Chelsea and Manchester City meet in the FA Community Shield today and there is plenty for Fantasy Premier League managers to be keeping their eye on.
In fact, Fantasy enthusiasts couldn’t have hand-picked two better teams to look at in a competitive setting before the Gameweek 1 deadline.
With plenty still up in the air for both clubs, this is a perfect opportunity for some Fantasy research ahead of the 2018/19 season.
WINGING IT
There will be a lot of interest in midfielders Pedro (£6.5m) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (£4.5m) today, as managers await a potentially cost-saving route into the Chelsea attack.
The pair have started all of Chelsea’s pre-season matches so far on the flanks of the front three, either side of Alvaro Morata (£9.0m) and, by all accounts, have impressed hugely.
Pedro has two goals to his name in three matches while Hudson-Odoi (one assist) has been deemed the best performer of Chelsea’s pre-season so far.
The absences of Eden Hazard (£10.5m) and Willian (£7.5m), and their potential departures before the transfer window closes, leaves a huge opportunity in this area of the team for Pedro and Hudson-Odoi. If they can take it, then Fantasy managers will be very pleased with the money they could save on these two exciting options.
But there is even more to pay attention to in the wide areas for today’s match. FPL defender Victor Moses (£6.0m) has now been used as a second-half substitute on the right of the forward line twice in pre-season, creating serious potential for him to be a powerful out-of-position option.
The only reason he has not started a match yet is because of his extended World Cup leave, so it is entirely possible that he could feature from the beginning in an attacking position at Wembley today. If that happens, he could quickly become the most popular Chelsea defender in FPL…
GOALONSO?
…But the most fashionable Chelsea stoppers right now are Marcos Alonso (£6.5m) and Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.5m). Over 16 percent of managers have backed one of these as they prepare to line-up as the full-backs at Stamford Bridge this season.
The scrapping of the 3-4-3 wing-back system by new manager Maurizio Sarri has the potential to change the output of both of these premium players which is why it will be good to see them in action as more traditional full-backs in a 4-3-3.
Crucially, we need to see whether or not either of them have as much license to get forward, as they have done in previous seasons.
If the pair are afforded that against Man City today then we know that £6.5m is a price worth paying; if not, then it might make sense to look elsewhere.
The cheaper David Luiz (£5.5m) looks like he’ll be a regular at centre-back at the beginning of the season and, as we’ve already alluded to, Moses could even offer more advanced positions than Alonso and Azpilicueta for £0.5m less.
THE MAHREZ SHOW
Pep Guardiola revealed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that Riyad Mahrez (£9.0m) would be fit to compete in the Community Shield.
This is a big boost for Fantasy managers who were hoping to tap into his apparent monopoly on a starting place in the early part of the season. As one of a few first-team players at Man City who did not take part in this summer’s World Cup, the Algerian may well get several weeks without rotation from Guardiola, which will be important given the fixtures on offer. The only ones not back in training yet are Raheem Sterling (£11.0m) and Kevin de Bruyne (£10.0m), leaving the door open for Mahrez to play.
We think he’ll probably play in the midfield but it is even a possibility that he could play in a forward’s role within a 3-5-2 system. Either way, we should pay close attention to Mahrez today and see where he might slot into City’s system.
Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) is the more likely of City’s natural centre-forwards to start as he played fewer minutes with Argentina than Gabriel Jesus (£10.5m) did with Brazil in Russia.
It’s also worth monitoring Leroy Sané’s (£9.5m) involvement today. It was believed he would be an important asset to own for Gameweek 1 having missed out on a place in Germany’s World Cup squad, but he is still yet to make a start for City this summer and Guardiola recently revealed he had a lot of work to do to get fit for the new season.
ON THE MENDY
Right now the defensive picture at Man City looks very unclear, and the Community Shield will be an important indicator of who will line-up at Arsenal in Gameweek 1.
At this current point in time perhaps the only player at this end of the pitch we can be confident will get game-time is goalkeeper Ederson (£5.5m), simply because he did not feature in Brazil’s World Cup campaign.
Outside of that, it becomes pure conjecture to try and piece together a predicted starting line-up, as only Guardiola knows what state his defensive assets are in.
The fact that Benjamin Mendy (£6.0m) was in the training squad for the pre-season tour has proved not quite as encouraging as first thought, because the Frenchman was not involved in any matches in the USA. In terms of competition, England man Kyle Walker (£6.5m) left Russia with an injury and Danilo (£5.5m) is still carrying the knock he picked up with Brazil. Fabian Delph (£5.5m) was another training late-comer. Perhaps Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.0m) could feature on one flank but Mendy may still have to play on the other.
As for centre-backs, Aymeric Laporte (£5.5m) picked up an injury on tour, while John Stones (£5.5m), Nicolas Otamendi (£6.5m) and Vincent Kompany (£5.5m) have only recently returned to training.
TOO SOON?
Given the special circumstances of this Community Shield match, it is entirely possible that it counts for less than it normally would when predicting Gameweek 1 line-ups.
Ultaimtely, neither one of Guardiola or Sarri wants to be preparing a full first-team for this fixture, with so many important figures affected by the World Cup.
In fact, the City manager said on Friday: “We would prefer to be in another situation but I think Maurizio Sarri is the same. It is what it is, we will adapt and play with guys in better condition. I think we have six substitutes too so everybody will be involved but maybe 90 minutes will not be possible.”
That could indicate that there may well be players who aren’t considered ready for the Community Shield but may become available for the trip to Arsenal in the next week. Accordingly, just because a player is given preference in a position this weekend, does not mean he will hold onto his starting berth the following week.
That’s why Guardiola and Sarri’s press conferences next week could be even more important than this first match of the 2018/19 English season – although it will still be good to witness the return of competitive action for two top-flight teams.
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