All you need to know for the run in
Stay for the guy that identifies football matches playing in TV shows
GAMEWEEK 31 DEADLINE: SATURDAY, 11:00 GMT
It’s been an absolute age since we thought about FPL - otherwise known as a fortnight. But the international break is over and we all need to be rescued from the Will Smith discourse that has temporarily frozen the internet. This is a safe space where no hot takes on Hollywood are required. No - here we consider the much more serious issue of whether we can really buy Wout Weghorst again. And if you’re still sick of FPL and ready to give up, good! Your mini-league rivals feel the same. This is an endurance race and our superior dedication to moving pretend players around on a computer screen will see us prosper.
This week: how the average squad of the top players looks going into this week, a look at the best defences, planning ahead of Double Gameweek 33 and a guy who identifies football matches in TV shows.
An update on the squads of the Top10k
The last episode of FPL was some time ago, so let’s do one of those catch-up montages to get us up to speed. Basically, loads of stuff went wrong. Big FPL players - Raphinha, Ramsdale, Martinelli, Kilman - didn’t play. Leeds had an insane game against Wolves that left Jimenez with -2. Yet people who used their Free Hit did well and Son did serious damage. Below is the Top10k Template squad - the most popular players with the top managers, before changes are made for this week.
The players who will probably be leaving the template - Saiss/Sa/Jimenez (Wolves’ run of extra fixtures is over - Jimenez is suspended). The others are still solid picks, though Ramsdale is an injury doubt and Saka has had covid - check the fitness of both after the press conferences ON FRIDAY.
The tight title race will help FPL managers
Buy good players from the best teams. Seems a decent FPL strategy doesn’t it? The good news is the tight title race means there should be less risk of end of season rotation from Man City and Liverpool, so we can (and should) target them. There may be a risk Salah is rested this week against Watford. Poor Salah missed a penalty with Egypt, with a load of laser pens aimed at him. But can Klopp afford to rest him? Man City and Liverpool play each other next week, but on the whole we can target their players.
Chelsea have great fixtures, but more rotation risk
Chelsea is more complicated - they have great fixtures, but they’ll likely finish third and are pushing in Europe - so rotation risk is higher. James is back in training and hugely tempting - he’s a classic high risk, high reward option. Mason Mount is probably the most reliable Chelsea attacker. Havertz is on fire, but a rotation risk due to Europe and Lukaku. Below is a cool thing showing how some of these players do in terms of big and small chances in the last six matches. It makes Havertz look great and also… Sancho at United. Hmmm.
Tomori’s reaction to Italian food went viral
Fikayo Tomori can count himself incredibly unlucky not to be picked in the England squad, having been at the heart of an AC Milan defence that has helped the side to the top of Serie A. Now he’s going viral for trying two sfogliatelle – as we all know, a traditional Italian sweet pastry thing. There’s an excellent interview here in which he comes across as smart and interesting - he also seems to have learnt Italian already.
It’s boring but… the City defence is unbelievable
Big At The Back is going top be a thing again. You could do worse than double up on the City defence now. Cancelo and one other, probably Laporte. The below looks at minutes per big chances conceded. Man City are miles ahead over the season. Chelsea also - Rudiger and James will be popular again in no time. Spurs’ emergence is why Doherty has been widely adopted as the wing-back of choice, and he’s cheap.
Also, any team playing Norwich is worth a look. Burnley have five games over three gameweeks (Burnley and Everton have two fixtures this week), and one of those is Norwich. Do we look at Wout Weghorst again? It has to be considered, unfortunately. There are so few striker options. In fact, a lot of managers are talking about playing a 4-5-1, with just Kane up top.
If you do one bit of planning, look ahead to Gameweek 33
Gameweek 33 is a Double Gameweek for some teams (two games) and a Blank Gameweek (no games) for others. The list is below. Manchester United, Leicester and Newcastle have the best fixtures. The top players FPL Twitter are targeting - most notably, Barnes or Maddison from Leicester (very close between them), Sancho from United, or Fraser from Newcastle - who is cheap and doing well.
It’s also a decent week to Free Hit if you have one left - the other options will be a huge Double Gameweek in Gameweek 36 involving all the big teams, and another in Gameweek 37, yet to be announced. Use this website to plan ahead and see what works best.
You have to decide whether to keep Trent
The Liverpool defender is out this week and faces a battle to be back for the Man City game, which is obviously a bad fixture, too. So is it worth selling? If you’re using your Free Hit in Gameweek 33, then you could just sell him until Gameweek 34. The good news is there’s a long list of very obvious replacements - Cancelo, Robertson, James… and if you want to save cash, Doherty, Thiago Silva, Matip or even Matty Cash all look good. Spoilt for choice in defence.
***UPDATE: This report suggests he’s back in training and could even be back for Watford. Other reporters say that he is doing light work and is still a doubt, so look out for any official news on Friday before transferring him out***
A cool thing about goalkeeper distribution
An interesting piece of work here on how important distribution has become. Poor old David de Gea may be saving a lot of shots, but there’s something weird going on with his passing.
This guy identifies obscure games in TV shows
Yes it’s usually awful and a disaster for mental health, but just occasionally, the internet delivers on the promise. Everyone likes a bit of internet sleuthing, but this guy is on another level. The Bundesliga later replied to him to say he was spot on…
Please get in touch with any FPL dilemmas or general football internet gold. If you find this remotely enjoyable, please help me spread the word. Remember the DEADLINES and see you next week! I’m on Twitter here. Please help me grow FPL Is Life by sharing… thanks!