Here’s our FPL GW1 teams 2022 article with FFGeek Contributor Andrew Whitfield with his latest FPL team with detailed commentary. Andrew has finished 3 of the last 5 seasons in the top 35k overall rank
FPL GW1 teams 2022 – Andrew Whitfield’s latest Team
Additional content on the FFGeek Patreon site
£2 plus Vat per calendar month
* All the articles on www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk advert free
£2.50 plus Vat per Calender month (plus the above)
*access to Joseph Crilleys Transfer Planner and points projection tool plus FPL team run by it. 3k OR 21/22
* access to the FFGeek Contributor tracker team incl live transfers (OR 8k 20/21. 96k 21/22)
*The FFGeek team including live transfers and the early thoughts article will this season be on the Patreon site 4 of last 6 seasons top 21k. Also 3 top 10ks
* Imaginary wildcard articles
*Bandwagon and Sinking Ships articles
*Slack Channel access
* Following the teams of 10 top FPL managers who’ve finished in the top 10k OR the last 3 seasons
NEW £3.00 plus Vat per Calender month (plus all the above)
*team reveals from 6 FFGeek Contributors Rob, Rick, Kev, Kris, Andrew and Joe. Live Transfer alerts and final team lineups
All Tiers – No Commitment beyond 1 Calender month although 16% discounted annual membership available
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew’s last 5 seasons overall ranks were 119k, 34k, 132k, 6k and 19k
Follow Andrew on twitter and YouTube
Well the excitement is building, the replica shirts, scarves and rattles are out and we are just a few days away from the opening battles of gameweek one.
In truth, the English football league started a week earlier than the Premier league, but we won’t dwell on that one too long as my beloved Barnsley came back empty handed from a ten hour round trip to Plymouth.
On a personal level, I am writing these notes from the isolated environment of the spare bedroom as I finally succumbed to the dreaded two horizontal lines of the Covid test. Symptoms are not pleasant but manageable. At least a few days in isolation gives me plenty of time to tinker with my FPL team.
The Community Shield was one of many key “friendlies” we have been watching keenly to try and get that edge on form and fitness and line ups. We now know the players who are bang “in form”, the players who are supposedly “nailed” and the players who have the best fixtures, so the rest should be easy peasy right ?
How’s my team shaping up:
I can probably say that six of my team I am 99% certain will line up this weekend in my starting eleven. But that leaves plenty of unanswered questions to try and unravel over the last few days.
Barring injury, Covid, or natural disasters, the following six players will be in my team – Alexander Arnold, Cancelo, James, Salah, Martinelli and Jesus. They havnt left my drafts for a few weeks.
Mo and Trent are as close to essential as it gets and confirmed why in the Wembley showpiece game. Cancelo I consider just as elite as Trent and I won’t be cutting corners for a cheaper City defender. Reece James hopefully plays in a back five but will still be in anyway. Chelsea havnt got going yet but they will. Yes Martinelli carries some “minutes risk”’but so do Grealish, Mahrez and Foden for 2M more. He has had a great pre season, as has Jesus with seven goals as his ownership touches an incredible 70%.
My outstanding questions:
The massive call is going to be Haaland or Kane. We know Harry is the tried and trusted option with a great season behind him and a golden GW1 fixture v Southampton. But Haaland showed enough in “nearly” scoring three times against the second best team in the league that he can be the beast we think he might be.
That City GW2 fixture v Bournemouth at home, with his 50% ownership has alarm bells ringing for non owners. It’s the exact equivalent of not owning Salah v Fulham in GW1, based on ownership levels and expected captaincy. And you wouldn’t do that would you ? High ranking risk indeed. Some will plan to own Kane in GW1 and then make the switch to Haaland. It’s far from optimal booking in a transfer when lots of wheels can fall off your GW1 team besides. Plus rolling the transfer GW2 for two frees in GW3 to jump on emerging bandwagons looks far more attractive. You can get any player in the game with two frees and booking in a transfer in GW2 prevents that.
I don’t think I want to without Haaland in GW2. So if I can resist the growing clamour for Harry in GW1, and the premium Hokey Cokey, I might just get on Haaland now and try ride the Kane storm. His 25% ownership is potentially far less damaging than the 50% ownership of Haaland if he goes nuts against the Cherries.
The other big debate is Robertson or Luiz Diaz for that third Liverpool spot. Robbo certainly enhanced his claims on Saturday. He is as reliable as it gets for returns. He is a 200 point player. I am not sure Luis Diaz is or can be. Diaz is perhaps more explosive but more of a minutes risk too. It’s a very tough call. If I go the Robbo route, I would probably go to a 532 as I have four other defenders I also want. If I go for Diaz it will be a more balanced looking 442.
My keeper spot has been a three way flip flop recently between Raya, Mendy and Ederson. I am likely moving away from the 4.5M option. I also fancy a piece of the Arsenal defensive cake so my keeper spot is going to come down to Ederson in a Man City defensive double up or Ramsdale who I suspect might match him for points, if not clean sheets, given his save points and bonus potential.
I had Zinchenko of Arsenal in a recent draft, plus Ederson. I am now leaning more to the inclusion of Perisic after his weekend show. That would mean Perisic and Ramsdale as an alternative to Zinchenko and Ederson.
Neto v Bailey has been dividing opinion for two weeks. Bailey has certainly been putting a compelling case together for inclusion. If I save 1M by going Robertson over Diaz, I would actually get to have both Neto and Bailey and have the luxury of playing one and benching the other. If I choose Diaz, I have to make that tough midfield 4th spot call.
So there is still plenty in the melting pot. And of course still plenty of time for a few curveballs to come our way too.
How to follow my team this season:
This season, my weekly articles will still be on the free fantasy football geek website but my final team reveals and transfers will only be on the fantasy football geek patreon offering, which also gives you access to live transfer alerts for every transfer made as well as live alerts when I lock in my team each week.
Here are my two teams I am leaning towards:
You can see the rest of Andrew’s article on the Wide Forward Tier of FFGeek Patreon site with loads of other content mentioned above for just £3 PCM. That includes following Andrew’s Team and 5 others with live notified transfers and it’s final lineup each gameweek.
Other Posts
Improvements for the 22/23 season
The FFGeek Fixture Ease Schedule
Assessing the 3 Promoted Teams
New Player Profiles – Haaland and Nunez
New Player Profiles – Vieira, Awoniyi and Botman
New FFGeek Contributor Pete Allaway
FPL Ownership – Analysing the Popular Picks
Rob Reids Picks for each PL team part 1
Rob Reid’s picks for each FPL team Part 2
New FFGeek Contributor Ori Gal
Andrew Whitfield’s latest team
Preseason update and potential lineups
Joseph Crilley’s Transfer Planner and Points Projection Tool is live
The Transfer Planner Team 3k last season
The FFGeek Contributor Tracker Team
Follow us on Social Media and autojoin the FFGeek League
Follow FFGeek on twitter for article updates and news
Auto Join the FFGeek League
