The Perfect XI format sof Fantasy EPL on Fantrax is going to take the community by storm. Fact. Our good friends at @DPLCommLeague have brought the concept over to Fantrax, and it is sensational. We're here to provide Draft Premier League managers with our very own Perfect XI tips for each gameweek. Details of the concept and rules can be found here!
Check out @DPLCommLeague for further information on the format, regular updates on the latest standings, as well as information on how you can enter.
Fantasy EPL Gameweek 35 Perfect XI
So, what is Perfect XI? Similar to Official Fantasy Premier League game, all managers have full access to the entire player pool each week, meaning multiple teams within the league could be completely identical. The main departures from OFPL are the Fantrax Default Scoring, unlimited transfers each week, no budget/salary cap, and live lineup changes available. This means that each week you can select a dream team of Fantrax assets who you think will score the most points on a given gameweek, and have the added bonus of being able to see the real life lineups before your players lock in your lineup. Magic.
Check out our Gameweek 35 Perfect XI tips below. These are our recommendations for the best eleven players this weekend!
The Foreword from Murph:
The Perfect XI from Gameweek 34
GK: Ederson, 17
DEF: Serge Aurier, 34.75
DEF: Dan Burn, 24
DEF: Benjamin Mendy, 21
MID: Gareth Bale, 41
MID: Michail Antonio, 31
MID: Kai Havertz, 27
MID: Pascal Gross 21.5
FWD: Son Heung-Min, 33.5
FWD: Danny Welbeck, 24
FWD: Ferran Torres, 22.5
In last week's article, I highlighted three teams to target: Manchester City, Chelsea, and Spurs. 7 of the 11 Perfect XI from Gameweek 34 ended up coming from those teams. A self-pat of the shoulder on the Serge Aurier read. As expected, Sheffield United completely folded after conceding relatively early. Dan Burn had the last laugh after the entire Draft Society touted him ahead of getting benched just two weeks ago. If Brighton produced in the way they did versus Leeds all season, maybe they would be fighting for a UEFA European tournament spot.
At the risk of sounding like a gremlin after midnight, I really disdain double and blank gameweeks in Fantasy Football. Whether you're in draft playoffs, regular H2H season-long, or Perfect XI, nonstandard gameweeks are often a random source of leverage that threatens to undo the hard work of managers that successfully navigated through all the normal gameweeks prior. The simple fact that one manager can potentially have double the possible minutes played for their team denatures the essence of draft fantasy in my opinion - my best XI guys versus yours.
The scores this week will undoubtedly be the highest scores we see this season for Perfect XI. No one in any table standing is safe in a gameweek where a score of 200-300 is possible. There are several sources floating around to find exactly who has a double (or triple) gameweek for Gameweek 35. I won't rehash out all that detail - but know that my selections are simply about predicting who from the elite positional tiers are most likely to see 180 minutes.
GK: Bernd Leno
Team: Arsenal
Opponent: West Brom (Home) + Chelsea (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 163.5
Points Last Gameweek: -5
Rostered: 56%
The Thought: Ignore the player and his season-long stats. If Mat Ryan starts versus West Brom instead, I'd swap Leno for Ryan without hesitation. What I'm taking is a goalkeeper that plays two incredibly favorable fixtures for goalkeepers. West Brom and Chelsea generate high save opportunity with a lower-than-expected goal conversion rate. Arsenal keeping clean sheets is a rare occurrence, but I would not be shocked if Leno makes 10 saves over the two fixtures.
DEF: Luke Shaw
Team: Manchester United
Opponent: Aston Villa (Away) + Leicester City (Home) + Liverpool (Home)
Total Fantasy Points: 306
Points Last Gameweek: 21.25
Rostered: 97%
The Thought: It's unrealistic to expect any single Manchester United player to play in all three games so late in the season with so many minutes on everyone's legs. Shaw should play two of the three however which puts him in pole position to pull in his usual boatload of key passes x2! Shaw's phoenix-esque rise from the ashes of previous difficult seasons is truly remarkable. On over 300 total points, he's only 22 Fantrax points away from matching the 338 point season with Southampton that earmarked him onto Manchester United's shortlist.
DEF: Timothy Castagne
Team: Leicester City
Opponent: Newcastle United (Home) + Manchester United (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 203.25
Points Last Gameweek: 6.5
Rostered: 94%
The Thought: The 6th highest scorer over the last 3 GWs, Castagne seems to be boosted from the new shape that has accommodated Kelechi after Barnes went down with a season long injury. A wingback that is reasonably comfortable on either flank, Rodgers will likely look to him to play in both matches. Castagne has the best potential to see attacking returns (Evans' goals are not sustainable!) so I'm leaning in his direction for the double.
