Players to consider for FPL GW20 in the Aftermath of DGW 19 – Double ups create Differentials

Hello to all of you ambitious FPL souls. It’s your brother FPL Trueman here, sharing my insight with allaboutfpl.com for the first time. I’ve played FPL for 8 or 9 seasons, but I discovered FPL Twitter at the end of the 2017/18 season and that’s when everything changed. I arose from a casual playing with mates and ascended to the upper room of the FPL Twittersphere. 

In the 18/19 season, I Improved on my average finish of 460K over the previous 3 seasons, finishing at 41k overall. Then came 19/20 when using double-ups (e.g Trent & Robbo/ Lundstram & Stevens) over good spells of fixtures, which helped me to discover the differential bonus you get when putting a few more eggs in a particular basket at the right time. I reached heights of 87th worldwide and finished the season inside the top 1000 managers, place at 514th overall. Feel free to join the Trueman Show and follow me on Twitter @FPLTRUEMAN, where my 19/20 FPL journey is pinned.

As many of you plan to break away from those DGW19 West Ham and Leeds treble ups, In this blog I’ll be recommending two double-ups within the combined price range of £9.8m – £11m. I should add I’m backing these mentions myself in GW20.

FPL Trueman’s recommended FPL Double Up’s so far in 20/21.

For those that already follow me, you’ll be familiar with my nature to ride the wave of good fixtures with a double up. I had to find a few of these when playing catch up early on after my terrible 20/21 GW1 5.5m overall ranking.

A few examples this season are:

GW5-8 Kane & Son

GW7-14 Chilwell & Mendy

GW15-17 Dallas & Alioski

MY FPL GW5 Wildcard team:

⚽GW5 Preview⚽
🚨WILDCARD🚨
👮🏼‍♂️Harry!
Only GW1 survivor's: My Bench😄,Son
Full Wildcard selection reasons in thread😉#FPL #GW5 pic.twitter.com/ZqTEV3o7BA

— FPL Trueman👀 (Luco) (@FPLTRUEMAN) October 17, 2020

I’m a big fan of the eye test first, but always like to back my double up choices with stats to move forward with the transfers.

Further Read: FPL GW20 Differential picks to consider ahead of GW20 Deadline

So who’s next ahead of FPL GW20?

Emile Smith Rowe (4.5m) & Bukayo Saka (5.3m)

Let me start off with the emergence of two very special players and what appears to be an emerging partnership in the Arsenal attack.

As Micah Richards would probably say, Emile Smith-Rowe burst onto the scene this season against my beloved Chelsea in Gameweek 15. Smith-Rowe & Saka were instrumental in the victory, helping his team end a run of 7 Premier League games without a win and they’ve gone on to win 3 of the next 4 games.

FPL GW15-19 Contributions 

Smith-Rowe 3 Assists

Saka 3 Goals, 2 Assists

During this period Saka’s last 3 Premier League goals have all come via a Smith-Rowe assist. During this Period only Tierney (2) & Holding (1) have assisted a goal. 

Could it be a possible that Arsenal’s young guns at a combined price of £9.8m could be the main players in creating chances for the Gunners. I mean a budget player who comfortably starts in attack for a team pushing for Europe is a dream, but two of them?

I guess time will tell, especially with their next 5 fixtures sou, MUN, wol, avl, LEE not being as kind as the previous 5 CHE, bha, wba, CRY, NEW. The great thing about FPL is that your players team doesn’t need to win, your players just need to return. This lead me to take a look at the creativity index from GW15-19 on the official FPL site.

Further Read: FPL GW20 Matchups | Five Key Players Put Under the Lens Ahead of GW20

Arsenals player creativity GW15-19 or Last 5 games played (ICT Index Score)

1st Saka 157.6

2nd Tierney 167

3rd Smith-Rowe 125.4

To put this creativity into context I have listed a few creative Budget/Mid-priced players below and found that there’s no point comparing others in Smith-Rowes £4.5m price bracket.

Raphina 146.3

Ward-Prowse 104.9

Harrison 102.9

Gundogan 112.6

So we now know they are Arteta’s playmakers and like a good manager, Arteta made sure his team found form in a ‘kind run’ of fixtures. IF ARS score, it’s likely these boys will be assisting or assisting the assist, we recently saw Saka snatch 1 bonus point when he was involved in Auba’s second goal vs NEW. Holding and Tierney owners were not happy, but that’s the intricacy of FPL nowadays.

Both of these boys are differentials, with Saka 8.7% & Smith-Rowe 2.9% owned and a staggering 0.2% owned as a combo. (Stats don’t include inactive teams from fantasyfootballfix.com)

I recommend getting one of these budget enablers. They are key players in an in form side fighting for Europe. It’s a rare instance in FPL to catch fine players at budget price, playing well. It would be beautiful to be sitting in the 0.2% that reap both the goal and assist, when the two combine again.

