RICO LEWIS 🙌 | EARLY TEAM THOUGHTS | GAMEWEEK 4 | Fantasy Premier League Tips 2024/25

Intro what is going on everyone my name is Andy welcome back to another FPL video in this one it's some of my early thoughts ahead of the gameweek four deadline in this case very early thoughts because we're in an international break so I'm going to go through my current thinking with my own team then look at some key players and then go through some notes from the weekend as well so if you enjoyed the video make sure to give it a like and hit that subscribe button and don't forget to check out fantasy football Hub over the international break they've still got 50% off at the moment loads of tools over there to help you do better at FPL and if you do sign up and don't win your Min League you will get your money back terms and conditions do apply for that all the links you need are in the description below otherwise let's get into the video so I thought I'd My Team start by talking about my own team which I don't usually do in this particular video but given that we're in an international break in the team selections not until next week I thought I'd run through my current thoughts on how things have gone so far and what things look like moving forward including thoughts around wild card and stuff like that for my particular team so I'm currently s 2.1 million which is not ideal but it is up from 4.4 million after game week 1 so there is some progress there and this early on in the season I really wouldn't get too down about where your overall rank is obviously if you're in like the top 100K already top 50k top 10K Happy Days right you should absolutely celebrate that but anyone that's much lower it's really not a panic things can change pretty quickly so I think I'm doing okay if I look back at my team from game week one I don't think I made a huge amount of mistakes like people might say you shouldn't have had Bruno Fernandez fair enough obviously I wish I'd gone elsewhere but I don't think he was a terrible pick I think the big mistake which I spoke about before was having both Quanza and Barco and going for two long-term minutes risks I should have just had one and that obviously forced me into a transfer but bringing Robinson in has worked really well seven points in gameweek two and then four points in game week three and obviously then I realized in kungu was a mistake as well he wasn't starting so he went for Smith row which hasn't gone great but I got 81 points in in gameweek 3 and and that's okay especially considering I didn't have any Liverpool attack so no Diaz No J obviously he blanked I I get that but he did it all right in the first two weeks and no Salah either so maybe this is pure copium right as the kids say but I actually think things aren't as bad as they maybe look and that overall rank will hopefully improve significantly over the next kind of five to 10 weeks and looking at my gameweek four Squad I'm in a pretty good position apart from the fact once again I don't have any Liverpool attack for Forest at home or Bournemouth at home in gameweek five but I've got Henderson in goal Leicester at home no clean sheets yet for Crystal Palace but he got a four-pointer against Chelsea and Lester at home is a really good fixture so I'm not really in a panic about moving him on just yet and also I think it's Man United at home in game week five so back to back home games ahead of uh gameweek six then conza Everton at home Robinson West Ham at home and Trent against Forest at home that looks okay I don't have an Arsenal Defender but I'm not particularly worried about that now because they got Spurs away man city away it would be nice to have a second Liverpool defender or maybe like aario or Rico Lewis but in terms of the fixtures my Defenders have got this week I think they look all right then Midfield obviously E's got his goal so people will be a bit calmer about him now I was never going to sell him before Leicester at home anyway even if he blanked against Chelsea I would have had him for gameweek four looks like a really nice fixture Bruno fern has obviously been frustrating and more so not that he's blanked three times but that he started at 8.5 million and he's obviously dropped to 8.4 so not only is he not getting me points but he's also taking up quite a bit of my budget like apart from harand and sacka and ISAC he he's the most expensive player in my team like the fourth most expensive and not got any returns but it's Southampton away and I think one thing that I will do with my team and my my choices is try although I do find it difficult at times try not to focus on what's gone so we can all look back and say you shouldn't have gone for Fernandez in game week one absolutely fair but no one's got a time machine that I can go back and change that all that matters now is going forward do I want him on a wild card no but am I in a position where I've got to get rid of him before Southampton away not really even Bruno Fernandez can return in a fixture like that and I think the thing that's playing on my mind is I've only got one transfer so I've really got to make a key decision about whether or not to get Salah now I'm not going to take a hit to bring him in this week because I don't want to sell Harlem before brenford at home sacka against Spurs away is fine but in gameweek five I could use two free transfers to get him in and so that means going without any other Liverpool attack this week and holding because I've only got one free transfer and then rolling that to two next week so the reality is unless I end up wild carding and I'm going to show