Here’s part 1 of our FPL teams DGW31 article where 3 FFGeek Contributors show their teams. There’s Kris O, Kev in Canada and Andrew Whitfield. Between them they have finished in the top 1% of teams 9 times in the last 3 competitive seasons.
FPL Teams DGW31 – 3 FFGeek Contributors With Their DGW31 Teams Part 1
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Introduction
It’s worth noting that the teams shown may not necessarily end up being the final teams or the transfers may have been made in the days prior to the posting . It’s an informal situation to give you an idea of trends. However the FFGeek team and the Contributor tracker team mentioned above on the FFGeek Patreon site all make transfers as articles are posted. So you’re always up to date and live
Note I am changing from FPL average to the post hits 12 top Managers average that I follow
Kris O
Kris’s last 7 seasons ORs were 19k, 39k, 44k, 46k, 23k, 12k and 19k
GW30 points: 79 on FH ( 12 top managers average 51) Total points: 2,082, Overall Rank: 4k, green arrow: 6k Team Value: £104.9m
Kris has used his Triple Captain Chip, Free Hit and Wildcard
Listen to Kris and Kev’s FPL Podcast
My key decision is what to do if Alexander-Arnold is ruled out. It seems that he is and I have 1 Ft and zero in the bank. I’m looking at either moving on Alexander-Arnold temporarily – with James (if fit), Matip and Roberts (for the double 31, Norwich, double 33). Alternatively I can move Wood to Weghorst – as I write this that might be the better move. Captain currently on Kane
transfer summary: To be confirmed
Here’s the team prior to any transfer being made
Kev in Canada
Kev’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 52k, 48k and 6k
GW30 points: 78 on FH (12 Top managers average 51 ) Total points: 2,072, Overall Rank: 6k, green arrow 8k Team Value: £105.8m
Follow Kev on twitter here
Kev has used his Wildcard, Free Hit Chip and Triple Captain
listen to Kev and Kris’s Podcast
Any transfer made this week will have a very large amount of reliance on the press conferences
In order of importance:
- IF both my keepers are out still. I would move one of them to Pope or Schmiechel.
- IF keepers are fine and Trent Alexander Arnold is confirmed out, I would likely move him to Connor Roberts.
This would give me 2 DGWs (maybe even 3 if Burnley get one in 34 as rumoured) in the coming weeks, as well as a single gameweek vs Norwich. A team fighting to stay up that is known for defensive stature.
Meanwhile Trent would have no game, then City, then a SGW in a DGW and it is against MUN. I would lose some Value but it is late in the season. It is about points now. I also think his price would drop a bit more if he misses time.
This would make my strategy flexible for the next few weeks and could even open up a BB scenario for 33. I could swap Digne/Raphinha/Ramsay to White/Bruno Fernandes/Gordon. Then after the BB I could swap Bruno to De Bruyne and go three premiums for the run in.
The main thing people need to keep in mind if they do sell Trent is that you will get another premium back. Weather it’s Robertson or an upgrade in Midfield/Forward. It makes threemium very doable now. I love the thought of De Bruyne in for the run in. However, not having any Leicester for DGW33 is the big turnoff here. So the flexible nature of Trent to Connor now is instead of Bruno and Gordon, I could go Maddison and Barnes in 33 and get De Bruyne for a hit after.
- No injuries and just roll. Fortunately I already have Robertson, Cancelo, James, Weghorst, no Jimenez, and not many Wolves/Leeds/Villa in general to worry about for 33. So I feel I am in a decent spot this week compared to others. One of the biggest benefits of the FH in the blank gameweek is not having too much of the rift raff in my team that comes with planning for that week.
- I get bored and make a transfer anyway LOL. I have 1.1M in the bank. I don’t have Arsenal midfielder like everyone else. However if I did anything it would be to bring in Leicester midfielders now. My only players I would want to sell this game week would be Ramsay and I can’t get to Maddison or Barnes from his price yet. So likely I won’t do anything this week.
Lineup seems OK this week. I even have a decent first sub.
Captain: Mo Salah home vs a Watford team he historically destroys at home.
Vice: Kane home vs a Newcastle team that is much better defensively as of late.
