We wanted to get back inside the top 1m and that is exactly what we got. 61pts scored on a high 56pt weekly average meant we snuck back up 27k places to 976k. Small steps but important to see green as we start looking at a very busy FPL schedule.
We saw a real mixture of returns from our team in GW12 so here is a quick rundown of how we did
As mentioned in the last article at least we couldn’t get the keeper selection wrong. Jack Butland sat injured on our bench leaving Rob Elliot the man between the sticks. He took a bit of a battering from Pogba and co and delivered us a massive 1pt! Cheers Rob.
At the back our gamble to start Trent Alexander-Arnold was justified as he picked up a clean sheet and bonus, He has literally stayed in our team because I’m not prepared to waste a transfer taking him out but with just 1pt all season before this we probably should have. We will take it anyway. A surprise clean sheet came for Sead Kolasinac. I was convinced Spurs would score but Arsenal delivered one of the most disciplined performances of the season in the 2-0 win. Last up was a less surprising 1pt for Kyle Naughton. Burnley are playing incredibly well at the moment so 2-0 was hardly unexpected.
Our midfield was where most of our joy came from. I had previously mentioned how our mid had been a constant source of struggle for us but the last two weeks that has all changed. 29pts from them in GW11 was followed by an impressive 37pts last week. This was led by the man of the moment Mo Salah. 15pts against Southampton shot him to the top of the FPL scoring charts and with a 44% ownership I’m genuinely wondering what the other 56% are doing? Aside from Chelsea this week the fixtures look great for Liverpool so I wouldn’t be surprised seeing that number change a fair bit over the coming GW’s. He wasn’t the only one to register a return as all three others did too. David Silva picked up his 8th assist of the season, Richarlison continued his fine start to the season with another goal whilst Wilf Zaha made it three goals in his five games since returning from injury. I’ll take those kind of numbers every single week.
Unfortunately our strikeforce couldn’t come close to matching that and this was clear from the first game of the week in the north London Derby. Harry Kane comprehensively won the captain poll last week but his third consecutive blank meant it was going to be a struggle to recover. Jamie Vardy failed to score or assist again meaning he now only has the one return in his last six. His fixtures for five of the next six GW’s are the reason he will probably hold his place whilst a Roberto Firmino assist was all our front three could muster.
With GW12 in the books and things looking ok for the upcoming GW13 I have decided to make just the one transfer due to injury.
Jones (OUT) – Daniels (IN)
Phil Jones has been confirmed out for the home tie with Brighton so we have decided to bring in Bournemouth’s highest scoring defender Charlie Daniels.
Ideally I’d have liked to save the transfer to give us two free for next week’s midweek game week but with TAA also unlikely to play I was concerned we may be a little short at the back. One unexpected rotation and we could be playing with 10 men.
Rob Elliot starts again of course and this looks very much like a both teams to score kind of game. Watford incredibly have scored two goals in all six of their away league game this season. I don’t see a clean sheet here.
At the back new boy Charlie Daniels starts. He has recorded back to back clean sheets but with just the one goal and one assist this season I’m quietly hopeful he will improve upon this in the next few weeks. Fixtures are kind. Sead Kolasinac has a tricky match away at in-form Burnley whilst Kyle Naughton will be the opposite side of the pitch to Daniels. Did someone say ‘nil-nil’!
How can we start off with anyone else other than Mo Salah. 88pts this season, five separate games scoring double figures, more goals than any other Liverpool player in their first twelve league games, he is a man on fire. With that said, Chelsea will be a tough one this week. Three clean sheets in a row for Chelsea means this will likely be Salah’s toughest match-up of the season. The other home midfielder this week is Wilf Zaha. In the five games he has played since injury he has scored in all three of the home games and blanked in the two away. Home to Stoke this week he and we will be hoping for that run to continue. Stoke are conceding an average of two a game and only West Ham have let in more so there’s certainly hope here. Our one conflicting issue this week is Richarlison against keeper Elliot. I try to limit this but not much can be done here. Five goals and four assists suggests there’s more hope of a return from the Brazilian than our keeper. Last up is David Silva away to Huddersfield. After losing 4-0 to Bournemouth last week the last thing they will need is Manchester City rocking up to play them. City coverage looks essential and Silva will do this week.
Up top it’s the same three. Roberto Firmino, like Salah, faces an improved Chelsea team, Jamie Vardy will be hoping to end his barren run against the team with the worst defensive record in the league whilst Harry Kane will surely bounce back against WBA. I’d like to think we can improve upon the 9pts the three scored last week.
So that’s our GW13 line up ready for Friday Night Football. With five greens in the last seven GW’s we need that to continue. We are in the top 1m but now is the time to start making bigger jumps. We have a couple stand out captain options so as always please feel free to vote below. Anything has to be an improvement on Kane’s lacklustre performance last week. Something tells me he might have the chance to redeem himself this week.
[polldaddy poll=9882522]
Thanks for reading and don’t forget it’s a 7pm deadline tonight! Good luck all!
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru)
