The FPL team news and injury latest as Premier League pre-season begins

o/

bye bye both, will see you next month 😀

Just not enough goals in Brighton for me to go there

Decent player and seems like a decent guy, but I don't think he has ever done enough in 10+ years he has been in FPL to be worth it, you'd be better of with an extra 6 mill mid or def if poss.

Defo on my list

Worry for me is that Brighton will be in the market for a striker. He's never been exactly prolific but I'd be quite happy to go with him if he replicated end of season form.

Nice fixtures and theoretically Brighton should be good for more goals this time around.

Doesn't Maupay tend to play ahead of him mostly?

You'll get a better score out of a 5.5 defender than Welbeck honestly.

Both ?

I prefer Dias but I’m guessing Shaw will be more popular

Cant get excited about Dias

Owned him at 5.5 & was pretty meh apart from the DGW19 attacking returns

When Pep has 4 fit centrebacks he’ll also almost certainly (imo - no one can guess Pep) miss games here & there too - and probably the “easier” home bankers

Cant see the attraction at all I’m afraid

Judging on last season, Dias, but judging on last few weeks, Shaw by far, but one of those is a much better indicator of performance next season than the other.

Dias for me, that consistent flow of 6 pointer helps. Ideally, I would go for both.

Cheers all

If we could guarantee his form of 5 years ago would be amazing, but based on his spell at Everton just a waste of 1 million.

I agree. In fact, we were generally coming up against a better standard of opposition than we faced in the 2018 World Cup and were continuing to win. England are on an upward curve at the moment.

Broadly agree. Is it more exciting to a Djoko fan or Berrettini fan?

Man, that was a rocket. I did comment at the time that going by the other two, Bruno looks a safe bet to keep the gig.

Second choice definitely 😆

Wonder if we can still get a discount on Sancho after his effort.

Maguire has got a big set of balls, first name on the sheet for Qatar

Nearly always is, but you have to hold your nerve.

I like Raphinha, Harrison, Buendia at that price more than them.

I like this idea a bit better than Dias for sure.
Do wish he and Shaw were the same price though, can’t see me having both as well as TAA.

Was thinking of doing that with Stones

Too hard to estimate how much gametime he'll get - lot of competition in the ranks. Dias would be the most secure in the back for me, apart from Ederson.

I assume because he tapered off last season once Lingard turned up.

I expect WH to add some attackers, will be interesting what that does to Rice and Soucek. Gotta think they’ll play 99% of the game time, just a matter of how much they get forward.

completely dried up at the end of last season. Sure he will have another purple patch this year though.

Too unpredictable to be feasible at 5.0

So he'll likely be too unpredictable to be feasible at 6.0 as well

An incredible shame because the guy smashed it out of the park last season in fairness for that price

I think they were listening at the beginning of last season. Geoff mentioned introducing an opt-out option for sponsored articles by gambling firms but it never materialised.

Whether those plans are still afoot I don't know.

I'm in the same boat in that my decision to renew or not depends on how far the site panders to gambling.

If they continue with the gambling bombardment it’s a disgusting reflection on them. There have been many members clearly against it and to continue would only show their lack of care and respect for members.

I’m happy for FFS to make as much money as possible, no problems at all. But there are clearly many different advertising revenues to make this from that don’t include gambling.

Yeah I don’t like the sounds of all that.
Maybe Gundo is back in the picture!

I wouldn't say "surely", but it confirms my decision to lay off him at the beginning and start with Salah and Bruno as premiums.

Apparently he played vs Italy with the ligament/s torn so id say that's adding extra time onto his recovery at a minimum

At his age (30+) those ligaments are just going to keep popping every now & again too you'd imagine

Between his ankles, his knees, his hamstrings, and his manager - I'm ok with giving him a wide berth for GW1 to be honest

Be good if Barnes is back fit, I’d be worried about multiple knee surgeries though. Feel like Leicester have plenty of options to not have to rush him back.

Like Wilson! I’m hoping to see some life from Newcastle, they were fun to watch for a bit there.

Ederson not worth the money. Because the differential in points between say, him and Meslier, isn't likely to be enough to justify the extra £1m outlay.

If save points weren't a thing in FPL, I would go Ederson all day. He will rack up the CS, but save points (and the bonus that goes with them) are a thing in FPL.

It's very good.
Barnes is a good option - if it turns out his fitness is questionable, you can always change it. I'd expect him to be nailed if he is fit. I wouldn't start with a Burnley player due to their opening fixtures. Presumably with this squad, Lamptey would start more games than Lowton early doors.

Got burned by Ederson post 2nd WC last time

Think I got unlucky mind with City bombing in defence and the theory of Ederson over Dias was okay. That said I would be wary of going that boat from week 1 on 100 mill budget.

I like it a lot. You've gone for a non-templatey, different midfield and it looks impressive.

Gks/defence - nothing to discuss there.
Midfield - Son/Havertz/Pepe are less common in drafts on this site. The reasons being: Son under new manager, Havertz's security of starts (Tuchtation) and Arsenal being seriously 'Meh' last season.
You're assuming Son will thrive, Havertz will be nailed and play central striker, and Pepe will get off to a good start. These are all reasonable hopes.
Attack - 2 standard mid-price starters and one who'll sit on your bench. As you have 2 active reserve defenders, this is absolutely fine.

