Here’s the latest version of the FFGeek team including thoughts on the players in it with some detailed chat on them all and the changes from the last draft
fantasy premier league GW1 team selection – the latest FFGeek team draft
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Introduction
If you’re new to the site my last 4 season’s overall ranks are 17k, 36k, 17k and 21k
So here’s the latest version of the FFGeek team. It’s not going to be the final version but it’s where I am now.
Here’s the team
4 Premiums WTF!
At the heart of my conundrum is 4 premiums vs 3 previously.
Salah, Aubameyang, Werner and Fernandes.
I funded the £3.0m needed for Antonio out to Werner in with the following transfers:
Robertson out Davies in £2m saved
Justin out Mitchell in £0.5m saved
Foden out Ward Prowse in £0.5m saved
Offset by Vinagre out Saiss in £0.5m spent.
I already had £0.5m in the bank.
If you’re a regular reader You’ll know my team is based on the template provided by the 10 top managers who I follow who’ve never finished outside the top 10k in the last 3 seasons. At the moment I don’t have that as a starter for 10 although it will become apparent after GW3 when I expect managers will have sorted their Man Utd and Man City assets. So I’m picking on what I think the template is now and what it could be.
At the heart of this conundrum is Fernandes. If Fernandes didn’t have penalty duties then he wouldn’t be anywhere near my team. However with Man Utd getting 14 penalties last season and 12 the season before that he surely will get at least 10-15 assists absolute then we should have a player with potential for a huge amount of points. With a defensive injury ravaged Palace team up in GW2 then he’s a player I would rather have.
Werner is the other side of the complication. He seems like he will be a template player.
Salah is Salah and I still have total faith in him. Aubameyang will become De Bruyne who was the top point scorer last season.
The problem now is the affect on the defence and that I will need to play 4-4-2. That’s not helpful with Robertson out and now Mitchell in the team I don’t have the strength in defence I did.
Anyway that sets the scene and I’ll talk about individual players now.
McCarthy £4.5m GK
Ryan and McCarthy are the viable 2 £4.5m GKs which is my favoured GK option. There are the promoted teams or if you think Martinez will be number 1 but I don’t really want to go to either of those places. I believe in the Southampton defence more and McCarthy as a GK more than Ryan so I’ve stuck with him.
Nyland £4.0m GK
I’ve backed up McCarthy with a £4.0m GK in Nyland. I hate rotating playing GKs. You always get them wrong. Nyland with Heaton injured should play a few games although that’s not certain as Steer could start as well. However the only other option is Button and he’s already acknowledged he’s at WBA as a number 2.
Alexander Arnold £7.5m Def
Shouldn’t need much of an explanation
Saiss £5.0m Def (replaces Vinagre £4.5m def)
Wolves have transferred in a LB in Marcal as well as showing interest in LB Alex Telles. Vinagre is also subject to transfer rumours away from Wolves. However Wolves to me were the 4th best defence last season and have a great run of fixtures so they are definitely going to be represented. Saiss actually has pretty decent attacking stats and started all but 1 of the last 17 fixtures.
Davies £5.0m def (replaces Robertson £7.0m)
Losing Robertson was merely to fund Werner.
Spurs last season I ranked as the 9th best defence for the season and last 10 gameweeks. I’m banking on good fixtures and Mourinho improving the defence to get decent returns
I’ve gone for Davies over Dier who was the other £5.0m as I still can’t see why Sanchez isn’t a risk to Dier’s starting position. I don’t think that Rose is to Davies.
Saliba £4.5m def
The tricky fixtures between GW3 and GW7 make Arsenal a difficult selection. That’s not helped by the fact that now my bench options and my FPL formation of 4-4-2 means he will be played more. If Mitchell is still playing Palace cover those fixtures reasonably well.
Getting back to the basics, the Arsenal defence I ranked 13th over the season and in xGA terms the last 10 gameweeks didn’t see an improvement. Again this is the hope that the signings of Saliba and Gabriel improve the defence and Arteta also improves the team.
I think given the injuries and a desire to play 3-4-3 should see Saliba play.
Mitchell £4.0m def(replaces Justin £4.5m)
Firstly on Justin, there is alot of theory that the new mainly RB Castagne will play LB to replace Chilwell and Justin is safe but I’m too nervous to keep him in my team
Mitchell should play given what I’ve seen in preseason and that Van Aanholt seems out for the start of the season at least although there doesn’t appear to be a firm return date
Ward Prowse £6.0m mid (replaces Foden £6.5m)
I really like Foden but given my bench of Mitchell, Ceballos and Brewster then I can’t afford to have the Pep rotation risk that goes with him. Should I take the plunge on not having Werner or Fernandes then he would likely return.
Ward Prowse has decent fixtures as well as penalties and set pieces. Southampton have decent fixtures and his returns in my midfield player rankings were pretty good. I would rather have Diogo Jota but I’m just unsure about his minutes in game and rotation. I also like Bowen of West Ham but the fixtures aren’t great
Salah £12.0m mid
Needs no explanation for me. Preseason is irrelevant to me
Aubameyang £12.0m mid (will be replaced by De Bruyne £11.5m in GW3)
Over performed his underlying stats last season without a history of doing so that the likes of De Bruyne and Hazard have due to some pretty incredible finishing. Can he keep it up in a reactive counter attacking team that really struggles to break down low block teams. We will see. I’ve got him as every man and his dog does due to the first 2 fixtures
Ceballos £5.0m mid (replaces Soucek £5.0m)
This is due to Soucek availability being in doubt due to having to quarantine after Covid issues when on International duty
Ceballos should play and seems a reasonable shout as the first bench member
Fernandes £10.5 mid
I pretty much said all I need to in the first part of this when I talk about structure and the 4 premiums. By the way his xA90 was o.20. That’s less than Saint Maximin and Trossard. De Bruyne’s was 0.66. His 8 assists last season were well above his xA. He will need to improve and this is one of the areas of concern. Relying on penalties and improving his creativity is something that maybe for £10.5m you shouldn’t be thinking about?
Mitrovic £6.0m fwd
Good fixtures and price are the reason. His underlying stats when last in the PL put him in the Maupay category. Good fixtures and hope for the best.
Werner £9.5m (replaces Antonio £5.6m)
Werner in the Bundesliga in 19/20 scored 28 goals and 8 assists in 34 starts at a goal or assist every 78 minutes which are stats that Aguero would be proud of. His underlying stats are eye wateringly good and would have made him the best forward in my forward players rankings. However Bundesliga to Premier league translation isn’t a given and Werner could have minutes eroded by being subbed for Abraham or Giroud. Every man and his dog seemed to have him so I’m anticipating him being a template player.
Brewster £4.5m (replaces Davis £4.5m)
Davis is further away from starting with the signing of Ollie Watkins and he wasn’t that close anyway. Brewster is a punt on him going out on loan somewhere since I don’t have 3 Liverpool players at the moment. If I chose to reverse that and he stays he would be a painful waste of a transfer.
Fixture Ease for attacking players
In case you want to check out the fixtures for any player here’s my fixture ease schedule for attacking players. The higher the ranking the better the fixtures
Fixture ease for defensive players
In case you want to check out the fixtures for any player here’s my fixture ease schedule for defensive players. The higher the ranking the better the fixtures
See my fixture ease article
Other posts
See part 1 of more FFGeek Contributor teams
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