Here’s our FPL teams article with the 2nd version of the FFGeek team. I show the latest draft and talk through the individual players plus some potential alternatives
FPL teams GW1 – the FFGeek team draft 2
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
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A few introductory words and caveats
If you’re new to the site my last 4 seasons overall ranks were 17k, 36k, 17k and 21k
If you want more stats and to see players fixtures go to my player rankings articles
So with the season starting on the 12 September there’s still some way to go in our team selections and early drafts are just that. Over the course of pre-season we’ll get more of a feel for lineups and as a result bargains. So at this stage it’s alright in my view to have some players who might be great value but a gametime risk and monitor them over pre-season. So before you go flying off at some of my selections please bear that in mind.
The team
Here it is with some chat over selections
Structure
The team is built around the core players of Alexander Arnold, Salah, Aubameyang-De Bruyne, and Fernandes.
The rest fit around that.
The idea is to have Aubameyang for the first 2 gameweeks and then flip to De Bruyne for GW3.
I’m envisaging that McCarthy, Alex Arnold, Vinagre, Robertson, Salah, Auba/KDB, Fernandes, Foden, Mitrovic and Antonio will play every gameweek. The final place will be rotation between Saliba, Justin and Soucek with Davis and Nyland (possibly) a permanent bench member.
Goalkeepers
I generally go with 1 £4.5m GK and a £4.0m back up whether that £4.0m is a first team player for their club or not. There’s only 2 £4.5m GKs outside the promoted Clubs so I’ve gone for McCarthy at the moment with Nyland as the back up. There is talk that £4.0m Button could go to WBA so he’s on the watchlist instead of Nyland. You’ll see below that I’ve taken £4.5m Ayling out of my previous draft so £4.5m Meslier of Leeds could become the goalkeeper and if a Southampton £4.5m defender could be identified then that could be a handy swap round if needed.
Heaton/Nyland and that old classic Ryan/Button seem to be the only £4.5m/£4.0m same team starter back up combination.
Defence
Again I’ve stuck with the 2 Liverpool defenders Alexander Arnold and Robertson because of their attacking and clean sheet potential. Last season the Alisson injury and a pretty ordinary finish after winning the title meant there were less clean sheets than there should have been.
Then it’s the roll call of the £4.5m defenders. I’ve gone for players from European challenging teams who have potential to be in the side due to injuries or form. Justin of Leicester with Pereira back in October. Vinagre of Wolves with Jonny injured long term and Saliba of Arsenal with a form crisis in the CB department. Unfortunately the first 2 are subject to variable injury time frames and potentially transfers.
There are a few other £4.5m options though in Ayling who I have dropped due to the GW1 fixture at Liverpool or Charlie Taylor if I can make space on my bench. Leeds had 22 clean sheets in the Championship so ideally I’d like some coverage of their defence at £4.5m. Further down the food chain there’s Ward of Palace, Lamptey of Brighton and Lascelles of Newcastle.
Midfield
I’ve gone for Aubameyang with his Fulham and West Ham fixtures to start and then move him on for De Bruyne in GW3 as Man City have Wolves in GW2.
Salah will be a fixture in the team.
I’ve kept with Fernandes despite the GW1 blank. Man Utd getting the most penalties with 14 and 12 penalties in the last 2 seasons he’s hard to ignore if he is the number 1 taker. He has the ability to add assists to these penalties so there’s huge score potential. A potentially ravaged Palace defence in GW2 and then Brighton in GW3 keeps me interested as well.
Foden has put some incredible underlying stats up and if he can get minutes could be great value. Selection is a difficult one. In a front 3 Sterling and Mahrez should flank the CF but Mahrez seems to be rotated. Foden will compete with them and Bernardo Silva. It’s possible Foden could take the David Silva role as a CM which could make him less effective.
The £4.5m midfielder category isn’t that attractive with Romeu being the best option at the moment for me so as I will be looking at the 5th midfield spot as a rotation option so that’s why Soucek at £5.0m is in there. There’s also £5.0m Mooy but he was a bit in and out of the side at the end of the season
I also like Son £9.0m, £6.5m Diogo Jota, Dele Alli £8.0m, Harvey Barnes £7.0m, Pulisic £8.5m
Forwards
Forwards are a tricky one. Ideally I would have liked Vardy for his fixtures but the funds are never going to be available without sacrificing Fernandes.
There also isn’t a perfect combination of fixtures and underlying stats. For the price range I have £9.0m Vardy, £8.5m Jimenez and Kane £10.5m although his stats don’t really match the price.
However in the £6.0m price range that’s left there is no great combination of underlying stats and fixtures.
So I’ve gone for fixtures with £6.0m Mitrovic and the form of Antonio despite the fixtures. His underlying stats towards the end of the season especially were quite remarkable.
I would like someone else other than Davis at £4.5m but the choice is quite poor at £4.5m and £5.0m. If £4.5m Brewster of Liverpool goes on loan then he could be a great addition.
Other posts
The FFGeek Contributors first draft team
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