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold
Team: Liverpool
Opponent: Southampton (Home) + Manchester United (Home)
Total Fantasy Points: 296.25
Points Last Gameweek: 6.25
Rostered: 100%
The Thought: Klopp does not rotate his stars. Liverpool may have been overshadowed in the general discussion around the Premier League with Manchester City one result away from being declared the champions. However, the race for Top 4 is still very tightly contested and will not be relinquished lightly. Trent plays both games and is the statistically superior option in the Liverpool backline.
MID: Bruno Fernandes
Team: Manchester United
Opponent: Aston Villa (Away) + Leicester City (Home) + Liverpool (Home)
Total Fantasy Points: 561
Points Last Gameweek: 8
Rostered: 100%
The Thought: A man on a mission, Bruno dismantled Roma in the first leg of their semi-final Euro competition. The talent is always there but it has definitely been sub-surface in recent Premier League games. Bruno seems to raise his game against harder opponents, and has the best chance to make appearances in all three games. He's locked in for every manager paying even a little attention to this gameweek.
MID: Ross Barkley
Team: Aston Villa
Opponent: Manchester United (Home) + Everton (Home)
Total Fantasy Points: 177.5
Points Last Gameweek: 10
Rostered: 66%
The Thought: Barkley has been promoted from the bench to feature in recent games. He looks lively and active, maintaining a high volume of key passes per 90. With Grealish likely out of picture for this double, expect Barkley to continue to pull the strings behind the Watkins/El Messi/ Traore attack. It begs the question why he lost his position in the first the place as he possesses a dangerous combination of pace, strength, and finesse.
MID: Gylfi Sigurdsson
Team: Everton
Opponent: West Ham (Away) + Villa (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 232
Points Last Gameweek: -0.5
Rostered: 91%
The Thought: This pick would be James Rodriguez if I thought he could stay healthy enough to feature in both games. He's clearly dealing with something, which elevates how much Gylfi will need to contribute. On penalties and a portion of set piece duties, I expect Gylfi to find success in two games that on paper should have goals in them.
MID: Martin Odegaard
Team: Arsenal
Opponent: West Brom (Home) + Chelsea (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 56.5
Points Last Gameweek: 13.5
Rostered: 64%
The Thought: Odegaard is the center of everything good for Arsenal currently. With so many attacking midfielders and forwards in the Arsenal team at the moment, this selection is slightly risky. WBA are such a good matchup for midfielder returns though, so I'll look to start whomever gets the nod in the order of: Odeegard, Saka, Martinelli, Smith Rowe. If that midfielder also sees minutes against Chelsea, that's a bonus from my perspective.
FWD: Mohamed Salah
Team: Liverpool
Opponent: Southampton (Home) + Manchester United (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 400
Points Last Gameweek: 20
Rostered: 100%
The Thought: It's actually astonishing how frequent the "will Southampton concede 9 goals again?" meme appears on my timeline. The goals conceded column for Southampton is mind-boggling, so I'm looking to Liverpool to deliver strongly this week in the double. Salah should start both games given they've had quite a bit of rest compared to other top teams in the league.
FWD: Kelechi Iheanacho
Team: Leicester City
Opponent: Newcastle United (Home) + Manchester United (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 200.5
Points Last Gameweek: 15
Rostered: 84%
The Thought: Simply one of the best forwards in the second half of the season, Kelechi could be in an especially good spot this gameweek, as I expect Manchester United to field a "B Squad" for the Leicester game. Even if they go full strength, Rodgers' team are in red hot form so a big result at Old Trafford is well within reach.
FWD: Christian Benteke
Team: Crystal Palace
Opponent: Sheffield United (Away) + Southampton (Away)
Total Fantasy Points: 222
Points Last Gameweek: 8.5
Rostered: 66%
The Thought: I'm serious with this one! Honestly! Of all the forwards in the pool, I actually fancy Crystal Palace's two games quite a bit, and Benteke should start both games. His aerial supremacy removes his dependency on goals. 20 points just from jumping around and beating centre-backs at their own game is partly why I would love Aerial Duels Won to get nerfed in Default Fantrax Scoring... but for the sake of Perfect XI, he's gravy baby.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
GK: Pope, Martinez, Lloris
DEF: James, Azpi, Cancelo, Aurier, Vestergaard, Wan-Bissaka
MID: Havertz, Rodriguez, Harrison, Bale, Moura, Antonio, Lingard
FWD: Son, Rashford, Sterling, DCL, Neto
For all the latest from Adam, follow @Chelseablues24x on Twitter!
