Here’s our 2nd fantasy premier league preseason article where we look at each team in turn over pre-season to establish a possible GW1 lineup as well as form players plus tracking individual players of interest as well as the world cup returners. This time it’s Leicester to Wolves
fantasy premier league preseason and GW1 possible lineups – part 2 Leicester to Wolves
Here we will go over each team in turn and review it regularly to establish
a possible GW1 lineup
track players of interest
track world cup returners (see our earlier article on World Cup returners)
establish form players (as I write this too soon to establish as pre-season games have often been against lower opposition)
injured players
I’ve also done 2 articles on new players to FPL
Plus there’s our fixture ease article to see who has the best fixtures and our expected goals and team article for underlying stats
Leicester
Chilwell, James and Maddison are the injury doubts
World Cup returners
Schmeichel – RO16
Jakupovic – RO16
Maguire – SEMI
Benalouane – GRP
Ndidi – GRP
A Silva – RO16
Vardy – SEMI
Okazaki – RO16
Iheanacho – GRP
Maguire and Vardy should be the only absentee’s
Leicester for me is a £4.5m defence and only Morgan short term until Maguire returns is at this price.
I like £6.0m forward Iheanacho and £5.5m forward Okazaki but only 1 will start after Vardy returns. £5.5m mid Demari Gray should come into the team with Mahrez sold and he has potential for me
Man Utd (A)
Wolves (H)
Southampton (A)
Liverpool (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Newcastle (A)
Everton (H)
Liverpool
Chamberlin has no return date. Gomez is an injury doubt
World Cup returners:
Lovren – SEMI
Alexander-Arnold – SEMI
Salah – GRP
Mané – GRP
Henderson – SEMI
Firmino – QTR
Shaqiri – RO16
£13.0m Salah whether he plays RW or CF will be interesting but at his ownership and likely captain favourite is hard to ignore. £7.5m mid Shaqiri could be great value if he starts in Firmino’s absence but with Keita and Fabinho bought I can’t see Klopp moving from 4-3-3 long term. However Shaqiri will be a monitor as his price is excellent.
In defence £6.0m Robertson is the attacking pick. £5.0m Clyne has the opportunity to hold his place with TAA back late as does £5.0m Matip from Lovren.
The likely purchase of a GK negates the value of £5.0m Karius or if you believe Klopp £4.5m Ward
West Ham (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Brighton (H)
Leicester (A)
Spurs (A)
Southampton (H)
Chelsea (A)
Man City (H)
Man City
Injury Doubts: Danilo
World Cup returners:
Ederson – QTR
Otamendi – RO16
Walker – SEMI
Danilo – QTR
Stones – SEMI
Kompany – SEMI
Delph – SEMI
Mendy – SEMI
Sterling – SEMI
De Bruyne – SEMI
David Silva – RO16
Fernandinho – QTR
Bernardo Silva – RO16
Gündogan – GRP
Agüero – RO16
Jesus – QTR
With so many late returners we’ll be looking at lineups, formations and returners but more likely those who didn’t go to the World Cup in Sane and Mahrez will be the focus early on. Aguero, Otamendi and Bernardo probably got out early enough. Mendy is surprisingly named on the US tour.
Who knows how they will lineup but my own view is that Pep will only play a back 4 to accommodate Jesus and Aguero and assuming Jesus isn’t fit then he will stay with a back 4 for GW1.
The Community shield will help though to some extent.
Arsenal (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Wolves (A)
Newcastle (H)
Fulham (H)
Cardiff (A)
Brighton (H)
Liverpool (A)
Here’s a crack at it for what it’s worth:
Man Utd
No injury worries
World Cup returners:
De Gea – RO16
Jones – SEMI
Lindelöf – QTR
Rojo – RO16
Pogba – SEMI
Lingard – SEMI
Matic – GRP
Fellaini – SEMI
Fred – QTR
Lukaku – SEMI
Rashford – SEMI
Young – SEMI
The defence depends on whether you want to go short term or long term. £6.0m GK De Gea and £6.5m Valencia (subject to an incoming RB are the safe picks). £5.5m Bailly and £5.0m Shaw are the potential money savers, Shaw, probably only in the short term
In Midfield £10.5m Sanchez is the key pick especially if he plays CF. £7.5m mid Martial could be a short term option.
