With the international break disrupting proceedings alongside the closure of this year's transfer window, it seemed like a good opportunity to do a slightly different analysis of the teams competing in the inaugural Hive FPL Head to Head leagues.

We'll start off with results from GW4 which saw a lot of very tight matches decided on in the final game between Arsenal and Manchester United, a fixture which following the snooze fest of of some of the international ties, seems like it was an age ago.

GW4 Results

Prizes for winners in GW4 will be sent by the end of the day

Division 1

Team	Hive Account	Score	Score	Team	Hive Account
Legion Fc	@b0s	67	73	Augment Fc	@vickoly
The Amirians	@amirtheawesome1	84	74	@BlockchainFPL	@blockchainFPL
YAGMAN FC	@yagman01	85	86	Likodra FC	@teofilex11
thoth442FC	@thoth442	80	70	Hiveheadz	@borran
Shamzy FC	@shamzy	76	58	Nonz FC	@nonsowrites
Suffragette City	@talesfrmthecrypt	84	76	FC McKane	@McKane
Content Creators	@Pvmihalache	48	75	WhyteFC	@Ipalibo
Izanagi FC	@belemo	72	69	Creekside FC	@pappyelblanco
I Feel Qatari	@deniskj	72	79	Hungry Lions	@GvKanten
Espada Numero Uno	@elmose	73	74	Lazz	@Martinlazizi

Division 2

Team	Hive Account	Score	Score	Team	Hive Account
Hivetastic	@acidyo	85	78	Folox fc	@thelonegreywolf
Skander TN	@skanderh	80	65	Stom FC	@stomade
rubilu	@rubilu	69	72	Average	n/a
George Of D Jungle	@George-dee	62	66	Uwabbs Fc	@uwabbs001
Emeka4	@Emeka4	69	59	Twycejoy	@twicejoy
abu78	@abu78	76	80	Tengo Rangers FC	@tengolotodo
BLAngechys Matildas	@blanchy	90	92	Lens world fc	@Lensworld
racibo	@racibo	71	89	Stevenson FC	@stevenson7
HappyBoys FC	@Happyboy1	72	82	The inferno Squad	@jimah1k
legaliza	@legalizabrazil	25	71	Mount Everest	@khaleesii
Testing FC	@sperosamuel15	73	69	SOLAT	@reservedsingle
Yahuzah	@yahuzah	66	79	Samostically	@samostically
Smiley Team	@carita-feliz	75	93	Stevelight (Herbae)	@Herbae
adedayoolumide	@adedayoolumide	30	70	Rosh FC	@officialrosh1
Praiz Empire	@praizking	78	71	Apples and Pears	@stuartcturnbull
Beyond Horizon	@beyondhorizonmm	86	47	Satoshi99	@kraken99
Diistroyers	@diikaan	72	73	EVIAN CF	@nasfyneboy92
valchiz fc	@valchiz	66	80	HighWay2Anfield	@kenechukwu97
RHYDA1	@rhyda1	36	74	MUFC	@tiyumtaba
The Beast	@iamchuks	75	33	Michupa Brasil F.C.	@michupa
Roboski	@Gentleshaid	71	76	Simcard fpl	@akomoajong
Formidable Milano	@Damolexy	83	29	Happy Fc	@Happy411
Unbothered	@Dapomolaaaa	51	74	Tequeños United	@aaalviarez

Now for a few observations over the first month of the league

Head to Head leagues are all about luck...

There was a bit of debate in the discord channel about whether success in Head to Head leagues comes down to luck rather than skill. Certainly within any given gameweek, there is an element of 'luck of the draw' that contributes to outcomes so lets try and assess who's ridden their luck early on and who can feel a bit hard done by.

The simplest means that I could think of assessing this was to compare a teams total points for the season to date, with their ranking in their respective head to head league which of course is based on points won in the fixtures to date.

The Luckiest Managers in Division 1

Manager	Team
@b0s	Legion FC
@vickoly	Augument FC

The Unluckiest Managers in Division 1

Manager	Team
@mckane	FC McKane
@deniskj	I Feel Qatari

To put this into context, Legion FC have taken 9 points from their opening 4 games at a total of 240 points compared to both FC McKane and I Feel Qatari who have actually scored 6 more total points but managed just a solitary head to head win.

The Luckiest Managers in Division 2

Manager	Team
@aaalviarez	Tequenos United
@stomade	Stom FC

Weirdly enough, the other very lucky participant in Hive Division 2 is 'Average Score' which is being used to get us to an even 46 teams. No one who has played the average has beaten it yet in despite its scores being decidedly 'average'!

The Unluckiest Managers in Division 2

Manager	Team
@racibo	Racibo

Poor Racibo have as many if not more points than 3 sides that have a 100% record to date but somehow find themselves way down in 31st position.

It is, of course, very early in the season but to counter the claim that Head to Head divisions are all about luck it's worth noting that the top 3 places in Division 1 and the top 2 places in Division 2 are all occupied by the highest scoring teams over the first 4 weeks. Conversely, the bottom 2 places in both divisons have the lowest totals during that period.

We are already seeing that the cream will ultimately rise to the top while the not so good stuff is beginning to sink. Meanwhile in the middle, the ability to 'win ugly' could be a defining factor for success in head to head.

Want some sauce with those chips?

Chip usage is a major factor in the success of any FPL team and certainly within a given gameweek, they should provide any manager the necessary boost to overcome their opponent.

Most sides tend to hold onto their chips until a little later in the season although it's entirely possible that we'll see more and more managers choosing to use their first wildcard now that the transfer window is closed and everyone has a better sense of which players are more likely to play a prominent role in their team's success this year.