Note: if Dubravka is confirmed out then I may be tempted to cap Kane.
Transfer summary: to be confirmed
Here’s the team prior to any transfer being made
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew’s last 4 seasons overall ranks were 34k, 132k, 6k and 19k
GW30 points: 70 on FH ( 12 Top managers average 51) Total points: 1,931, Overall Rank: 160k, green arrow: 44k Team Value: £104.5m
Andrew has used 1 Free Hit Chip, Triple Captain and wildcard
Gameweek 30 summary:
Well only four games took place due to the FA cup quarter finals, but still plenty of significant moments for FPL managers that produced a wide variance in scores.
Putting 11 little shirts on the pitch proved a real challenge for many managers, with the likes of Kilman, Raphinha, Ramsdale and Martinelli all surprise absentees, which meant that those who planned to survive on 8-9 players, in some cases ended up with 5 or 6, which played right into the hands of the free hitters and their full squads.
The Kane and Son double act was in full swing as Spurs saw off Westham, Kane with three assists and Son with two goals. Only two points separated them if you had one but not the other. Leeds pulled off the unlikely shock of the week by coming from 0-2 down to win at Wolves as Jimenez saw red. Saka was the match winner as Arsenal won at Villa and recorded the only clean sheet. Leicester saw off Brentford with Maddison and Barnes rewarding owners.
Free hitters benefitted from the chaos, especially those who took the opportunity to pair up Kane with Son, and Maddison with Barnes. From what looked a potentially low scoring week and was touted as a bad week to use a chip, free hitters did well in most cases, many of them ran in some significant scores against the crowd.
My GW30 score, rank and wrap up:
I scored 70 points on free hit, which was very pleasing, as it was 20 points above the top 10k average. Five returns. Owning both Kane and Son delivered me 41 points between them. I landed the only clean sheet via Tierney which worked well with Ramsdale missing. Saka I had but he was a popular returner. I also landed an assist from Barnes.
It could have been even better as I was poised on the deadline button with conflicting stories around of Raphinha. I had said at lunchtime on my Twitter account that I would bring in Maddison if we had 100% concrete confirmation of Raphinha being out as rumoured. But I didn’t want to risk missing a Raphinha haul if it proved false and I knew I had the in form Toney as first sub if Raph missed out. So I didn’t get Maddison and of course he outscored Toney by 8 points. A good score was almost a great one.
But a 21% rank uplift I can’t complain about. Up from 204k to 160k. Significantly, if I had not free hitted, I would have been hammered by the absences of Ramsdale, Raphinha and Martinelli and been playing five a side football. So definitely the right call for me to play the chip.
I had a few disappointments too. I went for what I perceived as the three most attacking full backs of the gameweek in Tierney, Reguilon and Cash, but no attacking returns. Reggy certainly could have had a couple of goals with more composure. Coutinho I owned for the first time this season but he was totally anonymous. Toney couldn’t continue his goal spree on free hit, and Jimenez saw red !!!!!
Martinelli and Ramsay were the only two players I usually own who could have punished me. but didn’t. Kulusevski and Doherty and lacazette stayed quiet too, so my main threats missed out too. So apart from missing those Maddison points, the cards largely dropped in my favour. A good week.
So what next:
I only have one chip left with my bench boost. So I am definitely vulnerable now to those with free hits and wildcards in hand. About 70% of the top 10k have more than one chip left.
My transfers are largely going to be dominated now by fixtures. We now have a much better idea of the blanks and doubles ahead, especially in GW33, as a result of the weekend FA cup results, which all went as expected.
We now know that Wolves, Leeds and Villa blank in GW33. I have four players affected in Jimenez, Raphinha, Ramsay and Digne. So I need to lose at least two of them over the next three weeks to give me a workable 12 GW33 starters. Jimenez is a priority sell as he now sits out the next two games following his 2nd red of the season and a blank in GW33.
I currently only have four double gameweek players in GW33, when seven teams now have a confirmed double. But I own some strong single game players in Salah, Robertson, Trent, Cancelo, Rudiger and Son, who I am happy to play that week. They are all capable of double figure hauls in a single game. So I only really need 4-5 doublers and I already have four. If I turn a couple of GW33 blankers into GW33 doublers by then, I am in good shape.
