FPL: GW35+ Review / GW36+ Preview

Very nice GW35+ :)

Gameweek Points: 79

Gameweek Rank: 137,049

Overall Rank: 83, 471

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My De Bruyne to Sterling transfer paid of massively. So that was very satisfying. I now need him to at least match De Bruyne this week to make that count. Especially as I have him captain. Also it finally took me into the top 100k. So I'm feeling very good about that :D

I'm now struggling to decide whether to bring in Ings for Jimenez. It's less than an hour before deadline so I'll have to get a move on. I'm always a little reluctant to take out Jimenez, he's normally so reliable, but although he scored the penalty for Wolves on Sunday he didn't look especially deadly. He'd also blanked in the previous three. So Ings, playing Brighton this gameweek, then Bournemouth next, looks like an improvement.

[...]

I think I've talked myself into it. Let's do it.

There we go. All set. Hopefully it pays off.

Overall Points: 2090

Overall Rank: 83,471

FPL: GW34+ Review

I finished 7 points above the average this week, but it still resulted in a big red arrow. In my last post I was talking about rank expectations. I think now my aim firmly has to be top 100k. It's clearly a bit mental talking about anything higher than that at this point. Anyways..

Gameweek Points: 66

Gameweek Rank: 2,700,195

Overall Rank: 144,653

(not too bad ..but no Salah)

As for GW35+ I won't be sharing my finalised team in this post. I have two free transfers so I'm currently planning quite a risky move. I'm going to wait 'til later tonight, or maybe even tomorrow to hit the button though, just in case there's any further team news.

My plan is:

De Bruyne out - Sterling in.

(I'll also have to downgrade Jonny (possibly to Cresswell) just to gouge out the extra cash needed.)

Obviously this would be risky. De Bruyne is the highest scoring player in the game this season (along with Salah after his brace this week). So it feels counter-intuitive. However, De Bruyne played the full 90 minutes on Wednesday, and he seemed to pick up a little knock too towards the end. So a benching wouldn't be a surprise. Whereas Sterling seems to be due a start.

Of course, it's always dangerous second guessing Guardiola. I have two free transfers to burn though, and a lot of ground to make up, so it might be time to roll the dice. The question then comes do I captain Sterling too. Or do I stick with the safer Fernandes?

I think I'll make that decision tomorrow morning, though it's highly likely I'll stick with Fernandes. Right now however I'm going to spend some time searching around to see if I can find someone better than Cresswell.

Overall Points: 2011

Overall Rank: 144,653

GW34+ Preview / GW33+ Review

Okay let's keep this simple. GW34+. Not much time. Same team. No transfers. De Bruyne captain.

As for GW33+ it was another nice week.

Gameweek Points: 72

Gameweek Rank: 682,774

Overall Rank: 120,808

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Final Rank??

With just five weeks left I'm now wondering what my aim should be for overall rank. Normally my aim is just to get as high as possible. I'm always optimistic so the sky's the limit usually. However, with not much time left I'm now thinking I should reign my hopes in a little bit.

I'm currently 120k, so given my season so far I should really be very pleased with anything inside the top 100k. However, I want more. Ideally I'd like to beat the old PB. Which was last season's 30k. Failing that I'd quite like to get another top 50k finish. At this point last season though I was already around 30k. So getting anywhere near that from 120k now seems nigh on impossible.

I was going to check to see how many points I am off the top 50k, but as the FPL site is now offline due to the gameweek just starting I'll have to wait.

Come to think of it I might do a little graph. Plotting this season and last. That might give me something to do while I wait. Nice and geeky.

A long time later...

I've done a graph. It took me a lot longer than I anticipated.

Not the most professional looking graph, but it nevertheless highlights the difference between this season and last. It's pretty clear from the image that this year's start has badly let me down. The climb back up the ranks is quite impressive though - if I do say so myself :)

Some of the ranks earlier in the season went well over the one million mark, but I couldn't plot those accurately without completely skewing the way the graph looked. So they're beyond an event horizon. (Also I didn't have the data for the first three weeks of last season, so that year has to start at GW4).

