FPL GW5

Roll, roll, roll

This gameweek is, for the majority of managers, extremely simple. Roll if you can.

That being said, some are playing the bench boost, which I find reasonable if your team is already set up well for it. Other that than, I see very little reason to make any transfers because:

1.      We have very few good fixtures from an FPL perspective

2.      No good FPL assets have a good turn of fixtures

Instead, look ahead

The good thing is that from next week we get some interesting FPL fixtures again. Man City with a great fixture against Burnley and a very high difference between Haaland and the secondary captaincy options. Also, the great Crystal Palace assets have a tough fixture against Liverpool, which made my initial instinct using my Free Hit.

With how the season, and especially Haaland and Salah, has panned out so far, there are reason to consider other options such as a permanent Haaland move. Saving a free transfer for further flexibility next week seems like the best solution.

Bench boost dilemmas

Managers with most to tinker about are the ones with an available bench boost and a decent bench. If all your players are fairly certain to be in the starting XI, it is likely a decent week to play the bench boost and focus on improving the long-term structure of your team. I’ve rambled about this in previous previews, so I will spare you this time.

If you need more than 1 FT to set up a bench boost, I probably would not do it. That’s spending too many resources on probably less optimal long-term picks, which will be costly in the long run.

That leaves team with 1 non-playing asset and whether using a free transfer to bench boost is reasonable. It’s not a clear yes or no, but things to consider are:

-          The more FTs in the bank, the more relevant it is to BB (3 FTs i.e.)

-          The lower long term value of the pick to sell, the more relevant it is to BB (i.e. don’t sell JSL/Sarr)

-          If you want to WC6, I would recommend to use the BB in most cases (as you can use a more greedy structure for the future)

Realistically, you should not expect a whole lot from the bench boost anyway this week. In general, don’t expect much this week, the excitement should be found in looking ahead.

Postponement of Merseyside Derby

My initial instinct is that it is not very likely, but at least we will know prior to deadline almost certainly. My take is:

-          If we do not have a clear message: I’ll stick with Salah

-          If no postponement: prioritize to roll

-          If postponed: Use FTs to get rid of LIV assets (sell offensive before defensive assets)

The most important thing is that you have prepared a plan for each scenario, that you can use to avoid rash decisions just before deadline if we receive new information. Make sure not to have both C and VC in the same game, but that’s a general principle to follow most of the time.

My team

I will roll. If we see a postponement, I will probably sell Salah to fund a move to Haaland, but I don’t think that is very likely.

Good luck everyone!