The points were there for the taking... that is, if you had the right players in the right games. The clear headline fixture was Liverpool v. Manchester City, and it was a cracker, just without any of the goals we were expecting. Meanwhile, in a more predictable vein, Arsenal crushed Fulham 5-1 at Craven Cottage while Chelsea romped 3-0 over Southampton at St. Mary’s. So, whom did you have (or not have), and how did you fare?
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Official FPL - NeverManageAlone ‘BTB’ League
Let’s start with the outstanding star managers of Official FPL. Ochiepapa scored a whopping 110 points (after a -4 penalty for an extra move), clearing second place MeGaMiNd by 13 points. 93 teams scored 80+ points, and I daresay that’s a really good week! Ochiepapa was incredibly strong all around with Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette (24 thanks to the doubled captaincy score), Wolverhampton’s Matt Doherty (15), Chelsea’s Eden Hazard (14), AFC Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson (14), Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey (10), Wolves’ Rui Patricio (9), Tottenham’s Kieran Trippier (7), Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira (7), Everton’s Richarlison (7), and Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso (6) combining for 113 points, as Spurs’ Harry Kane (1 point) was the only player who scored fewer than 6 points!!!
Second place MeGaMiNd notched an ingenious 97 point haul, followed shortly by a third place tie between Dangerous Team (living up to the moniker) and #SorryNotSarri (great pun!) at 96, as Embal Ke Aja rounded out the top five with 93.
NMA BTB League Week 8 Top 5 Ranks:
- Ochiepapa FC (110 points) [114 less -4 penalty]
- MeGa MiNd (97)
- Dangerous Team (96) [100 less -4 penalty]
- #SorryNotSarri (96)
- Embal Ke Aja (93) [101 less -8 penalty]
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For the season, Kingdoms XI took a seat in the throne with a wondrous tally of 594 points (an average of over 74 per game). Kingdoms XI actually has both Mo Salah and Eden Hazard on the team (after adding Hazard in via wildcard in GW3), so clearly you don’t have to choose one or the other, you can have both! Kingdoms is not alone, as two other top-five teams — Indian Supremacy and Scotch Bonnet — also have both. But it is the Chelsea superstar, who is owned by 46% by teams overall in the world, that is an essential component of success, as every single team in the NMA league’s top 40 has him.
NMA BTB League Season Top 5 Ranks:
- Kingdoms XI (594 points)
- #SorryNotSarri (588)
- Indian Supremacy (586)
- Fan of ManU (580)
- Scotch Bonnet (579)
Personally, while I was well off the extremely impressive leader board for GW8, I still enjoyed a pretty good week with 75 points (79 minus a 4-point penalty for making an extra move). Hazard got 28 points for me as captain with a goal, assist, midfield clean sheet, and all three bonus points, but the big individual return for me was 15 from Wolverhampton defender Matt Doherty (making up for the 4-point deduction) with the game winning goal, a defender clean sheet, plus the full bonus. Kieran Trippier (7), Richarlison (7), Marcos Alonso (6) and Ryan Fraser (6) were my other solid contributors, while unfortunately I kept up a frustrating habit of leaving points on the bench: Rui Patricio (9) outscored Wayne Hennessey (2) handily, and Andrew Robertson (6) bested a slew of field players in my XI, including two Manchester City offensive stars — Raheem Sterling (3) and Sergio Aguero (1) — I had hoped would do better. I moved up to a tie for #34 in the league with 541 points, remaining in the top 1% worldwide which is always nice (actually moving into the top 0.5% at #25,435 out of over 5.7m in the globe). Let’s see how long that lasts!
For those who may not have realized, Doherty currently ties for the 2nd most points at defender, behind only Alonso. As mentioned in my “Hot and Cold” article from last week, I think that Doherty is a better budget defender than Aaron Wan-Bissaka due to his offensive exploits; but whereas Doherty is owned by only 9% of fantasy managers, 30% have AWB.
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Fantrax - Never Manage Alone standard League
Like Official FPL, points were there for the taking in Fantrax if you knew where to grab them. 29 teams in the NMA league scored 100+ points, and 54 notched 90+. Team King_Stelle led the way with a robust 126 point effort highlighted by superb performances from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (24 points), Eden Hazard (22), Kieran Trippier (15), Paul Pobga (13), Alisson (11) and Benjamin Mendy (10). Only a single point off the pace, AKGooners and Team Vasvegas tied for second, with Dblaz G closely behind at #4, and myself in the fifth spot. Each of the top three teams benefited from having all 11 players in action. Dblaz G only had 9 (Mesut Ozil and Jannik Vestergaard didn’t play) and I had 10 (stupid Ozil). Fantastic job, King_Stelle!
NMA League Week 8 Top 5 Ranks:
- Team King_Stelle (126 points)
- AKGooners (125)
- Team Vasvegas (125)
- Dblaz G (120)
- Team Chris_Manfredi (118)
Despite the heroics of the above five teams, 請你食頹飯 (thanks for having a sense of humor!) kept a comfortable season-long lead in the group, having racked up an astounding 945 points. That’s an average of over 118 points per week! Brilliant!!! Team KenM is the only other team at 900+ points, while 30 teams are at 800+ points, above the 100-per-week mark.
NMA League Season Top 5 Ranks:
- 請你食頹飯 [translation: “Please eat risotto”] (945 points)
- Team KenM (901)
- MIFFY_FC (875)
- Team sokaik80 (858)
- Simply Da Best (852)
It has definitely been a strange (but very, very fun!) season for me. Usually I fare much better in Fantrax than in Official FPL, but things have reversed this time around, big time. Hopefully this week can be a springboard for me in Fantrax, thanks to the 118 point effort fueled by Gylfi Sigurdsson (24 points), Hazard (22), Richarlison (16), Trippier (15), Alisson (11), and Lucas Digne (10) all in double digits. That had me climbing up to #42 overall for the season in the league with 781 points.
Hearty congratulations to those who won the week in our leagues, and to those who are leading the way for the season! We have 1,874 community members in the NMA FPL league and 152 managers in the NMA standard Fantrax league, so winning or doing well in any week is truly an accomplishment to be proud of! And if your season has been a disappointment so far, there are 30 remaining game weeks to turn things around, so don’t despair...
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How did your fantasy teams fare in Week 8? What players starred or let your sides down? How has this season been so far for you? Let us know in the comments!
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