What We Learned | Week Twelve

Eyes roll. Here we go again…


Jamie Vardy. Goal, assist, 12pts. You’re welcome. Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham. Goal and goal. Don’t mention it. Ashley Barnes, goal. My pleasure. Salah, Mane. Goal, goal. Standard. Think nothing of it. Youri Tielemans, assist. No problem. Gerard Deulofeu, another goal (flagged up GW 11). Okay, stop it – this is getting embarrassing…

Unless the Sheffield United defender you added on my advice happened to be George Baldock. In which case, get them in. Kronenbourg. No ice.

Right, what other nuggets can we sift from the shenanigans of GW 12?


Look at the state of those sheets

With a weekend off, it’s time for a period of contemplation to plot our course for the next third of the season.

Let’s start at the back, shall we? It hasn’t been a season for clean sheets. The very best Goalkeepers and Defenders on offer have topped at five. And as they would have to play for Man City, Leicester and Sheffield United it’s clear where the bargains are.

You’ll be sick of me banging on about John Lundstram by now, but he’s the best value 70pts that 41.1% of FPL managers have bagged so far. Only Tammy Abraham is a more popular pick.


Tool up with a Blade or two

He’s a midfielder for a start – and has more goals in him than the three so far, trust me. Get him. Just get him. His And teammates Stevens, Baldock and O’Connell all feature in the Top 10 or so (available at £5.1m, £4.5m and £4.6m).

And after Man United, the Blades have a lovely run of fixtures until 2020.

Make room and save wedge for by dropping City Defenders. With their best Defender and Goalkeeper missing they are this season’s Both Teams To Score (BTTS) bankers.

Leicester’s Soyuncu (at £4.8m) is a cheaper option than fellow back four mates Chilwell, Evans and Pereira too.


Get your Villa in order

Just six teams have scored more goals than Aston Villa. And only City, Chelsea and Liverpool have had more shots on target. So McGinn, Grealish and El Ghazi might well be a more effective £5.8m, £5.9m and £5.5m options than your current Midfield passengers.

And as third choice strikers go, Wesley (at £6m) will get better. But I do like the Burnley three – Wood (£6.2m), Barnes (£6.3m) and Rodriguez (£5.7m) in that order. Only five sides have scored more than Burnley and almost all their goal threat comes from that trio.

But their top points scorer is Dwight McNeil thanks to five assists. Only De Bruyne has more. Double in fact. £16.2m for the pair is a nice compromise.


Check in next Friday for more stats, damn stats and lies.