GW 20 – Review

So gameweek 20 rang in the new year in much the same way that the old one ended. There was some improvement across the board, but it’s hard to pick up points when a frustratingly large number of games are called off for frozen pitches and yet more coronavirus cases in footballing bubbles. But it’s certainly added another layer of research when making your selections, as no one wants to pick postponed matches and lose an opportunity to pick up points. Does ‘team X’ have under-soil heating? Have ‘team Y’s’ players been social-distancing? What’s the weather going to be like in ‘team Z’s’ area at 3pm on Saturday?

With a full 26 matches cancelled across our featured leagues, it’s quite surprising that we still had some respectable scores to review! No one made it to Club 100 for the second week running, but Alistair Derrick came close with 94 points (70% of the P7), and that’s despite selecting postponed Cardiff City (8 pick) on x2. The weekend’s top scorers, Oxford Utd (29 picks) netted five and reeled in most of Alistair’s points, being smartly chosen on x8 too, while 3 goal Middlesbrough (20) were the table-topper’s second highest points earner on x6. Wolves (6 picks) also netted three for Alistair, but were somewhat undervalued on x3. Overall, only six players managed to make it past the 70-point mark in a week where just 41% of you managed to beat the lowly average of 14 points.

The Perfect 7 wasn’t up to much either – at 134 it’s the lowest of the season, with only 3 named sides featuring in the P7 matrix. Mansfield Town (3 picks) and Arsenal (51) were the only sides who managed to bag four goals at the weekend, to join Oxford Utd at the high end of a dismal looking P7 multiplier ladder, where any 3 goal side between x2 and x5 was enough to secure you that £7,777 jackpot. Let’s hope all these frozen pitches begin to thaw so more teams can pile in with the goals!!

Last week’s ‘New Year Special’ number of minus scores was the most this season at 46, thankfully that nearly halved to 24 at the weekend, which is nonetheless still quite poor! Anyway, a halt to my ramblings, lets see how you selected your sides for GW 20.

Montrose were the most picked side with 71 selections, but in true TUG style failed to score against bottom side Forfar Athletic. The Gable Endies were also the most picked x5 and x7 team, so their lack of goals stopped many of you reaching your most profitable multipliers. Norwich City (40 selections) were the most selected side on x3, while Lincoln City (57) were the most popular x4 and x6 choice. But our most popular matrix was bookended by London sides, with Tottenham (38 picks) on x2 and Arsenal on x8 who played the Premier League’s leakiest sides in Leeds Utd (7 picks themselves) and West Brom (a solitary pick!) respectively. It’s no surprise that selections of the Glasgow sides were down this week, with the Old Firm only attracting a total of 35 players to the fixture. These selections heavily favoured Rangers, with only eight of them being made for Celtic and it was the blue half who prevailed courtesy of a 1-0 victory.

On the whole it was a pretty poor weekend of TUG action! Enough despair though, let’s look to GW 21 and in particular the Third Round of the FA Cup AND the Second Round of the Scottish Cup, which have typically thrown together some fascinating and mouthwatering ties, which many of you will be eyeing up in a bid to bag some serious points. There are seven early kick-offs to choose from should you dare to do so! On offer are: Boreham Wood v Millwall; Everton v Rotherham Utd; Luton Town v Reading; Norwich City v Coventry City; Nottingham Forest v Cardiff City; Chorley v Derby County, with Lincoln City hosting Peterborough Utd early in League One. And that’s before the main event of the afternoon even gets underway! Good luck and happy scoring, watch out for those dreaded postponements!!

-Sam Brooke-Wilkinson