Fantasy Premier League: GW20 Review & GW21 Preview :)

I'm getting tired of writing these. The football schedule has been so hectic it's hard to keep up. Saying that though I'll be complaining next week when there's no FPL because of the FA Cup. So I should make the most of it.

I got 50 points this gameweek. Right bang on the average. I've been floating around the average for the last five or six gameweeks, so it's beginning to be something of a bad habit. This final bout of fixtures will pretty much make or break my festive period, so a nice big score in GW21 would be very welcome.

Gameweek Points: 50

Gameweek Rank: 2,859,602

Overall Rank: 195,763

(click to enlarge)

I should start by mentioning that I got my captain right this week. I stuck with Sterling, and it paid off. Showing the value of patience. He outscored the other options I had going into the gameweek - Aubameyang, Hazard and Son. Of the three only Son returned, assisting Harry Kane's goal.

David Luiz did very nicely for me, bringing home a huge 12 points. Likewise Jiménez did well for me, getting 8. Both are proving to be very good value. Apart from that though it was pretty underwhelming. Tottenham's defeat in particular knocked my gameweek back, meaning I ended up with just 7 points from my three Spurs players.

Going into GW21 the games look great, however there are a few potential hiccups. Gündogan now has a minor injury so he looks to be definitely out for the next game, though he would've been doubtful anyway. Plus I'm a little concerned that some of my Spurs players will be rested. Sterling could potentially find himself on the bench against Liverpool too.

As for transfers I have two free ones, but I'm only planning to use one. Transferring Guaita in for Hennessey. Guaita started today so it looks like he's now got the number one shirt. Hopefully once I transfer him in that'll remain the case. I'll also save £0.3m which could come in handy.

It could be a gamble not using my other transfer this week, however the obvious player to take out is Gündogan, and there isn't really an obvious replacement in the same price bracket. Bournemouth's David Brooks is an attractive possibility, but he doesn't always get a full 90 minutes. His fixtures aren't ideal either.

In fact, I have a theory that going into the second half of the season it's better to have players who play for top six sides as their games are a little more predictable. For example, you often get comfortable mid-table sides getting beat by teams fighting relegation simply because those teams need the three points more.

Having just looked at the midfielders in the Gündogan price bracket I notice Kanté and Torreira are there. Very boring options without a huge deal of goal threat, but I'm still quite tempted. Especially given that Torreira has Fulham and Cardiff at home in the next four games. Perhaps I might use that second transfer after all.

Ditching Gündogan would leave me with just one Man City player, which I don't like the idea of, but then again getting in another City player would mean changing things about quite a bit to find the extra cash. Plus there's not much point in keeping Gündogan if he's injured or unlikely to play just for the sake of having City cover.

On top of this Agüero looked back in business today, so perhaps I could bring him in for Aubameyang what with me then having Torreira as Arsenal cover. I'm getting ideas now!

I think I probably will be bringing Torreira in 😄 ..I'll post my team for GW21 below if and when I do that.

(My line-up for GW21)

Normally I do my "Top Five Players I Don't Own That I Fear" here. However, there really is only one player I truly fear at the moment - Mohamed Salah, who looks to be in full flow at present. Pogba also looks pretty special, however it's early in the Solskjær reign and their games have been fairly easy.  I really can't imagine Newcastle being as open as Bournemouth were today. So I'm happy to just be patient and wait until Son goes to the Asian Cup to make that switch. Frustrating though it was to see Pogba yet again turn on the magic - 13, 15 and 18 points in the last three games is pretty incredible.

Anyway, given that I'd need to use my wildcard to bring in Salah I think I'll start doing an "If I was doing a wildcard.." feature. So here goes.

(My hypothetical wildcard - click to enlarge)

I actually quite like the look of that! The midfield in particular looks powerful. The bench is pretty weak though. Plus I've had to lose Andy Robertson 😧 It's amazing what you have to cut out to find that Salah cash.

It's also a little light on Man City. So if they keep piling in the goals that could be a problem for this team. My current side has the same problem, but at least I now have the Aubameyang to Agüero option. If Liverpool race to the title this side could do very nicely though. It's definitely given me food for thought.

I think most of the pro FPL managers use their second wildcard to plan for chips and double-gameweeks, so I'll probably follow suit and try to save my wildcard. In fact, with the one above I haven't even considered the coming fixtures, so I really need to think about it a bit more.

It does look like something of a conundrum getting this second wildcard right. It's definitely nice to have one again though :)

Overall Points: 1,168

Overall Rank: 195,763