Worried about not having 11 starting players for Gameweek 28?

Feeling let down by Sergio

Aguero? You are in good company.

Four of the Top Five in our career Hall of Fame Triple Captained the little Argentine for what was
supposed to be an explosive Gameweek for Manchester City. Hits were taken across the board.
The result? The damp squib of disappointment as Stoke held the Citizens to a goalless draw.

A gameweek with only four fixtures is upon us, a gameweek our Top Five have had on their radars
for a while. But what do they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Injuries (Matt Phillips
and Junior Stanislas Im looking at you), and a surprise double gameweek means that our elite
managers are left struggling to field a full 11.

The current state of play with transfers and hits is:

Name & HoF

Ville #1 Marlen #2 Peter #3 Steve #4 David #5
Rank
Players
GW28 Before 8 7 + Amat 6 7 7
Transfers
Transfers
0 1 1 3 1
GW28
Points Hits
Nil Nil Nil -8 Nil
GW28
SV (ITB) 104.0 (0.2) 97.9 (5.5) 106.0 (1.4) 97.0 (8.7) 102.7 (1.3)

Guessing at the transfers it would appear that Marlen Rattiner and Steve Poulsom have drafted
in Swanseas Fernando Llorente to their teams. The most transferred in player this week across
FPL theres every chance the Spaniard will reward his new owners, as highlighted in Krytens
bandwagon analysis.

Despite a disappointing Gameweek 27, so far only Steve has reacted with three transfers and two
hits taken. The rest remain hit-free. This of course may change before the deadline.

The most ballsy move of the week belongs to number one Ville Ronka. His decision to ditch
Manchester Uniteds Zlatan Ibrahimovic was against all received wisdom. A home encounter with
Bournemouth had been touted my most observers as a guaranteed feast of points for Uniteds
Talisman. How wrong we all were!

Helped by a second double digit return from Tottenhams Harry Kane, Villes score of 79 points
was enough to see him top the pile this week. His FPL rank of 13,354 is his highest of the season.
An even more impressive rank given that he was outside the Top 100K as recently as Gameweek
20. Seven green arrows in the last eight have seen him surge up the table. He is now only 8 points
outside the Top 10,000.

Heading in the opposite direction is Hall of Fame number two Marlen Rattiner. His fall has mirrored
Villes rise. From a season high rank of 13,561 in Gameweek 20 to season low of just outside the
Top 100K. It goes to show how quickly things can change in FPL, for better or worse. Marlen will
be hoping his shrewd purchase of Bournemouths Josh King in Gameweek 26 will help reverse his
current slide.

This article focuses on the moves and strategies employed by the elite managers who grace the
top five positions of this sites career Hall of Fame. Members can see the latest top five via
our Live Hall of Fame update.

For this article I have also deployed Fusens FPL Statistico tool to gain an extra insight into their
thinking.

Before we look at their teams in more detail, here's why they are the best FPL managers:

Lowest rank in the last three seasons for any of the top five 4,324
Highest rank in the last three seasons for any of the top five 49
 POINTS & RANK
Name & HoF FPL ID Point after FPL rank Best FPL rank Worst FPL rank
rank GW27 GW27 16/17* 16/17* *from
Ville #1 30327 1,548 13,354 13,354 (GW27) 135,324 (GW19) GW6
Marlen #2 60081 1,478 101,648 13,561 (GW20) 101,648 (GW27) onwards
Peter #3 6746 1,567 7,018 6,126 (GW25) 243,702 (GW07)
Steve #4 3911 1,452 182,721 140,958 (GW06) 845,911 (GW17) Only one
of this
David #5 45755 1,531 23,596 5,615 (GW21) 73,858 (GW09)
quintet
qualified for the cup (David #5), he went out in GW19.

They all still have their wildcards. Four of the five have now played their Triple Captain chip, and
some have also played their AOA chip (but who really cares about that?!).

Aside from Ville, the only Top Five manager to see a green arrow in Gameweek 27 was Peter
Kouwenberg. His good run continued as he consolidated his place in the Top 10,000.

David Meechan had a poor week. His 49 points saw him slip 11,922 places to 23,596. With 8
players currently for Gameweek 28 hell be hoping for a strong return from Liverpools Saido Man
at home to Burnley.

CAPTAIN

Aguero
Aguero TC

Manchester Citys Sergio Aguero was the unanimous pick from the Top Five in Gameweek 27.
David was the only manager not to use his Triple Captain chip on Citys top marksman.

