The best-laid plans of mice and FPL managers often come off badly from contact with reality – and so it proved for the MeanReversionMachine portfolio after the dust had settled on the recent FA Cup quarter-finals. Not so much Arsenal’s shock loss to Southampton – before which everyone had been inking Gabriel and two teammates into their double Gameweek 33 bench-boost drafts – but the fall-out from the Leeds match.
On the Arsenal front, portfolio rules mean that when many managers are wildcarding into a fresh team of 13, 14 or even 15 ‘doublers’ for the gameweek after next, MeanReversionMachine will be doggedly sticking to Gabriel, Raya and also, in all likelihood, Rice playing just the once – away to a freshly-resurgent Manchester City fronted by a freshly-resurgent Haaland.
Our own wildcard, meanwhile, has merely allowed the portfolio the chance to return to full indexing duties after a small experiment last time out. If you can remember that far back, we took a swing at mirroring the market’s wholesale offloading of Manchester City and Arsenal assets on account of their being involved in the League Cup final rather than the serious business of FPL.
Out went Haaland, Guehi and Rice as well as a couple of non-playing makeweights, while Raya, Gabriel and Semenyo – where we had actually managed to build up some small value – warmed the bench. And in came some of the most popular trades of that week – Thiago and Ekitiké up-front, Wilson and Gordon in midfield and Thiaw in defence – with decidedly mixed results.
As you can see, Wilson and Gordon were big successes, Thiaw and Ekitiké big disappointments while Thiago somehow managed to bag defensive contribution points – so make of that what you will. With Hill actually in negative territory and captain Pedro failing to deliver while Bruno was doubling his points for many other teams, I am genuinely surprised – now I check back – that the portfolio actually managed a small green arrow.
“With the portfolio’s wildcard already active and the clock ticking down to the Gameweek 32 deadline, the portfolio’s adviser has elected to keep calm and carry on with Leeds.
Turning to our wildcarded future, well, much of it looks remarkably like our past, with Haaland and Guehi restored to the portfolio, ahead of Manchester City’s double gameweek against Arsenal and Burnley, and Rice back as the game’s third most-owned midfielder. After his cameo last time, meanwhile, Wilson has ended up retaining his portfolio place on merit, given he is now owned by a quarter of all FPL squads.
Traditionally, the fantasy football wildcard is used to set up a bench-boost – ideally ahead of a double gameweek. And while the shock Arsenal result left the FPL community apparently expending more mental energy on reassessing that strategy over the last week than some governments seem to be directing towards actual wars, sticking to this plan had been a fairly easy decision for the MeanReversionMachine’s adviser.
After all, our seasonally ever-present Burnley duo of Dubravka and ‘E-Steve’ were facing a double of sorts, Bournemouth’s Kroupi Junior was a bona-fide pick as our cheapo striker – albeit no longer nailed-on for minutes – and, even if our lousy team value meant we could not stretch to the usually excellent Hill, there were still some other perfectly acceptable cut-price options still on the table.
Two of the best of these were turning out for Leeds, in the shape of defender Rodon and midfielder Stach – or at least they were until about halfway through the cup quarter-final against West Ham. By around the 50th minute, both players had been stretchered off the pitch and Leeds manager Daniel Farke is not optimistic of seeing them back before the start of May.
With the portfolio’s wildcard already active and the clock ticking down to the Gameweek 32 deadline, the portfolio’s adviser has elected to keep calm and carry on with Leeds – replacing Rodon and Stach with Gudmundsson and Ampadu. All being well – on which note, I refer you back to my opening line – the following portfolio set-up leaves us benchboosting a week from now and as many as eight doublers. Time will tell.
Source: Fantasy Premier League
Finishing up, as ever, with a regular look at our Herdwatch tables of the most bought and sold FPL assets of recent gameweeks, the wider market has clearly also had the impending double gameweek on its mind – but, with even an average squad value, is able to shell out for a slightly pricier brand. Top of the shopping list this week are Brighton’s Welbeck and Van Hecke, who offer the added bonus of facing Burnley on Saturday.
They are then followed by the current preferred trio from Manchester City – with the often-out-of-position O’Reilly largely viewed as being as indispensable as teammates Haaland and Semenyo. While the latter two have been in and out of the Herdwatch tables all season, this is only Reilly’s second appearance. His new cohort of owners will be hoping for a better showing than last time out when, after eye-catching hauls of 13 and 17, he rewarded his half a million buyers ahead of Gameweek 28 with scores of 6, 0 and 2.
Source: Fantasy Premier League
