Fantasy Premier League will now take a short hiatus, as players from the Premier League travel with their respective international teams. Have you left yourself in a good position as the wait for gameweek 12 begins?
At the weekend, players from teams such as Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Brentford all picked up massive scores – let’s take a look at this week’s winners and losers in FPL.
Goalkeepers
Emi Martinez ruled the roost between the sticks this week, as he kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty for Aston Villa. After a mediocre season by his standards, he seems to be back to his best.
There were four ‘keepers who scored just a single point this week. We will excuse the other three – but David Raya cannot escape criticism for this. At £5.9, he is very expensive for a goalkeeper – anyone who had him in their team will have expected greater returns for such a hefty cost.
Defenders
The prize for top defender this week is shared – Everton’s Michael Keane and Chelsea’s Malo Gusto each accrued a very healthy total of 15 points for the gameweek. They each kept a clean sheet and also managed to find the back of the net along the way.
Bournemouth’s Alex Jimenez was the only defender this week to record a negative points total, netting himself an unfortunate -1 points. He spent 35 minutes on the pitch, with his yellow cards pushing him into the red. Thankfully, he is selected by less than 0.05% of all FPL players – so he probably didn’t ruin your afternoon (unless you’re a Bournemouth fan).
Midfielders
Again, the top spot was shared in this area of the pitch. Bukayo Saka scored against Sunderland to net himself 12 points, while Tomas Soucek did the same thing for West Ham United against Burnley.
Saka’s accumulation of points, in particular, was interesting – his goal was impressive, but it was his defensive contributions that gave him the maximum bonus points.
Meanwhile, it was an afternoon to forget for Antoine Semenyo. Despite being one of the most popular players in FPL this year, he picked up a grand total of zero points this week – he failed to notch up a goal contribution then compounded his misery by missing a penalty.
Emi Buendia has five attacking returns in his last five appearances including 3 goals and 2 assists yet he’s selected by just 0.2% of managers. Could the Villa man be a hidden gem for many FPL managers?
Forwards
This week’s highest scoring forward was, for once, not Erling Haaland – instead, Brentford star Igor Thiago won that honour. He found the back of the net twice against Newcastle United, one coming from open play, while the other came by the way of a spot kick. It was an excellent display from one of the division’s most underrated players.
We have to pick Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike as this week’s worst performing forward – he was one of many strikers who only notched up a single point, but none of the others are as expensive as he is. A special mention should also be given to Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani, who seemed to spend more time play-acting than trying to score goals.