Fantasy Premier League Promoted Teams Analysis FPL 2018/19 Cardiff City
We start our look at the promoted teams with a trip across the Severn Bridge to Cardiff. Neil Warnock’s men finished second behind Wolves in last season’s Championship which sees them return to the top flight for the first time since their relegation in 2014. The Bluebirds kept 19 clean sheets in 46 games last term, with 11 of those coming at home where they won 16 out of 23 matches, losing just three. The Welshies scored 69 goals with only midfielder Callum Paterson reaching double figures. Junior Hoilett and Kenneth Zohore both scored 9, while interestingly defender Sean Morrison scored an impressive 7 goals.
Fixtures
The fixture computer has handed Cardiff a straightforward looking introduction into the Premier League as they are pitted against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Huddersfield in GWs 1-3. And then the computer bites back, with a vengeance as they then face Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Burnley, Spurs, Fulham and Liverpool over the next 7 game-weeks. Ouch!
They then face a comparatively simpler task until the end of March when they face a tough run-in. Not nice for Warnock and co but for us FPL managers this may play into our hands somewhat because Cardiff last season were very much a team that were able to go on long runs of positive results. They started the season with five straight wins and then recorded eight straight wins in February and March. On the down side they lost four successive matches over the Christmas period.
If these trends continue then it may give us a clue when to hop on and hop off Cardiff assets.
Fantasy assets
Given that Cardiff conceded less goals than anyone else in the Championship last season it would seem fair to assume we should be concentrating on their defensive assets rather than their offensive ones. I’m not sure that’s completely the case however as FPL has been its usual mean self and priced star defender Sean Morrison at 5mln, which values him alongside the likes of Alexander-Arnold, Bertrand, Shaw, Keane, Douglas and all first-choice Burnley defenders, while proving more expensive than Daniels, Cédric, Tomkins, Zabaleta, Duffy & Dunk. Looking at those comparisons I’m not sure I want to pay 5mln for Morrison just yet but maybe he is worth a look from GW11 onwards or indeed for the first 3GWs if you are planning a very early wildcard. For those Morrison fans that need a convincing argument to hold onto him despite the fixtures it may be worth pointing out that the defender had a goal attempt at a rate of one every 66.6mins better than any Premier League centre half last season.
Cheaper budget options in defence are Joe Bennett and Lee Peltier. Both are priced at 4mln and if they can secure starts then either could prove to be great enablers. Don’t expect much in the way of attacking returns – the pair returned one goal and five assists last season, hence their FPL price. Be aware that Bennett faces competition from the more expensive Greg Cunningham.
In goal Neil Etheridge is priced at 4.5mln and could offer an interesting combo with Wayne Hennessey as the pair would give an early fixture run of fulham, NEWCASTLE, huddersfield, SOUTHAMPTON, huddersfield, NEWCASTLE, BURNLEY, WOLVES, FULHAM, ARSENAL, LEICESTER, BRIGHTON, everton, WOLVES, brighton – not the worst if you are looking for two cheap, rotating keepers. Though be warned that Etheridge could miss up to 5 weeks in January to play in the Asian Cup and could also face competition from new signing Alex Smithies.
Midfield sees two obvious FPL potentials – namely Joe Ralls and Danny Ward.
Ralls is Cardiff’s playmaker and is on set pieces, including penalties. Loved by Warnock, the manager said of him last season, ‘he’s the first name on the team sheet. I’m running out of adjectives to describe him.’ Ralls scored seven goals last season and created four assists and has come through the ranks at the club. Priced at 5mln the left footed midfielder is as rotation proof as you get with Warnock and will be fundamental to the Bluebirds’ chances of creating enough chances for his team mates.
Despite being named as a midfielder by FPL, Ward plays higher up the pitch, usually on the left of a front three and has scored four goals so far in pre-season, albeit against fairly ordinary opposition. Ward has the no.9 shirt for the Bluebirds and missed three months of last season with a knee injury which curtailed his scoring to just four league goals. Priced at 4.5mln he could well be the cheap OOP we have been looking for if he can get enough game time with the likes of Reid, Murphy and Hoilett all jockeying for spaces up front.
