FPL Season 2020-21 – Gameweek 4 Preview

“On Sunday, Manchester United are hosting Spurs at Old Trafford” (CC by 1.0). Image by: Ank Kumar

The Premier League season for 2020-21 campaign has gone off to even more of a crazy start than normal. After several more and less expected hauls in each of the previous gameweeks, GW3 saw Vardy score a hattrick against Man City for 17 FPL points, midfielder Jarred Bowen bag a brace against Wolves for West Ham, and West Brom’s Callum Robinson score two against Chelsea in just 65 minutes for a very differential 13 FPL points. On top of that, Villa’s Conor Hourihane chipped in with a goal, an assist and a clean sheet for 14 points.

If gameweek 3 is anything to go by in terms of what to expect of coming weekend, then hold on to your hat, because it’s going to be another good one. Gameweek 4 contains a bunch of juicy fixtures from an FPL point of view, with entertaining Leeds hosting a Man City side looking for a return to form, Wolves facing Fulham at Molineux and Spurs rolling up to Old Trafford on Sunday for the clash of the week, just to name a few. There are plenty of interesting fantasy picks out there, in all brackets, so here we go.

Don’t forget: the deadline for gameweek 4 is set for 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, October 2nd. Also do check out the Predicted Line-Ups for the Premier League clubs as well as the latest injury news (click on ‘Team’ to sort per club rather than the default ‘date’) before finalising your transfer(s).

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per AM October 2nd, 2020)

 TRANSFERS OUTTRANSFERS INPOSSIBLE REASONS
GKPope (BUR), Ryan (BRI), Pickford (EVE)Martinez (AST), Alisson (LIV), McCarthy (SOU)Two clean sheets out of two for Aston Villa. 
DEFDoherty (TOT), Alexander-Arnold (LIV), Wan-Bissaka (UTD)Castagne (LEI), Lamptey (BRI), Justin (LEI)Premium defenders possibly not worth their investment yet, while other options are performing.
MIDSon (TOT), Aubameyang (ARS), Saint-Maximin (NEW)Rodriguez (EVE), Zaha (CRY), Barnes (LEI)Son and ASM are injured, Arsenal tough fixtures coming up.
FORWerner (CHE), Martial (UTD), Mitrovic (FUL)Calvert-Lewin (EVE), Bamford (LEE), Vardy (LEI)Budget strikers have been performing, Vardy as well, while more expensive options haven’t really yet.

Premium pick

On Saturday, the 12th of September 2020, the Premier League campaign 2020-21 kicked off and now, about three weeks later, it looks like we’re right back where we left the last season a few months ago. Well, at least in terms of Jamie Vardy (£10.0m) that is. Last season’s Golden Boot winner is back where he left off, at the top of the rankings (though sharing the spot with a later pick of ours) with 5 goals from three games. He made up for a slightly disappointing showing at home to Burnley in GW2 by netting thrice at the Etihad last weekend and bagging 17 FPL points in the process. The English striker is a slight injury doubt in the build-up to this weekend’s home game against West Ham, but we feel he could well be up for another goal or two against an admittedly improved Hammers side. They won’t be looking forward to visiting the lion’s (or better said, the Foxes’ den) with the main man up front in such blistering form.

Non-premium picks

Our two non-premium picks for this weekend are strikers as well, starting with Wolves talisman Raul Jimenez (£8.6m). After a blank plus a very unfortunate own goal last weekend versus West Ham, we feel this is just the moment to hold on to the Mexican striker. He is, after all, one of the most consistent FPL performers of the last decade. Jimenez scored a goal in each of the first two gameweeks for a total of 14 FPL points before his surprising 0-point hit last weekend and this weekend it’s Fulham at Molineux for the Wolves. The Cottagers are off to another rocky start in the Premier League this season with 10 conceded goals in the first three games and they are visiting a Wolves side that’ll be aching to set some things straight after their painful 4-0 loss at West Ham in GW3. Unless manager Scott Parker has somehow found a solution to the defensive fragility of his team this week, we can see a few goals being scored here coming weekend and Jimenez being among the scorers.

