So the answers to last week’s cliffhangers were Calvert-Lewin (8) does outscore Thiago (2) in his sole match of Gameweek 33 while Bruno (6) scores more in his one than Alex Scott (5) in two. Yet who knew that the real key to the season’s biggest double gameweek was to back Morgan Gibbs-White of Forest in his one match against Burnley? Or that the MeanReversionMachine-specific saviour would be Leeds captain Ethan Ampadu?
As it happens, the adviser to the MeanReversionMachine portfolio had planned for weeks to back Gibbs-White – eventual scorer of 20 points against the now-relegated Burnley – before falling victim at the last moment to the siren song of the doubler. Surely there was a ‘story’ in Chelsea’s Enzo returning from a manager-imposed disciplinary mini-break and shining against United and Brighton? Wrong. No story and just the four points.
Mind you, that was still more than the other potential Chelsea ‘narrative’ yielded. Could former Brighton striker Joao Pedro, as the footballing cliché goes, ‘return to haunt his old club’? Well, not if he doesn’t play a single minute over the gameweek he can’t – and thus no return generated no returns. Zero. On the bright side, neither the portfolio nor its adviser owned the week’s third Chelsea disappointment Palmer and his two points.
Enough wallowing – given the strict index mandate, 98 points and a jump to our highest overall rank of the season was well beyond the portfolio adviser’s expectations. As you can see below, the returns of our doublers really demonstrated the power of the extra games with Ampadu scoring 3+9, Kroupi Junior 2+8, Gudmundsson 6+1, Guehi 1+7 and captain Haaland doubling up 6+7 to 26. Bruno and Virgil did fine in their single outings.
“Could former Brighton striker Joao Pedro, as the footballing cliché goes, ‘return to haunt his old club’? Well, not if he doesn’t play a single minute over the gameweek he can’t – and thus no return generated no returns.
As would always be the case once we went hard on the doublers last time out, we were then left with less than half a portfolio for Gameweek 34 – just Raya, Gabriel, Virgil, Bruno, Rice and Wilson, as shown in the left-hand squad below. Not a problem – that is what the Free Hit chip is for – but how do we index that to this column’s exacting standards? Well, what would you say instead to the right-hand squad? Yes, please?
Source: Fantasy Premier League
These, as I type, are the most-bought players this week with just a single compromise on price – sixth-most transferred-in midfielder Dewsbury-Hall makes the bench ahead of the more expensive Cunha – and a pretty solid-looking portfolio it looks too. As the week’s most popular ‘buy’ by a distance, Villa striker Watkins is our captain and the only pre-deadline tweak is to promote the increasingly popular choice of Porro ahead of Gabriel.
Finishing up, as ever, with a regular look at our Herdwatch tables of the most bought and sold FPL assets of recent gameweeks, as discussed, the most recent ‘buy’ table comprises the upper echelons of our Free Hit team while the ‘sell’ table is made up of Liverpool striker Ekitiké, whose latest injury ends his season, four FA Cup semi-finalists and Bournemouth defender Senesi, who has the weekend off.
A shade longer-term, as the bottom right-hand table shows, pre-Gameweek 31 investment in Bruno and Virgil has thus far seen greater dividends than backing the Newcastle assets of Thiaw (amid a nervous defence) and Gordon, who is now injured. Conversely, the fire-sale of City players ahead of their blank reaped mixed rewards – fine if you lost Semenyo, rather less so if it was Haaland (clear captaincy material last weekend) or Guehi.
Source: Fantasy Premier League
