MD1 DEADLINE: FRIDAY 14th JUNE 8:00pm UK

Hello everyone and welcome to Euro 2024 Fantasy Football.

If you have played Champions League Fantasy Football then you will feel at home here, as it is basically the same format, and indeed the same platform. But if you haven’t played before then don’t worry, it’s fairly simple and we shall walk you through the basics below.

To the main business at hand. What we will do here is;

1. Cover the basics.
2. Provide FF247 league details with codes and links.
3. Detail the fixtures.

1. The basics
The Rules
As far as the rules go, you can access them here via – THIS LINK but let us give you a quick rundown of what they are.

• • SCORING
    The scoring itself is pretty much as per FPL. The only real differences that you would notice is that there are no bonus points and we will not get an assist if our player wins a penalty that is scored, but the player will get 2 points for winning said penalty no matter if it results in a goal or not. A player also gets a point for every 3 ‘ball recoveries’ too.There will be 3 points for the ‘Player of the Match’. There is no indication as to how this is awarded other than that is done so by ‘UEFA’s technical observer’. Which presumably means that he or she will observe who is in their own fantasy team first and act accordingly.

• • FORMAT
    The format is the same as Champions League fantasy. For those who aren’t familiar with this it basically means a tad more planning as you can sub players in before they have played to replace those that already have. A quick example would be to pick a Scotland guy, let’s call him Scott, for arguments sake. And maybe an England guy, let’s call him Jude. Given as Scott plays on Day 1 you can put him in your X1 and see how he does, whilst placing Jude on your bench. If you like what you see from Scott then you can leave him in the team. If he has a stinker (likely) then you can simply activate manual subs and bring Jude in to replace him for his later game. Simples, really.

• • MANUAL SUBS / AUTO SUBS
    If you activate a manual sub then your right to auto subs (as per FPL) disappears. You have the option to do either. Manual subs is your best bet we feel as you control who comes in and you get 4 more shots at getting it right, basically.

• • CAPTAIN
    The Captain Armband works in much the same way as CL and not FPL. You may change your captain after each match day (if he was not sent off) with a player from your squad whose team is yet to play.

• • TRANSFERS
    Before the game begins: UNLIMITED
    Matchday 1–6: 2 per matchday
    Between matchday 1 and 2: 2 transfers
    Between matchday 2 and 3: 2 transfers
    Before round of 16: UNLIMITED
    Before quarter-finals: 3 transfers
    Before semi-finals: 4 transfers
    Before final: 5 transfers
    Basically, it’s like FPL in terms of being able to carry 1 transfer over. However once we reach the knockout stage we will not have the option of carrying a free transfer with us: you don’t use it, you lose it.

• • Deadlines
    Deadlines are subject to change and will be at the time of kick-off of the first match of the matchday. So unlike FPL you do get to see the line-ups in advance and adjust accordingly. Just be aware that all 6 GW’s in the group stages now kick off with two early games so the deadline each time is 5.55pm UK time. Which also means you get to see the team sheets for four teams, not the full lot as in previous (and better!) seasons.

• • CHIPS?
    There are a couple;

Wildcard
You get 1 regular wildcard and you can play it anytime you like prior to the start of a round. It acts the same way it does in FPL.

Limitless Wildcard
This is a different type of wildcard here, one that many will find very appealing. It is very similar to the “Free Hit” chip we have in FPL. However, there is one major difference… “The Limitless Wildcard enables the user to create a team without any budget restrictions and affords them unlimited transfers for one matchday.” So for one matchday you can afford whatever team you like. You do still have to meet the criteria for players from one team and formations and all that, but there is no budget, so spend away. Once the matchday is over, just like the free hit chip, our teams revert back.

The Game Itself
You can access the game here – Fantasy Champions League

2. The FF247 Leagues

• • Our Public FF247 league code is mr9nwD
    This one is the usual open air league that all and sundry are welcome to join.
    Click here for the auto-join link.

• FF247 Regs League – The main one!

The purpose of this one is that it is for folk who are on the FF247 forum regularly and taking part in the regular FF247 Euro24 chat. Please don’t try to join if you aren’t. We will know, and we will boot you out.

TO JOIN THIS THEN PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW –

Please email us on contact@fantasyfootball247.co.uk for the league code to join.

You must include your FF247 username and your Euro24 team name in the email or we will simply ignore it.

3. MD1 Fixtures

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Groups

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

So that’s the basics, in as much of a small nutshell as we could manage, without boring the pants off you. If you have any further questions or queries or if there are any clarifications you need then as always please feel to ask below.

Please feel free to post any RMT’s or other questions below.

Thanks for reading Euro 2024 Fantasy Football.

Follow @fantasyfooty247

FPL Tips GW1

Welcome to FPL Tips GW1

We’re kicking off the first of our regular weekly articles with a slight variation on the usual tips format. Essentially, this is my first FPL draft, created last night for you to all pull apart/copy/laugh at. Take your pick.

My fellow contributors can attest to this being created the night before the Liverpool vs Sevilla match (before I get accused of jumping on the band waggon!), it was nice to see returns for one of my ‘differentials’, how long a certain Diogo stays a differential remains to be seen!

We’re hopefully going to get a few more drafts from my fellow contrinbutors over the following days, along with our first captain’s article and of course the Site Team.

It sure feels good to be back!

Rosco FPL draft 1

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

When the game launched, I was adamant about not paying £15m for Erling Haaland. Yet here I am, with the big Norwegian front and centre, taking up 15% of my budget. There will likely be opportunities throughout the season to redistribute those funds, but for now, given City’s fixtures, I’d rather play it safe.

After deciding on Haaland, I’d love to say the rest of my GW1 draft was easy, but it wasn’t. The more competitive pricing this season is a testament to FPL’s efforts.Credit where it’s due. I’ve been on autofill for weeks now, finally committing to a draft purely for the sake of this article. However, like many of you, my photo library is filled with endless drafts, courtesy of the excellent FPL Team app. My ‘camera roll’ could easily be mistaken for the work of someone obsessed with this game…

Enough preamble. Let’s talk players. I’m still tinkering, and my biggest dilemma is Salah (£12.5m) vs. Saka (£10m). Saka offers better overall balance, but Salah just feels right—I’ve always loved Mo Salah. For now, Saka is in, partly due to Smash reigniting my interest in Jota (£7.5m).

Keepers

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

I’ve never had much success with rotating keepers, and I can rarely find enough spare cash for one who reliably keeps clean sheets. So, I’m sticking with a playing £4.5m keeper and a non-playing £4.0m backup. Henderson is my choice for now. I don’t love him, but Palace had the 4th best defense last season, their fixtures are decent, and with Johnstone possibly moving, Henderson seems a safe pick. However, his spot is tenuous—if bids for Andersen and Guehi are accepted, Henderson will be out. If that happens, I might pivot to Flekken, who has the advantage of a £4.0m backup in Valdimarsson. But with City, Liverpool, and Spurs in Brentford’s first five, I don’t see many points. I may need to spend more on a keeper, Pickford or Pope at £5m appeal, but funds are tight.

Defenders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Gvardiol (£6m) is locked in. I missed out on him last season, and those last few weeks were painful. If he can replicate that form over a full season, £6m will be a bargain.

I’ve opted for three rotating £4.5m defenders: Hall, Quansah, and Konsa. They could easily be Mykolenko and Robinson instead. The biggest risks are Hall and Quansah holding their spots, but both have had solid preseason minutes. Hall, in particular, might lock down the left-back spot and become a mainstay. Konsa is there purely for favorable fixtures and his rotation with Hall.

Barco (£4.0m) takes the fifth defender spot. Brighton fans speak highly of him, and with Estupiñán out until September, many think the spot is Barco’s to lose. While Brighton’s fixtures outside of GW4-5 aren’t great, I have more faith in their defense than in Southampton’s Harwood-Bellis.

Midfeilders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

In midfield, we’ve already discussed the Salah vs. Saka conundrum. Jota is in with the hope he can ‘cover’ Salah (unlikely) and, more importantly, stay fit (again, unlikely). He’s a risky pick, but at £7.5m, he’s an easy switch to another £7.5m player. If I choose Salah over Saka, I’d probably swap Jota for Gordon (£7.5m), who doesn’t carry the same concerns.

Nkunku (£6.5m) feels like a no-brainer. If he stays fit, he’ll likely outperform his price tag. Despite last season’s injury struggles, he’s looked good in preseason, and I’m willing to take the risk.

Eze (£7m) and Gordon (£7.5m) have been in many of my drafts. I’m not entirely sure about Eze, who is the third-highest-owned midfielder. I’d pick him more as insurance, but I don’t want EO (Effective Ownership) to suck all the fun out of the game. So, I’ve found the extra money for Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m). This spot might ultimately be downgraded to free up funds elsewhere, in which case Eze and Gordon would be back on the table.

I initially had Rogers (£5m) as my fifth midfielder but downgraded him to Bergvall (£4.5m). It’s probably too early to see the Spurs man in the starting XI, but he has more upside off the bench than the alternatives. If I wanted to play it safe, Winks would be my choice, but that feels a bit dull for my liking.

Forwards

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Up front, Isak (£8.5m) has been locked in since his price was revealed. Opening-day fixtures don’t get much better than Southampton at home. I’m usually cautious about picking Newcastle players for my FPL side, but I can’t resist the excitement of watching my FPL players score at St. James’ Park (unless they’re playing for the opposition, of course!).

I started this article with my thoughts on Haaland (£15m), and I’ll add this: it’s easy to downgrade him, but it’s a nightmare trying to bring him back into your team quickly. I salute anyone who goes without him—it’s brave and could pay off. But if it doesn’t, and he performs as we know he can, it will hurt. A lot.

Solanke’s (£7.5m) move to Spurs forced a change in lineup and formation. I was set on a 3-5-2 setup, but £7.5m for a Spurs forward of Solanke’s calibre is a steal. He scored three more points than Isak and costs £1m less. That’s the Newcastle tax. Had Solanke moved to Spurs before the game launched, I guarantee he’d have cost more.

So, that’s where I am now. If this is still my team come GW1, I’d be very surprised. I’m a tinkerer at heart, with 50 drafts filling up my camera roll—that’s a whole lot of temptation!

Good luck in GW1 and for the season ahead!

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW1. This article was written by Rosco.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.”

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW1

Welcome to FPL Tips GW1

We’re back with part 2 of our GW1 ‘Tips’ article. This time we have GP, Kop and Stone Frog on duty to share their current GW1 drafts. Some familiar picks and some a little different. As you will see, there are plenty of ways to approach this season, hopefully this will make for a more exciting 24/25 season! Enjoy!

The Gallant Pioneers – GP

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Goalkeepers

Having given the goalkeepers the same amount of thought as most others, I’m still not sure if I am on the ones I will end up with come Friday’s deadline.

One thing I know is that I will only be spending £8.5m on the pair as I require the cash elsewhere – that’s a given. Flekken & Valdimarsson could end up being Henderson & Matthews (assuming Johnstone is confirmed away). I think I’ll stick with Brentford simply because I may end up with Munoz of Palace at some stage and I’m never normally one to double up at the back.

Defenders

I’m going with the three I had on first draft. It is fairly heavy. Ben White (£6.5m), I believe is worth the extra £0.5m over his teammates as I feel he is a lot more assured than any of the others as that right-hand side of Arsenal’s last season – with Odegaard and Saka – is their biggest strength in attack in my mind. He also put up more points, goals and assists than the others. Josko Gvardiol doesn’t need much explanation and rounding off with Porro gives me three defenders with many routes to points by way of attacking play and the chance of clean sheets.

Barco (£4m) (first sub) and Faes should give me enough cover if required. Faes will be unspectacular yet reliable (in playing at least) and Barco is one who could start well and stay in the team, making a mockery of the price tag.