Over the season Sanchez has been picked as captain 33% of the time, averaging 14.9pts when
chosen. Aguero follows in popularity having been handed the armband 29% of the time, averaging
15.9pts as captain or triple captain, with Tottenhams Harry Kane chosen 10% of the time and
averaging 11.4pts, the third most popular.

CAPTAIN POINTS

Name & Marlen Ave. (c) As % of

Ville #1 Peter #3 Steve #4 David #5
HoF rank #2 points score
GW (c)
27 27 27 27 18 25 37
Points
Total (c)
373 381 409 327 356 369 24
Points

What stands out to me from the table above is how important it is to get your captain pick right.
Peters total of 409 points is significantly more than the immediate points gained from transfers
(see below).
TRANSFERS GW27

Name & HoF

Ville #1 Marlen #2 Peter #3 Steve #4 David #5
Rank
Transfers
2 3 3 3 2
DGW 27
Points Hits -4 -8 -4 -8 -4
Mawson, San, San,
Aguero, Aguero,
Players In Aguero, Aguero, Aguero,
Sterling Sterling
Sterling Sterling Sterling
Ibrahimovic, Alonso, Alli, Phillips, Alli, Sanchez, Alli,
Players Out Alli, Lukaku
Stanislas Costa Lukaku Lukaku

As expected Manchester Citys assets proved irresistible for our Top Five, with Tottenhams Dele
Alli and Evertons Romelu Lukaku the fall guys.

TRANSFER SUCCESS

Name & HoF rank Ville Marlen Peter Steve David Average
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
GW27 Transfers 2 3 3 3 2 3
GW27 Points Hits 4 8 4 8 4 6
GW27 Immediate Points
34 11 27 23 6 20
Gained from Transfers
Minus Points Hits 30 3 23 15 2 15

Allis 12 points dented the immediate success of this weeks transfers. With a good run of fixtures
for Spurs from Gameweek 29 they may come to regret dumping the former Milton Keynes player.

Name & HoF rank Ville Marlen Peter Steve David Average
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Total Transfers 26 34 42 38 37 35
Total Points Hits 4 36 68 52 48 42
Total Immediate Points
161 196 244 222 198 204
Gained from Transfers
Minus Points Hits 157 160 176 170 150 163
Total Benched Points 262 125 200 214 149 190

FORMATION

Two teams 4-4-2 formation

Two teams 3-4-3 formation
One team 3-5-2 formation

4-4-2 has been the popular choice over the past month. This week it was influenced by injuries
and suspensions to attacking players such as Phillips, Stanislas, Anichebe and Barnes.
Disappointing returns from popular West Brom and Everton defenders didnt help gameweek
scores.

Over the course of the season 3-4-3 has been favoured 59% of the time by the career Top Five
HoF, with 3-5-2 second with 21%. 4-4-2 is the third most popular on 10%.
PLAYERS GW27

Players in 5 teams Aguero, Sterling

Players in 4 teams
Players in 3 teams
Attacking players under 6m
Ibrahimovic, Alonso
Eriksen, Sigurdsson, Coleman, Brunt, McAuley, Foster, Heaton,
Pickford
Phillips x2, Snodgrass x2, Barnes x2, King, Stanislas, Anichebe,
Fletcher

When it comes to picking attacking players under 6m in value these doyens of fantasy football
have struggled to unearth any real gems. At the moment Josh King looks like the only one who is
worth investing in. Lets hope his inclusion in the list doesnt precipitate a downturn in form!

TEMPLATE GW27

Goalkeepers Foster / Heaton / Pickford

Defenders Alonso, Coleman, Brunt, McAuley, (Chambers)
Midfielders Sterling, Eriksen, Sigurdsson, Man / Firmino, (Snodgrass)
Forwards Aguero, Ibrahimovic, (Lukaku / Barnes)

The three match ban handed out to Ibrahimovic could see other Top Five managers join Ville in
showing him the door. Likewise the frustrating return from Manchester City players coupled with a
blank and three tricky fixtures, is likely to see their players sold. Their cause isnt helped by their
managers penchant for rotation.

I expect Harry Kane to find his way into the template after his blank has passed. In the meantime
hopes will be pined on Swansea playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Liverpool midfield and Evertons
Romelu Lukaku. I expect the Everton frontman to be among the transfers in this week along with
Gylfis teammate Fernando Llorente.

Best of luck to all this week.