Striker Bobby Reid joined Cardiff from local rivals Bristol City in a £8mln deal this summer. Reid scored 19 goals in the Championship last season and attracted interest from the likes of Bournemouth and West Brom before agreeing terms with Cardiff. Warnock has been impressed with both Reid and new signing, winger Josh Murphy, in preseason but is managing their minutes as he deems them indispensable for the GW1 kick off vs Bournemouth. At 5.5mln Reid certainly comes under the budget options but is likely to be a ‘wait and see’ to see if he can perform in the top tier before attracting significant FPL interest.
Be sure to keep an eye on Cardiff’s pre-season friendlies and any clues as to who Warnock prefers in goal and at left back and as to whether Ward and Peltier can nail down a starting berth.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Premier League Promoted Teams Analysis FPL 2018/19 Cardiff City. This article was written by Cookie
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
Usually we run an article and ask people to get involved and cover the friendlies with any info they can gather. And it’s usually fun but in all honesty it’s usually also a bit messy and difficult to refer back to. This season we have one link that you will need need for all such info, courtesy of Mito –
Here you will find all the pre-season info you could ever wish for in one place – line-ups, scorers, assists, match info, sarcastic comments….
FPL FIXTURE TRACKER
(It’s scrollable btw, just swipe left or right)
FIXTURE TRACKER LINK
It’s been a busy summer already with Arsenal, Everton, West Ham and Chelsea appointing new managers, Manchester City adding to their already dominant squad, Man Utd continuing to splash the cash and Liverpool trying to protect Karius by beefing up their midfield. Spurs may even have a new home soon.
And FPL wise, this is the place to discuss strategy, learn about the promoted teams and their players while in the days and weeks to come we’ll have plenty of articles, interviews, player analysis, Bore Offs, Tips, etc, etc.
So be sure to get involved in the discussions, the RMTs and the banter as we look forward to another season of Fantasy fun!
The League Codes for FF247 for the 2018/19 season are as follows –
The main public FF247 League , which anyone is welcome to join, can be accessed using the following code 1581-751 (auto-link below).
The prize pool for this one will be confirmed in due course.
Join Our League – Quick Link
League Code: 1581-751
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Our Regulars League* for 2018/19 is now open and has a cash prize pool of £300 paid directly to the winners from the FF247 management team. The first 5 places are paid out in a tiered system.
To enter this one you need to be an active and recognised site member and you need to e-mail us for the league code – elleffcee@gmail.com
*terms and conditions apply and are available upon request. Management reserve the right to review membership of this league on an ongoing basis. If you enter and win a prize you have to have commented on the site at least 5 times for 8 consecutive months between August 2018 and March 2019 or you will not be considered for a prize. That’s basically 1 comment a week all season, we think that’s a reasonable ask to be considered a ‘regular’.
In your e-mail could you please supply:-
Your name.
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Thought I would thow my team up , what do we reckon any suggestions welcome
I quite like it. Kolasniac is one to keep an eye on. A lot depends on Monreal there. Swap Simpson for Bissaka at Palace or Peltier at Cardiff as more likely to play. If Mourinho goes to Wolves I like Jota even more. Not sure on Lowton (Europa league) or Coleman ( conceded a fair amount under defensive Big Sam) and Silva is more attacking
Cheers Smash yes I’ve had Biss in but thk Bou 1st 10 fixtures look good & Simpson has started twice per season & scored I’ll keep an eye on him
Bur fixtures look good so I would like a def but your right Europa could be a problem
I might change Coleman to Robertson I’ve .5m itb
Yeah keep an eye. Bournemouth always concede. Yeah I’d prefer Robertson, can always downgrade to TAA or Lovren later
Excellent work, Cookie. I’m currently on Ward but I am a bit wary of his game time, as you say. Don’t really need to risk game time with your bench midfielder! That defender is interesting, and hopefully one of the two £4.0ms surface as a starter.
