Fantasy WSL top tips: The updates you need to know for Gameweek 9

Our Fantasy WSL expert Ro Thomas looks ahead to a big gameweek as the WSL returns from the international break

This week, I take a magnifying glass to the selections of the fantasy manager with the highest-scoring team. Then, in the spirit of transparency I believe it is finally time to face the music and share my fantasy record. It is, to be fair, modest. We then have a couple of tips to take you into the final two gameweeks before the agonisingly long Christmas break.

The current top performer across all the Fantasy WSL managers is the incredibly-named ‘Doophus Derriere’ with 575 points overall, an average of a massive 72 points per week. They have climbed their way to the top of the standings through two great weeks in particular: Gameweek 2 where they scored 94 points and the most recent Gameweek 8 where they bettered this with a huge 95.

In GW 2, this was achieved by a masterful use of ‘The Wall’ boost. This adds four points to the keeper and defenders if they play 60 minutes and keep a clean sheet, and one point to midfielders who do the same. In this case, clean sheets for Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United meant their back four of Kerstin Casparij, Maya Le Tissier, Millie Bright, Katie McCabe, goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce and midfielder Grace Clinton picked up an additional 25 points between them. Bright’s were also doubled as captain.

In GW 8, Doophus really made the most of the double gameweek for United and Chelsea. Mayra Ramírez was named captain, so her 13 points over the two games were doubled; Bright’s two clean sheets resulted in 16 points total, and stalwart defender Le Tissier picked up a solid nine. In the supporting cast, Annabel Blanchard of Crystal Palace is still hanging onto Visionary status, scoring six points outright and an additional three for being selected by less than 2% of managers to bring her total to nine.

In between these weeks, Doophus managed to captain the right people at the right time. Before giving the nod to Ramírez, they chose Bunny Shaw in Gameweek 7, when her 17 points were doubled to 34, more than some managers get across the team in a week. Shaw’s been the pick for five out of the eight weeks, with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd bringing a total of 22 points in GW 1 and Bright doing the same in GW 2.

They possibly missed an opportunity going early on their bench boost and using it in week five, as this only picked up an additional seven points across Tullis-Joyce, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Jorelyn Carabali and Vicky Losada. Otherwise, a strong, consistent record from keeping a core set of really high performing players in the team – Shaw, Rytting Kaneryd, Le Tissier and Bright have appeared in most weeks – has paid dividends.

Time for vulnerability. My team, ‘Fowler? I barely touched ‘er’, is languishing 126 points behind in the overall standings, averaging around 56 per week. My errors: using The Wall in a week where Lucy Bronze’s minutes were managed after eye surgery, Emily Fox being subbed off before 60 minutes during Arsenal’s 5-0 drubbing of Brighton, and Palace gifting Everton their first goal scored by their own players this season. The week before that was another shocker, with the usually strong Clinton and Rytting Kaneryd having a quiet week points wise, Bronze and Ramírez out, and an Arsenal-heavy back line which suffered in a 1-1 draw to Manchester United. My triple captain was also wasted in a rare week when Rytting Kaneryd ‘only’ supplied one assist and under 60 minutes playing time.

What have I learnt from the top performer Doophus? Trust in my core set of players, bring Bright into the team and try to be a bit luckier when I eventually play the Bench Booster.

My tips for the next week are sadly largely based around injuries. Lauren Hemp looks out for a spell following surgery – a PSA for the 12.1% of players who have her in their teams. We hope this is smooth and speedy and she’ll be back on the pitch soon. Additional well wishes to Ramírez who appeared to pick up an injury while on duty for the Colombian national team. She’s in over 20% of fantasy teams, largely because she has delivered an average of 6.1 points per game she has played.

In their places, I would expect Jess Park (average of 3.9 points per game) and Mary Fowler (3.4 average) to get opportunities at City, who should have goal scoring opportunities aplenty against Leicester this weekend.

At Chelsea, there’s the potential for the nod to go to Maika Hamano (3.8 average) given Catarina Macario (4.0) looks like she’s still been having minutes managed in her recovery. Both Hamano and Macario are Visionaries, with Hamano picking up 9 points over Chelsea’s two Gameweek 8 matches thanks to an assist against City and the Visionary boosts. Given Arsenal exploited Brighton’s defensive weaknesses, I would expect Chelsea to do the same in their match up this week; this could be a goal fest, and Chelsea’s forward line should benefit.

Any team sheet conundrums? Commiserations that your star pick had a bad week? Send me a note in the comments and I’ll see what the numbers say.