Many will free hit GW33 but it has definite risks attached to it if going “all in” with doublers and taking on solid players from Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea with one game, who all have hauls in them. It’s entirely possible free hitters could be bitten hard by their existing team. There are double game players on tricky doubles. It will be interesting to see how many free hitters are brave enough to give up Salah and Kane for the Bruno and Ronaldo double gameweek. One game is Liverpool but the United v Norwich fixture is definitely a tempter.
Many will bench boost GW33 too but I won’t have a full playing bench personally, although I could get there with a hit or two. With Covid rife, and rotation risks from a lot of single game players, a GW33 bench boost also carries high risk of autosubs wiping the bench away. I haven’t ruled out a GW33 bench boost though yet. There are reasons it could work for me. More on that later.
Based on estimated fixtures, GW36 is set to be a bigger double gameweek and I could have as many as 10-12 of my current players on doubles with no significant preparation needed for it. I will probably bench boost GW36. It means there is more chance of my many double gameweek players at least playing once and the bench players staying on that bench !!
Potential GW31 transfers:
I have one free transfer and zero money in the bank.
I have a range of possible transfers I can make. I can go in lots of different directions.
I am drafting these notes on Wednesday morning so bear in mind when reading on. We know how quickly things can change with injury news.
It seems I am ahead of the curve this week, in that Robertson, Cancelo, Chelsea defenders and the doubling Weghorst all seem popular transfers, and they already sit in my team !!
As is often the case in an international break, I have a few flags and concerns. Often they disappear as the gameweek approaches. I don’t expect to make any transfers until at least after the Friday press conferences which should give us more clues on the severity of injuries to Ramsdale and Trent in particular.
Early reports have Trent Alexander Arnold likely missing GW31. But I won’t be selling Trent. He is the best defender in the game. An elite player and I find it hard to imagine not wanting him back. He misses possibly one game. It would cost me 0.5M extra to buy Trent back if I sell for one or two games. A waste of two precious transfers. A definite hold for me. We have squads for exactly this scenario.
Ramsdale is a bit trickier. Unless he is out for a while, I will probably hold. I have keeper cover with De Gea. Ramsdale has two doubles to come, one probably when I plan to bench boost. De Gea is a bit too expensive as a 2nd keeper. But he does have a GW33 double that includes Norwich. Useful if Ramsdale is still out then. I would want to sell De Gea after that as he has no more doubles. Schmeichel and Pickford both double in GW36 for a bench boost.
Pope is very attractive now with two doubles plus Norwich in between. But I can’t afford him in one move and he doesn’t double in GW36 if I bench boost then. If Ramsdale is injured, Ramsdale to Pope makes sense for those who can switch in one move.
One transfer I am pretty set on is Raphinha to Maddison ( or Barnes ) in GW33, when Raphinha blanks and Leicester double. Raphinha has two great fixtures before then. I will need to raise extra funds before GW33 to effect that transfer.
If the adage of using your transfer to fix your weakest link is true, then Jimenez is my priority sell. A 7.5M player who doesn’t play the next three games. The big question is who to replace him with. The striking options are all out of form. None of them are stepping up. If Calvert Lewin was fitter with a goal and game or two behind him, he doubles this week and has plenty of fixtures in hand.
I can do a straight switch of Jimenez to Richarlison for the exact money currently. One to monitor for price changes. Everton are woeful and Richarlison is out of form but he plays four times in the next three games and Jimenez doesn’t play at all. He also doubles next in GW31. I can have both Weghorst and Richarlison doubling up top and they play each other in the last game of the gameweek which keeps the hope alive.
The only striker in form is Harry Kane. It’s a 5M upgrade from Jimenez. There is a lot of debate about moving Son to Kane. For me, if I could do Son to Kulusevski and get Jimenez to Kane, I probably would for -4. Kulu and Kane together provide good insurance for losing Son. It’s hard to see Son going nuts without Kane and / or Kulu being heavily involved.
