Whilst Gameweek 8's 8 point hit did ok for me with Saka, Kane and De Bruyne all returning, I'm coming into GW9 in a bit of a quandary of what to do. I'm hoping that as I write this post, I gain some clarity .
Annoyingly I'm 0.1m short of my ideal transfer of Emerson Royal to Reece James. I've not been happy with Royal ever since hitting the confirm button to bring him in back when I swapped the Spurs Full-backs when we got information that Perisic was being rested a few weeks back, and I've wanted him out since.
Another couple of players I want this weekend, will come as no surprise to anyone... Their my favourites... Callum Wilson, now he's back fit, and James Maddison, who continues his form this season despite Leicester struggling... The forest fixture looks plum for Maddison to return, although I can see Forest getting a result, which would surely mean the end of Brendan Rodgers' reign at the King Power? But even if so... it's Bournemouth the week after, so it's another prime fixture for Madders.
With not being able to do that, my main focus is on the plan to "dead-end" my team into GW 12. With 6 players from Arsenal and Man City who don't have a fixture that week, my plan is to remove as many of them before that gameweek, and then Wildcard after the blank to get assets from those teams back in.
Looking at my side, I don't want to remove Erling Haaland or Kevin De Bruyne until the last possible minute. They should still be good for points right up to GW12, and are key to my team, and my other option from Man City is Ederson, who I chose as a set and forget for the season, and I'm happy to keep him benched in GW12.
The Arsenal boys are the ones that are more likely to go first, but they all come with their own pitfalls. Despite having tough upcoming fixtures ahead of the blank, I'm struggling to remove them.
The Three I have are Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel.
With Saka, he's in fine form. Only De Bruyne has more assists than him in the league, and he's picked up 26 points in the last 4 gameweeks yet he's still only owned by 11.6% of the league. He also scored and claimed an assist in the NLD at the Emirates last season, which makes it tough for me to remove him ahead of tomorrow.
So my options come down to either of the Gabriels... Or rolling my transfer.
Martinelli is one I'm tempted to remove in terms of form. He's blanked in three of his last 4, but I have so much value tied up in him. Having bought him at the start of the season for just £6.0m, If I was to sell him now, I'd receive £6.3m but it would currently take £6.6m to bring him back in on my wildcard in a few weeks, and despite a couple of blanks, he's still one of the best value players in the game, especially with this weeks news of Emile Smith-Rowe being side-lined until after the World Cup.
So that brings me to Gabriel. I could get on board with this. It makes sense. I can't see Arsenal keeping many (if any) clean sheets in the gameweeks running up to GW12 when he won't play anyway... and even on my wildcard, I thought of switching him to William Saliba as a cheaper option (and the Frenchman is outscoring him so far this season). Gabriel is likely to be on my bench this weekend anyway, I won't want him against Liverpool in GW 10, so he's the most sensible option to move on.
So If I was to move him on... Who would be the replacement? Armed with £5.8m, I've got plenty of options (although still not enough for my top target Reece James). Looking at the season ticker on Fantasy Football Scouts Members Area The top teams for defensive options are rated as Fulham, Leicester and Nottingham Forest. As much as I try, I can't get excited about any of their options. Next up are Leeds, Chelsea and Bournemouth. There's only Chelsea from those that I would consider.
I already have Wesley Fofana as a budget route into their defence though, and Reece James is the one I really want from them, although I could maybe settle for Marc Cucurella now he's reunited with Graham Potter.
However, I can see a potential opportunity. With the news that Andrew Robertson is out of tomorrows game vs Brighton. I could potentially get in Kostas Tsimikas as a cut-price option. He's expected to start tomorrow, and gives me some coverage against not having Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah (and I'm petrified of not owning them now I've removed them)
Playing around on Plan FPL I appear to have stumbled on a plan, which allows me to play with 11 (barring no injuries, and doesn't mean I need to play Tsimikas if Robertson is back) in GW 12, gets me Reece James (next week) and leaves me with enough to bring back Mo Salah to replace KDB in GW12.
The plan is as follows:
GW 9 - Gabriel to Kostas Tsimikas
GW10 - Emerson Royal to Reece James (finally!)
GW 11 - Gabriel Martinelli to Lucas Paqueta
GW 12 - Kevin De Bruyne to Mo Salah (for a -4 I can replace Haaland, Ederson or Saka and get an extra player for 12 if necessary)
And so I think I'm set... A one week punt on Tsimikas throws open the options to get a side I like into GW 12 and the wildcard afterwards.
This would lead me to a 3-4-3 formation for this week. Haaland the boring captain selection due to his EO.
