- FISO - The UK's First Fantasy Sports Community (Est. March 2000)

FanTeam €100K Champions League Friday, August 7th

Posted on August 6, 2020August 6, 2020 by admin

The Premier League 2019-20 season might be over, but that doesn’t mean the FanTeam fun is. On the contrary, with the Europa League and Champions League resuming over the coming days, FanTeam is offering a whole range of tournaments. The first one we’ll be covering is the €100K Champions League tournament involving the two games to be played on Friday, August 7^th (see table below). The deadline for these games is set at 20h00 (UK time) that day.

Our FISO team below will be entered Friday’s €20 entry (€100,000 prize pool) Champions League event, which has a maximum entry limit of 7,000 participants. A finish in the top 1,111 would see us win part of the prize pool of which the winner takes home a cool €20,000. FanTeam also offer a €2 entry with a lower prize pool (of which the winner gets €1,000) for those who prefer to play with lower stakes.

Before moving onto our team selection, we want to highlight a couple of FanTeam rules that they apply to this competition and that represent some of the major differences when comparing the game to FPL.

Number one is that FanTeam have a rule called the ‘safety net’. The safety net comes into play when a selected player does not start because the game will then automatically replace this player with the next lowest-priced player from the same position (GK, DEF, MID, FOR) in the same team. This is regardless of whether or not your selected player does take to the field later in the game. This rule helps people who have entered a team not to worry too much about whether their selected players will start or not, particularly if they know there are cheaper players for that same club in that same position who should start instead.

Number two is that FanTeam also have a ‘stacking penalty’ which penalises teams that have selected more than one defenders/goalkeeper from the same club. The stacking penalty comes into play when you pick more than one defensive player (defenders or goalkeepers) from a particular club and this club records a clean sheet. The points awarded for this clean sheet will decrease by 1 point for each additional defensive player from the same club that you have selected. The stacking penalty has a maximum of minus 3 points. This rule helps stop multi-entrants from gaining an advantage by submitting block defence teams. A reasonable tactic can be to select two players from two different clubs for your Goalie and Defenders, which would see you incur just 2 single-point deductions if you nail both clean sheets correctly.

Finally, the Pursuit format is being applied to this FanTeam tournament. In this game mode, you get more bonus points the cheaper your players are (you gain 1 point for every 2.5 million euros underspent). Your captain will get double points, but he will also cost twice as much. Your vice-captain will get 150% more points, but he will also cost 150% more. You can read about Pursuit in more detail on the FanTeam website.

Don’t forget, the deadline for this tournament is set at 20h00 (UK time) tomorrow. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you have an hour to check the starting line-ups for the matches.

Champions League Matches for the 100k Tournament

General approach

For our 5-man selection, we’ve gone with two big hitters from Juventus as the Old Lady needs to make up for a surprising 1-0 loss to Olympique Lyon in the first leg, as well as two Real Madrid aces and a Lyon joker. Los Blancos lost at home to City in the first leg, but we feel that if there is one team who can turn this kind of result around in Europe’s elite competition, it’s them. They’ve got the Champions League in their DNA, so to say, while picking two of their players also gives our selection much-needed differential edge. As far as Lyon goes, we don’t see them passing this round despite their more than comfortable 1-0 advantage, but should they complete their surprise against Juventus, one man is very likely to be at the centre of it all.

HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	RESULT FROM FIRST LEG
Juventus	Olympique Lyon	1-0 to Lyon
Manchester City	Real Madrid	2-1 to Man City

JUVENTUS

One thing is clear in regard to the encounter in Turin: the home team need to score. Juventus were recently crowned champions of Italy for a record ninth time in a row and the fact that they finished their domestic season about two weeks before the re-start of the Champions League might prove to be determining on Friday. That’s because Lyon have only played one official competitive game since their 1-5 semi-final loss to PSG in the French Cup on March 4^th of this year, namely the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, which they lost against PSG after penalties. This could be seen as an advantage as well, as it has allowed star man Memphis Depay to fully recover from his serious knee injury, but they´ll certain be worried about Juve’s championship flow. On top of that, the Italians simply can’t afford to be eliminated this early in the tournament.

As a result, we’ve gone with Juve’s two big men up front, Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese all-time Champions League top scorer is having yet another top class season with 31 goals and 5 assists from 33 Serie A games, as well as 2 goals in the ongoing edition of the CL. He’s used to having (much) more of an impact in Europe though, and “knowing” him, he’ll be more than fired up work on his numbers against l’OL. The player most affected by Ronaldo’s hunger for goals has been Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain. He scored 8 and assisted 4 goals in 32 Serie A games this season, and managed to net twice in the Champions League so far, which are tallies well below his usual. Still, he is their striker and a lethal one at that. He knows what it’s like to be counted on to score an important goal or two and we have a feeling that he might well be on the scoreboard by the time the game in Turin has finished on Friday night.

REAL MADRID

Real Madrid have got their work cut out for them on Friday. The Merengues manoeuvred themselves into a more than complicated position after losing 1-2 to Man City at home just before the corona crisis temporarily shut down European football, which means they now need to face one of Europe’s most prolific attacking machines away from home. As we said before though, if there is one team in Europe capable of turning such a result around in such circumstances, it’s Real Madrid. The newly-crowned La Liga champions live and breathe Champions League football, conquering the cup a record 13 times throughout their history and an unprecedented three times in a row between 2015 and 2018. Elimination would not only be a footballing and financial disaster for the club, but an embarrassment as well, even against a side as good as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

To be clear, we don’t consider Madrid favourites here, but we do feel confident enough in their resilience, form and overall quality to cause an upset here. It’s far from unlikely that Madrid will score against an at times wobbly City defence, while the probability of a City goal at some point is quite high as well. In other words, there could be goals in this one, which is why we’ve gone with Madrid striker Karim Benzema and his record-signing team mate Eden Hazard. The French forward is having one of his most productive seasons ever with 21 goals and 8 assists in 37 La Liga games, as well as 4 goals and 2 assists in the ongoing Champions League campaign. He’s a nailed-on starter for coach Zinedine Zidane and a key cog in Real’s attacking play. His Belgian team mate saw the 2019-20 football season largely ruined by injury, but he is fit again and expected to start against City. As most Premier League fans will know, on a good day, Hazard is simply unplayable and the hope is that he’ll be having one of those days on Friday. Should he not start, the active Safety Net feature will automatically select Vinicius Junior for our team, who was in contention for selection from the start any way.

THE JOKER

Seeing as the FanTeam €100K Champions League tournament is offering a small pool of players and no budget restrictions, chances are that many teams of five will contain the same big names. In an attempt to counter this prediction, we have added a joker to our team in the person of Lyon talisman Memphis Depay. Before a knee injury caused him to miss most of the season pre-corona, the Dutch forward was on fire with 9 goals and 2 assists in just 13 Ligue 1 games, as well as an impressive 5 goals in five Champions League encounters. Despite not scoring in the Coupe de la Ligue final against PSG, he caused the Parisian defence plenty of trouble as he was at the heart of most of Lyon’s attacking intentions. It’ll be a tough game against Juventus and chances might be scarce for him in Turin, but with a home side in need of goals, Memphis might get a chance or two. On top of that, he is their man when it comes to both direct free-kicks and penalties. In other words, he probably won’t be part of the winning side, but he might just get his backers some FanTeam points.

As we said this team has been entered into the 20 euro FanTeam Champions League 100k Main Event and we hope to report back next week that we’ve shared part of the 100,000 euros prize pool. You can also follow discussions about FanTeam games on FISO’s FanTeam Forum.

FanTeam’s €1 million prize 2020/21 Fantasy Premier League game

Posted on July 29, 2020August 4, 2020 by admin

The dust hasn’t yet settled on the extended 2019/20 Premier League season and FanTeam have already launched their truly massive 2020/21 Fantasy Premier League game. This is open to enter now via FanTeam’s very user-friendly website and app, with the first matches starting 12 Sep 2020. A guaranteed prize pool of €1 million, with a life-changing €200,000 to the winner, grabs the attention. Here are the prizes at the very top (prizes are paid out to the top 5,659 places):

The game rules look the same as in their 250k game for 2019/20 which was won by Aleksandar Antonov with his single entry who also incredibly won FPL in 2019/20 as well. Below is a copy of his final team line-up for 2019/20 GW38:

And here is a copy of the main FanTeam rules for the 2020/21 season:

Not surprisingly the usual suspects head the player price list for 2020/21:

The game allows up to 75,000 entrants at €25 per entry. It is possible that the number of teams entered will be closer to the 40,000 mark (€25 x 40,000 = €1,000,000) but if it exceeds that then the prize fund will grow. In 2019/20 the guaranteed prize fund was €250,000 rather than €1 million and the number of entrants at €25 each was 8,825 which equates to €220,625 in entry fees.

The launch of FanTeam’s Fantasy Premier League game for 2020/21 has given Fantasy Football in the UK a huge boost. It will prove to be a popular option for Fantasy Premier League fans (aged 18+ only) and will provide some enormous rewards to the most skilled/lucky entrants with everyone in the top 50 winning at least €1,000.

