Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 1

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 1 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15

“I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind”! For most of us it was last May as the FPL grew to a close and for some reason we’re about to do it all over again. Some took the summer off to recharge the batteries while others chose to play fantasy World Cup which helped pass the time but we still longed for the return of the FPL and the good news is that it’s now only a matter of days away. While there is a sense of anticipation in the air, there is also a sense of panic and desperation as fantasy managers the world over struggle to decide on a squad with which they are happy! But fear not, below I have outlined a number of players whom I feel can deliver the points that will get you off to a solid start this season.

Goalkeepers
I think we can all agree that last season was an unmitigated disaster for Manchester United and the players were of course partly to blame for this. Fast forward three months and things are much brighter around Old Trafford, David Moyes has gone and the Louis van Gaal revolution has begun. Apparently the Dutchman has been allowed to choose United’s fixtures as they face the three promoted clubs as well Swansea, Sunderland & West Ham in their opening six games and with fixtures like these it’s unlikely to come as much of a surprise that my first tip is David de Gea. Despite United’s woes last season the Spaniard still managed to pick up 12 clean sheets and finished the season with a fairly respectable 128 points and perhaps it is somewhat surprising that his price has dropped to £5.5m, a price that I feel is great value for money. Currently it appears as though there may be a degree of rotation for both wing-back spots and with United clearly in the market for at least one centre back, it could just be that de Gea is the safest route into the United defence.

At present it would appear that Hugo Lloris is flying under the radar, although this is possibly because Spurs face Liverpool, Arsenal & City in the opening eight game-weeks, however I feel as though he warrants some consideration. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the French international picked up 14 clean sheets last season and finished the season as the fifth highest scoring goalkeeper in the FPL. New manager Mauricio Pochettino could also have an effect here and it shouldn’t be forgotten how defensively sound Southampton were last season, particularly before Christmas and with Spurs supposedly having a decent squad I expect him to replicate this success at Spurs.

There is quite a plethora of keepers priced at £5.0m with Stoke’s Asmir Begovic the standout choice from this category particularly for the first 12 game-weeks as aside from trips to City & Spurs they have some excellent fixtures, LvG must have given Hughes some pointers. Stoke had a topsy turvy season last time out but still managed to finish 9th which was their best finish in nearly 40 years and I suspect they will at the very least match that this season, now that they have become accustomed to Sparky’s style of play and this in turn should see Begovic improve on the nine clean sheets he kept last season.

Another £5.0m keeper who warrant some consideration is Hull’s Allan McGregor. Hull have some great early season fixtures and for those of you building a squad with plans to wildcard early well then McGregor could be the man for you. One of the bargains of last season was Crystal Palace’s Julian Speroni and he deserves serious consideration but the word coming out of Palace is that Speroni is no longer assured of the gloves so just keep an eye on this.

We took a look at a number of keepers priced at £4.5m in our recent bargain basement article so I won’t go into much detail on them here. The biggest talking point surrounding these £4.5m keepers is whether or not Mannone or Pantilimon will start the season between the sticks for Sunderland. Having played 1 ½ of Sunderland’s last two friendlies I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest that Mannone will start and if this happens the Tim Krul / Vito Mannone combo is still a runner!

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Defenders
When it became apparent that LvG was going to implement his favoured 3-4-1-2 / 3-5-2 or whatever it is, fantasy managers the world over creamed themselves at the thought of Luke Shaw playing as a wing-back and there was an immediate clamour to get the youngster into fantasy teams. However, van Gaal has since said that Shaw isn’t fit enough and in an effort to resolve this Shaw has done his hamstring and is likely to be missing for four weeks!  There has also been the pre-season form of a certain Ashley Young, yes he’s still at Old Trafford! For these reasons my tip from the United backline is in fact the much maligned Jonny Evans. It would be a major surprise should van Gaal not bring in another centre back before the transfer deadline, but even if he does it would appear that Evans’ spot is safe, at least for now, particularly as United look set to start the season with three centre backs. The Northern Irish international has impressed throughout United’s pre-season friendlies, so much so that there had been rumours that he may be given the captains armband and at just £5.5m he could prove a bargain, especially if they adapt to van Gaal’s methods quickly. At the time of writing Evans was a doubt for the season opener against Swansea so it might be worth keeping an ear out for LvG’s Friday press conference.

