S7 Ep23: FPL Pod: Ait-Nouri alternatives

Summary

FPL Pod: Ait-Nouri Alternatives – Episode Summary

Released on December 19, 2024

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Introduction

In Episode 23 of Season 7 titled "FPL Pod: Ait-Nouri Alternatives," hosted by Ukelli Summers, alongside Julian Laurent and Sam Bomfield, the team delves deep into the intricacies of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) as they navigate the challenges of Gameweek 17. The episode combines expert analysis, strategic discussions, and lighthearted banter to provide listeners with comprehensive insights into optimizing their FPL teams.

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Hosts and Guest Performances Review

Ukelli Summers kicks off the episode with a brief recap of the week's happenings, humorously noting confusion over the current gameweek:

"[00:01] Ukelli Summers: Headaches are plenty in this week's FPL pod. What to do with Wolves and one of Jules' fave Frenchmen..."

Julian Laurent shares his mixed Gameweek 17 performance, highlighting a substantial score of 57 points and expressing frustration over certain player performances:

"[00:51] Julian Laurent: Of course it wasn't too bad, Kelly. Hi everyone. 57 points. Another Green Arrow, the fourth in a row..."

Sam Bomfield echoes similar sentiments, discussing his climb in the rankings and the strategic decisions that influenced his performance.

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Key Talking Points

Player Performances and Transfers

The trio examines pivotal player performances, particularly focusing on defensive assets and the implications of suspensions. Julian laments:

"[01:36] Julian Laurent: ...leaving Anthony Robinson on the bench for the Liverpool Fulham game, and clearly, I shouldn't have."

The discussion revolves around managing players like Rayan Akbaba (referred to humorously as Ait-Nouri alternatives) who have been underperforming or facing suspensions:

"[06:50] Sam Bomfield: Apart from being really, really annoyed with him for not keeping hold of his emotions at the end of that game."

The hosts debate whether to sell such players or find strategic substitutes, emphasizing the importance of making data-driven decisions to maximize points.

Defensive Strategies

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to optimizing defensive lineups. Julian and Sam explore various defensive options, contemplating the merits of players like Lewis Hall, Anthony Robinson, and potential replacements:

"[08:13] Julian Laurent: ...I think there's a lot of really nice options. Certainly enough to say okay, thank you very much for but no thank you and then move him on."

They discuss the benefits of double premium defenses, such as leveraging Arsenal or Liverpool defenders to gain an edge:

"[16:15] Sam Bomfield: Yeah, absolutely. I think you have to carefully think about how your team is structured and managed..."

Forward Line Challenges

Transitioning to the forward line, the hosts express concerns over limited high-performing forwards available, highlighting the dilemma managers face in selecting reliable attackers:

"[25:29] Sam Bomfield: It's been like, right, I've got Harlan there, and before I had Harlem there, I had Kane there..."

Sam voices his struggle with forwards like Dom Solanke, debating whether to retain or sell based on upcoming fixtures and performance consistency.

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Underlying Data Analysis

A pivotal segment focuses on the importance of underlying data in making informed FPL decisions. Sam Bomfield emphasizes:

"[33:41] Sam Bomfield: Every day, pretty much that I spend looking at data. And if you'd have told me I was going to be doing that when I was younger and hated maths, it's..."

He discusses metrics such as expected goals (xG), assists, set-piece threats, and how they correlate with player performance. Julian adds his perspective, advocating for a balanced approach between data and real-game observations:

"[35:11] Julian Laurent: Yeah, loads. But I do it outside of FPL anyway for the, the normal work that, that we do as well."

Together, they underscore that while data is crucial, it must be paired with the "eye test" to avoid misinterpretation and ensure optimal team performance.

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Differential Picks

In their quest for unique player selections to gain an edge over competitors, the hosts recommend lesser-owned players showing promising underlying metrics:

• Sam suggests Muhammad Kuda as a differential, detailing his favorable matchups and recent performance metrics:

  "[43:04] Sam Bomfield: So I think he's going to have opportunities against that Brighton defense. And West Ham do. They do tend to score goals. So hopefully there Might be something there."

• Julian recommends Kevin Shadow from Brentford, highlighting his recent form and low ownership percentage:

  "[43:07] Julian Laurent: Yeah, yeah. So I'm going for Kevin Shadow from Brentford. 5.1 million only owned by 0.8%."

These picks aim to maximize returns by capitalizing on players with high potential upside and low ownership, thereby creating unique advantages in their mini-leagues.

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Transfers and Captain Decisions

The episode navigates through the strategic considerations surrounding transfers and captain selections:

• Sam contemplates his transfer options, weighing the benefits of retaining or selling key players like Dom Solanke and managing captain choices between top performers like Salah:

  "[44:18] Sam Bomfield: I've got two [transfers] at the moment. So I'm either going to do nothing and have three for next week and just stick E.N., etc."

• Julian discusses his transfer strategy, aiming to balance team value and optimize his squad by potentially acquiring budget-friendly options like Ahmad Diallo:

  "[45:22] Julian Laurent: So I've got three free transfers I think. I think I keep Robinson in with Holland..."

• Ukelli offers insights on choosing captains, stressing the importance of making informed decisions based on player performance and matchups:

  "[46:15] Julian Laurent: Yeah, it's on Salah right now. Although I think Udogi can do really well against Salah."

The discussion underscores the delicate balance between immediate gains and long-term team structure, crucial for advancing in the FPL rankings.

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Upcoming Episodes and Logistics

As the episode wraps up, the hosts touch upon scheduling and upcoming content, ensuring listeners are aware of future episodes and special segments:

"[48:07] Ukelli Summers: Guys, we can do this outside of the pod. We'll do pod admin outside of it..."

They humorously address technical mishaps and promise more insightful discussions in upcoming pods, encouraging listeners to stay engaged and subscribe for continuous FPL guidance.

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Conclusion

Episode 23 of the FPL Pod provides a thorough exploration of the challenges and strategies pertinent to FPL managers navigating Gameweek 17. Through candid discussions, strategic insights, and expert analysis, Ukelli Summers, Julian Laurent, and Sam Bomfield equip listeners with the knowledge to optimize their teams, manage transfers effectively, and leverage underlying data for informed decision-making. The episode's blend of humor and expertise makes it a valuable resource for both novice and veteran FPL enthusiasts.

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Notable Quotes:

• "How much attention do you pay to underlying data, Jules?" – Ukelli Summers [35:06]

• "You need to play FPL with your head rather than your heart." – Ukelli Summers [08:13]

• "If you can get to a Liverpool asset or an Arsenal extra Arsenal defender from mate Nori, then I think that's well worth doing." – Sam Bomfield [17:55]

• "Every game plus the expected data, you get a good judgment on where things are going." – Sam Bomfield [34:30]

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Resources Mentioned:

• Twitter: Official FPL
• Facebook: Fantasy Premier League
• FPL Mini-League: ib3wlk

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Remember to subscribe to the FPL Pod to stay updated with the latest strategies and analyses to climb the FPL ranks effectively!

Transcript

[Ukelli Summers]

Headaches are plenty in this week's FPL pod. What to do with wolves and one of Jules fave Frenchmen. We pick our ideal front and back lines and Mr. Laron would like to report an FPL theft. Hello again, guys. Thursday morning means one thing. FPL pod back with Ukelli Summers, Julian, Ron and Sam Bomfield here to look ahead to gameweek 17. We're at the point in the season almost I think where we. We're not going to know what day of the week it is. We're not going to know who's playing what games is football every day. I'm definitely already at the point of not knowing what game week it is, but I've double checked and it is 17. I think I got it wrong in the intro to last week's pod. So guys, just bear with us. It's Christmas. All right. Anyway, good to have Jules and Sam back with us. Jules, you kept us waiting this morning. Train's not on your side, but you're worth. You better be worth the wait is all I'm saying. How was your game week?