A Look at the Top 2020 Manchester City Players

Posted on July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 by admin

Manchester City certainly enjoyed a stellar 2019 season. Not only did this team walk away with the FA Cup, but first-place in the Premier League cemented the fact that this club boasts some truly formidable players. This is due in no small part to the expertise and guidance provided by Pep Guardiola and yet, many fans are keen to know which players are considered to be the most valuable. This is why we have gone ahead and put together this informative list. Whether you are interested in creating a fantasy football team or you simply wish to remain one step ahead of the game, the details below are quite informative.

Goalkeepers

Most industry analysts will agree that Ederson is the best that Man City has to offer. His current FIFA ranking is a stellar 88 and this position is not likely to change any time soon. While other players such as Claudio Bravo might be up to the task, the fact of the matter is that Ederson should continue to do quite well throughout the next the season. The most surprising fact is that he is not the number 1 goalie for his country, Brazil, because Alisson Becker currently holds that spot.

Defenders

It is a well-known fact that Manchester City have experienced some defensive issues during the 2020 season thanks to a number of central defender injuries which seem to have plagued the team, along with left-back, Ben Mendy, who is often on the treatment table. However, we need to remember that most injuries represent nothing more than short-term setbacks as opposed to permanent hindrances. This is why it is a good idea to keep a close eye on powerful defenders such as Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte (these individuals are associated with respective FIFA 20 scores of 85 and 87).

Midfielders

Manchester City are arguably one of the most formidable clubs in regards to its aggressive and ball-retention stance. This is why few other organisations wish to stand toe to toe when facing off with talented midfielders such as David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne is quite dangerous in his own right and this is clearly illustrated in a FIFA 20 ranking of 91. Still, many experts agree that it is wise to observe up-and-coming personalities including Phil Foden during the next season given that David Silva is leaving.

Forwards

Those who regularly follow quality virtual sports platforms are already aware of how the talent of a forward can make or break a team. In terms of Manchester City, few would argue that this team is equipped with some of the most powerful forwards in the sport today. With names such as Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, little is left to chance in terms of a offence that can penetrate almost any defence.

However, we need to keep in mind that nothing is for certain. There is no guarantee that Manchester will perform as well again as during their 2019 season. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the sport; we never know what to expect. Still, anyone who is a fan or who regularly plays fantasy football should keep a close eye on the names mentioned above in order to walk away a winner.

FanTeam €100K Premier League Finale Gameweek 38+

Posted on July 25, 2020July 25, 2020 by admin

As part of FISO’s special series of weekly articles on FanTeam, Europe’s biggest daily fantasy football provider, we will actually be entering the team we write about each week into the game. This series will focus on FanTeam’s Premier League Main Event, a daily fantasy league based on the Premier League games. Our article will focus on an Early Entry for this weekly tournament to help you identify game rules, tactics and the most promising players per gameweek, so you can win some of that large prize money.

Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€100,000 prize pool) Main Event, which has a maximum entry limit of 7,000 participants. Every week, we’ll report back on how our team performed in the previous week. A finish in the top 1,111 would see us win part of the prize pool of which the winner takes home a cool €20,000. FanTeam also offer a €2 entry Weekly Monster with a lower prize pool (of which the winner gets €1,000) for those who prefer to play with lower stakes.

Before moving onto our team selection, we want to highlight a couple of FanTeam rules that they apply to their Weekly Monster competition and that represent some of the major differences when comparing the game to the FPL.

Number one is that FanTeam have a rule called the ‘safety net’. The safety net comes into play when a selected player does not start in the Weekly Monster, because the game will then automatically replace this player with the next lowest-priced player from the same position (GK, DEF, MID, FOR) in the same team. This is regardless of whether or not your selected player does take to the field later in the game. This rule helps people who have entered a team into the Weekly Monster not to worry too much about whether their selected players will start or not, particularly if they know there are cheaper players for that same club in that same position who should start instead.

Number two is that FanTeam also have a ‘stacking penalty’ for the Weekly Monster, which penalises teams that have selected more than one defenders/goalkeeper from the same club. The stacking penalty comes into play when you pick more than one defensive player (defenders or goalkeepers) from a particular club and this club records a clean sheet. The points awarded for this clean sheet will decrease by 1 point for each additional defensive player from the same club that you have selected. The stacking penalty has a maximum of minus 3 points. This rule helps stop multi-entrants from gaining an advantage by submitting block defence teams. A reasonable tactic can be to select two players from two different clubs for your Goalie and Defenders, which would see you incur just 2 single-point deductions if you nail both clean sheets correctly.

Finally, the Pursuit format is being applied to the upcoming FanTeam Weekly Monster. In this game mode, you get more bonus points the cheaper your players are (you gain 1 point for every 2.5 million euros underspent). Your captain will get double points, but he will also cost twice as much. Your vice-captain will get 150% more points, but he will also cost 150% more. You can read about Pursuit in more detail on the FanTeam website.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 38 FanTeam’s Main Event is set at 16h00 (UK time) tomorrow Sunday, July 26th, 2020. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you have an hour to check the starting line-ups for the matches.

Gameweek 38 Main Event matches

Our team suggestion for the Weekly Monster in gameweek 38+

Formation: 3-5-2

General approach

To make the crazy 2019-20 season’s ending even more intense, FanTeam have created The 100K Premier League finale, a max 7,000-player tournament with Pursuit Mode, the Stacking Penalty and the Safety Net activated, and a total prize pool of a whopping €100,000. Our picks for the final match day are largely concentrated on three teams, with a few additional joker picks to reach a full eleven. Of course, all games will start at the same time on Sunday (16:00 UK time), so you will have a full hour to check out starting lineups for each club and tweak your FanTeam selection accordingly.

To help you navigate one of the season’s notoriously most difficult-to-predict gameweeks, we’ve placed a simple table below listing the teams that still have something to play for on the final match day.

Team / Player	What‘s still to play for?	Opponent in GW38+
Manchester United	1 of the 2 remaining CL spots	Leicester (away)
Chelsea	1 of the 2 remaining CL spots	Wolves (home)
Leicester City	1 of the 2 remaining CL spots	Man United (home)
Wolves	1 remaining EL spot	Chelsea (away)
Spurs	1 remaining EL spot	Crystal Palace (away)
“7^th place”	**
Aston Villa	Avoiding relegation	West Ham (away)
Watford	Avoiding relegation	Arsenal (away)
Bournemouth	Avoiding relegation	Everton (away)

Jamie Vardy (LEI)	Golden Boot (currently 23 goals)	Man United (home)
Danny Ings (SOU)	Golden Boot (currently 21 goals)	Sheffield Utd (home)
P-E Aubameyang (ARS)	Golden Boot (currently 20 goals)	Watford (home)
Mo Salah (LIV)	Golden Boot (currently 19 goals)	Newcastle (away)
Raheem Sterling (MC)	Golden Boot (currently 19 goals)	Norwich (home)
Nick Pope (BUR)	Golden Glove (currently 15 CS)	Brighton (home)
Ederson (MC)	Golden Glove (currently 15 CS)	Norwich (home)

*CL = Champions League; EL = Europa League; CS = clean sheet.

** If Chelsea win the FA Cup against Arsenal, 7^th place will also give access to the EL.

MANCHESTER CITY

With 16 goals scored over the past four games and a home game against Norwich coming up, Manchester City’s final game of the season looks like it’s going to be a goal bonanza. As a result, it’s no surprise that sky blue assets form the backbone of our FanTeam 100K Premier League Finale selection. Neither team has particularly much to play for left as City are guaranteed second place and will be eyeing the Champions League return against Real Madrid, while Norwich were officially relegated a few weeks ago already. We don’t think the upcoming CL encounter won’t have too impact though, as it’s planned for August 7th, in more than two weeks time. Our provisional three City picks are based on the strongest possible eleven, including the living legend David Silva.

Gameweek 38+ will be the Spaniard’s last game in English football after 433 games, 77 goals and 140 assists for the sky blues from Manchester. It’s just hard to imagine him not being the centre of attention before, during and after the Norwich game. On top of that, he’s simply in great form, as usual. Silva was rested in gameweek 37+, but he recorded a lovely 30 FanTeam points over the period GW34+ to GW36+, courtesy of 2 goals and 3 assists. Do keep in mind though, that he might be honoured with a substitution in the second half to say goodbye to the City faithful in style.

At the moment of writing, our other two City picks are the unavoidable Kevin de Bruyne and man-in-form Raheem Sterling. The Belgian playmaker has been one of, if not the best, player this season. With 243 FT points, he is ranked second overall, just 6 points behind Salah, and the home game against Norwich looks like the perfect opportunity for him to overtake the Egyptian Premier League champion at the very last minute. Raheem Sterling then, is the highest-scoring player over the past six rounds, scoring 7 goals, giving 4 assists and taken an incredible 60 FT points from that period. If he starts, you should probably get him and captain. We will.