you the team in a second for that Fernandez has to stay sacka is in like I said then my only other decision really is Rogers versus Smith row Rogers got Everton at home which definitely looks like a better fixture right now than West Ham at home for Smith row and Rogers keeps playing 90 minutes whereas Smith row doesn't but I'm not I think Rogers around Champions League might have his minutes reduced Duran's playing well could Watkins and Duran play at the same time would Rogers then come out of the team there's a few question marks there I think with the injury to Bailey Rogers minutes are probably going to be okay uh but Smith Road just feels to me like the one that's going to get more returns this season so that's a decision to be made closer to the deadline right now I'm playing Rogers I might switch that Xiao Pedro great keeps playing 90 minutes he's on penalties great fix rips which are home harand Easy Choice to be my captain this week and then I've still got isak against wolves away I was not impressed for Newcastle against Spurs but he got his go wolves away is a good fixture so I look at that team and look would I be happy with that from gameweek six onwards no I'd probably want fleen I'd want in I would want to get more Arsenal players in I've only got sack I'd want probably a double up or a triple up from gameweek six but right now they're all things that can wait because Arsenal have got City sorry Spurs away then City away and Burma's got the opposite Man City away then Spurs away there's no rush to get these players in and if I compare this to the the Wild Card draft that I came up with yesterday with Haren and Salah the the main changes to the team so I've still got Conor and Robinson so that hasn't changed I've got Robertson instead of Trent and I think Robertson's really good value at 6 million compared to Trent but there's no need to Wild Card just to get rid of Trent right and have a different Liverpool Defender dunk is in so it's a back four and then I've got Mina in Midfield and I've still got e and sackers so essentially if I can just quickly work this out instead of Rogers and Fernandez and isak so yeah Rogers Fernandez and isak I've got Salah Mina and Lewis dunk now the fact that salah's in might be reason enough to Wild car but for me it's just not enough and like it's great that I've got in Burma and fleen ready for game we six but I don't need them till game week six so I can I don't think it's right for me to Wild Card I think I've just got to see it out with this team and hope that Liverpool attack doesn't punish me too much this week which it absolutely could but I feel okay about the way things are set up like I just having isak instead of Lewis dunk feels right I think Lewis dunk is great for the next two because of the fixtures Brighton have got but that is not a reason a wild card and also I've said this before I think from game week six when Arsenal do have um Leicester at home and Southampton at home back to back and then bourma for waven a good fixture like that's a bit of an awkward time without a wild card especially for my team if I use transfers to get Liverpool players in now i' then got to use more transfers from gameweek six to get Arsenal players in and I think I just need a reset with the wild card and I think for my team it just makes more sense to go in gameweek six so my current plan would be to go without Liverpool attack this week and then in game week five I've got two options I could do Harland out before he plays Arsenal at home which given how he's currently playing I'm not sure I will do that but I could do it for something like Watkins or salanki and then I'd have 7.2 million to spend on a replacement in Midfield for Salah so it could even be like Smith row I think I can afford yeah Smith row up to Salah it would probably actually be for saaka because he's playing Man City away in gameweek five but basically I can get salarin in two moves the other option would be to do Bruno Fernandez out in gameweek five for someone like Mina who's got uh Forest at home so put him in and then sell sacka and I'd have 13.9 million in the bank so I got more than enough money to do this and then get salar in that way and then just keep Harland so if I don't make a move this week I can get salar in in game week five and then he would be my captain because I think in gameweek five I don't really want to Captain harand like it's not that he's terrible against Arsenal but Arsenal defense is great whereas Liverpool got Bournemouth at home so that's probably going to be my current plan to roll the transfer this week to give me the option to bring in Salah in two moves and then Captain him and then in game week six I'm going to Wild Card this is the current plan anyway and then decide what to do about Salah and right now I think I'm going to go without him and just go for three Arsenal harand and just spread the money around a little bit I may well change my mind but I think that is the current plan the other option would be to forget about Salah and just use a transfer this week and next week so I could bring in like I've got a million in the bank so I could do like Pedro parro to Robertson and double up on the Liverpool defense and then in gameweek five take out one of my midfielders maybe sacka before he plays Man City away and then bring in like a jotter or someone or LS Diaz so I could do that and triple up on Liverpool with two fre transfers but I feel like in game week five I want to nail the captain SE and that's just an easy Salah move so things haven't gone great so far 2.1 million rank but I'm I'm confident