Midfielders

I won’t pretend I was keen on Jota (£7.5m) from the start, but I just think that going him over Salah is compensated by the fact of who I can afford elsewhere across the midfield. I see Jota as an ideal placeholder for either Gordon or Nkunku if we run into any problems with him or his injuries. Giving Liverpool’s early run, the Portuguese seems a risk-free pick with more upside than down given who you can migrate to if required. He’s easily the most reliable finisher in front of goal that Liverpool have (and I would include Salah in that). Now that he looks set to start, I don’t want to get caught out being unresponsive to the changing landscape of preseason.

I wouldn’t think I would have to justify Bukayo Saka (£10m) (see Ben White above for reasons) and I think I like the fact that he swaps with Son in event of an emergency.

Ebe Eze takes his place in my regular starting midfield with him being nicely priced at £7.0m. A player who if fit, can be worth hanging on to long-term, as he offers fairly regular streams of points with the caveat that he can also grab double-digits on a good day.

Emile Smith Rowe is the best of the £5.5m I reckon. I will use him from the off and I’m confident he and Fulham will have a good season. Again – there’s a chance to switch to another £5.5m or if funds hamper me, I can drop to Rogers or use the ‘Jota Cash’. I believe I’m flexible in midfield. Of course, I’m hoping ESR is a season keeper going by his obvious qualities and likely playing position with his new team.

Tim Iroegbunam is my choice at £4.5m. I expect he plays a lot at Everton and will only be used for me in an emergency. I have no inkling that he will do much more than 2 or 3 points and being honest, if it wasn’t for the 3-player-per-club rule, I would go Bergvall (that will give you a clue as to who is up top for me ….)

Forwards

Erling Haaland – fresh, good pre-season and a likely captain candidate for most of the early weeks of the season, it is the most obvious of the obvious things! Hold on! … Alexander Isak might challenge that in fact, I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t go without the Swede. He too has been rested over the summer and is the likely Captain on Gameweek 1.

I have committed to Dominic Solanke – and therefore 3-4-3 – now that he is at Tottenham. I’m convinced he sees decent minutes at Leicester on Monday evening, and can you imagine what a boost it would be to your team on Gameweek 1 to see him start?! In any case, even if not, I like the price point of £7.5m and the fact we may have the No. 9 from one of the most exciting attacking teams in the league. Easier to start with him and drop to Joao Pedro, Rodrigo Muniz et al, than scramble for £2.0m to come up to him.

With Porro and Solanke in the team, I need to leave that third Spurs spot free in case Son is required at any stage – and who says that won’t be early on?

Isak captain, then onto Haaland for a while, save 5 transfers because all my players are flying and sell my wildcard to the highest bidder! An absolute doddle this game.

Enjoy the season everyone.

Kop Warriors – Kop

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Prior to the game launching I paid little attention to the stupid price reveals. Surely, I’m not the only one who thinks they’re pointless? Just get the game launched!

However, with the world and his dog commenting about the price of Haaland & Salah, I did think to myself that a team with both was unlikely. Once the game launched, I hit auto-pick and didn’t give it another thought. Fast forward a few weeks and it was time to inflict the hurt on myself for the 17th season.

I’m a notoriously conservative FPL player and I suddenly realised it was safer to have both Haaland and Salah than not have them. It’s easier to downgrade than upgrade, blah blah blah. I picked a squad I was reasonably happy with, albeit with a weak defence.
Those of you who have gotten this far are by now wondering what I’m waffling on about as the above screenshot doesn’t contain Salah. Well spotted. I watched our friendly against Sevilla on Sunday and was dazzled by Jota. Salah is undoubtedly the safer pick as Jota has far more competition for a spot in the starting XI, but he’s the most clinical finished at the club. From an FPL perspective, he’s £5.0m cheaper!

Goalkeepers

I’m likely to start the season with two £4.5m keepers, although this could very well become a £4.5m and a £4.0m. For some reason I’m fixated with Areola. I realise that West Ham don’t have the greatest fixtures to start the season, but I feel they’ve recruited well and in Lopetegui they’ve got a decent coach. My 2nd keeper is completely up in the air at the moment and Flekken is merely there as a place holder.

Defence

Arsenal had, by some distance, the best defence in the league last season. Granted, their defenders have been subject to price increases but, I see it as a no-brainer to start the season with one of them. For me, it’s between Gabriel and Saliba as I can’t stretch to the extra £0.5m for White. I’ve currently got Gabriel but it could be Saliba come Friday evening. Gvardiol finished the season like a train and the City defence has been consistently solid over the last 5/6/7 seasons, so he goes in without a huge amount of thought.

After these two it becomes a little more difficult. Everton had the 4th best defence in the league last season and kept 13 clean sheets. I’m banking on them being as solid this season and if this is the case, I fancy Mykolenko to be good value for money at £4.5. Palace were solid enough last term, finished the season in good form and have a decent start to this season and this leads me to pick Joachim Anderson. Rumours surrounding his future are a tad concerning, but for now he’s in my squad. Although should he move to Fulham he’ll remain in my squad anyway. I suppose the doubt is if he hasn’t moved prior to the season opener, which is unlikely, that Palace leave him on the bench. For my 5th defender, I’m going down the £4.0m route with Brighton’s Barco. I’ll be honest, I don’t know a huge amount about him but, hopefully, I won’t need to use him.

Midfield

A discussed above, I’ve gone with Jota over Salah to free up some funds. In the absence of Salah, Saka will be by marquee midfielder. His FPL output has improved season on season over the past four seasons and if Arsenal are to have any chance of usurping City, and I think they can, he will need to improve once again. With penalties & corners in his locker, I expect him to be amongst the top-scoring midfielders again this season. I’m not overly sold on any of the midfielders in the £6.0 – £8.0m bracket. Nkunku could yet prove to be the one, but I’m not sold on him or Chelsea. For now, I’ve gone with Eze based on his end-of-season form coupled with some decent early-season fixtures. Unfortunately, there’s some speculation about his future which means I might yet need to look elsewhere. As soon as Emile Smith-Rowe left Arsenal for Fulham he was a certainty for my team. Injuries over the past couple of seasons have stymied his career and Arsenal have moved on. However, there’s no denying his talent and if he can remain fit, I can see him having a great season for Fulham. He’s hit the ground running in preseason and they’ve got a nice set of fixtures to start the season. My current 5th midfielder is Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers. To be honest, I doubt he’ll be in my squad come the deadline. I can’t see me starting him ahead of my other four mids and he certainly won’t start ahead of my current front 3.

Forwards

With no Mo Salah, Haaland picks himself. He’s had the summer off and despite that bald idiot mumbling about the Norwegian not being fully fit, he picks himself. Yes, he’s £15.0m but that’s what 63 goals across two seasons costs. I haven’t put together many drafts, but of the few I’ve made Isak has been in every one of them. He’s currently the most popular player in the game, by some distance. This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, he finished last season in good form, he’s had the summer off and has been in good form during preseason. Despite having a decent season for Bournemouth, Solanke was not in my thoughts until he moved to Spurs. You have to think that Spurs will create more opportunities than Bournemouth and ergo Solanke will score goals. Don’t worry, I appreciate that life doesn’t always work out in such a simple manner, but I can hope.

What could change? I get cold feet about no Salah and 75% of the above goes out the window!!

Stone Frog

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

A new season, a new hope. The inception of a new team is both fun and painful, so here goes. Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City were the best three attacks last season and although it makes a deep impact on the budget, I have included what I feel are the best attackers (and penalty takers) from each, with Haaland (15m), Saka (10m) and Salah (12.5m) the core of my team. Salah has a good opening run of games and has made a habit of scoring well in GW1, with 8 goals and 5 assists in the last 7 seasons. Haaland has equally usually started well and Saka has two good home games early on.

Joining Haaland up top is Isak (£8.5m), who since his arrival at Newcastle has netted 31 goals in just 52 appearances. In midfield adding Eze (£7.0m) takes me up to five penalty takers. This leaves me with two midfield spots to fill and although it seems a bit alien, this year there are actually a plethora of cheap gems. For now, I’ve opted for Minteh (£5.5m) and Murphy (£5.5m), both of which had a productive preseason, but also looking closely at Kamada, Semenyo and Smith Rowe.

In defence I considered the matrix of £4.5m rotations, but wasn’t convinced. Ultimately, I don’t trust anybody to keep clean sheets except Arsenal (despite the fixtures), so Gabriel comes in. With the abyss of the remaining budget, I have gone with Quansah (£4.5m) and Barco (£4.0m). Quansah is a rotation risk but has great potential. Barco is a good value short-term option until Estupinan returns from injury. I do like Hall, but potential rotation and the number of away games early on, has put me off for now. Henderson is my £4.5m goalkeeper of choice.

There are the eleven, the fantastic four on the budget bench are Matthews (£4.0m), Palace 3rd choice keeper, but 2nd choice if Johnstone moves on; Jebbison my best guess at a £4.5m forward who may get some game time, Robinson (£4.5m) with a decent run of fixtures from GW2 and Greaves as my low ownership £4.0m defender. And finally, good luck to you all and remember it’s not the world’s end if it doesn’t go well in GW1.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW1 Part 2. This article was written by GP, Kop and Stone Frog.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.”

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW2

Welcome to FPL Tips GW2

Rather than come at you with a whole list of players that you should suddenly pick up, after just the sample size of one GW, we have decided to offer up some quick-fire observations from the past weekend. More food for thought than anything else, really. More to discourage knee-jerk reactions than anything else, truth be told.

We will then take a look at the FPL Team of the Week, in a similarly contemplative light.

Talking of ‘knee-jerk’ we shall then look at the transfers in and out so far this week.

WE shall then touch on Captain options ahead of GW2.

GW1 Musings

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

In Defence…

Six of the ten games in GW1 produced a clean-sheet. Which is actually relatively high. Or it feels like it is anyway, sans any stats to actually back that up.

Some were fairly obvious to predict, with the benefit of hindsight. Liverpool away at newly promoted Ipswich for starters. For those who went premium with Trent it was a relatively strong start with the clean sheet allied to 2 BPS. No attacking returns for your investment but rest assured he looked lively, and those will surely come, on the evidence of this. For those who went budget with Quansah, it was an all together different story. Hooked at HT and with Slot saying ‘Jarell lost every duel’. Which he later downgraded / clarified to something similar but without the ‘every’ bit. He also then praised Konate for providing the control in the aerial duels in the 2nd half. Either way, your £4.5m punt may have been short-lived.

Arsenal vs Wolves felt inevitable. As did Newcastle’s cleanie vs Saints, although this one was harder work than it perhaps should have been, thanks to Schar and his red card.

Less obvious, but perhaps just as inevitable, was Man City’s, and this may be ominous once again for the rest. Man United fared a fairly good chance of getting one at home to Fulham, and duly did, but again it was hard work.

Probably the least obvious was Brighton away at Everton. Although whether thats says more about Everton than Brighton we will just have to see.

It was an odd week for defenders as only 3 of them actually managed to get an attacking return. Collins (Brentford) and Munoz (Palace) got an assist each, whilst Porro (Spurs) was probably the star of the week in this department with the sole goal. None of them got a clean-sheet, to boot.

Only 9 got a bonus point, or two. Nobody from Arsenal did. Bizarrely, 3 from Man U did. The rest were from the above teams. Five of the keepers involved in the 6 cleanies got one, with poor Onana missing out.

Mids

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

That’s your top scorers so far, folks. The take-aways here really are that the likes of Salah, Saka and Jota are probably of no real surprise. If you got them then great, if you didn’t then it will have been for a good reason – probably something along the lines of Salah; spreading budget, Saka: Palmer or similar, Jota; went for Salah! They’re the main 3 that you would probably expect to see in the same list come Christmas / end of season.

