Category News

FPL fires up again this week after the third international break of the season.

We now have a clear run of games until March, including a congested festive period, so this is a good point to take stock, with almost a third of the season gone.

What have we learned so far? What’s the best way to approach the game this season? And how can you get ahead of your mini-league rivals in the next few weeks?

Your first Triple Captain Chip has to be used in between now and Gameweek 19. So, let’s look at the best Gameweek to use it.

We can’t look past Manchester City’s Erling Haaland for the triple captaincy in my opinion. He’s been superior to everyone else so far this season and doesn’t look like slowing down.

I no longer have mine (used on Haaland for his 16-pointer at home to Burnley).

However, if I still had my Triple Captain I’d use it in Gameweek 13 when Haaland faces a struggling Leeds side. This is his most favourable fixture from now until Gameweek 19.

Despite losing five out of the past six Premier League matches, Liverpool are a team that are increasingly on the radar.

Their performances are improving – victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid for example.

And they have a great run of fixtures where they play Forest, Leeds, Wolves and Sunderland, all at home, and West Ham and Leeds away. No team has a better set of fixtures until the end of December.

However, the key question is who do we pick?

Mohamed Salah has improved recently, but without captaincy doesn’t look to be worth the price at £14.2m.

Strikers Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike look to be sharing minutes when both are fit. Same is true for Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz as the left-sided forwards.

For me the viable options are:

Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m), who has proved himself to be assured for minutes and this season has taken over most set-piece duties. My worry remains his open-play threat, with no shot in the box in the past four gameweeks.

I have this very dilemma! Many fantasy managers have always earmarked gameweek 12 as a key window, with fixture swings for Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United.

A bold move would be to play the wildcard in a position of strength, to fit Haaland and Salah into the same team. It can be used any time up to the gameweek 19 deadline.

Bear in mind that all managers will be topped up to five free transfers before gameweek 16, and the Africa Cup of Nations, so make sure you use up any free transfers up to this point. That’s the optimal strategy.

Haaland is a set and forget for the vast majority of teams, so to really benefit from the Manchester City attack scoring lots of goals, many would love to be able to bring in a second attacker, but rotation is a massive concern.

With City’s busy schedule, the infamous ‘Pep Roulette’ is already in full force and predicting the four spots behind Haaland isn’t easy.

Jeremy Doku and Phi Foden feel most safe at the moment and, assuming they start there is only two spots remaining from the following six players meaning the following are all a swerve in FPL: Bernardo Silva, Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, Oscar Bobb, Savinho and early-season favourite Tijjani Reijnders.

At £8m, Foden doesn’t come cheap but the affordable Doku £6.4m will be popular this week off the back of an impressive display against Liverpool.

In previous seasons it’s been simple, we’d pick defenders with some attacking threat who play for solid defensive teams.

Now, with defensive contribution points (defcon), there’s more to consider – and it has made centre-backs much more viable options.

In previous seasons, it was all about those attacking full-backs – such as Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool.

Now we can consider centre-backs with the likes of Marcos Senesi, Joachim Andersen, James Tarkowski and Nordi Mukiele regularly racking up defcon. To highlight this, the top 17 defenders for defcon this season are all centre-backs (Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell in 18th place is the highest first full-back).

However, we cannot ignore attacking full-backs such as Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Daniel Munoz who are flying high in the overall points – thanks mainly to clean sheets and attacking returns (and less so defcon points).

So remember, while defcon are significant this season – they aren’t the only or most important route to points for defenders.

I’d rather an Arsenal defender such as Timber, with no defcon this season, over the likes of Tarkowski or Andersen, for example.

The rule changes introduced this season which reward defenders with defcon for various defensive actions make defensive players’ scores less reliant solely on clean sheets, which can be unpredictable.

So far only Haaland, Antoine Semenyo and Declan Rice have more than 60 points this season, from midfielders and forward.

Four defenders have already hit this mark.

Another 10 have achieved over 50 points already – that’s over 4.5 points per match. When considering many of these defenders cost £4.5-6m, this is incredible value on offer.

I am therefore strongly considering a switch to a primarily four at the back formation. I like the fact that with four to five viable starting defenders, I can rotate them based on weekly fixture difficulty to maximize clean sheet potential while still having coverage if a player has a tough match-up.

Yes, it means you miss out on some cheap enablers in midfielder or attack such as Thiago (Brentford), Lucas Paqueta (West Ham), Elliot Anderson (Forest) or Yankuba Minteh (Brighton).

To me a £6m defender or two £5m defenders in a rotation can match, if not better, the output the attackers can produce this year.

Your total number of free transfers will be topped up to a maximum of five before gameweek 16, to help managers deal with players heading to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). However, to get all five you need to ensure you go in to gameweek 15 having used all your free transfers up.

With so many transfers, taking short-term punts could be more of an option and while we should be wary of owning too many players going to Afcon, players like Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr are still very good buys that you could have in your team for the next five gameweeks or more.