Below are the teams that have gone very early with their chip usage (accurate as of GW4)

Manager	Team	Division	Total chips used	Wildcard	Free hit	Triple captain	Bench boost
@valchiz	Valchiz FC	2	3	n/a	GW3	GW1	GW2
@adedayoolumide	adedayoolumide	2	2	n/a	GW3	GW2	n/a
@rhyda1	Rhyda	2	2	GW4	n/a	GW3	n/a
@emeka4	Emeka4	2	2	GW4	n/a	n/a	GW1
@martinlazizi	Lazz	1	1	GW4	n/a	n/a	n/a
@nonsowrites	Nonz FC	1	1	GW4	n/a	n/a	n/a
@happyboy1	Happy Boy FC	2	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	GW4
@akomoajong	Simcard FPL	2	1	GW3	n/a	n/a	n/a
@tiyumtaba	MUFC	2	1	GW4	n/a	n/a	n/a
@stevenson7	Stevenson FC	2	1	GW4	n/a	n/a	n/a
@samostically	Samostically	2	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	GW4
@twicejoy	Twycejoy	2	1	GW4	n/a	n/a	n/a
TOTALS				8	2	3	4

Certainly noticeable that chip usage amongst Divison 1 is far lower than in Division 2. Some of the old pros know that it's best to keep a couple of boosts up your sleeve for later in the season...

Everybody loves...

We spend a good amount of time every week picking out the differentials between sides so this week, I'll focus on the players that are the most common picks across both leagues.

Division 1 most popular players

What's most surprising is how many Chelsea players are popping up in squads. As well as Chilwell and Jackson, both Sterling and Gusto have equal ownership to Mitoma and Udogie and I only choose to include the later over them because they've appeared in squads more frequently so far, with plenty of managers FOMOing in on Chelsea stars following their 3-0 win over the mighty Luton Town FC!

It won't come as any surprise that the most picked player in the game at the moment is Haaland. Every team in Division 1 has him in their squad and the only advantage that can be gained from him, is knowing when and when not to give him the captain's armband, something which the sides towards the top of the league have generally done very well so far.

Division 2 most popular players

It's noticeable that sides in Division 2 look to spend much more on their defence than most sides in Division 1 do. Ederson is selected by 19 teams despite City's fondness for giving the opposition a consolation goal. Similarly, high value assets such as Trippier and VVD haven't really worked out so far this season.

There also seems to be more consensus over some of the higher priced assets like Salah and Watkins than there is in Division 1 while the budget picks are spread out much more.

One thing that is common across both leagues is that fixture difficulty for the most popular players in GW5 means that it might be a tough week to score big points. I've no doubt we'll see a few more managers joining the list of those who choose to use a chip ahead of the matches that begin on Friday. Otherwise, it'll be a case of a couple of well placed transfers that might prove the difference between victory and defeat.

GW5 Fixtures

Divison 1

Team	Hive Account		Team	Hive Account
Hungry Lions	@GvKanten	v	Legion Fc	@b0s
Creekside FC	@pappyelblanco	v	Lazz	@Martinlazizi
WhyteFC	@Ipalibo	v	Espada Numero Uno	@elmose
FC McKane	@McKane	v	I Feel Qatari	@deniskj
Nonz FC	@nonsowrites	v	Izanagi FC	@belemo
Hiveheadz	@borran	v	Content Creators	@Pvmihalache
Likodra FC	@teofilex11	v	Suffragette City	@talesfrmthecrypt
@BlockchainFPL	@blockchainFPL	v	Shamzy FC	@shamzy
Augment Fc	@vickoly	v	thoth442FC	@thoth442
The Amirians	@amirtheawesome1	v	YAGMAN FC	@yagman01

Divison 2

Team	Hive Account		Team	Hive Account
Folox fc	@thelonegreywolf	v	Simcard fpl	@akomoajong
Michupa Brasil F.C.	@michupa	v	Happy Fc	@Happy411
MUFC	@tiyumtaba	v	Tequeños United	@aaalviarez
HighWay2Anfield	@kenechukwu97	v	Unbothered	@Dapomolaaaa
EVIAN CF	@nasfyneboy92	v	Formidable Milano	@Damolexy
Satoshi99	@kraken99	v	Roboski	@Gentleshaid
Apples and Pears	@stuartcturnbull	v	The Beast	@iamchuks
Rosh FC	@officialrosh1	v	RHYDA1	@rhyda1
Stevelight (Herbae)	@Herbae	v	valchiz fc	@valchiz
Samostically	@samostically	v	Diistroyers	@diikaan
SOLAT	@reservedsingle	v	Beyond Horizon	@beyondhorizonmm
Mount Everest	@khaleesii	v	Praiz Empire	@praizking
The inferno Squad	@jimah1k	v	adedayoolumide	@adedayoolumide
Stevenson FC	@stevenson7	v	Smiley Team	@carita-feliz
Lens world fc	@Lensworld	v	Yahuzah	@yahuzah
Tengo Rangers FC	@tengolotodo	v	Testing FC	@sperosamuel15
Twycejoy	@twicejoy	v	legaliza	@legalizabrazil
Uwabbs Fc	@uwabbs001	v	HappyBoys FC	@Happyboy1
AVERAGE	n/a	v	racibo	@racibo
Stom FC	@stomade	v	BLAngechys Matildas	@blanchy
Hivetastic	@acidyo	v	abu78	@abu78
Skander TN	@skanderh	v	Emeka4	@Emeka4
rubilu	@rubilu	v	George Of D Jungle	@George-dee

Good luck in your gameweek 5 fixtures