Fantasy Football Team Gameweek 1

Welcome to FF247 Fantasy Football Team Gameweek 1. We may not be, or indeed ever have been, the best team out there, but we are almost certainly the best debated one. At least we’d hope so anyway, and if anyone is debating a team more than we do then we send you and your family our condolences! This is not thrown together at the last minute. It’s debated to the Nth degree. It’s debated to the degree of friendships being stretched to the point of breaking. If it works then great, if it doesn’t then fine, but don’t ever say we didn’t try! We’ve had some moderate ‘success’ thus far, finishing 5k, 84k and 12k in the last three seasons. As we say, not the best, not the worst. Our panel is made up of five FPL ‘veterans’, all of whom are impartial in their FPL decisions, despite their various allegiances, so if nothing else then you can rest assured that the decisions made will be thought out and considered. You can follow the teams progress here and there will be as ever a weekly article detailing our transfers and progress. Here is our GW1 team and how we landed on it….

Our Team…
Sometimes, when you announce the official ‘Site Team’, there is almost a pressure to produce something wonderful that nobody else has thought of yet, almost as if we have some sort of access to a magical budget of £120m or something, which nobody else does, and suddenly we can have that sought after power 7 up top, backed up with the best money can buy defence. Sorry to burst any such bubble then, we work in the same world as everyone else and with the same constraints, and as such, compromises have to be made. And boy have they been!

Especially in midfield. That’s mainly because we didn’t much fancy the 3rd forward options in the ‘budget’ range. JRod was the obvious one but then West Brom aren’t exactly renowned for a free scoring style. We couldn’t justify, as much as we wanted to, a full out splurge in that spot for a Jesus or Kun to go alongside Lukaku & Kane so we sort of settled in the middle with Firmino.

Here’s a very brief summary player by player as to why they all made it:

Goalkeepers
De Gea
The safest route into the 2nd best defence from last season and a defence with a great set of opening fixtures.

Elliot
We don’t expect to have to use him much given Man Utd’s opening fixture list so he’s bench fodder really. The only time they run into any real opposition is vs Everton in GW5 and Elliot has Stoke at home that week, if we need him.

Defence
Kompany
The mainstay of City’s defensive resolve and looked great attacking wise when he finally returned from injury last season. We fully expect him to break down in GW1 and ruin all of that though!

Davies
If Kompany is to be our 1st transfer out, this may well be our 2nd but likewise we enter it with eyes wide open. Any chance to get in on the best defence of last season is too good to pass up. He’s ‘Rose’ dependent but then again Rose has been ‘returning’ since about January so we are happy enough to see how long we can keep this one up.

Cedric
Another attacking fullback and one with a great set of fixtures, in theory.

Suttner
Our 1st budget defender, not someone we expect to have to call on much initially, but if we do then he has pedigree as an attacking full-back too with 4 goals and 5 assists last season.

Long
£4.0m bench fodder, he’s first in if Mee or Tarkowski get injured but we shouldn’t ever need to go that deep on the bench anyway if we are paying attention every week. Or unless we get really unlucky.

Midfield
De Bruyne
Finished last season with a flurry and has had an impressive pre-season. Feels like City’s heartbeat and the least likely to be rotated, and has goals and assists in his locker at any given moment.

Willian
If Kompany and Davies are our 1st and 2nd transfers, then this could be our 3rd. Talk about planning ahead! Once Hazard is back then Willian becomes a risk but his form in pre-season has been good enough to convince us to roll the die on him for now.

Ince
Another one with a strong pre-season behind him. We needed to start dipping into the £6.0m market and we fancy Ince to carry this form into the season itself.

Carroll
Everyone’s favourite enabler. At just £4.5m he looks too good to pass up, especially as he may well be on a lot of set-pieces if and when Siggy finally relocates to Toxteth.

GroB
GroB will rotate with Carroll for us and offers up a very impressive alternative as he’s another on set-pieces and his ‘chances created’ stats in Germany are very impressive.

Forwards
Lukaku
There’s an argument not to go with him, we just feel that not to, is just too much of a risk. Their opening fixtures are against the exact type of opposition that United struggled against last season, but that he personally thrives against. He’s a flat track bully, basically. He has a flat track in front of him….

Kane
Probably the most debated player in pre-season in terms of whether to start with him or not. Wembley, poor pre-season, slow starter etc, etc. He’s also one of the few players who’s likely to suddenly put on a hat-trick before you’ve blinked.

Firmino
Poor old Firmino is our black sheep. We don’t want him really, we want Jesus or Kun ideally. They just kill the midfield more than it has been already, if that’s possible. What he does do is cover the potential Liverpool explosion for us. And he may well be on pens too. He’s taken 2 of them in pre-season anyway.

The team in full

Our Captain is Romelu Lukaku, (our Vice Captain is Harry Kane)
The flat track bully’s flat track bully. He loves playing West Ham. It’s his debut game and it’s on TV on Sunday afternoon in prime time viewing. It just feels ripe for a big showing all round.

Thanks for reading FF247 Fantasy Football Team Gameweek 1

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Gameweek Tracker GW1-11