FPL Tips GW1

Welcome to FPL Tips GW1

We’re back with part 2 of our GW1 ‘Tips’ article. This time we have GP, Kop and Stone Frog on duty to share their current GW1 drafts. Some familiar picks and some a little different. As you will see, there are plenty of ways to approach this season, hopefully this will make for a more exciting 24/25 season! Enjoy!

The Gallant Pioneers – GP

Goalkeepers

Having given the goalkeepers the same amount of thought as most others, I’m still not sure if I am on the ones I will end up with come Friday’s deadline.

One thing I know is that I will only be spending £8.5m on the pair as I require the cash elsewhere – that’s a given. Flekken & Valdimarsson could end up being Henderson & Matthews (assuming Johnstone is confirmed away). I think I’ll stick with Brentford simply because I may end up with Munoz of Palace at some stage and I’m never normally one to double up at the back.

Defenders

I’m going with the three I had on first draft. It is fairly heavy. Ben White (£6.5m), I believe is worth the extra £0.5m over his teammates as I feel he is a lot more assured than any of the others as that right-hand side of Arsenal’s last season – with Odegaard and Saka – is their biggest strength in attack in my mind. He also put up more points, goals and assists than the others. Josko Gvardiol doesn’t need much explanation and rounding off with Porro gives me three defenders with many routes to points by way of attacking play and the chance of clean sheets.

Barco (£4m) (first sub) and Faes should give me enough cover if required. Faes will be unspectacular yet reliable (in playing at least) and Barco is one who could start well and stay in the team, making a mockery of the price tag.

Midfielders

I won’t pretend I was keen on Jota (£7.5m) from the start, but I just think that going him over Salah is compensated by the fact of who I can afford elsewhere across the midfield. I see Jota as an ideal placeholder for either Gordon or Nkunku if we run into any problems with him or his injuries. Giving Liverpool’s early run, the Portuguese seems a risk-free pick with more upside than down given who you can migrate to if required. He’s easily the most reliable finisher in front of goal that Liverpool have (and I would include Salah in that). Now that he looks set to start, I don’t want to get caught out being unresponsive to the changing landscape of preseason.

I wouldn’t think I would have to justify Bukayo Saka (£10m) (see Ben White above for reasons) and I think I like the fact that he swaps with Son in event of an emergency.

Ebe Eze takes his place in my regular starting midfield with him being nicely priced at £7.0m. A player who if fit, can be worth hanging on to long-term, as he offers fairly regular streams of points with the caveat that he can also grab double-digits on a good day.

Emile Smith Rowe is the best of the £5.5m I reckon. I will use him from the off and I’m confident he and Fulham will have a good season. Again – there’s a chance to switch to another £5.5m or if funds hamper me, I can drop to Rogers or use the ‘Jota Cash’. I believe I’m flexible in midfield. Of course, I’m hoping ESR is a season keeper going by his obvious qualities and likely playing position with his new team.

Tim Iroegbunam is my choice at £4.5m. I expect he plays a lot at Everton and will only be used for me in an emergency. I have no inkling that he will do much more than 2 or 3 points and being honest, if it wasn’t for the 3-player-per-club rule, I would go Bergvall (that will give you a clue as to who is up top for me ….)

Forwards

Erling Haaland – fresh, good pre-season and a likely captain candidate for most of the early weeks of the season, it is the most obvious of the obvious things! Hold on! … Alexander Isak might challenge that in fact, I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t go without the Swede. He too has been rested over the summer and is the likely Captain on Gameweek 1.

I have committed to Dominic Solanke – and therefore 3-4-3 – now that he is at Tottenham. I’m convinced he sees decent minutes at Leicester on Monday evening, and can you imagine what a boost it would be to your team on Gameweek 1 to see him start?! In any case, even if not, I like the price point of £7.5m and the fact we may have the No. 9 from one of the most exciting attacking teams in the league. Easier to start with him and drop to Joao Pedro, Rodrigo Muniz et al, than scramble for £2.0m to come up to him.

With Porro and Solanke in the team, I need to leave that third Spurs spot free in case Son is required at any stage – and who says that won’t be early on?

Isak captain, then onto Haaland for a while, save 5 transfers because all my players are flying and sell my wildcard to the highest bidder! An absolute doddle this game.

Enjoy the season everyone.

Kop Warriors – Kop

Prior to the game launching I paid little attention to the stupid price reveals. Surely, I’m not the only one who thinks they’re pointless? Just get the game launched!

However, with the world and his dog commenting about the price of Haaland & Salah, I did think to myself that a team with both was unlikely. Once the game launched, I hit auto-pick and didn’t give it another thought. Fast forward a few weeks and it was time to inflict the hurt on myself for the 17th season.

I’m a notoriously conservative FPL player and I suddenly realised it was safer to have both Haaland and Salah than not have them. It’s easier to downgrade than upgrade, blah blah blah. I picked a squad I was reasonably happy with, albeit with a weak defence.
Those of you who have gotten this far are by now wondering what I’m waffling on about as the above screenshot doesn’t contain Salah. Well spotted. I watched our friendly against Sevilla on Sunday and was dazzled by Jota. Salah is undoubtedly the safer pick as Jota has far more competition for a spot in the starting XI, but he’s the most clinical finished at the club. From an FPL perspective, he’s £5.0m cheaper!

