FPL tips: Elites say Iheanacho is unmissable

Leicester City v West Bromwich Albion – Premier League – King Power Stadium
(Image credit: Michael Regan)

Elite Fantasy Premier League managers have made it clear they believe Kelechi Iheanacho‘s form is set to continue for the run-in.

By tracking the selections of a group of 1,000 FPL bosses with multiple top-10,000 finishes, we can learn what the cream of the crop are up to.

And while the Leicester striker can’t stop scoring at present, he’s not the only player making waves among the best managers.

A graphic showing the most popular Premier League players among elite FPL managers ahead of gameweek 33

Fox rocks

West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone (right) and Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho battle for the ball during the Premier League match at the King Power Stadium, Leicester. Picture date: Thursday April 22, 2021

Iheanacho has been in red-hot form (Tim Keeton/PA)

Iheanacho is quickly rewriting his season – after a difficult campaign, his goals now appear to be Leicester’s best chance of securing a spot in the Champions League next season.

The FPL elite agree, with 87.9 per cent of our sample having the Nigeria international in their squad in GW33.

The 24-year-old was owned by none of our 1,000-manager sample as recently as gameweek 29, but eight goals in six games at £6.2m has made him hard to leave out.

In his most recent six games, Iheanacho has registered 56 FPL points, while his Threat scores in that time – among them 110, 77 and 93 – suggest his goals are well earned.

The Fox in the box is only owned by 21.4 per cent of managers overall, but with three fixtures to come rated just two out of five on the game’s Fixture Difficulty Rating, perhaps more will regret not following the elite.

Red letter day

Liverpool’s (from left to right) Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold appear dejected during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah, left, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, right, are popular picks for top FPL managers (Shaun Botterill/PA)

Liverpool’s stock in the FPL market definitely plummeted during their poor run of form, but with three Reds making the top 10 for the elite in GW33, they certainly look more attractive than they did.

Those players are Mohamed Salah (85.6 per cent elite ownership) Diogo Jota (74.1 per cent) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (68 per cent).

Together the trio saw almost 500 elite additions ahead of GW33 – Liverpool’s run of five games unbeaten as well as a favourable end-of-season fixture list may have contributed to that.

With three goals in his last four games, Salah’s form is certainly good news for Reds fans, while Alexander-Arnold has boosted his goals, assists and clean sheets tallies in recent weeks too.

Jota, however, has gone three games without a goal or an assist after notching three goals in two games – his £7.1m price tag has probably been a factor in the elite taking a risk on the midfielder.

Falling down

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho greets Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane after the final whistle during the Premier League match at Emirates Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday March 14, 2021

Tottenham’s players are falling in popularity (Nick Potts/PA)

Not all the players in our elite top 10 are on the rise however – some of them are falling in popularity having been in favour not long ago.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min are two of those – despite being in fine personal form, a blank in GW33 and the departure of Jose Mourinho from Tottenham saw both players dumped by more than 250 top bosses each.

Elsewhere, Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes was owned by more than 90 per cent of our sample for an incredible 11 consecutive gameweeks, but that ownership has dipped to 78.9 per cent in GW33.

Such is the midfielder’s quality that his top ownership remains strong despite no goals and one assist in five games – how long will the elite remain patient though?