fantasy premier league team selection – 1st go at a team

Fantasy Premier League, Preseason

Here’s my first go at a team in FPL.  It’s very early and shouldn’t be taken too seriously but it may give you some food for thought.  It will also again help with the pre-season game focus

fantasy premier league team selection – 1st go at a team

Here’s my first go at an FPL team plus some narrative afterwwards.  Just to reitrate that it’s very early so don’t take it too seriously but it hopefully give some ideas and give a structure.  After the new rules I need to update my strategy article which you can find in the strategy tab but that would also help your thoughts as we tinker our way through pre-season.

Here’s a few things to point out before I go into the team in more detail.  There’s no Aguero or Sanchez due to the Copa America.  That may change depending on pre-season but it seems they wont be available for GW1.  My plan at the moment is to try and hold off until the September international break in after GW4 and then use the 1st wildcard to at least get Aguero in.   Although I probably will use the first wildcard at that time I haven’t set the team up on that basis.  I’ve gone for the flexibility of setting it up as I would do if I wasn’t going to use it.  If I don’t I would just get Aguero in through 2 transfers or hits.

Player ownership will also be an issue come the selection for gameweek 1  and will help determine player selection.  I won’t go over the ownership debate again but go to the strategy article again if you want my views.

You maybe drawn to CB Steven Taylor and GK Mark Bunn who are effectively my £4.0m placeholders and are unlikely to play at the moment.  Hopefully pre-season will identify some £4.0m players more likely to play.

Also, I expect all 3 chips to be used in the 2nd half of the season as you ‘ll see from my last article.  Therefore the chips aren’t playing a part in my GW1 selection.

Anyway here’s the team:

fpl..preseason1

I’m going to divide the team into 3 parts.  The core, the fixture players and the cheap

The Core

These are the backbone of the team and are generally proven FPL players or from proven defensive teams.  These are Azpilicueta, Koscielny, Silva, Hazard, Walcott, Sigurdsson and Rooney.

For the defence I’ve gone for a Chelsea (Azplicueta) and Arsenal (Koscielny) player.  I think these will be 2 of the best defensive teams.

In midfield I’ve gone for the 4 players that were in my article,  the proven and the reliable

(cut and paste into a new tab browser  http://www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-the-proven-and-reliable/)

Walcott is a gametime risk with Arsenal having a number of options but if he plays he’s a proven performer.  Pre-season will be helpful but Sanchez’s return could also cause problems for his gametime.

Sigurdsson is a bit more controversial and could be considered only as a fixture player but Swansea’s fixtures aren’t too bad so he is in a bit of a grey area here.

I’ve gone for Rooney as if he plays as a forward then again he’s a proven performer.  Pre-season positioning and formations by LVG and further transfers will be keenly looked at.  Interestingly there is some chat on Depay playing striker which is something to watch but I can’t believe another big signing won’t happen.

The fixture players

I’ve picked 2 players based solely on fixtures.  Bournemouth and Southampton under my fixture ease schedule (see the tab) have the 5th and 2nd best fixtures over the first 6 although Bournemouths first 3 could be better.  Southampton was a straight choice between Mane and Pelle.  I went for Pelle due to certainty of selection even though his form last season was a little up and down to say the least.

Bournemouth is a straight choice between mid Ritchie and fwd Wilson and I’ve gone for Wilson although not by much.  Here’s my article on the attacking players in newly promoted teams.  Again cut and paste into a new tab.

fantasy premier league – looking at some key players in the promoted teams

The cheap fillers

In defence I’ve gone for the strategy of 2 core players is to be surrounded by the best cheapies possible. Therefore the idea is to just make the rest as cheap as possible.  I’m ok with a single GK and WBA GK certainly does the job home or away.  It will be a pain with Foster coming back in October but I’ll just have to deal with it.  A playing £4.0m GK would be helpful but looks unlikely.  If WBA introduce one then more the better as a reserve.

No £4.0m defenders look like they will line up at the moment but it’s a case of watching pre-season.  I’ve gone for Sunderland and Leicester who unfortunately don’t rotate home and away very well at all but have good fixtures and good defensive form at the end of last season but it’s a work in progress.  The idea will be to have 3 playing defenders if possible which will render that lack of rotation irrelevant.  Obviously if Steven Taylor does earn a place for Newcastle then Newcastle and Sunderland rotate perfectly.  Bournemouths Francis is another option who also has attacking potential.

Lots of options in the £4.5m midfielder though although many are the Gareth Barry, Cattermole types.  For the moment I’ve gone for Watford RW Anya but there are a number of options.  Anya of Watford doesn’t have a great record but seemed one of the more attacking players for £4.5m.  There are a alot to look at though.

Hope that was helpful.  I’ll refresh the team regularly though and post it as pre-season moves on

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