[Julian Laurent]

Of course it wasn't too bad, Kelly. Hi everyone. 57 points. Another Green Arrow, the fourth in a row. Now it could have been obviously better if the big boys had returned a bit more and we will talk about that in a little bit. But Lewis hall with 15 points made my weekend, I won't lie. My boy Saliba returned as well. I was quite close with the clean sheet for Henderson and in the end that 87th minute comical own goal like really, really annoyed me to be fair. And Kunyaniko also up front return when Evan Nilsson should have returned and missed a couple of big chances. So really the, the only bad news is AI, I think for a lot of us and also I left Anthony Robinson on the bench for the Liverpool Fulham game and, and clearly I shouldn't have.

[Ukelli Summers]

Could be worse. You could have left Mbo and Miken.

[Julian Laurent]

Nobody would do that. Surely who would do that?

[Ukelli Summers]

No, no, of course, because.

[Julian Laurent]

How many points on your bench, Kel?

[Sam Bomfield]

16 bench be story that is.

[Julian Laurent]

I mean you'll be in the top 200,000 in the world if I think. Sorry.

[Ukelli Summers]

Well, the thing is I've had, I've had a good climb the last few weeks. So I was due a kind of bad decision or something going against me and it was a double whamm this week. Every time Mikalenko returns, he's on my bench. But anyway, yeah, it was the first time in a few weeks, guys, that both of you have beaten Me, that's all I'm saying. But, yeah, another Green Arrow, George. I think it was actually six in the last seven weeks for you.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ukelli Summers]

Slowly getting better, Sam, for you as well. Another. Another good game week. You're climbing the ranks as well. Green Arrow again.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, another Green Arrow. So that's nice. And I always like it when I beat you two as well, so that made me happy this weekend. Double Arsenal defence coming in chunks again. They seem to be the differential makers for me. If they. If they keep their clean sheet, then it goes well and if they don't, then it's not so good. Like last week, obviously, I had Lewis hall as well, so that felt very, very nice when he picked up that absolute hall, the right captain. Just, I think, given that it was really a conversation.

[Ukelli Summers]

It didn't feel like it at the time, did it, when he only got an assist. You're like, oh, we're going to get done here. And then actually watching those games, it was like, got a bit lucky there.

[Sam Bomfield]

Absolutely. And I was looking at our Mini League and obviously Ian's still in it and he captained Palmer and I was thinking, oh, he's going to go flying up because we'd all gone for Salah. So when he blanked and I was watching, obviously, spurs game on Sunday night and I had my. I was so worried about the Chelsea game and the fact that I only had Palmer and I hadn't captained him. I had the text app up on my phone watching or listening to the Chelsea game come through while I was watching spurs and I was like, every five minutes I was like, I don't know how we're gonna get away with Palmer not. Not getting anything because it was very much Chelsea attack show again, that one. But Bruno Fernandez doing not a lot and then scoring a penalty to pick up some bonus points as well was very welcomed in my team. Can't help but feel bit annoyed with Solanke, though, Kels. Five goals and just an assist.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah. I thought of you with that game because when you get five goals for their number nine, you'd think you're probably going to get at least two returns, wouldn't you, really?

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm watching that first half, like, great, this is brilliant. Spurs doing well. This is lovely. Solanke just having an assist. By half time, I was like, I can't decide whether I'm happy or really, really annoyed that Solanke has not got more. And I knew that we were going to come out and be not so attacking. In the second half and just try and see out because obviously it's a big week for spurs this week with Liverpool at the weekend and then the Manchester United game this evening. So yeah, we coasted at home which is something that poster cogli sides don't normally do. So that was interesting but yeah, a bit disappointed there but 59 decent week Ray and 8 nori. I'm not happy with you.

[Ukelli Summers]

No, don't think anyone is to be honest. I was watching, I was at work and I can see what's happening in it full time. I was like I think I know what's going to happen here. You could just kind of see it all unfolding. I didn't see him actually get the red card because we cut away to something else. It was only then when I checked the app and I thought, well, that was the most predictable thing. You could see it coming. Anyway, we'll talk about that in just a moment. Just a few of the headlines. You've actually both touched upon them there because we had a lot of these players Saka, Palmer, Haaland again, none of us of course owning Haaland now. All blank Salah got just the assist. We did think it was going to be. It's one of those weeks where I think we all looked at our teams and thought they all have really good fixtures so they're all going to get hauls and it just is never the case when they've got too good a fixture. It's almost like you don't get the returns anyway. It was also a bad weekend as Sam mentioned, for left backs 8 Nori sent off Robertson and Kukureya as well. And of course we've seen two managerial seconds. We saw two in around 12 hours. I think it was on Sunday with Wolves and Southampton Both sacking Gary O'Neill and Russell Martin respectively after Ipswich and Spurs beat both of those teams. And of course it's been a busy week as well because George has been here, there and everywhere. Which means that there's loads of midweek football. Not Champions League this week though because it's EFL cup action. Arsenal, Crystal Palace, New Newcastle, Brentford, Southampton and Liverpool all played last night. As Sam said, Spurs and Manchester United will also play tonight. So we can't totally rest easy in terms of injuries for our teams. Oh, and of course Chelsea. Sorry I forgot they've got Europa Conference League game tonight too. Then gameweek 17 starts on Saturday. I'll just check in on the FPL pond mini league before we dive into some of those headlines and Things that may have happened during the week at the top. It's getting really interesting. James White is top. Joe Linton in joyer. His team 65 points, one point ahead of second. Second place Charlie shepherd who's called 64. They are 25th and 26th in the world. Taiwo Lekken is in fifth. The only manager in our top 10 to still have his first wild card chip to play. Play it quickly. Gosh, I'm a bit worried he's gonna not not notice because there's the game. The kind of deadlines come so quickly. So yeah, just a reminder for everyone at this point, the GameWeek 19 deadline on Sunday 29th December at 1pm that is your final opportunity to play the chip. You do not get to carry it into the second half of the season. So please don waste what is such a valuable chip. And if you're fifth in our mini vegan, you've still got your wild card. I am very jealous. That could really help propel you to the top. Yeah. The code is Q7Y C O0. Okay then let's pick up on some of those big talking points so many of us own. Rayan8 nori. What are we doing, Sam?

[Sam Bomfield]

Apart from being really, really annoyed with him for not keeping hold of his emotions at the end of that game.

[Ukelli Summers]

Also I'm just a little bit annoyed that it feels like we've owned him for this run of fixtures. Maybe Kunya's been the only wal player that's been worth having. We Jules, he was your boy. He was meant to really deliver less.

[Julian Laurent]

A bit less today. Paris born and bread to be fair, after the red cards. But no but where you're right Kelly is that even outside of the the red car is balance minus two and it's never good to have a minus and that you know, that red flashing on your. On your app or wherever you play. It's just that he hasn't been good enough anyway since a lot of us have brought him in to be fair. So yeah, the red card is bad and obviously there's the suspension coming. I, I forgive him obviously because he's my boy. But that was bad and the whole, the whole things are wolveshood is bad currently, you know and they have a new manager now in Vito Pereira coming. Great. Is there will there be a manager bounce? We will see but certainly the bounce this weekend won't be without Nori. So if you have him like us, it's either. Well, it's either time to sell him because he hasn't really Delivered like we wanted or at least bench him for the suspension. That's obviously very obvious. Personally, I know it's always hard for me to sell Paris born and bred players.

