Well hello there. A stellar week saw me bag 87 points and beat the average of 50 by a distance. The arrows are green alright, in fact I’m up to 133k. Out of 4.4 million, I’ll take that. Now get ready for the plummet. This week we’ve got 8 teams in action, which is just silly really. Let’s try and put lipstick on this pig.
The Dilemma
Not so much a dilemma this week as a rabid nightmare. There are just four fixtures, only one of the top 6 in action, and many FPL teams left with less than a full 11 to field. I’ve been of the opinion that even if you did alter your team sufficiently with this gameweek in mind, it would probably be detrimental long term. Unless you have a Wildcard to wield but still, making a team out of just 8 active teams is a struggle. Liverpool are at home to Burnley in the most plum looking fixture, whilst Everton hosting West Brom isn’t a bad fixture for Lukaku (£10.1m) owners. West Ham at Bournemouth is also grabbing my attention as Bournemouth are having a bit of a selection headache at centre half. Hull and Swansea is a huge fixture in terms of Premier League position but will that translate to fantasy points for Sigurdsson (£7.7) and Llorente (£6.4m)? Or any random Hull players you have acquired?
The Bargain Bin
I’ve opted for Andy Carroll (£6.2m) because of Bournemouth’s aforementioned defensive issues. To be fair to Bournemouth I expected them to continue to ship goals last weekend and they didn’t, but if the service is right it’ll be points o’clock for big Andy. I think there’ll be goals in Hull vs Swansea, Sigurdsson is a solid pick at all times, especially with a target like Llorente, but it might be a bit of a tense affair at the KC. Jakupovic (£4.1m) is the cheapest keeper in action this weekend if you fancy a tight game, that is if he keeps his place after a less than stellar performance at Leicester last weekend.
Also Consider…
Ha, what else is there to consider? There’s only 4 games so I guess my only advice is if you are making a couple of transfers remember to check the games coming up and retain those who have decent games. If you’ve already used your wildcard, it’s worth considering that many of the teams not playing this weekend will have double gameweeks coming up, and you’ll want as many of those players as possible once they are announced. After the FA Cup games this weekend we should get more of an indication as to when they will be. Arsenal and Man Utd could have as many as three double game weeks to come if both make the FA Cup semi-finals.
Captain
I’m going for Sadio Mane (£9.5m) at home to notoriously poor travellers Burnley. There’s not a lot of options, West Brom aren’t awful enough for me to champion Lukaku too heavily and I’m always loathe to captain away from home, which rules out Sigurdsson or Carroll. But of course, the choice is yours. The only difference is rather than having the whole 8 course menu to choose from, you’re stuck with the lunch time set menu.
I’m not expecting fireworks this week and my aim is to match the average. After a reasonably good week last week, I’ll be happy just to survive this week without it being a disaster. Good luck, and may all your arrows be green.