Our Sky Sports Fantasy Football coverage continues as Scoutcast host and keen Sky player Joe reveals his team for the new season.
The good news in Sky Sports Fantasy Football is that we only have to worry about the first three sets of fixtures, as there is an overhaul ahead of Gameweek 4. This makes it far easier to pick a side as we can simply focus on teams with a kind early run.
Looking at the Season Ticker, investment in Aston Villa (wat, NEW, BRE), Brighton and Hove Albion (bur, WAT, EVE) and Liverpool (nor, BUR, CHE) looks advantageous.
Leicester City (WOL, whu, nor) and Manchester United (LEE, sou, wol) also have a great start to the campaign.
Meanwhile, Norwich City (LIV, mci, LEI) and Arsenal (bre, CHE, mci) are among teams I’ll be avoiding in my search for players.
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As a result of Aston Villa’s kind start, I’ve doubled up on Dean Smith’s team, with Emi Martinez (£7.2m) in goal. He’s priced kindly and given that he scored 231 points last time out, which is 32.08 points per million, it’s no wonder he’s in more than a fifth of teams.
My other Villa player is Emiliano Buendia (£7.9m), who should be the main creative force in the side if Jack Grealish get his much-touted move to Manchester City. The former Norwich man was fourth-best player for chance creation in 2019/20, when he was last in the top flight with the Canaries. With 41 goals and 56 assists across his career, he looks primed for points, especially man of the match awards.
Liverpool are another team I’ve doubled up on, with Mohamed Salah (£11.9m) and Andy Robertson (£10.1m). Both have a range of routes to points in their locker.
The Reds’ Egyptian winger also offers great captaincy potential, which is another, if not the main, factor driving my choices.
There are eight captaincy days in Sky across the three Gameweeks.
With Norwich on August 14 and Burnley on August 21, Salah looks the best armband selection on those days.
Brentford’s Ivan Toney (£7.9m) also gets the nod due to his captaincy potential on the single matchday encounter with Arsenal, in the season opener on August 13. If he scores, a man of the match award is surely on the cards.
West Ham assets offer strong captaincy potential on August 15 when they face Newcastle United, on August 23’s single matchday against Leicester and on August 28 when they face Crystal Palace. Currently, Michael Antonio (£8.8m) takes his place as the main Hammer in my team.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (£11.8m) is 39% owned for good reason, having accrued 270 points last season. He looks the best captain on August 22 when the Red Devils travel to Southampton and is among only a few players capable of sweeping the board with assists, goals, bonus and man of the match awards.
I haven’t forgotten Brighton’s kind run; I’m just a little tentative to invest in a backline that has lost Ben White to Arsenal and has other defenders sidelined, such as Lewis Dunk. But I still want to invest on the offchance of three clean sheets, so Adam Webster (£7m) earns a place. Should the Seagulls dominate their matches then the centre-back could also win my side some passing bonus.
Two of my remaining three spots go to points-scoring giants of last season.
Manchester City’s Ruben Dias (£10.6m) is as reliable a starter as we can hope for in Pep Guardiola’s side. With 229 points last season, experienced managers will know of his ability to win passing bonus and clean sheet points.
Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger (£9m) is another reliable bonus magnet. Across his 20 appearances in 2020/21, he amassed an impressive 130 points and should be far more nailed on this time around.
The final place goes to the traditional ‘unsexy Sky pick’, reserved for a workmanlike defensive midfielder who can rack up bonus points for little investment. Leicester’s Wilfrid Ndidi (£7.5m) fits the bill, especially with his tackle and passing bonus accumulation last time out.
This selection leaves me with £0.3m in the bank – enough to upgrade Salah to Harry Kane (£12.0m) for the armband against Arsenal in Gameweek 3, should he join Manchester City. Sky managers should note that we get to see the line-ups ahead of this midday kick-off.
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