Here’s the second of our Fantasy Premier League promoted teams articles where we look Championship runners up Watford. We look at a potential lineup as it stands now plus their stats in the Championship and last time in the Premier League
Fantasy Premier League Promoted Teams – Watford
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The Team stats for the Championship Season
I’ve also completed an article on Norwich
Watford finished 2nd in the Championship and secured automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Basic team attacking stats
They scored 63 goals which was 5th in the Championship. Note WBA and Leeds scored 77 in their promotion season. Fulham 64.
They were 11th in Shots per game with 11.3. They had the 8th least failure to score % in the Championship of 26% and were 6th with possession at 52.8%
Basic team defensive stats
They were first in clean sheets with 23. Leeds had 22, WBA 14 and Fulham 17 in their promotion season.
Their shots per game conceded was poor with 10.6 ranked 7th. However goals conceded was better with 30 where they were ranked first. Leeds were 35, WBA 45 and Fulham 48.
Team Stats Summary
A pretty ordinary attacking side who were outscored in the Championship by the goal shy Fulham team and miles behind Leeds and WBA.
However they were the best defensive side in the Championship and their clean sheet record was excellent.
The fixtures
Ive rated them in my attacking players fixture ease article as having the 8th best fixtures for the first 6 gameweeks and for defensive players the 4th best fixtures for the same period
Here they are from the FPL site
Transfers in and out so far
I’ve taken this graphic below from the Guardian. It will be useful for later discussion.
Baah (£4.5m mid) and Pollock (£4.0m def) are young guys who played in League 1 and 2 last season. Rose £4.5m def) played no Premier league football last season. Fletcher (£5.0m def) managed 5 starts and 7 sub appearances for Middlesborough last season so I’d question his impact. Emmanuel Dennis (not in FPL yet) made 18 appearances in total for Koln and Brugge last season for 0 goals and 3 assists in roughly 900 minutes so it’s hard to see him making an immediate threat.
Louza (£5.5m mid) is the 1 transfer that could potentially impact on the lineup. He made 28 starts plus 5 as sub for Nantes in Ligue 1 last season for 7 goals and 3 assists at a goal or assist every 238 minutes. He’s mainly a CM so a threat to the likes of Cleverley, Hughes and Chalobah but not a potential FPL player it seems.
A potential lineup as things stand today
The above players stats from last season in the Championship
Stats from the Premier League 19/20
So what does this all mean?
Lineup
Watford have so many players that it is difficult to put a lineup together. Preseason will help but for the moment here’s my thoughts
I think the forwards are confused as Deeney was injured for the 2nd half of the season and they have added 2 forwards to him and Pedro. It’s hard to make a convincing case for any of them.
In the front 3 Sarr looks certain to start. Sema seemed safe last season but it’s surely a position they will look to strengthen.
The midfield 3 is confused by the addition of Louza but none seem to have the potential to be in your FPL team anyway.
The defence seems solid in the lineup which is surprising given the players there like Cathcart and Kabasele who played previously in the Premier league. Femenia seems the most attacking
The Stats
The team defensive stats and the fixtures seem strong and with all the defenders being £4.5m there is an attraction there. None particularly are very attacking although Femenia probably has the marginal advantage on stats.
In attack Sarr is the major option with no one else standing out. Deeney could have penalties I guess but how effective he could be a 33 is questionable.
The hunt for the £4.0m Def and Gk and £4.5m Mid
The £4.0m GK is Foster. I suspect given he lost his place last season then he won’t be a starter.
The £4.0m defenders are Pollock who is 19 and has come from league 2 so that seems incredibly unlikely. Navarro appears to be the 3rd choice RB so little hope there.
There are 3 £4.5m mids. Quina who spent most of the latter part of the season on the bench. Baah who’s 18 from Rochdale and was playing League 1 last season. Hungbo and Dele-Bashiri who made 2 starts and 1 sub appearance between them last season.
The £4.5m forward Perica made 2 starts and 14 sub appearances last season but was out of the team or on the bench for the latter part of the season and seems unlikely to feature given the transfers in.
Overall summary
Watford have good fixtures to start particularly defensively and they did perform well last season. I would possibly consider a £4.5m defender (Femenia maybe). The GK also looks an option if Brighton’s Sanchez didn’t look such great value.
In attack only £6.0m Sarr looks an option for me. Deeney is interesting and has pens if he’s first choice but it seems a bit of a stretch at 33.
There doesn’t appear to be a £4.0m GK or Def who will play or a £4.5m mid or forward who will play.
However remember there will be comings and goings and pre-season will sort alot of issues out.
Other posts
Attacking players fixture difficulty Schedule
Defensive players fixture difficulty schedule
Kev and Rob’s first draft teams
Andrew and Costas’ first draft teams
The FFGeek Tracker team (8k OR last season)
An overview of Promoted Norwich City
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