So the first gameweek of the fantasy premier league season is over and I think it’s fair to say it was somewhat of an anti-climax, particularly for those managers who relied on the likes of Hazard, Costa, Aguero and co. However for our FPL Differentials XI, things could have gone a lot worse and scoring an above average points total of 41 was not bad at all. Let’s take a look at where our points were found:
Some good showings early on from our side mainly came from midfield, while Jamie Vardy also bagged a goal to pick up some points. Barkley and Redmond also netted for their respective sides while Lens picked up an assist. Unfortunately we chose the wrong goalkeeper and, although the fixture was against him, Adrian managed to haul in 11 points and was the top scoring goalkeeper in gameweek 1, costing us 9 points.
However we move on to gameweek 2 now, and after some unexpected injuries and rising ownership percentages we are forced into some unnecessary changes. Here is the gameweek 2 line up:
Starting XI: Boruc (2.0%), Reid (0.6%), Rose (3.6%), Gibbs (1.1%), Lens (0.9%), Payet (4.7%), Redmond (1.4%), Young (2.5%), Jerome (1.3%), Rodriguez (1.9%), Vardy (3.6%).
Bench: Adrian (5.8%), Barkley (4.7%), Schlupp (1.9%), Jones (0.8%).
So with Adrian’s percentage rising above 5, we are forced to play Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc instead to avoid receiving points from an ineligible player. This is a bit of a blow as the planned rotation has now essentially gone out of the window, but with a change already made this week, taking a hit to replace Adrian was unnecessary.
The transfer for this week sees West Ham’s Winston Reid replace Cedric of Southampton, as the right back’s ownership rose to 5.3%. Question marks still surround both Danny Rose and Kieran Gibbs, while Phil Jones is ruled out for three weeks. However Jeffrey Schlupp is on the bench to provide cover for one of either Rose or Gibbs if they do not make the cut.
In midfield only one change as the promising Dimitri Payet comes in for Barkley. Both players brought in points last week but with Payet on the bench for us in gameweek one, his points meant nothing to us. Luckily the Frenchman has remained under our 5% marker, meaning we can keep him in the squad for another week. With a home game against Leicester in mind, the armband goes to Payet for gameweek 2. Alongside him, Ashley Young faces his former club, while Redmond travels to Sunderland and Lens plays for the Black Cats against Norwich.
Up top we keep faith in Vardy, Rodriguez and Jerome with all three having good potential for gameweek 2. Despite Jerome only making an appearance from the bench against Palace the striker did have a goal wrongly disallowed, proving that he really does have goal scoring potential for the newly promoted side.
So that wraps things up for this week. Thanks for reading, good luck and we’ll see you next time.
By Dan Rahilly
