In this post I am discussing my own FPL team – Fantasy Sports info. It wasn’t the best start for me in GW1 with 35 points. However GW2 was a decent one with 54 FPL points won. I am yet to make a single transfer though, which proves I’ve built my team to last. In this FPL team analysis post I will explain my first transfers.
FPL team analysis after first 2 GWs
I’ve picked a balanced team, but like many other FPL managers I’ve made couple of mistakes that I will look to correct without the use of wildcard.
First FPL mistake was picking Hennessey as a backup GK. I wasn’t considering Crystal Palace at all until Speroni got injured. That made his backup a very interesting option as the only £4.0m starting FPL goalkeeper. However big question was is that going to be Hennessey or newcomer McCarthy. Picking any of the two was a gamble but I wanted to take it as that saved me some cash and Crystal Palace goalkeeper would start in my GW3 team. Palace plays at home against Villa which is far better clean sheet opportunity then Mignolet away at Arsenal.
Second mistake was picking Van Aanholt. I expected him to deliver assists and couple of clean sheets with a pretty favourable fixture list. None of the above happened so far. Even though it could still be early to panic, Sunderland looked very unimpressive and I will transfer PVA out soon for a cheaper defender. It really doesn’t make sense having £5.0m (price dropped to £4.9m) Sunderland defender until they show signs of improvement.
Third mistake was getting Cameron Jerome as a third forward. I rated him as a best choice budget FPL forward before the season start, but he didn’t justify that so far. I’ll keep him in the team for GW3, but after I will look to transfer him out,
Finally my biggest FPL mistake was taking Walcott. He was a risky pick to begin with considering he had rotation risks, but I really didn’t expect him to play 33 minutes in first two matches. Not after Community Shield performance. Now I am stuck with a non playing expensive midfielder that already lost £0.3m in price.
There are couple of players that I considered but didn’t get in unfortunately. Kompany, Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez are on top of that list. However, there are players that were really popular from the start and failed to deliver. I feel good about choosing not to pick them. Hazard, Rooney, Harry Kane and Ivanovic all had massive starting ownership %, but all of them failed miserably. It is early though and all of them actually have decent match-ups in GW3 so they could start producing, but so far it was a good choice to ignore them.
Free transfers for FPL GW3
I had 2 free transfers to make for GW3 as I didn’t use up the one I got for GW2. I used them to bring in Alexis Sanchez (£11.0m) and Matt Ritchie (£5.9m) for Theo Walcott (£8.7m) and Jordan Henderson (£7.0m).
I was looking to only use up one free transfer, but that way I couldn’t bring in Sanchez. I really want him in my FPL squad right now. Arsenal has favourable fixtures in next three gameweeks which means his price could go up if he plays well. Walcott’s price plummeted to £8.7m so even with extra £2.0m in the bank I couldn’t swap Walcott with Sanchez without transferring another player. I decided to waive Jordan Henderson. He has some foot injury problems and if it wasn’t for that he would have stayed in my team. This way I don’t want a £7.0m midfielder on my bench. His next three fixtures are difficult as Liverpool plays away at Arsenal and Man Utd with West Ham (H) in between. That means even if he recovers from injury there is a good chance he won’t return plenty of FPL points for a while. I decided to bring in Matt Ritchie as he is a lot cheaper which leaves me with £0.8m in the bank after those two changes. I was considering Cabaye instead of him but I like Bournemouth’s next 6 fixtures lot better. They won’t be playing against any of the top teams in that span. He is also £0.7m cheaper than Cabaye, which gives me plenty of manoeuvring space in the next gameweek. Cabaye faces three top teams in the next 6 matches, two of them away. I thought Ritchie looked really good against Liverpool. He created himself plenty of scoring opportunities and goals should come soon.
Mahrez attracted a lot of FPL managers with his performances so far but I decided to wait a bit more on him. His fixtures are also good, like Ritchie’s, but I just can’t see him continuing this kind of form for much longer. Spurs should be a true test and I’ll keep an eye on him. Ritchie looks like more important to his team than Mahrez does to Leicester, so Matt gets the nod for GW3.
So this is how my FPL team looks for GW3. I am going with a 4-4-2 formation. I would like to have McCarthy as a starting GK instead of Mignolet, but like I said I didn’t want to waste a free transfer on him as he could slide on the bench when Speroni returns. There is no guarantee he’ll keep a clean sheet against Villa (H) anyway, although I give him more chances for that than Mignolet has against Arsenal (A).
I am happy with defenders, I think it is reasonable to expect at least 1 clean sheet (Shaw) but it could be more than that easily. If Holebas sits out I’ve got Jerome to shift formation to 3-4-3 and he has a decent match-up against Stoke (H). I am happy with the midfield as well. I’ve just brought in Sanchez and he could return an assist or goal. Mata was the best performer against Villa in his team and he faces a very favourable fixture (Newcastle at home). Although I would like to have Depay as well or instead, considering how well he played on Tuesday night Champions League match, I think Mata is good option. I expect something from Ritchie which is why I brought him now in the first place. I think he can score against West Ham (A). Willian has a decent match-up against WBA (A). Although his job security might be in danger with Pedro arrival, he is going to start behind Costa on Sunday with Oscar on the sidelines. He has potential for assist or goal. He is the one I will be looking to transfer out though, but not for 4-5 gameweeks probably.
Aguero and Benteke are attacking pair I am really satisfied with at the moment. Both scored a goal in the last GW, and they could repeat that again in this one. Benteke has fairly difficult fixture against Arsenal, but he scored against them already and I wouldn’t rule that possibility out on Monday considering Arsenal looked rather shaky at the back so far. Aguero is my captain for now, but I will sleep on it and make my decision in the morning. Man City plays against Everton (A) and it could be a difficult trip for them. Everton looked good against Southampton and they should be feeling good about themselves. However, Man City looked great in both gameweeks so far. Aguero was really up for it against Chelsea and I expect him to bring that performance again in Liverpool.
Conclusion
There you have it. This was my team analysis for FPL GW3 and I am fairly happy with it. What do you guys think? Please comment and rate my team below.
Screenshots taken from fantasy.premierleague.com