Goalkeepers

I’m likely to start the season with two £4.5m keepers, although this could very well become a £4.5m and a £4.0m. For some reason I’m fixated with Areola. I realise that West Ham don’t have the greatest fixtures to start the season, but I feel they’ve recruited well and in Lopetegui they’ve got a decent coach. My 2nd keeper is completely up in the air at the moment and Flekken is merely there as a place holder.

Defence

Arsenal had, by some distance, the best defence in the league last season. Granted, their defenders have been subject to price increases but, I see it as a no-brainer to start the season with one of them. For me, it’s between Gabriel and Saliba as I can’t stretch to the extra £0.5m for White. I’ve currently got Gabriel but it could be Saliba come Friday evening. Gvardiol finished the season like a train and the City defence has been consistently solid over the last 5/6/7 seasons, so he goes in without a huge amount of thought.

After these two it becomes a little more difficult. Everton had the 4th best defence in the league last season and kept 13 clean sheets. I’m banking on them being as solid this season and if this is the case, I fancy Mykolenko to be good value for money at £4.5. Palace were solid enough last term, finished the season in good form and have a decent start to this season and this leads me to pick Joachim Anderson. Rumours surrounding his future are a tad concerning, but for now he’s in my squad. Although should he move to Fulham he’ll remain in my squad anyway. I suppose the doubt is if he hasn’t moved prior to the season opener, which is unlikely, that Palace leave him on the bench. For my 5th defender, I’m going down the £4.0m route with Brighton’s Barco. I’ll be honest, I don’t know a huge amount about him but, hopefully, I won’t need to use him.

Midfield

A discussed above, I’ve gone with Jota over Salah to free up some funds. In the absence of Salah, Saka will be by marquee midfielder. His FPL output has improved season on season over the past four seasons and if Arsenal are to have any chance of usurping City, and I think they can, he will need to improve once again. With penalties & corners in his locker, I expect him to be amongst the top-scoring midfielders again this season. I’m not overly sold on any of the midfielders in the £6.0 – £8.0m bracket. Nkunku could yet prove to be the one, but I’m not sold on him or Chelsea. For now, I’ve gone with Eze based on his end-of-season form coupled with some decent early-season fixtures. Unfortunately, there’s some speculation about his future which means I might yet need to look elsewhere. As soon as Emile Smith-Rowe left Arsenal for Fulham he was a certainty for my team. Injuries over the past couple of seasons have stymied his career and Arsenal have moved on. However, there’s no denying his talent and if he can remain fit, I can see him having a great season for Fulham. He’s hit the ground running in preseason and they’ve got a nice set of fixtures to start the season. My current 5th midfielder is Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers. To be honest, I doubt he’ll be in my squad come the deadline. I can’t see me starting him ahead of my other four mids and he certainly won’t start ahead of my current front 3.

Forwards

With no Mo Salah, Haaland picks himself. He’s had the summer off and despite that bald idiot mumbling about the Norwegian not being fully fit, he picks himself. Yes, he’s £15.0m but that’s what 63 goals across two seasons costs. I haven’t put together many drafts, but of the few I’ve made Isak has been in every one of them. He’s currently the most popular player in the game, by some distance. This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, he finished last season in good form, he’s had the summer off and has been in good form during preseason. Despite having a decent season for Bournemouth, Solanke was not in my thoughts until he moved to Spurs. You have to think that Spurs will create more opportunities than Bournemouth and ergo Solanke will score goals. Don’t worry, I appreciate that life doesn’t always work out in such a simple manner, but I can hope.

What could change? I get cold feet about no Salah and 75% of the above goes out the window!!

Stone Frog

A new season, a new hope. The inception of a new team is both fun and painful, so here goes. Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City were the best three attacks last season and although it makes a deep impact on the budget, I have included what I feel are the best attackers (and penalty takers) from each, with Haaland (15m), Saka (10m) and Salah (12.5m) the core of my team. Salah has a good opening run of games and has made a habit of scoring well in GW1, with 8 goals and 5 assists in the last 7 seasons. Haaland has equally usually started well and Saka has two good home games early on.

Joining Haaland up top is Isak (£8.5m), who since his arrival at Newcastle has netted 31 goals in just 52 appearances. In midfield adding Eze (£7.0m) takes me up to five penalty takers. This leaves me with two midfield spots to fill and although it seems a bit alien, this year there are actually a plethora of cheap gems. For now, I’ve opted for Minteh (£5.5m) and Murphy (£5.5m), both of which had a productive preseason, but also looking closely at Kamada, Semenyo and Smith Rowe.

In defence I considered the matrix of £4.5m rotations, but wasn’t convinced. Ultimately, I don’t trust anybody to keep clean sheets except Arsenal (despite the fixtures), so Gabriel comes in. With the abyss of the remaining budget, I have gone with Quansah (£4.5m) and Barco (£4.0m). Quansah is a rotation risk but has great potential. Barco is a good value short-term option until Estupinan returns from injury. I do like Hall, but potential rotation and the number of away games early on, has put me off for now. Henderson is my £4.5m goalkeeper of choice.

There are the eleven, the fantastic four on the budget bench are Matthews (£4.0m), Palace 3rd choice keeper, but 2nd choice if Johnstone moves on; Jebbison my best guess at a £4.5m forward who may get some game time, Robinson (£4.5m) with a decent run of fixtures from GW2 and Greaves as my low ownership £4.0m defender. And finally, good luck to you all and remember it’s not the world’s end if it doesn’t go well in GW1.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW1 Part 2. This article was written by GP, Kop and Stone Frog.

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