FPL: Countdown to GW4 - Best captain picks and managing fixture congestion

For those who went big at the back, GW3 was one to forget.

There were clean-sheet wipe-outs for Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City as the three best defensive teams from last season shipped a whopping seven goals between them meaning popular assets like Trent Alexander-Arnold (7.5), Andrew Robertson (6.9), Reece James (6.1), Marc Cucurella (5.1) and Joao Cancelo (7.0) scored only three points between them. Three measly points – unbelievable!

Let’s not be hasty, though, as this was a freak result and these defenders still offer plenty of reasons why you should keep the faith in them. They’re arguably some of the best picks in terms of value for their teams and there’s a reason we are blinkered when selecting high-ceiling full-backs.

In midfield and attack, however, I am making a conscious decision to cast my net wide in search of players from a handful of other teams.

Remember Jarrod Bowen last year? He was one of the best FPL assets in the game but we were slow transferring him in because he didn’t play for one of the ‘sexy’ clubs.

We all thought his goal-scoring run would be short-lived but he continued his form all season and eventually, we all owned West Ham’s talisman. So this season, we should be looking for the new Bowen; a lowly owned, mid-priced asset (usually from a mid-table team) who delivers with the consistency of a premium player at a top-four club.

Only Arsenal and Man City (both nine) have scored more Premier League goals than Brentford (eight) and Leeds (seven) this season. Teams like Palace are also creating lots of chances and these three teams all have something in common – they have an obvious talisman who hog the FPL points for their team.

Ivan Toney (7.1) and Rodrigo (6.3) are the game’s