FANTASY FORECAST 2018/19: FPL Gameweek 30
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train invites a special guest onto its Fantasy Forecast, where the three members of the Hype Team and its Special Guests will duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for the relevant Gameweek. In addition, we give our insight into who are the players to watch and those to drop, both for traditional FPL leagues and the Draft mode, as well as providing insight into captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 30 Deadline
For the 2016/17 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. The Premier League website lists each FPL deadline, you can always ask on social media, and you can also view a real time countdown on our Weekly Hype page.
How does our Forecasting work?
We have taken to our Hype Team, and the FPL Community, to compete in a weekly head to head dual of wits. We ask the questions that dominate each week in the Fantasy Premier League: who to pick, who to avoid, who to captain, and who may surprise. The three members of the Hype Team, and a Guest, will provide weekly insight for the Gameweek ahead.
For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties that will feature throughout the season.
Premier League Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with PL predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the FPL Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point.
FPL Gameweek Forecasting: Answering the regular questions that come up every single week in the Fantasy Premier League community that helps with identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, players to consider for the Draft game, the wildcard differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, without any budget, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks)
Each team must pick a Captain, labelled as (c) and a Vice Captain listed as (vc).
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 30
Crystal Palace 2-0 Brighton
Cardiff 1-2 West Ham
Huddersfield 0-2 Bournemouth
Leicester 3-1 Fulham
Newcastle 2-0 Everton
Southampton 0-1 Spurs
Man City 4-0 Watford
Liverpool 3-0 Burnley
Chelsea 2-1 Wolves
Arsenal 1-3 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 30
Best GW Attacking Options:
Crystal Palace (H) vs. Brighton
West Ham (A) vs. Cardiff
Bournemouth (A) vs. Huddersfield
Leicester (H) vs. Fulham
Newcastle (H) vs. Everton
Spurs (A) vs. Southampton
Man City (H) vs. Watford
Chelsea (H) vs. Wolves
Man United (A) vs. Arsenal
Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:
Crystal Palace (H) vs. Brighton
Bournemouth (A) vs. Huddersfield
Newcastle (H) vs. Everton
Spurs (A) vs. Southampton
Man City (H) vs. Watford
Man United (A) vs. Arsenal
Who are the teams to look out for?:
Man United: The Reds are currently Teflon because everything is sticking to them. They have half of their entire squad injured and they are still winning, especially on the road. OGS is yet to lose an away game, and after Arsenal’s collapse against Rennes on Thursday it could be a European hangover from the Gunners.
Liverpool: The Reds have a home game this week, and with four consecutive clean sheets in a row there isn’t any doubt over their defence, but their attack needs to step up. I can see this being like the Watford and Bournemouth games recently with the Reds bouncing back from another draw.
Man City: This is one of them fixtures where you want Watford to do something, especially because I am a Liverpool supporter. But, with them winning all of their games in February all I can see is Watford laying down for the Citizens.
Who are the teams to avoid?:
Wolves: This is a fixture that they'll probably throw away given their Cup game next week.
Everton: The Toon have won their last two home fixtures comfortably, and that is worrying for Everton as they go to a stadium where Rafa has once again been defying the odds.
GW Differential Picks:
Gonzalo Higuain, Joel Matip, Fabian Schär, and Christian Eriksen are all players to keep an eye on with low ownership.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) Sergio Aguero – The Argentine has scored seven goals in February, and with a comfortable fixture against Watford it could be another one of them weeks for Man City amidst FFP controversy.
(VC) Mohamad Salah – The Egyptian King has been off the boil, but the fixture is too good to look past. This is a good fixture to find his mojo again.
Other Gameweek Comments:
This is going to be one of the last normal Gameweek's before the hectic end of season rotation period. Next week is a reduced Gameweek, and then the series of DGW's commences.
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 30
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Alisson
DEF: Andrew Robertson
DEF: Kyle Walker
DEF: Toby Alderweireld
MID: Eden Hazard
MID: Mohamad Salah (VC)
MID: Raheem Sterling
MID: Heung-Min Son
FOR: Sergio Aguero (C)
FOR: Romelu Lukaku
FOR: Harry Kane
Substitutes
GK: Martin Dubravka
MID: Youri Tielemans
DEF: Fabian Schär
DEF: Ben Chilwell
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 30 Crystal Palace 2-0 Brighton Cardiff 1-3 West Ham Huddersfield 1-1 Bournemouth Leicester 3-1 Fulham Newcastle 1-0 Everton Southampton 1-2 Spurs Man City 3-0 Watford Liverpool 3-0 Burnley Chelsea 2-2 Wolves Arsenal 1-3 Man United
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 30 Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Martin Dubravka
DEF: Kyle Walker DEF: Andrew Robertson DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold
MID: Raheem Sterling MID: Paul Pogba MID: Mo Salah (VC) MID: James Maddison
FOR: Jamie Vardy FOR: Sergio Aguero (C) FOR: Romelu Lukaku
Substitutes
GK: David De Gea MID: Dele Alli DEF: Aaron Wan Bisaka DEF: Fabian Schar
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 30
Crystal Palace 2-1 Brighton
Cardiff 0-0 West Ham
Huddersfield 1-0 Bournemouth
Leicester 2-0 Fulham
Newcastle 0-1 Everton
Southampton 1-3 Spurs
Man City 4-0 Watford
Liverpool 3-0 Burnley
Chelsea 1-1 Wolves
Arsenal 2-1 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 30
Best GW Attacking Options:
Crystal Palace (H) vs. Brighton
Leicester (H) vs. Fulham
Newcastle (H) vs. Everton
Spurs (A) vs. Southampton
Man City (H) vs. Watford
Who are the teams to look out for?:
Arsenal: Emery is undefeated at home in the league with one exception, an opening day 2-0 loss to Man City. It'll be a hard game for United to win.