Last season the Chelsea defence was a source of much joy for so many fantasy managers as once they got into the Jose groove they offered up clean sheet after clean sheet, finishing the season with 16 in total. The great thing was that they were subject to very little rotation which meant you could use any one of the four as the bedrock of your defence. Unfortunately Jose has gone and thrown a spanner in the works and that spanner is called Filipe Luis. The addition of Luis coupled with the flexibility of Ivanovic & Azpi means we could see quite a bit of rotation over the course of the season and even if it doesn’t, it might take a few weeks before the back four settles down. So where does that leave us fantasy managers? For now my tip is John Terry. Terry picked up a new one year deal at the end of last season due his impressive performances and knows that if he is to receive another deal he will need to be at his best yet again this season. He is not getting any younger and this will probably see him rotated slightly more but after a summer free from football I fully expect him to start the vast majority of the games at the beginning of the season and come the end of the season don’t be too surprised if he’s yet again one of the top scoring defenders in FPL.

Next up is the Arsenal rear-guard who despite taking a number of hammerings from the likes of Liverpool & City last season still managed to keep mightily impressive 17 clean sheets, so it would be remiss of me to ignore them in our first tips article of the season. For now Mathieu Debuchy would appear to be the obvious choice. At £5.5m he is cheaper than both first choice centre backs (Mertesacker & Koscielny) and while he is the same price as Kieran Gibbs, we all know that Gibbs has glass ankles. The Frenchman managed to impress at Newcastle last season, which in itself was an achievement and he finished the season with a goal and four assists. For those of you who are only picking your squad based on the first three game-weeks you could consider another summer signing, Calum Chambers. With Per Mertesacker not match fit due to his World Cup exploits, the youngster is likely to deputise in the German’s absence. A word of warning though, as soon as Mertesacker returns, Chambers will start the vast majority of games on the bench.

For those of you who are picking your squad largely based on fixtures it will be difficult for you to ignore the Stoke City defence who as we have outlined above have some excellent early season fixtures. At £4.5m Geoff Cameron has proved quite popular, but with the addition of Phil Bardsley to the squad it would appear that the American could start the season on the bench. For me it’s a choice between Robert Huth & Erik Pieters, both priced at £5.0m. Huth missed the majority of last season following knee surgery in November but made a return to the fray in Stoke’s first pre-season game of the summer and with 13 goals in the past five seasons the German clearly has goals in his locker. There has been a suggestion that the new bonus points system favours full-backs (although this remains to be seen) and if this turns out to be the case Pieters could be an interesting choice.

Tony Pulis weaved his magic at Selhurst Park last season and in the process he ensured that the Palace defence became quite popular in FPL circles and the addition of Brede Hangeland on a free transfer is likely to further solidify their defence. In our recent ‘bargain basement’ article I suggested that Adrian Mariappa at £4.5m would prove popular, unfortunately it now appears as though Mariappa is out of favour meaning we will need to look elsewhere for Palace defensive coverage. For me, right back Joel Ward is the best option and he could very well chip in with a number of assists and with Palace having a decent start to the season he could quite easily pick up a number of early season clean sheets. It’s worth noting that at the time of writing Liverpool’s Martin Kelly looks set to move to Selhurst Park and at £4.5 he could become a great option.

A couple of defenders priced at £4.5m who are worth some consideration are Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt and Southampton’s Maya Yoshida. Van Aanholt is an attacking left back and his stats at Vitesse Arnhem certainly back this up, he picked up five goals and five assists in 38 games last season. With so much uncertainty surrounding the keepers at the Stadium of Light at present, van Aanholt might be the best route into a defence who have been relatively solid during pre-season and Sunderland have some decent early season fixtures. I should point out that the Dutchman was substituted with a niggle after 39 minutes at the weekend, so pay attention to Poyet’s Friday press conference. Southampton have obviously lost a player or two over the summer but they do have some great early fixtures following their visit to Anfield on the opening weekend and despite selling some of their best players they might just surprise one or two people this season.

Since we published our ‘bargain basement’ article a number of £4.0m defenders have come to our attention and they are Swansea’s Kyle Bartley, Aston Villa’s Alan Hutton and Chris Baird of West Brom. With Chico Flores having left Swansea there is a spot up for grabs beside Ashley Williams and it currently appears that Bartley is ahead of Jordi Amat in the pecking order. Hutton has spent the last couple of seasons out on loan and hasn’t played a great deal of football but he appears set to start the season at right back. However, after three somewhat straightforward games Villa have a run of fixtures that is likely to give them nightmares. Baird has figured in every one of West Brom’s pre-season games and has even featured as a defensive midfielder in a number of them.

