David Silva, you sexy little Spanish b*stard! When you see that he has scored 33pts in the last 3 GW’s it’s no big surprise that we are basking in the glow of more green arrows. For anyone that reads this article even semi-regularly will be aware that we were sitting outside the top 1m as of GW11 but after 6 consecutive weeks of greens we wake up today sitting in a far better 194k.
With a score of 67 against an average of 48 I noticed that both those totals increased by exactly 5pts on GW16. If we can continue to outscore the average by 19 each week I’ll be a very happy man.
Nick Pope is rapidly becoming my new Jack Butland. For all the glitz and glamour of owning your Kane’s, Hazard’s and Sanchez’s of the FPL world there’s something beautiful about having a cheap keeper who racks up points for fun. Butland did it for us in the 2015/16 season and now Nick Pope is doing it for us this year. Admittedly we have only owned him for 4 weeks but with 17pts in his last 2 GW’s I’m over the moon.
At the back we used just one of our free transfers and brought in Phil Jones. I was torn on whether he would start but given United’s fixture run I felt it was worth it regardless. He delivered an impressive 8pts and even though he missed 5 games straight before this he still finds himself inside the top 10 for defenders. Harry Maguire started and picked up an assist in the mauling of Southampton. He now has 4 assists on the season and has scored exactly the same amount of points as Jones (67). Sead Kolasinac got rested so Kiko Feminia came in for him. The Watford defender did something I’m not sure I’ve seen in FPL before though. He came on late, played a grand total of 6 minutes and managed to concede 2 in that time. The big fat zero was not overly helpful.
Our midfield was the David Silva show. Not renowned for goalscoring runs I thought his winner against West Ham was likely it for a while and that we would have to go back to relying upon his assists again. Wrong. 4 goals in 3 games, 33 FPL points, including 7 bonus points and sitting 3rd in overall midfield point scoring he has been an absolute steal for his relatively low price of £8.1m. If ever there was a stat to sum up FPL and it’s knee jerk tendencies it’s Silva’s price tag. In GW10 he was up as high as £8.6m yet at full time of GW17 he was £8.1m. He lost over 600k owners in that time but I think it’s safe to say it won’t be that for too much longer. Another stat that stunned me was that in only 3 of his previous 7 seasons at City has he scored more goals in a full season than he has in the last 11 days. He was joined by Mo Salah, who had a rare quiet day. His blank against WBA was his first in 9 GW’s. 3pts was all he could muster in a frustrating game but he still sits miles top of all FPL scorers. Richarlison and Wilf Zaha both registered an assist to complete our scoring with 6pts and 5pts respectively.
Up top was a little disappointing though. We captained Harry Kane and the ‘curse of the most transferred player in’ continued. Kane led the way this week and it was the 8th time in 9 weeks that the player with most transfers in blanked. Roberto Firmino joined in with the blanks whilst Jamie Vardy could only contribute an assist to Leicester’s 4-1 win away at Southampton.
With games coming thick and fast I’m over the moon with our recent form. I know this won’t continue every week but whilst it does I’m going to enjoy it. I’m happy with the line up and pleased we have 2 free transfers but whilst things are going well I’m only willing to use one.
Naughton (OUT) – Masuaku (IN)
The team looks fine for the time being so all transfers lately are being done to prepare for the Christmas fixture pile up. I’m looking to ensure we have starter depth ready for rotation whilst making upgrades according to fixture strength. In this case we are dropping a Swansea defender with tough upcoming games for a West Ham defender who looks nailed on and has been great in their very tough last 3 games. Also saving 0.1m in doing so. West Ham’s games look good all the way through to February and with a double gameweek in GW22 that certainly played into my thinking too.
Nick Pope starts and will be looking for a hat-trick of cleanies. Brighton are the opposition and with just one 1 goal in their last 5 games this looks a good fixture for the burnley stopper.
At the back Arthur Masuaku can only make the bench as we go with Sead Kolasinac at home to a very out of form Newcastle, Phil Jones away at WBA and Harry Maguire at home to Palace. There looks to be points potential there and I’d expect all 3 to start.
Our midfield is once again led by David Silva and Mo Salah. I have minor concerns here that at least 1 of them will be rested soon. Talk of Salah dropping to the bench has gathered pace in recent weeks and as he started against WBA on Wednesday I fear this may be the week for him. Silva has started all but 1 game this season and it would be so Pep to drop him soon. As it’s a massive game with Spurs I feel a little more confident it won’t be this week at least. Richarlison is another that has been talked about needing a rest. Marco Silva’s midweek press conference was a little ominous and with him picking up a little groin injury I’m 80% sure this is the week he misses. Huddersfield at home is a game I’d really want him involved so I’m starting him in blind hope to be honest. Talking of Watford its Wilf Zaha last up. He ran them and Daryl Janmaat ragged in midweek and he looks set to continue that against Leicester this week. He is playing at a sublime and although he’s not a massive scorer he is adding consistency to his play and good for an attacking return every couple games. I’ll take that for a player under £7m.
Our front line needs to step up. All 3 have been very hit and miss of late so one assist wont do this week. Harry Kane travels to the Etihad to battle this ridiculous City team. With that said they’ve still looked vulnerable at the back so Kane will fancy his chances. Roberto Firmino has been nigh on impossible to predict with when he scores points. He has failed to pick up attacking returns in back to back games this season and after his 13pt haul against Brighton has blanked twice. He faces a fairly resolute Bournemouth team this week and failed to score in either game against them last season. So it’s more hope than expectation with the Brazilian. Last up is Jamie Vardy against Palace. Looking far better under Roy Hodgson this is no longer a gimme win but Leicester are playing the best football they’ve played since lifting the Prem. Vardy may have picked up an assist midweek but he now only has 2 goals in his last 11. This would be a good time for that to improve.
Not only did we jump the rankings we also progressed through to the 2nd round of the cup! A 67-52 win against Parim Sats means we roll onto round 3 this week. We wait for news of our upcoming opponent!
Captain choice certainly looks tougher this week than it has for a while so your votes below are going to be appreciated more than ever. We are closing in on our top 100k target and a good choice for the armband would go a long way to helping.
[polldaddy poll=9897787]
My only two bits of advice at this busy stage of the season are to not waste any transfers as you prepare for heavy rotation and do not have benches filled with cheap non-starters. Both those will absolutely kill any chances you have of seeing green arrows consistently and also of fielding 11 week in week out over Christmas.
Thank you all for reading and good luck this week!
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru)
