Hot Takes from the opening four gameweeks of the 2020/21 FPL Season

Hot Takes from the opening four gameweeks of the 2020/21 FPL Season

We’re just four Gameweeks into the 2020/21 FPL season and it already feels like a long time with each and every one of them so far surprising us FPL managers. The international break is a blessing in disguise for us to take a break, so let’s make use of it and take a deep look into some of the key talking points over the first four weeks of FPL action thus far.

1. Everton look sharp and is it worth doubling up on their assets in FPL this season?

At the beginning of the season who knew Everton would be topping the PL points table having won all of their first four opening games? Nobody. The Merseyside club, along with Aston Villa, are the only ones to remain undefeated.

Everton have scored the joint most goals (12) and star striker and man of the moment Dominic Calvert Lewin (£7.6) has scored 50% of those netting six times for the Toffees so far this season. He’s currently owned by 47% of managers and is continuously increasing in price at a rapid pace having started the season at £7.0m.

DCL is the second-highest scoring FPL forward so far this season with 37 points, only Harry Kane has scored more points. DCL has recorded 15 shots on goal, 13 from inside the box, 9 on target and has had six big chances with an xG of 3.39 so far season. These are mouth-watering numbers for a budget forward and with Everton not looking like slowing down he is pretty much an essential in our FPL teams.

Another Everton asset who has impressed us FPL managers is James Rodriguez (£7.8). The Everton midfielder has simply been too good. James netted two goals plus an assist against Brighton in GW4 for a monster haul of 18 points. He’s been the chief creator for Everton having carved out four big chances (most for a midfielder) and made 12 key passes, creating a solid impact on the Everton attack. He’s not just creating chances but also finishing them having had 10 shots on goal with four on target, resulting in three goals.

Richarlison looks good as well with the Everton attacker netting a goal and three assists in the opening four weeks and he’s on penalties as well and could be a great asset!

If you’re looking to double up on the Everton attack then two of DCL, James, and Richarlison could be great options!

2. Penalties galore!

The talk of the season so far has been VAR and penalties. Attackers are more than happy to go down and take their chances with VAR, and the targeting of hands with the new rules is confusing but also producing more pens. This has a huge impact in terms of FPL with the need to have penalty takers in your squad. There have been 25 penalties awarded from 38 games this season averaging 0.65 pens per game compared to 92 penalties from 380 games last season averaging 0.24 penalties per game – almost a three-fold increase.

Jorghino has to be a classic example, the Chelsea midfielder offers zero FPL interest other than the fact that he’s on penalties. He scored twice from the spot in GW4 registering 15 points. Now that penalties are being offered left, right, and center it makes total sense to have the maximum number of penalty takers in your FPL team. This also dictates which similarly priced players we land on, such as Salah over Mane & KDB over Sterling.

Another interesting factor is that only two penalties have been saved so far this season and the other 23 have been scored.

3. Son and Kane look unstoppable

Harry Kane (£10.6) and Son (£9.0) have been so good this season with the Spurs duo scoring 44 and 45 FPL points and are the highest scoring FPL assets so far. Spurs have scored 12 goals and the duo has netted nine of them. Kane in particular has been stellar having scored three goals and racked up six assists. He’s not just scoring but creating goals, he’s in fact just one shy of his highest assist tally in a PL campaign and we’re just four games into the season.

Kane has created six big chances, the highest in PL so far this season and has registered an xA of 3.20 which is again the most by any player. Son on the other hand has been a direct beneficiary from Kane’s creativity having received six big chances and has registered 10 shots on goal with seven on target, registering six goals in the process. This is just a clear indicator of how clinical Son has been in front of goal. This duo looks set to continue this run and Spurs have an exciting run of fixtures and owning one is pretty much essential and a double-up looks promising as well.

4. West Brom are the whipping boys this season!

West Brom and Fulham both look to be this season’s Norwich City having conceded the most goals so far taking the unwanted honour of being the worst defenses in PL this season. The West Brom defence has conceded: 13 goals (highest), 65 shots (second Highest), 42 shots inside the box (second highest), 31 Shots on target (highest), and 12 Big Chances conceded (second highest) over the opening four gameweeks. Targeting attackers from teams that play against WBA could be a very good strategy in the coming weeks.

Also, if you’re considering an FPL asset from WBA the only candidate should be Matheus Pereira (£6.0), owned by just 3.4% of FPL managers he is the talisman for this WBA side and has already recorded a goal and two assists. He could be a very handy differential in that price range and one to watch out for this season.

5. Aston Villa and West Ham have been very impressive, but is it a surprise?

Aston Villa are fresh off a giant-slaying game against Liverpool, scoring seven goals past the defending PL Champions. The Villans are undefeated in the three games they have played so far this season.

Their defence is also looking good having conceded just five big chances in three games, only West Ham and Everton have conceded fewer big chances this season. They have also kept two clean sheets with the addition of Martinez in goal further improving their defence. The former Arsenal keeper even saved a penalty on debut.

Their attack looks impressive too with Ole Watkins (£5.9) netting three goals and an assist vs Liverpool in GW4. Club captain Jack Grealish (£7.1) has also produced impressive numbers having scored three goals and three assists in just three games, although five of those came against Liverpool, he looks a very good FPL asset.

Villa have an assuring set of fixtures over the next few GW’s and said assets could be worth considering in your FPL teams.

West Ham have also been equally impressive having won their last two games against Leicester and Wolves scoring seven goals and keeping clean sheets in both of the games. The West London club have conceded the second-lowest goals (4) and the lowest big chances (4) in the PL so far and they look (strangely) defensively solid.

They have a wealth of options to consider: J. Bowen (£6.3) 27 points, P. Fornals (£6.4) 25 points, A. Cresswell (£4.9) 24 points, A. Masuaku (£4.5) 19 points, M. Antonio (£6.3) 18 points and Soucek (£4.9) 13 points. Although West Ham have a few tough fixtures, they’re in for a kinder run of games starting GW8 and should definitely be a team to watch out with a wealth of FPL options.

When I asked if it’s not really a surprise it’s due to the fact both Villa and West Ham ended the season strong with good performances defensively post restart last season. They have kept the momentum going and should continue to improve this season.

This season has been off to a crazy start and there’s a lot of variances, freak games happening with defenses looking poor leading to more shots, penalties, and eventually, loads of goals being conceded. It is impossible to own all of the performing assets in your team. So stick to a plan and work with it.

Bored over the international break?
Here’s a piece on The History of fantasy football and the origin of FPL this is really interesting and a good read that will keep you engaged over the break. Do check it out!

Thanks for reading the FPL season review blog. I wish all of you FPL managers good luck for the rest of the season. Do check out our FPL blog on our website, allaboutfpl, and drop us a follow on our twitter Follow @allaboutpl

Hopefully, I’ll come back and write a few more articles during the course of the season for FF247.

Thanks for reading Hot Takes from the opening four gameweeks of the 2020/21 FPL Season