Getting your team selection correct in Draft Premier League is just as essential as your pre-season draft or your weekly waiver wire claims. And that’s exactly why we’re here to help with our Gameweek 29 Start and Sit article! We’re here to help you with some of the big Fantasy EPL decisions you may need to make for the upcoming fixtures.
Gameweek 29 Start and Sit
Whether you’re an obsessed EPL fan like our Fantrax HQ team, or a casual player new to the world of Fantasy EPL, you know to start your attacking players against relegation-threatened sides. We’re not going to waste your time dealing with the obvious! The goal of this article is to delve into notable players across each Fantrax position and let you know if you should be starting or sitting those players.
Our format is as follows: We will be choosing 2 different teams. One will be our starts of the week, made up of non-obvious, low-rostered players. The other will be our sits of the week, made up of highly rostered, normally started players. We will keep track of how each team performs in next week’s article for full transparency.
Now let’s see the teams!
Starts of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Fixture | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Dubravka | G | NEW | @CHE Sun 10:00AM @EVE Thu3:45PM | 35% |
| Cedric Soares | D | ARS | LEI Sun 12:30PM LIV Wed4:15PM | 9% |
| Matt Doherty | D | TOT | @MUN Sat 12:30PM @BHA Wed3:30PM | 73% |
| Mason Holgate | D | EVE | WOL Sun 10:00AM NEW Thu3:45PM | 4% |
| Cristian Romero | D | TOT | @MUN Sat 12:30PM @BHA Wed3:30PM | 45% |
| Allan | M | EVE | WOL Sun 10:00AM NEW Thu3:45PM | 17% |
| Rodrigo Bentancur | M | TOT | @MUN Sat 12:30PM @BHA Wed3:30PM | 16% |
| Abdoulaye Doucoure | M | EVE | WOL Sun 10:00AM NEW Thu3:45PM | 51% |
| Thomas Partey | M | ARS | LEI Sun 12:30PM LIV Wed4:15PM | 38% |
| Jonjo Shelvey | M | NEW | @CHE Sun 10:00AM @EVE Thu3:45PM | 22% |
| Anthony Gordon | F | EVE | WOL Sun 10:00AM NEW Thu3:45PM | 45% |
Average % Rostered: 32%
Yet another double gameweek, and this time it’s 6 teams in total (ARS, BHA, EVE, LIV, NEW, & TOT). Most of the highly rostered players on these teams, particularly those on big 6 sides, are obvious starts this gameweek, but let’s consider the lower rostered players for our starting XI. From Arsenal we have the set-piece taking Cedric Soares, who’s filled in admirably for the long-injured Tomiyasu. The normal starting right back is yet to train, and Arsenal are short on alternatives, so Cedric looks a good bet to start 2 games this week. Defensive midfielder, on a recent nice run of games, Thomas Partey is generally a mediocre fantasy option but with 2 starts all of a sudden appears to be a great option to start this week.
Looking to the Gunners rivals; Spurs offer many low rostered starting defenders but we’re particularly drawn to the in-form Matt Doherty at right wing-back and Cristian Romero at center back. Doherty has recently stolen Emerson Royal’s starting XI berth and looks to be Antonio Conte’s preferred option. He could still rotate but his upside is worth the risk. Romero should be all but guaranteed 2 starts vs Manchester United and Brighton. Besides the defenders, January signing Rodrigo Bentancur also looks to be in Conte’s good graces and should have a good chance at starting 2 and scoring 13+.
Outside of the 2 London clubs, Everton offer good value, despite their recent shortcomings, due to favorable home matchups vs Wolves and Newcastle. Holgate, Doucoure, and Allan are as unsexy options as they come usually, but their low ceilings will not matter so much this week. Jonjo Shelvey of Newcastle has also been solid but not remarkable, but is still a welcome double option this week. Finally, rounding out our XI is our favorite pick of the week: Anthony Gordon. The Evertonian young winger has been fantastic Fantrax-wise recently and touted by Toffees as one of their only good players as of late. He takes almost all their set pieces, he runs his tail off, and he has a great chance at getting 2 starts and 140+ minutes this week.
Sits of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Fixture | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David de Gea | G | MUN | TOT Sat 12:30PM | 73% |
| Aaron Cresswell | D | WHU | AVL Sun 10:00AM | 98% |
| Maximilian Kilman | D | WOL | @EVE Sun 10:00AM | 77% |
| Tyrone Mings | D | AVL | @WHU Sun 10:00AM | 87% |
| Kyle Walker | D | MCI | @CRY Mon 4:00PM | 78% |
| Conor Gallagher | M | CRY | MCI Mon 4:00PM | 89% |
| Declan Rice | M | WHU | AVL Sun 10:00AM | 96% |
| Rodri | M | MCI | @CRY Mon 4:00PM | 84% |
| Ruben Neves | M | WOL | @EVE Sun 10:00AM | 87% |
| Marcus Rashford | F | MUN | TOT Sat 12:30PM | 86% |
| Wilfried Zaha | F | CRY | MCI Mon 4:00PM | 97% |
Average % Rostered: 87%
As opposed to our underappreciated DGW starts team’s players, our sits of the week are predominantly well-known players on decent teams only playing 1 game this week. At the back, we have Kilman, who’s nearly 80% rostered and popular this season, but was just benched for Willy Boly and this week is away to Everton with only a 26% chance at a clean sheet. Speaking of clean sheet-dependent center backs with low chances of keeping a clean sheet this week we have Tyrone Mings who has an 18% chance of not conceding at West Ham. The ever-so-low floor of Kyle Walker and tough matchup vs Gerrard’s firing Villa for Aaron Cresswell round out our backline of sits.
In the engine room, we have our usual uninspiring selection of mostly defensive in Rodri, Neves, and Declan Rice in mediocre matchups. They’re serviceable in normal weeks, but in a DGW you’re far better off with the likes of Partey, Doucoure, etc. Finally, Conor Gallagher is our resident superstar of the sits squad, and of course its due to the worst matchup an attacking mid could face in Manchester City. His teammate Wilfred Zaha should join him on benches this week for the same reason. A 20% chance of scoring coupled with significantly less time on the ball compared to usual just won’t cut it this week. Finally we have the freezing cold Marcus Rashford. He has Spurs at home and he can only pop up for an attacking return, but even if Rangnick finally trusts him for a start, we’re not feeling so generous and we think his significant downside is best left on the bench. With that all said, use the DGW’s to your advantage, and don’t bother playing your low floor, SGW options in Gameweek 29.
Check out Draft Society’s Fantrax Weekly Player Projections page for more player evaluations for the upcoming week!
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