Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 9
Welcome to Fantasy Football Top 20 Analysis. Kun? No Can Do! “… Kathmandu?” Ok! That took it a bit too far.
But that’s just how funny I am. Really! Between having absolutely no sense of humour to trying to sound an iota as funny as those other legendary writers on this site, I just don’t know how to go about this. So bear with me guys. Be gentle with me (Yikes! Here I go again!).
So, after what seems to be years and decades of freeloading on FF247’s advice, news, wall-street-level stats, suggestions, rate-my-teams and ‘funny-as-other-people’s-pain’ humour; I decided to crunch some numbers and finally give back. If by giving back, it means that the very cool admins accept this (future) Pulitzer piece. The fact that FF247 sent me a free t-shirt, with their cool logo and everything, shipped it all the way to the backwaters of Thimphu, and the first thing I did when it got here was to rip open the package, shove my head through it and tear a gaping hole in the neck, and then misplaced it somewhere in my black hole of a closet which has also been niggling like Sturridge’s ankles in the back of my head till now.
O.K. So, what’s not funny? I’ll tell you what’s not funny. The fact that one, yes ONE single gentleman (or gentlewoman for that matter) of the top 20 players in the whole of premier fantasy league owns Aguero. With a name like redstar, that fantasy-leaguer must be off the bonkers on cheap Vodka. But hey! Who am I to judge? He (or she) is top 20 as of Gameweek 7. But Aguero? Remember that guy? The guy who scores hat-tricks for fun; who can single-handedly win league titles; the darling of fantasy leaguers (not Pep); the guy who’s most likely to be a Japanese comic book hero. The fact that our little hero tried to do a Prince (yes, the singer Prince) and remove some ribs sometime ago; or that Argentinean football in general, is in some kind of doomsday mode, must be why so few in the top 20 or any of the 5.2 or so million fantasy leaguers own him.
Forwards
Enough of Kun then. Who are the top 20 trying to fill his custom-designed cleats with in the forward positions? As of Gameweek 7 Lukaku, with his size 15s (ahem, no pun intended even though United fans keep reminding us of such), is the lead pretender-to-the-throne, with an enviable ownership of 17 of the 20 top fantasy-leaguers. His league-leading 7 goals and 50 points (second only to Kun) makes him the most owned by in the top 20 as well as nearly 60% of all fantasy leaguers. Kane, yes, the saviour of English football, is a very close second. He is owned by 16 of the top 20 players; has a league-second 6 goals with 45 points and is owned by nearly 39% of all fpl-ers. In addition to these two heavy-hitters, the top 20’s other four preferred strikers (in no particular order of race, gender, income or talent) are Morata (Chelsea), Firminio (Liverpool), Chicharito (West Ham) and Lacazette (Arsenal); each owned by 4, 3, 3, and 3 players respectively in the global top 20.
Midfielders
Unlike strikers, the top 20 do not have a clear preference for any single midfielder. Coutinho, that £200m little magician (for Liverpool fans only), who curls that right footer with more English and accuracy than Angelina Jolie with a Desert Eagle (… go watch Wanted) is somehow the most owned midfielder. 8 of the top 20 own him. How and why, I don’t know. Maybe Neymar has had a private word with those guys (or girls). If he has, I want to officially register my complaint vis-à-vis insider-information-trading and all that. But the little Brazilian (not that Brazilian, you idiots!) is a huge differential, since only 8.7% of all fantasy-leaguers own him. Maybe he is expected to explode with points at some point? (O.k. At this point, I just give up with my puns). He is followed closely in ownership by Mikhitarian (Manchester United), Silva (Manchester City) and Salah (Liverpool); each owned by 7, 7, and 6 of the top 20. An honorable mention for Kante (owned by 5 of the top 20 players) whose ‘quadruple lung’ is the only reason (in my opinion) why Chelsea sold Matic to United. WHY? HOW? Only the master of the dark arts Mourinho knows.
Defenders
Then there’s defence. Like strikers, our top 20 clearly prefer one or two players above all others. Tottenham’s Davies, who wasn’t on most fpl-ers radars (c’mon, be honest), is owned by 14 of the top 20. His fantasy-league-leading 49 points shows why he is so coveted. He is owned by nearly a quarter of all fantasy leaguers and in no way looks to be replaced by anyone, anytime soon; a ‘Rose by any other name’ or otherwise. The next best thing – defense-wise – is Arsenal’s Monreal, who is owned by 10 of the top 20. I think they’ve forgotten the 4-0 drubbing by Liverpool. But they have not lost a game since then, so maybe there is value in an Arsenal defence. Those in the top 20 who own Monreal perhaps know more than us, since again, he makes a very good differential. Not only is Monreal not even in the top 25 of the most selected defenders by fantasy players worldwide, he is also third behind Kolasinac and Bellerin at Arsenal, who have both scored fewer points and cost much more. Make of that as you may. Trippier (Tottenham), Bailly (Manchester United), Hegazi (West Brom) and Mbemba (Newcastle), owned by 6, 5, 5, and 5 of the top 20 players worldwide are the other preferred defenders.
