Fantasy football tips: carryovers and the importance of ‘filler’ players

Dear fantasy managers, I feel your pain.

Luckily I hadn’t ordered Kane, but 1.2 million managers did, a million more ordered Son Heung-min and many of them may have had the other as vice captain for backup. Very unlucky. Very difficult.

The same is true for the millions of managers who own figures like Kevin de Bruyne and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, with Everton’s match against Manchester City also falling under positive coronavirus tests. There is no compensation for this in Fantasy Premier League, just the fact that the game will be replayed at some point and provide a double week of play for the teams involved.

At least all coaches will be able to plan for this and hopefully take advantage of it, not just those who selected Everton and Manchester City players for Week 16.

Keep Calm and carry on? The impact of postponements

Now you will be happy to know that I am well aware that fantasy football is just a game and the most important thing is to control the spread of this virus and to try to protect everyone, but it is is a column on fantasy football, so please read with that in mind.

This makes effective planning nearly impossible, especially at a time when you are building your squad around Weeks 18 and 19 and potentially using up some valuable chips like Free Hit and Bench Boost, or maybe even playing your second wild card. .

I think the advice should be to stay calm and carry on.

You can’t predict postponements, so make your selections based on the information you have, make those decisions as close to deadlines as possible to allow for any changes to the schedule, and just throw the punches.

And, as we discussed last week, it comes down to the strength of the squad and the importance of your ‘filler’ players being regular starters for their clubs so that they at least have the chance to earn you money. some points.

Personally, I was happy to see Rhian Brewster start for Sheffield United at Burnley even though he didn’t score because he came off my bench to replace De Bruyne, and likewise it was good for me to see Tyrick Mitchell get 90 minutes for Crystal Palace as he was to replace Kane.

He also only scored two points, but it’s certainly better than none and starting the game there was obviously more of a chance of a goal for Brewster, or a clean sheet for Mitchell, and potentially of contribute to your overall count.

Bring in big names and stock up on Leeds players?

So how do we approach Gameweek 17? As I write these lines, I learn that Manchester City’s training ground has reopened, so I’ll hang on to De Bruyne in the hopes that their game against Chelsea goes.

We don’t know yet about Fulham’s trip to Burnley, but whatever you do, make your decisions for the long haul and not just on the basis of a disappointing score from the previous match week. Anger only leads to the dark side, as someone once said.

If you don’t have Bruno Fernandes on your team yet, can I recommend that you bring him in? His assist for Marcus Rashford’s late winner against Wolves in Matchweek 16 brought him to 120 FPL points for the season, the game’s second-highest scorer behind Mohamed Salah, having played one game less.

The overall numbers are even more impressive with a remarkable 219 points in the 21 matchweeks since joining Manchester United in January and 13 double-digit scores. Yes, he’s owned by almost half of the game’s managers, but I’m actually surprised it’s not more.

And who do you have from Leeds on your team? In fact, it didn’t matter in Matchweek 16 as they all contributed to the 5-0 win at West Brom – clean sheets for Illan Meslier and the defensemen, assists to Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich and Patrick Bamford, goals from Ezgjan Alioski, Jack Harrison, Raphinha and Rodrigo. They have home games against Brighton and Southampton in Match Week 19, so if you haven’t already, it’s definitely time to get in on the Leeds action.

Salah has been the most popular captain’s pick over the last two weeks of the game and a lot will likely go for him again for Liverpool’s trip to Southampton, despite failing to score against West Brom and Newcastle.

Kane and Son are worthy home contenders against Leeds’ attacking style, which is sure to leave space for Tottenham’s quick counterattack.

Or there’s Fernandes with Manchester United at home at Aston Villa. Like I said, it rarely fails to deliver.

There is much more discussion of fantasy football with Chris Sutton and Statman Dave in the latest Fantasy 606 podcast of 2020, which is available on BBC Sounds.

The deadline for Gameweek 17 is 4:00 p.m. GMT on New Years Day.

Happy New Year everyone.