Our second consecutive 51 point GW has now got us marching back towards the top 100k. Following our drop to 306k after GW26 we are now back up to 177k so ‘The Plan’ to navigate the blank weeks is working very nicely and we will be looking to keep this momentum rolling. So let’s have a look at how we did this midweek just gone.
That’s the Jack Butland we love. Finally a clean sheet! 1 in 9 before Newcastle turned up at the Britannia, but thankfully they suck and can’t do it on a cold Wednesday night in Stoke. 8 points for him here takes his overall total to 123pts. That puts him higher than any defender in the game and higher than all but 4 strikers. Quite incredible when we talk value per million.
Our back 3 was as disappointing as ever. 5 points from Baines, Dann and Fuchs just isn’t good enough and we have decided to make a defensive change this week. I’m not going to tell you who we are taking out but all I will say is we aren’t happy with £6m Everton left backs who aren’t playing and have a blank in GW30. It is worth noting that amongst the mire Dann did manage an assist against Sunderland taking his attacking returns to 7 this season (5 goals, 2 assists).
Our midfield is most certainly the area we can champion this week. We went with a 5 man mid and there wasn’t a 1 or 2 pointer in site. Arnautovic was the lowest scorer on 3 but following his 15pt GW last week he’s still in our good books. Elsewhere we decided to go with Firmino, remembering what he did to City in the away fixture in November. A goal and an assist gave us 12 points and a significant boost up the overall table. Alongside him we had 6pt returns from Mahrez and Payet and a 5 pointer from Sanchez. The assist from Sanchez was most pleasing given his run of blanks prior to Swansea but seeing as we will be keeping him over the next 2 weeks we need to see him deliver consistently.
Up top was a little like our back line. Rubbish. We gave the armband to Vardy and he blanked for only the second time in 7 GW’s. To be fair to him, he did everything humanly possible to score but it wasn’t to be. Beside him was Kane and for once he failed to deliver in a London derby. With the North London derby this week we will be hoping that was a one off blip. No Koscielny and Cech for Arsenal should surely help.
With no transfer used last week we are sitting on 2 FT’s. Team selection, rotation and injuries are a small concern before next week’s blank GW for 8 teams so we have decided to use just one here and allow the free transfer to roll over to next week, where options might be a little clearer.
Baines (OUT) – Williams (IN)
We’ve had enough. It was a gamble to bring Baines in and it didn’t work, so given Everton’s blank in GW30 he’s out. The decision to bring in Williams stinks of points chasing but to be honest, with Norwich at home this week and all the other Swansea defenders being rotated, he’s our man. Especially as it leaves us £4.3m in the bank!
Following our first GK clean sheet in weeks we quickly came to the realisation that neither of ours are going to this week. Butland is away to a resurgent Chelsea and Hennessey faces Liverpool fresh off their 3-0 win against City. This was tough but we have gone with the Palace shot stopper. Home advantage is the only reason because it certainly isn’t their current defensive record. 21 goals conceded in their 9 games in 2016 doesn’t fill us with confidence so we will be hoping for some save points.
Williams gets his FPL Updates XI debut this week against Norwich and to be honest he’s the only one we have any hope of returning points. Eric Dier plays Arsenal in a game I expect both teams to score and that is the same thought for Fuchs when they travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford. I won’t be surprised if he have a repeat of last week’s 5 total from our back 3.
We have gone back to a 4 man midfield. We’re thankful for what Arnie did in GW27 but away to Chelsea feels like it has 2pts written all over it. Therefore he will have to take a seat on the FPL Updates bench. He will be back! Yes, that was a very bad Arnie joke and no, I don’t care! So we start with Firmino against the porous Palace, Mahrez away to Watford, Payet away to Everton and Sanchez away to Spurs. All tough match ups on paper but given the results this season I’m not even going to pretend I know what the f*ck will happen in any of them.
Up top it’s back to a front 3. Kane has his second London derby in 3 days and Ighalo and Vardy face off against each other. The 3 of them have just 2 goals between them in the last 4 GWS so it would be thoroughly appreciated if they could actually deliver this week. With that said we have given the armband to ‘Arry! 3 reasons. 1) He loves playing Arsenal and they’re bottling it big time 2) We don’t have Aguero 3) We don’t have any City players at all! This does worry me slightly but I’m going to convince myself that they will rotate. Also, we are sticking to ‘The Plan’ as it has been working well so far and City cover is coming next week.
So as always we are looking for those green arrows this week, but more importantly still looking to ensure we field a full 11 players next week before we call in a GW31 Wildcard packed full of double gameweek players. Play it smart if you are still debating your weekly transfer, try to bring in players playing next week and avoid using chips until those double gameweeks. Good luck to all and let’s hope for another 50+ week.
Written by FPL Guru
