With the next Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline on the way, we’re getting articles and team reveals from our panel of Hall of Famers and guest writers. Here, five-time top 1k finisher Tom Freeman talks through his team and the transfer he has lined up in Gameweek 28.
Like so many other Fantasy managers this week, I’ve got player availability issues, with Matheus Cunha (£7.0m) suspended and Lewis Hall (£5.0m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£5.3m) injured.
Alexander Isak (£9.4m) is at least “fine”, according to Eddie Howe, but it’s clear I need to make a transfer, which I’ll use to help me prepare for Blank Gameweek 29.
We cannot effectively plan our chip strategy yet, which Pras covered flawlessly earlier this week, but I won’t use my Free Hit in this upcoming blank, so I can effectively pencil in my second Wildcard for either Gameweek 30 or 31.
HALL REPLACEMENT
With Hall out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury, my initial idea was to sell him for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m), a player I could count on for the next three Gameweeks, right up until I Wildcard.
Wolves have kept two clean sheets in their last four matches and rank mid-table for expected goals conceded (xGC) under Vitor Pereira. Emmanuel Agbadou (£4.0m), who has looked good both in and out of possession since he joined the club in January, is back from injury, too.
As for Ait-Nouri, among players in his position, only Josko Gvardiol (£5.9m) has scored more goals this season. However, he hasn’t produced an attacking return since December and he’s only attempted three shots in his last eight games.
That said, he’s still seeing plenty of the ball in dangerous areas of the pitch, with 10 penalty box touches in his last three matches, the joint-most of any FPL defender. Due to the demanding nature of his wing-back role, there is a chance of an early substitution (see below), but taking everything into account, I still think Ait-Nouri is the best Hall replacement.