S8 Ep38: FPL Pod: Fixture proof players

It's FA Cup weekend, but before then, we're here to review everything from the midweek

game week.

We had benching problems, we've now got keeper conundrums, so here's one more pod before

the break ahead of game week 30.

Wow, it's been a busy week, hasn't it, in the world of FPL?

It always is when there's midweek fixtures.

They're nearly finished.

If you're listening to this on Friday, Saturday or whenever you're listening, just so you

know, we're in our usual Thursday morning slots.

This was a Sam's request, because she didn't want to wait for us to take on Crystal

Ballet.

Absolutely.

And for us to be able to talk about that now, I'm joking, it's because we wanted to stay

with you in our usual spot and because most of the teams have played and a lot of, I mean,

for us, all of our points are pretty much out, I think.

So, yeah, hopefully it's the same for you, if not, maybe you're hoping for a slanky brace

just like Sam this evening, but yeah, let's crack on, morning jewels, morning Sam.

But it's time to breathe with the FA Cup, I'm probably sad, need that, we all need a little

bit of a break from FPL every so often, particularly going into winnily in the running, aren't we,

jewels, really?

Yeah.

It's very exciting in a way, both in real life or whatever is at stake in the league, but

also for us, because that's where you need to push, that's where you need to play your

chips well, to try to climb up in all your different mini leagues, and in the main league

as well, I guess, and try to finish as high as possible, because, you know, there's nine

game weeks left, and there would be a few blanks probably, a few doubles, there would be

a lot of things happening, so that's where you have to stay focused.

Okay, let's crack on with where we got to, jewels, I'll let you have a little bit more

time to maybe process your bench, Jesus.

Oh, that's how you start, okay, that's that's the first question for you.

Oh, okay.

We went to Spurs.

I know you sounded like a massive side tackle.

No.

Yeah.

Sam, talk about your game week.

Oh, I honestly can be more frustrated.

Your bench was also pretty frustrating, wasn't there?

Yeah, it was one of those where, and I was on Friday, no, hang on, when was the deadline?

On Tuesday, when it was the deadline, I was kind of, I was back and forth all day on

what to do, and the press conference is, thanks to the Premier League managers for being

absolutely no help whatsoever with letting us know whether their players were going to play

or not, not that I really expecting anything different, but it was made it really difficult.

So in the end, I thought, right, well, I don't know what to do, so I'm just going to roll.

And the only thing I would have done is to have done Rodgers to Wilson.

So in the end, at least, Wilson didn't play, so that was a positive thing.

And I've got four transfers for next week, so we'll take some positives.

The negatives were, I last minute decided that I definitely thought the Brentford were

going to score a goal.

So Sinese could definitely move to the bench.

And I have never been such a big Brentford fan, as I was towards the back end of that

game, willing them to take away the ball of clean sheet because having them on the

bench, and I know it was going to be painful as well because he's the sort of player that

when he hauls, you stand to gain a massive rank rise from it because he's not that popular

in the game.

And it would have been such a difference maker.

So really frustrating game week, it basically wiped out most of the good stuff that happened

last week with my overall rank.

So it's just basically taking me back pre-game week, 28, I suppose.

So that is difficult stomach.

At least my captain was right.

And at least Basil cheer me up later, I hope.

Right.

Maybe.

Yes, please.

I can feel the tension, despite being in different post-close tools.

Come on then.

So you actually, let's start this.

I'll start on a more positive beat.

You had a brilliant game week.

Let's be honest.

79 points.

Absolutely brilliant, which is our Pedro and they're like, but it could have been even

better, couldn't it?

Especially given that you've got a minus one coming off your bench.

It's one thing to get your team wrong in some positions, right?

Because I thought Igor Thiago will face Petrovich.

Let's go with the attacker and Igor Thiago.

So let's bench Petrovich and start to Brafka, really praying for an Ilnil draw between

Everton and Burnley, which was never going to happen.

Let's be honest.

But still.

And then put Sennici on the bench.

And again, to go back to the chat that we had on the last show, why is Sennici normal

first serve?

I've got no idea.

I didn't even look at the subject again.

So Matikash was there until the first Chelsea goal, when Villa won Ilnil, I'm thinking, okay,

Matikash is going to come in for Wilson, who's not playing now, who are going for nothing

obviously as a transfer, but hey, that can happen.

And then it just all unravels so badly for Villa, Villa fans, Unai Emery, Matikash himself

because he gets a yellow as well, plus the four goals considered.

And then my friend, Marcos Tennici, easy on the bench in the warm with the blanket, looking

at me with 11 points saying, like, you didn't believe in me and I make you pay for it.

I feel like that was therapy.

At least you had Taco, though, I do feel so happy that you had your El Pedro too, like

you kept your El Pedro.

Yeah, no, I see.

But Arkovski, at some point, was going to come good in this game, brilliant first goal

of the season.

Absolutely.

Gabrielle, monster, performance defensively, only from him, great.

And then Semenio, who brought in as a transfer captain, great, but imagine if I had Captain

Joe Pedro and I had Petrovich in Sennice's goal, I would have had more than a hundred,

I would have had 115 points or something.

All right.

It would have been amazing, right?

It's one of those, you know.