SPURS

If after the first weeks of Project Restart you would have bet us that we would be selecting two Spurs players for our gameweek 38+ dream team, we would’ve probably taken that bet and lost. After a last-ditch surge in form, or at least results, José Mourinho’s team boasts one of the go-to rosters for the final week. The Spurs have taken 13 points from the last five games and the final encounter is with a Crystal Palace side in holiday mode. The Eagles have been uncharacteristically leaky in defence since football returned, conceding a worrying 17 goals in the last seven games. To add to the worries, they netted just twice over that same period.

As a result, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min are part of our GW38+ fantasy selection. The England number nine has had a so-so season and injuries had a lot to do with that, but it looks like he’s back to his devastating best just in time for Spurs to nick an admittedly unexpected European spot. He collected 22 FT points over the past two games, courtesy of 4 goals. Son’s impact has been a bit less influential, but nevertheless more than worth considering, especially considering the opposition’s form. The South Korean international is a nailed-on part of Mourinho’s starting setup and it’s not hard to see why. In the last three games, Son scored twice and gave 2 assists for a total of 27 FT points.

The match-up with Crystal Palace also warrants a Spurs defender, though. The chance of a clean sheet is simply too likely to pass up. The reason we’ve gone with Ben Davies instead of the more popular Aurier is that the Ivorian right-back will be facing one of the division’s most direct and adept dribblers in Wilfried Zaha. It’s hard to see Palace put one past Lloris, but it’s not at all hard to see Zaha cause Aurier some serious trouble over 90 minutes. If that were to happen, right central defender Sanchez will need to step in most of the times, which discards him for us as well. Ben Davies is a bit cheaper than Toby Alderweireld and on some set-pieces as well, and whilst his left-back position makes him more susceptible to a substitution later on in the game as long as he plays at least 60 minutes he won’t lose a point unlike midfielders and attackers.

BURNLEY

Up until the last moment, our defensive setup for gameweek 38+ actually contained three Burnley assets, including the current leader in the Golden Glove ranking, Nick Pope. He is currently one clean sheet ahead of Liverpool’s Alisson, so a shut-out against Brighton at home would seal the award, no matter what Liverpool do in Newcastle. Several Clarets have already declared that they will do anything they can to get Pope (and therefore the team) the Golden Glove, so Burnley vs Brighton is likely to become a low-scoring affair. Due to the activated Stacking Penalty though, we eventually decided to limit ourselves to two Burnley assets, leaving Pope himself out of the team as he’ll probably have little to do against a group of Seagulls already planning their holidays.

This means we did stick with two starting Burnley defenders, Erik Pieters and Kevin Long. Both have benefited from some injury issues in the Clarets’ backline, though Pieters has recently been employed as a left midfielder as well. This allowed the Dutchman to whip in some nice crosses and make a few attempts for an attacking return. He was successful last weekend against Norwich with 1 assist to bring his total to 4 for the season. His defensive partner Long came into the team in gameweek 32+ and he hasn’t missed a minute since then. He was part of two clean sheets over that period and we’re confident he’ll be adding a third to his tally on Sunday when Brighton visit Turf Moor.

ARSENAL

The times are strange when a gameweek dream team boasts an Arsenal defender, let alone an Arsenal keeper, but yet here we are. Things seem to be taking a turn for the better under Arteta though, as the Gunners actually kept the nil on four occasions over the last seven gameweeks. On top of that, as replacement of the injured Bernd Leno, Emiliano Martinez has left a generally very good impression since coming into the squad back in gameweek 30+. The Argentinian goalie made 27 saves over the past seven games, which equals 13.5 extra FT points. On Sunday, he is facing Watford at the Emirates and with the Hornets having scored just a single goal in their last five away matches, the Arsenal goalkeeper could be an excellent addition at a reasonable price.

But what about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang then? Are we selecting Arsenal’s reserve goalie for the FanTeam 100K Premier League Finale, and not their main man and outside contender for the Golden Boot? Obviously not. Besides their lack of productivity on the road, Watford have also conceded 15 goals in the last six games overall. With the Gabonese striker still chasing the Golden Boot, we can see him net one or two here. Do keep in mind that Watford are fighting for a last chance of survival, so even without Nigel Pearson, they won’t make it easy for the Gunners.

THE JOKER

West Ham’s Michail Antonio is our joker for the FanTeam 100K Premier League Finale event. As an out-of-position midfielder and the top scorer of Project Restart, he fills the eleventh and final spot of our selection. The Englishman has been more essential than ever for the Hammers by scoring 8 goals and providing 1 assist, collecting 61 FT points in the process. His goal from the penalty spot against Man United in gameweek 37+ assured West Ham of another year of Premier League football, so it remains to be seen how the Hammers will turn up at home against a poised Aston Villa side. The home team might not take the three points here, but the Villans will need to attack if they want to avoid relegation. In his current form, we’d want nobody else than Antonio there to exploit the spaces that will undoubtedly start appearing at some point. Even if his team doesn’t win, he might help a few fantasy managers finish their seasons with a bang.

As we said this team has been entered into the 20 euro FanTeam Premier League 100k Main Event and we hope to report back next week that we’ve shared part of the 100,000 euros prize pool. You can also follow discussions about FanTeam games on FISO’s FanTeam Forum.

FPL Season 2019/2020 – Gameweek 38+ Preview

Posted on July 24, 2020July 24, 2020 by admin

And so the most unusual season in Premier League history is coming to and end. After an unprecedented global lock-down temporarily halted Liverpool’s rampant run towards a much-deserved first title in 30 years, a huge combined effort resulted in Project Restart and the eventual reaching of this final gameweek 38+ of the 2019-20 Premier League campaign. One that none of us will ever forget and that each one of us can be proud of. Because in the midst of everything, football fans and fantasy managers en masse have shown their love for the game. In turn, if this season’s crisis has shown us anything, it’s how integral fans and followers are to the game. Not just to the entertainment side of it, but to the in-game experience and team performance as well.

Like an enormous bright red cherry on top, plenty of teams still have plenty to play for this gameweek. Man United, Chelsea and Leicester are all within a point of each other with two Champions League spots for grabs. Spurs can still grab sixth place IF Wolves lose at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and José Mourinho’s men beat Palace at Selhurst Park. At the other end of the table, Aston Villa, Watford and Bournemouth are fighting to be that one club to secure Premier League football next season on the season’s very last day. On top of that, with GW38+ encounters such as Chelsea vs Wolves, Leicester vs Man United and West Ham vs Villa, it’s promising to become an exciting, exhilarating and, unfortunately for some, heartbreaking end to a crazy season.

It’s been a pleasure writing these FPL previews for and with you, and we already can’t wait to be back next season! By the way, if you’re one of the many that have a Free Hit left then check out the fiso forum topic on taking a Free Hit for GW38+.

Don’t forget: the deadline for gameweek 38+ has been set at 15h00 (UK time) on Sunday, July 26^th.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per July 24th, 2020)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Schmeichel (LEI), Henderson (SHU), Patricio (WOL)	Pope (BUR), Martinez (ARS), Ederson (CIT)	Likely clean sheets for Burnley and City, Martinez is a cheap starter with a good fixture.
DEF	Söyüncü (LEI), Doherty (WOL), Wan-Bissaka (UTD)	Tarkowski (BUR), Pieters (BUR), Aurier (TOT)	Likely clean sheet for Burnley, Aurier is facing Palace.
MID	De Bruyne (CIT), Fernandes (UTD), Willian (CHE)	Sterling (CIT), David Silva (CIT), Antonio (WHU)	The possibility of a massacre at the Etihad, Antonio’s excellent form coinciding with a good fixture.
FOR	Vardy (LEI), Jimenez (WOL), Rashford (UTD)	Kane (TOT), Aubameyang (ARS), Jesus (CIT)	All incoming assets have favourable fixtures in this final gameweek.

Premium fantasy picks

When you think about it, it’s kind of strange that a forward of Harry Kane‘s (£10.9m) calibre is only turning up as one of our premium fantasy picks for practically the first time this season in the final gameweek. It’s an indicator of the tough season the England striker has had, mainly due to injury issues earlier on in the season. A performance and managerial crisis earlier in the season following their Champions League final defeat did not help either, but it looks like Kane’s back in form just in time to help his Spurs grab a European spot. With 4 goals and a resulting 25 FPL points from the last two games, he looks determined to finish the season on a high and upcoming opponent Crystal Palace won’t be delighted about it. The Eagles have been in torrid shape since the restart and the fact that they have conceded 12 goals in the last five games will be music to Kane’s ears as he visits Selhurst Park on Sunday.

Our second premium fantasy pick is a striker as well and at the same price, namely Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.9m). The Arsenal striker was in pretty clinical form for the FA Cup semi-final encounter with Man City last weekend, scoring 2 goals to put Arteta’s men through to the final, but he’s been underwhelming for FPL managers over the past few weeks. From his last three outings, the Gabonese forward took just 6 FPL points, which is unjustifiable for a £10m+ striker. He is nevertheless still an outside candidate for the Golden Boot as he currently trails leader Jamie Vardy by three. As an FPL manager, just knowing that he’ll be eyeing that outside chance when the Gunners welcome a Watford side in turmoil to the Emirates on Sunday should make your heart skip a beat. Of course, Arsenal and Auba are also experts in breaking that same heart, as we’ve seen so many times over the years, but we’re going with him. Last time we did, he hauled big against Norwich, so fingers crossed for a repeat.

