This is what I considered as well, but the upgrades elsewhere aren't worth losing a great captaincy option and a consistent top performer given I can easily have almost all of the best mids in the game alongside him. Even if I think I will captain other players in some of the games coming up, I want to have the option of captaining him if he's in better form in the team, because you never know when those captaincy options 4-5 GWs down the line change. e.g. no one considered Son as a captain at the start of the season in any games.
Fantasy Premier League 23/24
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Saying it now. Don't forget to captain Halaand this weekend. Even TC him. Don't miss that opportunity.
Yeah, I may end up regretting that but end of the day I can always switch back to him in 3-4 weeks if I give up on Salah. Super tricky to get the team to include both of them though.
Feelings on Diaz as a cheaper alternative to Salah for the next two games? Just can’t find a way to fit Salah in right now but with Forest at home and then Luton straight after it feels crazy not to have a Liverpool attacker in there somewhere. Considering dropping Maddison or JWP for him for the next couple of games.
I have Son as well and Bowen too. JWP seems the easier option tk drop for Diaz but they have a great run of fixtures coming up.
I have Son as well and Bowen too. JWP seems the easier option tk drop for Diaz but they have a great run of fixtures coming up.
I think it's a pretty solid team with both and even other "premiums" like Son, Saka and Watkins. Trippier is the main exclusion, which I may end up regretting as well as he's such a points machine but something has to give. Especially the captaincy in the Bournemouth game can be huge with City not having any midweek game and having a full week rest.
Of course Martinelli puts up 1.5 xG away to Sevilla after having a total of less than 1 xG in all the PL games combined. 
But he does have this explosive potential and their fixtures are brilliant.
Basically down to whether you double up on Spurs, Arsenal, City or even Liverpool, or just get in the WHU goalscorer, I think I am definitely leaning more towards one of the double ups.
But he does have this explosive potential and their fixtures are brilliant. Basically down to whether you double up on Spurs, Arsenal, City or even Liverpool, or just get in the WHU goalscorer, I think I am definitely leaning more towards one of the double ups.
Think Alvarez given the price and a similar potential as others probably ends up making most sense. Question is who is the best 4.5m defender to have as the 4th defender in case he's needed?
Areola, Strakosha
Cash, Gabriel, Tsimikas, Guehi?, Taylor
Salah, Saka, Son, Gordon, fodder
Haaland, Alvarez, Watkins
Can also add an 8th attacker in Palmer here and stick the 4.0m defender as before, but I think a 4th defender would be more useful than an 8th attacker.
Areola, Strakosha
Cash, Gabriel, Tsimikas, Guehi?, Taylor
Salah, Saka, Son, Gordon, fodder
Haaland, Alvarez, Watkins
Can also add an 8th attacker in Palmer here and stick the 4.0m defender as before, but I think a 4th defender would be more useful than an 8th attacker.
I think people are underestimating Alvarez. For his price point of around £7m there isn’t anyone in midfield or attack or defense that can give you his scoring AND more importantly it covers the City attack more cause everyone has Haaland.
Coufal at 4.6 is good. Or Guehi yes his fixtures you can rotate with Gabriel.
He's there, but WHU I think are the 3rd worst defense in the league right now, plus I don't want to double up already having Areola. Might think of Colwill, whose fixtures get better after some time and he can be good value at that price.
No way you can cover Salah with any other Pool attacker. I suggest bringing him in even if it means taking a -4.
You get Coufal for his assist potential not clean sheet. Same with Cash. Clean sheets for them are a bonus.
If you’re not planning on doing anything with that extra .8 you might get by brining in Gordon I’d suggest rolling the transfer. It depends on who starts Newcastle tmrw against Dortmund.
That's true and he does have 4 assists which is pretty good so far. I feel like I am a bit low on WHU which I may end up regretting, but let's see. It's the 4th defender who I wouldn't play unless someone misses out so not really the biggest point of discussion.
