Three weeks to boost your FPL ranking
Stay for a player who probably deserves two red cards
***GAMEWEEK 14 DEADLINE: SATURDAY - 11:00 GMT***
Did you take out Trossard last week and get Foden? Well, you weren’t alone and, yes, it was a disaster. Having failed to score any points against Forest, obviously Trossard did the very FPL thing of then scoring against Man City. And Foden? Benched, obv. But he came on for a few minutes to ensure that popular bench players like Andreas (10 points) and Neco Williams (6 points) didn’t come on. Ah yes, Classic FPL.
This week: Three more weeks to put together a pre-World Cup surge, best sides for a clean sheet this week, what to do with Zaha, players nearing a suspension, a good thing on form players, Newcastle… and an interesting player reaction in the Scottish Cup. Thanks for reading and help me share this thing if it’s any good…
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Just three weeks to think about now
I’ll be doing a countdown to the World Cup. There are now three games left until the tournament, when we all get to reset our teams with infinite transfers. Three more games to go - here are the Top 10 teams with the best three games. It tells me to get to 3 Man City. Man Utd look interesting for a short-term punt. More below.
The big issue remains Liverpool. Do we need any Liverpool players now? Salah blanked again - he’s still 8th overall for expected goal involvement this season, but De Bruyne has left him in the shade among Premium midfielders. I’d probably argue Trent remains a good option - he’s very unfashionable right now, but he’s the top defender for expected goal involvement and owned by only 19.9% of teams, which is tiny for him.
Arsenal have the best cleansheet odds
They play Forest, who have been looking much better defensively, conceding only 2 goals in their last 4 games (Neco Williams has been a great bench asset). But the Forest attack still isn’t potent. Bringing in an Arsenal player may seem the obvious play, but attack or defence? Saka still probably the best move in, but White and Saliba are great options for cheap defenders.
Newcastle look good & Almiron is a thing
Another good performance at the weekend and another goal from Almiron, who must now be an FPL option. He is being talked about a lot by serious FPL managers and social media accounts. Quite funny, given the hard time he was given by a drunk Jack Grealish. The Almiron facts: he’s the second highest points scorer for all midfielders. His underlying stats are… ok, not brilliant. He has an expected goal involvement per 90 minutes of 0.41 (excluding penalties - source: fbref.com) - it’s not spectacular to be honest - about the same as Trossard and slightly worse than Saka - so he may be overachieving. But he is hot at the mo (and SUPER CHEAP at £5.4m).
My top three from Newcastle:
(By a mile) Trippier. Pretty essential.
Almiron
Double up in defence with either Pope or Botman
Players 1 yellow card away from suspension
A useful little table here of players who are one yellow card away from a suspension - worth keeping an eye on, in case it makes up your mind about a potential transfer. These lads will get a game’s ban if they get one more yellow. Quite a lot of FPL-relevant players here…
Man Utd are worth looking at again
We saw at the top of this edition that they are right up there with the best fixtures over the next three - and because of the World Cup infinite transfer rule, we won’t be stuck with players after that. Man Utd have West Ham (home), Villa (away) and Fulham (away). Dalot looks to be a great pick - a rare example of an attacking defender doing well this season. Other than that, Antony is the form player, though Rashford has better underlying stats.
There is a total punt to consider… if you still have Salah and now want to move him out, Bruno Fernandes (mentioned last week) might be fun. I mean, you can’t complain if it doesn’t pay off - but it’s entertaining. KDB is the better move for Salah owners, though. What a season he’s having.
Check on Haaland before the deadline
Pep said he had a fever and some kind of minor kick after the UCL game. He’ll probably be fine, but try to CHECK ON FRIDAY after the press conferences, to check he’s fit.
A great graphic on form players
A great piece of work here from someone on Reddit - they’ve sorted players by form over the last 6 games, according to their FPL points scores. Click the graphic to find the full thing. According to their research, top in-form players over the last 6 Gameweeks:
Haaland (MCI) 8.3 pts/GW
Almirón (NEW) 7.8 pts/GW
Kane (TOT) 7.0 pts/GW
Castagne (LEI) 6.8 pts/GW
Foden (MCI) 6.8 pts/GW
People are losing faith with Zaha
Crystal Palace have had the best set of transfers for a few weeks, so no surprise that he was brought in by a lot of managers. He’s been hit and miss though, and with so many good defenders in the £8m range, a lot have been ditching. He no longer plays through the middle and occasionally looks quite wide, but he is sill on penalties.
Some sold him for a -4 hit last week, which didn’t work out as most went for Saka and Foden, neither of whom got anything. But this week, he could be an easy move to Saka. But remember, he has Southampton next - in fact, his fixtures remain good and we get these players for a period of games, so it isn’t mad to stick with him.
Bowen is no longer on penalties for West Ham
Annoying for owners - Bowen confirmed this in an interview. He’s not a definite sell by any means - West Ham have decent games. But with such good players in his price bracket in midfield, it is worth noting that he doesn’t come with the bonus of having penalties anymore and may be worth moving out.
Alternatives: Saka, Foden, Zaha, Maddison, Antony, Almiron
Adding insult to injury… and another injury
Looks like a good-natured kick-about in the Scottish Cup between Dunbar Utd vs Stirling University. It’s so nice when this game brings people together, crosses divides and… oh no, no, don’t do that!
Please get in touch with any FPL dilemmas or general football internet gold. Remember the DEADLINES and see you next week! I’m on Twitter here. Please help me grow FPL Is Life by sharing… thanks!