Non-premium fantasy picks

Like for our premium fantasy picks, our first non-premium pick is also a Spurs forward, Lucas Moura (£7.0m) in this case. The Brazilian winger is a good player and an excellent technician, but we admit that his FPL output has been limited this season. Up until gameweek 37+, he had just 4 goals and 3 assists to his, but courtesy of 2 assists and 2 bonus points against Leicester in the last game, he recorded the highest haul of the campaign (10 FPL points). What makes him an interesting pick, besides the hope that he’ll build on some end-of-season form, is his low price tage in combination with regular minutes and the fact that an improved Spurs side are taking on Palace on Sunday. The Eagles have been planning their holidays since the restart and on top of that, Moura’s suspected direct opponent at left-back, Patrick van Aanholt, is injured for Palace. José Mourinho’s men are fighting for a Europa League spot and we feel Moura could play a determining role in the final game.

Our second non-premium fantasy pick for gameweek 38+ is a Brazilian winger as well. Since the restart, Everton have disappointed in an attacking sense, scoring just 6 goals in 7 games, but half of those goals were scored by Richarlison (£8.2m). Everton have nothing left to play for and they are hosting a Bournemouth side on the brink of relegation who absolutely need to win so may take more risks late on in the match if not ahead. It’s hard to see where this game will go exactly, but we shouldn’t forget that the Cherries simply haven’t been very good of late. Over the 8 games since the restart, they took just 4 points, scoring just 8 goals (but spread out over only 4 of those games) and conceding a worrying 17 goals. Everton are not a high-scoring unit at the moment, but they are stable and Richarlion is their main man up front. He already has 13 goals and 5 assists to his name, and we’re hoping for an improvement of those tallies when Bournemouth come to Goodison Park on Sunday.

A differential fantasy pick or two

As if gameweek 38+ didn’t have enough to offer already, this campaign’s final game also marks the final game in English football of a Manchester City legend. In no less than 433 games for the sky blues from Manchester, David Silva (rose to £7.5m last night) scored 77 goals and provided an incredible 140 assists. What’s more though, he formed a key cog of the Man City sides that stormed English football since the take-over in 2008. Few players have had such an impact on a club’s history than David Silva. In gameweek 38+, City are hosting Norwich for what could become a goal-ridden encounter and it seems unlikely that coach Pep Guardiola won’t let Silva start for his last game at the Etihad. The risk of rotation is nevertheless always present and even if he starts, a second-half substitution as a goodbye to the fans is a possibility as well. Still, the Spaniard is in great form. He did not get any minutes in gameweek 37+, but he recorded 2 goals and 3 assists in the three rounds prior to that, good for 31 FPL points. What better way for Silva to leave City behind with a victory against Norwich and a couple of goals behind his name?

Our final fantasy pick for gameweek 38+ and indeed for the 2019-20 Premier League campaign is THE man of Project Restart, Michail Antonio (£7.1m). With 8 goals and an assist since gameweek 30+, the English midfielder-turned-striker has played a major role in what looks like West Ham’s very last-minute avoidance of relegation. In his last three games, Antonio recorded 6 goals, including the quadruple haul against Norwich in GW35+ and up next is Aston Villa at the London Stadium. The Villans are fighting for their very last chance of survival and their form has been alright lately, but so has West Ham’s and not to speak of Antonio’s. The 4.9%-owned midfielder represents a bit of a punt, but we think it could pay off handsomely. Even if the Hammers don’t keep the points at home, Antonio might get a decent return.

The captaincy

With Man City hosting Norwich, Arsenal welcoming Watford to the Emirates, Liverpool going to Newcastle, and Spurs rolling up to Selhurst Park, gameweek 38+ is offering an immediate abundance of potential candidates for the captaincy. Our armband is going on Kevin “Mr. Reliable” de Bruyne, but the likes of Jesus, Sterling and David Silva are equally attractive options. Their match-up with Norwich simply looks the juiciest on paper.

If for whatever reason you’re not feeling the City vibe or your trust in Pep Guardiola’s starting lineups has been irreparably damaged over the years, the likes of Aubameyang chasing the Golden Boot against Watford, Salah doing the same against Newcastle, or Kane and Son eyeing a European spot against a Palace side woefully out of form are excellent alternatives. There are some appealing differential options as well, though. Jack Grealish fighting for survival against West Ham, Hammers striker Antonio against Grealish’s Villans, or Danny Ings at home to Sheffield United can all deliver this week.

Whoever you choose, good luck! We’ll be back for the new FPL season in about a couple of months and meanwhile we’ll be providing some coverage for the upcoming Champions League and Europa League tournaments. Enjoy!

Finally if you like FPL but want to have a go at a weekly Fantasy Premier League type competition for large prizes then have a look at FanTeam’s Premier League 100,000 euro guaranteed prize Main Event for GW38 on Sunday with a 20 euro entry or they have a 7k game for a 2 euro entry and see discussions on the FISO FanTeam forum. There are freerolls for new entrants organised by FanTeam who will have another massive season-long Premier League comp for 20/21. Read all about a fiso member who won 30,000 euros on FanTeam from just a 2 euro entry fee.

FPL Season 2019/2020 – Gameweek 37+ Preview

Posted on July 17, 2020July 17, 2020 by admin

(Note: this FPL preview was written on July 17^th, before tonight’s final GW36+ game)

That Liverpool were going to be crowned champions was a matter of time after the forced break was something everyone expected, but that the league would remain so tight until the end, both around the top of the table and at the bottom, was something we could only have hoped for. Well, “we” as in, FPL managers and neutral supporters, because these surely must be trying times for some supporters clubs. How about those Hammers and Hornets fans, for example, waiting for their teams to dispute the hugely important final game of gameweek 36+ tonight? Or the fact that three clubs, Chelsea, Leicester and Man United, are within a point of each other, while fighting for two Champions League spots with just two gameweeks to go?

In other words, it looks like the 2019-20 campaign is going to be a tense affair until the very end. Gameweek 37+ is offering us some interesting fixtures in that sense with a few favourable match-ups for teams that simply need to win, either to stay in the race for Champions League or Europa League tickets, or to avoid relegation. On top of that, the FA Cup semi-finals are taking place over the weekend, which will surely add to the familiar FPL risks (rotation, injury, fatigue). Before we move on to our picks, here are the upcoming FA Cup games for you to take into account when planning for GW37+.

DATE	MATCH
Saturday, July 18^th	Arsenal vs Manchester City @ Wembley
Sunday, July 19^th	Manchester United vs Chelsea @ Wembley

Finally, don’t forget that the deadline for gameweek 37+ is set at 16h30 (UK time) on Saturday, July 18^th, 2020.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per July 17^th, 2020)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Schmeichel (LEI), Button (BRI), Alisson (LIV)	Pope (BUR), Martinez (ARS), Henderson (SHE)	More expensive goalies being transferred out, Pope and Henderson can always return, Martinez is a budget starter with good fixtures.
DEF	Söyüncü (LEI), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Van Dijk (LIV)	Tarkowski (BUR), Egan (SHE), Bardsley (BUR)	Expensive Liverpool defenders without clean sheets, regained trust in Burnley defence as they go up against Norwich.
MID	De Bruyne (CIT), Willian (CHE), Salah (LIV)	Martial (UTD), David Silva (UTD), Son (TOT)	Premium big-hitters being replaced by form players with good fixtures in the final two rounds of the season.
FOR	Greenwood (UTD), Vardy (LEI), Calvert-Lewin (EVE)	Ings (SOU), Rashford (UTD), Jesus (CIT)	FPL managers bringing in in-form strikers with a good final stretch of the season.

Premium fantasy picks

Our first premium fantasy pick of the week is Raheem Sterling (£11.8m), whose benching in gameweek 36+ surely caused more than a few cries of frustration and desperation in the FPL world. The Man City winger was actually the most-captained player among FPL’s current top 10K, so his eventual cameo and subsequent 1-pointer caused serious rank re-shuffles all over. We believe the Englishman was spared in order to appear fully rested at Wembley on Saturday, when City face Arsenal in the semi-final of the FA Cup. The Cityzens host West Ham three days after, which is not a long resting period by any stretch. Still, considering Sterling was rested this week, we expect him to start again over the coming games. He is, after all, in great form. He has scored 4 goals and provided 1 assist in his last three games, including 29 minutes of game time in GW34+ against Newcastle (1 goal, 1 assist) and 45 minutes versus Bournemouth this week, for a total of 32 FPL points over that run. West Ham are fighting for survival, but Sterling and his team mates will most likely prove to much too handle for the Hammers.

