I had a very poor week in FPL but Tommy the Punter hit a lovely score to take a commanding lead of the For Foot Sake FPL league. Let’s take a look at what went wrong for me, and right for Tommy, in my FPL Gameweek 4 Analysis.
My Squad
A disappointing week for me as I fell five points shy of the FPL average of 67, with 62 points. This was almost completely down to my midfield. Rayan Cherki was subbed at half time for Iliman Ndiaye for one point apiece, Bruno Fernandes got two points in the same game, and while Dominik Szoboszlai and Diego Gomez got a point extra for a clean sheet, neither produced an attacking return.
The Cherki/Ndiaye dynamic is a concern for me. It seems likely that they won’t start that many games together, so transferring out one of them is going to be the port of call for this week. I don’t like doing that ahead of a long international break, but needs must and I’m now chasing the pack after dropping outside the top 2m players.
I’ll likely remove Ndiaye, and will have 6.8m to spend on a replacement. I’m considering a wildcard in Gameweek 6, so this may just be a quick bump for the next week or two, so the players I have my eye on are:
- Martin Odegaard (6.7m) – Back to his best and Arsenal have flown out of the blocks this season. Blanked against Sunderland but could have had a couple of assists and has also scored four goals already in all competitions. Brighton followed by Leeds isn’t a bad couple of fixtures.
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (6.5m) – A bit more of a gamble but Everton haven’t lost yet despite all the doom and gloom and face two newly promoted sides in the next two games. Only 5% owned so could be a great differential.
- Harvey Barnes (6.0m) – Newcastle just got thumped but have the chance to put things right against two promoted sides in the next two games, so Barnes looks another solid option.
At the moment I’m leaning towards Dewsbury-Hall as a bit of a curveball, but there’s plenty of time left in the week to make a concrete decision.
At the back my Bobby Thomas pick went awry as Coventry lost 5-0 at home to Brighton, so he’ll drop to the bench this weekend, and Marc Guehi will return to the side. Good to have five defenders that all play though, but I’ll probably switch to a Hull one or Leif Davis when I wildcard.
My other players performed well. Verbruggen (8), Van Hecke (8), Calafiori (6), Joao Pedro (12) and Haaland, as captain (18), so I was halfway to a really good score, I just feel unlucky no one from that pesky midfield contributed properly. I’m also struggling to see how the average score was so high – of the most owned players that I don’t own, it was only really Bukayo Saka that delivered. One bad week isn’t enough to abandon the strategy though, so we’ll see what this last week before the international break throws up.
For Foot Sake Squad
Tommy had a cracker. 11 points from two of his defenders in Josko Gvardiol and Maxim De Cuyper, a strong captaincy pick in Joao Pedro, and Morgan Rogers also finding the net helped catapult him into the top 900k. Calafiori and Haaland also performed well, so he has every right to be chuffed with his 80 point return. He did it without making a transfer too, so carries three into Gameweek 5. A strong position and a daunting prospect for the chasing pack.
FPL Gameweek 4 Pointers
International break can cause all sorts of problems – To my mind there is an unprecedented international break coming up after Gameweek 4. Three weeks long and a whole host of travel for players means injury-risk is heightened. If you’ve got transfers banked up, use them sparingly to ensure you can accommodate for any absentees when the Premier League returns in mid-October.
Liverpool & Manchester United need improvement – The two biggest clubs in the Premier League have made slow starts to the season, both winning just one game each. Liverpool travel to Bournemouth and Brentford whilst also hosting Manchester City in the next three games, so it’s a no-go to bring in any Reds players for a while, at least. Meanwhile, United have problems at the back and are profligate in front of goal, unable to break down ten man City at home. They have a kinder fixture run than their rivals but, besides Bruno Fernandes, it’s hard to see who can be relied upon in FPL.
Leif Davis a blast from the past – The English wing-back was all the rage going into FPL 2024/25 after a stellar season in the Championship. He had a quieter season in the second-tier last campaign, but has bounced back with some big scores on his return to the bigtime. At just 4.0m, he looks a bargain and has games against Everton, Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Hull to come in the next five weeks.
Head back here on Wednesday for my preview of my team for Gameweek 5.