Goalkeepers
Finally, in terms of goalies, there is no debate really. De Gea, who single-handedly kept Manchester United’s season alive last year, the year before that, and … (O.k. enough) is the clear choice between the sticks for 15 of the top 20 fantasy leaguers. This year, he has kept 6 clean sheets (from 7 games!) scored 49 points so far, and is owned by a little over 37% of all fantasy leaguers. Personally, if there is one goalie who stands a chance at breaking the world record fee for a goalkeeper or better yet, become the first £100m goal-keeper, it’s this guy. We just have to wait and see who’s desperate enough to fork out that kind of Mayweather money – Real Madrid, Manchester City, PSG? Anyway, the next keeper no one will be forking out more than £10m for, but is selected by 6 of the top 20 players in fantasy league is Newcastle’s Eliott. Even though he does not even crack top 7 in terms of points scored, he is dirt-cheap at 4.1 million and therefore, owned by exactly a quarter of all fantasy league players. Like Hegazi, West Brom’s Foster gets an honourable mention for goalkeepers owned by 3 of our very own top 20.
So there you have it. If you’ve been left frustrated by your FPL team. If you do a -4 or -8 week in, week out. If you are the joke of your mini-league, mini-bar, your office and your missus, then pay heed to these 20 wise people. Do as they do and improve your standings – fantasy-league-wise and personal fantasy-wise. The winter is upon us. Use that Wild Card judiciously. Copy a team if you must. Unless these people use their WC too and change their teams drastically. Then you’re sh*t out of luck.
Thank you all for hearing me out. I sincerely hope your eyes and ears aren’t bleeding now. My fingers certainly are.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Top 20 Analysis
This article was written by PunkDragon.
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Gameweek Tracker GW8-11
***NEW ARTICLE***
Bit of an unexpected bonus this as we got a late night message from Punk dragon saying he had got bored and done an analysis on the top 20 teams and could / would we like to to use it. Well, of course! Fortunately we are a little ahead of ourselves already this week so we have the space and time.
Many thanks PD!
Kadrinchhay! Thank you Init and the FF247 team.
Interesting read this thanks punk dragon.
These moves sound ok?
Can see sterling getting more points in the next 3 games.
Micky to sterling.
Salah to hazard ?
Now we’re finally thinking outside the box! I like those moves. Means you get the pleasure of JRod for who knows how much longer but your prospects of fixing that issue we’re looking bleak anyway, at least not without weakening elsewhere overly.
Hmmmm. Got me thinking on Salah to Hazard myself now. The more I think about it the more I like your moves there Shane.
Watched the game tonight init. Hazard was like his old self.
Can see him exploding soon
Really? I didn’t see any of tonight’s games, but I’m so close to doing Morata & Mkhi to Vardy & Hazard (for a hit). Chelsea’s fixtures are mouthwatering, and Hazard might even play number 9.
Cheers init. Have to deal with j rod for another week.
Must be a way to get vardy in there for him. Ha
U know what transfer u doing this week?
Not really no!
I was looking at Jesus and Silva for Lukaku and Ince.
Or just Ritchie to Sterling.
Or just Laca to Jesus (that was always the original intention / thought).
Or now just Salah to Hazard. Thanks 😉
Any ideas welcomed as I have too many!
Ince & Lukaku to Hazard & Vardy?
Don’t need MORE IDEAS Banjo!
Oh hang on, that’s what I asked for
Could be a goer that actually. Just don’t really want to lose Lukaku and ideally I want City in some way shape or form . And hazard too……………….
United don’t have the best fixtures coming up, and they’ve got a few injuries. It might not be the worst time to let Lukaku go. Totally agree on the City front though. If you keep your beloved Ince you could ditch Ritchie instead and leave enough funds for Laca to Jesus.
What are you suggesting there exactly please Banjo?
I’m blaming my waffling on the pain killers… if you do Ritchie & Lukaku to Hazard & Vardy you’d have 0.3 ITB to do Laca to Jesus. I’m not necessarily suggesting hitting for the Laca move, but at least you’d have the funds to do it the following week. But all that leaves you with no City this week, and Ince left in there, so probably best to ignore me 😉
Yeah, thought was what you meant but wanted to check. Laca is a pain as I don’t really want him this week but probably should keep him!
I’m in the same place. It was supposed to be a simple Laca to Jesus move this week, but then bloody Morata turned it on its head, and now I’m leaning towards crowbarring Hazard in there and completely changing the plans.
Had a look at a WC but not worth it for 6 changes I don’t think? Some unnecessary too. ‘Tis 6 out of 11 to any starting line-up though I suppose.