[Sam Bomfield]

What's about to happen here? Are you going to sell him?

[Julian Laurent]

I think I might, yeah. But I won't tell him. I won't tell him.

[Ukelli Summers]

I wait until finally you're realizing you need to play FPL with your head rather than your heart. Julian Laurent.

[Julian Laurent]

That's my downfall always, you know.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah. Sam. For me, I think what's on the radar is they're really tough run of fixtures. So I was going to keep him for this week and then probably part company anyway because now, now there is a few other players around that point that you can swap him out for. For me, feels like depending on what else you've got going in your team, a pretty easy sell.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, I think so. It's interesting, isn't it? Because actually I was going to have some benching headaches this week and he's kind of helped that by being. Weirdly by being suspended because he can just go on the bench. So if I do transfer him out, it kind of puts me back in the benching headaches conversation again. So I'm kind of. Part of me is like, well, do I just wait a week, leave him and then deal with him next week when I could really do with having some new defenders in that would also allow me to run another transfer. I'd have three then that'd be. Would that be the first time I've made it to three? Maybe this season Because I love having three. Yeah, I know I've been a bit.

[Julian Laurent]

Transferred this week as well.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, quite nice. So there is that. But I, I mean, I think George is right there, isn't he? Like two zero pointers, a one pointer and then a minus two. Like that is not what we expected from him when we were getting that run of fixtures. So he's definitely a sell. Unless you can manage your team so much that you can Ben, for this week because a lot of people might be looking at Munoz from Crystal palace as a replacement. He's one of the ones that I was looking at. So I, I very nearly rage transferred him out on Saturday. It was one of those moments where I was like, right, you can just go. I've just. I'm done. I'm so done with you. You can leave. But I couldn't decide where I wanted to go. So there was kind of the Robinson conversation at Fulham. There was Minoz who hadn't played Yet. And I was a bit like, oh, I'm not happy about that, Kels. I know you've got Kirk as he was one I was really looking at as well. And they didn't play till Monday.

[Ukelli Summers]

I think there's cheaper options in the Bournemouth defense as well.

[Sam Bomfield]

There is, yeah. I think there is two now with the Senesi injury. So I was kind of looking at those three as options, but two of them hadn't played. And then there was the midweek fixtures, and I was like, I don't feel like I want to rush into this decision. So I've taken a couple of price drops and rises already and missed those just on the basis of. I think at this point in the season, time is really valuable and it's maybe more valuable than a 0.1 team value change. So, yeah, he is definitely a sell. It's just if you do it this week or if you bench in this week to deal with something else instead.

[Ukelli Summers]

Sorry if either of you guys mentioned. I don't think you did, the fact that he's banned now. Just a reminder, guys, he's still on four yellow cards. So even if you do keep him and you think you want to play him on Boxing Day, maybe against Manchester United or you need to, or whatever, then he could get a yellow card in that Manchester United game. If he comes back into team, which we imagine he will, who knows, because Wolves will probably have a new manager by then, then he could get banned again. So just. Just kind of bear that in mind that once he comes back on Boxing Day, he's still on that. What we call on this podcast suspension tightrope. Jules, in terms of replacement, Sam mentioned a few that were on our radar there. Who would. Who would you kind of put forward?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah. So I think there's a few you mentioned, Kakez, that you. That you have. And I was. I've never been so happy by a West Ham penalty that Paqueta scored in the 87th minute on Monday night. Because I knew you. You would not get a clean sheet. And that, man, I beat you this week. So I was like celebrating. I was like, come on, Paqueta, come on the packet. But Kakis is really good. I think 4.7 only from 4.7 million owned by 5.8% of the. Of the players. If you look at the Bournemouth fixtures coming up, United, Palace, Fulham, Everton, it's not too bad to be fair.

[Ukelli Summers]

And also at that price, again, a bit like with 8 nori, I don't mind benching him.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, you're Right.

[Ukelli Summers]

That's also why I bought him in. The only thing I would say is there's a couple of cheaper defenders there now where I could have saved 0.3 or 0.4.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Masrawi are 4.7 million. Robinson has 4.8, but they're heavily owned. 16%, 18%. Lewis hall that Sam and I have, they're still under 10, just about 9.7 when certainly from last night are 4.6 million. So you, you still save a bit of money compared to A Nouri and I guess maybe Milankovic from. From World Forest because he also is a good threat on set pieces. 4.6 million and really lowly owned. Lowly owned you said? Yeah, 2.5%. So I think there's, there's a lot of really nice options. Certainly enough to say okay, I know it, thank you very much for but no thank you and then move him on.

[Ukelli Summers]

But who's the best option? Jules, Come on, we know you like to sit on the bench. If you had to bring him one.

[Julian Laurent]

Lewis hall for me, 4.6 million. Still less than 10% owned. And after the weekend that he had the momentum. Newcastle, I know are still mid table, but I think he will. Yeah, he's looking, he's looking really, really sharp.

[Ukelli Summers]

I'm just trying to resist, bring him in because I know both of you have him and I quite like it when our scenes are a little bit different to try and get the edge.

[Julian Laurent]

However, copy anywhere.

[Ukelli Summers]

However, when not you though, I normally copy Sam. However, when all got that big haul last week, I was like, oh, this is where it would help fighters who went with you guys because I've obviously lost out on a lot of points here, a lot of managers. Sam will also have MikeNko, myself being one and to be honest, over this period, I wasn't planning on selling him because he's so cheap. I was just going to bench him. But the 8 nori thing now plays into the fact that, okay, I don't really want to have two defenders that I have to kind of bench and a couple of my players I need to get my team up to remember but there's looking at my defenses. We're going to have to make a defensive transfer because of the fixtures as well. I'm gonna have to play Michalenko as it stands with Chelsea at home. Gabrielle, oh, Greaves is my other defender. So that's the reason where I've got Greaves and a Nori on the bench. I'll have to play Mikalenko and I wanted Mike to be on my bench over this period. So he's. He's another player that managers might have and might be looking to maybe move on or bench during this period.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, but I think Mikalenko's are going to become a really, really nice asset from January. Like the fixtures from January for Everton are really nice. So I don't think you want to be selling him. I think he'd be a player that like he's a player that I'm thinking about bringing in as my eight Nori replacement because he wouldn't cause me a benching headache this week. I can just leave him sat on the bench for the next couple of weeks. But then in into the future he's nice and cheap. So it frees up a little bit of money for the assistant manager chip. If you're looking to play that early on when it becomes available in 24, it also means that you're setting your team up for the future so hopeful hopefully then you're preventing yourself from needing to play that second wildcard chip too early. And those things will play into my thinking. And I think when you look at Everton and Newcastle and Fulham, they rotate really nicely together. So if you've got. And like Jules and I have already got Lewis hall in our team so he can rotate quite nicely with Michalenko. So in the weeks that I wouldn't want to play him I can, I can play the other one if I like Jules has got Robinson as well. So having those three would kind of be perfect for the next few months because you can just play them in the nice fixtures and then leave them out when you don't need them. So that is something that's massively playing into my thinking like at the minute. Obviously I've got an 8 nori cell issue that's going to come up at the moment I think I'll probably go for Robinson. I think he would be my preferred. Yeah, I think he's the, the best replacement for him. If you already have Lewis Hall. I think if you have haven't got Lewis hall then I think he's. He's up there as well. But then after that I think like I've got Dallow. If he doesn't start doing something a little bit more then he can go and I can free up some money from selling him for Michalenko going into the new year. And then I think that the defense is set up really nicely because then you've got your two premium assets probably in two Arsenal, maybe an Arsenal and a Liverpool.

