I’ve had a very quick go at a first draft team to start some debate. The first thing that hits you is how hard it is to get a squad within the £100m.
fantasy premier league tips – a quick first draft team
I’ll post the team below and then put a bit of narrative about each player and the dilemmas I faced. It’s very much a first draft and is really to spark debate and views from different people. With transfers,injuries and pre-season matches still to come then things could change very rapidly
GK – Krul and Mannone (both £4.5m)
The top 4 challenging teams have good value GKs but I’ve gone for the geographically perfect home and away GKs rotation of Krul and Mannone. 12 home clean sheets last season but save and bonus points seem to make this a reasonable option to start with. The Chelsea GK option of £6.0m also looks interesting with Cech injured at the moment.
Cahill (£6.5m)
I’d like the defensive player to be cheaper than this but it’s not that simple. Chelsea led the defence ratings last year in just about every stat. That coupled with their good starting fixtures makes them the number 1 team defensive pick for me. The only risk is how much Mourinho made the team more defensive due to the lack of striker last year. This may have made them more defensive so they could win with minimum number of goals. Having solved that problem with Costa we may see a more attacking Chelsea. With Filipe Luis joining the FB positions are impossible to pick. Terry could be rotated with Ivanovic to preserve fitness. Thats even before you think about additional prchases such as Varane. Cahill is the most secure at the moment in my mind.
Debuchy
Good value at £5.5m for an Arsenal defender. LB is too unsure for gametime and this saves £0.5m on Koscielny and Mertesacker. Doesn’t sound much but if you’ve done a team it really does count. 16 clean sheets last season and could be improved with more transfers. Especially if they can but a quality CDM
Baird (£4.0M)
With Billy Jones and Steven Reid sold Chris Baird looks a decent shout to fill in at that position. If the impending loan of Wisdom from Liverpool goes ahead and he looks favourite he’s also £4.0m and would replace him in my team. This will need preseason monitoring though. WBA aren’t my defence of choice but £4.0m defenders are thin on the ground.
Duff (£4.0M)
I’ve now gone in search of the 3 cheapest defenders I can find with gametime security. Duff played 41 games last season for Burnley. As of yet they haven’t bought a CB.
Upson (£4.0m)
One of the 3 Leicester £4.0m CB’s in Upson, Wasilewski and Moore should make a CB position (barring any further purchases). Hopefully we can pick the right one from preseason.
NOTE: The 3 cheap players will rotate for the 1 defensive position in 3-4-3. This combination doesn’t dovetail that well early on to say the least in terms of fixtures and rotation. Does settle into a 2 home/away and 1 away/home rotation.
Odemwingie (£6.5m)
He’s my gamble for the good fixtures that Stoke have to start the season. His minutes per FPL points last year of 22 was pretty ordinary but he finished the season well. He also plays very advanced. Could also have been Arnautovic (possibly pens) or even Adam for set pieces.
Hazard (£10.0m)
With Chelsea having such strong fixtures, coverage in some form seems essential. It’s either Hazard or Costa for me. Despite his ordinary World Cup Hazard has that ability to score big against the poorer teams. Ideal for a good run of fixtures. Should also have pens if Costa can be kept away. Rotation is the main worry although last year he was an untouchable.
Ramsey (£9.0m)
Just edged out of the best performing midfield player and well rested while others were toiling at the World Cup. It was a choice between Sanchez and Ramsey for an Arsenal player. If there was no budget I might have gone for Sanchez but went for Ramsey for those budget reasons
Albrighton (£4.5m)
Returns were pretty ordinary last year but has got the attacking potential. Leicester have some tricky fixtures but he does rotate with Davis of Southampton. Leicester have 3 right sided midfield players in Knockaert and Mahrez who are more expensive so monitoring is required of preseason games
Davis (£5.0m)
Finished the season with set pieces although pretty ordinary returns. Rotates well with Albrighton of Leicester
Remy (£7.5m)
Looking like he will be moving to Liverpool which at his price will make him an absolute bargain. A return of a FPL point every 15.5 minutes could be substantially improved at Liverpool. His position will be interesting though. Will Rodgers play him as a pair with Sturridge in a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 or a 4-4-2 diamond or will he play him on the left flank in a 4-3-3. A wider position may reduce his appeal.
RVP (£12.5m)
The good news is that he has great fixtures, pens and a manager he can trust. Plus we saw some good World Cup form in patches. The potential negatives are the long World Cup and niggling injuries. Should be the main striking man. Rooney though as part of a pair, rather than wide or behind RVP, would have appeal.
Aguero (£12.0m)
The injuries of last year and the World Cup plus a lack of rest and pre-season make him a big gametime risk. Not to mention that making him all the more rotation prone especially with 4 strikers, 2 of which didn’t have the World Cup as a distraction. If he looks like he will be fit though he could be the most explosive striker in the league. Will have pens. Returns per minute last year were better than Suarez. Special attention required in preseason. Costa and YYT as an alternative is nearly the same price.
Captain choice
The captain choice relies completely on the home and away geographic rotation between RVP and Aguero. Last year that wasn’t of assistance with United being poor at home. Should be interesting to see if Van Gaal can change this problem.
Thats it. Hope it stimulated some thoughts for your own early draft teams
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fantasy premier league tips
fantasy premier league tips
