Review of Game Week 20

GW Points: 70
Overall Points: 1157
Overall Rank: 68,854
Transfers: Walker out, Maddison in
Antonio out, Jota in

Before checking the leaderboard I thought I’d had another fantastic week and was expecting a rise on the leaderboard by at least 10,000 places. Both of my transfers paid off instantly, and players like Bowen and Robertson continued to pick up points. I’m still surprised to see that I actually dropped a few places but what can you do. It’s the Chelsea players who let me down this week, no clean sheet and no goals for Lukaku. Other than the goal in the FA Cup he’s not been great for me as an option in January. Chelsea are also short of fixtures in February so I’ll be looking to move him on, possibly with both defenders as well. Despite not rising on the leaderboard, I can’t really have any complaints this week. Jota came straight in with two goals in the EFL Cup, despite only having one fixture Maddison got on the scoresheet again. It was very frustrating to see De Gea concede late on against Brentford but he’s still doing OK in terms of points (given his value) compared to some of the more expensive keepers. I’m now out of transfers for the month but luckily we’ve only got 1 game week left so I’ll have to ride my luck for this single fixture week ahead. 

Positives:

18 points for Robertson was a decent return as I’d considered moving him on when he picked up the red card last month. 

A goal each for De Bruyne, Maddison and Bowen. Star man award for De Bruyne as well.

21 points for Jota was a fantastic return for his first week in my team

Potential issues

Longer term there’s a few issues to resolve. Firstly, at some point Salah will need to come back in. Thankfully neither Ronaldo or Lukaku have been contributing many points so one of them will come out. I’m leaning towards Lukaku because of Chelsea’s lack of fixtures in February. I’ll obviously have to play around with my budget as I won’t be able to afford a straight swap.

I’m going to consider removing Alonso and Rudiger as well. They aren’t picking up points and again have less fixtures in February. 

My only other worry is a player I don’t own. Harry Kane has come into some better form and the question has to be asked around if he’s a better option than Ronaldo. February isn’t a short month though so if I’m already assigning three transfers at the start of the month to remove my Chelsea players, this might be a transfer too many initially. 

Tips for Game Week 21

Game week 21 is a single fixture game week and the last one in January. I’m out of transfers so I’ll just be going with the team I’ve got. However, if you’re fortunate enough to have transfers I’d be using them this week to set yourself up for February. It’s worth noting that Chelsea have less fixtures at the start of the month due to their involvement in the Club World Cup. They haven’t been in the best of form anyway and face Spurs this weekend. If I had three transfers left, I’d be taking all three of my Chelsea players out before they play at the weekend. 

Looking at the fixtures in early February, Man City and Liverpool are the teams with the most and best fixtures so I’ll be looking at their players. I’d love to get Cancelo in but I’m not sure if it’s going to be possible given his value. Dias might be a decent option at only 4.4m currently. Alexander-Arnold is hard to overlook as well but if you can’t afford him Robertson might be another good option. I’m not interested in any of Liverpool’s midfield and I already own De Bruyne and Silva so I’m not sure I’ll bring in another City midfielder. Mahrez should be back before long as I believe Algeria have been knocked out of the Afcon. 

Beyond Liverpool and Man City, I can’t see me bringing in any other Man Utd players, even though they’ve got decent fixtures as well. They just aren’t consistent enough for me, although Fernandes is picking up more points lately so could be considered. The big question is whether to stick or twist on Ronaldo. I’ll personally stick for now. Leicester and West Ham also have good fixtures. I’m personally happy with Bowen and Maddison as both are in form, can’t see me changing these two or bringing in anyone else at the moment.

It’s also worth noting that there’s no Europa fixtures for Spurs this month so they are short on fixtures compared to other clubs. 

As always, the fixtures are mapped out below and I’ll be looking to add March shortly:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vAtgJN53MKh-u007SOFmPKu8lwbyD7eYVlB1-CLm0qo/