Familiar Faces of FPL GW21: West Ham transfer triple-up from Kelly Somers

GW21 PROGRESS (SO FAR)

There are three matches left of Double Gameweek 21 (to be played on January 11th and 12th) but none of our 22 managers have yet reached 50 points, once hits have been accounted for. Many of them – like Ben Crellin – did opt for spending points on those players with two matches. The fixture guru made four transfers – recruiting Jarrod Bowen, Craig Dawson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Demarai Gray. Only eight points have currently arrived from these new signings, so Crellin will be hoping their second games are more fruitful.

Olivia Buzaglo and Sophy Ridge have scored 48 points so far, with both taking a four-point hit to purchase Bowen and Emerson Royal. Whilst Olivia did well to bury Gabriel’s red card on her bench, Sophy will inherit Marcos Alonso’s six points if Tino Livramento fails to appear next Tuesday.

TEAM FOCUS: Kelly Somers

Host of the Official FPL podcast, Kelly has had an impressive season, never falling below the 311k ranking that followed Gameweek 3. For Gameweek 21, she had saved two free transfers and subsequently used a third to get West Ham trio Bowen, Michail Antonio and Vladimir Coufal.

The downgrade of Reece James and upgrading of Joe Gelhardt has added depth to Kelly’s squad, with neither a cheap fifth midfielder nor third striker meaning she is well-prepared should the Covid postponements continue.

The frustrations with owning Bernardo Silva caused the Man City man’s sale, as he failed to contribute to 18 consecutive goals before winning a penalty at Arsenal. The champions are so good that there is no obvious talisman for FPL managers to target, having to guess both Pep Guardiola’s line-up and whose turn it is to haul.

Mohamed Salah was recently sold for Son Heung-min, which should pay off if Spurs get their rumoured Double Gameweek 22 whilst the Egyptian is away at AFCON. What’s his eventual route back in? Well it most likely depends on Cristiano Ronaldo’s form. His ‘generous’ run of fixtures began in Gameweek 15 and has so far brought three blanks and two postponements. If the next few matches prolong the frustrations of owning him, many will sell.

The Arsenal triple-up sees promising fixtures interspersed with the blanks of Gameweeks 25 and 27, so Kelly may want to reduce the defensive double-up and cash in on Emile Smith Rowe, who hasn’t starting any of their last six league matches. However, as with most FPL managers right now, it’s just about prioritising the order of fires to put out.