Draft Answers Blog – February
The Draft Answers article for January is your guide for managing your Draft Fantasy Team for the upcoming month! Covering the new signings from the January transfer window and advice on how to manage the upcoming double and blank gameweeks, I will try and keep you competitive in your head-to-head leagues. Following this I will discuss 2 teams which you should look at with a nice run of fixtures, and I end with the Kante King of the month for January.
January Signings
Here are a few headline transfers to try and get into your Draft Fantasy Team!
Strikers:
Batshuayi – Crystal Palace. A proven scorer in the Premier League.
Crouch – Burnley. Again, proven in the Premier League but likely to fulfil the same off the bench role and start the odd game like he did at Stoke.
Midfield:
Almiron – Newcastle. We don’t know how he will fit in to Premier League life, but at a Newcastle team needing goals he could be worth a punt if no one else is available to you.
Tielemans – Leicester. Playing with Ndidi behind him, alongside Maddison and behind Vardy, Tielemans could really be a savvy acquisition to your Draft Team.
Suarez – Arsenal. Unknown quantity as we don’t yet know Emery’s plans for him. Will he start ahead of Ozil / Ramsey? If he does, and starts consistently, it is worth getting him as anyone who’s job is to assist Aubameyang and Lacazette will surely get Fantasy returns…right?
For more in-depth analysis on every January signing and their Draft Fantasy prospects check out the article from @TheFFChaps here.
These players are currently blocked/locked. In Draft Fantasy they will come off waivers at 10am GMT on Tuesday February 5th. In FPL Draft they will come off waivers at 11:30am GMT Friday February 8th but you’ll need to submit waivers after GW25 starts.
A few Draft leagues forgot about Higuain being added so even if you have low waiver priority put in a request! In fact, stop reading, put your waivers in right now just remember to come back afterwards and finish reading the article OK. Promise? Good. 😉
Double and Blank Gameweeks
Manchester City v Everton has been brought forward 2 gameweeks to GW25 resulting in a double gameweek for both teams. City play at home v Arsenal and Everton face Wolves, also at home.
Then in GW27, Manchester City, Everton, Chelsea and Brighton then do not have any fixtures, so you will need to plan for these players to not feature for you.
Some questions and points to consider before the double / blank gameweeks
- With only a few teams affected it is best to leave your team be or only bring in enough players to give your team a good chance of winning.
- If you have to change many players to be competitive for either week, it is probably best to leave your team alone.
- Compare your opponents for GW25 and GW27. Can you beat either with your current team? Is it better for you to just target 1 of those gameweeks?
- Look at the head-to-head fixtures of your league rivals for both weeks. Are they likely to win either?
- Can you afford to lose 1 head-to-head for the sake of keeping your team balanced?
- Is your opponent challenging you in the league? Are they a rival? Do you need to win it?
If you are going to go all out for the win in GW25 then this would be my advice: Obviously you should start every Manchester City player that you have. If you don’t have 3 players from City, then look at bringing any available player for this 1 gameweek. I would go as far down as Delph and draw the lines at players such as Zinchenko. Everton players; again, if you own any, play them. If your gameweek opponent is matching you for City players and/or Everton players, then look at bringing in 1 more as required. Gueye would be my pick in leagues with Kante points enabled as he gets stuck in in retrieving the ball against top teams.
When it comes to GW27 Manchester City, Everton, Chelsea and Brighton do not have fixtures. Don’t drop your primary City and Chelsea players. City fringe players such as Gundogan or any of Chelsea’s midfield 3 (Kante / Fabinho / Kovacic) can be dropped depending on your league depth. This would probably be a good time to drop most Everton players (Sigurdson and Richarlison being the exceptions) and look elsewhere. They do not have an ‘easy’ run of fixtures and this blank week serves as good a time as any to drop them.
Teams to target 🎯:
Leicester – (From GW27 onwards)
Leicester face Man United and Spurs in the first 2 games of February, but after that they have a 9-game run of fantasy friendly fixtures. This run of games takes them up to the last 3 games of the season when they again play 3 of the top 6 teams.
Keep Vardy, Maddison, Maguire et al for these first 2 fixtures and they will bring you fantasy returns afterwards. From GW27 you want to be looking for cover in their defence if you haven’t got any, but this may require a trade early in the month. Other than Chilwel, Pereira and Maguire the other defenders are rotating. Evans or Morgan are Maguire’s partners at the back so watch these 2 in the next 2 games to see which you should pick up to get in on the action.
Leicester’s midfield will be Ndidi + Mendy CDM; Tielemans, Maddison and another player. Tielemans will get picked up swiftly as a new player. If you miss out on the Belgian, you will be wanting this 5th midfielder for Leicester cover so keep an eye on their next 2 fixtures to see who this might be.
Wolves – Everton (A) Newcastle (H) Bournemouth (A) Huddersfield (A)
Wolves players have been a welcome addition to many a savvy Draft Fantasy team this season, and February’s fixtures should allow all Draft Fantasy players the opportunity to get their share.
Coady (7.9% owned on Draft Fantasy), Bennett (7.8%) and Jonny (15.6) are all low ownership players in the Wolves defence. I recommend every Draft Fantasy manager tries to fit a Wolves defender into their team for the month ahead.
With Wolves using -backs it doesn’t leave many players for you to pickfrom for consistent starters in their midfield. If any of Neves, Moutinho or Jota (who has started the last 3 games) are available then get one of them in.
Kante King of the Month 👑:
1) Gueye: 12 Interceptions; 13 Tackles – KB Points: 7
2) Jorginho – KB points: 6
=3) Hogg, Romeu – KB Points: 5
(KB – Kante Bonus)
Check back on the blog at the beginning of March for the next article. In the meantime, get involved in the polls that will be posted on Twitter over the coming weeks!
If you have any Draft Fantasy Football starting XI problems, questions about who to trade in/out etc. then send a DM, or tweet @DraftAnswers, and I will poll the Draft community! Good luck!
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