WELCOME TO THE
GW2 REVIEW –
THE ORIGINAL FIRE
Some fires burn bright and fade, but the simmering embers of FFUK have once again lay dormant through summer, fervently watching the news and planning the ultimate team until suddenly last week they burnt into the fantasy football flames of that original fire we love. And as the great philosopher John Wick once said… “Yeah, I’m thinking I’m back”.
GW2 came in hot behind the big smoking guns of the opening GW1 salvo. The massive scores of week one where 90pts didn’t get you in the top million players seemed like an indicator that this season was going to be different, the fans were back, the fun was back and wow but didn’t we all pick quite well. Records were set. Biggest opening week scores, massive hauls for the superstars were had and all looked rosy in the fantasy gardens. Could it carry on into GW2…?
Some records are flashes in the pan and some are indicators of great success. Lets take this weeks top 20 top scorer Chris Brophy (5th) with 90pts and our overall league leader Tim McEwan (1st) who now has 197pts (thats an average of 98.5pts per GW). These are big scores indeed and on pace for record seasons… but then again, Brentford currently have the best premier league record in history for never once conceding a premier league goal and having never been beaten in the premier league… and just like Tim and Chris, they are pace setters, who’ve only played two weeks.
In fact the best gw score in the whole league went to Paul Hillen (99th) who hit the holy grail of 100 points and is the sole member of the 100 club this week. Congrats Paul!
A flash in the pan, or things to come? These three were not the only big scorers this week and as the “kings of the gameweek” shows us below the route to point scoring had many options still.
So now the real fantasy management starts, the last two weeks we had some relatively straight forward captain choices, with Fernandes and Salah having those “easy fixtures”. Those didn’t turn out to be so easy this week with both players blanking and Fernandes (1) getting booked in the process. Now we have to look a little deeper as with the blanks we get those creeping doubts that they might not do it every week and there is that new desire to go for the “differential” captain pick to get those extra points in a week that has less appealing fixtures. Salah (20pts overall but only 3pts this week) was captained by 86% of the league and Fernandes (21pts overall) by 10%. This coming week we have Salah at home to Chelsea, who have conceded only one big chance so far this season, and Fernandes away at Wolves who are starting to look defensively solid again since going with a back 3 again since the new season began. In fact, Wolves might be a place to look for that elusive differential defender as their fixtures after the United game get a lot softer…
Speaking of softer… we have the first double eviction from the Conts league this week in Yabah Turnbull and Lawrence Springings (I’ve checked and these are strangely their actual names!) who low scored with 31 and 38 points respectively. I hear that when asked to comment they mentioned “Focusing on the League” and “Only playing because my mate made me”.
So onwards we march, the fire still burning in our bellies and the need for points burning us up like two many free transfers in a metaphorical fantasy pocket. The hope is still alive (Spoiler alert – it will kill you) and only a few days before the GW3 deadline is upon us. So hold onto those nerves, still those wildcards and strange as it may sound… go big on West Ham, because this can only be Fantasy Premier League!
Finally, did you hear the news? Prize-money has just been confirmed for this season, with record numbers, a record prize pool and a record number of Prizes – find out all the details on The Prizes page here
Harvey
FFUK 