Fantasy Premier League is seemingly more popular than ever, with over 5.8 million players playing FPL this season on the official site. There’s an ever-increasing number of articles and podcasts dedicated to fantasy football and constant discussion on Twitter and on other social media as a result. In some ways, this makes it more difficult than ever to make decisions regarding what to do with your fantasy team. Sifting through the almost endless amounts of information available to you has become a valuable skill. How do you know which people know what they’re talking about? Below is a summary of the main debates and conversations around the Fantasy Premier League game ahead of FPL Gameweek 12, rather than a vain attempt to provide a hot take as to who is “essential” or a “must-have”.
FPL Gameweek 12 The Main Conversations
How you fared in GW11 probably depends a lot on whether or not you had a Manchester City attacker, as City threatened to score double figures against Southampton. Owning neither of Raheem Sterling or Sergio Agüero seems like a really questionable decision at this point. Their fixtures over the next few weeks aren’t easy, but that doesn’t seem to be a concern for Manchester City, and they’ve scored five or more goals four times already this season.
The risk of your players being rotated is a valid concern, but City players score so many points when they’re on the pitch that they are more than worth their price regardless. Ederson, Laporte and Agüero are all yet to miss a start, and not having two or three City players in your lineup looks extremely risky given just how much better they are when compared to every other Premier League team. Ederson, Laporte, Mendy, Sterling and Agüero are all some of the best options available at their respective positions.
Most Transferred In
Callum Wilson (FWD, BOU, £6.7m): Wilson was briefly the highest scoring forward in the game, until Agüero scored 13 points on Sunday. Bournemouth continue to defy expectations offensively and Wilson is almost ever-present in this list. 186,792 transfers in mean that he’s now in a third of teams, but Bournemouth have had one of the easiest schedules so far this season. Wilson will have to attempt to unlock the defences of Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool over the next five gameweeks, which could prove difficult.
Marko Arnautovic (FWD, WHU, £7.1m): Gameweek 11 marked the beginning of a very favourable run of fixtures for West Ham that sees them average 2.4 FDR (Fixture Difficulty Ranking) between now and GW21. Arnautovic has scored a ridiculous 38% of West Ham’s goals this season despite missing two games and looks in perfect position to add to his tally over the next few gameweeks. Arnautovic has been transferred in 160,733 times so far.
Richarlison (MID, EVE, £6.9m): Richarlison is deployed as a striker in Everton’s last few games as a result of just how bad Cenk Tosun and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are. After taking a couple of games to find his feet, Richarlison bagged a brace in GW11. Both Richarlison and his teammate Gylfi Sigurðsson are among the top ten scoring midfielders, and Everton are one of the better goalscoring sides in the league. Richarlison looks great value at £6.9m and would cost more if not for his red card earlier in the season. 129,226 managers have brought in the Brazilian.
Anthony Martial (MID, MUN, £7.5m): Anthony Martial is doing more than enough to keep his place in Mourinho’s starting eleven, and United haven’t lost in the league since his good run of form started. 110,845 managers have transferred in Martial but he remains somewhat of a differential pick with only 9.1% ownership.
Sadio Mané (MID, LIV, £9.8m): 78,973 managers have transferred in Sadio Mané so far this gameweek despite a blank against Arsenal and a horrible midweek Champions League performance by Liverpool. Fulham (H) is without a doubt the best fixture in the league for an attacker, though, and Mané looks set to haul. Liverpool’s comparatively more conservative playstyle hasn’t affected Mané’s attacking output much, as he’s scored six goals this season.
Most Transferred Out
Aleksandar Mitrovic (FWD, FUL, £6.7m): Aleksandar Mitrovic is, by far, the most transferred out player this gameweek with 227,332 total transfers out so far. Mitrovic did attempt five shots against Huddersfield and still looks the most likely to score of any Fulham player, but that really isn’t saying very much. Fulham sit in 20th place after yet another defeat, and it’s hard for any of their players to be fantasy-relevant when the team is performing so poorly.
James Maddison (MID, LEI, £6.9m): Maddison is set to miss Leicester’s GW12 game after picking up a knock that is expected to keep him out until after the international break. Leicester have been struggling for goals recently, scoring only once in each of their last four games. Maddison has blanked in each of these games in typical mid-price-midfielder fashion and news of his injury only makes the decision to remove him easier. 89,617 players have transferred him out with attractive options in his price bracket like Richarlison, Martial, Pereyra in good form.
Harry Maguire (DEF, LEI, £5.5m): Leicester have only kept 2 clean sheets so far this season, and Maguire’s attacking contributions are (perhaps surprisingly) what has kept his season from being a complete disaster from a fantasy perspective. Maguire has a knee injury that will see him miss out in GW12 and he’s arguably been a poor fantasy pick anyway. 66,162 managers have moved Maguire out of their team so far this gameweek.
Roberto Firmino (FWD, LIV, £9.2m): Jürgen Klopp has made changes to Liverpool’s style of play this season and the team is more defensively solid, but score fewer goals. Firmino hasn’t scored in his last six Premier League appearances and doesn’t represent good value for money even when he’s in good form. He is still owned by upwards of 18% of managers but Salah and Mané earn more points per goal (due to being classed as midfielders), so there are better options in the Liverpool side. Cheaper forwards like Wilson and Arnautovic are scoring more points and there isn’t a good reason to own Firmino right now. 60,333 players have transferred him out.
Sergio Agüero (FWD, MCI, £11.4m): I’m personally extremely surprised to see Agüero on this list. The forward scored 13 points last gameweek, scoring his seventh goal of the season and adding two assists. Agüero also completed 90 minutes for the first time since GW4, putting to rest some of the concerns about his fantasy value being limited due to the amount of minutes that he plays. Agüero was rested for City’s 6-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek and is therefore likely to play 90 minutes during the Manchester derby in GW12. City’s upcoming fixtures are reasonably difficult but the case to transfer out Agüero is weak at best. The Manchester City striker has been transferred out 45,248 times despite looking like the best premium forward option.
Under the Radar
Both teams have been mentioned in this section before, but with Wolves struggling defensively over the last few gameweeks, it’s still a great time to bring in a West Ham or Newcastle defender into your team as a 3rd/4th defender. West Ham have the best fixtures in the league and Fabián Balbuena (£4.4m) is the defender to own from West Ham. DeAndre Yedlin (£4.5m) offers a more attacking option, but Newcastle’s run of fixtures isn’t as strong or prolonged.
Felipe Anderson (£6.8m) is also intriguing, but he’s still a few weeks away from consideration having been priced at £7.0m to start the season. £6.8m is too much to pay when the likes of Martial and Richarlison are available for only slightly more and he’s not worth including until he starts to prove that he can keep scoring.
Grady Diangana (£4.5m) is another West Ham player worthy of consideration, given his price. He’s been afforded more first team opportunities as a result of Andriy Yarmolenko’s injury, and earned an assist in GW11, his second start. Diangana could contribute as your 11th or 12th man during West Ham’s fixture run, and plays further up the pitch than most cheap midfielders.