – could be a good way to utilise any free transfers that you have stored up.
The likes of Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.3m), Ismaila Sarr (£6.6m) and Nick Pope (£5.1m) are some of the more popular names in the former camp, while Moises Caicedo (£5.9m) is among those missing for disciplinary reasons.
GET YOUR BENCH IN ORDER
On a similar note, using spare free transfers to refresh and rid your squad of any “dead weight” is useful for the busy, rotation-heavy winter period in general, but especially so if you’re yet to use your first Bench Boost.
If that’s the situation you’re in, Gameweek 18 could be a round to target. Indeed, despite there being a risk of rotation/minute management and a lack of team news due to it starting on Boxing Day, it is the only round remaining before the first set of our chips expire in which Burnley, Leeds United and Sunderland all have decent fixtures, with assets from the promoted clubs kindly priced enough that they can be used to flesh out a Bench Boost.
Even if you’ve already used your first Bench Boost, now is a good time to ensure you have reliable bench options to call upon if they are required during the hectic winter months. That could mean ditching a Sean Longstaff (£4.9m) or Josh Acheampong (£3.9m), for example, in favour of a Granit Xhaka (£5.2m), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£4.9m) or Maxime Esteve (£3.9m).
MOVE OFF AFCON PLAYERS EARLY
If your squad is looking pretty flag free and nailed on, then any free transfers in the bank could be used to move on from any of the several dozen players set to miss the entire festive period – and possibly even the early half of January – due to AFCON.
That includes the likes of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£14.1m), Manchester United duo Bryan Mbeumo (£8.6m) and Amad Diallo (£6.3m), Fulham’s Nigerian trio of Alex Iwobi (£6.4m), Calvin Bassey (£4.5m) and Samuel Chukwueze (£5.3m), Everton’s leading goal-scorer Iliman Ndiaye (£6.6m), Manchester City left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.7m) and more.
There are some players in particular who could be set to benefit from their teammates’ absences, which we discuss in full detail here and will pick out a few examples from below.
While there are certainly risks to ditching AFCON players early, given key players like Mbeumo could still be present for some appealing fixtures in FPL through the end of Gameweek 16 itself, acting early – if you have the free transfers to do so – could enable you to get your squad in a strong position that allows you to save some or even all of the five free transfers we’ll all be given a week from now for future use.
ONE-WEEK PUNTS
Now for the fun part!
For any players you might be removing this week, the fact that we’ll each have five free transfers – essentially a “mini Wildcard”, if you choose to use most or all of them at once – at our disposal next week means FPL managers can either take a one-Gameweek punt, or opt for supposedly better long-term picks.
Starting with the former approach, here’s how our trusty Fixture Ticker gazes upon the Gameweek 15 schedule when sorted by expected match difficulty:
Top-of-the-pile Newcastle United jump out as a team to back, given they face a Burnley side with six away losses in seven and the league’s worst record of goals conceded on the road (21).
The Magpies twice let slip a lead against Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park this midweek, but they’d won back-to-back games before that including a home victory over Manchester City. Defenders Dan Burn (£5.1m) and Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) carry points potential at both ends of the pitch, Bruno Guimaraes (£6.7m) is the in-form man with eight attacking returns already this season, Nick Woltemade (£7.4m) is ticking over pretty nicely with seven, and Anthony Gordon (£7.2m) could prove to be a shrewd differential if he starts.
Elsewhere, Brighton and Hove Albion host a leaky West Ham United. Yankuba Minteh (£6.3m) is a constant threat for the Seagulls, Danny Welbeck (£6.6m) has seven league goals already and is rested, and Maxim De Cuyper (£4.3m) has started showing glimpses of his attacking capabilities, scoring his second goal of the campaign during Gameweek 13.
Manchester United travel to last-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, which appears a perfect opportunity for AFCON-bound Mbeumo to leave his FPL backers – those of them that choose not to move on from him early, that is! – with a parting gift. Alternatively, skipper and FPL all-rounder Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) continues to tick over nicely. Let’s just wait for tonight’s game to be out of the way to make sure there are no injuries…
Man City, meanwhile, have been scoring goals for fun recently but are also letting them in at a fairly alarming rate if you’re Pep Guardiola – or an owner of one of their defenders. Perhaps it’s better to focus on the frontline if you’re seeking a one-week punt, then, particularly given that Sunderland are no scrubs. Erling Haaland’s (£14.9m) credentials are obvious, as the fastest player to hit 100 Premier League goals, but he’s actually been outscored in recent games by Phil Foden (£8.2m), whose back-to-back braces and central role in so many of the team’s chances suggest it could be a risk for Guardiola to rest him. The same goes for the creative king Jeremy Doku (£6.6m), who bagged another two assists – one for an own goal – in Gameweek 14 to take his league tally to six.
LONG-TERM BUYS
To help us assess the appeal of some long-term options that you could bring in with your free transfer(s) for Gameweek 15, let’s take another peek at the Fixture Ticker for the upcoming six Gameweeks:
We can see that Liverpool top the rankings, with the defending champions embarking on what our Ticker deems to be the easiest six-match run of any team in the division.
Choosing one of their attackers is becoming increasingly difficult at the moment, but someone like Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m) could serve you well. He is on four bookings, however, just as a reminder.
Trailing their decades-old rivals in the above screenshot is Manchester United. The Red Devils’ captain, Fernandes, is probably the stand-out option if you can afford him, but if you can’t – or fancy a double-up – then Matheus Cunha (£7.9m) offers some savings.
Brentford’s Igor Thiago (£6.7m) is in the form of his life and has great medium-to-long-term fixtures to build upon that. He will, however, have to do so without teammate Dango Ouattara (£6.0m), who has won more penalties – for him to convert – than any other Premier League player this season.
Joining the Bees in having altogether great fixtures are Newcastle United and Manchester City.
In addition to their assets that we’ve discussed in our ‘one-week punts’ section, the absence of City left-back Ait-Nouri due to AFCON should see Nico O’Reilly (£5.2m) start most matches over the festive period. Given City’s aforementioned defensive lapses, the young Englishman has at least been putting up some solid numbers at the other end.
