The march for the Top 100k is back on! After a FPL score of 62 in gameweek 17 we dropped from 143k to 213k and it almost certainly halted our dreams of sitting inside the top 100k going into 2016. With gameweek 18 we returned with a bang. A very pleasing score of 74 has now put us 1,626 places away from our target. It is now 10 of the last 11 weeks that the FPL Updates XI has scored over 60 points and I’m pretty confident in saying another 60+ score in gameweek 19 will get us to our target! So let’s see how our team did on Boxing Day.
Jack Butland you sexy bugger! It wasn’t the hardest decision of the season given the fact Stoke were facing LVG’s impotent Manchester United team and our sub keeper, Hennessey, actually posted 7 anyway, but another large score from our boy Jack was a appreciated. 95 total points for the season now means that just 6 players sit above him in overall points. Astounding for a goalkeeper.
Our back 3 got a little touch of luck this week. With rotation rife over this period we were actually beneficiaries of it a little change up. We started Zouma and thankfully he failed to make the field in the eventful 2-2 draw against Watford and in came Scott Dann with a cheeky little cleanie. Another defender to pick us up a clean sheet was new boy in Eric Dier. Spurs defensive cover is looking more of a must every week and ignoring his yellow card the transfer worked out well. The only down side to our back line was Kolarov and City’s inability to see out the battering of Sunderland with a clean sheet. After starting the season with 5 clean sheets in a row, City have now conceded in 11 of their last 13.
Our midfield has been a big contributing factor over our great run but this week it was carried single handedly by Kevin De Bruyne. With Mahrez, Ozil and Wijnaldum all returning blank 2 pointers, it was left to arguably City’s best player to rescue us. His Boxing Day performance was nothing short of superb. He looked a cut above every other player on the field and in my opinion looks an absolute must have going forward. 1 goal and 2 assists takes his attacking returns to 13 in 13.
Up top we were again saved by one player performing when the others didn’t. Vardy with his first blank in 16 games and Lukaku finally having his goal scoring run ended, were completely outshone by our captain Kane! 26 points from the Spurs front man was a nice little belated Christmas present and was huge on a gameweek where the majority of the ‘Template Team’ failed.
Our Boxing Day line up was made even better by a first round FPL Cup mauling of ‘Wengerboys’ 74-31. Roll on round 2!
With so many question marks over rotation we have decided to save our transfer this week and ride with what we have so let’s have a look at our gameweek 19 line up:
Sometimes you just need to play the match ups and as painful as it is to bench Butland we just can’t see Stoke keeping a clean sheet against Everton whereas Hennessey faces a Swansea team with 2 goals in 5.
At the back we have benched Dier and Zouma over Dann, Kolarov and Martin. With Watford scoring 17 in their last 9 we see the Watford Spurs game as one which will see both teams score. The big decision for us was Kolarov over Zouma. It’s been a tough choice but Kolarov’s attacking potential make him unbenchable! Is that even a word? Dann makes it a Palace defensive double up and Martin faces Aston Villa.
Our midfield stays unchanged. Another big decision this week was to keep Deulofeu on the bench. We called it perfectly on Boxing Day as he was left on the Everton bench too but with him almost certainly getting a recall there is every chance for regret. Instead we have gone with Mahrez and De Bruyne, who face each other in a huge top of the table clash, Wijnaldum away to out of form West Brom and Ozil at home to Bournemouth. Hopefully for us Arsenal haven’t developed too much of a fear of playing South Coast teams following their down right embarrassing thumping by Southampton yesterday.
Our front 3 obviously the same too. Kane travels the short distance to in form Watford to hopefully improve on his 11 league goals this season. Vardy, following his first blank since week 2 now comes up against City in the game of the week. City’s recent defensive woes have been heightened by the fact that Kompany limped off yesterday and will not feature, leaving Mangala the likely starter next to Otamendi. I’ll let you work out why Vardy stays put this week. Last up is our captain Lukaku. This for me might well be the hardest week to pick a captain. Very few stand out candidates, but we are certainly not letting one goalless game make us forget how good the Everton front man is. Granted he will face off against Ryan Shawcross, a player that has only conceded 2 goals this season, but I’m guaranteeing that it will increase this gameweek!
So, the march for the top 100k is the big aim this gameweek and with this line up we are quietly confident. It’s a week of tough match ups all round so very likely to see a lower average score than we have seen for as while.
Good luck to everyone this week and let’s keep those fingers crossed for green arrows and FPL Cup progression.
Written by FPL Guru
