Here’s our FPL promoted teams article where FFGeek Contributor Rob Reid gives his initial view on the 3 teams promoted from the Championship in Leeds, West Brom and Fulham
FPL promoted teams – Rob Reid gives his view on the 3 teams promoted from the Championship
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Leeds United
I’m going to start out by saying it’s wonderful to have Leeds back in the Premier League. Not just because I live in Yorkshire, but because I think that as a club they are big asset to English football. When I used to play amateur football, we had a couple of big Leeds fans in the team and I remember well the anguish they suffered first in 2004 when they lost their Premier League place and then in 2007 when they dropped to League One. It’s been a long time coming, so if my old teammates Johnny and Mike read the site – welcome back!
As for FPL, I’m definitely interested in their defence as a cheap source of points. They kept 22 clean sheets and conceded just 35 goals last season – to put things in perspective, that’s 6 less goals than Sheffield United conceded the season before. The guys I’m most interested in here are Luke Ayling (4G/5A) and Stuart Dallas (5G/3A) – the 2 full-backs though I fear Dallas might get classified as a midfielder as he does play on the wing a bit. I also fear they’ll be priced at 5.0m, but if either are 4.5m I think they are good picks for GW1 provided the fixtures are ok.
Further forward, Patrick Bamford was their top scorer last season with 17 goals but he’s flattered to deceive in the EPL previously and does seem to miss a lot of big chances – will his returns diminish when these chances are more scarce as a result? Pablo Hernandez was their next highest scorer with 9G/9A from midfield but at 35 years old will he able to translate this form across at a higher level? As such the other consideration may be Polish midfielder Mateusz Klich (7G/6A) if he’s cheap enough.
West Brom
It’s also nice to see The Baggies back in the Premier League, though their 2 year hiatus is of course somewhat shorter than Champions Leeds! I like West Brom – I don’t personally know any of their fans, but they always strike me as being a well run club and The Hawthorns looks like a fun place to visit.
Defensively, they’re not as an enticing prospect – they kept only 14 clean sheets in The Championship last season, though they seemed to concede just a single goal on a number of occasions and only conceded 10 less in total than Leeds. So maybe if they can tighten up a bit more, keeper Sam Johnstone (who will almost certainly be priced at 4.5m) or a goal-scoring defender such as Semi Ajayi (5G) might be of interest.
Further forward, their leading scorers last season were Charlie Austin (11G/2A) and Hal Robson-Kanu (10G/1A). Not goal-scoring records that fill you with confidence, though Austin did ok in the FPL with QPR a few seasons back and I suppose if either is priced at under 5.5m they might make a nice 3rd striker.
There are 2 midfielders who if priced cheaply could be good squad players though I reckon. Matt Phillips (7G/5A) has always put in a good shift when I’ve seen him play for Scotland, but his record is over-shadowed by Brazilian winger Matheus Pereira who’s 20 assists and 8 goals were crucial in The Baggies promotion push. He might make a good 5th or even 4th midfielder if priced correctly, though I think there is a fair chance he could also be classified as a forward unfortunately.
Fulham
Congratulations to Fulham who won a tense play-off final over Brentford. I have to confess though (sorry Fulham fans) that the FPL manager in me was a bit disappointed in this as Fulham assets to be honest were a bit of a let-down in 2018-19. My abiding memory that was roused during last night’s game sadly was the Aboubakar Kamara penalty incident against Huddersfield – I know many FPL managers won’t have forgiven him for that!
The main draw in the Fulham side I guess will be Aleksandar Mitrovic and he’s certainly had a great season in the Championship with 26 goals and 3 assists. The problem for me is that he’s flattered to deceive when he’s had to step up to EPL level and also that he’s a total liability in the discipline department as well as being quite injury prone. If he’s priced well though he could be a decent 3rd or even 2nd striker on a good fixture run if he can recapture his Championship form, but the sceptic in me is concerned about whether he’ll be able to do this.
There are 2 midfielders I’ll be keeping an eye on – Tom Cairney was injured for a chunk of the 2018-19 EPL campaign, but had an ok record last season (8G/3A) so if he’s priced at 5.0m could be a good enabler. I’ll also be keeping an eye on Neeskens Kebano who scored 5 times in just 19 appearances. At 4.5 or 5m he could be tempting.
The Fulham defence is one area I’m probably going to avoid though. 48 goals conceded was the worst of the 3 promoted teams and I worry we’re going to see a repeat of their disastrous 2018-19 defensive record, where they shipped a whopping 81 goals. Joe Bryan is the only possible tempter here more for his attacking record – 3G/7A and those 2 crucial goals of course in the play-off final, as well as some set-piece responsibility. Remarkably, Cyrus Christie was the only other defender to score for The Cottagers in the regular season.
More to come
There will be more to come on the promoted sides closer to the season beginning. At the moment things can change due to transfer activity. I don’t expect a 19/20 Aston Villa type £100m splurge from any of the sides but even a few transfers can improve the picture as far as prospects are concerned so watch this space
Other posts
Andrew Whitfield season review
Costas Chari end of season review
A deep dive on the FFGeek Contributors
Final wrap up of the 10 top FPL managers
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