Here’s the weekly update on where my fantasy premier league team is for GW1 at the moment. I’ll talk through the changes, selections issues and my watchouts over the next 2 weeks of pre-season.
fantasy premier league team selection tips – FFGeek 3rd draft team
Firstly it’s worth stating that the team will undoubtedly change over the next couple of weeks leading into GW1. So just take it as a moment in time.
Also there’s no Aguero or Sanchez due to the Copa America making it unlikely they will start in GW1
Thirdly I’m probably going to use my first wildcard after GW4 but the team is being set up to give flexibility so I dont need to. I’m also planning on using the 3 chips in the 2nd half of the season so thats also not an issue for the moment.
Ok so here’s the latest team with the changes explained below:
The Changes
£4.0m Crystal Palace GK Hennessey in for £4.0m Norwich GK Rudd
I’m sticking to my £4.5m Myhill being my only GK despite the fixtures. I believe in Tony Pulis’ defence home and away so don’t feel the need for a rotation GK option. I will have to change it when Foster comes back in October and no one likes wasting a transfer changing a GK but so be it. Hennessey is £4.0m and rumoured to being bought by WBA so if I’m going to have a non playing £4.0m GK then it may as well be one who’s potentially going to be Myhills back up at least to Foster returns
£4.5m Bournemouth Def Francis in for £4.0m A Villa def Baker
The Bournemouth RB is the most attacking of the Bournemouth defenders and seems secure gametime wise. Bournemouth had a reasonable defensive record in the Championship. I’ve lost faith in any £4.0m defender coming through so I’ve adjusted my team accordingly
£4.5m Leicester def Huth in for £4.5m Leicester def Morgan
There is some doubt about Morgan starting the season so I’ve swapped him for his CB partner Robert Huth who if anything has more attacking potential
£7.0m Spurs mid Chadli in for Swansea £7.5m mid Sigurdsson
Merely the result of the Francis upgrade on Baker. Chadli was a frustrating player last season having big scoring bursts followed by times out of the side. His lack of pressing is the reason why Pochettino seems unconvinced but Chadli did start the last 12 games of last season scoring 4 goals in the process. He did have 3 substiutions in the late 70 mins and 3 in the 60’s which isn’t ideal though. His minutes per FPL point is 15 which is pretty impressive its just can he get on the pitch and stay on it. For the price I think he’s worth the gamble. The fixtures after the Man Utd game aren’t that bad. Although as you saw against Chelsea in Spurs 5-3 win where he got a goal and an assist he can get points againts anyone.
Man Utd (A)
Stoke (H)
Leicester (A)
Everton (H)
Sunderland (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Ownership
Before I get on to my team here’s a check on the ownership position. I wont go into the debate about ownership. If you want to refresh it then go on to the strategy tab on the website to see my latest article.
fantasy premier league strategy – a review after the end of season
There are 4 players with ownership above 30% at the moment:
Hazard 53%
Clyne 43%
Costa 35%
Kane 32%
Normally I would be very wary of not owning anyone over 30% and certainly over 40% I would be very nervous. I have Hazard and Clyne but not Costa or Kane. I’m wary of doubling up with Chelsea players as their fixtures aren’t easy. Im also a little wary of Kane as I’m concerned he overperformed last year (his shots in the box ratio was quite low) and the fact that he played in the U21 tournament during the offseason. For the moment I’m holding off both.
Looking at the ownership of my entire team it goes as follows:
Myhill 2%, Hennessey 6%, Francis 3%, Azpili 20%, Clyne 43%, Huth 2%, O’Shea 11%, Walcott 7%, Silva 13%, Hazard 53%, Chadli 8%, Surman 0%, Benteke 29%, Rooney 10%, Wilson 5%
Ownership is quite low at the moment which does place quite alot of risk of a very low ranking if things don’t go well or conversly a very high ranking if it all does go well. In terms of team value there’s some debate about how ownership in the early weeks effects it. Some argue that if a high ownership player fails to perform mass sales will see a large drop in value. Others argue that it takes more sales to trigger drops in value so high ownership is a protection. I have to say I don’t know what the answer is. If you read my strategy article you’ll see that team value isn’t exactly my strength. Last season I finished 2,720 with a team value in the £102m’s. This was mainly due to the fact that I hate transferring in early in the week and used the wildcard late on and not early to gain team value.
I’ll keep an eye on ownership over the coming 2 weeks but for the moment the ownership players are Hazard and Clyne
The core players
These are the proven FPL players or defences and make the core of my team. They are Azpilicueta, Walcott, Silva and Hazard. I would also classify Rooney there who is a proven FPL player when played as a striker
Here’s the relevant article to copy and paste into a new tab
The fixture players
I always like to have a few players in the team who are based on good fixtures coming up. They won’t necessarily always be proven players but will be attractive due to the fixtures. Benteke and Wilson are the 2 players here.
Lets look at their fixtures:
Firstly Benteke
Stoke (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Arsenal (A)
West Ham (H)
Man Utd (A)
Norwich (H)
Great home fixtures if not the away ones.
And Wilson
Aston Villa (H)
Liverpool (A)
West Ham (A)
Leicester (H)
Norwich (A)
Sunderland (H)
Here’s our fixture ease schedule which ranks the opening fixtures of all the teams to copy and paste into a new tab
http://www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk/category/fixture-ease-sched/
The cheap fillers
I have 3 defenders at £4.5m who rotate reasonably well. I didn’t pick them specifically based on the rotation possibilities but chose 3 teams with £4.5m defs that are gametime secure and have defences I believe in at least for that price.
Here’s how they rotate for the first 6 games:
GW1 – Bournemouth home to A Villa
GW2 – Sunderland home to Norwich
GW3 – Sunderland home to Swansea
GW4 – Bournemouth home to Leicester
GW5 – Leicester home to Villa
GW6 – Bournemouth home to Sunderland
£4.5m Bournemouth midfielder Surman looks a good bet for the 5th midfield spot without being a card magnet and with some attacking potential
Captain considerations
I only really have 3 games to consider before Aguero comes on board for the GW4 match home to Watford. Hazard and Rooney in the team are the only real captain options. The first 3 games look like this
GW1 – Hazard home to Swansea
GW2 – Rooney away to Villa or Benteke home to Bournemouth
GW3 – Rooney home to Newcastle
The watchouts coming up
Walcott
Will he start? Luckily the community shield should show Wengers first team. That gets over 1 hurdle but still the question remains over whether Sanchez will take his place when he’s fit.
Chadli
Again will he start? Pre-season needs watching
Benteke
Will he be fit and adjusted enough to start in GW1
All things to watch in the 2 weeks coming
Hope the above gave you some food for thought in doing your own team
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