After lots of tinkering over the last few weeks, and especially since the long-awaited fixtures were published, our teams are finally shaping up. With just one more week to go before the first deadline of the new season, I had a look at the “Rate My Team’s” posted on this site.
As with every season, there’s always a template forming up and evolving during the weeks up to Gameweek 1.
Here is how this year’s Fantasy Football Scout template team (Sample around 50 RMT’s from the last few articles) looks like:
Alex McCarthy 80% / £4.0m bench fodder 95%
Trent Alexander-Arnold 93% – Rúben Vinagre 90% – Tyrick Mitchell 68% – James Justin 44% – Matt Doherty 28%
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 88% – Mohamed Salah 85% – £4.5m bench fodder 55% – Heung-Min Son 43% – Tomas Soucek 40%
Timo Werner 75% – Aleksandar Mitrovic 50% – Danny Ings 40%
Goalkeepers
Other selected goalkeepers:
Mathew Ryan – 13%
Aaron Ramsdale – 8%
Most popular goalkeeper combination:
McCarthy + £4.0m – 75%
Ramsdale + £4.0m – 8%
Ryan + £4.0m – 8%
After the combination of Brighton keeper Ryan and his back up David Button seemed an early favourite, most managers have switched to McCarthy after the fixture release. In stark contrast to past campaigns, there is not a single 2x £4.5m keeper rotation amongst the top three choices. Also last seasons top scorer Nick Pope didn’t get a single mention after a price rise and a blank Gameweek 1.
Defenders
Other selected Defenders:
Kyle Walker-Peters – 25%
Charlie Taylor – 23%
Ben Davies – 18%
Andrew Robertson – 15%
Eric Dier – 13%
John Egan – 13%
Ben Johnson – 10%
Most popular defences (Coverage incl. GK):
Liverpool – 118%
Southampton – 105%
Wolverhampton – 95%
Crystal Palace – 68%
Tottenham – 60%
Leicester – 40%
Burnley – 25%
Sheffield United – 20%
Brighton – 15%
Leeds – 13%
Liverpool options, especially Alexander-Arnold, again are dominating the most selected defender section. After the injury to Wolves’ Jonny, and with a replacement yet to sign, Vinagre appears in almost every team as a route into a very solid backline of the last two seasons.
Mitchell is the most selected £4.0m option, while Spurs defenders are also looking quite present in our teams before José Mourinho’s first full season in charge of the North London club.
Midfielders
Other Midfielders:
Allan Saint-Maximin – 33%
Stuart Armstrong – 30%
Bamidele Alli – 23%
Hakim Ziyech – 20%
Dale Stephens – 18%
Mason Greenwood – 13%
In midfield, it’s a very clear result with Aubameyang and Salah being the favourites before they face promoted sides Fulham and Leeds in GW1. With a kind opening set of fixtures, Spurs options are featuring again far up the rankings, while there’s not much between the two most popular £5.5m options Saint-Maximin and Armstrong.
Chelsea new boy Ziyech seems also quite popular, and after all 13% are benching Greenwood for his blank.
Forwards
Other Forwards:
Keinan Davis – 20%
Rhian Brewster – 18%
Che Adams – 18%
Harry Kane – 15%
Michail Antonio – 15%
Anthony Martial – 15%
Jamie Vardy – 10%
Raúl Jiménez – 10%
Another new Chelsea signing is backed heavily before the trip to Brighton with Werner being in 75% of the RMT’s.
Next up is promoted striker Mitrovic who started well in his last Premier League campaign, while last seasons golden boot winner Vardy is not often to be found in the posted teams. Jiménez also seems to have dropped in favour, and 15% are benching Martial for GW1, the most of any of the Man United and Man City options.
Formations
Most popular formations used:
3-4-3 – 53%
3-5-2 – 35%
4-3-3 – 10%
4-4-2 – 2%
After last years 4-4-2 popularity at the start, the classic formations 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 are in the lead again this year.
In case anyone tries, the above template team is £1.5m over the budget.
3 years, 7 months agoCheers FPL_Austria!
Love these little looks you do. Interesting how few United and City players are around - obviously it's not surprising, but I still wonder how many people will be scrambling to jump on these guys.
For me, my plan is Auba to Rashford, but if Auba is looking too good to sell or Man City start off looking hot despite some tougher fixtures I may be in trouble and by the looks of things so will others.