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.
Vote on our Captain Poll Now
The League Codes for FF247 for the 2017/18 season are as follows:
The main public FF247 League , which anyone is welcome to join, can be accessed using the following code 1503-553 (auto-link below).
We are delighted to say that this has a prize pool of £300 which will be split between the top 3 and this has kindly been sponsored by STARTING ELEVEN Please take a minute to click on the link and visit their wonderful Live Daily Fantasy Football game.
Join Our League – Quick Link
League Code: 1503-553
View league standings
Our Regulars League for 2017/18 is now open and has a cash prize pool of £300 paid directly to the winners from the FF247 management team. The first 5 places are paid out in a tiered system.
To enter this one you need to be an active and recognised site member and you need to e-mail us for the league code – Elleffcee@fantasyfootball247.co.uk
*terms and conditions apply and are available upon request. Management reserve the right to review membership of this league on an ongoing basis. If you enter and win a prize you have to have commented on the site at least 10 times for 3 consecutive months between January 2018 and March 2018 or you will not be considered for a prize.
Gameweek Tracker GW8-11
Punky
Very nice analysis mate. I’m pleased you did that because that is something I am very interested in but I’m too arse-lazy to do it myself
Kudos on the debut article :clap:
Haha sorry if I’m stepping on any toes here; just got the itch and like I said – ff247 is a fantastic site so … anyway thank you and Best from bhutan
Not stepping on anyone’s toes, certainly not mine, so go right ahead and write.
Well done sir :ok:
Cheers
Quality article PD. Will be interesting to see how these managers fare over the course of the season.
Yes a collation if data of top 20 every week would make it interesting …
You offering?? 😉
Haha baby steps sir baby steps
Hahaha
Evening fellas, cheers for this Punk brilliant stuff mate and like the other lads have said it’s something that we are all interested in but are too lazy to do ourselves.
I have 2 FTs this week and don’t want to waste one but I can’t figure out what to do with it. I only have 0.2 itb so haven’t got much room to work with. Thinking of changing up the goalies a bit. Thoughts?
If Jones is fit I’d put him in for Bailly if no issues. Or look elsewhere for a replacement with better fixtures
Is Jones going to keep his place though? Apart from Bailly I’m wary over who Mourinho will pick in defence each week. Only other player I’m considering in that price range is Monreal.
I don’t think there is much between them Lindelhof has not looked very good. I’m not sure on the value of Bailly now fixtures have turned
Jones has started every league game. What more do you want?!!
Yeah Lindelof has been terrible ha ha. I do like the Jones pick though. Will probably toss a coin between him and Monreal.
I was mixing up cup and CL games with the PL ones I forgot he’s played every PL game.
Just realised I can use my two FTs and do Bailly and Naughton to Jones and Monreal. Then I can rotate Mee in for which ever has the hardest fixture. What do you think?
Arigatou Sir
Baily > Otamendi.
Does anyone know if Suttner at Brighton has lost his place? He did not play last game.
I’m not sure if he’s lost his place but with Scheletto getting some game time I’d keep an eye on it. Either that or look for someone else. Maybe Naughton or Mee.
Yeah I’ll give him this week as prob have Morata to deal with. Might just use wildcard in next 2 weeks and shift him
Yeah Morata is the bigger problem there.
Smash, I’d have a look at Shane Duffy.
Yeah he’s looked good. I’ll hope Suttner returns. If he don’t I might have problems
How long are you hoping to hang onto your WC?
How many FTs you got Smash?
I have just the one free transfer. Not sure if it will be much longer Kop. I’m happy with my main players but there’s certainly a fair amount of changes I’d like to make.
That’s how I feel about my team as well Smash.
Certainly another injury away from hitting the button. Just not sure if my fringe players are starting to cost me too many points. I’ve seen a few wild cards wasted
Hmm maybe Judy a hit to replace Morata and Suttner could do the job mate,
Eriksen > Silva?
Already have Kane and no City cover. Or wait for 1 GW since Erik has Bournemouth?
Wait till after the Bournemouth game. They tend to leak goals
Gents
Anymore news on morata? It looks like I will have to make my move tonight if I want to get in Kane and sterling for morata and Alli – I just have enough to do the moves.
I’d be avoiding Sterling. Aguero will be back soon which I think affects Sterling a lot. Nothing concrete on Morata is annoying
Evening
The alternative is cesc but I think sterling will score more points
Spooky!
Evening. I like the look of Fab if Kante is out for a while. Easy fixtures and tends to get points when he plays
Just do it mate? What’s the alternative if we get to tomorrow and you can’t?
Cesc, should I do it?
Well, funny thing is Cesc isn’t actually a bad alternative is he?! Totally get Smash’s point on Sterling game time when Kun is back too. That could well be a few weeks away yet though as he’s in strictly non contact training only mode.
Yeah I think Sterling is just a transfer waiting to happen maybe as early as next week. I still think Sane is a better player
Evening mate, already made 2 of those moves last night ( Sterling and Kane) so do it… do it!!!