Finally, since the FPL website is now live again I can check the rankings. My friend is currently inside the top 40k, and he's about 50 points ahead of me. So I'd have to claw back about 10 points a week on average to make up that difference. It's certainly doable. 50 points isn't an outlandish number, but it would certainly be a very big ask. Looking at the above graph though I should perhaps just be grateful that I've made up so much ground already.

Plus if I'm not careful it could start going the other way 😬

Overall Points: 1945

Overall Rank: 120,808

FPL: GW32+ Review / GW33+ Preview

Another nice week. I knew my entire gameweek would hang upon the shoulders of Aubameyang and he came good. Only three players returned for me, yet I finished with 74 points. Very lucky indeed. Now it's wildcard time for GW33+

Gameweek Points: 74

Gameweek Rank: 772,716

Overall Rank: 141,739

(a very unbalanced gameweek)

I thought I was going to get a few Sheffield United clean sheets too until that late Kane goal yesterday. That would've been a little bit greedy though so I can't complain too much. I was fortunate enough this week. With me choosing not to use the wildcard I was quite worried that GW32+ would badly damage my ranking. So to get a decent green arrow was really beyond my expectations.

I jumped 30,000 places. I'd have loved to have been in the top 100k by this point, but 141k isn't too far off. So if I can make this wildcard work there's still a chance of a decent finish.

GW33+ Wildcard...

This is how my team stands at present.

I've tinkered around quite a bit, but I think I'm settled now. Twenty minutes ago I had Pogba in, Nketiah instead of Greenwood (who would've been benched for Jonny), and Ederson in goal. However, having watched City yesterday I really want to keep three City attackers. After all, the games are superb. Plus Mahrez came on late yesterday so I fancy him for a start on Sunday.

Having Greenwood in the starting line up is a bit of a risk as he could easily be back on the bench (I've lost out on the Greenwood gamble before this season), but as with Manchester City; I really want three United attackers.

It also means I'm sticking Jonny on the bench now. If he delivers and stays there that'll be frustrating of course. I did plan on having a strong bench though for these last six games, so it adds a bit of security.

The fact that teams now have five transfers makes it more likely that players - especially attacking players - will at least get some game time off the bench. However, players will get seriously rotated now as the season winds to an end, so I'm expecting at least the odd full benching. For example, if Trent Alexander-Arnold finds himself starting on the bench on Sunday he may very well stay there and get the full rest. In fact, now Liverpool have the league in the bag it's possible players may not even travel for games. So I really want a good bench for if and when that happens.

Finally this brings me to my captain choice this week. I'm going for Trent partly due to this thinking. He's got a great fixture - you'd have to think at least a clean sheet is quite likely with them playing Villa. Then if he doesn't start there's always the potential that he may just sit the entire game out. So my vice captain will then get a shot at things. Whereas if I captain say De Bruyne and he gets benched then it's more likely he may just come on for the last 10 minutes or something.

In the image above I have the vice captaincy on Robertson. I'll no doubt change that to Fernandes before tomorrow morning however. He's probably the obvious choice for captain this week, and is pretty much guaranteed to start. So it could cost me not just sticking the captaincy straight on him. I do really fancy Liverpool to bounce back though against Villa. So captaining TAA should be a nice differential going into this gameweek.

Hopefully it pays off.

Overall Points: 1873

Overall Rank: 141,739

GW32+ Preview ...plus awful team value

I'll get my team set now, rather than wait 'til tomorrow. If I do my transfer of Leno to Martinez tonight I should save myself £0.1m if fplstatistics.co.uk is anything to go by. I'm not sure why I'm really bothered about saving "point-one" at this point in the season, but as I'm wildcarding next week I have this nagging worry that I may regret it if I don't.

I actually have an awful overall team value as it stands; £99.6m. Less than the £100m I started with. Other fpl managers have a few extra million wiggle-room by this point, but I've went backwards. I think it's because I have such an idiosyncratic playing style. I tend not to follow the herd, so I don't ride the waves of ownership that help build up player prices. I wonder how much it's costing me now. A few million is the difference between a £4.5m player and a £6 or £7m one. So it's a noticeable difference for sure.

Perhaps it's something I should work on next season, though again, it would mean switching my playing style to something very different. 170k rank isn't too bad at the moment, and last year I finished 30k doing my own thing. So my instincts aren't damaging me too much. I guess it's more a question of fine tuning things rather than a complete overhaul of the method.