[Ukelli Summers]

I was going to say that. Sam, do you still need. So spoiler alert. I have freed up some funds with one of my transfers in my film Bought in Enzo. It's a transfer I didn't really want to do this week in terms of getting rid of mbmi, but I need to do it at some point to get some funds because I feel, as you said at the beginning of the podcast, like a differential for you and something that's really helping your rank rise is having double premium defense. I don't have that, so I needed to free up some funds. I'm already regretting selling them. I bought an Enzo before a price rise. I'm already selling it. This would be. Probably wasn't the week to sell him with Forest at home, but I've done it because so now I've got three transfers and I'm actually looking. I don't have double premium defense. So would you recommend to someone like myself that you need a double premium defense? So actually, if you can get from 8 nori up to an Arsenal defender or maybe a Liverpool defender, you should.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, absolutely. I think you have to carefully think about how your team is structured and managed. But we have so many nice, cheap midfielders in the game right now that we can go to and Enzo is definitely one of them cows and I don't think that's a bad transfer. It might hurt you this week with Brentford being at home, but I think in the long term that's a. That's a good decision. But I think if you can free up the money and have the double defense, you don't even have to pay that much money for the double defense. Like, I've done it at the cheapest way in possible by having Raya and Timber and it's working really nicely. They're picking up regular points. It's, you know, it's been great and I think everybody pretty much in the game has an Arsenal defender of some kind. Whether it be Gabrielle or Saliba or Timber or Raya, somebody has. Most managers have at least one of them. If you then double them and have two, yes, it's painful if the clean sheet goes, but with the Arsenal defense, they are solid usually.

[Ukelli Summers]

So having one of them gets an attacking return.

[Sam Bomfield]

Exactly. So if you double them up, it gives you the opportunity, I think, to, well, to get an advantage over everybody else. And I think the same is said with Liverpool. Liverpool defensive assets are difficult. Alisson now actually seems to be quite good value for money. And if I was wildcarding right now, I'd probably have Alison in Goals simply because he's so much cheaper and he's cheaper than Brea now as well. And then you've got the conversation between whether you have Trent or whether you have Virgil van Dijk and how you manage that. I think think Kanate is going to be back in January, so maybe you can afford to wait on the Liverpool assets a little bit and get him then, because he's cheaper. But I think it's one of those, isn't it, that if you can get to a Liverpool asset or an Arsenal extra Arsenal defender from mate Nori, then I think that's well worth doing.

[Ukelli Summers]

Jules, I'm looking at your defense and you've got a lot of the players that we've mentioned in terms of. You've got one Arsenal defender, you've got Lewis hall, you've got Anthony Robinson, and they're probably the two standout options, as Sam and I have said, for eight Nori, you've got Fars, who I'm presuming is just going to remain as your final substitute and 8 Nori is your other one. So are you tempted to go up to another premium because you've only got Henderson in goal? It's not like you've got Raya.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah.

[Julian Laurent]

And I think the goalkeeper situation, which has been a problem, it's like what Sam used to go through pretty much every single season for the last few years. Like, since Areola was obviously dropped onto the bench by Lopet at West Ham. Like, I'm. I don't really know what to do and I don't have much money to invest in goalkeepers anyway. I would love Raya because I think he's the one to get, really, if you go and get a goalkeeper. But I just. Just the way that my team is structured, I just don't. I can't do it.

[Ukelli Summers]

I'm surprised just because. Because since you sold Harland, you don't have some money left.

[Julian Laurent]

Absolutely not. But, you know, I'm a spender anyway. Like. Yes, it's not.

[Ukelli Summers]

You're a flash guy.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. You know, just look at me. So. So, yeah, so, I mean, Raya makes a lot of sense, but if you can. If you can't go to Raya like me, you might be able to go to Timber.

[Ukelli Summers]

So you don't have any funds in your bank to even upgrade an 8 nori to a timber.

[Julian Laurent]

I've got 0.4 in the bank, so I might be able to do Timber, but I've got other things that I want to do anyway. Like you will see in the transfer section. Yeah. So I think I know because you're right. Because my defense is okay. I can play whole Robinson and Saliba at the weekend. They've got Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Southampton. So that's decent for the back three. Henderson in goal. Okay. I hope for the best.

[Sam Bomfield]

In that case, standard.

[Ukelli Summers]

That's what I do everywhere with my. I got flecking for Goes. He's got one assist and probably minus four clean sheets. He's got one.

[Sam Bomfield]

One clean sheet. He's got the same amount of clean sheets as assist Cows.

[Julian Laurent]

That's amazing. Yeah, great. So and then. And then see for the rest. But yeah, no, ideally I would like to have two Arsenal defenders or Virgil because like Sam said, I think we forget that Virgil is having a really good season. Certainly in terms of fancy foot is the second best defender behind Gabriel and not that far behind. I think just a point behind. So Virgil would be great too. But right now I don't think he's the priority for me.

[Ukelli Summers]

Okay. So Jules, as always, has got a load of headaches and he's going around and running circles with not much money in the bank and probably won't be able to do any of those things. No. But it's interesting hearing your convoluted thought process because it's similar to what a lot of managers will have in terms of wanted. I just thought you'd have had a little bit more money in the bank because you haven't really got any premiums in that defensive line at all. But I guess maybe it's because you've got. Well, I can't work out actually where all your money's gone, to be honest.

[Julian Laurent]

No, me neither. I think somebody must have stolen some. I don't know where it's going. Like the game is wrong.

[Ukelli Summers]

It's been a theft at Sam Be on Ice. It's been a theft. Someone's stolen his money.

[Julian Laurent]

Sambion Ice was targeted. And then look at that clearly. I need to look into it.

[Ukelli Summers]

What's your team value? Right, okay. We'll have to do this off. I'm trying to see your team value.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, we should be on this thing.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah. His team value is 102. So it's not that bad.

[Julian Laurent]

No. No. Nico is expensive, to be fair.

[Sam Bomfield]

He's almost 18, to be fair as well. Yeah.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yes.

[Sam Bomfield]

Like, you don't have a Jow Pedro issue, do you?

[Julian Laurent]

So I only have superstars and expensive players. But you know, there's a difference between costly and expensive. So my players are Just costly, not expensive.

[Sam Bomfield]

Okay, okay.

[Ukelli Summers]

Right. Anyway, moving on from George's financial woes, let's talk. I know this isn't actually written on the. On the script, but I just you mentioning Cunha there. If we're going to stick with the wolves with the Wolves theme, I've seen a lot of people not knowing what to do with Cunha. Now by the time this podcast comes out, maybe we'll have more news on what's on, what's happening with him. But of course he has been charged by the fa, which is always a little bit of a worry. That doesn't mean he is banned yet. We don't know what the outcome is going to be. I don't know when we're here, so it's a little bit of guesswork. And although by the time this podcast comes out, as I said, Sam, we could be old on the news, I think it's worth just mentioning what, how to kind of view it because again, with those Wolves fixtures turning for next week from Manchester United at home on Boxing Day, they're not as nice. Is now the time to kind of sell him or just to wait to hear if he is going to get any ban or anything?

