You would hope given that Solanke and Rich can't stay fit.

AS Monaco forward Balogun is rumoured to sign for Spurs in a 60m deal

We can hope it’s Kane come back to take the record off Shearer

Decent, reason for no Chelsea?

Personally think Anderson isn't the best MCI pick - doubt he'll get as many defcon playing for them.

I reckon it'll be Vuskovic and Boscagli.

What happened in defence

It really would be worthwhile finding 0.5 for a second starting keeper… that’s an extra 3-4 points on average

It’s probably Gvardiol and who knows about the rest. Community shield might give some hints

Dias has been made captain so maybe him. Doubts over them all

I'm not keen on Liverpool or arsenal mids-fwds until they settle but BrunoG could be a good pick. Dont like Witrz

Not a fan of Bruno G or Cunha. Bruno G ok minutes-wise at the start of the season but it’s really hard to know how he’ll do for points in the Arsenal team. Cunha massive minutes risk imo, I’m not even sure he starts in their best XI tbh given Carrick seemed to trust Dorgu more when he was fit last season

I like mids personally because there’s surely lots of goals against promoted opposition. Bruno and Mbeumo for me. If you’re feeling lucky I don’t mind a punt on Dorgu. Wouldn’t go to Cunha or Amad myself

Mids

I'm unlikely to have haaland gw1 and atm semenyo is in my bb gw1

Maybe you've forgotten that Haaland did nothing at all in the last 10 games?? It was all about Cherki & Doku with an occasional goal from Semenyo - Haaland.

b

A, Amad definitely a minutes risk and Bruno DCL better than Isak Semenyo over the first few fixtures

M+S

There’s a massive price disparity between these two combos. What are you doing with the extra £2.5m if you get Mbeumo and Semenyo?

Good team. Tzolis a risk long term so make sure you’ve got a plan to jump off him.

Looking good Billy Ray

We have very similar squads, only differences are Wirtz Tzolis over Szoboszlai BrunoG

Yay apart from

- João Pedro for 0.5 less (better team and 0.5 is useful)
- Not outstanding fixtures to start
- Output last season was powered by penalties, will that continue?

Hot take but he’d be ahead of Isak in attacker rankings (Haaland, JP, Thiago, Isak, DCL)

We'll all want to upgrade DCL to him very soon.

Absolute scam artist

Don’t like Amad in there. Mbeumo RW with Sesko/Cunha up top and Amad on the bench will happen with some regularity

Not for me - sorry.

I think to go without the most prolific all-round midfielder is a fool's errand - whoever is promoting this.

*goals
*assists
*bonus, by a country mile
*DEFCON
*penalties

Madness. 🙂

2.0 ITB feels a bit much. Surely better to go Le Fee -> Sangaré/Groß and Calafiori to Gabriel?

If you were hoping to go Semenyo and Isak to Haaland + 4.5 mid in GW3 you’ll need 2.5ITB. If you’re selling Bruno and Pedro you only need 0.5ITB. I’d say spend the extra money unless it’s there for a very specific reason.

If Haaland starts in community shield, do you look to get him in? If not, then stick to your guns and this team is decent for that path

Me personally will be doing everything to have Haaland (uncertainty with new manager and not particularly keen on Semenyo).

Slept on pick - tarkowski. Could upgrade gvardiol with money itb, or upgrade davis

Can add:

Title defence normally breeds complacency/some drop off

Just come back from World Cup, not overly worked but still not a full pre season compared to calafiori/tarkowski/kerkez

Bit all over the place in pre season, but expect some of that will calm down when kepa’s not in goal

It’s essentially the best fixture up front but then hope they get it right in the big games, and Gabriel can get DEFcons and goals when other Arsenal defenders can’t (aside from calafiori although mins risk)

That combined with you’d be going without one of Bruno or Haaland, it would take a bit of mental gymnastics to justify Gabriel from the off (on a wildcard later in the season with more info…)

One bullet header from a corner and everything changes.

You’re forgetting just how good the Arsenal defence was last year. Miles ahead of anyone else in terms of xGC per 90. A drop off from last season doesn’t make Gabriel bad value at all. He was ludicrous value last year and if Arsenal do worse he’ll still be good, even if not ludicrous. Harder fixtures also up the chances of DefCon etc. Gabriel pretty locked in my team tbh

Lammens (assuming last question means you’ll have one Sunderland defender already)

Kadioglu if no Verbruggen, Rodon if you do

DCL and not even close

Hume if you can afford him, O’Nien fine if you have cover in the following weeks (makes having Rodon better as better player for GW2 when you might need him)

See Gabriel comment above - too me he’s the one that I think can be gone without

Other Man City forwards too uncertain so Haaland a must if he plays community shield imo

Don’t think the team is too let down by having Bruno and Haaland, and actually with mbuemo there’s enough cheap options to make it work

I’m going without Haaland but I think GBH is totally viable.

A big advantage is flexibility. If one of them doesn’t perform, it’s super easy to hop off and buy literally whoever looks like this season’s best picks.

Another advantage is consistency. There’s so much uncertainty this year with so many new managers etc, but with these three you’re likely to get good consistent points. Arsenal and Utd both very stable. Haaland probably the best striker in the world and will score whoever he plays for.

Finally, captaincy. This is controversial but I think all three of these players are captainable if you want to go for it.

There’s enough good cheap picks to make the draft workable I feel. Lots of 6.0 mids. 5.5s like Sangaré and Groß. 5.0s like Gomez and Nørgaard. Lots of good 6.0 forwards too like DCL, Igor Jesus, and probably a couple of others will be decent too. I think you can very much do it

You should listen to planet FPL CotC with Mark talking about the Forest defence. He expects them to perform even better than Palace defenders did last season with NFO not being in Europe.

Jim, it's not the same Diomande who starred for Ivory Coast at the World Cup

To me, ALL Nottingham Forest defenders are a HARD avoid, that includes Neco Williams, who many have been swearing by in the FPL sphere. Only Nottingham Forest player I'd consider going for is Morgan Gibbs-White.

Old tweet I found:

- Glasner wanted him at Palace after Guehi left
- Glasner environment is fertile DEFCON grounds
- Back of napkin Glasner CBs clear med DEFCON bar bw 39% Richards to 57% Lacroix
- clearly Glasner has a defined role in mind so xMin confidence

Who?

5.6 DEFcons per 90, although Southampton were a largely possession based side (Flynn downes had the same number, slater for hull had 5.5)

Fulham’s fixtures automatically make him a wait and see. However did pop up with goals, and there’s potential for set pieces (mainly corners)