I finally did it. Well done me. No, it wasnt that I achieved a great GW score, just an average one which is the best I have become accustomed to recently. But it was average with Sergio Aguero in it. And that’s a much better feeling. He delivered, as he does. Why didnt I captain him? Anyway enough of me, lets take a look at how GW23 panned out…
The Player of GW23 was Roberto Firmino. As Fantasy Football Scout explain below;
Two goals and an assist in Liverpool’s stunning 5-4 comeback win at Norwich has catapulted Robert Firmino into many Fantasy managers’ plans over the last few days.
Snapped up by Brendan Rodgers over the summer, the Brazilian was afforded just three starts in the first eight Gameweeks and failed to earn any attacking returns prior to Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at Anfield.
Since recovering from injury in Gameweek 10, Firmino has started 11 of the last 13 league outings and has played a part in 50% of Liverpool’s goals when on the pitch under Klopp.
The Brazilian’s 18-point haul – his highest of the season – arrives just two Gameweeks after he bagged a brace against Arsenal. Having produced a goal and two assists away to City in mid-November, he’s now served up double-figure returns in three of his previous ten starts.
Is Firmino now a viable alternative for our midfield lineups? As far as Im aware there were only 3 players (JPC, Robert Browne & Nick Wilkinson) on page 1 of the FFUK league who were lucky enough to own him* I expect to see far more transfer him in for GW24.
As you can see from the GW Dream Team above there were some well owned players such as Ighalo, Alli (who scored one of the goals of the season) & Aguero, who all turned in great performances. Some of the other names such as Cathcart, Drinkwater & Valencia are less popular, although Andre Ayew was a popular pick earlier on this season. Ben Foster ousted Myhill after returning from a long term injury so many will have to look to get rid of the West Brom understudy now the England international is back to full fitness. However, perhaps the most notable performance of the GW came from Patrick Van Aanholt who has now scored 4 goals and 1 assist in his last 4 games. The 4.7 left sided defender could be a real shout going forward but can his incredible goal scoring form continue?
Now lets see what this means for the FFUK league table?
We have a 2 way tie at the top. Mark Turnbull (1st) is joined by Loz Kelly (2nd) on 1313 points**. Loz has been on a run recently turning in some impressive GW performances of late. After a GW22 wildcard his frontline of Costa, Aguero & Ighalo look powerful. With the early season template midfield and a strong backline featuring Toby, Butland, & Kurt Zouma he looks well placed to maintain his charge at the top.
Congratulations to Jordan Davison (48th) who was the best GW scorer with a whopping 83 points. Aguero (c) did the damage along with supporting performances from Ighalo, Alli & Zouma.
Neil Gordon (29th) wasnt far behind with 81 points. Of course Aguero (c) starred but there were also big contributions from Ighalo, Alli & the aforementioned PVA.
Things were not so rosy for Mark Tarbox (14th) who takes the unwanted award for the worst GW score of just 31 points. Lukaku (c) wasnt the right option in hindsight as I know only too well. But other than Kane & Vardy the rest of his team offered very little in the way of reward.
Mark wasnt alone with a poor score. Andrew Faulkner (34th) didnt fare much better with 32 points. Once again Lukaku (c) was the main reason for this, Kane & Evans were the only to offer anything positive. Already the Flaming Rabonas have had surgery, Andy has made 2 quick fire transfers. Is it to bring Aguero in? Well 32 of the top 50 now own the most expensive player in the game*
Finally a bit of housekeeping…
We will update the Manager of the Month in the next few days, and there will be a cup update from Pete.
If you havent yet seen the article on the options for an END OF SEASON AWARDS!!! then click here to read all about it and get your feedback to us now as we will be going live with the vote next month!
*if these stats are incorrect please send any complaints to my interim stats manager Peter Cronin. We are on the look out for a dedicated Stats man for next season if anyone is interested?
**Regarding ties from the FPL rules:
In the event of a tie between teams, the team who has made the least amount of transfers will be positioned higher. Any transfers made using a wildcard will not count towards total transfers made.
FFUK 