Another very quick turnaround in Hive FPL as we hit our 3rd post of the week.Let's hope GW15 can deliver some of the results that the midweek games did!
Fulham nearly completed one of the greatest comebacks of all time against City in a game that finished with 9 goals, while Villa came from 2 down at Brighton to lead 2-4 before the Seagulls themselves attempted to get back into the match with an 83rd minute goal to leave it 3-4.
Both games still had a way to go to beat the all-time record for most goals in a Premier League match which was the 7-4 win for Portsmouth against Reading back in 2007.
As for the English top flight including the pre-Premier League era, the highest scoring match remains Spurs 10 - 4 Everton in 1958 which equaled Villa 12 - 2 Accrington in 1892 and saw Jack Devey record 5 goals and an assist. That would have been some score in FPL!
Back into the modern era and the City result at Fulham meant that those who stuck with Haaland as captain (28 points) for this week were the big winners.
To put it into context, 48 of the top 50 sides in the Hive FPL selected the City striker as their captain in GW13 but that dropped to 39 teams for GW14. Other picks for captain included
| Player | Selected by (No. Teams) | Points scored as captain |
|---|---|---|
| Fernandes | 3 | 8 |
| Mateta | 2 | 4 |
| Mbeumo | 2 | 4 |
| Salah | 2 | 2 |
| Munoz | 1 | 28 |
| Woltemade | 1 | 10 |
Only Munoz then was able to equal Haaland's points haul with the armband on leaving everyone else with an 18 to 26 point deficit in their total score.
Big names benched or rested
As predicted in the last blog, what we did see was player rotation during the midweek fixtures which also hurt quite a few teams.
The below are the most popular players who didn't feature from the start in GW14 or in the case of some weren't involved at all.
Pope is out longer term and Senesi was suspended but otherwise, the decision not to start with these players was to ensure they were rested after a grueling couple of weeks with more to come in the Christmas/New Year period.
Expect more of the same this week, although perhaps FPL managers can be more confident that the bulk of the players above will start this weekend's matches!
Division 1
GW14 Results
GW15 Fixtures
Division 2
GW14 Results
GW15 Fixtures
GW15 Player Picks and Tips
Here are our tips and picks for GW15 of the season...
Haaland at home a no-brainer?
It would be a bold move not to captain Haaland for City's home game against Sunderland this weekend particularly after what happened in GW14 (see above).
However, Sunderland are hardly going to roll over and have their tummy tickled. They frustrated Liverpool for long periods of time on Wednesday night, took the lead and then really should have won it at the end thanks to a fantastic bit of vision and skill by their keeper Robin Roefs. He, along with a few other Black Cats players is looking like one of the signings of the season.
I guess the question if you do want to chance it is, if not Haaland then who?
United away at Wolves is a decent bet for points with the Red Devils having scored twice in all 4 of their last away matches. Bruno Fernandes has at least 1 assist in all of those matches but is that enough to back against Haaland?
Newcastle differentials
Compared to the last couple of years, Newcastle players aren't proving a popular pick for FPL managers in 25/26.
Undoubtedly that's due to their slightly patchy form collectively and the fact that a couple of their star players haven't hit their straps yet this season.
However, the face a pretty decent run of fixtures now, bookended by matches against a struggling Burnley team.
Woltemade (the most popular pick in their squad 21.6%) has delivered goal involvements in 7 of his first 11 Premier League matches and looks like a fairly solid pick at his price point.
The one concern with him is that he didn't take the penalty against Spurs on Tuesday night having scored from the spot against Forest earlier in the season. That responsibility instead fell to Anthony Gordon who scored his first goal of the season!
In fact, Gordon might be a player to keep an eye on this month. Having played just 486 minutes of Premier League football this season, the England winger was instrumental off the bench in midweek, helping to create the first goal before scoring from the spot. His lack of game time and points mean that he's in just 1.6% of teams and his price has dropped to £7.2mil.
At the back, both first choice full-backs in Livramento and Hall have returned to the starting XI in recent weeks. Hall delivered 7 assists in 24 starts last season and already has 1 in the 3 games in which he's been back in the side following injury. He is owned by just 1% of teams. Similarly, Livramento has come back over the last 3 weeks and is at cheaper price than Hall though perhaps less likely to contribute in an attacking sense.
Burn is less popular than any of the defenders on this list despite offering a significant offensive threat and delivering good defcon numbers when played as a CB
Their return has also pushed Dan Burn into a central role. The big man already has 3 assists this season and is a constant menace from set pieces. When he plays as a centre-back, he also clocks up far better defcon numbers - 14 vs Spurs on Tuesday, just short of his season high of 15 which he got against Bournemouth also from a CB role.
Fulham's Dark Horses
Another team easily ignored when it comes to looking for potential points this season is Fulham. They've had a difficult start to the season but there are signs of life in the last few weeks.
Harry Wilson is arguably one of the form players in Europe at the moment having scored a hattrick for Wales during the international break and following that up with a goal at Spurs and 2 assists versus City on Wednesday. The Welshman has netted 31 points in the last 5 GWs with only Foden, Merino and Dewsbury-Hall scoring more from midfield in the same period.
Again, his ownership is minimal, appearing in just 1 out of every 200 FPL teams and his price point very attractive at £5.2mil
On the other flank is Chukwueze who has burst onto the scene with 4 goal involvements in his last 3 matches. He tore City apart in midweek and might fancy doing the same to Palace on Sunday. However, with AFCON now just around the corner he will be for FPL managers what he has been for Fulham this season so far, a short-term impact player.
The Cottagers do have an appealing run of fixtures coming up and with Josh King (probably a bench option for most FPL sides) their most popular player at 3.6% ownership then whoever you bring in could prove to be a good differential.