Two Watford players featured in elite managers’ top five additions ahead of gameweek 15.
By analysing the movements of a group of 1,000 managers with multiple top-10,000 finishes to their names, we can find out what the best of the best do to prepare their sides.
Looking at their transfer activity last week, it’s clear the cream of the crop don’t mind looking down the table for their next move.
Watford – 17th in the league – prove as much. Their two star forwards, Emmanuel Dennis and Joshua King, saw very healthy ownership rises ahead of GW15.
Dennis was the most popular transfer among our elite group, his ownership among them rising by 175 ahead of the Hornets’ game against Manchester City.
While a tricky game on paper and in reality, Watford had hammered Manchester United 4-1 not long before, and can look forward to a Christmas fixture list involving games against Brentford, Burnley and Crystal Palace.
Back to Dennis, his form and price have seen him become a must-have for many bosses.
At just £5.7m his six goals and six assists seem remarkably good value, while he had achieved half of those in the three games before Watford’s 3-1 defeat to City.
The forward managed 33 FPL points in games against Manchester United, Leicester and Chelsea ahead of GW15, while he ranks seventh for Creativity among forwards and sixth for Threat.
His colleague King meanwhile saw an ownership increase of 81 among our elite sample ahead of the weekend.
At £5.7m as well, the 29-year-old doesn’t score quite as heavily as Dennis, but did notch goals against Manchester United and Leicester in recent weeks.
With five goals and three assists this season, King also looks like a better differential option at just 6.4 per cent ownership compared with Dennis’s 25.3 per cent.
Elsewhere, two title-chasing midfielders made their way into the top five – Bernardo Silva saw his elite ownership increase by 54, while Diogo Jota‘s shot up by 61.
Silva had scored three goals in four gameweeks ahead of GW15 prompting plenty to back the £7.6m midfielder to continue in that manner.
He delivered, adding a brace against Claudio Ranieri’s Hornets as City went top of the league.
With his team on a five-game winning run – and with games against Wolves, Leeds and Newcastle next – some elite bosses are backing Silva to deliver the Christmas goods.
Jota meanwhile has also branded himself as a good value goalscoring midfielder, the £8m Liverpool player scoring four goals in three games ahead of GW15.
With the Reds having scored four goals in three successive league games, managers would have been disappointed to see them manage just one against Wolves.
The signs are good for Jota and Liverpool though, and with Aston Villa and Newcastle next, optimism will remain.
Splitting our Watford forwards for elite popularity was Sergio Reguilon, who saw his elite ownership rise by 89 ahead of Tottenham’s game against Norwich.
The Spurs defender – just £5.3m – has a goal, three assists and five clean sheets to his name this term, and FPL bosses have been encouraged by Antonio Conte’s arrival in north London.
Reguilon managed just 21 minutes against the Canaries though, and is a doubt for Tottenham’s game against Brighton on Sunday.
Will the top bosses continue to back the injured full-back?