Don't rub it into someone who's got just a little bit of a 50 points, like you and

so.

Well, I've got a grand total of two points to come off my bench because Sanchez didn't

play.

How it, Dizzy Heights, a 53, how can you go from a game week where you get 90 points

to 53?

It's a cruel game at times, isn't it?

Like, you think you're really getting somewhere, but yeah, it's going to have affected my

rank as well.

I had not quite as, I'm not back to where I was last week, but yeah, back down again, Morgan

Rogers is a real problem.

Anyway, okay.

Actually, yeah.

There's a lot of people doing a collective side at that point.

FPL poured mini league then.

Henry's still at the top.

He's 19 points ahead of Kim in second, but Kim's, all of Kim's players have played, whereas

Henry's still got Moonos left to play tonight.

A Christian Barso is third with 62 points for the week.

He's now seven points off fourth.

However, Ulur Tabi and fourth still has Sartre and Moonos to play.

Last week's big climber, Pedron Moschini, is up now into fifth place.

He's actually level on point, so Ulur Tabi, so yeah, still very tense at the top and

your code is x, y, six, x, p, l.

Okay, then let's do our usual reflection on the game week.

Why so usual?

It's naturally an off-the-bench style reflection, isn't it?

It's an FA Cup weekend, by the way, this weekend.

There is no deadline until next week.

So we've got a bit of time to breathe in terms of that, but let's reflect on where we

are going into those fixtures.

As Sam said, goal is between Bournemouth and Brentford.

Cineci was actually the tenth most player of the game.

We got 11 points.

I benefited from Hills, Cleanshee as well.

Could have been very different, couldn't it, because Tuvernia hit the woodwork twice.

So from a Bournemouth point of view, there's quite a few people, Sam, isn't there invest

in their defence?

And perhaps we are CMY.

It's grizzling.

No, no.

Maybe it's just because I'm invested, I'm glinkered.

I think there is a growing community that have been invested in the Bournemouth defence,

but it's quite spread.

Obviously, Hills has been very popular.

Cineci himself actually less popular, because obviously over the last few weeks, Hills

has been outscoring him most of the time, and so actually between the two of them, we've

started to see a few more investments.

But when you look at the impact that they have on your rank, they are exactly the sort

of players that make such a difference to you, because they don't have the same level

of ownership as some of your bigger assets in the game.

And when they keep a clean sheet, it doesn't really hurt you so much.

It's not going to massively tank your rank, but what it will do is massively enhance your

rank.

So yeah, it was definitely a frustrating one, this one, and I just got it completely wrong,

because when I was talking about Evernelson having this dead leg and whether he'd start

or not, I was like, well, maybe that means Creepy is going to start and so swapped

Creepy for Cineci.

That was the move I did last minute, and then obviously Creepy was benched and Cineci

hold.

So it couldn't have been a worse decision to have made last minute.

But yeah, I mean, I think, look, whether you want to go for Hill or Cineci, I think he's

very much going to depend on how much money you have, they're not actually a huge amount

of difference in price now, because Hill keeps rising, given he was at one point, there

was a million between them.

Now it's not quite so much, but yeah, I think investing in them is still a really good

option.

It's Burnley up next before then three difficult fixtures with Manchester United Stars,

no one knew how so.

But after that, these Crystal Palace Fulham, and they're not in forest on the final day,

there's at least five games there where you could feasibly play them.

And even in those more difficult weeks, they always seem to pick up the defensive contribution

points, those guys.

So you're always starting, it feels like up for.

So who would you say, Jules, if you were not invested in the Bournemouth defense at

the moment, who is the better option?

And because as Sam said, Hill's price is rising.

Would you still, would you now pay that a little bit more for Cineci, or is it still

best to go budget wise?

No, I will still go for the cheapest option, because I don't think there's much.

And actually, if you look at the last five game weeks, as Sam just said, hey, let's

go more points than Cineci.

So I know this weekend, this midweek, sorry, Cineci was really outstanding.

And he will have those big 10 plus holes now and again, but I think overall probably

Hill is more, probably more consistent, even in terms of points.

So I don't think there's much into it, but if you're building your squad with, you know,

budget in mind, then go for Hill list.

Agree, Sam?

Yeah, yeah.

I agree.

Yeah.

I mean, I'll hold Cineci because I'm invested.

But if I didn't have either, I'd go for Hill.

And Tiago, the seventh most transferred in, he blanks.

He must be a frustrating home for you, Sam.

But you don't want to actually, I mean, yeah, before Sam goes in, it's not just that he blank,

he had zero shot.

Yeah.

Like, it was not even, he didn't even try to score because he just never, like, never

shot and same for if I need some, this must be quite a rare occasion in the Premier League

with the two number nines, who play, who two teams play with the lone striker, didn't

have a single shot in the whole game, neither of them.

That's the second time since Christmas as well, Tiago has not had a shot in a game.

Right.

So that's not, like, it is one of those where, do you remember when we all had him and

then we sold him and then he went on those two massive halls.

Like, I kind of feel like we could be, we could be heading in one of those directions

again, like the last couple of weeks.

I know that he, he got the goal last week, but actually, if you, if you really think

about it, he should have done far better than he did in that game against Burnley and

GameWe28 because there's so many opportunities and he really should have put more of them

away.

