*I was close to buying Forster as a long-term buy for the remainder of the season. But he hasn't got a single bap all season despite keeping 13 clean sheets. I opted for Guzan as he is a differential-lite in comparison to Forster, costs £1m less + he has a DGW after the international break. If I opt against buying Costa in DGW34, I could happily buy Courtois as Guzan's replacement in GW33.
Notes:
Yes, that time of the season has arrived - GW30 - it is the final countdown!
What
a dire GW29. I could have captained almost all of my "Power 7" and still ended up with sub-35 points. My team's rank is spiraling out control. 35k/Top 1% seems a galaxy away from earth. Time to buck up! As per the podcast, I think Benteke is a sensational pick right now, even before DGW31. I was on the cusp of selling Aguero for him, but opted against it as I didn't want to take a hit and needed to replace the injured Foster. Kane seems like a no nonsense captain pick for this GW, I wanted to play it safe and opted for him. Here's to hoping. Good luck to you all!
Can you outdo me on FanFeud? Feel free to sign up and try to beat me.
With only one week remaining
until the Double GW of all Double GWs, it's time we set to look for that differential
that you can carry into the highly anticipated GW31 and can make the most in the next three games.
I imagine that the majority
of you reading this had one sure thing that you wanted to do for the GW31 – bring in Aguero! And rightly so. The man has been of fire this season, but his hamstring
just doesn’t want to play along with us FPL managers. From an athlete standpoint, I
really hope this is just a one week thing and he will be up and about in no
time. But from a #FPL point of view this opens a bunch load of questions. Are
MCI players still a MUST? Should we double or even triple on City assets? Can
we trust them to do the job?
My humble opinion is – YES.
It might be a slightly bigger unknown what they will do without Kun, but hey,
they can still win the league and I, for one, can’t see them going down without
a fight. And while the forwards situation is a bit unclear, there are some
must-have assets in their midfield (and perhaps even defense).
Yaya Toure, the man I tagged
long ago as “he can’t keep this up” has
been mocking me ever since. On fire, consistent and with Aguero out, also on
penalties. Do not look any further if you want a secure way into MCI midfield.
Down to 9.9m, he is owned by over 40% of FPL managers though – so if you are like me
(always on a hunt for a riskier differential), read on.
There are two intriguing
options in midfield – Samir Nasri, who seems to be flying after coming back
from injury and my old favorite, David Silva. While Nasri has more explosive
potential and has basically been my pick the entire week, I
back David Silva to do his magic. He is a slightly bigger risk with Aguero out
(as they form a mean partnership), but this could be his time to shine. David
Silva, 4,5% owned - #CalledIt for GW30.
P.S. Did you see Silva's setup for Nasri in the game against Barcelona? Poetry in motion, I tell you.
A good return for last weeks #FlyBuy pick which was Southampton's Jay Rodriguez (J-Rod). He ended his drought of no goals in 4 games prior to GW29 as predicted.
He scored and picked up all 3 Bonus Points on offer to provide a healthy return of 9 Points to those of you who had him in your team. Like me. Which was a relief with the limited fixtures GW29 offered.
To be honest, it was these 9 Points from J-Rod (and the 10 Points I unexpectedly got from Jordan Mutch) that led to me personally racking up a respectable 56 Points when I was anticipating far less.
J-Rod will hopefully continue to gather up points this weekend when Southampton face Norwich at home. And to be honest, that is the point of FlyBuy; not just a "one week wonder". Hopefully I am selecting players that may have been out of the points for one reason or another (injury, poor form, tough fixtures etc) who can go on a run.
When I select a player, I tend to think about a projected period of approx. 5 GW's. I think I need to go and have a look at the Stats to see if I am proving successful with this. I hope to produce a quick article next week to post here on the Blog to see how this is working out.
So, onto this week. GW30 sees FPL return to some semblance of normality before things are shaken up with the DGW coming up in GW31. And probably GW34. And GW37. Opportunities to get these postponed fixtures are few and far between and the general consensus is that these are where they will be slotted in.
