Can Matt Doherty recapture his best FPL form under Nuno Espirito Santo?

i don't like the planned GW2 transfer, I think it often forces early WC.

My view is set up for first 2-3 weeks (even if it means taking a less than ideal fixture or potential no show on the chin). Ideally roll first transfer and set up for mini wc in GW 3 with a hit.

You’re talking as if Shaw is somewhat essential. Bin off planning transfers. Just go Wan-Bissaka for now.

Cool story bro, keep us updated

Why not have Shaw and play a 4.5 bench guy? Save an FT early.

Baking a gw2 transfer can go horribly wrong. Trust me I have done it more than once. Usually leads to a gw3 Wildcard :p

Let's see if Rafa likes him in pre-season. Hadn't considered him myself.

Will he be there?

Everton scored 18 goals in the second half of the season (17th in terms of goals scored)

Lord knows they need to add goals for sure

Leagues won't stop for World Cup?

Interesting one. I expect him to return to PSG late in the window, however if he stays he definitely has that feeling about him that he could start well.

I saw him at an Italy u21 game a few years ago. He did not really stand out to me.

I don’t think he stays with us tbh. I’d love to see him get a shot, but my guess is that Rafa sets up with DCL up top with two pacey wingers (which will need to be brought in of course).

I'm waiting to see how and how often Tuchel uses him, and whether a star striker arrives.

Chelsea scored 25 goals in 19 league games under Tuchel

Havertz started 7 of those 19, and 11 of the last 20 in all completions…

I kind of understand where folks are coming from, but the data is just not there to support him as a pick at the minute

GW7 fixture swing maybe, or if we see something in pre season

Would go for anyone Grealish

Currently on Son but could downgrade to Havertz later on if he's not being rotated and is doing well.

Possible, but would like to see him get consistent minutes first

I don't think Haaland is going anywhere until next year. Are the Lewandowski rumors anything concrete? It just seems like speculation since City need a striker and he's one of the world's best. Don't think Bayern will sell.

Someone on Reddit tallied up what Lewandowski would have scored in FPL with his season last year

I think he was on close to 300 points by GW25 and would have finished on around 350 points from a 34 game season (where he missed 5 games)

Him at city just would not be pretty at all

Will still be highly owned by the "casuals", and will probably continue to score loads of points.

Hmm maybe if he goes to another premier league club now he might turn out to be a decent bench option.

Personally didn't think he'd get many minutes at Southampton anyways

Jeepers

Okay so Williams is overpaid but the next thought is if Ings is apparently on just 75K he's seriously underpaid in the modern PL.

You wouldn't;t need to be thaaaaat greedy to think that a transfer might be a good idea knowing you're made of glass and about to be superannuated.

Honestly this.

Add a name to that list - Sancho.

Obviously comes with caveats but he should fall into the Son price bracket.

I think he’ll be aware of the poor season finish and poor euro’s and come back with a bang but that’s just my opinion

Trust your gut. Going without him could pay off massively. It could also backfire massively though.

I'm starting Bruno. If he turns out to be a bit flat I can transfer him out for just about anyone.

As someone who thought Salah looked like treacle in pre season of 2020 and was then burnt by the Leeds opener, I'd perhaps just start with Bruno given structure/captaincy/ownership and then switch him if the masses are wrong. Long season ahead and the value will present itself as we go along

Bruno could flop and get 10 points from the first 5x gameweeks… but so could any player

But Bruno could also do what he’s done to date (48 returns in 51 appearances), and not many players:

(a) Have the structural strings to their FPL bows to do that type of damage - i.e. play for an elite attack, be nailed, have an eye for goal, be creative, take DFK’s, take penalties etc etc

(b) Will be among the most, if not the outright most, owned players in the game - which will utterly destroy you in the event of points being scored

The main thing is to back yourself

If you don’t have a reasonable doubt that Bruno is overpriced and poor value, you can easily start without him

But if you have even a reasonable doubt (on either front), you have to ask yourself - do you feel lucky punk?

He's a strong contender/placeholder for many reasons. My pick of the Manu players. Will have had full rest and a good pre-season, so you would hope should be back to max potential gw1. Easy to downgrade and gives time to assess how other players such as Son, Havertz, et al will fare with mins, new mgt, etc.

Strategically sound imo.

True but the problem is that most other people will have Fernandes. If he does well and you do not have him you could be really chasing. I agree he is overpriced though.

Last season there were plenty of times when I did not have Fernandes and he would get those soft pens out of nowhere and 3 bonus. Suddenly my rank was in trouble. Or at best stagnating.

The beauty about owning Fernandes is not only ownership it is the fact that he is on pens. It is likely Sancho will win a lot MORE pens this season and he should be more of threat from open play since the opposition will have Sancho to worry about. .
Plus if worst comes to the worst and Fernandes is not doing his stuff you can downgrade him to all players bar Salah.

It depends if you think the likes of Son under Nuno will fire or not. Plus how will Nuno set spurs up?

I agree

He and Regulion could be gold if Nuno goes back to wingbacks. But I'd want to see Spuds in action for 2 or 3 games first.

The whole Spurs backline is dirt cheap.

If they go 3 at the back then the 4.5 central defenders also look good and could turn out to be the choice over generic Fofana.

Will be avoiding Spurs until after GW10, their run isn't enticing at all. I remember Son and Kane were average against top opposition last term.

Good price alright. Still comes with risk based on last season and new mgt this season, so he wouldn't be a gw1 starter for me.

Another wait & see.

I don't own him but I'm worried that if he scores against Arsenal on opening night his price will fly.