So for him to then go into this one against a Bournemouth side that they played very well defensively

in this one, but they haven't been a solid defense this season.

It's been, most of the Bournemouth games have been chaos scorelines and I kind of thought

that this one might be like that.

So for Tiago to play, not have a single shot in the game week is just incredibly frustrating,

but the fixtures are still there for Brumford.

So I don't think you're going to be doing anything about it because he plays in 31, but at

the same time, I think that you, you will find that a difficult watch.

I definitely was frustrated watching this one thinking I, I can't remember a time where

I've watched one of my forwards be so uninvolved in what's happening in a game.

Okay.

Moving on then, Drew is still out on Tiago ever too, it's funny because I keep thinking

of investing him and then there's a performance like that and then I don't and then what normally

follows is a goal in the next game.

So yeah, I can imagine it's frustrating to own him, it's also frustrating not to own him

at times too.

Everton to Burnley-Nill, Ken and Julie Brihall, no, I was working with Everton Legend,

Leon Osman at the time in the Deadline on Tuesday and I was seriously considering because

I was worried about if Harlan Dan Wilson missed out, my bench wasn't strong enough and

as spoken about on previous pods, I wasn't sure about Morgan Rodgers coming off my bench

and he suggested Ken and Julie Brihall and I was like, hmm, at home Everton, I've been

great, although I love him as a player, I love watching him.

He's actually now been Everton's top performer in FPL since he came back from his injury.

It's 36 points, isn't it Samo?

The last six game weeks.

He has five shots, the highest of the match, I'm wondering if now he is a viable option

because actually now I'm looking for a new midfielder and there is options, but there's

not maybe quite as many as there was a few weeks ago.

No, and has a fixture in game week 31 again, so it becomes a bit of an important one.

He was my different of the week this week, so I was delighted to see him pop up with some

points, that was nice.

Yeah, I think it's interesting, isn't it, because over the last few weeks, Everton,

there haven't really been a team that I've been looking at, to be honest.

They've been a team that I think, if you've had Tarkoski, you would have held him, like

Jaws did, but I don't think they were a team that you would be highly investing in, given

that the fixture that they have in game week 31 isn't exactly an easy fixture, it's Chelsea,

so you wouldn't necessarily be expecting a lot out of your Everton players maybe in that one.

And Arsenal won before that as well.

Yeah, and then exactly, so we go into the next week and they've got Arsenal, so the next two

are difficult, but having said all of that, Jews people are just cheap, he's a nice

naveler, so we could see some managers move back there, if you remember back to early part

of the season, he was phenomenal and he was returning points regularly, had that bit of the

very start where he just didn't return as we would expect it, but then we went through this

period where he was great, so we could see that happening, the Arsenal clinch, he hasn't

necessarily been that solid over the last few weeks, so maybe it's okay to go there and hold

through the end of the season, but I think that there are probably better cheaper options with

better fixtures than Everton have, because even when you go past that Arsenal game, it's then

Brentford Liverpool, West Ham, Manchester City, they're going to be a team that have a massive

impact on the top and bottom of the league over the next few weeks.

Okay, Debravka, I mean, Jews put his faith in, didn't he? He was actually the most bench player

of the game week, everyone else in the world I hit, benched him apart from Jews, although I

have got him coming off of my bench because I didn't have Sanchez, and there was a lot of goalkeepers,

of course, that didn't play, Sam didn't have Roosh, so you've got Debravka coming on as well.

I played Debravka anyway, because I didn't think Roosh was going to play, so

okay, the two of you put faith in him. Pope, of course, didn't play as well.

I mean, we all bought Debravka for our bench, he's pretty much because he's cheap, but

this week we're all getting in pretty much. I don't really know what to say, but I mean, still,

I think we just re-enforces. We're in re-enforces, it's price point, we know what we're getting with him,

he's going to tick over points, he's hopefully going to play every week, and he's a good backup

but he's maybe not your first choice. I need a new goalkeeper this week now.

Yeah, I mean, depends who your second one is, really. Debravka should not really play, and he

should come off the bench if your number one keeper is not playing. If you want to rotate,

I mean, really Debravka should not be your second goalkeeper, but he can do a job, and at times he's

been outstanding, he makes someone really good, he's a really good goalkeeper, obviously.

In this case, it was just that I had my striker against my other goalkeeper, and I hate those

situations, and you often have them once in your season, and that's it, but yeah, it's one of those,

but for his price range, if it's just for nine again, if somebody's injured, or if you're just

being burned with a miracle, can not concede, then yeah, go for him.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's move on to that game because it continues our goalkeeper chat.

Congratulations to Melka Elborg, only signed for the club last month, came on and deputised

with a double digit hold, didn't he? Premier League, debut, fantasy, debut, four saves as well as a

clean sheets. I mean, Sam, what, I guess you're just going to wait in there how long groups

is out for? I'll probably just change him to be honest, because they haven't been keeping

that many clean sheets anyway, Sunday and Sunday in recent weeks, that they had this kind of

fortress at home, and Talliti, and it was great. And over the last few weeks, we haven't had that,

and on the road, they also haven't been great. So when I was looking at my goalkeepers for this

week, I was like, well, it ever just haven't been great at home. DeBravka just hasn't been great,

but only haven't been great, but at least he might make some saves, and then I looked at

Sunderland and was like, well, on the road, they're pretty poor. I mean, they're expected goals

conceded is very high on the road. So maybe actually, I go with him anyway, in the end, I think,

had it not been for the rumoured news that he was out, I possibly would have gone roast.

