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GW 31: How Did You Do?

An abbreviated list of fixtures forced fantasy managers to disrupt their lineups, but many players generated huge returns. How did your squads fare?

Liverpool v Watford - Premier League
Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch with the game ball after putting on a master clinic against Watford.
Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

In a truncated game week that featured only 4 fixtures, one would expect that players that might normally not get much fantasy attention would be forced into the spotlight. And that was certainly true as Fantrax’s GW-31 top ten included names such as Jay Rodriguez, James Tompkins, and Cenk Tosun.

But what many did not expect was that so many players would do well. In a week where only 8 teams played, 26 players put up double digits in Fantrax. That list was topped by Mo Salah, of course, whose stunning 4-goal + 1 assist performance rang up a seismic 47 Fantrax points.

So with the lineup options limited to a small pool of options, and with that pool filled with literally dozens of players who posted big fantasy returns, it turned out to be a very high-scoring fantasy week, at least for our Fantrax manager-readers who took Stall’s advice to ruthlessly swap out absent players. In fact, over half of the teams in the Fantrax NMA league returned triple-digits.

Here’s another indication of what a points-rich week it was: My Fantrax team posted a normally-excellent score of 139, and yet my overall ranking dropped. So clearly, many fantasy managers did very well this week. But which ones did the best? Let’s have a look.

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Fantrax NMA GW 31 Winner: Tolaria

Tolaria’s manager must have had tremendous confidence in Everton and Liverpool; All but two players in that squad were Reds or Toffees. But that strategy hit paydirt: Tolaria collected a GK victory, three clean sheets, four assists, and a whopping eight goals for a league-best total of 168 points.

GK: Loris Karius (12 points)

Defenders: Leighton Baines (1 point), Seamus Coleman (6 points), Andrew Robertson (12 points), Virgil van Dijk (8 points)

Midfielders: Sadio Mane (14 points), Junior Stanislas (18 points), Andros Townsend (9 points)

Forward: Mo Salah (47 points), Roberto Firmino (19 points), and Cenk Tosun (22 points)

Although there were 13 players with scores in the 150s, only two besides Tolaria were in the 160s: D_DAY posted 162, and Team wengc1980 put up 160.

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NMA FPL GW 31 Winner: momen dahab (momen&tarek)

Mo Salah has been an essential and almost universally held player for most of the fantasy season. Never was that more obvious than in GW 31. If you didn’t have him in your Fantrax squad, then you were screwed, and if you didn’t triple-captain him in your FPL squad you were screwed. momen&tarek not only triple-captained the Egyptian magician for an eye-popping return of 87 points, but they picked a total of 7 Game Week Dream Team players to finish on a staggering total of 166.

GK: Wayne Hennessey (6 points)

Defenders: Andrew Robertson (11 points), Adam Smith (0 points), Steve Cook (2 points), James Tompkins (15 points)

Midfielders: Mo Salah (87 points), Junior Stanislas (10 points), Theo Walcott (5 points), Luka Milivojevic (10 points)

Forwards: Roberto Firmino (7 points), Cenk Tosun (13 points)

7Lions came in second with 154 points, followed closely by CHANGE NAME with 152.

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Congratulations to this weeks winners on their outstanding picks! Now let us know how YOU did over the weekend in the comments below!