4.5, 4.0
7.5, 5.5, 5.0, 4.5, 4.5
12.5, 10.0, 8.5, 7.5, 6.5
7.5, 7.5, 4.5

One thing this makes me think is getting a 4.5 defender down to 4.0 and one of the strikers up to 8.0.

I think most will have this type of balance anyway given the pricing and the fixtures.
It is fairly similar to my team with only 3/4 slight differences.

My general plan is to sell Robertson if I need the cash gw3 and upgrade elsewhere.

I have also created a few different drafts with Harry Kane included along with Grealish. So I will be covered with any major transfer changes.
Also I have created a under 10% owned 15 which highlights players many are ignoring.

Of course everyone knows the 'FFS template' it is fairly obvious. Quick glance at RMT's and they are all similar. My general plan is to go with the status quo and make just 3/4 slight adjustments of where I think the 'value' is.

I think it is important fpl gamers look at all the options and think them through. Just have notes made here or there and have all eventualities covered before making a decision.

Three bench options seems an indulgence

Very much have price distribution in mind and the difficulty of reaching a 3rd mid. Shaving money off up top to get a 10.0 from the off. Easer to trade down than up and suspicious of triple mid priced up top.

Don't get slabhead unless you like your defenders served with an absolute of avalanche of yellow cards

Especially in the few games where he manages to keep a cleansheet thus ensuring he completely dodges baps

Absolute nightmare of an FPL player, he just can't cope with premier league forwards unless he has a load of babysitters/minders/safety net players sacrificing the attack to protect him, and for utd that's really only the Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool games these days

Why don't you use the players names for a start? Makes it unnecessarily confusing.
Wilson is on my Watchlist as is Dunk. Two ignored players. Mahrez is a calculated risk and you also have a bench to cover no shows. 1 pointers could be a problem though. Surprised you have not considered Sigurdsson or Trossard in midifield. It could mean you could upgrade Davis.

It is Sancho that puts me off Greenwood. Then add in Rashford and it becomes a real lottery. Keep an eye on preseason closer to season KO. I will be keeping a close eye on the Man U keeper situation as that is where I feel the value is. Man U midfield is too much up in the air for me at the moment.

i'd be worried about

Bruno
Rashford
Pogba
Cavani
Sancho
Lingard (maybe)
Greenwood.

I see only 4, max 5 of these starting in a week - and think Greenwood isn't clearly in the first four

Just wonder if avoiding Bruno is kind of like going broke trying to save money

He's a season wrecker if utd hit their straps - in his time in the league he's been more destructive than 95% of what we've seen from Salah since his 300 point season

For my money, the Man Utd "Meta" this saeson will be:

1. Ole rotating his embarassment of riches in the front 3 positions (Cavani, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Pogba)
2. Man Utd going up another gear in attack to 80+ goals scored (vs. last seasons 73)
3. Bruno playing his FPL "vacuum cleaner" role behind the rotating attackers - i.e. just hoovering up goal involvements (and the baps that come with) week after week after week

Question marks over Pogba's presence being a good thing or not for sure, and the end of season form certainly wasn't stellar...

But personally I think that was more tiredness - from Ole doing stupid things like playing him on thursday night second leg europa league games with a 4-0 first leg advantage etc

And even through all that he still popped up with 2 goals in his last 4 appearances - that's what an off form Bruno does... when he's rested and on form?

He will ruin your life

I'm taking these Grealish to City rumours pretty seriously, so I'd hold off any decision for now.

a

Grealish and Toney for me, but depending on a Grealish move.

How many bad ones though?

The thing that was a bit jarring for me when the fixture list was released was the instant FFS rush to Everton

They have Leeds away, Brighton Away, and Villa away in the first 5 weeks - all 3x teams are darlings of FFS defences (and pretty rightly so imo - those defences all have FPL merits, even if Villa overachieved defensively & Brighton equivalently underachieved)

Throw in Burnley (who are also a great FPL defence at the right times) in the first 5 GW's as well and I'm just not sure we should be eagerly waiting for DCL to snap out of the run he's on - having scored just 5 goals in Everton's last 27 matches

Digne I'm more ok with though as 5.5 is fair game for his FPL previous and Rafa will possibly be more organised defensively than Ancellotti...

But a single Southampton goal in GW1 (maybe from a Danny Ings playing himself into the shop window for his contract expiry, or a Vestergaard header from a set piece) is all it takes to turn the Goodison crowd on Rafa & the whole thing is off to a disaster start

Sounds like the ticket is misleading!

Taking upt to gw 11 it is the softest run overall. Plus it is likely Rafa means a defensively sound Everton at least. Pickford could be a bargain at 5.0.
DCL has a great start last season and if he gets 3/4 goals in those first 8 I will take that.

Thank you. The scales have fallen from my eyes.

Are we sure 6.5 is nailed for GW1?

I think I prefer 4.5 to 4.5. Rotates well with 4.5.