Our second premium fantasy pick is also playing in Manchester, but he dresses in red for home games. Marcus Rashford (£8.9m) had recorded 19 FPL points over his last two games, courtesy of 2 goals, an assist and 4 bonus points, and he has been one of United’s most threatening players going forward. Despite their 2-2 hiccup against Southampton, the Red Devils are flying at the moment and every dangerous attack they muster seems to involve Rashford. For gameweek 37+, a struggling West Ham fighting relegation is visiting Old Trafford, which means goals could be on the cards. The Hammers possess some firepower up front and even in the middle, but their backline is not exactly sturdy. Only three teams have conceded less than their 59 goals, something we hope Rashford will be able to exploit on Wednesday.

Non-premium fantasy picks

When you take a look at the current Premier League Top Scorers ranking, you’ll notice something a bit unfamiliar. Yes, Jamie Vardy is leading the pack with 23 goals and yes, usual suspect Aubameyang is behind him with 20 goals, but the Gabon international is tied for second place. Not with Mo Salah, not with Kun Aguero, not with Raul Jimenez or Harry Kane, but with Southampton’s talisman Danny Ings (£7.5m). The English striker has been simply extraordinary for the Saints this season and with 2 goals in his last three games, he’s really in the thick of the Golden Boot race until the very end. At a current ownership of 30.4%, Ings isn’t much of a differential any more, but he is facing hanging-on-by-a-very-thin-thread Bournemouth on Sunday. The Cherries simply need to come out, score and win against the Saints, but they’ll have to do so while facing one of this season’s most in-form strikers and missing their best defender Nathan Aké due to injury. Not an easy task and Ings will get some opportunities here, we’re counting on it.

With a current ownership of 21.6%, Man United’s Anthony Martial (£8.4m) isn’t much of a differential either, but that’s OK, we’ll cover the differential picks in the next part. Before that though, we want to highlight the Frenchman’s potential for gameweek 37+. The Red Devils are up for a home game against West Ham and that’s Martial’s territory. Sure, he bagged a goal and 8 FPL points at Selhurst Park just a few days ago, but Old Trafford is what it’s really about for Martial. In his last five home games, he recorded no less than 64 FPL points, thanks to scoring 7 goals and giving 3 assists. United as a whole are on fire with 18 goals in their last six Premier League outings and with West Ham desperate for points, this could end up becoming a game more open for Martial and co than the Hammers are comfortable with.

A differential fantasy pick or two

To be honest, we find it a bit incredible that at this point, Gabriel Jesus (£9.8m) can still be considered a serious differential in all senses of the word. His ownership still sits at just 7.3% at the time of writing this, so we have immediately included him as a differential pick for gameweek 37+. Of course, rotation is a major reason for his ongoing differential status, but the Brazilian has been very consistent lately, in terms of both starts and returns. He was in each of Pep Guardiola’s last five starting lineups and despite only completing the 90 minutes once, Jesus did manage to score 3 goals and provide 2 assists. What’s more, all of those returns have come over the last three gameweeks, totalling 30 FPL points over that run or a beautiful average of 10 points per game. Also, you might remember a certain 8-0 thrashing of Watford at the Etihad back in gameweek 6. Jesus didn’t feature in that game as Aguero shone up top, but the Argentinian is out injured this time and Jesus looks like a starter. There is, of course, the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal this weekend for City to deal with, so do keep an eye on City team news regarding Jesus. We’re confident he’ll start though and if he does, a haul is possible.

Finally, Chris Wood (£6.1m), who this week embodies the definition of a differential pick to make up ground with in your mini leagues. The New Zealand international missed a few games after the coronabreak due to ongoing injury niggles, but these seem to be a thing of the past now. Burnley manager Sean Dyche has been gradually building up his game time since GW33+ and last gameweek represented Wood’s first full 90 minutes since gameweek 29. The striker decided to mark that milestone in style with a goal (a penalty shortly after missing a sitter) and 7 FPL points to bring his season tally to 12 (plus 1 assist). He is currently owned by just 1.2% of FPL managers and up next is an away game against relegated Norwich. The Clarets, on the other hand, are going through a bit of a purple patch, not having lost a Premier League game in six outings. Back in gameweek 6, Wood scored both goals in the 2-0 victory over Norwich at Turf Moor and we can see him adding another goal or two when the sides meet again on Saturday.

The captaincy

Gameweek 37+ is offering quite a range of viable captaincy candidates. Major Man City assets like Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne are prime targets for the armband as they visit Watford, while Phil Foden could be a ballsy punt to force a late surge in ranking. In Manchester, United will host West Ham, which brings the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes, and even Mason Greenwood into the spotlight. Each of them could haul big, just like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang might against Villa on Tuesday. Raul Jimenez at home against an unusually leaky Crystal Palace defence is another one worth noting down. Still, we doubted for a while, but bar any negative team news in the coming days, we’re going with Sterling as our captain this week.

For a more differential armband choice this week, we’d recommend considering Chris Wood or Jay Rodriguez from Burnley as they visit a disheartened Norwich side with nothing left to play for. The same can be said for Liverpool, albeit for completely different reasons, which is why betting on Christian Pulisic could pay off when Chelsea visit Liverpool on Wednesday evening. Current Golden Boot leader Jamie Vardy is in a similar boat, as he will be determined to consolidate his position at the top of the top scorers ranking in a difficult away game against Spurs.

According to the FISO Forum poll on the FPL Captain for GW37, Martial and Bruno Fernandes lead the way at the moment.

Finally if you like FPL but want to have a go at a weekly Fantasy Premier League type competition for large prizes then have a look at FanTeam’s Premier League 50k Main Event with a 20 euro entry or their Full GW37 traditional 11 player game at a 5 euro entry and see discussions on the FISO FanTeam forum. There are freerolls for new entrants organised by FanTeam who also have a 100k GW38 Premier League comp to finish the season and will have another massive season-long Premier League comp for 20/21. Read all about a fiso member who won 30,000 euros on FanTeam from just a 2 euro entry fee.

FanTeam Premier League – GW36 €50K Main Event – Wednesday 15th July

Posted on July 14, 2020July 14, 2020 by admin

Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€50k prize pool) Main Event, which has a maximum entry limit of 3,334 participants. Every week, we’ll report back on how our team performed in the previous week. A finish in the top 556 would see us win part of the prize pool of which the winner takes home a cool €7,500. FanTeam also offer a €2 entry Weekly Monster with a lower prize pool (of which the winner should get about €1,000) for those who prefer to play with lower stakes.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 36 FanTeam’s Main Event is set at 18h00 (UK time) tomorrow Wednesday, July 15th, 2020. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you have an hour to check the starting line-ups for the matches.

Gameweek 36 Weekly Main Event matches

How did our team fare in gameweek 34+?*

NAME (club) (opponent)	RETURNS	POINTS
C De Bruyne (CIT) v Newcastle (H)	1 assist, clean sheet, Impact+1	16
Mahrez (CIT) v Newcastle (H)	1 goal, clean sheet, Impact+1	9
Foden (CIT) v Newcastle (H)	Clean sheet, Impact+1	4
Traoré (WOL) v Sheffield Utd (a)	Clean sheet	3

*There was no FanTeam Main Event in GW35+.

Our team suggestion for the Weekly Monster in gameweek 36+

Formation: 2-3-1

General approach

For gameweek 36+, FanTeam are offering us another €50K Main Event, this time based on team selections of six players in Pursuit mode. Seeing as the tournament revolves around just three matches, namely those starting at 18h00 (UK time) on Wednesday, standing out this week will likely be quite a task. For this week, we decided to go big on two teams with four fantasy picks from match day favourites Manchester City and two Newcastle assets as the Magpies welcome Spurs to Saint James’ Park. The Cityzens are facing Bournemouth at the Etihad for which we hope will be another Man City goalscoring bonanza, while we have differential hopes for Newcastle’s defensive assets against a largely toothless Spurs side.

Manchester City

Raheem Sterling, David Slva, Phil Foden & Gabriel Jesus

So, Manchester City have won their last two Premier League games by five goals to nil, first against Newcastle at the Etihad and after that at the AmEx in Brighton, and up next is a home game against relegation-threatened Bournemouth. It’s true that the Cherries surprised most of the football world by being the instigators of a game-changing Leicester collapse in gameweek 35+, but their next encounter looks a bit like a match made in hell (for them, that is). Since football returned and before last weekend’s game, Bournemouth had taken just 1 point from five games, a run over which they conceded 12 goals and scored just 3 (and 2 of those goals came in the 5-2 defeat against Man United).

It’s been a different story for City since the return. The Cityzens played seven games already from which they have taken 15 points. In order to give you a bit of a better idea of City’s performances since the coronabreak ended, we created a simple table:

HOME games	AWAY games
Arsenal (3-0)
Burnley (5-0)
	Chelsea (2-1)
Liverpool (4-0)
	Southampton (1-0)
Newcastle (5-0)
	Brighton (0-5)

We don’t know yet if this is a big enough sample to extrapolate a kind of “away game complex” from (we don’t think so, to be honest), but what we do know is that the home record of Pep Guardiola’s men over the past four games is 17 to nothing. It feels almost surreal to say, but another 4 or 5 nil victory is not only possible here, but likely as well.

