Welcome back for another article.
85 points all out after 4 transfers made which resulted in a 14 point gain which I'll take, a green arrow to 17K overall. It's been a mad climb from 5.3 million after the 8.6m gameweek rank after GW5 to GW16 now. All chips used up now so the next few gameweeks would be difficult for managers like us that are all out of chips because I expect there will be a spike in usage. 📈
Ironically I'd have been slightly better off not making my final transfers which was Munoz to O'Reilly after Mukiele's 8 pointer, the reason I went a week early was because of the doubt over Timber, I would have had no depth at all if he'd not played. About a 0.3m team value swing by going early as well so that's a plus. Guiu in the end didn't make it off the bench. Timber did of course play and a disappointing very late clean sheet wipe in an honestly poor performance vs Wolves, 3 points rescued by an even later winner from Jesus.
No real gains from captaincy this week whether you went Saka, Bruno, Foden or Haaland, they all did about the same. 2 points lost on Saka captain over Haaland, no big deal. It was a red arrow heading in to Monday night's game only for Semenyo and Bruno to save the day with 19 points between them. Pretty much perfect game with the highly owned Mbeumo blanking as well.
GW17 Team Reveal & Plans 📋
Goalkeeper 🧤
In goal Raya plays away at the Hill Dickinson stadium, Ndiaye and Gana Gueye have left for AFCON, and we're waiting to hear the latest on Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall's injuries, and whether they've available for this one or not. Moyes is probably gonna have to call on McNeil, Alcaraz, maybe Dibling for this one.
Defenders 🛡️
Playing a 4-4-2 this week, the backline is Virgil, O'Reilly, Andersen and Timber.
Double Arsenal defence with Timber who was passed fit enough to start last match, and Arsenal are joint top on the clean sheet odds with Man City this week, both on a 44% chance. Gabriel's price has only fallen .3m so 6.2m so there's not a huge gap between them unfortunately otherwise I'd have considered that switch later if it freed up more money. The rumour is Gabriel is targeting a return in GW18 or 19 so in 2 or 3 games just before the new year.
I'm recording before the two league cup games midweek Man City vs Brentford and Newcastle vs Fulham, where we're all hoping for a rest for the likes of O'Reilly, Foden, Haaland. Hopefully we see Ake or Lewis left back, something like that. Thiago and Andersen the other two that are in my team playing midweek. Ait-Nouri has departed for AFCON so O'Reilly has the potential to be gold for 5.3m with a fixture like West Ham home.
Fulham 29% on the clean sheet odds, and taking a look at the updated defcon standings Andersen is registering 11.14 per 90, second in the league among defenders to Senesi's 13.2. Virgil is third, so I've got a blend of defcon beasts in my defence with Virgil and Andersen, then Timber and O'Reilly who aren't reliable for defcons, but have better clean sheet odds and goal involvement potential.