Kovacic, Joelinton and Onana less so.

Mbeumo and Semenyo may be different though as based purely upon GW1 they are the rare commodity of genuinely being ‘OOP’. Both played up top, both mainly because of Toney and Solanke. Whether that continues depends largely on whether the aforementioned are replaced.

Mitoma… let’s be honest, how many had the same thought of ‘d’oh, forgot about him!’. He hasn’t played since Feb but looking at how attacking Brighton seemed to be in this one he’s definitely one to keep an eye on once more.

Forwards

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Using the same logic then the answer is Haaland, and maybe Isak. Probably sub in Watkins for team-mate Duran.

I’d be surprised to see any of the others.

Perhaps apart from everyone’s favourite ultimate sh*thouse himself, who is back, of course! And what an absolute delight it is to see him. Even unfit and with no pre-season the Red Bull got him through, even to the point when he got taken off he still had just about enough energy to goad the entire Spurs end and then tell Romero to f*ck off, twice. Even when Leicester got relegated I think most of us still ended up with him in our teams, and let’s face it we wouldn’t bet against that particular scenario again.

Beyond some combo of Haaland plus Isak / Watkins / Solanke / Havertz* (*sub in Toney if that happens!), you’ll only really be looking at Mateta or a cheapie like Wood or Muniz so pick your poison / budget in this position and you’ll be fine.

Solanke deserves a quick word as he looked fine and sharp, he probably just needs that opener to settle him down. And Everton are that gift for him on Saturday evening.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Transfers IN / OUT GW1 so far

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

This is the bit where the experienced players get to have a chuckle at the GW1 wannabees, or point chasers as they are also known.

Although, to be fair to them, they have a point. Maybe just not this soon in the week! Jota, Salah and Saka are pretty obvious. Havertz may be the replacement for those shipping Watkins and Toney. Trippier was benched, and Rodri was always injured, but thus also begs the question why he was there in the 1st place? Mazraoui is presumably because of price. As for Palmer… if you picked him then surely it wasn’t because of all the points you thought he may get just against Man City…

FPL Team of the Week

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Two real questions here…

How many of these players would you realistically have picked in your team this week?

And… How many of these players would you realistically expect to be in the FPL Team of the Season come the end?

The answer to both is probably somewhere between 2 and 4.

Perhaps / likely Salah and Saka for one or the other? Maybe Pope for this week, maybe Porro for either? Havertz at a push?

Starts getting difficult beyond that, doesn’t it? The point to which is simply this; regardless of how well or otherwise you did this week then just remember that you picked your players for a reason, and that reason was not just points on the board in GW1. No need to rip your teams up to chase this week’s points, as this team will also look very different next week, and a whole lot different come GW38.

CAPTAIN GW2

We shall touch briefly on the topic of Captain contenders for GW2, simply because we didn’t think it was worth getting our writers out of bed this week to tell you that Haaland is playing Ipswich at home, Salah Brentford, likewise, if you went for him instead. If you really want something different then perhaps Solanke to strike gold vs a wounded Everton or Palmer to awaken and punish his sellers above vs Wolves.

But, seriously, Haaland is at home to Ipswich….

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW2. This article was written by Inittowinit.

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

Follow @FantasyFooty247

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 4

Welcome to Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 4

Whilst you have all been engrossed in the likes of Luxembourg 0-1 Belarus, and lapping up ‘Carsball’, or whatever, we have held a few writers under duress and forced them to come up with a few Tips for GW4 and beyond. Who knows, it may even help with some sneaky wildcards.

DEFENDERS

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Dunk – Jamie Mc

“And Smith Must Score,” one of the most iconic phrases in FA Cup Final commentary history.

Well Smith did not score. Manchester United beat already relegated Brighton 4.0 in the replay of the 1983 FA Cup Final….and the rest is history.

From the Goldstone Ground to Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium to the Withdean Stadium to the AMEX.

From the brink of relegation out of the Football League and their very existence under threat to the Europa League…. what a rollercoaster of a journey Brighton & Hove Albion have been on.

Players have come and gone for huge transfers fees. I am looking at you Cucurella (65m Euros) to Chelsea, Ben White (58m Euros) to Arsenal and World Cup winner Mac Allister (42m Euros) to Liverpool) to name a few. Goodness, Brighton even sold Caicedo to Chelsea for over 100m Euros.

The one constant in their recent history is captain Lewis Dunk (£4.5m).

Owned by only 6.6% of the game, Dunk is a nice differential who has as expected, started all three league games this season and will no doubt play all thirty-eight league games unless an injury and / or suspension occurs.

At the time of writing, 157,233 managers have transferred Dunk into their squad with 34,518 managers deciding to now go without.

It should be noted that Dunk is currently 85.3% (18,856 further transfers required) in FPL Statistics for a £0.1m price increase which should happen as we approach the game week four deadline.

Brighton have started the season well, sitting in third place with seven points from their opening three league games.

In the short term, Brighton has two favourable home fixtures against Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest then away to Chelsea and home to Spurs until the next international break after game week seven.

For younger readers who have no idea who “Smith” is or to older readers looking to reminisce then the following You Tube clip will explain.

Other Defenders (in extension of Dunk) – OddDane

Right then. Let’s see if I can put something coherent together for once. Hey! Stop with the laughing in the back… No snickering either!

amie is right, Dunk is a decent choice. Now, let’s see if there’s a couple others worth looking at.

So far, clean sheets don’t come cheap. You need to dish out a lot of dough for expensive defenders and when you do, you’ve gone and spent it on Gvardiol with whom we can watch in horror as Ederson, Dias and the rest of the lot brainfart their clean sheets away… Yeah, I see you. No, you didn’t get double Pool and Arsenal defences, did you now? Nah, didn’t think so either.

So with clean sheets out of the way. What can we go for? There’s RAN, or Rayan Ait-Nouri (4.5), who plays Newcastle at home. You can hope he plays a sort of midfield-winger, and your wish might come true. He comes across as fairly attacking on the Wolves’ left side.

Then we have Ten Hag’s boys playing the Saints. Surely they’ll see a clean sheet there, surely… Right? Anyway, I’d aim to go cheap, just in case, you know… So that means either Mazraoui (4.5 and I probably didn’t spell that right) and Martinez (4.5).

Finally, you could go against the Seagulls and look to Leif to save your week. That’s Leif Davis the Assister to you. He’s the Ipswich (AKA the tractor boys? what the damn hell?) left wing-back who racked up quite the tally of assists in the Championship and already had one so far. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and ask MattX. Or, you know, the internet.

That’s it. You could of course also get anyone else, or try your luck with the Liverpool and Arsenal lads.

MIDFIELDERS – left, right and centre – OddDane

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

With us going into gameweek 4 you will have familiarised yourself with the popular picks and big hitters by now. No doubt the likes of Salah, Palmer, Son, Saka and KdB are likely to do well with their fixtures at hand. Yes that’s right, the North London derby isn’t too bad for attacking returns. The same I’d argue applies to middle of the road priced options such as the likes of Diaz, Jota, and Bruno, so I’ll give a few mentions outside the more popular/obvious choices spectrum.

First off we have the Seagulls fighting off an invasion from the Tractor Boys (An apt nickname for a crest with a horse, kicking a football, whilst walking on water..? Okay, you do you Ipswich). Here we could see Kaoru Mitoma (6.6) do well, butit’s also one where we should see Minteh (5.5) starting on the opposite side from Kaoru. The two of them actually have quite similar expected goal involvements, at 0.7-0.78/90mins (fbref). Quite impressive value (Small print; small samples yet, mind you, and… you’ll somehow be picking the wrong one). If you had to force my hand, then let’s point to Minteh, who is especially known for his good form in the Danish Super Liga, and whilst the EPL is no Super Liga, I reckon he could still do okay…

Then there’s the Toffees visiting Villa Park. Here you can see events like a young Rogers tearing out his last pieces of head hair after seeing Watkins burn his 5th big chance and you can witness the beautiful sport of Dyche set-piece terrorball. Speaking of set-pieces. There’s this Mc something guy who is supposed to be really good. McMeal! There it was… No? Let’s call him McNeil (5.4) then. He sports good prospects of goal involvements in his coming fixtures and has already shown decent expected goal involvement from his many crosses and set-pieces. Of course, expected assists may be all it ends up being, with the likes of DCL, Beto and random 2-meter tall defenders at the end of those beautiful passes. But yeah, it could be fun right? (Also, they have actually been scoring a few lately. Not winning, but that’s one for another day…).

Enough rambling, next one is the Cottagers getting Hammered. It could be by anyone from Bowen, Paqueta and Kudus to Andersen scoring an own goal at his debut game. It could be a 0-0 snooze fest or goals galore. Mind you, it may also get cancelled after each side has had three reds each – Soucek and Andreas to start the party is my wager. On the Fulham side the choices are fairly well known unless you’ve gone for a certain pro-wrestler/bodybuilder who moonlights as a premier league winger. In which case I can’t help you anyway… So, from the Hammers’ side I’d find Kudus (6.4) an interesting pick, as he’s looked quite lively even if he has had little to show for it so far. Bowen is the obvious choice if you have the funds and are not scraping the poor man’s barrel for players like yours truly.

The Eagles have been busy selling their players, but somehow have retained the services of mister Eze, E (6.9). He’s a bit of a talisman for them, and even though they’re not attractive from an attacking output point of view (amongst the very worst so far, actually) he is one of the main ones to make it happen. In fact, he should’ve probably had a return or two more than he has already.

I thought I’d keep going, but at this rate it’s already a long one and the likes of Semenyo (5.6) and Tavernier (5.5) probably are a hard sell with their upcoming fixtures. Even if I like Tavernier’s set-pieces. Then there’s Chelsea, but this would require me speaking to, I’m just guessing, 14 different attacking midfielders who may or may not start. Just get Palmer, I guess…

That’s that then, let’s move on and see how many times Rosco the rascal has recommended Haaland. He’s just about my only knowledge of scoring forwards. In my team anyway.

FORWARDS – who are not Haaland – Rosco

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

If you’re in the market for a new forward (s) this week, then you have a plethora of options available, from the budget-saving £5.7m all the way up to the budget-breaking £15.2m.

So, who do you pick? Well, from a fixture perspective, Villa sit top of the ticker over the next 4. Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) would usually be a shoo-in but he’s had his minutes managed thus far, and whilst the fixture have been mixed, owners will have hoped for more than a single assist across the 185 minutes he has played. In terms of the limited data we do have, Watkins sits 6th for NPxGI (Non-penalty involvement) with 1.60, there’s certainly room for improvement but he’s a wait and see for now.

Sticking with fixtures, the budget Brighton duo João Pedro and Danny Welbeck (both £5.7m) have amassed over 1 million transfer in this week alone. Many started with Pedro and have reaped the rewards with 18pts across his opening 3 fixtures. All the more impressive is that he scored his 2 goals in the ‘harder fixtures’ against Man Utd and an Arsenal side reduced to 10 men. Welbeck meanwhile has matched his teammate for goals and added an assist for good measure, an unexpected 23pts means he sits behind only Haaland of points (from forwards) thus far.

With back-to-back home games against Ipswich and Forest up next, its easy to see why the Seagull’s pair are popular. Of the two, Welbeck’s data is better, but as ever you could frame it to suit any argument; with an xG of 0.81 for his 2 goals has Pedro been fortunate or clinical? Similarly, with an NPxGI of 1.47 has Welbeck been lucky to come away with 3 returns? You get the picture. There’s little to separate the two, Pedro seems to have had the better minutes thus far but in truth, it’s a coin flip on which one is the better option. (For the record I bought Pedro this week).