enough in the plan as long as I don't get massively punished by salad this week but I think it's worth noting as well what I'm on a little bit of a ramble about teams there's people out there that you know there's there's loads of different combinations right some people have got both harand and Salah they've had that since the start some have only got Salah some have only got Harland and plenty of those people are just doing well no matter which combination they've got so I know right now everyone is looking at you have to have Harden and Salah there'd be plenty of people out there doing much better than me that have only got one and that that one might not be Harden there's people with saleron since game week one that are ahead of me because The Supporting Cast I saw someone say that the other day I can't remember who it was The Supporting Cast to players around them really matters and if you nail it it doesn't matter if you've both if you've got both Harden and Salah if you can have Harden and Salah and nail everyone else as well then okay even better but you've got less money to do that so I think if I was wild card in four like I said yesterday I would probably have both because it feels crazy to go without Harland and the fixures right in front of Liverpool are really good but long term I'm still not convinced that that will be the way to go and I guess I'll have to make that decision in uh sorry on Wild Card 6 I just look at my team I don't think I can get through the next few weeks without wild card and I've just got to have a reset at some point and I think Wild Card six is probably the way to go but I've rambled enough on my team let's get on to some key players from game week three all right let's Rico Lewis talk about Rico Lewis who's gone from 4.5 to 4.6 million after playing 90 minutes in every single man city game so far and his expected gos per 90 is 0.25 which is really good for a Defender the positions he's picking up means there is some goal threat there and he's the kind of Defender that if you're watching a game and thinking about FPL you know if he remains in the 11 a big score is coming there's going to be a match where he gets the clean sheet and then a goal Andor an assist plus the bonus two and then his price just absolutely skyrockets now personally as someone who's thinking about wild carding in game week six I feel like this decision can wait a little bit longer if you're not doing that you're wild carding this week then it might just be worth going for him for a punt but I think and maybe this is oversimplifying it a little bit the Arsenal game for me is key does he remain in the 11 or does Pep Guardiola go back to KL Walker and if that happens then I'm a little bit more worried about Rico Lewis's minutes going forward it might be that kalker just comes in for the more difficult game and Rico Lewis plays the easier ones but it doesn't tend to work like that under Pep Guardiola like it doesn't always work like that anyway it might be that K Walker comes in because Arsenal was seen as a tougher game then he stays in for Newcastle way and then because he's playing well he's just in the team for Fulham at home now I do think based on what we've seen so far we should expect Rico Lewis to play way more minutes this season than he has in previous ones and maybe this is the breakout season for him but I still don't know if I would guarantee that and I kind of see it as worst caseen Ario he absolutely meah Halls against brenford at home I'm not particularly worried about bringing him in for the Arsenal game and his price goes from 4.6 to what maybe like 5 million over two game weeks but even that is unlikely I would say and I if I have to pick up a man city Defender who's is attacking his ears for 5 million that is still a great price to pay obviously you want to get on players early and ride those price Rises but you can't do that for every player so for me I'm still happy to wait and see what happens in the Arsenal game in particular but I think because of his price and it being so low I would not argue against anyone that wants to put him in the team if you're going to ask me is he now absolutely safe which many people have done over the last couple of games I cannot guarantee that right man city just have so many options and Pep Guardiola could change it at any point and I still think as bad as Kyle Walker might have been at times over the last kind of season I do think like he's not quite the player he was he's still going to be super useful to pep and pep will want to use him for a variety of reasons one being his recovery Pace right and he has been great for Man City over the years so I just don't think I can say that it's safe but there is signs and the amount that Rico Lewis is being taught up that he is going to get way more minutes this year and it might even be a case of you take the old substitution it's a 4.6 Million Man City Defender I really don't hate it as an option especially if he's your fifth Defender so looking good played 90 minutes in every game so far really good chance he starts again against brenford I would say after that we'll have to wait and see but for the money I get why people want to punt it and I would not argue against it so I feel like we got Watkins to talk about OE Watkins every week at the moment another game for him at the weekend another early substitution this time we only got 60 Minutes against Leicester which is extremely frustrating if you bought him in or you've had him since game week one the good news is that the expectation should probably be that his minutes will go up after the