FPL tips: Top bosses stuck with Reds trio and Saints pair despite GW30 blanks

Elite FPL managers have decided certain players were worth retaining despite not featuring in game-week 30 of the season.

By analysing the movements of a group of 1,000 managers with multiple top-10,000 finishes to their names, we can see how the best bosses prepared for a game week in which just eight teams participated.

While many managers might have decided to get rid of some of their blanking assets, the top bosses showed which players they value most.

A graphic showing Premier League footballers who were kept by top FPL managers in gameweek 30 despite their teams not having a game

Reliable Reds

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring their side’s second goal of the game during the Premier League match at the AMEX Stadium, Brighton. Picture date: Saturday March 12, 2022 — Mohamed Salah (Nick Potts/PA)

With Liverpool nine games unbeaten and carrying all the momentum ahead of GW31, it’s perhaps no surprise to see three Reds feature heavily in the squads of the elite despite a blank GW30.

Mohamed Salah (72.4%), Trent Alexander-Arnold (68%) and Andy Robertson (23.6%) were among the top-10 gameless players for the top bosses.

Salah has regularly been selected by more than 90% of our elite sample, and his supreme form protected him from mass sales in GW30.

The Egypt international has 222 points so far this term, 35 more than his nearest rival, thanks to 20 goals and 11 assists – he has registered nine double-figure points returns so far.

At £13.3 million, selling Salah would free up a lot of funds even just for one week, but such is his appeal that most decided to keep him.

Alexander-Arnold is the second-highest scoring FPL player this season with 187 points, and the second-most retained gameless player among the cream of the crop.

The right back provides points at both ends of the pitch with 13 goal involvements and 16 clean sheets, ranking first for Creativity among defenders and second for Threat.

Alexander-Arnold is the most expensive defender in the game at £8.4m, but his cheaper colleague on the other side of the pitch is making waves also.

Robertson also has 11 FPL assists this term, as well as a goal and 13 clean sheets.

At £7.3m many have decided to save money on a Reds full back by opting for the Scot instead of the Englishman, while his low ownership has made him appealing, too.

Bargain Saints

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl gives instructions to Tino Livramento from the touchline during the Premier League match between Southampton and Leicester City at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton. Picture date: Wednesday December 1, 2021 — Ralph Hasenhuttl and Tino Livramento (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Specifically, Armando Broja and Tino Livramento were kept on, despite not setting the world on fire with their form.

Broja has six goals and two assists this season, managing to accumulate 81 FPL points as a result – he scored four and assisted twice between GW15 and GW24.

Livramento, meanwhile, has 76 FPL points thanks to a goal, two assists and seven clean sheets – the 19-year-old started the season at £4m and has since risen to £4.4m.

Both players’ prices are perhaps the reason the elite decided to keep them in GW30 – no striker cheaper than Broja (£5.5m) has more points, while no defender cheaper than Livramento has more points either.

Having cheap players in positions you are unlikely to use is a tactic valued by the best FPL managers, so much so that sometimes it’s worth taking a blank.