Some Afcon players will be released to their national sides before gameweek 16, but it is likely most won’t fly out until after Gameweek 16.

In some cases we could even see our Afcon players feature in gameweek 17 and Manchester United are reportedly in discussions with Cameroon to allow Mbeumo to play against Aston Villa on Sunday 21 December, one day after the start of the tournament but three days before Cameroon’s opener.

Defensive midfielders are infiltrating the current FPL template, with Arsenal’s Rice and Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo both over 20% owned.

Only Bournemouth’s Semenyo has scored more fantasy points among midfielders this season.

Defcon points have definitely had an impact here, with Caicedo hitting the bonus on five occasions. Crucially, midfielders with multiple routes to points are the big successes, especially those who carry goal threat or set-piece responsibility.

Rice is on free-kicks and corners for the Gunners, with a leading six goal involvements this season. At Sunderland, Granit Xhaka takes corners and free-kicks too, netting one goal and three assists while Nottingham Forest’s Anderson leads the way for defensive contributions in this campaign, and took their most recent penalty.

Mark Wood’s chances of playing in the first Ashes Test look to be increasing after the England paceman bowled a “rapid” spell in the nets in Perth on Tuesday.

Wood has not played a Test since August 2024 and felt tightness in his left hamstring during England’s only Ashes warm-up match.

After being cleared of any concerns over a hamstring injury by a scan, the 35-year-old took part in England’s first training session at Optus Stadium.

With heavy strapping on his left knee – he had surgery earlier this year – Wood first bowled off a few paces then built up to what appeared to be full speed off his full run.

Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who faced Wood in the nets, said: “He was absolutely rapid today. I can tell you that first hand.

“He’s definitely one to avoid on the netting list. He was near enough full tilt, so it’s good signs for us.”

England may confirm their XI for Friday’s first Test against Australia on Wednesday.

Wood could be part of a five-man England pace attack on what is expected to be a lively surface. On Wednesday, the West Australian newspaper carried a picture of the Perth pitch on its front page, calling it a “green monster”.

Ten names seem set for the tourists: the regular top seven, including fit-again captain Ben Stokes, plus seamers Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson.

If England omit Wood, his place could go to fellow seamer Josh Tongue or spin-bowling all-rounder Will Jacks.

Tongue said he could see no reason why Wood will not be fit for the first Test.

Wood, one of the fastest bowlers to play Test cricket for England, has a chequered injury history.

His latest spell out of the Test side began 15 months ago with an elbow problem. When the Durham man made his return in white-ball cricket at the beginning of this year, he sustained the knee injury that required surgery.

While his inclusion would come with an element of risk, England will be keen to include him for his pace, previous success against Australia and the importance of starting the series well.

If England do field five seamers, Wood’s workload can be balanced by the other four. It would arguably be harder to play him later in the series when a spinner is needed, meaning there are only three other pace bowlers to share the load.

Wood was included as one of five seamers – including all-rounder Stokes – for England’s only warm-up game against England Lions at Lilac Hill last week.

He bowled eight overs in two spells of four on the first day – a workload that England said was pre-planned – but left the field midway through the afternoon session.

He had a scan and received the all-clear on Saturday morning, but played no further part in the tour game.

Australia are set to be without captain Pat Cummins and fellow pace bowler Josh Hazlewood for the series opener, with Brendan Doggett in line for a debut.

Cummins, who is recovering from a back injury, has been bowling in the Perth nets as he builds towards a potential return in the second Test in Brisbane on 4 December.

Wicketkeeper Alex Carey did not rule out Cummins springing a surprise and playing the first Test, but it is understood the skipper will remain on the sidelines.

“The thing for Pat is the workload and getting enough overs in his legs, making sure there are no other injuries from bowling,” said Carey.

“It looked like his rhythm was there. It’s great to see and for him to the around the group – he’s a fantastic leader.

A green monster? The colour of the Perth pitch is probably nothing the England team have not seen at an early season County Championship match. The variable thing will be the bounce – green grass and steepling lift is a devilish proposition for a batter.

Pitches can also change considerably in the days leading up to a Test. On Wednesday, the surface was left uncovered, open to the sunshine. It has already begun to turn a lighter shade of green.

There were murmurings of England’s plan to play five seamers in this Test as far back as the home summer. The tourists appeared to reveal their hand by including a quintet for the only warm-up match against England Lions at Lilac Hill last week.

The last time they fielded such an attack was in the controversial Ashes Test at Lord’s two years ago. That was partly out of necessity. Spinners Jack Leach and Moeen Ali were injured, while captain Ben Stokes was hampered by a knee injury that would eventually require surgery.

On this occasion, spinners Shoaib Bashir and Will Jacks are probably not of the quality that could enhance England’s attack in these conditions. It feels right to unleash what would be the fastest England attack to play an Ashes Test in this country for decades.

The five should include Mark Wood, who could not have done much more in the nets on Tuesday. Naturally, there is an element of risk in fielding a bowler who has not played in a Test for 15 months, but that risk will not be diminished by saving him.