GW28 Preview. Blanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few too many exclamation marks there, but I've just spent the entire week waiting to transfer Vardy in. So it's a relief to finally get that done and start the gameweek proper.

My one main issue now this gameweek is Digne, who has a yellow flag. There doesn't seem to be any clear info, so my feeling is that he'll miss. Meaning I'll most certainly need Greenwood to get at least some game time.

Neto probably won't start either, but I'm expecting he'll come on at some point. And I'll certainly take that this week.

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I do like the look of this team with Vardy in it though. With three Leicester and also Cantwell I'm going to be really dependent on tonight's game however. So weirdly by 10 pm tonight I'll have a fair idea of how my week's going.

I've still only got Vardy as vice-captain, which will take the edge off if I don't get any returns tonight. I was a little tempted to give him the captaincy, but I just feel TAA is the more sensible option. A clean sheet isn't immensely likely away to Watford, but it's hardly unimaginable. Then on top of that you also have a very real potential for an assist or a goal.

Captaincy could be especially huge this week, so I'm really hoping for TAA returns ..and a Salah blank (sorry Salah owners, but we're in a rank war right now! No time for sentiment!).

Anyway, not long 'til kick off now. Hopefully it'll be an entertaining weekend.

GW27 Review. Another Green Arrow :) ..just

I have to be pretty pleased with this week. Seven points above the average, a minor green arrow. So a fairly solid week.

Gameweek Points: 52

Gameweek Rank: 2,121,281

Overall Rank: 195,128

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I went up about 1,000 places. Which shows how much you need to do to get a decent rank boost when you start heading towards the higher echelons in fpl.

Oddly I think was probably most pleased with Dubravka this week. With Newcastle losing 1-0 I was expecting the standard two points, so when I looked and saw two save points on top of that I was over the moon. Simple things..

He was the first of my players to actually play at the weekend, so I think that adds to it. You always feel better when you get some points on the board early. When your first player comes out of the blocks with a big fat blank it seems to set the tone for the rest of the gameweek. At least psychologically.

The whole week really swung on the captain choice. It was another week where I was fearing not owning Salah and counting on TAA to pull me through, which fortunately he did. His three bonus points, plus the Robertson assist in a sense cancelling out not having Salah. Anyone with Salah, Trent and Mane this week will have done really well. Luckily Mane still isn't quite as highly owned as he was a few weeks back though.

Going Forward...

Going forward I'm now just waiting to get Vardy transferred in. I'd like to just do it now and get things settled, but with Mahrez and De Bruyne definitely blanking this week I can't afford anymore absentees. I already have a yellow flag on Digne. If he misses again I'll be needing Greenwood to come in off my bench. If he can get another eight points that wouldn't be too bad at all, but of course there's always the danger that he doesn't even play at all.

So I'm best off waiting to make sure Vardy doesn't get injured before I bring him in.

The deadline is Friday this week too so I better bear that in mind as well.

GW26 Review / GW27 Preview.

Wow, two whole weeks since I posted on here. That gameweek was a drag. Fortunately it was quite a decent week points wise for me though.

Gameweek Points: 78

Gameweek Rank: 413,433

Overall Rank: 196,342

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It goes without saying that I was super lucky with De Bruyne as captain. The game was called off due to bad weather - only to then be rearranged within the same gameweek!. Very fortunate. Especially as I had Mahrez vice, who in the end didn't play anyway. The 13 from Son was also a little lucky given he originally missed his penalty. His injury has evened things about a bit though. Meaning I'll need to transfer him out now.

Again though, this has in a way been a little lucky too, as I was going to remove De Bruyne to bring in Vardy. In preparation for GW28. Now I can just remove Son, meaning I'll be leaving De Bruyne and Mahrez on my bench GW28 with a potential double gameweek for City GW29. So it's not too bad.

It does mean my funds to get Vardy in are a little bit tighter though. I need to bring in a £5.1m or less midfielder for Son to leave me with the exact amount.

I've decided I'm going to go for the £5.0m Wolves star Neto. He came on off the bench in last night's Europa game, so I'm hoping he'll start come Sunday. Wolves also definitely have a game in GW31, so if the FA Cup fixtures fall my way it might help me navigate that week without having to resort to a chip. He's a player I really like the look of, but he doesn't often get the full 90 minutes. I can't really see a more suitable option at the price though, so it feels like a risk worth taking. Norwich at home is a pretty nice fixture too.

I got a rank boost of around 100k last week, so I'm starting to get towards the business end of the rankings. I'd really like a few more good weeks to push towards the top 100k now. If I could reach that high before I start hitting the chip buttons that would be perfect. It's a big ask though.

I've got the captaincy for this week on TAA. It always feels a bit of a weird choice when you're putting it on a defender, but he's such a great option. He's right up there with the top midfielders for points this season too. He's now on one more than Mane and is just the fifteen behind Salah. Which is incredible given the price. Very consistent points scorer too.

Anyway, hopefully this gameweek won't be as disjointed as the last one. Three days, ten games. Beautiful 😊

GW26 Preview.

Thanks to the "winter break" this week's fixtures will be spread out over the next 10 days.

I don't like it. I don't like it one bit.

I have decided that I'll be bringing in Jimenez and not Ings though. This feels like a big risk, but my instinct is overriding my common sense. I want Jimenez in my team. Ings, in spite of the incredible run of fixtures, just doesn't inspire the same confidence in me.