[Sam Bomfield]

I don't think you can sell him ahead of the weekend and a game against Leicester because if he's not banned and he does, he can play.

[Julian Laurent]

He won't be banned before Leicester anyway.

[Sam Bomfield]

No, then you're going to want him for that game. However, I think immediately after the Leicester game he can be sold because I think most of us when we looked, if we go back like what was it game week six that we all went, oh, Wolves. The fixtures are turning all right. They've had a poor start to the season, but now's the moment and we all like went heavy on them. Like I had Strand Larson for a while as well as Eight Nori. You've both had Kunya and eight Nori. Like it's been.

[Ukelli Summers]

And Kenya's been all right to be fair having him.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, we all went heavy on Wolves, but there was always an end point and the end point always felt like it was Boxing Day. Like it always felt like Boxing Day was going to be the moment where you just exited Wolves. Because after that the fixtures then like Man United, was it Manu, Spurs, Forest, Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal Villa, Liverpool. I mean that is awful.

[Julian Laurent]

You don't even want to play if you're Wolf players.

[Sam Bomfield]

No, they want to be, you know, tucked up in front of the fire with some Marshmallows and hot chocolate got.

[Ukelli Summers]

Out at the right point.

[Sam Bomfield]

His best life over Christmas now. But yeah, I think that was always going to be the moment anyway. But I think you have to hold like if you've got a Wolves asset that is actually available, as in they aren't eight nori. And at the moment Kunya is available and probably will be for the weekend. You just hold and then as soon as that Leicester game is. Is paid, you can do it as soon as the ball is kicked if you like. As soon as they kick off off, transfer them out because you will have to act quickly because obviously, you know, we do have that midweek round of fixtures starting on Boxing Day and you don't want to be eating your turkey and making transfers.

[Ukelli Summers]

So don't pretend that isn't what you do.

[Sam Bomfield]

That is what I do, Kelly. Yeah, exactly. Serve the dinner to everybody and then start making transfers and ignore everybody. No, that is not how it works in my house. In my house we set it up on Christmas Eve just before we go to bed and then we do not look at it again until Boxing Day. That's how it is. Have to pay attention to the children over Christmas. So I think for me Kenya would be a hold for Lester and then a sell immediately after and it's going to be one of those now where actually if you have Kunya, nobody's going to buy him at the moment. So he will now be a nice. Because I can't buy him now on the basis that I might have done for that Leicester game just as. Because my front line is in the absolute Maya at the moment but obviously I can't now facing a ban. So yeah, I think he might actually end up being quite a nice differential for you two, which is annoying.

[Ukelli Summers]

Jules, is that what your plan is? Just to leave him this week?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, keep him for this week. And I, I think in a way after what happened at the end of that Wolves Ipswich game, I think he would want to. To redeem himself in a way because I think he. There might be a ban coming up after that and he will know him by then. We might know it too. So that could be a really good game against a team that is a bit struggling too, to be fair. And, and Kunya, as we've been saying all season, he's been really the only bright or the main bride from this Wolf's team. So it could be really good against Leicester and after that the. The fixture. This is so horrendous that even if he was on good form and not suspended. We probably would sell him anyway. So we would do that.

[Sam Bomfield]

You're gonna have loads of money then, Jules, as well, right?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, because I want to get to inside.

[Ukelli Summers]

Let's also make. Not make out the Cunha's 10 million, though, Jules. He's not going to free up that much money.

[Julian Laurent]

7.1. It's still a lot. It's still a lot of money. Money.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah. You still so many confused where all your money's gone. I'm not being funny.

[Julian Laurent]

Like, look at that. 7.1 and 7.9 for Nico.

[Ukelli Summers]

So you need to free up some. You need to free up some money to be able to get to esac, basically.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah. The forward lines, again, this wasn't what we kind of planned on talking about, but I think it. Sam, you mentioning what. How did you phrase your forward line at the moment? As in the.

[Sam Bomfield]

In the Maya.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah, I think there's been a bit of a sea change, hasn't there, in terms of. Recently we've been completely spoiled with forwards. And now. Now, I wouldn't say we're not spoiled, but it's just slightly slimmer pickings. Whereas before it was like, oh, you could go for a Chris Wood, you could go for Charles Pedro, you could go for Danny Welbeck, you could go for Evan Nielsen and so on and so on. It feels like now it's Isac Cunha maybe for one more week, and then Jackson. Jackson, yeah, Jackson is the one. But all of a sudden a lot of us are on. Are on Kunis. We're gonna have to sell him. A lot of us also want to sell Joao Pedro too. So there's a lot of movement in that area, isn't there?

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, I. And I knew this was going to happen from the minute I sold Harlan. I knew that my front line would cause me issues because I. I just don't like it. Like, I don't. I like having like the set and almost like, I like having.

[Ukelli Summers]

Do you not like having. I like having like one premium, one slightly cheaper, and then one really, really cheap one that occasionally you can bench. But it is. It's like two of them don't really move. And then every. Every week or so you go, should I play my third form or should I play my final midfielder?

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah. 100. And over the last, like 12 years, it's been like, right, I've got Harlan there, and before I had Harlem there, I had Kane there, and before I had Kane there, there was like. There was always like a really expensive forward that you just have there and it was lovely. And you could just know that they were in your team every week and you didn't have to worry about them. And nine times out of 10 they were on penalties as well. And it was just fabulous. Now I look at my team and it's got Dom Solanke as the most expensive forward.

[Ukelli Summers]

How long are you sticking with Dom Solanke by the way?

[Sam Bomfield]

And maybe not anymore.

[Ukelli Summers]

It's an easy fixture. Next.

[Sam Bomfield]

Oh yeah, it's brilliant.

[Ukelli Summers]

In my hatching on YouTube I had a really sarcastic face.

[Sam Bomfield]

Yeah, yeah. I love that game. In my house it's Liverpool home guys.

[Ukelli Summers]

Just in case you didn't know.

[Sam Bomfield]

Just to have a Christmas row. That'll be great. So yeah, I don't know. Kelly is the honest answer. I would like to have Isaac or Jackson in that position but I'm kind of torn because I'm gonna really struggle to have have both of those two in my team and still have a decent third option. So like I could go for Ra Jimenez. That's like. That's an option. He. He's nice and cheap. He's going to start most games. Munis might come on for some over Christmas but I would expect him and as to start most and he's a bit cheaper. So I could go there instead of J. Pedro. But to get from Solanke to Isac and from ever Nilsson to Jackson, that's a lot of budget. So there's no way that that's going to happen because I've got the double Arsenal defense and I don't want to sell them. I've got a premium stacked midfield. I could sell Bruno but I don't think I want to do that just yet. Like I'm quite enjoying only Bruno Fernandez at the moment. So at the moment each week I'm.

[Ukelli Summers]

Saying he's a maybe sell.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sam Bomfield]

And then every week but only because I think you know, I could go. I could downgrade him and stay at, stay invested in Manchester United and free up like three plus million and then that three plus million does get me towards the E second Jackson combo. I think ESAC for this week coming is great but I think in the longer term I'd rather have Jackson. So Solanke to Jackson that might happen. But then I have got no spurs and I don't like that.

[Julian Laurent]

Fair enough.

