Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the Gameweek 21 transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
‘The Great and The Good’ this season are the FPL Godfather Mark Sutherns, the BlackBox pair of Az and Andy North, Scouts FPL General, Joe and Tom, the FPL Wire trio of Pras, Lateriser and Zophar, FPL celebrities FPL Harry, Martin Baker, Pingreen, FPL Frasier and Luke Williams, Hall of Famers Ben Crellin, Fabio Borges and Tom Dollimore, and last year’s mini-league winner Huss E.
“Mad for it”
The new year wasted no time reminding FPL managers about who is really in charge. Gameweeks are stacking up, deadlines get blurred into one, and Gameweek 21 arrived carrying its usual companion: red arrows. Lots of them.
Manchester United added to the festive disorder by sacking Ruben Amorim, with Darren Fletcher temporarily handed the reins while the club hunts for another managerial lamb to the slaughter. A word of advice to the new manager: make sure to send Jason Wilcox a Christmas card this year.
Predictably, this leaves their assets in a familiar FPL category: monitor closely, but probably regret anyway.
Elsewhere, Arne Slot described Hugo Ekitike’s (£8.9m) issue as a “slight hamstring injury”, a phrase that seasoned FPL managers know can mean anything from “back next week” to “see you in March”. But hope remains for the upcoming Burnley fixture, when he’ll probably blank.
We’ve been starting to make plans for Cole Palmer (£10.4m) because the Chelsea fixtures are turning, although is this another trap? And Bruno Fernandes’ (£9.1m) return made some managers go all funny inside.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
In Gameweek 21, Ben Crellin emerged as the top scorer with 72 points, riding his Brentford bromance of Igor Thiago (£7.1m) and shiny new toy Nathan Collins (£5.0m). Plus, his long-term commitment to Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m), owned since Gameweek 4, continued to pay steady, sensible dividends.
Martin Baker somehow dodged disaster despite Michael Keane‘s (£4.8m) red card and having Ekitike over Thiago, thanks to the inspired ownership of Bruno Guimarães (£7.2m) and Harry Wilson (£5.9m). Maybe he should take over at Spurs?
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Technically, Luke’s hit for Thiago worked, but in classic FPL fashion still resulted in a red arrow because joy is never allowed.
And FPL General’s switch from Virgil van Dijk (£5.9m) and David Raya (£5.9m) to Nick Pope (£5.1m) and Malick Thiaw (£5.1m) landed with the grace of a wet fart, allowing Az to gleefully leapfrog him in their ongoing basement brawl.
TRANSFERS
In terms of transfers, The Great and The Good collectively sat on their hands. A large portion rolled theirs over, saving them up like a kid with pocket money, waiting for something big, better, maybe bluer.
For managers who couldn’t resist a click, the crowd still moved in familiar patterns. Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.7m) continued his reign as the most popular purchase, because he keeps on getting those points we all like.
Meanwhile, van Dijk kept heading for the exits, showing a collective sense of lost patience at this premium defender wolf in sheep’s clothing – although he predictably then did one of those clean sheets.
In terms of Gameweek 21 results, Ben Crellin had a successful Brentford defender hokey cokey, Luke corrected his previous decision by transferring back to Thiago from Ekitike, while FPL General picked the wrong week to trust Newcastle United’s defence.
‘THE GREAT AND THE GOOD’ TEMPLATE
It was a musical statues week, as the template stayed very, very still.
Dubravka (88.9%), Raya (44.4%)
Timber (55.6%), Gabriel (50.0%), O’Reilly (50.0%), Keane (44.4%), Andersen (38.9%)
Foden (100.0%), Cunha (100.0%), Saka (83.3%), Szoboszlai (27.8%), Gordon (27.8%)
Haaland (94.4%), Ekitike (72.2%), Thiago (44.4%)
CAPTAINCY CALLS
Captaincy this season among The Great and The Good has been a comforting reminder that, deep down, everyone loves the obvious answer. Erling Haaland (£15.1m) has worn the armband over 60% of the time, turning decisions into a weekly exercise of “don’t overthink it”.
Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) – yes, that Mo Salah – trails far behind on 17.5%. Once the early-season perma-captain and king of calm deadlines, his stock nosedived after falling out with Arne Slot.
Then there’s FPL General, our resident sadomasochist. His self-imposed ‘no Haaland, no Salah’ rule has produced the widest range of captaincy picks, with Bukayo Saka (£10.2m) his most common go-to. The highlight (or lowlight) came when he handed the armband to Viktor Gyökeres (£8.7m), a moment that felt more like FPL performance art.
Unsurprisingly, being different comes at a cost. Joe Lepper leads the captaincy points table with 306 of them, closely followed by FPL Harry. That’s a full 94-point gap to FPL General, which at this stage feels like a gentle reminder that sometimes the boring choice is boring because it works.
CONCLUSION
As we find ourselves in a well-earned pause, there’s plenty to quietly obsess over. Africa Cup of Nations players are slowly returning to politely disrupt settled teams, Chelsea have welcomed yet another new boss, and Man United may soon follow suit in the great managerial merry-go-round.
Add an open transfer window – already claiming Antoine Semenyo (£7.6m) as its first offering – and suddenly the template feels stable right up until the moment it isn’t. FPL, as ever, remains a game of patience, timing, and pretending we saw it all coming.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised above, you can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky.
