Hive FPL Cup - Round 3

Welcome back to the Hive FPL cup post.

The Premier League games have been coming thick and fast over the last week and move swiftly from round 2 into round 3 with a lunch time kick-off between Crystal Palace and West Ham meaning that transfers and team changes need to have been made by 11:00am BST today in order to qualify for gameweek 34 and round 3 of the Cup.

I would like to have gotten this post out a little bit earlier but unfortunately the official site didn't update the round 3 cup fixtures until about 10pm last night which is a bit past my bedtime!

Hive FPL Cup round 2 results (round of 64)

Hive User	Team		Hive User	Team
@talesfrmthecrypt	Suffragette City 63	v	@tengolotodo	Tengo Rangers FC 74
@belemo	Izanami Fc 65	v	?	Cygnus FC 49
@elroi1	elroi1 76	v	@gentleshaid	Roboski 47
@teofilex11	Likodra FC 53	v	@dealhunter	dealhunter 36
?	Tope's Red Devils 70	v	@goldendash	BIG~WAVE FC 45
@Martinlazizi	Lazizi Rangers 84	v	?	ajdream15 52
?	The_talisman 66	v	@pappyelblanco	Creekside FC 76
@wolfgangsport	Wolfgang Sport FC 66	v	?	Chetagod united 59
@skanderh	Skander 33	v	@beyondhorizonmm	Beyond 67
@Iec	Zeebanks 49	v	@Ckole	D laughing gas FC 43
?	Abdul.... 56	v	?	EMERALD FC 70
?	Lame Ducks 50	v	@vickoly	Augment Fc 46
@Asqgod	Chelsea Asq 59	v	@reservedsingle	BAT 40
@dante31	Dantelizer 57	v	@deniskj	Denis Y 67
@blanchy	Mammy Slats 55	v	@patricksenkovic	"The conquerors" 64
?	Taunggyi Venus FC 44	v	@Ipalibo	Whyte FC 61
@Happyboy1	Happyboys FC 51	v	@unais	Pacific FC 43
@Sinochip	PChipFC 45	v	?	PhinGy!M@ United 82
@Olawalium`	Olawalium FC 73	v	@stuartcturnbull	The Peripatetics 2 53
?	S____________S_S F_C 41	v	@pacoandujar	ANDÚJAR FC 67
?	The Sell 74	v	@George-dee	George FC 36
@khaleesii	first place 61	v	@carita-feliz	Smiley Team 44
@MasterG	MasterG FC 67	v	@favudom	favudom 40
@borran	Hiveheadz 63	v	@Marvel1206	Marvel 60
?	Newton Heat RFC 49	v	@Pvmihalache	BCHampions 50
?	Abdulqudus 65	v	@BlockchainFPL	Blockchain FPL 49
@yagman01	YAGMAN FC 56	v	@metaboy21	21st Ave 50
@macten	macten 59	v	?	Senju Tobirama Clones 61
?	Members Only III 42	v	@cjlugo	Cz Stars 47
?	Costa Guards 71	v	@kenechukwu97	Makeitrain4ever 52
@thoth442	thoth442FC 56	v	@ajcardib	ajcardib 49
@GvKanten	Hungry Lions 58	v	@Presh	Presh 76

The most immediate thing to notice from round 2 is that the quality of the managers that we have within the the Hive FPL league is very strong. If the average score this week across the FPL as a whole was 55 then in over 4 out of 5 (81%) of the head to heads in the Hive Cup, that wouldn't have been enough to see you through to round 3.

We also saw a few big names crash out including @skanderh who is currently ranked 7th in the league. It looks like he may have taken a deliberate hit on a few transfer points in preparation for a few of the juicier game weeks yet to come but that tactic has ended his participation in the cup.

In fact, in 9th place, I myself have been eliminated by @tengolotodo who put up a great score of 74 points to beat my 63. When Everton scored to cancel out Fabian Schar's clean sheet I thought that I was in with a chance of squeaking home with United leading 2-0 at Spurs.

The Spurs comeback then was a bit of a double edged sword for me as a Tottenham fan. Great to get those 2 goals but it cost me at least 10 fantasy points when Shaw and Dalot's cleansheet bonuses were also scrubbed out!

Elsewhere we also saw @blockchainfpl leave the competition. A lot of experienced managers have gone big on Brighton players on the basis of the double gameweeks they have coming up as well as the fact that they are playing some great football. However, their 3-1 defeat at Forest hit hard and will leave those who do have multiple Seagull players hoping that they haven't passed the peak this season.