Over the next 4, Chelsea sit higher in the fixture ticker with away trips to Bournemouth and West Ham followed by a brace of home games against Brighton and Forest. Nicolas Jackson (£7.6m) has 2 goals and an assist across The Blue’s opening 3, this is despite coming off before the 70-minute mark in two of those three. In terms of data, Jackson’s lines up. 2 goals from an xG of 2.22 and an NPxGI of 2.29 against his 3 returns. Chelsea are creating plenty of chances, their 7 goal return is bettered by only City, if you can handle those early substitutions, then Jackson could prove a nice differential (6% ownership).

If you’re on a Wildcard or looking for a rotation forward(s), then both Wissa and Wood (both £6.1m) could prove better buys than all the aforementioned players. In the short term purely from a fixture perspective, Wood trumps Wissa with away trips to both City and Spurs next up for the Bees, however, the expected data favours Wissa. Like the Brighton forwards, there is little to separate these two. Historical data suggests Wood is a lot more clinical, indeed, he matched Wissa with 131pts last season in significantly less minutes, but the issue is, that whilst Wissa’s stock has risen significantly (with the departure of Ivan Toney), Wood still has the same issues he had last season in terms competition from Taiwo Awoniyi. I like both. I’d pick Wissa of the two, I would consider both from GW6.

Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) feels worthy of a mention, and not just because of the 12pts he scored in GW3. If we’re focusing on fixtures, then Everton have a sea of green that runs from GW5 through to GW14. The problem? It’s Everton. Bottom of the table with 3 losses, the worst defensive record in the league and other than Southampton the worst goals record. But let’s get some perspective, we’ve only played 3 games. The Toffees have the fixtures to dig themselves out of this mess, if DCL can stay fit, he COULD be an option (don’t quote me on this one!).

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 4. This article was written by Jamie C, OddDane and Rosco.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW8

Welcome to FPL Tips GW8

Back to business, then, after another international break – or Nations League break if you prefer. Not that either are massively welcomed. I’m afraid there’s still a few more between now and Christmas as well. And that’s if you can even bear to think about the festive period yet as well.

Anyway, dusting off our FPL teams after some time away, we can almost forget about any wasted wildcards, terrible transfers and ropey rotations in our squads. It’s still only Gameweek 8 and so early days in a season that’ll no doubt have many more twists and turns along the way.

Goalkeepers

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Clean sheets are few and far between so far this season, with only 31 instances out of a possible 140 to date. Leading the way out of the shot stoppers is Liverpool’s Alisson and Man United’s André Onana, both with four clean sheets each. The former is currently injured for a while, with his much cheaper stand-in Caoimhin Kelleher now standing in. At £4.4m, the Irishman has attracted the purchasing power of 31,000 managers at the time of writing, however Chelsea at home and Arsenal away will be quite the challenge. Especially as it’s been the quality of Alisson that has been mainly responsible for the few goals conceded so far.

Onana, on the other hand, does come in at £5m and you can see why he’s popular this gameweek on the back of 39 points from seven. No wonder, then, that there have been 55,000 purchases over the international break. Looking ahead, it’s mainly favourable with Brentford and Chelsea at home probably the biggest challenges between now and December. Whilst the Red Devils have had their much-publicised problems, these do tend to be in the attacking format where just five goals have been scored in seven. Whilst there have been eight conceded in the same time, the 2-1 and two 3-0 defeats are otherwise surrounded by clean sheets. All or nothing, really.

As I suspected, Everton have started to find much greater form after their disastrous start to the season. Their goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, has fallen in price to £4.8m from the £5m he started the season with, conceding an eye-watering 13 goals in the first four fixtures. Gameweeks 5 and 6 may have been boring two-pointers, however the 15 picked up in the 0-0 draw with Newcastle – thanks, in part, to a penalty save – has attracted attention in the FPL transfer market. Looking ahead at The Toffees’ games coming up, there is an opportunity for them to start looking up the table with Ipswich, Fulham, Southampton, West Ham, Brentford, Man United and Wolves the opposition between now and Gameweek 14.

Defenders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

An FPL hero from a few years back, James Justin is just too tempting to ignore. Very much a secret weapon in days of old when Leicester were last in the Premier League, it looks like this legend is getting in and amongst the points once again with a 12-point haul away at Arsenal from two goals scored, followed up by 10 at home to Bournemouth on the back of a clean sheet and assist. So, it’s fair to say there’s the attacking potential, even if the fixture against The Cherries has been the East Midlanders’ only clean sheet so far. On the subject of nostalgia, there was that 9-0 victory Leicester had at Southampton, the Foxes’ opposition this weekend, back in 2019 – I know, five years ago already. However, the last two meetings, when the two sides were in the Championship last season, also resulted in 5-0 and 4-1 victories and the total time between those milestones has seen them put 12 past the Saints in eight ties across all competitions. When you consider the fact that Russell Martin’s men have only found the back of the net four times in seven, there’s even a case to be made for Justin to keep a clean sheet as well.

Micky van de Ven may seem like a strange pick on the basis that Spurs have conceded eight goals – of which three were in that utter capitulation at Brighton when they went down 3-2 after being 2-0 up. However, VDV has got two assists to his name in that time and the fixtures for Spurs start to offer both attacking and clean sheet potential. First up is a visit by West Ham, with an away day at Crystal Palace shortly afterwards. At £4.6m, you don’t have to break the bank to bring him in and his ownership at 10.8% is a fair differential too.

Other defenders to consider for their attacking potential – if not their clean sheet potential – are Rayan Aït-Nouri and Nathan Collins. In the case of the Wolves player, he has scored twice in his last two, and also comes in at a handy £4.4m. While you will want to give him a miss ahead of Man City coming to Molineux, the player then has pretty decent fixtures to see out the rest of 2024. Brentford’s Collins, meanwhile, has one goal and three assists to his name so far – of which the 5-3 triumph over Wolves saw him find the back of the net and set up another – and also has the third-highest tally on FPL’s threat index for defenders. Just Gabriel and De Ligt are ahead of him. Whilst 13 goals have been conceded in The Bees’ 2024-25 campaign so far, there are decent fixtures on the horizon. As previously mentioned, Man United, who are Brentford’s opposition this week, are struggling to score; and then there’s Ipswich, Fulham, Bournemouth, Everton and Leicester up to Gameweek 13. Not bad for £4.5m.

Midfielders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Zzzzz…. Grr.. Whaa’… Oh shush it’s int’l week of boredomzzzz… A large rooster crows loudly from afar… Okay, Okay, I’m up! Is it even Wednesday already!?

Right then, Midfielders it is, and what a lot to pick from. Let’s do a top three of fixtures and then some random muttering. We assume you’ve familiarised yourself with the premiums (Palmer, Saka, Son, Salah, Foden, KdB, etc. etc.) – just pick the ones you want and can afford, turn off twitter, and move on with your daily business carefreeImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view..

TLDR; Oh and if it’s Friday already, you’ve not had a rooster to keep you alert and/or you simply can’t be arsed to read it all, see if you can fit one of Maddison, Mbeumo, KdB/Foden into your starting XI and keep your eyes open for starting XI/injury news (e.g. Brennan, Saka, KdB, Foden…).

First off we have Spurs at home against the Hammers, this should be good fun. Two teams who like to score and are apt in the art of conceding them as well.

Brennan Johnson (6.6) and James Maddison (7.5) are stand-out midfielders for Spurs we think. The former has been on fire recently but also has some injury concerns to his name currently, follow the news there.

Let’s take another look at Maddi instead then, he’s Spurs’ most progressive passer and has an expected goal involvement of 0.56/90mins (Fbref) – yes, that’s a return every other game – and in terms of goals, this fixture should count as two games (…this is going to be 0-0 now isn’t it?). He also takes the odd set-piece, and if Son and Richy the Pigeon are out, he might even take to the penalty spot!

If stripped for cash, and Brennan is out, you could consider Kulusevski (6.2) who is similar in terms of expected goal involvements, but hasn’t returned quite as much – not yet anyway – This could be due to the fact that he is sometimes used a bit deeper nowadays. Spurs have decent enough fixtures over the next six game weeks.

From Hammers’ side, well, let’s just say Bowen (7.4). He’s similar to Maddi in the sense that he has an expected goal involvement of 0.47/90min, he might take to the penalty spot (if Paqueta isn’t there probably) and he takes the odd set-piece as well, though again, that lad Paqueta probably takes the more interesting FKs. Kudus (6.3) has similar expected goal involvement, but little to show for it thus far, a cheaper option could be Paqueta (5.9) but with a bit lower expected goal involvement. Mind you, not the best of fixtures for this lot over the next six games.

Moving on to the Wolves vs City game. Wolves’ form has been… Well, let’s put it in the form of meme language.
Everyone: Saints must be, without question, the leading candidate for that bottom spot of the table.
Wolves: Awkward silence, followed by… HOLD MY FACKING BEEEEER!

And off they went. To concede 21 goals, TWENTY ONE GOALS, in just SEVEN games.

So, of course, everyone’s captain Erling the top goalscorer Haaland will blank, without question. Because… FPL, that’s why. So instead, we look to Kevin de Bruyne (9.4), if fit to play, and Foden (9.2) as the outside risky choice due to his capabilities and high ceiling. City comes with a nice run of fixtures, but who does one choose. Oh bugger…

Then we have Saints vs Foxes. This is a tough one to predict, but we reckon Buonanotte’s (5.0) form for Leicester is worth a mention. Could be a nice enabler if you want to go different from e.g. the Rogers, Semenyos, McNeils and ESRs of this game. Leicester also comes with a good run of fixtures too.

Let’s see, then there’s the rest, Arsenal are visiting the cherries and someone like Trossard (6.9) or Martinelli (7.0) could be a shrewd pick if Saka is out. That’s probably a big “if”, but never say never. Arsenal’s upcoming fixtures aren’t straightforward though.

The red devils are facing the Bees at home and someone like Bruno (8.2) is an option to consider, even though he’s not looked his old self and has little in terms of actual returns to boast about, his underlying expected goal involvement of 0.49/90 suggests he should be a contender for points.

Finally, of course, there’s Mbeaume, no Mbuome, no it’s Mbe.. eh… MAC-BOOOM-AY-O! Mbeumo (7.5) is doing well and is probably considered by most already. Bees have decent fixtures too.

Forwards

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

It is extremely embarrassing for me to advise anyone of what forwards to consider as a transfer in or if you are currently on a wildcard.

My Overall Ranking – 5,386,748!!! FF247 Regulars League – 75 out of 77!!! FF247 Championship Head-to-Head League – Played 7; Lost 7!!!

Set & Forget

Erling Haaland (£15.4m & 73.3% ownership) – Everything that can be said about the Robot has been said. But just to remind you, Haaland is well on his way to another golden boot with ten goals scored so far this season. Haaland is not only the top point scoring forward player but joint top points scorer in the whole game with sixty-seven points.

Fixtures

As the October International break has just finished then we have four game weeks before the November International break. Which forward players should you be considering with decent up and coming fixtures until then?

Dominic Solanke (£7.6m 11.9% ownership) – Tottenham have decent fixtures against West Ham(h), Crystal Palace(a), Aston Villa(h), Ipswich Town(h). After an injury hit start to his Tottenham career, Solanke has played all but three minutes of football available in the last four game weeks. Solanke has scored two goals and had one assist in this period. Solanke also scored and assisted in a Europa League tie. At the time of writing, Solanke is currently sitting at 95.5% in FPL Statistics with a further 3,549 transfers required for a £0.1m price increase.

