FPL Challenge Gameweek 31 Best Picks and Team Reveal
As Challengers around the world struggle to put together an entry for the round ahead, we share our FPL Challenge Gameweek 31 Best Picks and Team Reveal to give you an edge.
As well as highlighting the Challenge framework, and the best players in each position, we also bring in fantasy whiz @FPLReaction to reveal his own team and look back on his previous round.
What is the Challenge this Week?
As we can see, the Challenge is ‘Park the Bus’. Challengers can only pick goalkeepers and defenders , so not midfielders or forwards.
Challengers can also only select one formation: 2-5-0-0. To pick the seven players, Challengers have an unlimited budget.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the best players you can pick this week.
Goalkeepers
As inconsistent as Spurs have been so far this season, ruling them out this week could be a mistake. Southampton lay ahead, who continue to maintain the worst attacking data in the league, so Guglielmo Vicario could well have both clean sheet and save point potential.
Newcastle’ home match could be another we focus on. The Magpies clash with Leicester this week, who also rank among the worst three sides for multiple attacking metrics. Newcastle have only managed one clean sheet in their previous five meetings, but the game ahead could mean potential for Nick Pope.
There is no telling how Arsenal will play without key defender Gabriel due to injury. But, up until now the Gooners have produced some excellent defensive data, some of the best in the league in fact. Because of this and taking into account they face a inconsistent Everton, David Raya is another good option.
The return of Alisson Becker for Liverpool after recovering from concussion will be welcome for the best defence in the league. The Reds come up against Fulham this week, which won’t be easy. But taking into account their superior clean sheet numbers, no-one would be surprised to see the Brazilian return.
There are several other good goalkeeper picks this week, including Wolves’ Jose Sa v Ipswich and Manchester City’ Ederson against local rivals Manchester United.
Defenders
This week could be challenging to navigate, with the lack of clear standout options. With that in mind, going with what we know could be the safe route. With that, Arsenal centre-back William Saliba makes the cut. The Frenchman has shown he can be a goal threat from set-plays, and with set-play specialist Bukayo Saka back, don’t be surprised to see him score against Everton this week.
Talking of attacking threat, Josko Gvardiol is another great option. The Manchester City full-back ranks above every other defender for expected goals this season. So with both clean sheet and attacking potential against Manchester United, the Croatian should be an obvious consideration.
It would be foolish to ignore the potential of Daniel Munoz. Crystal Palace come up against Brighton this week, but their flying wing-back has produced an impressive six returns in his previous six matches, with the help of three clean sheets, two assists and a goal.
Bournemouth have been out of form recently and that is a concern, but they face a poor West Ham attack up next, who rank among the worst five teams for several key attacking metrics. Milos Kerkez has really impressed this season, and he’s also managed three assists in his last four games.
Other defender options Challengers could pick include Wolves’ Rayan Ait-Nouri v Ipswich, Tottenham’ Christian Romero v Southampton, Newcastle’ Kieran Trippier against Leicester, and Liverpool centre-back Virgil Van Dijk v Fulham.
Before continuing to our team reveal, you should also check out our Best Players to Buy for Gameweek 31 article.
Team Reveal
- Warra Challenge. It’s not great this week is it? Being stuck with two goalkeepers and five defenders, with no real standouts, anyway.
- This is my current set-up. I’m taking a slightly aggressive approach by effectively tripling up on the Arsenal defence with Saliba as captain. I would say backing a Tottenham double up is also aggressive considering how bad they have been.
- I have brought in the likes of Munoz, Gvardiol and Kerkez, because all three are capable of hauls, so missing out on one could be catastrophic.
- I don’t think I’m likely to change anything. I also like Trippier (if fit) and Van Dijk this week.
Gameweek 30 Review
- Last week I picked up 41 points, which was a round rank of 15k. This meant a rank rise up to 496th globally, making up some ground I lost in the previous round.
- Overall, it was a good job I went for Savinho, because he was originally Semenyo. He did really well, along with Marmoush and Isak.
- Mateta, Sarr and Salah were the biggest failures, the latter was my captain, so captaining Isak or Marmoush would have seen huge gains.
- Good luck this week!
If you enjoyed our FPL Challenge Gameweek 31 Best Picks and Team Reveal article, you may also be interested in our top 10 most popular picks for Gameweek 31.