I’m keeping an eye on Richarlson at Everton. That’s a lot of money he’s going to start, gets in the box a lot and Everton are better than Watford.
Also on Pedro if Willian or Hazard goes he’s next in line. Only 6.5 for a Chelsea attacker who can get goals
Yep, both are on my radar too!
He had his best games for Silva so hopefully he knows how to get a tune out of him. It could have just been a coincidence but the fact that he has moved for him and so empathetically says a lot.
He’s been talking up Lookman again today too. That first team sheet will be very interesting.
Watford were taking legal action against Everton for tapping up Silva, the FA were going to get stuck in after the court case and a 20m player moves for 50m and everything melts away and everyone goes home happy, allegedly etc and so forth
Strange that isn’t it!
LMFAO, brilliant choice of song
The Beeb famously played that at the end of their 1984 FA Cup Final coverage. Rather cruelly as it turns out! I didn’t get the irony at the time, I was only 8. They even clipped in pics of him in tears as I remember. The cruel b@stards! Makes me wonder if Mito ever had a job at the Beeb
Nah, beeb had standards in those days
Really?! I used to love Jim’ll fix it….
Had you down as a Cartoon Time fan
True, I currently have Jota as my 6.5m mid but either of these two could come in if it seems they’ll get the minutes! Proven prem players over promoted ones for me usually, although Jota as an OOP is very tempting!
What is your team for My Rules this season you mad Suomi 😆
So there still is a thing called “My Rules” then? I have no idea, maybe only Finnish players?!? :what:
Yes, Zorro decided to open the old can of worms 😆
Oh dear, guess I’m obliged to join… Perhaps a rule that allows me to have Salah… Only African players… Hmmm, I’ll look into it…
African players rule is fine
That will be a first but I think it’s a great idea.
While you are at it consider the Egyption Vice president Hegazi. I think the Hammers want him 😉
I know it’s ok, just could be a bit too tough, I’ll try to build a team and see if it’s even possible… Anyway, My Rules is for fun so I reckon the African rule’d be cool…
Yep, as I suspected, can’t get the keepers…
Zed, you can have a bye on keepers if needed, it’s one of the rules so don’t worry.
SZ, in that case you can count me in, I like my African team, just there are no African keepers in the prem… So my rule is African players bar the keepers! Cheers!!! :thumbup:
So make your team name Zed’sAfricans or similar. Every year keepers are an issue mate.
Yep, will do! Zed’s Afros or something….
Evening folks, i’ve been chasing around since 5am this morning, yeah i know, i’m usually the one being chased. All of you that have mailed me about the regulars league, i will get back to you tomorrow with the codes. Cheers.
“i’m usually the one being chased”, yeah police are crap these days, eh?
Give them a chance, Elle has the physique of a young Usain Bolt 😉
Yeah, a 58 year old Usain.
More of a Usain fart then
Nah, he is not that fast.
Brilliant stuff here Cookie! I’m definitely keeping my eye on Ward and he’s currently in my team but game time is a worry. Morrison is another who interests but don’t know if we can trust Cardiff defensively just yet.
I’m currently on Jota and Ward myself in midfield, but I don’t know, the promoted teams (and their players) so often find it tough in the prem, not many, if any, promoted players can keep up with the pace they scored in the championship…. I do have high hopes for Jota though as he could play as a central striker or on the wing like Salah, still going central a lot for goals, so he’s and OOP!
Yeah those two are in my team along with Cairney, jota is really interesting me though!
Silva or Mahrez????????????????
KDB
Too expensive won’t start early doors
:big-lol:
Mahrez from the start, then switch to KDB… Apparently Pep has indicated that Silva (due to his age) will be rotated/his minutes will be managed… Or something…. Doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t score big when he starts though…
Cheers Zorro & Zed
I take your point, I just feel that KDB gets better every year, I think Mahrez was bought to rotate with D.Silva