Gameweek 9 FPL Elite Team Reveal (Tim Walpole)

18 Oct. 2023

The Elite XI: Team Reveal feature allows Fix Premium Plus members exclusive access to the greatest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers. The combined Elite XI boasts an extraordinary 18 x Top 1k, 61 x Top 5k, and 80 x Top 10k finishes. Offering real-time tracking data, push notifications and detailed insight into manager’s strategies, the Elite XI is unlike any other team reveal.

Is this the season you’ll win all of your mini-leagues? Why not get some help by learning from the best FPL managers around. You can follow their every move in real time, just click here to unlock live team reveals.

This weekly article will take you deep into the mindset of the world’s best FPL managers, allowing you to match your playing style to individual members of the Elite XI and use their incredible insight to help inform your own FPL decisions.

Tim Walpole

GW8 Points: 67
Overall Points: 479
Overall Rank: 767k
Team Value: £100.9m
In The Bank: £0.1m
Chips Available: BB, TC, FH, WC2

It has been an up-and-down start to the campaign for our newest Elite XI manager, Tim Walpole, and it would seem many FPL managers can relate to the tumultuous nature of this season.

Tim joined the Elite XI team at the beginning of the 2023/24 season. He is a real veteran of the game, having played for 17 seasons after a stunning Top 3k finish in his maiden FPL season back in 2006/07.

Since then, Tim has accrued an amazing 7 x Top 5k finishes, and 8 x Top 10k finishes. In terms of his playing style, Tim describes himself as a ‘steady opportunist’. He likes to keep his squad and decision-making simple and straightforward but will immediately take a new course should an opportunity present itself. A big fan of statistics, Tim can use tools such as the Opta Stats Sandbox and Opta Player Heatmaps to inform his FPL decisions.

Wildcard

Tim’s start to the campaign was strong. With 82 points in Gameweek 1, he was launched into the Top 500k. Since then, a combination of injuries, bad luck, and player under-performance (against expected data) lead to a fall through the ranks. In Gameweek 7, Tim had over six players either flagged with injury, or being rotated, and so took the decision to Wildcard.

Tim’s Wildcard squad – aided by the decision to put the armband on Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) – earned him 67 points and a Gameweek Rank of 359k.

Overall, I’m fairly happy with my Wildcard last week. Gameweek 8 wasn’t an ideal time to play it, but I had significant injuries to deal with and [needed to] prevent further team value losses. Sometimes we can plan one thing and have a change forced on us, or another option becomes a better choice. Hence, remaining flexible is important and not to get too attached to any plans you have made, that way you can alter those plans if necessary.

Looking ahead, Tim is hoping to survive the international break with no further injuries to his squad, thus allowing him to roll his free transfer, giving him two in Gameweek 10 when fixtures take a slight turn.

The upcoming fixtures are analysed in more detail in our latest article: Fixture Analysis (GW9+)

While Tim is happy with his Wildcard squad, he acknowledges that not all players can be owned. His thinking is erring towards finding a route to Kieran Trippier (£6.9m) who didn’t make the cut in Gameweek 8. Owned by just under half of all FPL managers – and 66.5% of managers in the Top 100k (Live Insight) – Trippier looks set to become a nuisance for non-owners.

It’s always worth hanging onto transfers during an international break in case of injuries/players missing out due to fatigue. I had been looking at Trippier on my Wildcard and ultimately went without. I think on balance I prefer my team with Trippier so will look to get him back in. Obviously this will require team surgery. Source of funds may be Son, Alavarez, Diaby or some combination of them all. Obviously, I will have to make any moves with an eye on upcoming fixture shifts, for the likes of Arsenal and Brighton, for example.

If you would like to keep up-to-date with Tim’s moves, then head over to the Elite XI: Team Reveal area and sign up to his push notifications – this will allow you to track his moves in real-time and stay one step ahead of your mini-league rivals.