[Sam Bomfield]

It's just one of my rules of fpl. It's like Jaws in his Paris.

[Julian Laurent]

I understand.

[Ukelli Summers]

I. I heard you, you pair of losers. Okay, so. And Jules, you've got a few Headache. You. You will have a headache with your forward line once.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, I like, I mean, Evan Nielsen. Since I brought him in, I stopped performing anyway, so like not sure about him. And then Cuna obviously would have to go at some point. I keep Nico Jackson, who I'm very happy with and I've got a lot of values. Yeah, I've invested in him. I mean, I think. I think he became very good once I brought him in because that's the influence I can have on.

[Sam Bomfield]

But you only bought him because you couldn't have Palmer.

[Ukelli Summers]

Right?

[Sam Bomfield]

That was at the time when you were keeping.

[Ukelli Summers]

But also, Jules, you were ahead of the curve, weren't you? Thank you very much. No, I'm gonna agree with Sam and say you did used to say that you couldn't avoid Palmer, so you had Jackson. But now everyone is going for the Jackson Palmer double up. You're ahead of the curve, weren't you?

[Sam Bomfield]

Or triple up with Enzo as well. I think I'm gonna be.

[Ukelli Summers]

I'm gonna be on a triple up soon because I'll be bringing in Jackson once I get rid of Kun, so.

[Julian Laurent]

No, no, no. I know.

[Ukelli Summers]

We're all following Julian.

[Julian Laurent]

Okay. That's what weird.

[Sam Bomfield]

What is this?

[Ukelli Summers]

What a weird place to be in, to be honest.

[Julian Laurent]

That's a great place to be.

[Sam Bomfield]

That can't end well, can it? We're just following Jaws.

[Ukelli Summers]

Just quick, let's end this. We've ended up having a defensive and forward line chat. That was meant to be just a defensive chat. But I think the wolves kind of headaches have kind of compounded those kind of parts of our teams. What would you say, Sam? Let's start with the defense. If you were to pick. Pick a brand new defense right now, you had a wild card. What would your defense be? Firstly.

[Sam Bomfield]

Oh, what a question that is.

[Ukelli Summers]

Or who are the five best to pick?

[Sam Bomfield]

I think I'd go Timber and Virgil Hall. Robinson, Michalenko.

[Julian Laurent]

No.

[Ukelli Summers]

Gabrielle?

[Sam Bomfield]

No. Because I think if you go. Because I'd have Raya, so I think I'd save the budget.

[Ukelli Summers]

Okay. What about forward line.

[Sam Bomfield]

Jackson?

[Julian Laurent]

You have to have Isak. He's the most.

[Sam Bomfield]

If money's no object. Jackson, Esac and Rao Jimenez.

[Ukelli Summers]

Probably Ral Jimenez. He's someone that we haven't mentioned too much, but he's going to garner a bit of attention, isn't he? Fulham keep on pulling those big results out. Jules, what about you?

[Julian Laurent]

So I'll go for Saliba, obviously. Saliba hold Robinson, probably a Mikolenko. And. And then Depending on the fifth one the fires is. It's 4.1 million. It costs you nothing.

[Sam Bomfield]

It can't be your best defense, George.

[Julian Laurent]

But you need one. You would need one that will stay on the bench anyway. That's the way.

[Ukelli Summers]

Just stretch yourself up to like a 4.3. So then I suppose you've already said Mikhailenko, haven't you?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, no, but then, so then.

[Sam Bomfield]

Okay, so then Anderson, when He's back, he's 4.2.

[Julian Laurent]

Yes, that's true. That's probably a little bit better than. Than five this. Yeah, but I, and, and I like. Yeah, like a Virgil or bit more expensive. Yeah, a bit more expensive. But then you said money is no problem, so.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Julian Laurent]

I mean even.

[Sam Bomfield]

Well, apart from in your teen jaws where you have none. Then it's a problem.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, it is a problem.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah. Okay. Forward line jewels.

[Julian Laurent]

So I'll have Nico, my boy, obviously, as you all, as we said, Isak, I think he's. Isak is, is so, so good right now. And then the third one, I'm not sure, but definitely not Evan Nilsson, who is my third one right now. That' yeah.

[Ukelli Summers]

They've got nice fixtures though and they are. They are playing well. So it does feel like at any point it could turn for him.

[Julian Laurent]

True.

[Ukelli Summers]

But yeah, they aren't.

[Sam Bomfield]

You know what's going to happen though, don't you? As soon as you sell him?

[Ukelli Summers]

Of course, yeah.

[Julian Laurent]

Now he's missing big chances because I think.

[Sam Bomfield]

Could you do it now? Because I've got him as well. So if you sell him now and.

[Julian Laurent]

Then I move for East.

[Ukelli Summers]

I would also quite like him as a. I'm hoping that he finds some form because I'm planning on doing. Eventually I'll have the money to go from Cunha to Jackson and then I would quite like Pedro to become ever Nielsen. But I need Evan Nelson to actually find some form and justify me buying him.

[Julian Laurent]

He's got some xg of like 0.5, 0.6 and he scores nothing. So you know.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah, it's a wonderful link onto the next section. We don't have as long as we were originally going to have on this, but we did want to have a quick chat about underlying data. Of course, when we talk about underlying data, it basically helps us pick out the players who are most involved as it stands and therefore should have the best opportunities for points in fpl. I'm saying should because it's the likes of EV Nielsen and he should be getting more points. So it's things like shots, shots on target, expected goals Assists, involvement, set piece, threat, et cetera, et cetera. Sam, like I said, we don't have quite as long to talk about this as ever on this podcast. We've gone over on the early sections and I just threw in a forwards chat that we weren't meant to have, but I wanted to have it. How important? As someone that spends a lot of time looking at this data, Firstly, I'm joking, but a lot of your week is spent looking at your data. You don't just come on this podcast, do you, and just say, oh, I like, I like Jackson, I like Raoul Jimenez. These are the kind of numbers that form all of the things that you tell us on this pod all day.

[Sam Bomfield]

Every day, pretty much that I spend looking at data. And if you'd have told me I was going to be doing that when I was younger and hated maths, it's.

[Ukelli Summers]

Quite a niche career.

[Sam Bomfield]

It is very much a niche career. But yeah, I spend a lot of time looking at the underlying metrics and some of them I find more valuable than others. So some of them I'm like, I just don't pay much attention to it because. Because the underlying data kind of has to go along with the eye test. You have to use them in conjunction. If you just look at the underlying data, you'd end up investing in some players who have lots of shots. But those shots a bit like. So Darwin obviously ranks highly for shots, but they're everywhere most of the time, half the time they're not on target. So you have to kind of use them in conjunction with the shots on target that have to be looked at at the same time. When you're looking at big chances and chances, I have to look at them in conjunction with each other because they're going to get chances. But if they're not big chances. Chances. There's a lot of chances in this chat. A lot of the chances of them scoring a goal is smaller. Yeah, it's a chance chat. So I spend a lot of time looking at it. I pay more attention to some metrics than others. The expected data is a massive thing for me because I watch every game. So every game plus the expected data, you get a good judgment on where, where things are going. And some of them I'll kind of just have in the background and think, well, you know, they're having a lot of shots. What am I seeing on the pitch and does that correlate with, with what they're getting? So yeah, I'm a little bit sad, I'll be honest. But underlying Data is my thing.