international break they're definitely not going to get any worse I guess they could stay the same but I would expect them to increase as he starts building up his Fitness and also his numbers so far I know he's only got one assist but 0.75 expected guards per 90 is decent now it's not going to stay at that number but it shows that he's getting the chances in the limited amount of time that he's getting and also the fixture run ahead of him is great Everton at home Wolves at home IP switch away and man united at home so three home games next four the away games against a newly promoted side and even after that follow him away and B for home so if he can find some form and start playing more minutes he's a great long-term hold and if you haven't already bought him he's only 8.9 million if you've already got him in your team I think you've got to keep but I just wouldn't downgrade him to like an eak or havit or anyone like that not with the fixures they've got ahead of them you could go down a lot more like to aiao Pedro and use that money elsewhere that might not be a bad move but it just doesn't feel right if you're already an owner of Watkins to sell him before Everton at home who have conceded load so far then Wolves at home and nip switch away they just feels crazy to me and I'm not saying that if I was wild carding this we this week I would guaranteed to have him in my sight cuz I probably wouldn't to be honest with you so there is some doubts there in my mind but I think if you've got him it's a different conversation and you've probably got to keep should you transfer him in this week I still don't think it's necessarily a bad move but I'd really want to hear more from unai Emory to find out what's going to go on with the minutes does he expect them to go up like Duran keeps coming off the bench and playing well I've seen a couple of people touting that they reckon that Watkins and Duran at some point might play together and obviously that would be a good thing for Watkins overall because then there's one less player to sub on for him but I'm not sure if that's going to happen the one thing I will say is I've got no doubts about Watkins continuing to start like he is their main man up front I don't think that's going to change I think Uno emry will want to play him into that form and play him so he can start playing more minutes every single game I think there is a slight worry that his minutes come down a little bit compared to last year because of Champions League and stuff like that cuz he'll be wanted in those games for sure but he's still someone that's going to play like every game in the league I just don't see that changing so if you've got him I think he's a pretty easy hold if you're on wild card it really depends on whether you want both Harden and Salah if you don't then you can probably fit Watkins in if you do you probably can and to buy him I don't hate it but I think similar to what I said in gameweek three I'm not sure i' would be rushing out and doing it I said in game week three if I had isach for example I wouldn't sell to Watkins I would wait until after the international break because of the earlier subs and I think Everton at home is definitely better than wolves away which is what isach has got in game week four but I still don't know if there's a rush to do it again isak's guaranteed to be on penalties his minutes are much better I'd almost want to wait and see the Watkins it's not even about him scoring it's about him just playing more I want him to start playing 80 minutes plus before I'd rush to get him so I don't mind buying him this week the fixure run is incredible but most people probably got forward they don't need to prioritize selling I would say so as I think most Mbeumo of us expected ahead of Southampton at home in gameweek three Brian in Burma is a really good FPL pick and from game week six onwards when the fixture swing for brenford everybody is going to want to buy him 7.1 million is such a good price for a player that always plays the minutes are fantastic the stats are good as well so far this season 0.3 non Peno expected goals per 90 .26 expected assist and without Ivan Tony he's on penalties and I don't think that brenford losing Tony will have that much of an impact when he was out last year they did pretty well for quite a lot of the games and obviously long term they got Thiago to come in as well so from gameweek six when you got West Ham at home Wolves at home man united away ips switch at home that is probably the time to look at someone like in Burma even after that I just bring out the fixures here spoke about this on the Wild Card video yesterday Fulham away Bournemouth for home Everton away Leicester at home Villa away Newcastle at home even Chelsea away is a bit difficult in December now I'm looking at then you got Forest at home like I think he's so good that if I put him in in game week six and he's fit and available I'm probably not thinking about taking him out until after gameweek 17 like he's just I like he would just be that consistent um of an option and even if he starts blanking you know he's got the fixtures to at some point turn that around the only debate really is when do you bring him in um I think for most people if we're forgetting wild cards for a second you could make a case to bring him in in gameweek five if you need to make a Midfield transfer Spurs away is not that bad but ultimately most people now you should just wait until game week six like could he score against Man City away of course it's a tough game there's no need to go out of your way to bring him in six onwards