I think moving forward, like when you look at the Sunday and fixtures that they have coming up,

they don't scream clean sheets, it's brightened at home next. Let's see if roost has been available

for that one. But then after that, Newcastle Spurs villa before Forrest and Walls, and then

Manchester United's attention Chelsea to end the season, like there's not loads of clean sheets

in there for Sunderland, I don't think, because even the home fixtures don't look ideal.

So yeah, I will probably sell. The point is, is that I need to kind of make a decision about

when I might play my bench boost, because it kind of feels like it's more important to make sure

my goalkeeper is correct for that week, because I'm not expecting DeBravica to get very much. So

yeah, Chip Strasche is going to start playing into this now in terms of which goalkeeper I go for,

because whoever I invest in is I'm bound to jinx, because my goalkeeper status this year has been

very difficult. Yeah, let's have a little bit of goalkeeper chat here, though, because it's

tough isn't it? So I'm also in the market for a good goalkeeper. So two of the three of us are,

I'm assuming you're not Jules Petro, which is fine, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who is the best option at the moment? Because I was talking to a friend last night, and it's really

tricky, because we've got the blank in 31. I've got the benefit of knowing I've got my wild cards,

so I almost just need a goalkeeper for the next couple of weeks, really. But I would have gone with

Raya, but then there's the blank. I was just going to be boring and go with Raya. He's got the blank.

Roofs, as you've all of the reasons you've just said there, I don't want to brave cruise my

starting number one. I even considered Joseph Sard, just because he'll make saves as well, but again,

blank in 31. Look, where do we go, Sam? All of a sudden, I mean, goalkeeper is always tricky as

you well known, but where do we go? If you're looking for just the next two weeks, I think I'd be

inclined to go for for them, and Leno, like, I thought I watched the game last night. Yeah,

it's not even for us in Burnley, like that feels, but they were without Harry Wilson last night,

and they aren't as good when they don't have Harry Wilson. So again, I guess we'll have to wait

for news on that, but I would expect that by the time we get to game week 30, because it's not for

like, over a week, that we would have Harry Wilson back and available. So I hope so.

Full and for the next couple of weeks, Leno probably feels like the best option. If you take the

fixture difficulty and ticker, and you run it through to the end of the season, and you sort it

by defense, leads the top. There's a difficult fixture in there in Game Week 32 against Manchester

United. He, at that point, Nebraska has Brighton, so maybe that's not terrible. They've got some decent

options in there. The problem is that the teams that they face in the coming weeks are all teams

that need to score goals, because they need to fight primarily survival. So you've got teams in

there like wolves and Burnley and Spurs and West Ham. So those are teams that you would expect to

actually, or on paper, it doesn't look, it looks like a good run. But I would expect that those

teams will come and have have a go because they have to if they want to survive. So yeah, the wolves

one is annoying, because if Joseph said I didn't have the blank, I think he works. Although you could

just play the first one. There's Brentford. Brentford, I've wolves leads Everton and Fulham coming up

for to a home to a way. That's not bad if you want Kelly. Yeah, but then the end is the end of

the season. If you want it like for me, I'm doing a goalkeeper that I want to keep

right the way through. So by the time you get to 34, it's their Manchester, West Ham,

Man City, Chris. So maybe he's an option for the likes of me or like wild coders.

Yeah. And I think that's the thing, isn't it? Like the reality is we haven't had loads of

clean sheets this season across the board. There hasn't been like massive goalkeeper halls.

There's been the odd one here and there, like Joseph, sorry, over the last couple of weeks,

phenomenal. And Kelli, her back this week, Petchovich this week, Rayer this week. But

if you look over the last few weeks, you've just had no real clean sheet. So

maybe it's less important to look at that and just more important to think about where we go.

Forest fixes are actually all right as well. But again, I just don't feel like

I really want a goalkeeper from from there either. Yeah, it's tricky, isn't it? Okay, then maybe on

two. It's one last thing on that because you've got kind of a Lewin, Kelli. And I think a lot of

people still are investing kind of a Lewin. He had one shot, two touches in the opposition

box. No, the shot was off target, by the way, which is very difficult to score if you don't

through on target. Obviously, as we all know, I think he's one goal in his last seven.

Yeah, thanks for bringing me. Are you? No, I'm just saying like, I know we know you love it.

You love your. So I was going to sell it. I was going to sell him this week. So I kept him

for last game week against Man City when I run like he looked more likely to score than he did

last night in the easier fixtures. I just speak against Sunderland. I kept him. I held him

through Man City because I thought, well, they've got a nice and okay run of fixtures.

I've got an okay couple of fixtures here. He's got fixtures in 31. And I was like, he's a little

bit of a differential as well because I've spoken about my Tiago frustrations. Watching that game,

I watched that game on Tuesday night at PLP, I would sell him. But then I've got other problems now.

