The Weekly Shop – Gameweek 1

Welcome to the Weekly Shop – a new, midweek article where I’ll take an early look at those players under consideration for our squads across weekly and daily Fantasy Football games.

Rather than offer you our final selections, the idea is to focus on the potential recruits to monitor before entering teams into weekly leagues and contests, regardless of which game you are playing.

We’ve divided this early scouting into two sections, “skilfully” retaining the shopping theme.

The “Better Buys” will look at the key players for the week ahead, generally those that have shown consistent form or whose team have a promising fixture. The “Poundstretchers”, on the other hand, are the Gameweek prospects that should offer excellent value – often one-week punts, whose lower price tags enable funds to be spent on the big-hitters elsewhere in our lineups.

Better Buys

For those willing to spend a little extra between the posts, Arsenal’s new signing Petr Cech – available for 7.7m in PlayON and 8.3m in Premier Punt – leads the list of must-have keepers this week.

West Ham visit the Emirates having found the net in just two of their last nine away matches in the run-in last term, making two or even three acquisitions from Arsenal’s backline a tempting strategy. Hector Bellerin could also find a place in our teams, then, with his pricing exactly the same as Cech in both games.

Although Branislav Ivanovic has a history of early-season hauls, at 10.5m in Premier Punt and 9.5m in PlayON the value of including Chelsea’s right-back is questionable. Instead we’re looking at Everton’s Phil Jagielka (Premier Punt 8.3m, PlayON 8.6m) as a key buy, with the likely prospect of an opening day clean sheet at home to newly-promoted Watford. The central defender should benefit more than Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman from the defensive points for clearances (25 points), tackling (50 points) and interceptions (100 points) available in PlayON and is more budget-friendly in both games than the Toffees full-backs.

It’s difficult to overlook Eden Hazard as the big-hitter for our teams. At 14.7m in PlayON and 16m in Premier Punt, the midfielder takes a large chunk of our funds but with Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero doubts, we feel we can take risks elsewhere in the squads.

Theo Walcott is classed as a forward in both games and we’re backing him to be the key weapon against a potentially leggy West Ham rearguard. The 11.9m price-tag in PlayON appears to offer value, given that Walcott – who started ahead of Olivier Giroud up top last weekend – earned 4545 points from a hat-trick in Arsenal’s final match of the previous campaign. At 13.5m in Premier Punt, the Gunners man still looks a good option compared to Wayne Rooney at 15.8m.

Poundstretchers

If Kasper Schmeichel (6.6m PlayON and 6.8m in Premier Punt) and Leicester’s defence can carry on the late-season form that secured their Premier League survival, the Foxes shot stopper appears to be a sound pick as new manager Cladio Ranieri welcomes Sunderland to the King Power Stadium.

Elsewhere, Crystal Palace’s Julian Speroni has been ruled out until late August, giving us the chance to field back-up keeper Wayne Hennessy in our weekly squad this week – the Wales international can be included at 6.4m in Premier Punt and an even cheaper 6m in PlayON for the trip to Norwich.

Matt Targett perfectly encapsulates the concept of the budget “enabler” in weekly games. The Southampton left-back could be set to deputise for the sidelined Ryan Bertrand in the short-term and, at 6.1m in PlayON and 6m in Premier Punt, the youngster allows funds to be spent elsewhere in the squad, whilst still offering a decent chance of points as the Saints visit St James’ Park.

In midfield we’ll be looking to include another Leicester asset. Riyad Mahrez has impressed over the summer and looks set to be handed a support role behind the front two – he will set you back 8.5m in Premier Punt and 7.8m in PlayON as the Foxes prepare for Sunderland’s visit.

From the top teams, the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jordan Ibe will be considered for squads needing a differential – both will be pushing for starts on the opening weekend after some decent pre-season displays.

Callum Wilson (PlayON 7.5m, Premier Punt 8.3m) stands out in the budget forward category this week as newly-promoted Bournemouth host Aston Villa. Wilson racked up 20 goals and seven assists in 45 league appearances for the Cherries, whilst Villa kept only three clean sheets in 13 league matches under Tim Sherwood last term, making the striker a potentially explosive option.

These are the players I’m considering ahead of the weekend’s first set of weekly contests. On Friday I’ll be back with a further look at both this week’s partner games – Premier Punt and PlayON – as I begin my quest for profit over the 2015/16 campaign.