is when you really need him if I was wild card in this week I would definitely include him I would over include him straight away and you could even play him this week if you needed to or I would have a plan to bring him in in game week six so perhaps for some of you with more money or you want to restructure your squad you could put a Liverpool midfielder in like J or Diaz and then move to urmo lat on but either way he he's just got to come in soon as long as he stays fit and Calvert-Lewin available all right let's talk about Dominic cber Le next a goal and assist at the weekend against Bournemouth and his price has actually already dropped this season so he's now 5.9 million down from 6 million and he's a massive differential at 1.7% ownership now I talked about him briefly in one of the Wild Card drafts that I put up yesterday and as expected the comments around him were not that flattering as an FPL pick but I think he is a little bit underrated if you think that he's going to continue to start and if he can stay fit and that is the key thing for him because he has had some issues over the last few seasons like last year he started 26 times and played over 2,000 minutes but that's the first time he's played over 2,000 minutes since the 2020 21 season there's maybe a bit of a concern there but last year definitely looks a little bit more encouraging it was seven goals from 12.86 expected goals and only two goals from 5.9 XG the season before that so his finishing is maybe not quite up to where where it should be but I also think he can do better than that and if he keeps playing he will get chances now so far this season his numbers are not great not .14 expected goals per 90 .16 expected assists there's Defenders with probably better numbers than that but I think we should also remember that Everton played Brighton at home in the first game which is not going to be easy although it is a home game they probably should have done better than 3-0 but eventually they were down to 10 men Etc and then Spurs away wasn't going to be easy either and then you play bourma for home a bit better and that's where he's got his attack and returns from and his underly numbers were a little bit better in that game as well so I think we should see some improvement and the fixtures are good for Everton I know they've started the season really badly and giving up a two-goal lead against Bournemouth is not going to be a morale booster right it's going to be the complete opposite but after Villa away it's then Leicester away in five Palace at home in six Newcastle at home in seven IP switch away in eight will m home in nine Southampton away in 10 it looks pretty good I'm not saying you rush out and go and get him in for Villa away that's not going to be easy but after that there's some winnable games in there for Everton and again like FPL points and overall rank things can change quickly in the Premier League like people writing Everton off as relegation candidates I'm sure they'll be down there fighting I'm not saying they're going to be top half or anything like that but I think they're better than what they've shown so far and if carot Leen keeps being in that 11 and can stay fit he will get chances in these games and presumably he's still on penalties as well so I was asked about him in preseason I think it was him Min and Chris Wood how would I rank them and I said I quite like C Leen but he would be the third choice out of them well he's already outscoring Min and going forward he's probably got better fixures overall over the next kind of eight to 10 game weeks and at that price I don't mind him again not a player to rush out and buy but if you're on wild card and you want to set up with a twoo cheap forward strategy look don't get me wrong Chris Wood keeps scoring Jia Pedro looks great there's other options but I wouldn't completely write Cal luin off as as one of those but personally I'd probably rather wait and see what happens over the next game week or two especially with those away games make sure that he's still getting good minutes and see how Everton kind of turn it around also by the way just really quickly on the relegation thing doesn't necessarily matter right obviously Everton fans is huge for them but from an FPL point of view you only care about the points scored like look Everton lost 3-2 to Bournemouth the calv lein owners care he got gold and assist right so he's still going to get returns even if they are down there fighting especially with the fixtures they've got coming up so I quite like him I'm not putting him in my team anytime soon or anything like that but you never know eventually gameweek six Wild Card back toback home games then it which away full them at home I'll consider it and then I've just got Weekend notes some notes from the weekend so for Newcastle both Barnes and Gordon started the game it was Jacob Murphy that came out of the 11 and I think that was always quite likely to happen at some stage and the interesting thing is and he got the goal at the weekend as well against Spurs Harvey Barnes is only 6.4 million and when they both play together him and Gordon Barnes is always on the left pretty much anyway and that's his favorite position so 64 6.4 million is not a bad price the only thing to say is it probably not the greatest time to buy Newcastle players like Wolves Away and ful away is okay but they're both away games and then you got Man City at home in six you know even looking a bit longer term Chelsea away in nine Arsenal at home even game week Seven's another away game against Everton so I think Barnes is one to keep