Robert Sanchez wasn't meant to be benched. Morgan Rogers is becoming a problem as well. So yeah,

maybe I hold Morgan Rogers and sell Dominic Calvert Lewin. I don't know. I can't sell them all.

It's my problem. Fair enough.

Because Morgan Rogers has got to be a bigger priority. I think I can bench Dominic Calvert Lewin

with his fixtures. I'm kind of back him to get. So yeah, so in answer to your question,

George, if I had three or four free transfers this week, I'd sell him. But I think for me,

Dominic Calvert Lewin will sit on the bench, was it palace away next? I'm kind of happy to play him

in that because I was going to say you play him against Pasha. Yeah, even brought for that to

that probably too. So yeah, so that's probably while keeping him. And also because there's not

an abundance of options elsewhere really, like I've spoken about Tiago. I don't know exactly

where I also go unless I went, I mean, to our Pedro's, the man in person is neat. But I'm scared

of the fixtures. But all of us are scared of fixtures and missing out on a lot of points at the

moment. So yeah, I think they're forwards. They've been tricky for a couple of game weeks now.

I've got a Catecan Holland. The most weeks I'm happy to play them as a front two really. So yeah,

let's move on. But very good point, George. I was just choosing to forget about Calvert Lewin because

he's been so frustrating and was to Liverpool one. What's a game? This was what I finished this was.

But not really great if you were invested in Liverpool, which was so many of us were.

Catecan, Virgil van Dyke were the two most transferred in players. They've got

loads of new managers who've come away from that game with absolutely nothing. There was a return

though for Mohammed Salah, first one since game week 10. I still wonder that we're probably a

bit of a gift, wasn't it? As well, let's be honest. But I mean, he had to finish. He did.

Where do we stand with Liverpool, George, after that one? I thought that was really poor performance

overall. Everyone defensively, the two goals are shocking the way they happen. Alisson, Van Dyke,

Conate, all of that for a team like that with those ambitions is bad. I think going forwards and

it was missing again. And you could see the difference so much when he's there, when he's not there.

It was very poor. I think Salah is lucky. How did Salah get two bonus points? I will never know.

There's no, there's not a dribble that he's, I think he tried four dribbles. None of them worked.

He got very lucky with his goal, I think, because Salah should have saved it. And it's about

passed by Belgaard in the first place. I don't think he did merge. You don't create any chances.

I don't know where he got the two points, but anyway, if you have him, if you still have him,

good luck for me, he got absolutely well done. If you have him for me, he got super lucky.

And that doesn't really show any more improvement from him individually. Anyway,

but I thought it was a pretty bad performance there. We have actually seen quite often this season

for Liverpool, unfortunately. Yeah, it's been a little bit inconsistent, doesn't it? A little

bit frustrating. I nearly bought Inseboz Lighthead of this one, and I was just a little bit wary

of the fixture, and it proved to be, didn't it? But are we still, I mean, we've been waxing

there a call about maybe tripling up because I got a fixture in 31. Are you still as on board

with that, Sam? Yeah, I mean, they weren't great in this one, but suppose I got five,

because he picked up a bonus point and he got defensive contribution points. So to be honest,

I was quite happy with him, like he was fine. Probably the best option to have this game. We

weren't the other than Mo Salah really. Yeah, and the reality from Liverpool has been them.

Yeah, you're not going to spend that money on Salah. I think the bigger worry here is as a defensive

asset. Like the last couple of weeks has been brilliant with Virgil, because he's obviously been

picking up the attacking returns, and it's the attacking returns that have been so super helpful.

But that is the fifth time this season that Liverpool have lost the game in the 90 plus minute.

That's the most in any single Premier League for one side in a Premier League season, which is mad

ever. So they do have this habit of just conceding goals. I mean, obviously it wasn't the clean

sheet that got wiped out at that point, because it's the second goal. It's the one that loses

than the game. But nonetheless, it is difficult. So I think that's why, you know, last week,

people kept sending me, can I go canata instead of Virgil? And I was a bit like, well, I wouldn't,

because Virgil's attacking threat is the reason why we've had him, rather than the clean sheets,

because Liverpool just haven't really been that solid defensively. And obviously if he does clean

sheet, then you have had a big call from him. But I think the expectation going into this one,

I wasn't necessarily expecting a clean sheet from Virgil. I was expecting potentially some

involvement from a set piece, because that's fundamentally the reason I bought Virgil.

And he has one massive chance. Remember the header?

One massive chance. And I was out of my chair for that one. And then back in it quite quickly

when it didn't go in. But nonetheless, like I think you hold, particularly if you're one of the

like 800, nearly 900,000 managers that bought an EKTK this week, obviously you've done that for

a reason. And it wasn't just for this fixture, although on paper this fixture does look nice.

The Liverpool fixtures remain good, obviously. It's spurs up next for them in Gameweek 30.

Before then they got the Brighton Game in Gameweek 31. And that's why we've been so heavily

investing in Liverpool because they have a decent looking fixture in 31. And then even the games

that follow after that, for them ever think Crystal Palace, like those definitely feel like games

where whilst the clean sheet might not be there, there should be goals. So if you've got EKTK,

if you've got Subosly, any of those players, then hold them. And the same with Virgil.