With Many of us wanting 3 Premium Mids, Saka and Smith-Rowe make great 4th & 5th Midfielders in your squad. I’ll leave you with Jamie Carragher’s MNF insight on the pair.

Carragher on Saka and Smith Rowe on MNF

WHO’S THE NEXT DOUBLE UP PAIR?

John Stones(5.1m) & Ruben Dias (5.9m)

Alright, I get it!.. I’ve missed out on the Legendary Stones Haul in DGW19.

I flirted with the idea of this double up in GW13 and I should have never put a poll up on Twitter, between Konsa and Stones. The fear of rotation was what had many question this move and in the end, I conceded to the fear of Pep Roulette going with Konsa.

I’ve owned Dias (5.5m) since GW5 due to City’s record from the 19/20 restart up until GW5. For whatever reason, the impression across FPL Twitter was that City’s defense was shaky, however since the restart up until GW5 City had 7 clean sheets in 10 PL games.

The Stones and Dias Partnership started in GW10. In the 10 games played since, MCI have kept 8 clean sheets, with only WBA and CHE managing to notch vs the Big Blue Wall!

I don’t need to give these boys the big sale, as I’m sure you’re aware of what they’re worth. The message is, it’s not too late to join those managers who have already doubled up on MCI defenders.

With postponements at a high over December, I did suggest it may be best to avoid Treble ups, however the risk is worth the reward in this case with wha,SHU,bur in their next 3 games. These are prime fixtures on paper for the clean sheet run to continue, along with potential goal involvement.

IF You just have Stones (10%) and not Dias (10.9%), at 5.8m Cancelo (13.5%) may be worth considering with his attacking upside potential. I have bantered with @amer1nh0 on Twitter asking the question is he a rich man’s Lamptey?

Cancelo is the 2nd most creative player behind KDB for MCI, so it will be interesting to see if he takes on any more creative responsibility in KDB’s absence.

What is interesting to see, is how all 3 have faired from Bonus points over the last 10 games.

Stones – 2,2,3 = 7

Dias – 3,1,2,1 = 7

Cancelo – 2,2,1 = 5

Over a period of 10 games we see Dias and Stones still come up trumps on the bonus point front. I do fancy Cancelo to come good with attacking returns and I no longer worry about his game time.

The main message does not let FPL twitter think you’re late to this party with Stones 10% & Dias 10.9% owned by live teams and as a combo, it’s just 1.3% (Stats from fantasyfootballfix.com)

FPL Twitter will have you believe everyone had gone with a double MCI Defensive combo, but trust me the trends haven’t even got started yet. Those MCI clean sheets will keep coming and with Ben Crelin’s talk of a few double gameweeks for city on the horizon, I imagine you’ll want 2 out of the 3 city players mentioned.

Just to give you a perspective one a more premium double up like Kane (40.9%) and Son (56%), who will be on the radar as KDB and Vardy replacements. When Kane and Son combine to score only 27.9% of managers enjoy both the goal and the assist. If you’ve got them, keep them!

Further Read: FPL GW20 Matchups | Five Key Players Put Under the Lens Ahead of GW20

#OutsideTheBox Mentions for FPL GW20

Luke Shaw (£4.8) MUN

Shaw is looking more like the £30m player United expected. I don’t want to start sounding “Cancelo-ish” but shaw’s set-piece and open play delivery has been a top draw in recent weeks. Ole has show he favors Shaw to Telles and it seems like this competition was all he needed. He’s picked up bonus points both times MUN has kept a clean sheet in recent weeks.

Bertrand Traore (£5.9m) AVL

3 goals in his last 6 with 1 assist. Glides around the pitch effortlessly, whilst also having his share of set pieces (0.5% owned).

Danny Ings (8.3m) SOU

Perfect chance to use the fund to rope Danny in if you’re looking how to spread your KDB/Vardy funds. 7goals scored in his 1055mins played, whereas most other strikers have already played 1500mins plus. A goal every 150mins to Kanes 134mins, is not bad going at all.

Whatever you do in GW20, make sure it’s what YOU’RE HAPPY WITH!

Thanks for reading and good luck. I’ll be back soon with another article. Do drop me a follow on Twitter @FPLTRUEMAN so that we can carry forward our interactions there!

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Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW20:

FPL GW20 Differential picks to consider ahead of GW20 Deadline
Players to Stick With or Twist for FPL GW20
FPL GW20 Matchups | Five Key Players Put Under the Lens Ahead of GW20
FPL GW20 ~ GW25 Fixture Analysis |Best & Worst Fixtures Over The Period
All that you need to know about FPL cup
History Of Fantasy Football And Origin Of FPL
FPL History: Highest Scoring FPL Players Each Year Since The First FPL Season in 2002/03

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