I need to choose a player who ideally will take advantage of a couple of these DGW's. Someone who more was expected of this season, but who has not quite hit the mark. My pick is someone who I have had my eye on as a potential pick and I was just waiting for him to return from injury.
Despite having all his hair cut off, I don't think this will have the same effect as when Samson lost his. For those not familiar, Samson was a biblical figure who had supernatural powers, until his hair was cut off. Without it he was powerless.
Not so with my FlyBuy pick. He faces relegation battlers Cardiff at home this weekend, before a DGW consisting of a home again against the other Welsh team in the EPL (Swansea) and a potentially tricky match away at Newcastle.
I refer, of course, to on-loan striker Romelu Lukaku. Injured since the start of the year, he made a 32 minute cameo appearance in GW28 coming off the bench to score. Currently owned by 13.4% of managers and with Everton sitting in 7th place in the League, he satisfies the FlyBuy parameters ideally.
He is my top transfer target after this GW where I aim to sell J-Rod to put the Big Belgian into my squad for the DGW and beyond.
Let's just hope he engages "Beast Mode" and scores the points we all know he is capable of.
Make sure you take a look at this bizarre offering of a song and video about Romelu "Tank" Lukaku. FLY
In stark contrast to last week, there are a plethora of tantalising options to choose from in GW 30. Next week's double gameweek blockbuster doesn’t just have to be borne in mind, though – it should form the main basis for your transfer rationale this week.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Obvious wins nothing
'If I were a Boeing 777 jet, where would I hide?' - is precisely the sort of warped mindset you need to enter into this week. It's too late in the season for renowned players. You're too close to the winner's podium to put all your hopes on a household name. Come way out of left field and find a hero disguised as a minnow; a massive player everyone else thought was a bust. Go big or go home - death or glory!
OK maybe let's not be quite that extreme - and yes, clearly you'll want to stock your team with as many DGW 31 players as you can. And yes, Liverpool are at Old Trafford on Sunday and then face two of the bottom three in the Double Gameweek spectacular - so they're the obvious choice.
But everyone who’s anyone is fully aware of the virtues of the super-powered SAS, the bargain bucket that is Sterling, the penalty-fuelled consistency of Gerrard and the high risk, low reward Coutinho.
For team of the week this week I’m going to Toon. Forget all that head-butting nonsense - let's talk about what's going down on the fantasy football field.
Howard Webb - less excitable than Jeff Stelling
Newcastle
If you’re looking for a slightly more inconspicuous team to build your transfers around, the Magpies are alone in being at home for both double GW fixtures - and play rock-bottom Fulham at Craven Cottage this week.
What do Fulham and The Rock have in common? That's right - not very much
Lack of incentive could combine with the absence of Pardew to drain morale and crucify form but St James’ Park always rocks - and Fulham always blow.
Yoan Gouffran (6.3; owned by 1.1 %)
With Remy out for three games with a calf injury, step up Monsieur Gouffran. 6 goals and 4 assists this season isn't bad for a bit-timer - he's a dead cert 90 minute player at the moment, especially with Loic out, and anything owned by only 1% of people is surely some sort of amazeballs luxury product worthy of your hard-earned dolla.
Gouffran - Luxury worth having?
Moussa Sissoko (5.7m; 3% owned)
He's played every game this season, seems to have cemented himself into a relatively advanced field position and bagged a whopping 15 pts against Hull last week with a neat brace. His first finish was like something out of International Superstar Soccer with the cheats turned on and his second illustrated a keen attacking instinct with an eye for getting into the six-yard box.
Forget body shape and physical logic - this one's going straight in
Mike Williamson (4.2; 1.2%)
Newcastle have had a defence like a sieve for as long as eggs have been eggs but their fixture list implies clean sheets are on the horizon - if only due to their opponents' inefficacy in front of goal. This Williamson bloke is just so cheap for someone who has started every game since week 6. He might even score, I suppose. There's nothing pointing to the fact that he will but wouldn't it be nice if he did? Sometimes good things happen to good people. Back yourself.
Today's theme was memes. Your reward for making it to the end is this totally unrelated pic of a cat just hanging out.