Chris Wood (£6.2m & 11.6% ownership) – Chris Wood, like Nottingham Forest has started the season well. Wood has thirty-nine points this season making him sixth highest points scorer for all forwards. Wood has started all seven league games but rarely completes the full 90 minutes but has always played at least 60 minutes before being substituted securing that extra point. Wood has scored four goals this season making him joint second for goals with another six forward players. Wood has also earned a further ten bonus points across four games. With decent fixtures against Crystal Palace(h), Leicester (a), West Ham(h), Newcastle(h) then Wood could continue his good goalscoring start to the season.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m & 6.1% ownership) – DCL appears to have put his injury woes behind him for this season. DCL has started all seven league games for Everton playing the full 90 minutes in the last four game weeks. Granted DCL only has scored two goals and assisted once but with okay fixtures against Ipswich Town(a), Fulham(h), Southampton(a), West Ham(a) over the next four game weeks then he may be someone to consider as a differential due to his low ownership.

Form

Raul Jimenez (£5.6m & 5.7% ownership) – Raul Jimenez has firmly cemented his place as the main forward player for Fulham having started the last four game weeks. Granted he has not finished the full 90 minutes in any of these four game weeks but in this time has scored a goal in each of the three game weeks and has assisted once in the last game week. Jimenez has also earned a further six bonus points over two game weeks giving him a total of twenty-nine points during this four-game week period. With decent fixtures Aston Villa(h), Everton(a), Brentford(h), Crytal Palace (a) then there is no reason why Jimenez cannot continue his good goalscoring form.

Liam Delap (£5.7m & 5.0% ownership) – Like most promoted teams, Ipswich Town are struggling in the Premier League. Granted the “Tractor Boys” are outside the relegation positions courtesy of four draws. If Ipswich are to gain their first league win of the season, then Liam Delap is likely to be the man to score the goals to earn this first win. Delap has scored four goals this season with three of these goals scored in the last two game weeks. Delap has decent fixtures against Everton(h), Brentford(a), Leicester (h) then a more difficult fixture at Tottenham.

Ollie Watkins (£9.1m & 29.0% ownership) – Watkins is continually being written about either as captain pick or an incoming transfer pick. Euros – tired / Duran – wonderkid blah, blah, blah. Watkins is the main man for Villa. Watkins playing minutes have massively increased over the last four game weeks scoring four goals with one assist during this period. Watkins is the third highest points scorer for all forwards with forty-one points and joint second top goal scorer for all forwards with four goals. Villa have decent fixtures over the next two game weeks Fulham(a) & Bournemouth(h) before difficult fixtures against Tottenham & Liverpool away. Villa will also have Champions League fixtures to contend with during this period.

Why would any sensible manager consider anything that I am about to suggest??? Well even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Good luck for the game week.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW8. This article was written by Swirly, Jamie Mc and OddDane.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW12

Welcome to FPL Tips GW12

Goalkeepers
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

With the final International Break of the year now over, we all move full steam ahead into a run of nine game weeks, with the feast of the Christmas/New Year schedule until we reach the famine of the 3rd Round of the FA Cup on Saturday 11th January 25.

The goalkeeping position is a position that us fantasy managers do not want to spend too much money on and is very much a “set and forget.” Most managers will have a £4.5m and non-playing £4.0m goalkeeping duo or perhaps two rotating £4.5m goalkeepers depending on the fixtures of that particular game week. There has been eleven game weeks so far this season totalling 110 games with the 220 teams accounting for only forty-five clean sheets (20%) during the course of the season.

To briefly summarise, Manchester United’s Andre Onana (£5.1m) leads the way with five clean sheets this season. The Liverpool combo of Alisson Becker (£5.4m) and Caoimhin Kelleher (£4.5m) have six clean sheets between them. Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels (£4.7m) also has four clean sheets this season. Finally, three goalkeepers have three clean sheets each, namely David Raya (£5.6m), Jordon Pickford (£4.9m) and Nick Pope (£5.0m). There is a bundle of goalkeepers with two clean sheets so far this season.

So, if you are on a wildcard, have a transfer to burn or fed up with Mark Flekken in your team then which goalkeepers should you be considering?

Emi Martinez (£5.0m & 13.1% ownership) – Admittedly, World Cup winner Martinez has had a disappointing season to date with only one clean sheet to his name so far this season. Martinez has played every minute of this season. With thirty-two points, Martinez is 10th place for all goalkeepers. Martinez has saved one penalty, amassed twenty-seven saves resulting in six saves points and two bonus points in one game week. Villa have decent fixtures over the next five game weeks against Crystal Palace (H), Chelsea (A), Brentford (H), Southampton (H), Nottingham Forest (A).

Nick Pope (£5.0m & 7.0% ownership) – As mentioned above, Nick Pope has earned three clean sheets this season. With fixtures against West Ham United (H), Crystal Palace (A), Liverpool (H), Brentford (A), Leicester City (H) over the next five game weeks then Pope will be praying he can add to his clean sheet numbers. With forty-three points, Pope currently sits in fifth place for all goalkeepers. Pope has forty-two saves to his name which has gained ten save points. Pope has only two bonus points this season from one game week. When Pope is fit then he plays every minute of every game week.

David Raya (£5.6m & 28.7% ownership) – Raya is the most expensive and most owned goalkeeper in the game. Raya has had a mixed start to the season. With three clean sheets from the first four game weeks then Raya was looking like defending his golden gloves title with ease. Arsenal have conceded a goal in each of the last seven game weeks. As a double Arsenal defence holder, I have felt the pain on each and every one of these occasions. Raya currently sits in sixth place for all goalkeepers with forty-two points. Raya has thirty-four saves to his name which has gained eight save points. Raya has six bonus points this season from three game weeks. Raya is now very much the Gunners number one goalkeeper and has played every minute of the season. Arsenal fixtures are ok with Nottingham Forest (H), West Ham United (A), Manchester United (H), Fulham (A), Everton (H) all on the horizon. According to FPL Statistics, Raya is at the time of writing -97.9% with a further 1,484 transfers out for a £0.1m price decrease.

Alisson Becker (£5.4m) & Caoimhin Kelleher (£4.5m) – Top of the Premier League; Liverpool very much now looks like the team to beat. With six clean sheets; the most clean sheets of any team in the league this season spread across Becker with four and Kelleher with two. Becker is still orange flagged with an injury so we are not too sure when he will be fit. Kelleher may remain in the team and looking to add to his clean sheet numbers with fixtures against Southampton (A), Manchester City (H), Newcastle United (A), Everton (A), Fulham (H) over the next five game weeks. The quick turn-around between games over the hectic schedule may see Kelleher keep his place a while longer whilst Becker is eased back into the team from his injury. If you have Kelleher in your squad then a playing alternative goalkeeper is recommended as once Becker is fit, then he will play.

Jose Sa (£4.3m & 1.7% ownership) & Sam Johnstone (£4.4m & 0.4% ownership) – If you are a RAN or a Cunha owner then you will be well aware of Wolves nice run of fixtures. Fixtures over the next five game weeks of Fulham (A), Bournemouth (H), Everton (A), West Ham United (A), Ipswich Town (H) could see a Wolves goalkeeper earn a clean sheet or two. Sa & Johnstone have been sharing the goalkeeping duties with Sa starting the first two game weeks and playing the last four game weeks with Johnstone playing five game weeks in between. Sa did play last game week when Wolves gained their first clean sheet of the season. Regardless of who plays then save points will no doubt be plentiful with both players slightly cheaper than the £4.5m template goalkeeper. In saying that the uncertainly of who could be keeping goal might be too much of a risk unless you have another playing goalkeeper in your squad.

The goalkeeping position is not a sexy pick and with clean sheets harder and harder to come by then it is perfectly understandable why we all overlook the position which allows us to invest more money elsewhere in our squad.

Defenders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Personally I still favor fixtures and clean sheet odds for picking that backline, so let’s have a quick look. I’d probably rate them in the order of Arsenal (v Forest), Liverpool (v Saints), Newcastle (v Hammers), Villains (v Eagles), ManU (v Ipswich) and Ful/Che/City sort of in the running after that.

From Arsenal you know the options and Gabriel (6.1) would probably be my choice with the distant hope of a goal. Timber (5.5) could be a “budget” option, have seen him expected to start but hey… who knows with Mikel. Yeah, don’t be stingy here I’d say…

The Liverpool lads you know and with Trent rumored out, I’d take my bets on Konaté (5.4) to save a few quids. Virgil (6.3), for the connoisseur in you. Liverpool’s defensive powers are probably amongst the best and, well, the Saints’ attacking prowess is… err… Yeah, let’s move on.

From the Toon, I’d say Hall (4.4) is good value for money and has been playing well recently. Of course, Hammers can always show up for a goal or two, lately that’s mostly in their own end though – those black and white stripes should do well (and that’s not just the Rosco in me speaking, though I can hear his faint cheers in the distance already…!).

From the Villains, I present to you, the villainous villain of them all, the infamous, mister Digne (4.7). Choose at your own peril, this is FPL after all, muwhahaha! And whilst on the topic of devious devils, let’s round off with the red ones…

Dalot (5.2) supposedly speaks the language of the new manager and is visiting Ipswich, who are no walkovers, but still should be a decent fixture for ManU. Jump on the new manager bounce? Well, with him being Ruben Amorim I’d say why the hell not!?

Good luck! and remember, whomever you choose… There will probably be another who’s proven to be the better one instead Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Midfielders
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
49.9%. At the time of writing, Mo Salah featured in just 49.9% of teams. Now, there’s no right or wrong way to play FPL but, if you don’t own the Egyptian King you’re certainly making things hard on yourself.

There’s a strong case to be made that Salah is the FPL GOAT. Since joining Liverpool, he averages 249pts across his seven full seasons. This season, he’s well on track to beat his average. He’s currently the highest scorer by 23pts, thanks to eight goals and six assists. Crucially, when it comes to captaincy, he has seven double digit hauls from his 11 games. Unsurprisingly, his stats are impressive but there’s no need for me to go into those given the above numbers.

Liverpool are playing a completely different style of football under Slot and this sees them taking a more measured approach in games. This means that at times they’re not as exciting to watch but they have still scored 21 goals this season, just two behind the highest scorers, Spurs. Salah, as he always has been, is the fulcrum of the attack and therefore I see no reason for his returns to slow. If you don’t own him, change that. Sooner rather than later.

Some of us make transfer decisions based on form, others on fixtures. Presently, Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo is probably ticking both boxes. In terms of form, he’s got five goals and an assist in his last seven games to bring his tally to the season eight goals and an assist. In terms of fixtures, their next three games are against Everton, Leicester &; Villa. Bizarrely, the Everton game will be the toughest, but Leicester and Villa have shipped a combined 23 goals over the past six gameweeks.
Mbeumo has been extremely consistent this season, blanking just twice in 11 games and is clearly Brentford’s talisman. With the departure of Ivan Toney in the summer, Mbeumo is now the designated penalty taker and, so far, he’s as devastating from the spot as Toney before him.

To listen to some Arsenal fans, you’d swear they’re the first team to ever suffer from a few injuries or suspensions! Their injury crisis is starting to ease and aside from the visit of a potentially rejuvenated United in GW14, they’ve got a superb run of fixtures through to 2025. So, if you’ve dumped their assets, perhaps it’s time to jump back on. Bukayo Saka is the obvious choice. Much like his teammates, his form has dropped off of late but over the course of the season he is the 6th highest scoring player with three goals, seven assists and 10 bonus points. Despite this, you’ll be buying Saka in the hope that his returns increase, and he scores at a rate similar to last season. The return of Martin Odegaard coupled with their upcoming fixtures should see him score at such a rate.