But I am 0.5M short of the above transfer. And I need funds to upgrade Raphinha too. It needs a further enabling transfer and I really don’t think Son to Kane is worth -8. Son has 11 returns in his last 15 games after all. He has scored more goals at home than any other player. I could roll this week and do three moves for -4 next week. Or do the enabling transfer this week and then Son and Jimenez to Kane and Kulu next week.
The problem is my two best enabling transfers are selling Weghorst to a cheap striker and Weggy has two doubles plus Norwich now. Or selling De Gea who I might want in the GW33 double. Kane is three moves away for me and hard to get.
I am very exposed to the high ownership of both Kane and Saka and it’s not easy to fix. I have Martinelli v Saka and Son v Kane which is both high reward but also very high risk and I am well out of my comfort zone with my usual style of play. I managed to cover the hauls of Kane and Saka on free hit. I can’t do that every week. Having said that, every week the points projection sites have Son matching Kane and Martinelli matching Saka. It’s realistically five moves for me to own both Kane and Saka. That’s tough when the whole world seems to own both !!
You can’t cover every player you don’t own, especially this season with all the doubles . As well as Kane and Saka, the Spurs defence and Wolves defence are also template positions I don’t have covered. And when Man Utd double in GW33 and play Norwich, I expect Ronaldo will be a big hotspot. You can’t cover every position. This season especially. So I might have to fly by the seat of my pants and live much closer to edge this season than I am used to.
If I commit to sticking with Son over Kane, I could downgrade Jimenez instead and use the money to benefit me elsewhere. Mateta of Palace is one option. I got burnt by one “in form nailed Palace striker” in Edouard already. Mateta probably doubles in GW36. It would allow me to do either Ramsay to Saka to turn a GW33 blanker to a GW33 doubler, and have a midfield five of Salah, Son, Saka, Martinelli and Raphinha, with just about enough funds to turn Raphinha to Barnes or Maddison in GW33.
The above gives me a premium back four of Trent, Robertson, Cancelo and Rudiger, plus that midfield in a 451, with three rotating strikers of Broja, Weghorst and Mateta. I like that and it gets me Saka as well as keeping Martinelli.
I could also use that Jimenez to Mateta money to switch Digne to Reece James and have a very premium defence with four ceiling attacking full backs in a 541.
I might even just do the Jimenez to Richarlison move this week and play the gameweek in front of me. No hits, two doubling strikers. Then it gives me another week to decide on whether I go Reece James or Saka, and see if Mateta is still in favour.
In addition, I haven’t ruled out bench boosting GW33. I have potentially two doubling keepers. Weghorst and Broja double but don’t in GW36. I could do Jimenez to Adams and have three doubling strikers in GW33. But to get a full bench, I need to transfer out Jimenez, Raphinha, Digne and Ramsay over three weeks.
It gets the bench boost out of the way and allows me to cheapen my bench and attack the remaining weeks. It also needs everything else to drop right, no more injuries, no Covid, all my GW33 single game players to start, and I lose my two Villa players who have a double in GW34 or GW35 and a game v Norwich. I probably need to commit to the GW33 bench boost this week if I do.
So I have lots of options and right now, I have no idea where I will end up by the GW31 deadline !!! Perhaps a significant injury might make that decision for me.
GW31 team:
Captain will likely be Salah if he looks like playing v Watford. There must be a rotation risk v Watford but it’s a great fixture.
I will confirm my transfers on my Twitter account at least one hour before the deadline
Good luck everyone !!
Transfer summary: to be confirmed
Here is how I am set up before any transfers, and before any confirmed injury updates in the pressers on Friday
The FFGeek Contributors League
The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 8k last season and 52k the season before. It’s going ok in 13th place with total points of 1,975 and an overall rank of 78k. You can follow that team, including live transfers as well as the FFGeek team currently also in 15th position at 92k and the team run by Joe’s Transfer Planner in 2nd place on 5K, all on our subscription Patreon site
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Other Posts
Joe’s Transfer Planner Team OR 5k
Analysing the teams of 12 top FPL Managers
Kev and Kris’s 2K FPL Pod
Joseph Crilley’s Transfer Planner and Points Projection Tool
fixture Ease Schedules
Bandwagons and Sinking Ships
Defender Player Rankings
Midfield Player Rankings
Forward player Rankings
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