As a result, we’ve gone with four City players for gameweek 36+, the maximum number of players allowed to be selected for a single team. Of course, with the FA semi-finals on the agenda for the coming weekend, in which City roll up to the Emirates on Saturday, rotation once again looms over our City picks. Fortunately though, we will know City’s starting lineup about an hour before the FanTeam GW36+ €50K Main Event deadline is up, which removes this risk (but also the accompanied potential differential factor) completely. We picked Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus (Silva & Foden only getting less than 30 minutes run out in their last match) for our team this week, but they are absolutely subject to change particularly if KDB and Marhez start. We strongly recommend to check out the Man City lineup from around 17h00 (UK time) on Wednesday in order to adjust your FanTeam fantasy selection accordingly.

On top of that, coach Pep Guardiola has actually hinted at increased rotation over the coming weeks as the FA Cup continues and preparations for the Champions League start as well. At the moment, one might expect David Silva and Phil Foden to start (after coming on just after the hour mark in the last match) and that their only ‘striker’ Jesus (who was withdrawn again just after the hour mark) will also start against Bournemouth, with Raheem Sterling seemingly too in-form to drop (see table below). Then again, “undroppable” is definitely not part of Pep’s vocabulary. Mahrez is most likely to sit out the coming encounter as he has had 90 minutes and 75 minutes of Premier League football under his belt from the past two games, respectively. Considering Phil Foden’s little playing time in recent games, the talented Englishman could be a worthy replacement for KDB, just like David Silva.

Player	Last 4 games	Goals	Assists	Bonus points	Total FPL points
R. Sterling	255 minutes	5	3	6	48

Raheem Sterling’s returns since GW32+

Newcastle

Federico Fernandez, Danny Rose

Our Manchester City foursome is complemented by a defensive duo from Newcastle United, Federico Fernandez and Emil Krafth. We were considering whether to have a Newcastle duo or a Wolves duo, but in the end we went with a couple of Magpies, partly due to their budget-friendly prices and partly with the lack of attacking threat at Spurs in mind. Of course, we don’t mean the lack of attacking talent, as the likes of Son, Kane, Moura and Bergwijn possess enough of it to worry any and every defence in the world, but the lack of effective attacking moves produced by José Mourinho’s men. After a horrid display with no shots on goal against Bournemouth in GW34+, Spurs slightly improved versus in Arsenal a gameweek later. Still, their first goal was the result of a bad back-pass latched onto by Son, while the second goal was a corner. Having watched the entire game, we feel that by looking at the score alone alone, some FanTeam and fantasy managers might be fooled into thinking that Spurs do score goals. They absolutely have the players for it, but for the moment their attacking creativity and output is considerably below par.

Now, it’s not like Newcastle have been so tight in the back of late, but we know that Steve Bruce’s men can defend. Their 11 clean sheets this season are witness to this, though the last clean sheet came back in gameweek 30+, when Newcastle were still playing for early safety from relegation. The
fact that they are no longer playing for anything but honour now, basically, is also the main caveat to our decision to go with the Magpie defence. At the same time, Spurs are chasing a Europa League spot, especially after the 2-1 victory over Arsenal a few days ago. It’s a bit of a risky punt to put our
money on the Newcastle defence in this scenario, but we think there is a possibility for a very frustrating night at Saint James’ Park for Mourinho on Wednesday.

As we said this team has been entered into the 20 euro FanTeam Premier League 50k Main Event and we hope to report back next week that we’ve shared part of the 50,000 euros prize pool. You can also follow discussions about FanTeam games on FISO’s FanTeam Forum.

FPL Season 2019/2020 – Gameweek 36+ Preview

Posted on July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 by admin

“West Ham will be facing Watford in a high-stakes battle for Premier League safety on Friday” (CC by 4.0). Image by Hammersfan

(Note: this FPL preview was written on July 13^th, before tonight’s final match of GW35+.)

If there was ever a gameweek to mix things up, it was gameweek 35+. While a complete Leicester collapse against Bournemouth and a 3-0 Sheffield United victory over Chelsea have thrown the race for the European tickets wide open, a Michail Antonio-inspired West Ham (tipped by us last week) win over Norwich and a Watford victory against Newcastle complicated things for the bottom three. On Sunday though, two of those bottom three (Villa and Bournemouth) won their respective games to once again maintain a sliver of hope of avoiding relegation still. In other words, there’s plenty still to play for in gameweek 36+ and that goes for FPL as well.

With Chelsea hosting finished Norwich, Man City welcoming a Bournemouth side coming off a 4-1 victory over Leicester, and in-shape Man United rolling up to Selhurst Park in London, more than a few popular FPL assets have favourable fixtures coming up. West Ham versus Watford is a huge one as well as neither team is mathematically safe yet, while the clash of the weekend is taking place at the Emirates on Wednesday when Arsenal is hosting champions Liverpool. So, without further ado, here are our fantasy picks for gameweek 36+.

Finally, don’t forget that the deadline for gameweek 36+ is set at 19h15 (UK time) on Tuesday, July 14^th, 2020.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per July 13^th, 2020)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Schmeichel (LEI), Alisson (LIV), Button (BRI)	Pope (BUR), Ederson (CITY), Henderson (SHE)	Lack of clean sheets for Leicester and Liverpool, Pope and Henderson offer similar potential at lower prices, Ederson is a fixed City starter.
DEF	Söyüncü (LEI), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Van Dijk (LIV)	Egan (SHE), Tarkowski (BUR), Digne (EVE)	Söyüncü red card and Liverpool assets are too expensive for not getting clean sheets.
MID	Mané (LIV), Salah (LIV), Traoré (WOL)	Sterling (CIT), Antonio (WHU), Willian (CHE)	In-form players coming in, expensive assets being sold and Traoré keeps struggling with his form and fitness (and finding the net from 10 yards out).
FOR	Jimenez (WOL), Rashford (UTD), Calvert-Lewin (EVE)	Ings (SOU), Greenwood (UTD), Jesus (CIT)	Ings, Greenwood and Jesus all have favourable fixtures coming up.

Premium fantasy picks

When Manchester City have just come off a 0-5 victory at Brighton in which they had 70% of the ball and recorded more than 25 attempts on goal for the second game in a row, it’s probably a good idea to throw your Pep-related rotation caution into the wind a bit and get in on the City attack. Especially when the next game is a home encounter with Bournemouth, despite the latter’s surprise thumping of Leicester on Sunday. The Cherries crushed the Foxes 4-1, but only after a rightly awarded Söyüncü red card and a Stanislas penalty. Prior to this game though, Eddie Howe’s men were the worst performers in the league since the return of football. They took 1 point from five games and scored just three times in that period, while conceding 12. On top of that, their main defensive man Nathan Aké will be missing out with an injury, which only furthers the appeal of investing in the City offense.

We have chosen to do so with our two premium fantasy picks for GW36+, them being midfielder Kevin de Bruyne (£10.8m) and forward Gabriel Jesus (£9.8m). The former needs no introduction (we hope!), while the latter is quickly turning into one of the major end-of-season differentials. The Belgian midfielder could not add anything to his already impressive tallies for this season (11 goals, 21 assists) in GW35+, but Jesus did. The Brazilian scored a goal and gave 2 assists to follow his goal from a week earlier, which brought his total to 22 FPL points over the last two games. At an ownership of 5.5%, that represents some serious differential value. De Bruyne’s ownership, on the other hand, sits at a staggering 52.3%, but his security of starts and constant output of attacking returns put him on top of our list for gameweek 36+.

Non-premium fantasy picks

At the time of writing this preview, Manchester United still need to play Southampton at home, but our first non-premium fantasy pick of the week is Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) anyway. The Portuguese midfielder has been nothing short of spectacular since joining United from Sporting Lisbon during the last January transfer window, both in real life and for FPL managers. In the last three games, he recorded 15, 15, and 14 FPL points respectively, courtesy of 4 goals and 3 assists. Up next are Crystal Palace, who have shipped 13 goals in their last five games. The Eagles seem to have lost much of their earlier-season defensive resilience since the end of the coronabreak and we hope that Bruno Fernandes can benefit to make it four double-digit hauls in a row.

For our second non-premium fantasy pick, we’re looking at Chelsea. The Blues may have suffered a disheartening and very unwelcome defeat against Sheffield United in GW35+, but the upcoming home game versus Norwich simply looks too tasty to pass up. We were torn between Willian and Christian Pulisic (£7.3m), but in the end we went with the young American. Like the rest of the Blues, he disappointed in GW35+ at Bramall Lane, but he was the man in form in the five weeks before that. Since the return of football, Pulisic scored 3 goals and provided 3 assists in five games for a total of 37 FPL points. Tuesday’s already relegated opponent Norwich boast the worst defence in the division, conceding almost two goals per game on average, and with Chelsea defending their Champions League spot, our money is on Chelsea to attack and Pulisic to deliver this week.