Crystal Palace: Form is good. Zaha is more than good. Defensively strong. Palace are a proper outfit when they've got their act in order.
Who are the teams to avoid?:
Newcastle: My beloved Magpies do not have a good record against Everton. I think we might lose this one, but am optimistic Rafa can bend history in his favour. Still, it's one to avoid for me.
Chelsea: Wolves are a half-decent side that have already beaten Chelsea this season. Proceed with caution.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) Virgil van Dijk – I'm going with form, and there's no better than VVD right now.
(VC) Sergio Aguero – A little worried about his minutes, but is a killer option to have this week, especially ahead of some Double Gameweek encounters.
Other Gameweek Comments:
My Gameweek strategy is simple: let a couple of transfers roll for next week and Free Hit in GW32 when the rest of the fixtures are announced. GW31, I think by last season's turmoil, is a banana peel that can be avoided if you captain the right player.
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 30
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Ederson
DEF: Andrew Robertson
DEF: Virgil van Dijk
DEF: Declan Rice
MID: Eden Hazard
MID: Mohamad Salah (VC)
MID: Raheem Sterling
MID: Heung-Min Son
FOR: Sergio Aguero (C)
FOR: Jamie Vardy
FOR: Harry Kane
Substitutes
GK: Martin Dubravka
MID: Paul Pogba
DEF: Aaron Wan-Bissaka
DEF: Ben Chilwell
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 30
Crystal Palace 0-0 Brighton
Cardiff 1-1 West Ham
Huddersfield 1-2 Bournemouth
Leicester 3-1 Fulham
Newcastle 0-0 Everton
Southampton 1-3 Spurs
Man City 2-1 Watford
Liverpool 0-0 Burnley
Chelsea 2-2 Wolves
Arsenal 0-2 Man United
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 30
Best GW Attacking Options:
An interesting GW as the top 6 all face stiff competition. On paper you’d have to say that Liverpool have the best attacking options but I’d be steering clear. Chelsea vs Wolves looks like a good shout for a game filled with goals so Higgy and Jimi are my on radar. Furthermore I’m curious to see how Leicester will perform under Rodgers and they won’t get teed up much better than playing Fulham at home in his first home game in charge – worth a watch.
Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:
It’s always biased when I talk about my own team but Newcastle have to be a solid shout to keep a CS this week. At home vs a really out of form Everton. If you don’t fancy that then Palace at home seems the next likely place to see a goalless game.
Who are your essential Gameweek player picks?:
A good question and one we discussed on last weeks Podcast. At this moment in time nobody is really essential as managers are splitting into 3 distinctive groups. Those building for 31, those building for 32 and those that quite frankly don’t have a clue what’s going on!
There are too many variations to pick an essential player but I’ll try. Building for GW31 then three Liverpool players are essential. Building for GW32 then 3 players from both Manchester clubs ought to tide you over. And if you haven’t got a clue then fill your boots and crack on, you’re probably having more fun than most managers at the moment!
Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?: Differentials are hard to come by at the moment but 2 men fresh back from injury feel like appealing moves right now, especially if you’re building for the blank GW. Maddison of Leicester and Brooks of Bournemouth could both tick all the boxes.
Leicester play Fulham at home and Bournemouth are away at Huddersfield – both are very appealing beyond this GW too as they have great runs now until the end of the season. A final note to say that Callum Wilson is being earmarked to play a part in this game too, another back from injury who could make a difference but a bit of a long shot.
Who are the teams to look out for?:
Chelsea, Wolves and Bournemouth
Who are the teams to avoid?:
Again, difficult to answer as so many managers hands are completely tied at this time of the season. I would say avoid Liverpool players against the resurgent might of Burnley but then most managers already have 3 Liverpool players. It may seem obvious to say but the only real players to definitely avoid are from the teams currently 19th and 20th in the league, outside of that there is value to be had from almost every team out there.
GW Differential Picks:
Maddison, Brooks, Kane (? Is this allowed at 14% Ownership?!), Woods
*Editors note: No, it doesn't.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C): Easy - Aguero
(VC): Any Liverpool defender!
Other Gameweek Comments: It should be a good game week, the penultimate game before things get really interesting – with such a low scoring round in GW29 everyone will be hoping their big guns can haul. We wish you all the best of luck and don’t forget to enjoy yourself!
FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 30
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Ederson
DEF: VVD (VC)
DEF: TAA
DEF: Schar
MID: Sterling
MID: Pogba
MID: Hazard
MID: Mane
FOR: Aguero (C)
FOR: Higuain
FOR: Kane
Substitutes
GK: Alisson
MID: Son
DEF: AWB
DEF: Doherty
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in the Fantasy Premier League (#FPL), providing beautiful graphics and weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb ranking tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review movies, live sport, and professional wrestling.
As well as providing FPL articles on our website, we are a founding Contributor to the new Fantasy Football Hub, where you can find more unique articles, including weekly Power Rankings, from The Hype Team. You can support us and read exclusive members only content for just £2 per-month by clicking here.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog 2016' by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), with the final presentation held at Old Trafford in Manchester.
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All aboard.
