Fantasy Draft Gameweek 32: I’m an idiot.

I got rid of Jarrod Bowen for Jack Grealish in my Fantasy Draft team – what was I thinking?

I’ll tell you what happened; I read that West Ham were not being totally truthful about Bowen’s injury and that he was likely to be out for longer than expected. And then I noticed that my opponent for Gameweek 31 had snapped up Raheem Sterling in Waivers. 

I felt I needed to cover the City attack and I was fairly confident that Grealish would start. He did. I was also influenced by last week’s article in which I delved into the FiveThirtyEight goal predictions – they heavily favoured Guardiola’s side.

And with so few rounds remaining this season I decided that I would be better off replacing Bowen. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I forgot one thing, however – Grealish has been rubbish from a Fantasy point of view this year whereas Bowen is a talisman for West Ham. 

Had the rumour been true, and Bowen really was injured long term, then it wouldn’t have been so painful. But the rumour was false. Bowen played and returned 13 points courtesy of a goal, an assist and the maximum three bonus points.

The decision to sell him not only cost me victory in my Fantasy Draft head-to-head in GW31 but is going to hamper my chances of winning more encounters over the remaining seven rounds.

What a plonker.

So what do I do?

The other issue I have to deal with is a season-ending injury to Kieran Tierney. 

To start with I’ll go back to basics and look at the remaining matches for each team.

Remaining matches

10	Leicester
9	Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Everton
8	Aston Villa, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton, Spurs, Watford
7	Brentford, Leeds, West Ham, Wolves

Remaining fixtures (from GW32)

If there’s some solace to be gained it’s that West Ham are among the group of teams with seven matches remaining… but it’s going to hurt not owning Bowen (insert lots of crying emojis here)!

Leicester are the team to target in terms of fixtures left with 10 games to play in seven rounds. And I’ll hold my Burnley players despite disappointing performances of late. Where are those save points Nick Pope?

Ticker Perspectives

Short-term view – the next two Gameweeks, courtesy of the Fantasy Football Scout members area

Indeed, Leicester and Burnley are the two teams favoured in the short-term.

While Man United and Arsenal also rank highly among the sides with a double in GW33.

Fast-forward view – beyond the upcoming Gameweek, courtesy of the Fantasy Football Scout members area

Our ‘Fast-Forward’ view again favours Leicester and Burnley, although bear in mind that this picture is likely to change with a few encounters still to be rescheduled.

Man City, for instance, have their trip to Wolves to come, ensuring a double GW at some point. Encouragingly they have a lot of blue opponents in the ticker. And motivation, too, as the title race with Liverpool looks set to go to the wire.

Rotation, of course, will always be a concern with Pep Guardiola at the helm.

Chelsea feature prominently but they need to find form after back-to-back defeats. And with a five-point cushion in third, they don’t have much motivation in the league. A wait-and-see for me.

Team Review

I have the first-choice ‘keepers from Leicester and Burnley, Kasper Schmeichel and Nick Pope, so that’s one area of my Fantasy Draft team that I’m not too concerned about.

Ruben Dias looks set to miss out again but the Liverpool game is his most difficult remaining fixture. Hopefully he’s back for Brighton in GW33.

Nuno Tavares has come in for Tierney. He was replaced at the interval in Arsenal’s defeat at Crystal Palace but that looked tactical as Arsenal chased the game. I also expect a reaction from Arteta’s side to that result.

The presence of James Justin gives me a Leicester double-up at the back. Justin has started ahead of Pereira in each of the last two GWs, and offers some attacking threat if he can hold his spot.

I’m gambling that Harry Maguire will rediscover his form – he nearly scored at the death in Man United’s draw with the Foxes last time out. And he has that favourable double in GW33.

Richarlison was the top-scoring player in the last round notching 17 points over his two outings. He took a GW-high 11 shots in the box and is on penalties for Everton. If Frank Lampard’s side are to avoid the drop, then his contributions are likely to be key.

Ilkay Gündogan and Ismaila Sarr have come into midfield. 

Sarr is a talisman for Watford who have two enticing upcoming games versus Leeds and Brentford, despite both opponents finding form of late.

And Gündogan replaced Demarai Gray. Gray is battling with Anthony Gordon for a starting place and I’d rather have a rotation risk from Man City. I’m a fan of Gündogan, who I feel possesses more of a goal threat than Grealish. But this position in my squad is by no means certain.

Good luck with your Fantasy Draft teams, I hope you weren’t as foolish as me!