an eye on at that price but I probably wouldn't go out and buy him right now unless you're desperate for a new midfielder it's not necessarily great for Gordon when Barnes comes in because he gets moved over to the right and like Barnes his best position is on the left but I just think I would see it as a positive that Gordon is just that nailed on that even when someone comes in in his position he still plays so if I had Gordon I would probably still be looking to hold on to him even though he's dropped in price to 7.4 I think Gordon's one of those players that it's fine to sell if you want to but really and I know I say this about a lot of players not really a rush to do it I still think Gordon's pretty pretty great Xiao Pedro I already mentioned played 90 minutes again he's looking like incredible value and after the next two game weeks the fixtures for Brighton are not fantastic like from game week six onwards it's Chelsea away Spurs at home Newcastle away but honestly if I've got well I got him for 5.5 he's now 5.7 if he keeps playing 90 minutes or close to every game and he's on penalties I'm just keeping him through those bad fixtures and he's the the kind of player you can just hold on to for a long time like he's just excellent value and probably looking like The Pick of the cheap forwards at the moment Lewis Hall benched again look if he's like your fourth or fifth Defender you don't need to rely on him fair enough you could just keep hold of him but long term he's not an option newcast got too many options that can play left back even if trippier comes in at some point livero can also play there as well seeno three returns in three looks like a pretty good option around the 5.5 million price I think he's gone up to 5.6 now um if I just bring him up here oh sorry not not Forest he's a Bournemouth player let me get the right team they've got Chelsea at home Liverpool away next to the problem with Bournemouth is the fixures just aren't good like a long stretch of games for a while you know like I just spoke about calv Le and Everton theyve got a really good stretch of games whereas for Bournemouth it's Chelsea at home Liverpool way which is it's not even fine it's just about okayish because seenu is only 5.6 but it ain't great then it's have at home in leester away which is really nice but then it's Arsenal at home Villa City at home which is not great again now I think for when people Wild Card you've probably got to start making some longer term picks like 5.5 5.6 million is not a price bracket you want to continually swap players so as a long-term pick C menu is probably really good but again I look at the next two and I just think maybe he's won for gameweek six Wild Card possibly you put him on gameweek four wild card and bench him for one one or two of the next two games then have him longer term but basically long and the short is I actually think he's a solid long-term pick I just don't think you necessarily need to bring him in right now I think he absolutely could do better than someone like Smith row especially if he keeps getting more minutes like seeno is a 90-minute man so far Smith row just isn't so I like Smith Row in the short term longer term seeno might be better although if I was buying one this week I'd probably just go for mina from Brighton gatu finally started I think he'll now just be in theam I think amedo played really well when he came on at least compared to most of the man united players and the bar was quite low so some point we might see Amad and garnacha and rashford to come out but I just think ten har will keep plugging away with rashford for a little while but garnacha I think is now quite a nice pick going forward especially with Southampton this I just think he'll stay in the side no forward signings for Forest so Chris Wood still looks like a really good option he's scored two in the first three I will go to the right team this time and he's played 7174 and 90 minutes and because the only other option really is AE and look I think if you ask Forest fans they probably would say that aan is the better forward but honestly Chris Wood's been scoring for forest for a long time now under Nuno like enough games where it means something and I just think it will continue again it's Liverpool away and Brighton away you're probably not buying him right now but from game week six Fulham at home Chelsea away Palace at home Leicester away it's a pretty good run for Forest if he's still starting over the next two I think people might come back to him so we've we've still got a whole host of cheap forward options to be looking at and if I had Chris Wood I don't think I'd necessarily sell him before Liverpool away and Brighton away it's not that he's better than I mean actually scratch that if I'm wild carding in gameweek six I probably would sell to Xiao Pedro because of the fixture swing but if you've already made money on him and you want him long term there's no harming in keeping hold of him and then for Chelsea just quickly I think after fmer the next most nailed attacker is Jackson and if you want a Defender I'd probably go for cwell it looks like fan Fano is going to be the center back partnership with cwell but I just don't trust his injury record so I think cwell is the one that's my thoughts some players my team and all that good stuff ahead of game week four which is obviously next week we're in the international break if you enjoyed it make sure to give it a like and hit that subscribe button and rate Five Stars if you're listening on podcast and I'll be back tomorrow with another video so I'll catch you then