In Ruben Amorim, have United finally found their successor to Alex Ferguson? Only time will tell. He is potentially the most exciting managerial appointment they’ve made since Fergie left. However, it remains to be seen how the current crop of players will fit into Amorim’s favoured system, 3-4-3. I’ll admit that I didn’t watch a lot of Sporting Lisbon so I’ve no idea which of the current players are likely to thrive. One player that certainly interests me is Bruno Fernandes. In recent weeks he’s shown glimpses of what he’s capable of, with 27pts across gameweeks 10 & 11. If Amorim can get United to play like a team capable of finishing top 4 then Bruno could yet prove a bargain at just £8.4m.

Forwards
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Despite beating both Arsenal & City, Bournemouth’s assets continue to be largely overlooked. Antoine Semenyo has grabbed the majority of the FPL headlines and features in 10.2% of teams. However, perhaps it is time we turned our attentions to record signing Evanilson, who joined from Porto in the Summer. The Brazilian endured a tough start to life on the South coast, missing a penalty against Chelsea in GW4. However, he’s recently started to find his feet and is beginning to justify his £40m price tag. Over the past six gameweeks he has four goals, an assist and nine bonus points. In fact, he’s the 5th highest scoring player in that time period and is priced at just £5.9m. For those of you already on the hunt for a differential Evanilson is your man, as currently he features in just 1.6% of teams. It’s also worth noting that Bournemouth have a great run of fixtures through to the end of the year.

Wolves have had what can only be described as a shocking start to the season, picking up their first win in GW11. Despite this, they have a couple of reasonably popular FPL assets, one of whom is Matheus Cunha. With three goals, two assists and 10 bonus points he has outscored the aforementioned Evanilson by one point over the past six gameweeks. In that same period he ranks 5th, amongst forwards, for goal attempts and, impressively, he’s first for big chances created. At £6.8m, he’s a little more expensive than Evanilson and isn’t quite the differential, featuring in 10.1% of teams. Just like Bournemouth though, Wolves have a great run of fixtures over the coming weeks. That is, if a team 2nd from bottom in the league can have a great run of fixtures!!

My final pick this week is Newcastle’s Alexander Isak. The Swede had a reasonable start to the season, claiming a goal and an assist in the opening three gameweeks. A broken toe saw him miss a number of games and his season stalled. With three goals and an assist in his last three games he has certainly reignited his season. Having only picked up two points from five games, Newcastle’s season looked in danger of being over before it really started, but back-to-back wins over Arsenal & Forest have seen them find their form. Aside from the visit of Liverpool in GW14 they have a decent run through to Christmas and given their recent resurgence, Isak could well prove a good source of points.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW12. This article was written by JamieMc, OddDane and Kop.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW17 to GW19

Welcome to FPL Tips GW17 to GW19

Christmas Craziness is upon us! Basically a match a day, four gameweeks over 16 days. I love this time of year for just watching football but it is a difficult time of year for FPL! FPL Managers have to deal with injuries popping up, rotation from the likes of Pep or just being too hungover to make the next deadline!

We know you can use all the help you can get so we have combined some of the thoughts from OddDane, JamieMc and MattX. Our three not-so wise men! Will they lead you to glory by following a star or lead you to a steaming pile of donkey doo-doo? You can decide and let us know in GW20 when the dust settles!

OddDane – Rearguarders

Another week is upon us and it’s time to spin the wheel of scarce clean sheets to see if you get the joker clean sheet of the week. Don’t worry, you won’t. Unless, of course, you’re facing yours truly in H2H then amazingly your entire XI gets one…

Anyway, those clean sheets are what those goalkeepers and defenders are meant to get away with from time to time, so before we go any further, let’s round up the fixtures by likelihood of a clean sheet. Probably the list goes as; Arsenal away (vs CRY), Fulham home (vs SOU), Chelsea away (vs EVE), Newcastle away (vs IPS) and then maybe the two Manchesters or even Bees or Liverpool but these feel less likely.

Then we have the coming two weeks, well here Liverpool looks decent and so does the two Manchesters. Brentford though, we can take off the list again.

So, who to pick then?

Goalkeepers

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images)

First on the list we have Mr. Sanchez (4.8) from Chelsea who is facing Everton (A), followed by Fulham (H) and Ipswich (A). He sits #5 on points for keepers despite a missed game and slightly bumpy start. Admittedly Chelsea sits in the middle of the table for expected goals against (xGA), so this one may not pay off – but, they’re in good form with decent fixtures.

Then let’s have a look at our premiums, where Alisson (5.4) is now back and after Spurs is facing Leicester (H) and the Hammers (A). He’s averaged just north of 5pts/start so far and could be a cheap(ish) way to Liverpool’s defense which, together with Arsenal’s, is amongst the very best.

And thus in due turn, we have Raya (5.6) facing the Eagles and after that Ipswich (H) and the away Bees (they sting much less away from home it seems). Had enough of the price rices for the Gunners’ defenders? Raya’s the solution for your broke, sorry …*ahem*… your unlucky behind…

Finally, there’s Leno (5.0) to consider against Saints (H), Chelsea (A) and then Bournemouth (H). Fulham has mustered a decent defense thus far and sits on par with Bournemouth and Everton as the 5th (ish) best team for xGA.

Of course you can get away with any goalkeeper (please don’t say Ramsdale…), personally I’ll probably keep Sels but his fixtures are not appealing. Then there’s Onana with ok fixtures, but his blunders are also not appealing haha Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.. Ok, moving on…

Defenders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

There’s bound to be a déjà vu when it comes to teams here, but well, we’ll try and keep it short.

Let’s start with Fulham, where every man and his dog is getting rid of RAN for Robinson (4.8) and rightfully so; on top of the decent fixtures and defending he can also deliver attacking returns. Fret not, however, we know you have an empty wallet – there’s also mister Andersen (4.2) who is bound to make his return to the starting XI soon. It might not be vs Saints (H), so watch the presser there.

From Chelsea there’s Colwill (4.6) who’s become a mainstay in their defensive line, he comes with a good range of decent fixtures – even if Chelsea’s more about just scoring goals for the time being.

The Toon gets a mention too with Lewis Ha(u)ll (4.6) rewarding his owners last week. Well, they’re facing Ipswich followed by AVL (H) and MUN (A), then TOT (A) and a decent run after that. He’s probably one who could be for this week mainly.

A couple other cheap options could be Martinez (4.4) and Dunk (4.4), but in terms of clean sheets are a bit secondary/tertiary options compared to the others.

Then, for Mr. & Mrs moneybags out there, we have the usual suspects from Arsenal; Saliba (6.3), Gabriel (6.1) and Timber (5.7), we all know what they can do – and that is getting a set-piece goal whenever you have ‘that other one’. Of course, in the same premium bracket there’s Trent (7.0) and Virgil (6.5) who, after Spurs, should be on track for clean sheets again. And finally we have Gvardiol (6.1) who’s taken upon himself to see if he can become Man City’s new top goal scorer.

There you have it. Easy right? Congratulations in advance with all the yellow cards, early substitutions and own goals.

Jamie Mc – Midfielders

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)

The FF247 bosses have requested tips to cover game weeks 17 – 19 only; so which midfielders should you be considering for this three games week period.

Based on the fixtures and not necessarily form then I present for your consideration…

Mohamed Salah (£13.4m & 63.4% ownership) – everything that could be said about Salah has been said many times over. I only have to draw your attention to Rosco’s recent captains article detailing the merits of owning Salah. We should all have dumped Haaland by now to make space for Salah in our team. With fixtures at injury ravaged Tottenham, home to leaky Leicester City and away at West Ham United then Mo will be looking to add to his thirteen goals & nine assists and maintain his position as the top points scorer in the game.

Cole Palmer (£11.2m & 63.4% ownership) & Noni Madueke (£6.3m & 7.0% ownership) – Matt has provided a great write up on Palmer in the recent captain’s article. With fixtures at a defensive Everton, a London derby at home to Fulham and away at relegation threatened Ipswich Town then Palmer will be looking to add to his eleven goals & seven assists in the chase to be top points scorer again in the game. If you do not own Palmer or looking for a Chelsea double up in midfield then Noni Madueke might be the one to grab your attention. Madueke has started most of Chelsea’s league games earning seventy-five points to date making him nineth in the game for all midfielders. Madueke has scored five goals & provided four assists and obtained ten bonus points over four games.

A slightly cheaper option than Palmer for you to consider is Bukayo Saka (£10.6m & 44.4% ownership) – With a fantastic corner deliver, Saka has provided the most assists in the game with eleven along with his five goals scored. With two away London derbies at Crystal Palace and Brentford and a home game against Ipswich Town in between then Saka will be looking to improve his position as the third top points scorer in the game (behind Salah & Palmer).

Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m & 14.3% ownership & Amad Diallo (£5.2m & 11.1% ownership) – Fresh off their “smash & grab” victory at City last game week. Bruno is still the Red Devils main man and will be looking to add to his four goals and six assists with more than decent fixtures over the next three game weeks at home to Bournemouth, away at Wolves and home to Newcastle United. Bruno has scored eighty-one points this season making him sixth for all midfielders in the game. Amad Diallo has developed into Bruno’s new wing man instead of it seems the now departing Marcus Rashford. Amad is the third highest points scorer for United with sixty-five points. Amad has scored two goals and provided seven assists this season. Amad has played the full ninety minutes of five of the last six United league games scoring a goal & providing six assists & earned eight bonus points in this six games period.

Alex Iwobi (£5.7m & 5.0% ownership) – Iwobi is a relatively cheap midfielder and potentially a nice differential for you to consider. Iwobi has scored seventy-eight points this season making him seventh for all midfielders in the game. Iwobi has started every league game for Fulham this season scoring five goals and provided three assists. Fulham have some nice fixtures at home to Southampton & Bournemouth with an away London derby at Chelsea in-between.

A word of caution, with four game weeks over the next the next seventeen days then there is a real risk of squad rotation affecting our teams. It may be prudent on your part to have playing substitutes to fall back on if any of your starting eleven is rested.

Merry Christmas & good luck for the game week.

Matt – Forwards

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Gone seem to be the days where we just needed to pick Haaland and then pair him with a 2nd striker and bench fodder. The Norwegian Robot has been malfunctioning this season and this has given the opportunity for others to come to the floor. There are some obvious picks like Isak (8.7) who once again has no competition after Wilson is out for another 2 months; or Jackson (8.2) who has amazing fixtures but there is a feeling he may be a rotation risk with games coming thick and fast.

The two mentioned already would be priority targets if you had the money and but below are a few more budget friendly options to replace the naughty Cunha after his possible ban! Beside it’s Christmas and we all love a bargain!

I’ll start with the striker that has the most form of the 3 picks I’m going to suggest which is the man from Down Under… adjacent – Chris Wood (6.6). Forest have been flying high this season and beating teams like Liverpool, United, and Villa. This is largely down to Wood’s performances as he has 10 goals this season and is sitting on 90 FPL points; only 10 shy of Haaland who is double his price. Talk about value for money! Wood is purely a number 9 scoring goals as he has zero assists to his name, so don’t be expecting him to share the ball too often. His fixtures probably aren’t the best of the three players as he has away trips to Brentford and Everton with Spurs at home sandwiched in between. Brentford are much better at home, Everton play for clean sheets and Spurs are like Jekyll and Hyde. If you want assured starts and a player tipping along then GET SOME WOOD!

The one who I like the look off is Raul Jimenez (5.5) at Fulham. A team that is also doing well in the league this year. Maybe overachieving slightly but they have shown on a few occasions this season they have the ability to beat any team in front of them! Coming up against Southampton this weekend should be a nice entry to buy the Mexican against a Saints side that are destined to go down and have just sacked their manager. Raul only has 5 goals and 2 assists but their fixtures have been tough. They are about to embark on some tasty looking fixtures playing the 3 promoted sides in the next 6 games. Chelsea and Bournemouth in GW18 and 19 are tougher challenges, particularly the former. Bournemouth and Fulham feels evenly matched where it could end 0-0 or 3-3. Both sides have scored 24 goals with Fulham leaking 1 goal more than Bournemouth. At his price though Raul is a nice pick and my only worry would be rotation with Muniz as he hasn’t played 90 minutes since GW9.