Pukki at a measly 10.2%

Do people have no sense of history? Are they really that flush they can afford 6.5 in the no hoper category?

Proud cheapskate here!

I love watching his highlights reel

My (potentially misguided) hunch is that his strength and one touch finishing style is going to transfer well to the premier league, and that he’ll have no bother getting 10+ goals against bottom half sides, and will suprise the odd complacent top half side

50% goal involvements means we basically need Brentford to score 35-40 goals & Toney will be an FPL darling

Even if they only score 30 he should still be viable…

And if they happen to score 40 or more??

Then it’ll be Toney The Tiger Time

I’ve been looking at a similar set up but with Robertson over Digne. The ayling/lamptey rotation is just too good to miss.
Saying that I’m slowly going off Shaw so will likely go
TAA l Robbo l Lamptey l Ayling l 4.0 and play 3ATB

Beginning to be a fan of the Watford gk double up having checked their record last season - wary of Sanchez Lamptey combo.

Nice team. But Brighton concede, your mood goes down a notch.

Midfield close to what I have had myself - but I’m trying to stretch to Grealish over Buendia.

All this love for Buendia and assuming he’s still at Villa I see Grealish being better than him in every way and then some.

You get 100% set piece coverage with Bruno & Shaw - that’s the route I’d prefer at the minute

I’d like Varane to sign I think he’ll help shore up the defence a fair bit

MU seem to be doing good business this off-season.

Getting a nice DM and they’re on their way to challenging MC for me.

is mctominay out then?

Varane is speedy enough to do that but only Bailly is fast enough of those that are in the team atm. Him over Maguire then? Latter is quite slow. Pogba left side attacker, hm..

Yeah that’s my hope too

I have to go with Buendia instead of Grealish or Watkins for budgetary reasons, so him getting pens would be unreal

On my subjective opinion, if El Ghazi is not on the pitch, i can see Watkins having another try at pens before Buendia claiming them

At least he'll probably be on set pieces even if its not pens

Everton scored 18 goals in the second half of the season (only Wolves with 15, Sheffield United with 10, and Fulham with 11 scored less)

And DCL has 5 goals in Everton’s last 27 games

I also don’t think their fixtures are excellent - they’re away to brighton, Villa and Leeds in the first 5 weeks (all are defensive darlings of the FFS boards, and rightly so), with Burnley home completing their first 5 - another defence that can frustrate on their day

DCL is well capable of opening the season strongly - but I prefer Bamford

There’s enough there that I can be comfortable with the logic behind the decision, the outcome will be what it will be

Bamford DCL Kane

Yeah I've gone off DCL to be honest. He'll need to have a very strong preseason for me to put him back in my team.

Cavani

Ayling seems to be the default choice. Does Llorente have good goal threat?

Very much so. I may be influenced by the herd mentality in going for Ayling, but I see Llorente as a damn good option, with good bap potential when Leeds keep clean sheets.

Watkins + Buendia for me.

Would avoid the double Leeds defence -- locks you out of a second Leeds attacker which you'll probably want when their fixtures improve.

Coufal, Digne and Lamptey are very unlikely starts.

Next 30 days will be boring for you 😉

Maybe the first team I’ve seen with 14 players likely to get full games and no throwaways.

I’d be scared of Chelsea rotation so it makes sense to spread the money to cover rotation.
Sterling is an interesting one - will his form transfer back to the PL? Will Pep care how his Euro was?

Just the couple at risk but the other variable that can thrown this completely out is what rest the England players have. Can't see a natural switch from Raheem.

Not sure id want double Chelsea when they finished the season so poorly under Tuchel

In their last 10 league games they were fifth, with a goal difference of only +4 (only 15 goals scored and 11 goals conceded)

Digne

Dumfries.

Digne

Digne

Allergic to Digne but he's rational enough.

Might think about Pickford but prefer Meslier at the same price point. DCL could happen but not from week 1 for me.

Digne

Leighton Baines

DCL

Digne

Digne maybe an injury doubt so keep an eye on that.
KDB the same.
I think you might be better going with a definite starter instead of Jota - such as Trossard/Buendia.

I currently have all 3 starting lol, but I'd say Shaw is the worst one for GW1

I have one of those three - shaw and I am benching him gw1.

Digne - has been carrying an injury since the euros
Welbeck can get injured at the mere mention of the word.

Think my next draft will be a single premium draft and see how I feel about auto Mo captain for the first run.

Looking at possible Nacho in week 3 which is the first week when Mo doesn't look natural. Felt quite happy captaining Nacho last time.

Son is another possibility week 3 and 4 (another poor one for Liverpool) and quite reachable if you spread funds.

I think this is certainly worth testing out. Even going Son over Bruno opens up some sweet options.

Agreed, people should be talking more about what captain options they need for the first several fixtures.

Assuming you have Salah you will likely need a captaincy option on gw3.
If you do not want to go Fernandes the options for captains gw3 are:
Villa, Spurs, Leicester, Newcastle, Leeds, Everton

Going without Bruno is like being broke with no money. He will end your life.

Or something like that.

Looks pretty good. I'd try to fit in Kane if I went without two premiums in midfield.

My version has Greenwood+Raph over Barnes+Buendia
(Mainly because I have Watkins over Bamford too).

I really like this. Also 7 amazing attackers makes me feel like a 4.0 defender is more viable.

Downgrade defence or Foden for a better 4th mid for me.

Fixtures and price mostly 6.0 saves that .5 that can be used elsewhere. I avoided him and went for Trossard instead,