⚽ FPL Gameweek 1 Tips

👋 Hello 👋

It’s finally back - FPL launches TODAY.

Gameweek 1 deadline = 18:30 UK time, Friday 11 August.

Ideally this newsletter would have been out sooner but it’s been mega busy so only just getting round to it now - will try and do better next week.

For now, let’s try and run through some of the main talking points.

 🔥 Gameweek 1 - Hot Topics 🔥

£4.0m Goalkeeper

Most of us have been hoping all pre-season that Alphonse Areola (£4.0m) would become the new West Ham first choice goalkeeper. That might still happen, but we don’t have confirmation.

Luckily Nottingham Forest have saved the day by signing Matt Turner (£4.0m) from Arsenal, and he’s already been moved in FPL. He’s definitely the best option for our bench.

Forest may well sign another goalkeeper, but it’s worth taking the risk that Turner is the number 1 this season.

Best £6.5m Midfielder

There’s lots of good options at this price point. I think Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m), Solly March (£6.5m), Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m) and Eberechi Eze (£6.5m) all offer something.

Mbeumo and Eze play for teams not in Europe so their workload and rotation is likely to be less. Both players should be on penalties as well. On the other hand, Mitoma and March start off with fixtures against Luton (h), Wolves (a), and West Ham (h). It’s really hard to split them and in general whichever you pick is a good choice. But for what it’s worth, this is how I’m ordering them right now:

• Mbeumo

• Mitoma

• Eze

• March

• Mudryk

• Barnes

• Bernardo

Salah and Alexander-Arnold

At the time of writing I’m leaning towards starting WITHOUT both Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m).

It doesn’t feel good, but there’s not as many stand out enablers this season.

Last year we easily had Erling Haaland (£14.0m) and Salah because players like Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£8.0m) were a lot cheaper. This season we still want those players but they’ve gone up in price and so has Haaland.

The only time I’d captain Salah in the first six Gameweeks is Gameweek 2 vs Bournemouth (h) and I think for one fixture I can probably just do without and spread my funds better.

That being said if you want to go with Salah I definitely wouldn’t talk you out of it, and hope it turns out really well!

With Alexander-Arnold it’s a combination thing rather than not liking him in isolation. If I’m picking one of Trent, Martinelli and Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) for example I need to think about who I’m pairing with them. If I have £5.5m to spend on the second player then I mostly prefer the options in defence compared to midfield and forwards, although João Pedro (£5.5m) has turned my head somewhat.

I think it’s pretty clear that both Liverpool players will continue to score really well, but for Gameweek 1 they’re not as essential as they’ve felt in previous seasons.

Is João Pedro an option?

Yes, at least early on. I think he’s going to be a versatile player for Roberto De Zerbi either playing as the no.10/shadow striker, or as a number 9. Early on I think we’ll see him primarily playing in the number 10 role.

We’ve also seen him take two penalties in pre-season, one of which when Pascal Groß (£6.5m) was on the pitch so it looks likely he’s first choice for them as well.

With the fixtures Brighton have I really like him as a punt, I’d just want to have an exit plan in case it goes wrong.

There’s not many other forwards around that price point and you’d probably have to find £1.5m to go up to someone like Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m).

Kane leaving - how does that affect Spurs?

It’s not been officially announced by the clubs at the time of writing, but it looks like Harry Kane (£12.5m) is off to Bayern Munich.

How does this affect Spurs players?

It should mean Richarlison (£7.0m) gets plenty of game time as the number 9, or at least gets a chance to prove he’s good enough to be first choice. It’s worth remembering that as part of this deal Spurs will have a lot of cash to spend so they may go and buy a new forward.

With Brentford (a) and Man United (h) in the first two Gameweeks I’ll probably wait and see but he’s potentially a very exciting option.

I don’t think it changes things much for Son Heung-min (£9.0m), although he would improve as an option if he gets penalties. Lots of Spurs fans have been saying he’d too wide during pre-season games, whereas we want him in front of goal. His price tag of £9.0m means I don’t fancy going there early.

Kane leaving probably makes James Maddison (£7.5m) slightly worse but I don’t think it’s so much of a difference that it should change your opinion on him. Overall I like him compared to the other £7.5m options because his minutes will be secure. If you were going for him before this news, I’d still pick him.

With penalties - they could go to any of these three players, they’ve all taken them for their clubs before. My money would be on Son but I know lots think it could be Richarlison or Maddison so it’s hard to say.

📈 Transfer Activity 📉

For future Gameweeks we’ll run through the most popular transfers in and out but for Gameweek 1 we’ll take a look at the most popular picks.

Kieran Trippier (£6.5m) is the second most popular defender in the game and I don’t really understand it. I get that he scored the most points out of all defenders last season, but the opening fixtures are pretty poor. Newcastle face Man City (a), Liverpool (h), and Brighton (a) between Gameweek 2-4. I’d prefer to have a plan to get him after that instead.

Haaland is 88.4% owned - that’s even higher than I expected, it’s crazy really. You don’t need me to tell you this, but it’s just not worth going without him.

Rashford is at 49.8% ownership and I do think he’s worth the £0.5m over Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m). There’s a scenario where Fernandes outscores him because penalties are unpredictable and he could get plenty early on. But overall I prefer Rashford’s open play goal threat and so he’d be my number one choice, although nothing wrong with picking both of them.

👑 Captaincy 👑

Man City are playing a newly promoted side and because of that it feels impossible to back against Haaland, he’s definitely who I’ll be going with.

Outside of that I’d look at Bukayo Saka (£8.5m) and Rashford.

Saka plays a Nottingham Forest side who conceded 1.78 goals per game on average last season. If we’re trying to predict a high scoring game in the opening week, it’s got to be Arsenal.

Rashford also has a decent home game against Wolves who might be in a bit of trouble. It looks like they’re unable to spend much in the transfer window and losing their manager days before the season starts is not ideal.

💪 My Team 💪

I’m fairly settled on most of these players at this stage. At the time of writing there’s still 6 hours left until the deadline so things could definitely change, but not in a massive way.

This team comes out with a rating of 97% on Fantasy Football Hub’s My Team Tool.

To check your rating for free ahead of the deadline just click this link (affiliate).

To use the suggested transfer features and get a whole host of other helpful tools you can also get 50% off at the moment using this link (affiliate).

The players I don’t see changing barring injuries or line-up news are:

• Chilwell

• Estupiñán

• Gabriel

• Saka

• Mbeumo

• B.Fernandes

• Rashford

• Haaland

• Kaboré

Issa Kaboré £4.0m) is my favourite cheap defender because he should be nailed and play as a wing back for Luton. I’m not expecting a huge amount of clean sheets but with the extra money to spend elsewhere, I think he’s worth it.

With the injuries to Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) and Christopher Nkunku (£7.5m) - Watkins was basically the next in line when it comes to minutes. I’m not completely sure about him because N.Jackson would let me upgrade my bench. I have £0.5m in the bank so could go for N.Jackson and Reece James (£5.5m) instead of Watkins and George Baldock (£4.0m) for example.

With Man United having Wolves (h), Spurs (a), Forest (h) and Arsenal playing Forest (h), Palace (a), Fulham (h) in the first three Gameweeks - triple ups on both teams looks good.

I suspect André Onana (£5.0m) will make my final team but Jordan Pickford (£4.5m) rotates really well with Turner so I may save some money there too.

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The Gameweek 1 Deadline Stream should start between 16:00-16:30 UK time on Friday evening.

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