The Gameweek 12 review is here. The recent gameweek saw a low average across the board for FPL managers; 44 points, reflecting exactly the same figure amongst the Top 1000 managers overall. This is how the Dream Team looked once all the results were in:
Goalkeeper
After inheriting the goalkeeping jersey from Vito Mannone following his (and Sunderland’s) horror shows in GW8 & 9, former Man City benchwarmer Costel Pantilimon has brought a semblance of order back to the Black Cats. That 8-0 thrashing by Southampton followed up with a 2-0 home loss to Arsenal left manager Gus Poyet with no option but to change things.
Pantilimon has been between the sticks since GW10, resulting in a 3-1 away win at Palace, a 1-1 home draw against Everton and this week a 0-0 shut-out away at Leicester. This resulted in a healthy 9 points for Pantilimon with the clean sheet, save points and 2 bonus points for his performance.
Defenders
Backing up their keeper, two Sunderland defenders also made this week’s Dream Team; skipper John O’Shea and Santiago Vergini. O’Shea marshalled his defence well, albeit against a Foxes side struggling for goals, and was rewarded for his efforts with a 9 point haul as a result of the 3 bonus points he was awarded.
Vergini meanwhile picked up 7 points for his contribution, with 1 bonus point being added to his appearance and clean sheet points. All of the Sunderland back-line are available for bargain basement prices, but their next 3 fixtures mean it would be foolhardy to consider bringing any of them in. They will be lucky to get anything from either Chelsea or Man City in GW13 and 14 (even though Sunderland are at home) and they then face Liverpool at Anfield and a decent West Ham side away straight after. The Tyne-Wear derby game is in GW17, so I don’t see any value until at least GW18 on Boxing Day!
The final defender making the Dream Team this week was another budget player, in the form of Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara. Normally a bit-part player this season, injuries have forced him into the starting line-up and have resulted in consecutive clean sheets. This week’s home win over QPR also saw him awarded 2 bonus points and an 8 point total for GW12.
Midfielders
Eden Hazard made his second appearance of the season in the team of the week, with his 11 point total coming as a result of a goal, a clean sheet for Chelsea and all 3 bonus points. The Belgian is starting to contribute the kind of points that made him an FPL essential last season, and even I may have to admit I was wrong about how effective the young Belgian would be this year!
Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen finally came good for those managers who had stuck by him during the previous 3 Gameweeks which had seen his game time limited and as a result his points contributions. After scoring 11 and 9 points in GW7 and 8 respectively, his returns dropped to 2, 0 and 1 before he came back with a bang this week. His 13 points made him the highest scorer of GW12 and came courtesy of a goal, an assist and all 3 bonus points. His ownership % now reflects his price exactly: £7.8m and 7.8% owned.
Two assists and 2 bonus points saw Palace midfielder Yannick Bolasie join the weekly Dream Team as Liverpool were taken apart by Neil Warnock’s men. There may possibly be a mental block for Liverpool following last season’s collapse during the title run-in, and I would imagine the Palace players could smell that fear. They are now entering a favourable run of fixtures – not brilliant, but not the worse – but I’d suggest there may be better value than Bolasie out there if you wanted representation from Palace in your FPL team.
The second inclusion from Newcastle in the Dream Team was Moussa Sissoko. A 10 point total was only really marred by him picking up a yellow card, but his goal, clean sheet point and 3 bonus points resulted in his highest weekly total of the season. Not really an FPL option unless you consider this to be the start of a good run for him, his contribution normally just consists of appearance points. This was his first goal of the season, and he has only provided one assist.
The final player to complete the midfield was Everton’s Leon Osman. On his 400th appearance for the Toffees, he turned on the style, and in his understated and often overlooked way proved to be the difference in the game against West Ham at Goodison Park. Arguably only in the side because of injuries, he proved ever reliable and picked up 10 points due to his goal scoring exploits and the awarding of maximum bonus points.
Strikers
The forward line-up was made up of two unlikely individuals; the first being Palace’s Dwight Gayle. Completing his first 90 minutes of the season, this forgotten man has plunged in price from a season opening £5.5m to £5.1m, but 0.4% of FPL managers took advantage of his 12 point contribution. In actual fact, 0.4% of FPL managers probably didn’t take advantage as he was more than likely a sub on their bench, or he is owned by drifting ghost-ship FPL accounts, left to die by people who have lost interest in their teams. Still, a goal, an assist and all 3 bonus points means Warnock may finally give him an extended run.
Having not been able to buy a goal earlier in the season, manager Sean Dyche no doubt had everything riding on the return from injury of striker Danny Ings to dig Burnley out of trouble. Now he has managed to get a few games under his belt to improve his match fitness, he looks to be in sparkling form. 2 goals for the England U21’s during the International Break was followed up with another brace in an unexpected win away at Stoke for the Clarets. With all the pre-GW12 talk of QPR’s Charlie Austin being the budget striker option if you want Costa AND Aguero in your team, young Ings appeared to have passed everyone by. 0.7% owned and with fixtures that read: AVL, NEW, qpr, SOU, tot I would suggest he is DEFINITELY worth a look.
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