We already mysteriously mentioned Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.5m) as “the pick currently on top of the Golden Boot rankings” together with Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, which explains why we really couldn’t leave him out of this section. The young Englishman seems to be one of the most under-priced FPL assets of the 2020-21 season, a theory underlined by the fact that he has already risen by £0.5m since the start of the campaign. No player saw his price tag increase by more. DCL has so far returned in every game, with his hattrick and the ensuing 17 FPL points versus West Brom in GW2 as the stand-out performance so far, and he is playing Brighton at home next. The Seagulls have had a decent start to the season in terms of their performances, though home games against Chelsea and United in the first three weeks saw them record just 3 points so far. Still, Carlo Ancelotti’s improving Toffees at Goodison Park will likely be a bit too much for them and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Calvert-Lewin return for a fourth time in a row.

The budget enabler

Burnley haven’t had the best of starts to this season with defeats against Leicester and Southampton, and this season might be one where the Clarets will need to battle more for Premier League survival than they’ve gotten used to over the past few years, but their fixture calendar has cleared up a bit now. They are facing Newcastle and West Brom in the next two weeks, and, albeit away from home, these look like games where they can grab their first points, as well as their first clean sheet. This brings budget enabler Jimmy Dunne (£4.0m) into the mix for those managers looking to free up a bit of budget over the coming international break. Of course, this comes with a major risk, as the young Irish defender filled in for the injured James Tarkowski up until now. The England international has now seemingly recovered and manager Sean Dyche is likely to revert back a central duo consisting of him and Kevin Long, but Dunne has definitely established himself as an FPL asset to watch. He is actually Burnley’s highest-scoring defender at the moment, thanks to his goal in GW2 against Leicester, and considering how highly Dyche rates him, he is definitely now a bad shout as fifth defender in your squad.

A differential pick or two

At Leicester, and as usual, star man Jamie Vardy is the talk of the town, especially after his hattrick away at Man City, but he’s not the only Fox off to a great start. There are, of course, defenders Timothy Castagne and James Justin who’ve been fantastic so far in terms of FPL, but we’re talking about Harvey Barnes (£7.0m). Despite not being amongst the goals or even the FPL returns during the 2-5 thrashing of City, the young forward had a very good game at the Etihad. With James Maddison still working back to fitness and form, Barnes seems to be Leicester’s main attacking outlet behind Vardy, which makes him an appealing fantasy pick. He has a goal and an assist to his name so far, for a total of 18 FPL points, and his price tag sits at a very affordable £7.0m. Combined with a current ownership of just 6.0%, the speedy winger represents quite a lot of differential value in our opinion.

The Leicester midfield looks like a bit of a differential goldmine at the moment, because besides Barnes, Belgian international Youri Tielemans (£6.4m) can represent excellent value as well. With the return to fitness of Maddison, the young midfielder will likely be playing a bit more central, but he will still be involved in plenty of attacking moves. His current price tag in combination with his upcoming fixtures (West Ham and Aston Villa, both at home) allows for a bit of a gamble and he currently sits in just 2.0% of all teams. He played the full 90 minutes in each of Leicester’s first three games and recorded his first attacking return last weekend when he scored against City. He is less attacking than the previously mentioned Barnes, but he also costs £0.6m less and could be a shrewd investment for the coming gameweeks.

The captaincy

As we wrote at the beginning of this piece, gameweek 4 offers us plenty of appealing fixtures and therefore an abundance of good captaincy picks. For our FPL GW4 Captain pick, we have personally gone with Wolves striker Raul Jimenez for his home game against leaky Fulham, but it wasn’t an easy choice. Kevin de Bruyne away at Elland Road was on our minds as well, as well as Jamie Vardy at home to West Ham and Sadio Mané for the away game at Aston Villa.

If you’re looking for a bit more of a risk-reward situation, there are some decent options available as well. We’re not sure Calvert-Lewin can still be considered a “risk” in his current form and with a home game against Brighton coming up, but he is definitely worth considering. Alexander Lacazette has scored in each game of the season so far and is facing a struggling Sheffield United side at the Emirates this weekend, which brings him into the mix as well. Danny Ings against West Brom and even the on-fire Patrick Bamford at home to City (why not?) could see you soar up the rankings as well after coming weekend.