Hive FPL Cup round 3 results (round of 32)

Hive User	Team		Hive User	Team
?	Tope's Red Devils	v	@borran	Hiveheadz
@patricksenkovic	"The conquerors"	v	?	The Sell
@belemo	Izanami Fc	v	@pacoandujar	ANDÚJAR FC
@MasterG	MasterG FC	v	@Happyboy1	Happyboys FC
@Iec	Zeebanks	v	@pappyelblanco	Creekside FC
@Presh	Presh	v	?	PhinGy!M@ United
@Martinlazizi	Lazizi Rangers	v	@tengolotodo	Tengo Rangers FC
?	Costa Guards	v	@Pvmihalache	BCHampions
@khaleesii	first place	v	?	Senju Tobirama Clones
@cjlugo	Cz Stars	v	@elroi1	elroi1
?	Abdulqudus	v	@beyondhorizonmm	Beyond
@deniskj	Denis Y	v	@Asqgod	Chelsea Asq
@yagman01	YAGMAN FC	v	@Olawalium`	Olawalium FC
?	Lame Ducks	v	@Ipalibo	Whyte FC
@teofilex11	Likodra FC	v	@wolfgangsport	Wolfgang Sport FC
?	EMERALD FC	v	@thoth442	thoth442FC

With it being a double game week for Brighton, Fulham, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and West Ham then it's likely we'll see some big points being scored.

As an initial analysis, I thought looking at the number of matches that each of the remaining 32 teams will possibly be scoring points in this game week would be a good start. These figures are of course based on the squads that took part in GW33 and therefore will likely change as teams make transfers or possibly utilise their chips. I've also not counted any player whose marked as injured 'red' (no chance of playing).

Team	No. of matches GW34
Denis Y	24
Whyte FC	23
Likodra FC	22
YAGMAN FC	22
Hiveheadz	22
"The conquerors"	22
thoth442FC	22
Tope's Red Devils	21
Wolfgang Sport FC	21
Izanami Fc	21
MasterG FC	21
Zeebanks	21
Creekside FC	21
Presh	21
first place	21
PhinGy!M@ United	20
Tengo Rangers FC	20
Costa Guards	20
Olawalium FC	20
Lame Ducks	20
Lazizi Rangers	19
The Sell	18
Senju Tobirama Clones	18
Cz Stars	18
elroi1	18
EMERALD FC	18
ANDÚJAR FC	17
HappyBoys Fc	17
BCHampions	17
Beyond	17
Chelsea Asq	16
Abdulqudus	15

You can see why @deniskj is top of the league. Success in Fantasy Premier League isn't just picking the best players for this week, it's planning several steps ahead and he looks to have left himself in a very strong position to capitalise on the double fixtures in GW34. It also looks like he'll have a free transfer from last week to utilise for GW34 so ultimately those numbers are only likely to rise!

By contrast, his cup opponent is set for just 16 appearances this gameweek so baring the use of a chip or a minor miracle, I think we know who is progressing through to round 3 in that one!

You'd imagine though it will be a lot tighter between Hiveheadz and Tope's Red Devils who currently occupy 3rd and 6th in the Hive FPL respectively. The differentials here could come down to whether Liverpool can keep clean sheets at home to Spurs and Fulham with Tope's going in on Alisson and VVD or whether United can overcome tricky ties against Villa and Brighton with Hizeheadz banking on Fernandez and Shaw to deliver.

Liverpool's 2 home fixtures also raises the question of whether sides should look at Mo Salah as a potential captain or stick with the tried and trusted Haaland?
35 out of the top 50 sides in Hive FPL went for Haaland in GW33 while only 5 went for Salah - none of those 5 are left in the cup...

However, Liverpool at home are a different beast with Salah having scored in all 5 of his side's last 5 matches at Anfield and recording 52 fantasy points in the process.

Haaland by comparison has scored 5 in his last 3 Premier League appearances but it should be noted that he's only completed 90mins once in the last 5 game weeks. With City's heavy fixture list (11 matches in 5 weeks), Pep will undoubtedly be keen to give his star striker some rest. Whether that means starting him on the bench or hooking him off in the 2nd half as he did against Leicester and Southampton remains to be seen, although of course Haaland had already found the back of the net twice in both those games by the time he was subbed...

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Good luck to everyone in GW34 and round 3 of the Hive FPL Cup