Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead returns for the 2023/24 season with his series of articles analysing the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfers and strategies of some noted Fantasy managers, from serial top 10k finishers to well-known faces.
The Great and The Good this season are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman, Scoutcasters Seb Wassell and Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar, and FPL Harry, FPL “celebrities”, LTFPL Andy and Ben Crellin, FPL Champion FPL Gunz, from the Hall of Fame, Fabio Borges, Finn Sollie, Jan Kepski and Jon Ballantyne and last year’s mini-league winner Marko Miseric.
“Pause for Thought”
With all the noise, chip theories and ongoing disgruntlement that Erling Haaland (£14.5m) saved all his goals for the FA Cup, Gameweek 27 had all the makings of a nothing week with most having their eye on the FPL horizon.
Yes, with the upcoming blanks and doubles, we could have been forgiven for forgetting about this round of fixtures. It felt like a pre-cursor to all those endless articles and threads that were soon to appear on who were the must-haves and must-have-nots amongst the Luton Town and Bournemouth squads (oh look, here’s one already).
However, it did remind us of why any plans to jettison Phil Foden (£8.2m) or Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) when we Wildcard to accommodate the returning Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) may prove tricky and damaging to our FPL rank health – unless of course you have the team value of Mark Sutherns (£107m, ridiculous!).
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The scores were very bunched this week with only 21 points separating the high-scoring LTFPL Andy on 88 and FPL General on 71 (-4).
Most of the managers made moves in preparation for events to come.
Andy’s success was built off that Foden and Watkins double act along with a fine performance from his double Arsenal defence and Conor Bradley’s (£4.1m) cut-price contribution. He could even afford to bench Alphonse Areola’s (£4.2m) 13-point haul, which was achieved in spite of the West Ham ‘keeper failing to keep a clean sheet.
Some defensive mishaps cost The Great and The Good this week. Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m) became the scourge of many an FPL manager as he finally got his 90 minutes but still managed to blank. Pras was also left cursing Kieran Trippier (£6.9m), who only survived 51 minutes of Newcastle’s 3-0 win over Wolves. And spare a thought for Finn Sollie, who transferred in Marcos Senesi (£4.6m) only to see him hobble off after 11 minutes.
Haaland was the default captain pick. Surprisingly, FPL General went against the Norweigan in a rare dalliance with Son Heung-min (£9.8m). Less surprisingly, resident armband maverick FPL Gunz plumped for Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) and will feel hard done by that he only lasted until half-time in the Monday night massacre of Sheffield United.
TRANSFERS
The Great and The Good WhatsApp group was abuzz with the South Korean swap shop this week as the general consensus was that moving out an injured Hwang Hee-chan (£5.5m) for his more expensive countryman Son was a wise move.
In other news, we finally have a Jarrod Bowen (£7.9m) owner amongst this group as Zophar takes the plunge and heavily signposts his intention to try and avoid the Free Hit in Gameweek 29.
James Maddison (£7.9m) looks a canny purchase by Seb Wassell and FPL General ahead of Spurs’ good run of fixtures. He is still only 10.6% owned as of writing.
- Ben Crellin: Hwang > Son
- Jan Kępski: Hwang > Son
- Mark Sutherns: Hwang > Son
- Harry Daniels: Hwang > Son, Alexander-Arnold > Zabarnyi
- Seb Wassell: Hwang > Palmer, Richarlison > Maddison
- Joe Lepper: No Transfers
- Andy LTFPL: Hwang > Son
- Zophar: Richarlison > Bowen, De Bruyne > Son
- Andy North: Darwin > Solanke, Hwang > Son
- Pras: Hwang > Son
- Fábio Borges: Hwang > Son
- FPL General: Hwang> Maddison, De Bruyne > Son
- Jon Ballantyne: B.Fernandes > Son, Walker > Zabarnyi
- Finn Sollie: Pedro Porro > Senesi
- Tom Freeman: Hwang > Son, Estupiñan > Zabarnyi
- Marko Miseric: Darwin > Morris
- Az: Hwang > Son
- FPL Gunz: Estupiñan > Alex Moreno, De Bruyne > Son
TEMPLATE
A few changes in the template this week with Hwang and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m) being replaced by Son and Alejandro Garnacho (£5.0m). I expect the latter to pick up even more sponsorship post the blank in Gameweek 29 as Wildcards start being played.
The front three of Haaland, Watkins and Dominic Solanke (£7.1m) is as solid as it gets. I fully anticipate the Bournemouth striker to match the other two in being 100% owned come this week’s deadline. I also suspect Jon Ballantyne may finally use his Triple Captain chip on him.
FREE HIT OR NOT FREE HIT
The game show that is sweeping the nation; well, at least it got a mention on Joe and I’s last Scout stream. Yes, it’s Free Hit or Not Free Hit, where I attempt to guess which of The Great and The Good are going to play that chip in the upcoming blank.
The table below shows the number of players they have for Gameweek 29. It now looks like Zophar, Seb, FPL Gunz and FPL General are locked to avoid playing the chip with seven players amongst their squads. Joe and Finn Sollie, however, appear ready to go wild on Aston Villa and Spurs when they Free Hit.
One person who won’t be using the chip is Andy North, as he has played his Wildcard. Do have a watch of Scoutcast this week, where he seems to convince a very polite Flapjack that it’s almost a good idea. Who knows, it could well be a masterstroke – remember, it’s a fine line between genius and insanity.
CONCLUSION
Bring on the Bournemouth and Luton players! Yes, this week will be all about which of these budget options we will bringing into our squads. Your chip strategy will likely determine which flavour you prefer.
As always, if you want to dig further into the data then have a read of the Mini-League Mate dossier. Under ‘Join an existing league’, enter your name and email together with league code MLM0001. It’s all free!
Anyway, that’s all from me for and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article, you can find me here on Twitter.
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6 months, 5 days agoCan only start one this gameweek who is is it?
A. Foden
B. Luiz