Someone I’m considering punting on, and this could just be the Baileys talking, is Rasmus Hojlund (6.9). Yes, I can hear you all laughing through the screen but hear me out! Since Amorim has come in United have played Arsenal, Forest and City which are not easy fixtures but the derby win will surely put some confidence into the side. Hojlund appears to be the preferred striker over Zirkzee since the Portuguese manager came in. He has a home game against Bournemouth who I pointed out have conceded 21 goals this season, a trip away to Wolves who have been terrible and might take some time to get used to their new manager before a visit from Newcastle who aren’t as solid as they were 2 seasons ago. Playing 77+ minutes in the last 3 games, getting a goal and possibly being the focal point, he does need to improve his finishing though as he had an xG of 0.00 in the Arsenal and City games. Granted this is the massive, massive punt with him only being owned by 1.7% but if you are chasing points then maybe this is the player to punt on! I say MAYBE!

Honourable mention for Jean-Phillipe Mateta (7.2). He is someone I really like and would seriously consider getting in but the next two games of Arsenal and Bournemouth aren’t the easiest fixtures to jump on the bandwagon. I will seriously consider him over the coming days but right now Raul is the leading candidate.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW17 to GW19. This article was written by Jamie Nc, Matt , and OddDane

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW23

Welcome to FPL Tips GW23

Look, we won’t lie, at least half of this article is about two weeks old! Certainly the goalkeepers and defenders bits were good to go ahead of GW21, when we unexpectedly went offline for a week or so. At that point the word ‘repurpose’ then became a thing. But fear not, it was more of a challenge to our writers to make old news become fresh news, as is fitting in this week of the return of The Donald, in particular.

In fact, we expect they probably pardoned a few and culled a load of others, just to make it all feel fresh.

To add to the illusion we asked Matt and Rosco (of H&L fame) to come up with some exciting new big hitters up top, to jazz proceedings up a bit. We don’t expect either ended with a Nazi salute though, but let’s go see…

Goalkeepers – Jamie Mc

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The call came from FF247 Towers about writing contribution for this tips article and I volunteered to write about Goalkeepers. On checking my writing history for this season then I noted that I had previously written about Goalkeepers in game week twelve.

Apologies to everyone but I have self-plagiarised part of the game week twelve article into this article (I did not even know that self-plagiarism was such a thing).

As we all know, the goalkeeping position is a position that us fantasy managers do not want to spend too much money on and is very much a “set and forget.”

Most managers will have started the season with a £4.5m and non-playing £4.0m goalkeeping duo or two rotating £4.5m goalkeepers depending on the fixtures of that particular game week.

The previous twenty-two game weeks so far this season totalling 239 games with the 478 teams accounting for only ninety-seven clean sheets (20.3%) during the course of the season.

To briefly summarise, surprisingly Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels (£5.0m) leads the race for the “Golden Gloves” with nine clean sheets this season. David Raya (£5.6m) of Arsenal and Everton’s Jordon Pickford (£5.0m) both have seven clean sheets each. Manchester United’s Andre Onana (£5.1m), Liverpool’s Alisson Becker (£5.5m) & Dean Henderson (£4.5m) of Crystal Palace all have six clean sheets. Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka (£4.3m) sits alone with five clean sheets. There are a handful of goalkeepers with four clean sheets so far this season.

So, if you are on an early second wildcard, have a transfer to burn or fed up with Mark Flekken in your team then which goalkeepers should you be considering???

Matz Sels (£5.0m & 17.5% ownership) – As mentioned above, not only has Matz Sels the most clean sheets in the game but he is also the top point scoring goalkeeper with ninety-eight points so far this season. Sels transfer value has increased by £0.5m from the start of the season. Sels has played every minute of the season. Selz has amassed sixty-four saves resulting in fourteen saves points and nine bonus points across four game weeks. Forest fixtures are decent over the next three game weeks against Bournemouth (A), Brighton (H) and Fulham (A) before toughening up. At the time of writing, Selz is currently sitting at 95.8% in FPL Statistics with a further 3,290 transfers required for a £0.1m price increase. How did I do if article printed on time – As expected, Sels conceded against Liverpool and surprising conceded against Southampton for four points over the two game weeks.

Martin Dubravka (£4.3m & 3.0% ownership) – Newcastle United are very much the Premier League’s form team with six victories in their last seven league games. The “Magpies” and Dubravka have managed five clean sheets during this period (and a further clean sheet in their Semi Final League Cup victory at Arsenal). At £4.3m, Martin Dubravka is an extremely cheap way into the Newcastle back line. Short term, Newcastle’s fixtures also still decent with Southampton (A) and Fulham (H) before toughening up. One word of caution, Nick Pope’s red flag has now been amended to an orange flag with a 50% chance of playing. How did I do if article printed on time – Dubravka earned twelve points in total. Ten points against Wolves with a clean sheet, two save points and two bonus points but surprising only earned two points in the home thumping against Bournemouth.

Andre Onana (£5.1m & 7.0% ownership) – The bomb scare that is Andre Onana and Manchester United as a whole (hardly a ringing endorsement for a tips article) could be a decent goalkeeping option for your consideration. United have fixtures against Fulham (A), Crystal Palace (H) then two away matches at Spurs & Everton. Like Selz, Onana has played every minute this season. Onana has made fifty-six saves this season earning eleven save points and five bonus points over three league games making him the fifth top scoring goalkeeper in the game. You must wonder if United regret the decision to allow David De Gea to leave on a free transfer!!! How did I do if article printed on time – As part of the worst Manchester United team in their history, Onana conceded in both home games against Southampton and Brighton to earn four points in total. GP and I will be hoping this trend continues for the Red Devils Europa League game this midweek.

Robert Sanchez (£4.8m & 12.0% ownership) – As a Robert Sanchez owner from wildcarding in game week six then I have felt the pain each and every time that Chelsea conceded which was most game weeks. Throw in the constant feeling that Sanchez was due to get “rested” which happened on two occasions which thankfully Chelsea did concede then I was pleased to transfer out Sanchez for Sels last game week. Sanchez is the sixth highest point scoring goalkeeper in the game with seventy-two points made up of four clean sheets, a penalty save, sixteen save points and seven bonus points over three game weeks. Sanchez is a yellow card magnet with five yellow cards for what mostly deems to be time wasting. Chelsea fixtures take a turn for the worse with Manchester City (A) & West Ham (H), Brighton (A) and Aston Villa (A) over the next four game weeks. At the time of writing, Sanchez is currently sitting at -93.3% in FPL Statistics with a further 4,680 transfers out required for a £0.1m price decrease. How did I do if article printed on time – Sanchez conceded in both home games against Bournemouth and Wolves to earn only three points in total.

Dean Henderson (£4.5m & 12.1% ownership) – In the short-term fixtures against Brentford (H) & Manchester United (A) may not be the most appealing but Crystal Palace have a run of fixtures over the next six game weeks with no fixtures above three in the Fixture Difficulty Rankings. Henderson has amassed seventy-nine points making him the fourth highest point scoring goalkeeper in the game. Henderson has played in every minute of the game this season. Henderson has six clean sheets this season, a penalty save, fourteen save points and four bonus points over three game weeks. How did I do if article printed on time – Henderson amassed thirteen points with two clean sheets at Leicester and West Ham to prove to you and me that I am not a total duffer with my game week tips.

The goalkeeping position is not a sexy pick and with clean sheets harder and harder to come by then it is perfectly understandable why we all overlook the position which allows us to invest more money elsewhere in our squad.

Good luck for the game week.

Defenders – Stone Frog

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Midfielders – Rosco

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

With the impeding Merseyside double in GW24 we first look to Liverpool, with a fixture at home to Ipswich a tempting entry point in GW23. Luis Diaz (£7.5M) is the obvious ‘next best’ Red’s midfielder. His minutes are probably a little more secure in the absence of the perpetually injured Diogo Jota, and you assume his 64th minute withdrawal in GW22 was in preparation for their UCL game. He’s not exactly been pulling up trees, 1 attacking return in his last 4, but a double-digit return against the Tractor boys will likely see a heavy influx of transfer come GW24. It’s worth noting that Alexis Mac Allister (£6.2m) was the next best Liverpool mid to own in last season’s double for both minutes and points, its highly likely he’ll top Diaz for minutes, its weather or not he can add to his 1 goal and 4 assists across those 2 fixtures. Again, a return or two this weekend will see his stock rise in GW24.

In terms of fixtures, a trip to St Mary’s is about as good an away trip as you can wish for. The Geordie duo of Gordon (£7.7m) and Murphy (£5.1m) will be hoping to return to winning ways and put their performance at home to Bournemouth firmly out of mind. Prior to their GW22 distaster class, Gordon had returned 6 games on the bounce (3 goals, 3 assists), and whilst Murphy has not been so fruitful, it’s hard to ignore his back-to-back double digit returns in GW16 and 17 against similarly awful teams (Leicester and Ipswich). Whilst the latter duo are the place most FPL managers own, don’t ignore Bruno G (£6.1m). He’s owned by just 2.3% and has returned in his last 3 thanks to a more advanced roll afforded by the more defensive duo of Joelinton and Tonali.

It would be remiss of me to ignore Justin Kluivert (£5.6m) having witnessed in person his 22pts hattrick at the weekend. The next two fixtures are not the best, but he’s certainly one to consider come GW25 when the Cherries travel to bottom the table Southampton. That said, I still prefer his midfield teammate Semenyo (£5.6m) as a more consistent route to points and the same price. However, with Kluivert on pens and getting more minutes due to their injury crisis, I can’t really argue with those who favour Patrick’s son.

Elsewhere it seems managers who made the leap of faith and replaced Saka with Phil Foden (£9.3) have been handsomely rewarded. Foden has returned in his last 4 (5 goals, 2 assists) and Pep seems to have finally unlocked his best position in the current lineup. His back-to-back double-digit hauls in GW’s 21 and 22 are hard to ignore, but it’s also hard to squeeze him into our lineups given that he faces Chelsea (maybe not so bad) Arsenal, Newcastle, and Liverpool in his next 4. Maybe fixtures will start to not matter if Foden is in this kind of form, he’s certainly going to be hard to ignore in GW29 when we suddenly have a few blanking players in our line ups and City have two home games against Brighton and Leicester up next.

Back-to-back double-digit returns are becoming the theme of the mids this week. Kaoru Mitoma (£6.3m) is another who has done just that. Whist his minutes were looking a little shaky prior to GW21, he’s since played 90 minutes in his last 2, 2 goals and an assist have garnered him over 42k new owners as he prepares to Face the Toffee’s at home this weekend. With Southampton (A) in GW26 he’s someone who could be just the differential you’re looking for with just 5.3% ownership.

Speaking of differentials, Leandro Trossard (£6.8m) has picked up 19pts in his last 2 thanks to a goal and brace of assists. With a trip to Wolves this weekend he could be the best way into the Gunners attack, especially with a trip to Leicester coming up in GW25.

It’s 4 attacking returns on the bounce (1 goal, 3 assists) for Eberechi Eze (£6.7m), home games against Brentford, Everton and Ipswich make it hard to ignore the Eagles main man, despite a likely blank in GW29.

If you’re looking for instant returns on your investment, then Dejan Kulusevski (£6.4m) could be the man to turn to in GW23. A goal in GW22 makes it 10 attacking returns this season for the Swede. Leicester at home this weekend and a trip to Ipswich in GW26, 5.8% ownership. Spurs are still a bit Spursy, but Kulu has looked ‘on it’ even when his teammates have not.