Where are we standing on walls now, Jules? Because I mean, they've won back-to-back

Premier League games. I know there's only one three games all season, but on Drey in particular

return for the second Gameweek in a row, what performance for him. And it was his first ever

attacking return, got 12 points after bonus. But I'm just wondering if we mentioned Joseph Sir,

are there any options now because the fixtures are nice, so you could also argue that the way they

play suits the bigger teams. Yeah, maybe you're right. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. I mean,

Andre was incredible. He had 20 defcons, I think, 19 or 20. I looked yesterday, which is,

I mean, I don't know how, like, if people realize what an incredible performance, defensively,

from a midfielder like him, this is to get that many defcons. Incredible. He's obviously a bit

lucky on his goal, but he doesn't matter. He still counts. But I think at the end, after he

celebrated the goal, not that there was much time left, but it looked like he could not even get up.

It was on the grass, literally laying down. I don't think he could even go home. It's one of them,

you could go there, of course, with him because you know exactly what you're going to get from him

in terms of those defcons that he can probably now rack up a little bit. Size, another option,

I guess, defensively, a crash key, those kind of guys, maybe, I mean, I looked at Rodrigo

Gomez, who obviously scored again, like he scored against Villa. He played one minute against Villa,

scored. He played 20 milliseconds Liverpool scored back to buy games. Obviously, if you look at

his point, he's gone by 0.1%. I would love to know if you are listening, who and why you put him

in your team at some point, but if you played him, I hope for you, he played well done because

that's two seven points in a row. But that's lovely enough. Yeah, let's be happy for words,

because they didn't really have much happiness so far. Yes, don't know,

still anyone you're looking at Sam or we just, just the blank, the blank is a massive problem.

Like I think Joseph saw you can cover with the Brafker for the blank, obviously, just move him out.

But the problem is, I don't think you can go anywhere near investing now in moves, arsenal,

fantasy or palace until we get past 31. Once you've got past 31, then I think you can go

back there. And then coming out of 31, walls have a good fixture against West Ham, then they've got

leads, then they've got spurs. I mean, goodness me, aren't they going to be involved in what happens

at the bottom, not just for themselves, but for everyone else around them. So there's definitely

potential after game 31, while card is in 32, you could definitely have a look at walls assets.

And just make sure you get the right Gomez, because maybe Jules, that's why people have got

Rodrigo because they've got the wrong Gomez. They ended up being the right Gomez at that.

They've got a lot of Gomez's anyway. And then Joseph's Gomez came on as well and it was chaos.

I was just going to make some of that. I saw some social media posts where it described

as Gomez squared, which made me love to have so many of them on the picture. I saw Villa one at

Chelsea for, I mean, well done Jules. What you said on last week's pod was exactly right, wasn't it?

We said, or you said it, if you've got him, keep him. And now I'm wondering, despite their

fixtures, is he actually fixed your proof? I mean, obviously you're not going to be selling him,

but could someone at myself look at bringing him in?

I think so. I know it's obviously, as we said, not easy fixtures for Chelsea coming up.

They will concede goals. So if you have, you know, Sanchez or Defender,

I would every day have draw a Pedro ahead of anybody else defensively from a Chelsea point of

view, for example. And I know there's a dodgy assist in the game last night. I should never get

because he's the poor guy. I mean, I, you didn't know, no, no, no, no, no. For all the time, I'm

alone when, you know, when somebody gets an assist, that is not on my team. I have to moan when

even one of my plans gets in because it's nothing if not consistent when it comes to that. Exactly.

That's a joke, really, because if you're losing at the end of the season, you're mainly because

the guy behind you are draw Pedro tonight and beat you by one or two points, you'll be gutted

because it's never, never. It's not because you touched the ball last, that's an assist.

You had no idea that the ball, you know, got to him and he's just brushed him off anyway,

but anyway, but he was a thought outstanding and to be fair, the header that Martin Saves

out one in down, he could have had four or five easily in this game. I think he's in that kind of

form and he's a super confident player. Anyway, even when he's not doing well, so imagine when he's

doing well, the confidence is going through the roof. And that's why I think he can win you again

on his own. He can make something happen out of nothing. And that's why I think people should

get him. Okay. Sam, you've written some incredible stats on this document here. So I'll let you take,

I don't want to pretend I've written them because they're pretty good. And I think listeners and

particularly jaws are probably want to hear them. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I just, everywhere I

looked last night for some job Pedro stats, they just got more and more ridiculous. And so normally

I try and put some that are not just all about the same player, but it became like I had another one

as well that I didn't record. He's got more non penalty goals in 2026 than any other Premier League

player with seven. Like in January, he had you said that that was going to be Jal Pedro. I think

we'd have all gone, no, don't be ridiculous because the fixtures haven't exactly been

highlighting that that's going to happen. He's also had seven goal involvements against

Aston Villa in the Premier League now in his career. The opponent that he enjoys playing against

the most four goals and three assists. Obviously, a lot of that came, came last night. He's now

equal drug was goal record from his first full season at Chelsea. He's on 16 goals in all competitions.