The main decision really is the Maddison v Bowen v Martinelli v Alvarez. That will make or break it for me.
Just came to post this. With so many good options this weekend like Salah vs Forest, Saka vs SHU, Watkins vs LUT, Son vs CRY… stick with Haaland. He’s going to have a field day against our defense and midfield
That’s a hard choice. I’d go Maddison, Alvarez, Bowen, Martinelli in that order.That's true and he does have 4 assists which is pretty good so far. I feel like I am a bit low on WHU which I may end up regretting, but let's see. It's the 4th defender who I wouldn't play unless someone misses out so not really the biggest point of discussion.
The main decision really is the Maddison v Bowen v Martinelli v Alvarez. That will make or break it for me.
Yeah, all of them are excellent options with good enough form/fixtures to justify picking any of them. Ideally I'd just keep Madders but that is causing downgrading Gordon to Palmer and Guehi/Coufal to a no mark defender, which you can get with Alvarez so that seems a bit more balanced.
Used my wildcard and ended up with the following:
Areola (Strakosha)
Konsa Tsimikas Gabriel (Lascelles, Mengi)
Saka Salah Son Mitoma (Ahamada)
Alvarez Watkins Haaland
I did have a 3-5-2 with Maddison and no Alvarez but feel the latter is a good differential and does often deliver.
Areola (Strakosha)
Konsa Tsimikas Gabriel (Lascelles, Mengi)
Saka Salah Son Mitoma (Ahamada)
Alvarez Watkins Haaland
I did have a 3-5-2 with Maddison and no Alvarez but feel the latter is a good differential and does often deliver.
Is Torres more nailed on than Konsa if you want to cover Villa defense?
Similar to mine except I have Gordon over Mitoma and more money in defense. Newcastle are top of the league in pretty much all attacking metrics so I've been looking at getting an attacker from that team.
I have the same setup as you but with Bowen instead of Maddison and Walker with Porro. Really headache to include Saka and Watkins in w/o sacrificing Son or Trippier for it.Already got Gordon mate
Squad is
Areola Leno
Trippier Cash Udogie Walker Kabore
Salah Son Maddison Gordon Diaby
Haaland Alvarez Archer
1 FT, no wildcard and £0.4m in the bank. What would you do?
Mini league rival is hurting me with Watkins but I'm keeping up with him due to Trippier and Maddison. I think he brings in Saka for Bruno this week.
How crazy would it be to just act like Watkins doesn't exist? Only way for me to get him is to lose Alvarez and that just doesn't feel right considering he has us and Bournemouth next up.
Yeah that's the trouble this week. There's no clear route to a player without risking it immediately blowing up in your face as everyone in my 11 has a decent fixture on paper.
Even trying to bring in an Arsenal player is a big gamble because any one of their attackers and even Rice could be the one who hauls (if any).
Really a week where I haven't got a clue what to do. Probably the safest but most boring thing to do would be to bring in Gabriel for Walker and play him instead of Udogie then hide and hope Watkins/Saka don't destroy my rank.
Basically the choices are these, can people please vote for one?
1. Maddison, Gordon, Guehi, 4.0 def
2. Maddison, Palmer, Gabriel, 4.0 def
3. Alvarez, Gordon, Gabriel, Guehi
1. Maddison, Gordon, Guehi, 4.0 def
2. Maddison, Palmer, Gabriel, 4.0 def
3. Alvarez, Gordon, Gabriel, Guehi
The issue is the price difference. Diaz is an easy get to replace JWP. He has played every game so far. I don’t expect him to put score Salah at all, I’d rather Salah but I just don’t want to tear apart my team and take a minus to get him in right now, just don’t think it’s worth it as much as people are making out.
Liveprool have two great fixtures incoming and I expect Salah to be a huge threat in both but just felt Diaz might be able to cover a bit of the damage of not having salah for those two. It was more of a weather the storm for the next few games and in fairness they’re games that Diaz could do great in as well.