A differential fantasy pick or two

We’re not just hoping for Pulisic at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, though. As Norwich’ relegation was confirmed last weekend, Chelsea still find themselves bang in the middle of the fight for the Champions League tickets, which should create a very fantasy-favourable environment for attacking Blues assets. That’s why we have also included Olivier Giroud (£6.7m) in our fantasy picks for GW36+. The French striker was left on the bench for 76 minutes against Sheffield United, but he started the two games prior to that and scored in both. He had also scored back in gameweek 30+, which means that he now has 3 goals in 415 minutes of Premier League football since its return. What’s more, thanks to his affordable price tag, chances are that you won’t have to tinker too much in order to bring/fit him into your existing squad. The only real risk for this one is Giroud’s risk of rotation with Abraham, but based on recent history, we feel it’s logical for the Frenchman to start up top again versus Norwich.

Now, before we reveal our final fantasy pick for gameweek 36+, we just want to say: we’re not getting lazy! It’s just that after recommending Michail Antonio (£7.0m) and seeing him blank unluckily in GW34+, then repeating our pick and watching him score four against Norwich in GW35+, and now seeing that a home game against Watford is up next for the Hammers, there’s honestly not much we can do but select the 30-year old again this week. At the time of his first career hattrick (and then some!), Antonio’s ownership sat at just 1.8% and even though it has risen to 2.5% in about 36 hours, he still represents enormous differential potential. Sure, a repeat of his four-goal fiesta seems unlikely against Watford, but the Hornets are still immersed in the fight for survival as well and their defence is not infallible. Antonio is expected to start up top again on Friday and will be hoping to cause the Watford defence some serious trouble.

The captaincy

With Chelsea facing Norwich, Man City playing Bournemouth and Man United visiting Crystal Palace, gameweek 36+ offers us an abundance of captaincy candidates. We’re suspecting most armbands will go to United’s Fernandes, one or two City assets, and even Liverpool’s Mo Salah, but we’re going with Christian Pulisic against Norwich at Stamford Bridge. The Blues are fighting to keep a hold of their Champions League ticket, so a comfortable victory would be more than welcome in this one.

As we wrote earlier though, GW36+ presents several candidates with potential, including De Bruyne and Jesus against Bournemouth and Fernandes, Martial or Rashford against Palace at Selhurst Park. At Chelsea, you could even go for set-piece specialist Willian instead of our pick Pulisic. Even Ings at home to Brighton or Richarlison at home versus Villa could be good, but risky punts regarding the captain’s armband.

According to the FISO Forum poll on the FPL Captain for GW36, Pulisic and Sterling lead the way at the moment.

Finally if you like FPL but want to have a go at a weekly Fantasy Premier League type competition for large prizes then have a look at FanTeam’s Premier League 50k Main Event with a 20 euro entry or their Full GW36 traditional 11 player game at a 5 euro entry and see discussions on the FISO FanTeam forum. There are freerolls for new entrants organised by FanTeam who also have a 100k GW38 Premier League comp to finish the season and will have another massive season-long Premier League comp for 20/21. Read all about a fiso member who won 30,000 euros on FanTeam from just a 2 euro entry fee.

FPL Season 2019/2020 – Gameweek 35+ Preview

Posted on July 10, 2020July 10, 2020 by admin

“It’s London Derby time at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday!” (CC by 2.0). Image by Daniel

For the first time in a while, there is one complete day of rest between consecutive gameweeks. In the build-up to Saturday’s gameweek 35+, Friday’s Premier League-less day will be welcomed by more than a few clubs as several of them were starting to look tired and devoid of ideas. For FPL managers, it makes the prep for GW35+ a bit less hectic, especially for those still holding on to a chip or two.

This round is the reverse of gameweek 4, all the way back in August, and it’s offering a few interesting fixtures. Both Liverpool and Manchester United are playing lesser opposition at home, while the likes of Leicester and Man City play winnable games away from their homes. The clash of the week surely is the game between Spurs and Arsenal on Sunday, while a West Ham side fighting against relegation visit relegated Norwich in what could be an interesting fixture from a fantasy football point of view. Anyway, here are our fantasy picks for gameweek 35!

Finally, don’t forget that the deadline for gameweek 35+ is set at 11h30 (UK time) on Saturday, July 11^th, 2020.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per July 10^th, 2020)

	TRANSFERS OUT	TRANSFERS IN	POSSIBLE REASONS
GK	Pope (BUR), Henderson (SHE), Ryan (BRI)	Schmeichel (LEI), Ederson (CIT), Pope (BUR)	Ederson is City’s most certain starter + favourable fixtures, Schmeichel is showing excellent form.
DEF	Lundstram (SHE), Chilwell (LEI), Wan-Bissaka (UTD)	Egan (SHE), Wan-Bissaka (UTD), Söyüncü (LEI)	Defenders lacking regular playing time (or with injury) are being exchanged for in-form assets. Managers can’t make up their mind about AWB.
MID	Cantwell (NOR), Traoré (WOL), Mané (LIV)	Willian (CHE), Pulisic (CHE), Fernandes (MU)	Cantwell injured & relegated, Traoré ongoing shoulder worries and the most-tranferred in assets are all in great form.
FOR	Jimenez (WOL), Calvert-Lewin (EVE), Rashford (UTD)	Greenwood (UTD), Vardy (LEI), Ings (SOU)	Jimenez and DCL are not delivering lately, while the likes of Greenwood, Vardy and Ings are scoring goals.

Premium fantasy picks

We’re considering giving Kevin de Bruyne (£10.8m) a permanent spot in our weekly FPL article until the end of this season and, why not, for the entire next season as well. It’s just… he’s THAT good. That’s also why his current 52.5% ownership is no real surprise. Despite his very low differential value, the Belgian midfielder is still our first premium pick for gameweek 35+. He was on fire again in his last game as City thrashed Newcastle 5-0. With an assist on Mahrez’ goal, KDB brought his totals for the season to an incredible 11 goals and 21 assists, as well as 223 FPL points. (Incidentally Marhez signed for City 2 years ago today). Up next is an away game against Brighton, who have shipped 47 goals in 34 games and who won’t be looking forward to facing De Bruyne and the rest of the Cityzens.

Our second premium fantasy pick for GW35+ is the inevitable Jamie Vardy (now £9.8m after a price rise last night). With just 6 FPL points from his first three games after the coronabreak (no goals, no assists), the Leicester striker, like the rest of his team, had a sluggish restart. As it tends to be for strikers though, apparently all he needed was that first goal and it came late in gameweek 33+. That one was promptly followed by another goal and then another goal in GW34+. Like that, Vardy recorded 22 FPL points those who kept faith in his scoring abilities. The 31-year has a history of scoring in batches and upcoming opponents Bournemouth will know that as well. On top of that, the Englishman is unlikely to relax before the end of the season, seeing as his 3 goals in the last two games have kept him in the lead for the Golden Boot, which has put him two above Arsenal’s Aubameyang and three above Liverpool’s Salah. He’ll be hoping to extend that lead when they visit the seriously relegation-threatened Cherries on Sunday.

Non-premium fantasy picks

The final game of gameweek 35+ is played on Monday and it’s a nice one: Manchester United versus Danny Ings’ Southampton at Old Trafford. The Saints have been capable of causing a few upsets this season, but we still feel that they won’t be much of a match against a flying Man United side. That’s why this week, we’ve picked Anthony Martial (£8.3m) to represent our hopes for a nice haul. Man Utd won (yet again by 3 goals) last night against Aston Villa and whilst Martial didn’t score, since the return of football, the Frenchman has scored 4 goals and provided 2 assists, though it should be noted that none of those returns came in away games. The Seagulls have had a decent return to football with 7 points from five games, but they also conceded 7 goals over that run. In other words, the Red Devils will have their work cut out for them, but we feel the 19.8%-owned Martial could deliver here.

We also wanted to include a defensive pick in our selection for this weekend and it looks like James Justin (£4.7m) could be up for some FPL points. The young English right-back has taken the injured Ricardo Pereira’s spot in coach Brendan Rodgers’ starting lineup and he has been doing a good job there. Since GW30+, the first one after the break, he has been part of 2 clean sheets and this weekend’s game against Bournemouth could very well end up being his third. The Cherries have had a horrid return to football with no points and 12 goals conceded (and just 3 goals scored) in five games, and despite the threat of relegation having become very real now, we don’t see them forcing anything against an improving Leicester side.

A differential fantasy pick or two

Our first differential pick for GW35+ is an attacking Man City asset of less than £6.0m with a big chance of starting at the AmEx in Brighton on Saturday evening. That’s right and the player we’re talking about is the ridiculously talented Phil Foden (£5.4m), who has played 284 Premier League minutes since the return of football. In those 284 minutes, he racked up an amazing 38 FPL points, courtesy of 4 goals, 1 assist, 3 clean sheets and 4 bonus points. He played 60 minutes in gameweek 34+ at home to Newcastle and 30 minutes in the week prior to that, so we’re expecting/hoping for a start against Brighton this weekend. Despite his low price and obvious FPL potential, he is still owned by just 6% of managers, so getting him in for the final four games could be a wise move.