Forwards – Matt

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The front three has become a bit of a boring section of the pitch for transfers in terms of writing about them due to some players being in crazy form one such example is Isak (9.5) who has become basically essential. The Swede has gone on a fantastic run of form as of late with 11 goals and 3 assists since GW14 Against Liverpool. He has seen price rise after price rise and really if you don’t own him then honestly, I think it might be too late! He does play Saints away this weekend and could be a captaincy option for many but then he has a few rough games before blanking in GW29 (as things stand). There are a lot of rumblings to start dropping the likes of Gordon and Hall so should we be thinking of dropping Isak too or is he untouchable?

Another of the “Untouchables” is Chris Wood (7.1). The Kiwi has been in brilliant form all season averaging 1.5 goals a game. He has 14 goals and 2 assists this season which is his best ever output in the Premier League and I can only see him adding to it. Now I must be truthful here, he is the one who I am currently considering selling in order to bring in some other players I will mention later in this article. Forest are absolutely flying this year and fixtures shouldn’t really be a worry for them but there are teams and strikers with better fixtures. The next 6 games are Bournemouth, Brighton, Fulham, Newcastle, Arsenal and City. They aren’t too bad but I don’t really see them as fantastic. However, they are still games were Wood who is owned by a whopping 43% of managers could be a rank killer if he does haul. Pick your poison!

The player that completes my front three has really been one of my FPL cult hero players for the last few seasons and that is Jean-Philippe Mateta (7.3). I have a nice history with the Crystal Palace players over the last few years and that hasn’t changed this season. Since I brought in Mateta GW19, he has scored 4 goals and 7 bonus points amassing 31 points for me. Thank you, Jean-Philippe! I wouldn’t say he’s untouchable but for me, right now, he is. Palace have amazing fixtures coming up until their potential blank in GW29 and the man is on form so why not bring him in. He might not be as sexy as an Isak, Haaland or fellow countryman, Giroud but if he’s scoring and playing the way he is, then who cares! Get the Frenchman in!

Now for the replacements for these three that I am seriously considering and think you should be too. First off, I’ll start with the obvious replacements and that is Liverpool strikers. There are really only two options but I would say one is a lot more reliable than the other. Gakpo (7.5) and Darwin (7.0) are the only two strikers in the game – Danns is too but he likely won’t appear in the league – for Liverpool. The issue with Liverpool is they don’t use a ‘striker’ per say. Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz play in the centre, Salah can play in the centre, Gakpo can play in the centre and could all take minutes off each other. Gakpo looks to have nailed that LW spot down with Diaz moving into the middle but we saw in the last game, Darwin came on to score 2 goals in 2 minutes to snatch a win. Will this make Slot give the Uruguayan more minutes and potentially rest Gakpo or Diaz? I honestly don’t know but think Darwin will be more an impact sub in the league. In the last 6 games, Gakpo has 3 goals and 1 assist and with Ipswich, DGW and Wolves coming up, it’s obvious why he is the one the crowds are flocking to bring in. I have no problem with that and think he should start all 4 with a rest in the CL now that Liverpool are through but there is still that slight chance he could be rested. Liverpool play like 11 games in the space of 30 days with 2 of those gone now so Slot might look to protect his players for a busy end to the season.

Out of fairness, I will mention other strikers who will be doubling and you may want to bring them in – DON’T – but they are Everton duo, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye (Both 5.4). Everton are not high on the priority list but the only fixture that might make them worth while in the next 4 is the first of their double as it is a home game against Leicester. Brighton away is not easy, Liverpool are Liverpool and Palace away is also a tough match for strikers. If you are adamant you have to get a Blues striker, then some stats for you, DCL has 3 goals and 2 assists, Ndiaye has 4 goals. DCL has averaged 2.8 points a game and Ndiaye has averaged 4.4 points a game. I really wouldn’t get them I won’t lie to you but go for it, if you are a masochist!

Just to round this off with a striker I actually like and think you should consider, Yoanne Wissa (6.2). He has 2 goals and an assist in the last 3 games and then blanked 4 games before that. Blistering form is not why I want to bring him in, I want him for the next few games. Palace away this weekend isn’t the best jumping on point but it’s not the worst. Next week a home match against Spurs is when I will probably jump on as Brentford then go on to play West Ham, Leicester and Everton in the next 3 plus Brentford will play in GW29 so that is a nice bonus. In the last 6 games, Wissa has an xG of 3.75, an xA of 0.38 and an xPts of 31.77. Combine him with Mbeumo or just get one but they are a brilliant duo and owned by 10.3% he is still a slight differential.

Thanks for reading Fantasy FPL Tips GW23. This article was written by Jamie Mc, Stone Frog, Matt and Rosco.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.

FPL Tips GW24

Welcome to FPL Tips GW24

We aren’t doing a Captain’s article this week, as we assume that the vast majority will simply stick it on Salah, DGW and all that. We were going to do a normal Tips article, until some smart Alec (Jamie Mc) pointed out that it may be pertinent to do something on this new Assistant Manager chip that we have all now been bestowed with, as of GW24.

Given as we then asked the writing team and some had never heard of it (slightly worrying…) and others simply said they didn’t know enough to write about it, that seemed reason enough to highlight it. Below is a simple summary of what it is, and the rules around using it. Followed by a few initial observations from the members of the writing team who were actually on the ball with it.

KEY FACTS

• It is live from GW24
• You can play it anytime until the end of the season
• It lasts for 3 weeks
• Once played you CANNOT play another chip whilst it is active
• You need to pay for your assistant out of your existing budget
• Your initial transfer in of him will not cost you a ‘free transfer’
• You can swap him over the 3 weeks but any change WILL count as one of your free transfers
• If he is sacked / leaves you will still score points for his previous club (Hi Ange….)
• Your assistant counts towards the 3 player per club rule
• DGW’S count in the same way as your players
• Once your manager (chip) ‘expires’ any budget will be returned to you
• You get points for wins, draws, goals and clean sheets and then bonus points if your manager wins vs a team at least 5 places higher in the league
• League position is determined before any GW begins, including for the 2nd game in a DGW
• Manager prices will not change

POINTS

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

EllefceeImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Now, for me, with it being so new, the question is when to use it. Most of us will still have the TC, BB, FH and WC chips left, so we may find it difficult towards the seasons end.

I was going to use the TC on Salah this week but with being unable to play any other chips whilst the AM chip is active I’ve decided to use the AM chip instead and save the rest of the other chips for later as usual. I’ve decided to stick the AM chip on the returned prodigal grandfather Mr Moyes. I know, I know, go on OddDane give me a telling off. He’s only been back 2 weeks and Moyes has played 3 and won 2, that’ll change with me on the picture. Everton do have 4 games within the 3 GW period. They start off with 2 games during the first week. LEI (h), points maybe, then LIV (h), Everton will love to put a spanner in Liverpool’s works. Gw2 sees them travel to Palace, some more points in a close game hopefully and GW4 sees Man U travel to Goodison, where they do usually give United a good game.
So there we go folks, come back in 3 gws and see how I’ve done with this new chip, poorly probably.

Stone FrogImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
My best guess at present is that about 10pts per match is a good return on the assistant manager (AM) chip and as such it is likely best played over a double game week and having a total of 4 games. There’s potential to target a mixture of fixtures with table bonus (high risk, high reward) and very favourable fixtures with opportunity for goal and clean sheet bonus. There may also be more upside in making a manger transfer somewhen within the three game weeks.

Focussing on GW24, Slot (1.5m) does not have the opportunity for table bonus, nor are the fixtures ideal. Therefore, I don’t think Slot is a great option this week. Alternatively, Moyes (0.5m) does have a good home game against the Foxes, but Everton have not been a free scoring side and the Liverpool match is very tough. The Toffee’s fixtures in 25 and 26 are not so straightforward and nor do they offer table bonus, but potentially a switch to Arteta (1.5m) (lei, WHU), Iraola (1.1m) (sou, WOL) or Silva (1.1m) (NFO, CRY) could make sense. Overall, I would rather wait and not go ahead in GW24.

Looking ahead to the blanks and doubles to come. GW29 will have 4 teams blanking due to the EFL Cup final and GW34 will have up to 8 teams blanking due to the FA Cup semi-finals. These fixtures will most likely be rearranged into GW33 and GW36 creating two doubles later in the season. Free hit on the biggest blank (GW34) makes sense to me, leaving bench boost and assistant manager (AM) for 33 or 36. Therefore targeting a double, AM could either be 31-33, 35-37 or 36-38. The slight caveat is if you wish to wild card after blank GW29 and AM in 31-33, you may want to wild card in GW30. The FA Cup quarter finals are between GW29 and 30, so by GW30 we should know who blanks in 34 and therefore who will have a double game week. However, GW30 being a Tuesday deadline, we may not yet know which game week the rearranged fixtures fall into (33 or 36). There could be a panicked Monday night wild card, which is not ideal!

Looking at 31-33, Aston villa and Emery (0.8m) have decent fixtures (31 NFO, 32 sou, 33 NEW) with some opportunity for table bonus and potentially a DGW33. Spurs and Postecoglou (1.1m) may become an option in the same period (31 SOU, 32 wol, 33 NFO) if their form improves. Liverpool have Leicester away in GW33, so could be good for that week if they do double. Analysing GW36, Man City have a potentially favourable visit to St Mary’s. They also have Wolves at home in 35 and Bournemouth at home in 37, so playing AM on Guardiola (1.5m) 35-37 could be good if they have DGW36. Ultimately, I may wait until the full fixture list is confirmed to make the best decision.

Jamie McImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Since the start of the season, the Fantasy Game has been teasing us fantasy managers with a new chip that would become active from game week twenty-four.

As we now know the “Assistant Manager” chip is a new addition to the game.

Any new feature in the game that gives us the opportunity of a good score, a green arrow and a chance of increasing a Mini League lead or catching a Mini League rival has got to be good.

The first thing to note is that you must have money in the bank or generate money from player transfers to be able activate the Assistant Manager chip.

There are four different prices of Managers ranging from £1.5m for the top Managers, £1.1m and £0.8m for the middle of the road Managers down to £0.5m for Managers of teams towards the bottom on the league. Manager prices do not change as a result of purchases or sales.

Once activated, the Assistant Manager chip is active for three game weeks therefore it is crucial that you activate the chip no later than game week thirty-six to ensure you obtain the full three game week impact of the chip.

The Assistant Manager that you initially purchase can be transferred out during the three-game week period to another Assistant Manager, but this will cost you your weekly free transfer. You must also adhere to the maximum of three players / Manager from any one team.

As far as point scoring is concerned then your Assistant Manager earns six points for their actual team win, three points for their actual team draw with a point earned for every goal your Managers actual team scores with two points for a clean sheet for your actual Managers team. A bonus of ten points is awarded if your Managers actual team beats a team at least five places above them in the league table at the start of the game week.

The Assistant Manager chip cannot be activated along with any other chip so care should be taken with regard to the timing of any double game week when the convention was to Wildcard before a double game week then Bench Boost in the actual double game week.

Forward planning will be crucial as to when you use any of your chips but looking at that best three game week period when a team has a kind run of fixtures for activating your Assistant Manager chip.

The fantasy game has in recent weeks provided information on the Assistant Manager chip with details provided in the following weblink: –

https://www.premierleague.com/news/4192707

As for me, I will very much be activating a chip this game week with the triple captain armband chip on the Egyptian King. I hope I do better than last seasons one point tripled to three when Salah was substituted prior to sixty minutes in a Liverpool home win against Luton Town.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW24. This article was written by Ellefcee, Jamie Mc, Stone Frog and Init. 

Follow @FantasyFooty247

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Both leagues will be shut to new entrants as of 01/01/25.