Review of Game Week 17

GW Points: 79
Overall Points: 1,252
Overall Rank: 1,402
Transfers: Mendy out, Schmeichel in (at the very end of the game week)

Game week 17 didn’t turn out too bad. The team basically remained stable on the leaderboard, which isn’t such a bad thing given my current position. I’d have liked to have got back into the top 1,000 but it wasn’t to be this week. With a lot of injuries cropping up and two transfers in the bag, I’m hoping to gain an advantage over other people who have used all 5 during the next couple of weeks. The biggest problem I’ve faced is battling against clean sheet after clean sheet for Man City, and those lucky enough to have jumped on John Stones. I didn’t see him keeping his place for long in the team and then he pops up with a couple of goals as well. This was far from ideal for me. Sterling has also continued to under perform and only managed 8 points again over the double game week – he would have been coming out this weekend if it wasn’t for De Bruyne picking up an injury. Salah is also misfiring and ended up being benched last night – Liverpool ended up losing the game, so hopefully that’s a bit of karma for leaving one of your best players on the bench. Coming back to those Man City blocks – as soon as we hit February their fixtures take a drastic turn for the worse, so hopefully they start to get undone then.

Positives:

Another 16 points for Dias, so glad I bought him in when I did

10 points for Walker was a bonus considering I hadn’t expected him to start both games. Annoying that he picked up an injury though. 

Another 10 points for Barnes, he’s been a fantastic pick since I put him in and a player that was highlighted at the start of the season as potentially doing well for a low value. 

10 points for De Bruyne and 13 points for Kane are almost irrelevant as most teams have them. The injury to De Bruyne could play into my hands if he’s out for the rest of the month as I’ve easily got enough transfers to move him on. 

Potential Issues:

The team has quite a few potential issues at the moment. Previously in the season, I’ve been able to let these run there course and the players have eventually come good. This patient approach hasn’t’ really worked this time around. 

De Bruyne is injured and needs to come out. Ideally a lot of people won’t be able to take him out so this could give me an advantage. I just need to hope he is out for the rest of the month.

Dier hasn’t really performed and Spurs have gone back to letting in the odd goal. I doubt he will play in the FA Cup and then Spurs have a couple of tough fixtures. 

Walker is also potentially injured but I’m hoping this was just a knock. 

Sterling isn’t performing either but given the injury to De Bruyne, I’ll probably end up leaving him in. Hopefully he can then produce a massive score at some point before the end of the month – we know he’s capable. 

I could make a case for taking Robertson and Salah out. Both are underperforming based on their value but with only two transfers left, I think I need to prioritise injured players coming out. 

Tips for Game Week 18

My main advice for game week 18 is check line ups for the FA Cup games and keep your fingers crossed. It’s not a game week that I enjoy and in most parts is a complete lottery. Man City are still the team to look at between now and the end of the month. But it’s worth noting how quickly their fixtures turn bad in February. At the moment it’s hard to pick out another team who look so consistent though. For those looking to take out De Brunye, I’m personally looking at Foden or Cancelo but will want to check the line up against Cheltenham. Frustratingly for me, I’m now 0.1m short of bringing in Foden and Cancelo for De Bruyne and Dier. Didn’t expect the price swings to put this move out of reach so it’s really irritating. 

As always, check out the full fixtures below. I’ve now updated this to include February’s fixtures. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t8-J8t2NKmHWDepR-Sf4Dqbd7oo7KcCkzR3ij4Fi3FU/