Here’s my FPL preseason watchlist where I identify some players and teams that have particular issues that I would like to see how they play out over the FPL Preseason
FPL Preseason – My Preseason Watchlist Of Players And Team Issues
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What am I looking for in the FPL preseason?
The idea is to look at specific issues relating to players and teams. It’s not really a form check as the correlation between form in preseason and when the season starts is pretty sketchy to say the least. For example if you’ve seen my FFGeek Draft Team articles you’ll know I’ve got Salah in my team. So I’m not putting him in my watchlist here. His form in the FPL preseason is not a high priority for me. I know what he can do. I would also say the same for players like Antonio even.
This is more for specific things which could unlock value or at least make a level of risk clear.
I’m going to do it team by team
I do touch on players that could be late back from International tournaments but you can see the full article I did on it here
I’ll look to do an updated article in about a week or so
Arsenal
Will £5.5m Mid Smith Rowe start and will he play CAM or will it be £6.0m Joe Willock who’s currently injured. Both offer cheap midfield options
Can £4.5m Defs Chambers or Holding secure a place. There’s a few good fixtures for a rotatable defender
Aston Villa
Is £8.0m Mid Jack Grealish leaving. Would be a negative for Watkins. I will be looking to see if £6.0m mid El Ghazi starts as I like him especially if he keeps pens. Can’t see it though.
Brentford
Haven’t done any work on them and not thinking of anyone from them at the moment
Brighton
Is £4.5m Ben White going to leave? That would make the defence worse.
Will Potter play 3 at the back and will £4.5m Def Lamptey be the right wing back?
£4.5m GK Sanchez was at the Euros but 3rd choice GK. Check he’s back in time to start
Burnley
Nothing specific here
Chelsea
Generally need to monitor when players arrive back from International competitions and how that affects the lineup.
This and tricky fixtures probably means no ones of interest
Crystal Palace
Nothing of interest here
Everton
All about £5.5m Def Lucas Digne here. How attacking will he be? How strong will the defence be with Benitez in charge? How much of the set pieces will he take?
When is Calvert-Lewin back?
Leeds
I will have Leeds players in the team. Generally will try and establish if the improvement in defence which was at the cost of the attacking players stats will be an ongoing theme. That maybe difficult to assess in pre-season
Leicester
The formation choice and any affect on personnel is crucial here as £7.5m forward Iheanacho is definitely on my radar and if Rodgers were to go back to 4-1-4-1 as Barnes is fit that could cause Iheanacho problems. Also will new signing Daka affect Iheanacho’s gametime.
A back 3 is also needed for £4.5m defender Fofana to start I think so I’ll be monitoring that
We will see Leicester in the Community Shield on the 7 August which will be helpful
Liverpool
The fitness of the defence is worth monitoring and Alisson’s return from the Copa America due to his positive effect on the defence
£7.5m mid Jota is definitely on my radar. He will either be in the team rotating with the front 3 or as part of 3 attacking mids in a 4-2-3-1. Need to see how this plays out.
Man City
With Chelsea could potentially have big holes in the squad with players late back after the International Tournaments.
£12.0m De Bruyne‘s fitness and £7.5m Gundogans midfield position are the main points worth monitoring
We will see Man City in the Community Shield on the 7 August which will be helpful
Man Utd
£5.5m Def Luke Shaw is of interest but will him and Maguire be match fit after the Euros.
Otherwise I’ll probably try and see if there’s certainty at the CF positions between £7.5m Mid Greenwood and £8.5m Fwd Cavani but I’m not hopeful.
Newcastle
Nothing specific here to unravel
Norwich
See my article on them
Will just monitor £4.5m Mid Gilmour‘s gametime
Southampton
Nothing specific to monitor here
Spurs
Obviously what happens to £12.5m Fwd Harry Kane is worth monitoring.
Does Nuno play 3-4-3 and does that include £5.0m Doherty as a wingback and generally how attacking is he
£6.5m Dele Alli could be an interesting proposition if he starts as an attacking mid
There’s quite a few £4.5m Defs who could start of Nuno looks like he’s going defensive
Watford
See my article on them
They were the best defensive team of the 3 promoted and have reasonable defensive fixtures. The £4.5m FBs Masina and Femenia could be of interest as could the Austrian £4.5m GK Bachmann but it’s not going to be easy to tell anything from preseason.
West Ham
A £4.5m defender would be handy here and in a back 3 with wing backs £4.5m Masuaku would have potential.
We all saw £5.5m mid Yarmolenko in the Euros but he definitely doesn’t seem to be someone that Moyes particularly fancies but worth seeing if there seems regular gametime potential
£7.0m mid Lingard returning also is worth looking out for
Wolves
Only really the fitness of £7.5m fwd Raul Jimenez
£4.0m Defs
I will do a general monitor but only Manquillo of Newcastle, Brandon Williams of Man Utd if loaned and Norwich’s Omobamidele have any chance for me
£4.0m GKs
Again I will do a general monitor but only £4.0m Gunn of Norwich seems to have any chance of being first choice
£4.5m Mids
Norwich’s Gilmour is my choice at the moment but Bissouma, Brownhill, Allan and Cork seem to have good prospects of being first pick. I’ll monitor them
£4.5m Forward
No prospects here. Only last seasons favourite Davis of Villa had any minutes worth talking about.
Fixture Difficulty Schedules
Here’s the schedule for attacking players and then defenders so you can easily refer to them when reading this
Attacking Players
Defenders and GKs
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
Players who could miss GW1 due to International tournaments
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