FPL GW10

Fixture uncertainty... was close

After Crystal Palace beat Liverpool (again!) in the EFL cup during midweek, it was all of a sudden very likely that we would have a blank GW17 and potentially a double gameweek in GW16 with Arsenal and Everton.

That has, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, cooled down, and the most likely scenario is now that Crystal Palace get an extremely tight run of fixtures right before Christmas.

We expect to know before the gameweek 11 deadline, but for now you should either progress as if nothing happened or stay slighty more cautious with free transfers, as there is still risk of a bit of fixture shenanigans. I will continue to make decisions for now as if there will be no fixture changes between gameweeks.

Current key assets

I will give you my view on some of the most talked about assets currently:

Andersen looks to be available again and is expected to start. I would start him in my FPL team. He is not a "strong buy" recommendation due to slight risk, but you could invest in him for this GW.

Mateta is everywhere after a recent hattrick and with good reason as he is one of the few forwards who have performed. He is also structurally very good as he does not ship off to AFCON like his counterpart Sarr, but if we remove the outlier game against Bournemouth his performance is not something you cannot go against. If he fits your structure, he is a good buy (and especially for Joao Pedro)

Sarr on the other hand just keeps on impressing on both underlyings and actual points scoring. 2 goals against Liverpool in the EFL Cup too, but zooming out he has been producing amazing number for more than a season. He will be off to AFCON, but if your team can handle this, he can definitely be a good buy. I expect him to outscore Mateta between now and GW16.

Minteh is a great replacement too if you don't like AFCON forcing your hand later, decent stats for his price and seems nailed in the Brighton team currently.

Gakpo has been producing well especially when starting the games and playing the full 90. His minutes is and always will be a risk unless we see injuries from team mates, so I wouldn't bother.

Arsenal defenders are just buys. None of their attackers produce amazing numbers at their prices. But their defenders are absolutely incredible.

Avoid selling your Crystal Palace assets to swap them for different ones, that is likely a waste of transfers unless it unlocks something else in your team. Avoid buying Kroupi Jr as Evanilson is now back. Even going forward there may even be minutes risk now for Evanilson when fully fit.

Bournemouth see two tough fixtures, and selling can even be on the cards, which takes me to my team selection.

Lastly I will mention that Salah has been 1.5 expected points per game better than Haaland over the last three gameweeks. And that is with Salah having the harder fixtures of the two. Just food for thought, we're already seeing normalization.

Team selection

I got Semenyo very early and right after his great start to the season against Liverpool on my wildcard 2. It is now very likely the time has come for several reasons:

1) He has never been great value but a great fit in my team and has luckily for me overperformed. We cannot expect that to continue.

2) Kluivert seeing more minutes likely means pen share is now very low.

3) Poor fixtures coming up.

4) Sarr is crazy value and the entry point is now.

If you have followed my previews you know I'm a Sarr fanboy when it comes to adding players to my FPL team. The price is amazing and his potential points production is extremely high. I will not make the transfer until tomorrow, and other options are 1) rolling or 2) getting Mateta and Minteh for Semenyo and Evanilson.

If anything it will probably be the rolling option, but I want a triple stack of Crystal Palace for their amazing fixture run.

Salah will captain my team once again.

Good luck everyone!