And by some owners, I mean me. It may be wildcard time already…
The first international break of the season has come and gone. Fantasy Premier League owners across the globe had the weekend to take stock and reflect on what has been a crazy start to the 2020/21 Premier League season. If week 4 is any indication, we are in for one crazy ride.
For those new to Fantasy Premier League, the Wildcard chip can be played twice a season. Once in the first 19 games and again once in the second 19 games. What the chip allows you to do is to have unlimited transfers for a single gameweek. It is a very useful tool as it can transform your team without penalty. The trick is using it at the right moment and transferring in the correct players.
I’ll get to my team and the decision that I have to make in regards to the Wildcard chip but first, a quick recap of a wild week 4 in the Premier League season.
FPL Rundown Week 4
Tottenham ran wild scoring six goals in their bashing of Manchester United. Harry Kane (16 fantasy points) and Heung-Min Son (18 pts) teamed up again to pack the offensive punch for the Spurs. Somehow, the 6-1 drubbing wasn’t the story of the weekend. That belonged to the team that survived on the last day last season and needed some help in doing so.
Aston Villa, lead by Jack Grealish (24 pts) and Ollie Watkins (18pts), thrashed the reigning champions of the league with a outrageous 7-2 scoreline. Luckily for the hundreds of thousands of people that captained Mo Salah, he bagged a double and still came away with 13 points (doubled to 26 with the captains armband). Unlucky are those (like myself) that splurged on a Liverpool defender as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robinson both registered a tidy -1 point and Virgil Van Dijk gave his owners -2 points. Not ideal…
The other very surprising game in regards to current form was the 3-0 victory for West Ham over a previously unbeaten Leicester City club. Michail Antonio (8 pts) continued his fine form since the COVID restart and Aaron Cresswell (15 pts) provided two assists for the Hammers as they picked up their second win of the season.
I also want to mention a few other players that had huge weeks in fantasy. Ben Chilwell debuted for Chelsea and proceeded to score the most points for a defender in week 4 with 18 points. James Rodriguez (18 pts) has also hit the ground running in the Premier League as he is back under Carlos Ancelotti’s tutelage. Lastly, Callum Wilson (18 pts) looks to be one of the better signings of the summer window as he scored two goals and picked up an assist for Newcastle.
TEB Fantasy League
On top of the table for another week team CaddePes FC managed by Hakan Kilic. The aforementioned Mo Salah and Heung-Min Son were key contributors for the 66 points and keeper Alex McCarthy picked up his second straight clean sheet for Southampton. Here is how team CaddePes FC lined up this week.
Here is what the top of the table looks like after four weeks.
The team with the highest score this week was team Eze Eze Wicked FC managed by Brendan Broom. His squad raked in a whopping 120 points for the week! A savvy managerial move to triple captain (multiply the point total by three) Harry Kane netted 48 points. Brendan also benefitted from Grealish’s and Rodriguez’s huge weeks. Well done sir! Here is how he lined up a few weekends back.
Now on to my sorry team…
Look, I said I’d share the highs and the lows and after a fairly productive week two, my team is now in crisis mode. As it’s manager, the burden falls onto my shoulders but I wouldn’t mind a few of my guys banging in a goal or two (aside from H-M Son. Keep doing your thing lad)…
I only managed 30 points this week and 18 were from a above mentioned Son. Not great. Which brings me to the topic of the Wildcard chip. I’m tempted to use it for a slew of reasons. One, I can transfer in some players that are in form and get rid of those that are not. Two, creating a fantasy team from scratch is kinda my thing which is why I tinkered around so much at the beginning of the season. And three, I am going to have to use it this calendar year anyway so why not.
Well, I will tell you why I am not going to panic just quite yet.
For starters, I think Michy Batshuayi starts for Palace against Brighton and remains in the starting XI for the the rest of the season (barring injury of course). Reason being is that Palace didn’t loan him in so that he can sit on the bench and Roy can sub him in with 15 minutes to play. He will get his chances and I see double digit goals for the Belgium national.
Secondly, Christian Pulisic is back and healthy. That’s great news for all Americans (and we can definitely use some great news) but it’s also great news for fantasy players. The new #10 was Chelsea’s best player after the restart and unfortunately picked up an injury in the FA Cup final (a game that he scored in) and reaggravated the injury in training which pushed back his season debut. He’s back and he’s joining a new potent Chelsea attack that has scored seven goals in the last two games.
Also, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kevin De Bruyne have to start producing at some point. Right?
Palace Quick Hits
And I do mean quick hits because I want to forget all about the loss to Chelsea. As I image we all do.
- The biggest takeaway that I had from the lackluster loss was that Roy completely quit on the game. There is no other explanation than that. Down two goals and he brings on Luka for McCarthy. A like for like defensive midfield substitution down TWO GOALS! Then, a few minutes later he decides to bring on Jairo for McArthur. Again, a like for like midfield substitution. Chelsea went on to score two more goals from the spot. Benteke left sitting on the bench. No plan B after going down a goal. No effort to try and get back into the game. He admitted defeat and that didn’t sit well with me personally
- With that said, definitely not a #RoyOut guy but it was perhaps the closest I’ve been to tweeting that hashtag.
- Mamadou Sakho…. What are you doing man? What a dreadful game he had. He can be so good for us and then the next game it’s like he’s never stepped foot onto a pitch before. Baffling. Utter shambles his play can be at times.
- The next nine games are CRUCIAL for Palace’s chances of staying in the Premier League for another season. In those nine, only Spurs are a traditional power and they face four of the current six teams at the bottom of the table. Points are always a premium and Palace are a club that cannot afford to miss out on those opportunities.
All that said, and even after watching Palace fall flat the last time they played, every supporter would have been very happy with six points from the first four games at the beginning of the season. Although the club currently sits in 12th place, the focus should be on accumulating as many points as possible and the table will take care of itself.
As always,
UP THE PALACE!!!
