FPL is back, and after all the deliberation and tinkering throughout pre-season, it is time to finalize your team for gameweek 1. There are still plenty of unknowns regarding team selection, formations and transfers, which adds to the excitement at the start of the season with plenty of different strategies in play.
Gameweek 1 kicks off with Arsenal visiting Brentford, while the marquee fixture sees Manchester City travel to Tottenham to face off against Harry Kane. After going through plenty of drafts throughout the recent weeks, I have finally arrived at a settled squad, and here is what my team is looking like ahead of the deadline.
GOALKEEPER
As mentioned previously, my preferred strategy is to spend very little on goalkeepers due to their low points ceiling. Hence, the goalkeeper I will start the season with is Brighton’s Robert Sanchez (£4.5 million). Brighton have an excellent opening two fixtures against Burnley and Watford and don’t face any teams from the Big 6 in their first six games of the season.
In the quest of saving money, I have only opted for one starting goalkeeper in my squad with Sanchez accompanied by Joao Virginia (£4 million) who will occupy the bench.
DEFENCE
In defence, I have opted for the Liverpool double-up with both full-backs Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.5 million) and Kostas Tsimikas (£4 million) finding their way into my team. Alexander-Arnold’s numbers speak for himself, and the Englishman has averaged 12 FPL assists per year in the last three seasons. Tsimikas, on the other hand, enters my team because of Andy Robertson’s injury that rules him out for the start of the season. Liverpool have the best opening fixtures amongst the title contenders, and at his £4 million price, the Greek defender is too good to ignore.
Alongside the Liverpool boys is Luke Shaw (£5.5 million) from Manchester United. Shaw had an excellent European Championships and is currently the most owned player in the game with 53.9% ownership.
With Brighton having such good fixtures for the first few weeks, I have also selected Joel Veltman (£4.5 million) in my squad along with Norwich City’s Andrew Omobamidele (£4 million), who is a budget option for the bench.
MIDFIELD
The two constants in every draft I have made so far have been Mohammed Salah (£12.5m) and Bruno Fernandes (£12m). The pair of them were the two highest-scoring players in the game last season and are the standout captaincy options for the first few weeks of this campaign.
Alongside Salah and Bruno, is Riyad Mahrez (£9 million), who is expected to start most games for City at the start of the season with De Bruyne and Foden currently injured.
The other midfielders in my lineup include Raphinha (£6.5 million) from Leeds United and Mason Greenwood (£7.5 million). Raphinha is one of the most underpriced players in the game this season, while Mason Greenwood has great fixtures to start the season and stands to benefit from the absence of Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani in the opening weeks.
FORWARDS
Ivan Toney (£6.5 million) scored a record 31 goals for Brentford in their promotion campaign in the Championship and is the most popular forward in the game with 30% ownership. Joining him in my forward line is Michail Antonio (£7.5 million) of West Ham United who had 15 goals and assists in 24 starts for the Hammers last season and has promising underlying numbers to back up his output.
Rounding up my forward line and squad is another budget option for my bench, Southampton’s Michael Obafemi (£4.5 million).
CAPTAINCY
Captaincy is an incredibly straightforward decision in gameweek 1 with Liverpool facing Norwich City on the opening Saturday of the season. Last season, I captained Mohammed Salah when he scored a hat-trick on the opening night against Leeds United and will be hoping for a similar result this time out when Salah lines up against the Canaries.
Shivaan Shah