And obviously, we still have like 10 weeks to go where he's still got other competitions,

the FA Cup as well that they could score more goals. And over the last two weeks, he's been sold

by over 600,000 managers. This was his best ever return, 19 points, three goals, the assist,

maximum bonus points. His 76 points in the last eight game weeks is the best form of any player

since Harlan at the beginning of the season when in the first eight weeks, when he got 83. So he is

just he's in fantastic form. He seems to be quite a fixture proof. Villa did absolutely capitulate

though. They absolutely collapse. They're in trouble. They're in massive trouble. In some ways,

they are lucky. They are where they are going into this form, but they are going to be struggling

to stay where they are now because the team, I mean, despite the fact that other teams around them

lost points last night, which also will have helped them out. They are struggling right now. And

their fixtures aren't great. Chelsea have got new castle up next before they play Everton in

the blank. And then it's Manchester City Manchester United. Like there's some big matches coming up

for Chelsea. But Jal Pedro is exactly the sort of player that with the form that he's in,

you would expect him to go into that as you just said, it draws with confidence. So yeah, I think

he's a hold. I think he's borderline of eye, even with the horrible fixtures that they have on

paper. Yeah, I think I think potentially I'll be bringing him in because I can get rid of him on

wildcard if I want to, though, sell him at your peril. Brighton Hill Arsenal one. It was, I mean,

Arsenal did exactly what they needed to do. Didn't they? Jules? They won. Maybe wasn't the prettiest

game return. Of course, another goal for Kai Sacron is 300 to parent and assist from Timber.

He really wants to punish us. Yeah, three returns in a row now for Julian Timber when he had

nothing for a long time before that. No, Saliba, who had a bit of a like bad ankle.

Hopefully he should come back just for, you know, in 10 days time now. So there's a bit of time

because of the FA Cup this weekend, he would not have been involved again against Mansfield.

Anyway, I'm super solid Arsenal. We've said it many times, but they're the best team in Europe,

out of possession with the way they defend the structure that they have defensively. The effort

that they put in, the physicality that they have is our standing. So yeah, the defense worked really

well yesterday, apart from the little scare at the beginning on the Raya pass and the clearance

by Gabriel, who got three more bonus points, I think, and much better than everybody else in terms

of the points that you got for that as well. And with the ball not, so you know, fluid or anything

like that, but they did what they had to really. And I thought they were so impressive without the

ball. So hard isn't it with Arsenal's time because, as he said, we're probably all going,

we can't invest because of 31, but if they were, as I said before, I'd be tempted back towards

the Arsenal defensive double up. Yeah, I think so because actually when you look at this

again week so far, they were the team with the worst expected goals, not point four, three,

Arsenal had. So they weren't expected to score a lot of goals. They weren't great in attack.

In fact, they only had seven attempts on goal. And when you consider, like, compare that to the

guys at the top, Manchester City had 21, Chelsea had 15, Manchester United had 14, even

Fulham had 13, Newcastle had 12. That's a big jump down. Even Forrest had two more than them

with nine. So the attack, not great, definitely feels like the defenders, again, there is,

it's attacking returns, isn't it, for Timberlake? We haven't had necessarily the clean sheets in recent

weeks from Arsenal. They have been mistakes here and there, which of course, the clean sheet.

But Timber has just been regularly picking up, you know, there was an assist in the North

London Derby. There's the assist for Sacker here, like these additional points are so important.

It's scored against Chelsea as well. And they scored against Chelsea. And then you've got

these kind of like Defcon monsters in players like Gabrielle, 17 defensive contributions he made

during this game. And with the way that they play, the defensive contributions always looked

likely as well. So again, it feels like even if the clean sheet goes, you're at least at four.

And then you'll be adding clean sheets to that as well, hopefully, plus some attacking return

throughout as well. And Gabrielle, it's proof, isn't it? He doesn't need an attacking return.

He's so involved in everything that's going on that if the clean sheet stands, he'll get defensive

contributions and then pick up the bonus points because that's just the way that the bonus point

system works. He's that important to the way that they're playing and it rewards those defensive

contributions and the hard work that he's doing. So yeah, I think if it wasn't for the blank,

there would be a lot of people that would go for the defensive double up. Most people that

have got the defensive double up now have got it with Raya because obviously he's benchable

to play Debrafka. So it's one less issue to contend with in 31. And I think, you know,

that is an option for me, like going like I could just go roost to Raya, maybe not this week,

but it wouldn't be enough to play Debrafka then for the next two weeks. So I need to consider that.

But for wild carders in 32, I would definitely be looking at going back to the Arsenal defensive

double up, but I probably would go back to Timber and Gabrielle with the choice after 31 because of

the attacking threat that they both bring. For them now, West Ham won. Some of them scored,

and we had a run of three games without returning, didn't we? But 54 points now since game

week 22, is he becoming an option, Jules? Yeah, we mentioned him, I think not quite recently,

in terms of we used to see Bowen being the one that made things happen for West Ham. And

rightly so, being the best player, the captain, etc, etc. I mean, some of it has taken over.

