The Fantasy Premier League Midfielders Minefield

Fantasy Premier League midfielders stole the show in Gameweek 12. It’s certainly got the community talking about who to own and how to set up their squads.

Manchester City Midfielders

Many thought they’d got their midfield sorted with a couple of Manchester City assets. There’s 5 to choose from here: Silva, Sterling, De Bruyne, Sane and Fernandinho. 4 of those make up the top 10 midfielders in FPL and Fernandinho has the best form. Sane appears to be the pick of the bunch here and Pep has admitted that the new 4-3-3 formation is here for the long run, with Sane the key left midfield option. It’s easy, we’ve got it all figured!

Insight from Pep following the injury to Mendy: "Sane has to go wide [now], which is why they [Aguero and Jesus] don't play together." #MCFC

— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) November 20, 2017

Premium Midfielders

Or do we? Alexis Sanchez and Eden Hazard have the heftiest price tags in FPL, after some consistent seasons over recent years. Both were slow out of the blocks but are now returning at the same rate as previous seasons. Hazard has an excellent run of fixtures over the next few weeks and has the ability to outscore the similarly priced Morata. Sanchez hasn’t quite exploded yet, but scored in Gameweek 12 and could be the best Arsenal asset for the next few. Pogba announced himself back in FPL after an injury lay off with a 12 point haul last week and a decent run of fixtures. Mo Salah is providing amazing consistency and Coutinho also got on the scoresheet for Liverpool. Investment in any of these options looks enticing.

Six players on my watch list:

⚫Hazard
⚫Pogba
⚫de Bruyne
⚫Zaha
⚫Niasse
⚫Wilson

— FPL Hints (@FPLHints) November 19, 2017

✅ GOAL
✅ ASSIST
✅ 2 bonus

? £8.0m (price locked for 1 week)
? 105K transfers IN for GW13pic.twitter.com/B5OfA6CiQl

— Fantasy Football Pundits (@FFPundits) November 19, 2017

How does the popular Paul Pogba compare against the 4 top scoring FPL midfielders? https://t.co/6D3rmhLL7u pic.twitter.com/UxWUdbDSMT

— Fantasy Football Fix (@FantasyFootyFix) November 21, 2017

Budget Midfielders

Before you load up on 4 premium midfielders, be aware that the budget options are performing just as consistently. Pascal Groß, Eric Choupo-Moting, Richarlison and Wilfried Zaha are providing consistent returns at the lower end of the budget and are useful enablers to spend big money elsewhere in your squads. Many were on the scoresheet in Gameweek 12: Crystal Palace in particular have a good run of fixtures in the short term. It’s certainly worth owning at least one of these in your sides,

Richarlison and Doucouré have the joint highest Player Value (Points vs Price) of ANY Midfielder or Forward in #FPL ?

Followed by Groß, Fernandinho, Surman and Salah in that order

— FPL Judas (@FPLJudas) November 19, 2017

Richarlison has more FPL points than Eriksen. pic.twitter.com/WRPBUE9LQD

— Fantasy Football Community (@FFCommunity_) November 19, 2017

Richarlison now 11th top scorer in the FPL with 66points which is level with Kane!! Only De Gea above him that is cheaper #FPL

— Black & White FPL ◼️◻️◼️◻️◼️ (@Barrick88) November 19, 2017

Power (budget) midfield ? pic.twitter.com/9P2jPpqhoE

— Fantasy Football Community (@FFCommunity_) November 20, 2017

Squad Rotation

So how do we manage to load up on these midfielders? There’s a shift in balance of FPL squads from premium forwards, with budget forwards finally emerging, which means we could look at a 3-5-2 formation. This will give the opportunity to own 5 performing midfielders.

Wish there was a 2-7-1 formation in #FPL with all these midfielders on fire.

Hazard – Pogba – Salah – Sane – Richarlison – Gross – Choupo Moting

— FPL Junior (@FPL_Junior) November 20, 2017

Top 5 valued Forwards #FPL
Worth it? ?

Kane
£12.8m 38.1% 66points
last 5 GW average 4.2

Aguero
£11.8m 21.2% 67points
last 5 GW av 3

Lukaku
£11.5m 48.1% 70points
last 5 GW av 4

Jesus
£10.5m 15.4% 62points
last 5 av GW 5.6

Morata
£10.4m 23.3% 72points
last 5 GW av 4.6

— Black & White FPL ◼️◻️◼️◻️◼️ (@Barrick88) November 20, 2017

Personally, with the congested festive Fixture Schedule, I’d recommend moving towards a flexible squad that has a balance of premium and budget in midfield, in the ratio 3:2 and then two premium forwards and one budget. The graphic shows my likely set up for the next few weeks. The core 6 premium players will start every week and then there’s 7 cheaper players rotate in the other 5 positions and cover on the bench for the inevitable rotation. The community have also been advising how to set up your fantasy team. Which 5 will you be going for?

The Power of the Midfielder. Check out my latest blog, would love to know your thoughts!… https://t.co/OyD4kW7UFy pic.twitter.com/pL7dOHdqpO

— Él Statto (@FPL_ElStatto) November 21, 2017

Impossible to predict who will score well at the start but it points towards a certain team structure:
▪️Premium & 4.0 GK
▪️2 premium DEFs; 3 4.5 DEFs rotating
▪️3 premium MIDs; 2 premium strikers
▪️3 way attack rotation (2 MID & 1 FWD) – flexible 3-5-2/3-4-3 formation

— FPL Guidance (@FPL_Guidance) November 21, 2017

While you’re here, don’t forget to check out the Form Vs Fixture Charts for Gameweek 13.