GW32+ Team

So anyway, my actual team. It's not looking great is it. I get the feeling that I'll know how well my week's going pretty much after the first game (Aston Villa v Wolves). Owning no Wolves players could damage me. Likewise a Grealish goal would be very welcome. I'm half-expecting I'll be dipping into my bench too, so I may be relying on Samatta 😟 I actually thought he looked decent against Newcastle with his link-up play, but he didn't really look like scoring. Either way hopefully he'll play the full 90 minutes again just in case I need him.

After that it's then all on the shoulders of Aubameyang. Home to Norwich surely the perfect fixture for him??

Having three City players also gives me some potential, but with the risk of rotation, and with it being Liverpool they're facing, I feel it's more hope than expectation. Each player being pretty much just a dice roll. It is at least something though.

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With my team looking so clumsy and unconvincing this week I'll happily take anything over the average. I feel like I really need to hold my rank this gameweek to solidify the gains of the last two weeks.

Another green arrow before wildcarding would be ideal.

Fantasy Premier League: GW31+ Review

Another good solid week.

Gameweek Points: 76

Gamweek Rank: 1,339,528

Overall Rank: 171,629

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The average was fairly high - 62 points. So my green arrow was rather minor. Just about 3,000 places. My defence powered me through the gameweek, as my midfield somewhat disappointed. Bringing in Richarlison, Pogba and Fernandes didn't pay off, especially as it meant taking out De Bruyne. Obviously Martial bagged a hat-trick this week, so he was the one to own, and I definitely missed out there.

The silver lining was captaining Son. 12 points wasn't a huge haul, but given I could've easily went with Fernandes it goes down as a nice little bonus.

I'm now thinking about GW32+. It isn't a great eleven at the moment given it was originally picked to maximise the bench boost in GW30+ (I'm going to wildcard GW33+). So I'm not wholly confident about this week. Saying that though I was struggling to decide where my single transfer would be used. There are plenty of players I'd like to take out, but looking at the fixtures not too many in similar price brackets I'd like to bring in.

That decision has been taken out of my hands a little bit now though as Guaita has a yellow flag. Therefore to cover for that potential absence I'm probably just going to bring in Martinez for the injured Leno. This move will set me up nicely for the wildcard too, as I wanted to have two playing keepers just to cover any potential injuries or rotations. Martinez is the obvious choice for back up simply because he's so cheap.

This is how it's looking at present. Three rotation risk Manchester City players. Two Sheffield Untied defenders starting against Spurs. Nketiah a potential rotation risk, even after his goal last night. Barnes likewise not exactly nailed on for a start right now. So I could have some problems getting a decent rank this week.

I really need Aubameyang to deliver.

FPL: GW31 Preview

Free hit all set. I'm really liking this team.

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It's normally a bad sign when I start a week this confident, but still, I'm very hopeful.

I'm not wholly confident in selecting Grealish after his last two performances, but he's very capable of getting a big haul and it's a nice game. The other options in that price bracket (Jota/Traore/Barnes/etc) don't feel quite as nailed on to start. Whereas Villa can hardly afford to drop Grealish. They need a result too. Hopefully now that Newcastle are effectively safe with 38 points they'll take their foot off the gas.

Richarlison feels like a nice player to own this gameweek. He's only 11% owned so it could be very useful if he does return.

I've went with three Liverpool at the back too. So, I'm gambling on Crystal Palace frustrating Liverpool a little bit. A low-scoring Liverpool win and clean sheet would be ideal. Especially if Salah and Mane blank 😈

Obviously captaincy is a difficult decision this week. I've went with Son. Partly because of the game, but also because of his ceiling. He can potentially go crazy. So I feel like it's the most aggressive option. I'm guessing many people will be going with Fernandes - who seems like the most sensible choice, especially given his consistency. However, I'm a tiny bit worried that there'll be a bit of a Sheffield United backlash after their terrible performance against Newcastle. They might just knuckle down for a point and make it hard for United. So Son feel like the right pick.

With Pogba, Fernandes and De Gea in my side though I'm very much hoping for a good Manchester United display. So hopefully all my players just go wild :)