[Ukelli Summers]

Okay. How much attention do you pay to underlying data, Jules? Do I know the answer to this?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, loads. But I do it outside of FPL anyway for the, the normal work that, that we do as well. Normal work on football, like other work, I should say.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah.

[Julian Laurent]

And I think it's important and you don't need to spend, spend hours because the thing with data and underlying data is that once you start looking, you're there for hours because it is quite fascinating if you like that kind of stuff obviously like, like us and you don't need to, you don't need to spend too long, you just need to focus on what's important for you. Depending on the positions of the players that you're looking for, whether the defenders, midfielders or strike or forwards, you look at different stuff obviously because it's not the same stats for everybody, but it's really important. Even, even basic stuff like touches in the box and things like that. Quality of shots. Sam is right for forward is very important. You can, you can have XG per shot now as well that players take. So you see if the shots that they're taking highly to end up in the goal or not, if they're good shots, good chances, etc, etc. So all of that is very important. It depends how much time you have obviously to prepare for your team and, and the players that you want in your team or not. But yeah, I should, we should encourage everybody to have a look at it. There's some are easy to find, some are a bit more difficult you to look but you've got some special labs website that are very well explained and show everything and then you can, you can get a grip very quickly.

[Ukelli Summers]

Sam, you've taken a look at the last six matches. You did matches rather than game weeks because of course the Merseyside Derby was postponed. So if we'd have done game weeks it would have been skewed a little bit by that. When you were taking a look, what kind of stood out for you.

[Sam Bomfield]

I mean, I think some of it just reiterates all the things that we know, like the fact that Saka's top for XA over that period. Good is no surprise really. But it does mean that, you know, because a lot of people are going, oh, should I sell saka? Like the amount of people that have messaged me lately to go, should I sell Saka? And I'm just like, well, no, like, all right, he's not really returned in the way that we would have wanted to, but the underlying numbers are there. And with Saka, he's so consistent usually that he's not the sort of player you get rid of. So when I'm looking at the data I'm kind of like, okay, sometimes you have to change it. So for example, sun is top for big chances created, but he has in that period of time had that game against Southampton where we were just creating chances every five minutes. So you do have to pay attention to that. But more I'm looking at other players who appear on this that maybe are a bit more unexpected that you wouldn't necessarily expect to see there. And when I see them sitting there, I then think, right, is there something that I can pick up from that? And that helps inform my, my differential picks. So these are the kind of the cheaper assets. I like to use it as a way of trying to maximize the returns that I might get out of my more budget friendly picks. The premiums. I don't pay too much attention to the data for it just exists because I know that over the course of the season they'll come good, but it's for that kind of mid priced bracket.

[Ukelli Summers]

Who's jumping out then? Go on. And everyone's shouting at you which players aren't jumping out?

[Sam Bomfield]

Well, so like for set piece threat, that's one I look at a lot because that's just an additional route to points. That's really lovely. And when you have a look at the players that are in there, like Milinkovic, who we touched on in the defence chat at the beginning, he's up there. He's top for attempts from set pieces. There's two, four, six of them on seven, seven attempts from set pieces now as we see from Arsenal, if you get a lot of set piece threats, that's a good opportunity for, for a goal. So he's one that I'm looking at. Eze has massively creeped back up through the stats. So if you look at as underlying stats since he's come back from injury, he's really high on a lot of metrics. So he's one that I'm kind of keeping a very close eye. The palace fixtures are about to become quite nice as well. So players like them, they're ones that I like to kind of focus in on. Even Suchek, like feels like a fair few seasons now when we all had such. Remember. Yeah, I don't, can't try to remember when that was. Maybe it's like three or four seasons ago we all had him. He's creeping back up into those metrics as well. And If West Ham can find a little bit of form, like, he's one that's on my watch list for over the next few, few weeks because he's there in that set piece threat and that's something that I like to target. So use the metrics to pick out your differentials would be my advice.

[Ukelli Summers]

Jules, any you've mentioned that you talk a lot about it in your other lines of work. Anyone that you've spotted recently that Sam hasn't picked out there? No.

[Julian Laurent]

I mean, there's something funny about Manchester City, really, because Phil Foden still ranks really high in terms of expected assists, for example. So that means he's creative. He's not that far from Saka, actually. Actually. And yet he. You would not want to invest in him for now because City are obviously in disarray and it's a complete shambles and, and Foden is not returning anything. So it's not even if he was playing well in the catastrophic crisis run that they have at the moment. So there's those things you will find in looking at the stats where you think, okay, so let's keep an eye a bit like what Sam just said about Eze. Just, you don't have to bring Eze or Foden now or even Milinkovic, but just keep an eye on them and those stats and if the stats stays high, stay high, sorry, then you know that at some point, if you, if you want a new defender or a new midfielder or if you feel like you got feelings like let's go for F. And I think City are turning things around and Foden would be at the heart of all of that or for somebody else, then that's the right time then to go and invest in him.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah, definitely worth paying attention to and proof that Sam doesn't just pluck these players and Jewels don't just pluck these players out. You know, there is some kind of mad madness method even behind the madness. I was gonna say there's definitely some madness behind the method, but there's also some method behind the madness, I promise you. And just a quick update, as we always try and do on the suspensions, because at this time of year, it's just bonkers. And it's even more bonkers when you throw in those red cards I spoke about at the beginning of the pod. So the players that will miss out in gameweek 16 are Kukureya and eight Nori. That's because of their reds. Joelinton, Pereira, Munoz and Dilap all got their fifth yellow so they will also be suspended for gameweek 17 joining Jack Stevens and Benton Kerr. Robertson, by the way, will play in gameweek 17 because he will serve his ban in or he did serve his ban even in the league cup, bro. You, by the way, will also miss game week 17 as he is ineligible to face his parent club. Okay, that time of the week again, I'm gonna rush you through your differentials. Ah, I was gonna say we'll go with the winner last week, but it was. Oh, it was tight. The differentials got a total of five points and unfortunately that was split between the two. So Jules picked Eva Nielsen who as we just discussed, isn't getting any points. We went Bournemouth heavy, didn't we? I think I even mentioned it in the intro. Sam went for Semenyo three points and he only.

[Julian Laurent]

He missed. He missed chances too, to be fair.

[Ukelli Summers]

But also he only got that additional point because he went off before the clean sheet was lost. Otherwise he'd have been on two points. So, yeah, a really good week, guys. Well done. I think that just about means that Sam wins. So as you pulled me up on it last week, the winner goes first, so off you go.

[Sam Bomfield]

So I'm gonna go for Muhammad Kudis this week. So 6.2 million. He's only owned by 2.5% of the game and mostly that's because he's just come back from that long suspens. He's facing a Brighton side who haven't kept a clean sheet since gameweek eight and they've conceded 15 goals in their last eight game weeks. So they might be scoring at Brighton. Apart from Ifijal Pedro who's not getting anything. But they're not keeping clean sheets now across that West Ham team, only Bowen has had more attempts on goal than kudos this season. He's had 34 compared to 40 for Bowen. And that's despite playing five games less because of the suspension. He's also created 13 chances, although only two of those have been big chances. So you have to come of tamper that enthusiasm a little bit there. And he supplied 34 crosses. Again, only Bowen and Emerson can do better. And when we was. When I was looking at the stats over the last six weeks, when it comes to ch chances created, only Palmers have more across the midfielders, but I expect that across the whole game. So Palmer's had 25 and Kudas has had 24. So I think he's going to have opportunities against that Brighton defense. And West Ham do. They do tend to score goals. So hopefully there Might be something there.

