Gameweek 4 – Some Thoughts And Observations

Well after all the pre-season hype and excitement, it hardly seems real that we are already 3 gameweeks into the season, and what an interesting start it has been to this year’s Fantasy Premier League. With the current international break providing us all with some time to reflect on both our fantasy teams and the season to date, here at Fantasy Football Cheat we thought we would provide a few thoughts and observations to throw into the mix.

An interesting start to the season…

We have been playing fantasy football for a number of years now, and this has been one of the most interesting starts to an FPL season that we can remember. Before the opening gameweek of the season, all the chat was about whether fantasy managers were going to field RVP or not in their opening teams. Well, here we are 3 gameweeks into the season, and the top scoring fantasy player isn’t RVP, in fact it isn’t even a striker or a midfielder… it’s a goalkeeper!! It seems tough to believe, but so far this season Liverpool’s keeper Mignolet has outscored every other player in the league thanks largely to 3 clean sheets and a penalty save.

Elsewhere there have been a number of other performances which have caught many of us fantasy managers slightly off-guard, and probably go a long way to explaining why many are finding themselves further down the league tables than they had anticipated being. One of the most notable is the performance of many of the so called ‘big name’ midfielders, where a number of last season’s top performers have failed to rack up the points in the early few gameweeks. In fact the headlines have so far been grabbed by a number of the mid priced and budget midfield options, with 4 out of the 10 current top scoring midfielders coming in at a cost of £5.1m or less!

But it’s not just in midfield where events have been somewhat suprising in these early few gameweeks, as elsewhere a number of defensive players have made a perhaps unexpectedly strong start to the season. Traditionally us fantasy managers tend to line up with 3 defenders at the back so that we can field a higher number of more attacking midfield and forward players in the belief that they offer greater point scoring potential. Well so far this season that theory has been turned on its’ head as currently 5 out of the 10 top point scoring players in the FPL are defenders!  Out of the 30 matches that have so far been played in this season’s Premier League, we have witnessed an astonishing 25 clean sheets, which goes some way to explaining why a number of defenders are scoring so well this season! Furthermore, the new bonus point system seems to be rewarding some defensive players with additional bonus points for clean sheets, thus further enhancing their points tally.

So, as you can see, in a number of areas this has been a very interesting start to the FPL season. That being said, whilst it’s worth being aware of these early developments, before we read too much into anything at this stage it’s also worth remembering that we are still only 3 gameweeks into a 38 gameweek season, so it’s still very early days…

Wildcard Antics

From the moment this season got underway, there has been a lot of talk about wildcards. Should managers be playing them early or should they hold on to them until later in the season? Interestingly, according to the FPL site, 160,456 wildcards were played in GW3. The question of when to play a wildcard is an interesting debate, and different fantasy managers can make compelling arguments either way. Some will point out that the current FPL World Champion played his wildcard in GW2 last season, whilst others will suggest you are better to hold on to it until later in the season so that you can take advantage of Double Gameweeks or correct injury and suspension problems that may arise. When to play the wildcard has been a hot topic amongst fantasy managers so far this season, and no doubt the debate will continue for some time to come.

International Break

As previously mentioned, we have a break from Premier League activity this weekend as a number of international fixtures are being played. Whilst this will be a welcome break for many fantasy managers, it’s worth remembering that a number of Premier League players will be involved in these international fixtures. It’s therefore worth keeping an eye on what goes on as there may be many positives (good performances) or negatives (injuries!) that come out of these games.

By way of example, we have already heard from the FA that Daniel Sturridge (owned by over 22% of managers at the time of writing) has returned to Liverpool for treatment on a thigh injury and will miss England’s World Cup qualifier with Moldova at Wembley on Friday evening. On a more positive note, it’s currently expected that he will link up with the England team again prior to next week’s trip to Ukraine.

So as you can see from the above example regarding Sturridge, it’s worth keeping an eye on developments during the international break as news can emerge regarding players from the FPL.

Early Transfer Favourites

We finish with a quick look at who are the most popular transfer targets so far this week in the FPL.

Whilst we are still some way off the GW4 deadline, the most popular transfer target this week (at the time of writing) is Olivier Giroud who has been bought by 140,000 teams and counting. It’s pretty easy to see why Giroud is so popular, with the Arsenal striker having scored a goal in each of his opening 3 league fixtures this season; fellow striker Podolski is out injured; and new signing Mezut Ozil has arrived at the Emirates with the expectation of creating plenty of goal scoring opportunities for his new teammates.

Following closely behind Giroud in the popularity stakes is new team mate Mezut Ozil, who has been bought by 123,000 managers so far this gameweek following his arrival from Real Madrid. According to widely reported stats, over the past five seasons 24-year-old Ozil has provided more assists than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues. He start’s life in the FPL at £10m.

Third on the most wanted list is Liverpool’s in-form striker Daniel Sturridge, who has been picked up by a staggering 120,000 managers since the previous gameweek deadline. With a goal in each of the opening 3 gameweeks it is clear to see why many managers are opting for the striker, although as noted above, he is currently an injury concern after a thigh injury has seen him withdraw from England’s World Cup qualifier with Moldova at Wembley on Friday evening.

Final Thoughts…

It’s been an exciting start to the season, and with a number of really interesting player moves and loan deals before the recent closure of the Premier League transfer window it seems likely that there will be plenty more twists and turns to come over the coming weeks. However, before all that gets underway, we hope you enjoy all the upcoming international fixtures…