Gakpo and Jota will be back and you'd imagine Nunez will start coming into favour with his recent form. I don't think Diaz will clock more than 60 minutes when he starts, or he may come off the bench.
That’s what I’m doing. It’s a massive risk but you have to make these calls in FPL as it’s impossible to have every player and you want to avoid chasing points.
Some people are going without Haaland which to me is a much bigger risk. But it’s definitely a concern - every week I’m cringing when Watkins scores or Trippier gets an assist as their EO is so high.
But saying that, both of those things happened at the weekend and I still had a 300k GW rank and a nice green arrow so as long as you’re covering the points elsewhere it’s a valid approach.
I played around with the idea of Gordon but think Mitoma's next 3 fixtures are just too inviting to pass up.
I made this move - if Konsa scores at the weekend...
Yeah I banked on Brighton at the start of the season as I really rate their attack but with Europe in play and this manager I have zero trust in any single asset to play in a reliable position consistently. But it's a fair punt and you can go down to Gordon once they are done with Arsenal. But for me I trust Newcastle vs anyone at home especially for attack so I see then man united and Chelsea games as pretty good fixtures for them.
Not convinced by Gordon, so I'd say 3 so you have someone to sub based on form. I believe more in Alvarez than I do in Maddison (who's playing really good atm) and it looks like you already got Son.
You could also upgrade Gordon to Mitoma by going Saka to Martinelli maybe? Personally I'd like Mitoma+Martinelli more than Saka+Gordon.
Nah Saka isn't going anywhere, he's the go to asset for Arsenal. I'd love to go for Martinelli but his stats in the PL are so poor compared to the likes of Maddison or Bowen that puts him behind in the order.
When it comes to Gordon it's more the trust in the team that is Newcastle to be dominant at home and fairly strong in most games. They play on the counter a lot and Gordon is a great outlet in that situation you likely plays most games. Martinelli and Mitoma sound spicy but could quickly turn into rotation headache so I feel more comfortable with Saka and Gordon.
Joe Willock is back in training now for Newcastle now btw. Doesn't he play on Gordon's side?
We need to ask his dad @Sarni about this.
Willock plays in midfield not on the wing.
Good to know. Thanks.
Isn't Martinelli's stats almost equal with Saka? Like they were last season. I'm too scared to do it myself also as I got Saka myself
(But I can get to Mitoma next GW easily)Regarding Gordon, I think it's the wrong approach. Go for Trippier instead. Their defence has maybe 5 out of 7 great games and he's just as much of an output as Gordon, only he can provide clean sheets also. about 1.4 more, but you get 2 players in 1 so to speak.
This is the problem with a couple of teams, most notably Newcastle and Arsenal and to a lesser extent Spurs, all who have strong attacking metrics with a tendency for points to be shared around.
I've got 2 FT's to play with a to be quite honest, I'm terrified of using either of them.
The original play was to downgrade Son to Saka but this seems crazy on current form, not to mention the almost constant injury concerns around Saka and the fact Son is Spurs No9.
I think the move that I favour at present is Madders to Bowen but its fraught with danger given how well the former is playing...just feel like it won't consistently lead to hauls whereas Bowen can grab you points with little or no involvement in the game, much akin to a Salah. You can obviously argue that point either way though in terms of xGI and the like!
I do like a talisman in my side and West Hams fixtures are also great. I will wait to see how Bowens minutes are managed tomorrow night though before pulling any triggers.
Yeah, I don't have that 1.4mIsn't Martinelli's stats almost equal with Saka? Like they were last season. I'm too scared to do it myself also as I got Saka myself
Regarding Gordon, I think it's the wrong approach. Go for Trippier instead. Their defence has maybe 5 out of 7 great games and he's just as much of an output as Gordon, only he can provide clean sheets also. about 1.4 more, but you get 2 players in 1 so to speak.