Wildcard called in, green arrows across the board and finally back in the FPL top 1m! That’ll do us nicely! What was predicted to be a fairly low scoring week across the board ended up with a high average points score of 51 and some big individual performances. Thankfully for the FPL Updates XI we scored a respectable 69 and continued our assault on the fantasy premier league table. Now we have ‘conquered’ the top million it’s now time to start looking at the top 100k! So let’s have a look at our week 9 performances.
Right, I’m going to admit we got it oh so wrong this week! After pretty much confessing our love for Jack Butland in last week’s write up we then decided to bench him in place of Wayne Hennessey! Surely Stoke (1 clean sheet in 8) couldn’t keep another away to Swansea. Well they did and it hurt. Instead of his 6pts we got just the 1 from the Palace number 1. In front of him we picked up a valuable clean sheet from Dawson. Kolarov replacement Zabaleta, picked up just the 2pts and after the controversial 59th minute substitution of Cedric robbed us of an extra 5pts we were left with just the 1pt from him. Cheers Koeman!
In a much changed Updates XI midfield we welcomed attacking returns from both the new boys. An assist from De Bruyne and a goal from Sanchez totalled 15 points from the pair. Although Mahrez started on the bench for the second week in a row he notched an assist. Hopefully enough to get him back in Ranieri’s starting XI this week.
Lastly, our new look front 3. The gamble was made to bring in ‘bad boy’ Diego Costa. We even decided to hand him the armband. Thankfully he was playing Aston Villa and that pretty much guarantees a return. He duly obliged with a goal and assist and 3 bonus points. Next up is Jamie Vardy. Yes, it has taken us until week 9 to get the league’s top scorer in but finally we have and the goals continue to fly in. Goals in 6 consecutive games and now 9 for the season, the Leicester hitman is proving to be the bargain of the season. Granted he can’t possibly keep this up but until we see signs of it stopping how can we ignore him. Lastly was Graziano Pelle. Disappointingly the Southampton striker only returned us 2pts this week but with his performances this season so far we will put that down to a blip.
With the decision to leave our free transfer intact this week let’s look at how we are lining up for week 10:
He’s back between the sticks. Our boy Butland gets the nod. 2 cleanies in a row and with the lowest scoring team in the league Watford up next, he is possibly the GK pick of the week.
In front of him we have Martin, Dawson and Zabaleta. We aren’t going to lie, a 0-0 draw between Norwich and WBA would go down an absolute treat. Knowing how our back line has performed so far this season I’d say get your money on a 3-3 thriller! Although we aren’t expecting a City cleanie Zaba looks the better option compared to Dann, who is facing our attacking Leicester pair.
Our midfield 4 stays the same as last week. Ranieri seems to favour benching Mahrez when facing a wide, expansive opponent. Palace are very much that, but hopefully his assist from the bench last week will encourage a return to the starting line up. We have Sanchez in as VC. Coming off of 6 goals in his last 3 league games and a huge win against Bayern, we think there’s a strong chance for further attacking returns. De Bruyne, similarly to Sanchez, comes into this week in fine form and buoyed from a huge midweek Champions League victory. He has settled in scarily well at City and he seems the sort to thrive on the big stage. Cue the Manchester derby! Lastly is Andre Ayew. Although we are big fans of the Swansea midfielder, the concerning loss of form from the Welsh outfit leaves us considering his place in the team. With a multitude of decent mid range midfield options available we will give him another week but another blank could spell the end of his run in our team.
Up top unsurprisingly it’s the same front 3. None have hugely favourable match ups but all 3 are in form and seemingly fairly fixture proof. Pelle is away to Liverpool, Vardy home to Palace and Costa away to West Ham. We have decided on giving the armband to Vardy this week but it was a close one between him and Sanchez.
Looking at the fixtures this week I believe we will be looking at one of the lowest average points scores of the season. With this being said I don’t think we will be happy with anything less than 45 points so with that in mind I wish all you fellow gaffers reading this the best of luck and let’s see plenty of green arrows come Sunday night!
By FPL Guru