Leicester (H)
Brighton (A)
Spurs (H)
Burnley (A)
Watford (A)
Wolves (H)
West Ham (A)
Newcastle (H)
Here’s my thoughts on the potential lineup which again is a tricky one. I’m still assuming Fred will be given the rest despite not playing btw
Newcastle
Injury doubts to Clark
No World Cup returners
Newcastle are a £4.5m defence only which is why for me Yedlin is the best pick
In midfield Kenedy is an outstanding price at £5.0m. Up front £6.0m fwd Gayle has potential if he looks a certain starter. £6.5m for me is just too rich for Perez.
Spurs (H)
Cardiff (A)
Chelsea (H)
Man City (A)
Arsenal (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Leicester (H)
Man Utd (A)
Southampton
Steven Davis is the only injury doubt
Cédric – RO16
Yoshida – RO16
Bednarek – GRP
In defence £4.5m Cedric or maybe £4.5m Yoshida are the options. I’m sceptical that £4.0m Bednarek will start unfortunately.
In midfield there are alot of historic disappointments. £6.5m Elyounoussi had a fantastic record for Basel but it’s big step up and his price seems expensive.
£6.0m Austin is a pure out and out striker if he can start regularly
Hughes seem to settle on a 3-4-2-1 last season. Whether Tadic leaving changes that remains to be seen.
Burnley (H)
Everton (A)
Leicester (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Brighton (H)
Liverpool (A)
Wolves (A)
Chelsea (H)
Spurs
Just Harry Winks as an injury doubt
World Cup returners:
Lloris – SEMI
Vertonghen – SEMI
Trippier-SEMI
Sánchez – RO16
Alderweireld – SEMI
Rose – SEMI
Eriksen – RO16
Son – GRP
Alli – SEMI
Dier – SEMI
Dembélé – SEMI
Kane – SEMI
Son will also be away on Asian Cup duty.
So with so many players late back it’s hard to pick out anyone but the obvious 2 have to be £6.0m Def Davies and £9.5m Eriksen if you’re selecting for the long term. Whether Spurs will have the strength to make anything other than the short term value picks remains to be seen. The bargain defender short term will be £4.5m Walker Peters if he can somehow get on the pitch
All of £6.5m mid Lamela, £7.0m mid Moura and £6.0m fwd Llorente potentially offer value it’s just how strong Spurs will be to take advantage.
Newcastle (A)
Fulham (H)
Man Utd (A)
Watford (A)
Liverpool (H)
Brighton (A)
Huddersfield (A)
Cardiff (H)
Watford
Injury doubts to Okaka and Cleverley
World Cup returners:
Amrabat and Carrillo both GRP
You’d think Watford were in 2 European competitions judging by the size of their squad.
Picking a lineup is near impossible. In defence you’re probably safest to go for £4.5m GK Foster.
£5.5m mid Deulofeu in attack is probably the best option
Brighton (H)
Burnley (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Spurs (H)
Man Utd (H)
Fulham (A)
Arsenal (A)
Bournemouth (H)
West Ham
Lanzini out long term. Reid has no return date.
World Cup returners
Fabianski – GRP
Kouyaté – GRP
Chicharito – RO16
West Ham are a £4.5m defence team so CB Diop and Ogbonna look as the viable target plus the GK £4.5m Fabianski
It seems Pellegrini will play a front 3 and there are 4 options in £7.0m fwd Arnautovic, £6.5m fwd Chicharito and £7.0m mids Anderson and Yarmalenko. Their position and formation are worth monitoring. He could play all 4 if he switches to 4-2-3-1.
Masuaku has been a popular £4.5m mid but I’m unsure where he will fit in.
Liverpool (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Arsenal (A)
Wolves (H)
Everton (A)
Chelsea (H)
Man Utd (H)
Brighton (A)
Wolves
No injury issues
Only World Cup returners are Siass GRP and Jiminez RO16
There’s a decent selection of £4.5m defenders but there’s also the possibility that £4.0m Bennett could start so he’s worth monitoring.
In attack £6.5m mid Jota and fwd Jiminez at £5.5m are the monitors
Everton (H)
Leicester (A)
Man City (H)
West Ham (A)
Burnley (H)
Man Utd (A)
Southampton (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news
Geek League links
passcode: 0417
Telegraph fantasy football £2 cash league
passcode 0050
