With Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) almost upon us, we’re welcoming back our stellar team of Pro Pundits, Hall of Famers and guest contributors for the new campaign.
Our writers will be providing regular articles and team reveals throughout the new season, with only Premium Members able to access every single one.
Next up is Sonaldo, who talks through his Gameweek 1 plans.
The anticipation of the new Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season is nearly over as the opening matches are about to commence. With the World Cup sandwiched in the middle, coupled with a new ‘five subs’ rule, it should be another tricky campaign to navigate. Yet that is what makes FPL so entertaining and I personally can’t wait to get going.
Before you pick your team, there are a few principles that I like to follow:
- A lot of who we pick right now should be based on fixtures and the eye test, as we don’t have enough data to confidently justify our picks. The mantra of ‘we know little’ is a good starting place for now.
- It’s ok to have a ‘template’ team as, within a couple of Gameweeks, lots can change and being able to adapt quickly will be important.
- In FPL, we tend to think of the good scenarios without often considering what could go wrong. Thus, I believe that it’s fine to make the wrong calls but you should always have a backup plan.
- While we don’t want to plan ahead too much, it’s good to have a Wildcard plan in mind, knowing that we have 16 Gameweeks to use it before having a month of unlimited transfers during the World Cup. Pras and I have done a Burning Questions video on this very topic.
Team Structure
- Early season is usually high-scoring. As a result, I really want to invest in attackers and high-potential midfielders.
- However, the value of attacking wing-backs is too great to ignore, therefore I am leaning towards having a strong line of defence.
- When looking at the fixtures, all the strong teams (Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc.) have decent fixtures to start the season. So, it means that I want to load up on City and Liverpool assets (thrree of each) if I can.
- While the main dilemma for Liverpool is Robertson v Diaz, the City triple-up is a bit trickier. This is because while I want to own Cancelo and Haaland, it’s hard to identify the third City asset. Ederson comes into the fold as well as another defender in possibly Dias or Walker. But what if a City midfielder/forward asset starts to explode? Therefore, I’m likely to optimize my squad with just Cancelo and Haaland for now.
- Essentially as I look to Wildcard in Gameweek 7-9, I am deciding between a 5-3-2 or 4-4-2 formation.
If you can’t tell by my FPL handle, my favorite player is Son Heung-min (£12.0m). Not having him in my team seems so odd. But to get him means I must sacrifice one of Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) or Erling Haaland (£11.5m), as I do not like the idea of a threemium structure. It sacrifices too many valuable assets.
My team is subject to change before the deadline, but here is what it looks like now:
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