[Ukelli Summers]

That's a bit of a jewels pick. That is Muhammad Kuda.

[Sam Bomfield]

She feels like he's the player.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, yeah. So I'm going for Kevin Shadow from Brentford. 5.1 million only owned by 0.8%. So that's a super differential. Just for that, I deserve some extra points if he returns this weekend.

[Ukelli Summers]

Not this again.

[Julian Laurent]

He's in great form because he's returning his last four Premier League games. Assist, goal assist and then that very famous game obviously, when he got, I think 23 points with the hat trick and the assistance assist too. They are home to Forest this weekend and Brentford, as we know, are the best home team of the whole Premier League this season. Incredible. They've won every game but. But one that was a draw. It started in midweek in the League Cup. But a lot of first team or key starters usually started in that game, like Wisa, for example, and Luis Potter etc. So I don't think that's too much of a. Of a sign of him starting or not at the weekend. I think he will start at the weekend and he's been in. In great form for somebody who's not that consistent before. The consistency over the last four gameworks has been really interesting.

[Ukelli Summers]

Interesting, yeah, it's one way to put it. Okay then, transfers and captains. As always, we're going to trademark phrase wrestle through this, Sam. You've got three transfers, you're gonna go wild.

[Sam Bomfield]

I've got two. I've got two at the moment. So I'm either going to do nothing and have three for next week and just stick eight nor in the bench and play Dallow, which feels fine, or I'm gonna sell eight nori and bring in Robinson. Or and this is why I don't know what I'm doing yet, or I'm going to go absolutely rogue and sell Bruno and sell Evan Ilsen and get Isac and bring in Ahmed instead. So I'd still keep Manchester United cover. But I'm so torn on whether I want to sell Bruno that I'm probably not going to do it.

[Ukelli Summers]

If you're not sure doesn't always mean that it's the right decision, does it? Like me selling Brian and Bunmo this week. We all know what happens next, Captain Sam.

[Sam Bomfield]

It's on Salah at the minute and I hate myself for it. I don't know. I don't know who's captain. If I've got Esac, I'd probably captain him.

[Ukelli Summers]

If you took your emotional feelings about teams out of the window, would Salah.

[Sam Bomfield]

Be the best option apart from Esac? I think so. Yes. Yeah. Which. And I don't have Esac so I'm probably gonna have to captain Salah against Spurs. Yeah.

[Ukelli Summers]

Okay. Jules, firstly your transfers.

[Julian Laurent]

So I've got three free transfers I think. I think I. I keep on the bench and bring Robinson in with Holland. Saliba, as we mentioned before, I think I might do Ahmad Diallo for Brandon Johnson because I just. I. I think Ahmad is in great form. Really amazing what he's been doing and I can't. I don't. I probably won't get to Isak and I can't get to Isak just this.

[Ukelli Summers]

This week going Ahmad though, will that also free up a little bit more money for you?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, definitely. Compared to. I think he's a million cheaper than Brandon Johnson or something like that. So that's good. Good. And then I can have. I also want to keep Cunha against Leicester so then I can. I can move for Isag the following week with one of the free transfers that I will have. So I think it looks like just Amal for Brendan Johnson.

[Ukelli Summers]

So basically I need to pray that Esac fills his boots this week before you two jump on the train.

[Julian Laurent]

Exactly.

[Ukelli Summers]

Sorry, did you mention captain and the captain?

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah, it's on Salah right now. Although I think Udogi can do really well against Salah. I won't like Guy.

[Sam Bomfield]

I hope so.

[Julian Laurent]

No, I think he will. And I'm not sure I fancy Palmer. Where Everton or even Saka palace either.

[Ukelli Summers]

All the options last week.

[Julian Laurent]

Yeah and Arsenal against the back five as we saw a little bit in that first half well before Saka came on in midweek in the League cup and then yeah Palmer, Everton. I think Everton could do a really good defensive job like they did against Arsenal too. Even against this super informed Chelsea team. So probably keep on Salah.

[Ukelli Summers]

Okay. Yeah, it looks like there's a treble up on Salah captains though. I am tempted by Newcastle, Ipswich. If it was Ipswich at home I wouldn't be hesitating. But Newcastle away from home. Ipswich at home. Slightly. Slightly trickier decision. But yeah, my favorite thing on this script is that Sam this week quote that it's an 11:30pm deadline on Saturday so Sam is trying to trip me up and make me miss the deadline.

[Sam Bomfield]

Also not the right time at all. It's an 11am deadline.

[Ukelli Summers]

So it's the wrong minutes, it's the wrong hour. It's. That's just a random made up top.

[Julian Laurent]

That's mean. That's really mean before, isn't it?

[Ukelli Summers]

Fortunately, I'm completely on it. And Sam, it's actually my birthday on Saturday, so I'm going to sort my team up before then, so I don't need to worry about when the deadline is. But it is 11am on Saturday. Contrary to what Sam's trying to trip us up with, that's 90 minutes ahead of the 12:30 kickoff between Aston Villa and Man City. So we had a bit longer last week to sort our teams out in the absence of an early game. But there is an early game this week, so get your team sorted by 11am we're going to be back with you on Monday. Now, schedule in terms of.

[Julian Laurent]

Okay, what do you mean earlier?

[Ukelli Summers]

Do you know what time we're doing Monday?

[Julian Laurent]

Absolutely. No.

[Ukelli Summers]

Yes, you do, because we've already had an argument about this. We do.

[Sam Bomfield]

We've had a conversation about this. 8:00am, 7:00am, 7:45. No, it's 7:45. I only needed it a little bit.

[Ukelli Summers]

Guys, we can do this outside of the pod. We'll do pod admin outside of it. I've been told to hurry up and wrap and now we're arguing over times of podcasts. What's up? It turns out that both Jules and I didn't know what time we were recording, so I already turned up 45 minutes early. Jules wouldn't have turned up at all. So, yeah, it would have been a great pod. Anyway, promise you we'll get ourselves together and we'll be back with you on Monday. We'll be nice and early on Monday morning. And then that does mean that the pub will hopefully be out with you in early afternoon on Monday, because no one wants to be listening to a pod. We're not stupid. You're not going to be listening to us while you're unwrapping your Christmas presents on Christmas Day. So we're going to try and get to you on the 23rd, so there's plenty of time for you to sort those teams out ahead of Boxing Day. Of course, that is game week 18. There's then fixtures on the 26th and 27th, then another deadline on the 29th as well. So that does mean there's going to be FPL pods, fantasy shows galore. Ian's going to. I'm going to be back tomorrow with the fantasy show. Unfortunately, I'm not around next week. So Ian will be back with a fantasy show on TV for you on Monday and on Friday. And yeah, there'll be pods here, there and everywhere in between, as well, so just keep refreshing your feed. And this Christmas, you're not going to be able to escape our bus. Sorry about that. In fact, what better Christmas present could you want than loads of a random Frenchman, an FPO expert, and me not knowing what day of the week?

[Sam Bomfield]

Well, George wants some money for his FPL team. For Christmas?

[Ukelli Summers]

Yeah.

[Julian Laurent]

I mean, no. I just want to recover the money that was stolen from me. Somewhere there.

[Ukelli Summers]

There's been a robbery at Sambi on Ice. Could Father Christmas please find the money? We've lost the plot, guys. On that note, have a great weekend. See you next week. See you on Monday. What time, Jules? 7:45, but the pod will be out later. Bye.