Finally, a repeat pick. We identified West Ham’s Michail Antonio (£6.9m) as a differential with potential for the home game against Burnley last week, so if you followed our suggestion, we appreciate it and we apologise for the lack of returns. Still, the midfielder-turned-striker was quite unlucky not to get at least an assist or to even get one past Pope himself. His right-footed curler against the post in the 40^th minute was the closest he got. We know, West Ham are still West Ham, but the Hammers did string together decent attacking at times and Antonio was involved practically every time. On top of that, they should be fighting with all they’ve got as relegation is looming. And on top of THAT, West Ham are visiting Carrow Road to face Norwich this weekend. It’s a punt, but we think it could be a very good one.

The captaincy

After his brace against Brighton a few days ago, Mo Salah might well be the most captained player by the time we reach gameweek 35+’, though the benching and subsequent 30-minute cameo by Sadio Mané might lead to many managers going for the Senegalese winger instead. Still, we’re putting the armband on Kevin “Breaking the PL record for assists in a single season soon” de Bruyne’s right arm. An in-form City side is facing Brighton at the AmEx and even though the Seagulls are in good shape, there will be opportunities for the Belgian. There will be for his team mates as well, but the problem is the high risk of rotation.

Outside of ‘Pool and City, Vardy facing Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium is not a bad way to go. If you prefer a home game for your captain, any of Greenwood, Fernandes, Martial or Rashford is a wise pick for the home game against Southampton. Finally, if you’re in need of a seriously differential captain haul, go for Antonio against a Norwich side whose relegation to the Championship was all but confirmed at the end of gameweek 34+.

According to the FISO Forum poll on the FPL Captain for GW35, Fernandes and Sala lead the way at the moment.

Finally if you like FPL but want to have a go at a weekly Fantasy Premier League type competition for large prizes then have a look at FanTeam’s Premier League 50k Main Event and see discussions on the FISO FanTeam forum. There are freerolls for new entrants organised by FanTeam who also have a 100k GW38 Premier League comp to finish the season and will have another massive season-long Premier League comp for 20/21. Read all about a fiso member who won 30,000 euros on FanTeam from just a 2 euro entry fee.

FanTeam Premier League – GW34 €50K Main Event – Wednesday 8th July

Posted on July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 by admin

Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€50k prize pool) Main Event, which has a maximum entry limit of 3,500 participants. Every week, we’ll report back on how our team performed in the previous week. A finish in the top 556 would see us win part of the prize pool of which the winner takes home a cool €7,500. FanTeam also offer a €2 entry Weekly Monster with a lower prize pool (of which the winner should get about €1,000) for those who prefer to play with lower stakes.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 34 FanTeam’s Main Event is set at 18h00 (UK time) tomorrow Wednesday, July 8th, 2020. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you have an hour to check the starting line-ups for the early match.

Gameweek 34 Weekly Main Event matches

How did our team fare in gameweek 33+?*

*Finished 332^nd out of 2432 players (and in the prizes for the 2nd consecutive week).

NAME (club) (opponent)	RETURNS	POINTS
Pope (BUR) vs Sheffield United (H)	2 saves	3
Gomez (LIV) vs Aston Villa (H)	Clean sheet, Impact+1	7
Tarkowski (BUR) vs Sheffield United (H)	1 goal	8
C Salah	Assist, clean sheet, Impact+1	16

Our team suggestion for the Weekly Monster in gameweek 34+

Formation: 2-5-0 | Budget used: 100.0m

General approach

There is a relatively big disparity in player prices for FanTeam’s GW34+ €50K Main Event this week. On the one hand, we have Man City’s and Liverpool’s assets facing favourable opposition (Newcastle at home and Brighton away, respectively). On the other hand, the likes of Sheffield United, Wolves, Burnley and West Ham are playing each other in relatively even match-ups, in the sense that it would not be a big surprise to see those four teams end up in low-scoring affairs on Wednesday.

Seeing as Brighton have actually conceded fewer big chances per game than any other side in the division since Project Restart, we’ve shied away from Liverpool picks and went all in on a Man City side in redemption mode with three players from their roster. Surprisingly, Sheffield United are the team conceding most big chances per game (2.6) since the return of football and they are not exactly scoring for fun either, so with Pursuit mode in mind, our team boasts 3 Wolves assets as well. Finally, with West Ham looking good going forward of late, our seventh and final pick is a Hammer playing out of position.

Manchester City

Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden

Last gameweek, Pep Guardiola decided to rain on the parade of more than a few fantasy managers by benching De Bruyne against Southampton and then bringing him on in the 59th minute for what ended up being the grand total of 1 point on FanTeam. They say though, that after rain comes sunshine, and after De Bruyne’s benching against Southampton comes De Bruyne’s return to the starting lineup against Newcastle at home. Despite having lost the title already, the general consensus in the fantasy football world seems to be that City will be wanting to make up this week for their slip-up against the Saints. The Magpies will almost certainly try and park a bus or two at the Etihad, especially with coach Steve Bruce hinting at a rest for man-in-form Allan Saint-Maximin, so we see a one-sided affair here, and one in which City hopefully will be less wasteful than they were last game.

As you can imagine, Kevin de Bruyne was the first name on our team sheet and he is also the captain of our team. The Belgian midfielder has been nothing short of spectacular this season, currently sitting on 11 goals and 20 assists and actually equalling Thierry Henry’s historic record of 20 assists in a single season back in 2002-03. As mentioned earlier, he was benched in gameweek 33+, so we are not worried about his prospects of starting this week. The Magpies are in decent form after taking 8 points from four games since the return of football, but they also let in 4 goals over that run, including versus Bournemouth and Villa, some of the least prolific outfits at this moment. After sitting out the major part of GW33+, we think De Bruyne can do some damage on Wednesday.

As we’re going all in on Cityzens this week, the Belgian is joined in the middle of our team by team mates Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden. Like the rest of his team, Sterling disappointed against the Saints, but he did look like one of their most dangerous men going forward and wasting all those chances. Foden then, like De Bruyne, was benched in GW33+, but the young Englishman is expected to start at home versus Newcastle after recording 14 and 13 FanTeam points in his last two home games against Burnley and Liverpool, respectively. Should any of our Man City picks not start, then we can change them based on the starting line-up plus the Safety Net would come into play if we missed doing this, seeing as our picks are more expensive then the likes of Mahrez, David Silva and Bernardo Silva this week.

Wolves

Joao Moutinho, Matt Doherty, Romain Saiss

With Pursuit mode in mind, we decided to complement our very expensive Manchester City trio with three more affordable picks from a Wolves side facing Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. While Wolves have not been particularly spectacular since Project Restart, they did manage to largely maintain their stability in terms of results, winning their first three games 0-2, 1-0 and 0-1. The GW33+ loss at home against Arsenal was a bit of a surprise, but with European football still being a very realistic goal for coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, we’re hoping for a decent response against Sheffield United on Wednesday. The Blades haven’t been very prolific in front of goal since Project Restart got under way (4 goals in 5 games) while they did concede at the same time, both in terms of goals (8 conceded in 5 games) and big chances per game (2.6).

As a result, we included two Wolves defenders with offensive tendencies in our GW34+ €50K Main Event team, namely right-back Matt Doherty and central defender Romain Saiss. Doherty is actually the highest-scoring defender after the Liverpool trio of Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson, thanks to an impressive 10 clean sheets, 4 goals and 6 assists. Having Aubameyang as his direct opponent in GW33+ kind of stifled his attacking potential, but we’re expecting more involvement up the pitch from him on Wednesday. For exactly a million less, Saiss offers a lot of potential as well with him being among the defenders with most attempts on target this season. We’re hoping he will get a few opportunities to improve on one or more of his current tallies (9 clean sheets, 2 goals, 2 assists) when the Wolves visit the Blades.

In order to avoid a too harsh of a Stacking Penalty in case of a Wolves clean sheet, we opted to add a midfielder instead of a third defender. We currently have Joao Moutinho in our team due to the injury/fatigue concerns surrounding Adama Traoré, but fortunately we will know the starting lineup before the Main Event’s deadline. We are covering Moutinho here, but in case Adama starts on Wednesday, we will probably replace the Portuguese midfielder with the Spanish winger, based on the latter’s higher goal threat. Moutinho, though, isn’t a bad pick either. As he is on many set-pieces for Wolves, he has racked up 7 assists already this season, as well as a goal. He hasn’t recorded an attacking return yet since Project Restart got underway, but we’re hoping this could change when he faces an uncharacteristically obliging Sheffield United defence on Wednesday.

West Ham

Michail Antonio

Finally, our joker to fill the seventh and final spot of our selection for FanTeam’s GW34+ €50K Main Event, Michail Antonio. With 2 goals and 1 assist from his last two games, the West Ham forward looks to be in good form, but there is more. Since football returned, no single midfielder in the Premier League has registered more shots in the box than him, and only Martial and Mané have had more than his three big chances. Even when looking at expected goals and expected assists, Antonio comes out on top. Much of this has to do with the fact that he is registered as a midfielder on FanTeam, but deployed as a striker by coach David Moyes in real life. This will again be the case when a resilient Burnley side visit the Hammers on Wednesday. It won’t be easy for them, but if they get anything out of this one, Antonio will most likely be involved.