Really, I got a bit lucky yesterday because it's a massive messed up by the full-arm defence,

but still well done to him. Also, it's the third clean sheets in the last five Premier League games

for West Ham. And I'm not saying that this I see Paris-born and bred is the best defender in the world,

but being from Paris helps. Hermann sent five saves. He's done really well since he took

and I know they considered five against Liverpool, but I thought they played quite well in that game,

to be honest. But I think he's made also a bit of a difference defensively for them. And

when there's no Wilson for full-arm, if you're West Ham, you're going to this game thinking,

okay, they are with the best player, the one that really makes things happen for them. And they

I thought they played really well over the game, maybe got a little bit lucky with some of the

decision from the ref, but overall, I think they deserve to win that game. Okay, frustration for them,

we're just going to be waiting, I think, to hear about Harry Wilson, not me, but I think Sam said

earlier, we saw just how much they missed him. Manchester City 2, Nosegan Forest 2, I mean,

there was a good game on that. Ellie Anderson, a word for him, Sam, because, wow, double digit

hall, no more fielder. Well, we know, we know, don't we about his def combat. The fact that he got a

goal as well was just like the perfect storm. Yeah, obviously gets the def gone in this one.

It was his second ever double digit hall in fantasy. So it, look, he's not going to, he's not

going to score goals every week. That's that alone proves that, but he will always pretty much get

you the defensive contribution points as 21 after 29 games now with defensive contribution points

for Ellie Anderson. Like we said last week, they're running to come to an end, well, the runs restarted

again. But I think it's really interesting with, with Forest, isn't it, because there was some

real fight and there was some real grit here, like even to the last minute with the Marillo

clearance off the line, like I was very much hoping for another Cemento goal as a Cemento

captain. I was thinking that might be the difference maker at this week, which we didn't get. But

I was quite impressed by Forest and going into the last few weeks of the season, like the

fixtures aren't bad. They're not bad. It's, it's full of them up next. Let's say Perry Wilson's

back in that one, then it spurs before Aston Villa, Burnley and Sunderland, like these are definitely

teams that will one attack, so defensive contributions look almost nailed on for Anderson,

but two are also getable, so like you could see over the next few weeks that there's going to be

some real competition in the bottom of the table between these teams and there's

a hundred percent something to fight for from a forest perspective, like it all tightened up

at the bottom of the league again last night with West Ham winning, Forest getting the draw,

so then our level on points with each other, like these teams, they have to win games,

and so if they have to win games, they are sort of the teams we want to invest in from an FAO

perspective, despite the fact that they're where they are in the league, you want teams that have

got some momentum and some need to win if they like they're going to have to if they want to save

themselves. So Elliot Anderson feels like a bit of a no-brainer to be honest over the next

couple of weeks. Yeah, it means in my considerations as well, Antoine Semenio, I mean,

wow, what a season he's having, he's having his best season in fancy, I guess the only problem

really is that he's got that blanking 31, let's move on to Newcastle versus Manchester United,

nice little start here, for the first time ever in fantasy Bruno, he's owned by more than five

million, I'm talking about Bruno Fernandez by the way, five million managers and he got an assist,

he got his bonus as well, he's got 14 assists this season joules, I mean, he's pretty much essential,

isn't he? Yeah, I think so, and to be fair, he was really unlucky not to get more because there's

the cross for you, for example, he's the header by you all that we should have scored,

there's a couple, there's another one later, I think in the second half as well that

somebody should have scored, I mean, how many times he creates for other people and he doesn't

even get the return that he should get because he should be an assist every time that he gives

those amazing balls really, so it was outstanding in a game where United were played with 11

men against 10 for more than 45 minutes in the end and somehow managed to lose that game,

it was quite incredible and you feel for Bruno a little bit because he feels like he tries everything

and yet on a night like last night on Wednesday night, if the rest are not at his level,

then there's not the more he can do really and that was exactly the situation from a United

point of view, I think it was very disappointing from their point of view, especially after the

good run that they've been on. Yeah, I agree, anything to add on that game from you Sam?

No, just that Bruno created eight chances, which was two more than the next best across the game

week so far, created three big chances again, that was more than anyone else in the league, so I

think it's just highlights what Jaws was saying about how good he was and how maybe unlucky he was

not to get more than he did in just one assist, although they did get bonus as well, so again,

that highlights his importance in the game. Okay, FA Cup weekend next, so of course, we're just going

to take stock a little bit, Sam, would you advise people to wait and kind of see what's going to happen

because there's a lot that could happen isn't there in terms of like the dice of Harry Wilson coming

back, for example, speaking selfishly there. Massively because obviously we've got like 10 days

until the next game week, but in that time we've got some teams playing twice because you've got FA

Cup action at the weekend, we've got the return of the Champions League and the European competition

next week, so again, we've got a lot of games that can happen and with that comes some risk,

doesn't it? So my feeling is you should be patient, hold your transfers, now's not the time to

to be bold, especially as transfers are so important right now with game week 31 on the horizon,

these are transfers that you want to make sure you get right, and so wait for news on all of these

assets. Okay, that's why we'll leave it then because as Sam said, a long time to go until the next

deadline, so enjoy the FA Cup weekend, probably you're going to sit there like me praying that Harry

Wilson's sitting there ice and whatever that injury is to make sure he gets better for game week 30.

There's a lot of football players, Sam said, so have a good week guys, I'm sure George is going to

47 matters in between, we'll be back in our usual slot next Thursday, oh and Sam, enjoy tonight, bye!