I'd like to say I'm bringing in Jimenez because he doesn't blank in GW31, but in truth it's highly, highly likely I'll be free hitting that week anyway.

I'm going to roll next week's transfer to have two for GW28. I'll be downgrading De Bruyne to bring in Vardy. I may bring in someone who definitely blanks GW31 for my cheaper midfield option. Just in case I can get through GW31 without using a chip. There'll have to be some big shocks in the FA Cup quarter finals though for that to happen.

As well as bringing in Jimenez this week I'll be captaining De Bruyne (better make the most of him). I'm also hoping that Mahrez and Son can have good weeks for me. I think I need at least one to haul to have a really nice gameweek. I've reached the point where I'm not really expecting anything from Maddison though. To be fair he has been very involved in games recently, and still gets a fair few shots away, but it just doesn't seem to be happening at the moment. So anything from him will be a huge bonus. Likewise with Pereira. Wolves will be a tough game for Leicester ..we'll have to wait until next Friday to find out how tough though :(

(It just looks so much better with

Jimenez in there)

GW25 Review.

48 points, 1 point above the average, but a red arrow :(

Gameweek Points: 48

Gameweek Rank: 3,473,590

Overall Rank: 290,984

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Not a huge red arrow though. So it wasn't too bad :)

It does mean my good run of green has came to an end though.

I was actually quite pleased with my tally by the end of the week. Given that I didn't have Salah (who earned 32 points for the multitude who had him as captain) I feel like I dodged a potentially damaging week. If Salah continues like this though I'm not too sure how much longer I'll be able to withstand the damage that will inevitably come.

Saying that, the three Liverpool clean sheets were great and having those three in my team has been a constant source of points over the last few months. It just means that I then need a big midfielder that Salah owners don't have to match Salah. Can anyone match him though?

Son scored again. That was a huge bonus. It's now a contest between him and De Bruyne for my captain choice this upcoming gameweek. It's currently on De Bruyne - at home to West Ham should be a great fixture for him. Son away to Villa is also quite tempting though.

Salah will have Norwich away 😟

Also Dubravka got 7 points against Norwich at the weekend. That was very welcome. So the transfer paid off. With this week's transfer I'm still not sure who to bring in for Haller. My instinct is saying Jimenez, but the Ings fixtures are just superb. Also Ings is cheaper too. So I may factor my future transfers into the decision.

I'll post a preview for GW26 closer to the deadline.

Overall Points: 1410

Overall Rank: 290,984

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 25 Preview

A quick preview. One transfer - Dubravka in, Gazzaniga out.

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I don't quite have an obvious captain this week so I'm sticking with Trent Alexander-Arnold. Maybe I'm pushing my luck a bit hoping this will pay off again, but he seems like the best pick given my options. (I suspect the Spurs vs Man City game will be a tight Mourinho affair.)

I'm actually quite looking forward to this weekend's football. The double gameweek was surprisingly stressful - even though I did quite well in it. It's difficult to just enjoy a game with the triple captain in play. I'm sure we all overemphasise its important. After all, it is just 10 or 15 points extra even if you get it right. Feels like a big deal though.

Also, today I looked back at where I was this time last season. I'm actually a little bit ahead - I was around 250k this time last year (I'm currently 238k). However, the first double gameweek that time was GW25. I triple captained Sterling and he earned me 33 points. I finished the gameweek with 108, and that took me all the way up to 121k by the end of the week. It's quite unlikely I'll be that high up by the end of GW25 this time out. So perhaps I'm actually behind where I was last season in a weird kind of way.

Another green arrow would be very welcome though either way.

FPL: GW24 Review

My big gamble paid off quite nicely this week. I can't gloat too much though as I clearly had a great deal of luck. What with Mane going off injured early in the first Liverpool game.

Gameweek Points: 95

Gameweek Rank: 73,508

Overall Rank: 237,674

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Returns in both games from TAA was great. Very happy with that :) - only Salah (and Henderson) did better for Liverpool over the gameweek. My two transfers also returned, with Digne getting an assist and Son getting a goal.

The 12 points from Pereira was nice, and Haller getting an assist was very, very lucky indeed. West Ham looked awful against Leicester. I'd be very fearful of relegation now if I was a West Ham fan.

With 95 points and Mane blanking I obviously got quite a large rank boost as well. Up from 530k to 240k (!)

My form has been great over the last six gameweeks. I just need to keep this up now.

(lots of green)

Going forward I need to change my keeper, what with Lloris coming back early. Then remove Haller - probably for either Ings or Jimenez.

The League Cup semi-finals also fell in my favour too this week. Had Leicester progressed to the final it would have meant that I'd have had 6 players blanking in GW28. As things stand I just have the 3 - De Bruyne, Mahrez and Martinelli.

My plan is now to switch keeper this gameweek, remove Haller GW26. Roll a transfer GW27. Then use my two transfers in GW28 to transfer out Mahrez and Martinelli. I'd ideally like to bring Vardy in for that week. They have Norwich then Villa, but I haven't quite worked out if I'll have the funds.

As for keeper I think I'll probably bring in Dubravka. Sheff Utd's Henderson would've been the ideal choice, but they now blank in GW28. Again though, this has kinda fallen in my favour as Sheff Utd defensive options are quite highly owned. So the GW28 blank will steal a few transfers from my rivals 😈

Overall Points: 1362

Overall Rank: 237,674