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 31 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 31 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 | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Pickford | G | EVE | @WHU Sun 9:00AM @BUR Wed2:30PM | 54% |
| Alex Telles | D | MUN | LEI Sat 12:30PM | 46% |
| Seamus Coleman | D | EVE | @WHU Sun 9:00AM @BUR Wed2:30PM | 30% |
| Ben Godfrey | D | EVE | @WHU Sun 9:00AM @BUR Wed2:30PM | 17% |
| Charlie Taylor | D | BUR | MCI Sat 10:00AM EVE Wed2:30PM | 31% |
| Stuart Armstrong | M | SOU | @LEE Sat 10:00AM | 46% |
| Josh Brownhill | M | BUR | MCI Sat 10:00AM EVE Wed2:30PM | 40% |
| Mohamed Elyounoussi | M | SOU | @LEE Sat 10:00AM | 33% |
| Alexis Mac Allister | M | BHA | NOR Sat 10:00AM | 30% |
| Donny van de Beek | M | EVE | @WHU Sun 9:00AM @BUR Wed2:30PM | 26% |
| Armando Broja | F | SOU | @LEE Sat 10:00AM | 46% |
Average % Rostered: 36%
Gameweek 31 is a mini double gameweek featuring Everton and Burnley. As such, there’s a multitude of under-rostered, usually unattractive options that should be starting for you this week. A couple we like in particular are Everton defenders and goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford, Seamus Coleman, and Ben Godfrey. Everton face West Ham and Burnley away with implied odds of 18% and 29% respectively, of keeping a clean sheet vs their opponents. Everton have not been particularly great at the back recently, but 2 games, nearly 2 guaranteed starts for each of these players, and a 45% chance of keeping atleast 1 clean sheet on top of 2 games of ghost points sounds pretty great. Man United loanee, Donny Van de beek completes our Everton contingent. Again, he’s generally a low floor, low ceiling option, but across 2 games he’s a high floor, low ceiling option instead. With Allan out, due to a recent 3 game suspension, DVB should be locked on for 2 starts. Next to him in the midfield is our pick of the week Josh Brownhill. Brownhill is generally a consistent 6 points or so, but last Burnley double gameweek he managed a whopping 48.5 points (which we’ll happily take a quarter of this DGW).
Outside of the Burnley and Everton players, we have a couple starts that target the always leaky Leeds and Norwich defenses. Against Leeds, we’re opting for Southampton attacking options Stuart Armstrong, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Armando Broja. All 3 are criminally under-rosted particularly against Leeds who are expected to give up more than 2 goals. Elyounoussi is the pick of the bunch after scoring over 7.5 pts in 6 of his last 7 starts. Broja has a 28% chance of scoring and 14% chance of assisting according to the oddsmakers. Versus Norwich this week are the reeling Seagulls of Brighton. Speaking of reeling, Alexis Mac Allister has seen his roster percentage and value drop dramatically over the last month, but we’re backing him to perform admirably this week against bottom-of-the table Norwich. AMA has a 25% chance of getting an assist, 21% chance of scoring, and much larger chance of racking up multiple Key Passes. Finally, we have one half of the Man United time share at left back, Alex Telles. He might not always start, but when he does he’s quite good (10.3 fantasy points per start). He has a 26% chance of getting an assist and a 38% chance of getting a clean sheet.
Sits of the Week XI
| Player | Position | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasper Schmeichel | G | LEI | @MUN Sat 12:30PM | 73% |
| Gabriel Magalhaes | D | ARS | @CRY Mon 3:00PM | 74% |
| Tyrone Mings | D | AVL | @WOL Sat 10:00AM | 85% |
| Ethan Pinnock | D | BRF | @CHE Sat 10:00AM | 82% |
| Matt Targett | D | NEW | @TOT Sun 11:30AM | 87% |
| Harvey Barnes | M | LEI | @MUN Sat 12:30PM | 95% |
| Jack Harrison | M | LEE | SOU Sat 10:00AM | 90% |
| Jacob Ramsey | M | AVL | @WOL Sat 10:00AM | 71% |
| Emmanuel Dennis | F | WAT | @LIV Sat 7:30AM | 83% |
| Danny Ings | F | AVL | @WOL Sat 10:00AM | 81% |
| Ivan Toney | F | BRF | @CHE Sat 10:00AM | 99% |
Average % Rostered: 84%
Our sits of the week in defense all face tough away matchups, limited chances at clean sheets, and very limited upside. Gabriel Magalhaes faces Palace and Tyrone Mings faces Wolves. Both have around a 32% chance of a clean sheet and do not have the ghost point floor to justify that risk. Pinnock, on the other hand, generally scores well outside of clean sheets but faces an even tougher matchup away to Chelsea. That likelihood of conceding multiple goals to Tuchel’s side, makes him a sit for us. Targett faces Spurs and has only a 13% chance of not conceding. Many of these guys will be useful for double gameweeks in a few weeks but that doesn’t justify starting them before then.
In midfield, we have 3 inconsistent, high ceiling, low floor options in Barnes, Harrison, and Ramsey. Barnes has been hot lately, but subsisting almost entirely off of attacking returns. Away to United, his chances of getting one aren’t good (18% for a goal, 14% for an assist), and you may be left with a very poor score. Harrison and Ramsey have better matchups in Southampton and Wolves, but both have been very inconsistent, with Harrison apparently dreadful (3.5 points or less) in his last 5 home matchups and Ramsey fairly cold besides an irregular attacking return. Up top is more of the same, but with worse matchups. Ivan Toney has been hot but faces Chelsea. Danny Ings without a goal vs the stingy Wolves defense is likely a trap and Emmanuel Dennis has the unfortunate task of facing Liverpool. All 3 could survive with a goal, but have 19%, 30%, and 10% chances of getting 1 respectively.
Follow DraftLad on Twitter @DraftLad for all the latest!Check out Draft Society’s Fantrax Weekly Player Projections page for more player evaluations for the upcoming week!