Your team probably doesn’t quite warrant a WC, but then neither did mine a few weeks back and I’m not regretting it. You’d be set up very nicely for the next few weeks. I guess it depends whether you think there’ll be tougher times over the next month or so where it’d be more useful.
And that’s the quandary!
Might be a no-brainier that you know Banjo, on reflection. Yes it’s only a few changes but all 6 when looked at side by side should score more over the next 3 weeks than who they are replacing. Potentially by enough to be significant too. Will sleep on it. Thanks for your help. And to Shane for asking / posting the original question which I then completely hijacked 😉
@Init: your team, like Banjo said, doesn’t look like it needs an overhaul atm. Laca to Jesus seems the most reasonable choice. Leave size 15s in there a bit. Other than that, looks gtg
That’s probably the sensible thing to do.
Hey Shane. Nice moves for the next couple of weeks. I think long term I’d want some Liverpool back, but I’d be surprised if that didn’t pay off in the short term.
Cheers banjo. Looking to bring in coutinho in later down the line
Frankly any one of City’s mids are likely to get points any week: Silva, Sane, Debruyne, Sterling, or hell, eve, Fernandinho. It’s a judgment call or a call based on form I guess. Silva and DeBruyne are locked in. Sane and Sterling are a bit of a rotation risk. Other than that it’s like trying to decide who of Mane, Salah, Coutinho or Lallana (when he’s back) to go with. The team looks good. I like JRod but somehow he never delivers for me. Thank you again and Cheers.
Aren’t we a lucky bunch!!! Cheers Punk dragon, cracking read! Feel free to ‘get bored’ every week.
Ah! too kind banjo, too kind.
I was interested by the people that were going for a strong 4 at the back so came up with this lot. My midfield was balanced nicely by the bargain Fellaini before but it looks like he’s out. Im on a wildcard so I’ve gone with dacore for now but my midfield feels really weak.. Anyone got a suggestion on how to change that or should I go for it? Have zero cash in the bank. Thanks as always.
Hi Benbow. I think you can save money on that defence by doing a few switches and yet keeping the same teams covered. If I was WC’ing now I wouldn’t have DDG in there, as much as he’s been the star keeper to have so far. With Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea in the next 4 he’ll do well to keep that up. I’d have either Ederson or Cortois instead. Courtois saves you £1.5m on Alonso but depends how much you really want him I guess. Ederson saves you just £0.1 on Stones but again keeps the same cover, as such. But with no real rotation risk. Either way you can then get a much cheaper defender – Jones if you want to stick to Utd I suppose or if it’s Alonso going then one of the Saints lads would be ideal given their run of games ahead. Have a play and see how much it saves you though and if that makes any difference to your midfield options at all? I think you’re about one decent midfield upgrade away from nailing it.
Thanks. Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Ive also heard that Agureo might be back sooner than expected. Maybe Jesus might not be as golden as we thought? How does this version look?
I think that’s a decent compromise. Which one do you prefer yourself? Just on Agüero I think he’s still a bit away as it’s strictly non contact training he’s doing.
Hi Benbow. I basically agree with Init. Your defense and attack are awesome, but you need a little more in midfield. I’d aim for one more premium mid and you should be good. I think you might be able to do that by shaving away at the defense only.
If my “research” into the top 20 has led me to believe anything, its that those guys went with a strong back 3, strong front 3, and relatively weak mid 4. 3-4-3 was the preferred formation (as it always has been for the past decade) with nearly 15-16 of the Top 20 going that way. Cheers.
Punk Dragon, thanks for this! Love the view of the top 20!
What to do here folk(s)?
Thinking Firmino and Morata our are priorities.
Thinking Jesus/Vardy/Hazard in are moves I’d like to make some time soon.
What takes priority this week?
If you’ve got 2 FT, get in DeGea and Vardy for Morata? I say that because 1) Morata is orange (hah!) and; 2) you need some United cover. They’re in beast mode atm and no one knows how long that is going to last, but one thing is as certain as the himalayan rivers flowing downhill – that, Mourinho will always play defense first and attractive attacking football, a distant second. Rest of the team looks sound.
Or if you think DeGea’s luck is about to run out (and also Manchester United’s in general cause that’s how things generally work; in case you arent’ aware of the causality), get in Ederson of Manchester City.
Morata to Jesus is the obvious one but given that you want Hazard at some point and that you already have Silva then Vardy is probably the call.
Activated my WC and my team changed from Red to Blue.
Like fixtures of City and Chelsea but not keen on Spurs, United or Liverpool.
My team relies on Firminio playing.
What do people think about Firminio’s game time?
That’s new – playing according to shirt colors. Maybe I’ll try that next year. So you’re one of the guys who hits 142 points in one GW, once in like 2 years? Haha
Noticed the exact same thing on the colours when I tried mine on a WC last night.
Firmino probably got a bit more nailed on after the Mane news last night so that’s not perhaps the worry it was.