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Midfielders
And so we arrive at the midfield, the cause of so much heartache over recent seasons and it’s not going to get any easier this season when it comes to picking your five. My first midfield tip this season is Manchester United’s Juan Mata. The Spaniard enjoyed two great seasons at Chelsea, scoring 17 times as well as creating 25 and was voted Chelsea player of the year in both seasons. Jose Mourinho rocked up at the Bridge last season and decided Mata wasn’t for him and Mata moved to United in January of this year. Unfortunately for Mata, David Moyes didn’t have a clue how to get the best out of him and the Spaniard was played on the right side of midfield! Enter Louis van Gaal and he has immediately moved Mata into his most effective position at no.10 and this has seen the Spaniard pick up two goals and an assist in pre-season. United’s early season fixtures scream goals and with Mata now in his favourite position you have to assume that he will be involved in many of them. For those of you who don’t have the required £9.0m for Mata you could take a gamble on Ashley Young who is competing with Luke Shaw for the left wing back slot and could also be played at right wing back, due to injures to Rafael & Antonio Valencia. Most of us assumed that Young would be long gone from Old Trafford at this stage but he has turned in a number of decent performances during pre-season and this has seen him pick up three goals and an assist.

This time last year very few of us (aside from a certain chicken) expected Aaron Ramsey to finish the season with ten goals as well as nine assists, a feat made even more impressive when you consider that he missed nearly three months of the season due to injury. This has seen his price rise to £9.0m, but even so, I feel as though he offers value for money and anyone who watched the Charity Shield will have seen that he hasn’t lost his touch over the summer. Wenger has played the Welshman in ‘the hole’ in recent fixtures although I’m not sure how long he will remain in that position, but even if he is moved deeper his ability to make runs into the box is likely to ensure a steady flow of goals throughout the season. It’s difficult to ignore Arsenal’s marquee signing Alexis Sanchez who arrives at the Emirates from Barcelona and with Arsene indicating that he will utilise the Chilean as a forward his appeal in fantasy terms has multiplied. However, for now I feel that Ramsey is the better option of the two especially after Wenger saying that Sanchez is not 100%.

Liverpool scored goals for fun last season, finishing up with 101 for the season and while it was Daniel Sturridge and some Uruguayan who scored the majority of them, Raheem Sterling also chipped in with nine goals and seven assists. With the aforementioned Uruguayan having departed for Barcelona and with Liverpool to date failing to replace him it’s a little unrealistic to expect Liverpool to get near the 100 mark this season. However it does mean that others will need to step up to the plate and Rodgers will be hoping that Sterling can turn on the style and break into double figures. Liverpool have at stages during pre-season shown glimpses of the breath-taking football they played last season and Sterling has figured prominently with two goals & two assists. At just 19 there are a number of areas of his game which Sterling can improve upon and should he manage a number of those improvements this season he could turn into a great fantasy asset.

Let’s move onto the Chelsea midfield and with 14 midfielders listed they probably deserve their own article! For me the two standout players from the 14 are Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas. Hazard was the main man for Chelsea last season and typically when he played well Chelsea played well. On the flip side of this it often meant there was too much pressure on him to perform which meant that he went through periods of not scoring which frustrated many fantasy managers, however with the introduction of Fabregas & Costa to the side much of this pressure could be removed from Hazard allowing him more freedom to perform. It is worth noting that Hazard has only recently been eased back into the fray and as such may possibly start the opener on the bench. When Fabregas left Arsenal for Barcelona back in 2011 many including himself expected him to take over from Xavi, but sadly it didn’t quite work out that way and he arrives at the Bridge with his tail between his legs. This however is good news both for Chelsea and us fantasy managers as the Spaniard will be eager to prove himself and just in case you’d forgotten, in his last five seasons at Arsenal he was responsible for 30 goals and 72 assists, go check for yourself if you don’t believe me! During pre-season Cesc has been fielded in the double-pivot role as well as in ‘the hole’ behind a lone frontman, however it remains to be seen which of these positions will become his regular spot, although the consensus seems to be that it will be the double-pivot role beside Matic. However, if he can recapture his Arsenal form it won’t matter where he plays. One to monitor at the bridge is Andre Schurrle. There have been reports linking the German World Cup star with a move away from the Bridge but should he remain and secure a regular spot, he could be an absolute bargain at £7.5m.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that last season was an unmitigated disaster for Erik Lamela. The Argentine arrived for a club record fee of nearly £26m + add-ons and finished the season with just nine league appearances and a solitary assist to his name. Therefore it might come as a surprise to see him included here but with a new manager installed all players are likely to start the season with a clean slate and the fact that the new gaffer is also an Argentine should help. Pochettino has played Lamela in ‘the hole’ during pre-season and he has responded well with three goals. At this stage of the season he might be considered a risky pick, but should he manage to recapture the form he showed at Roma he could turn out to be a very shrewd pick. Another Spurs player who’s worth monitoring is Lewis Holtby. The German has showed some decent form during pre-season and if he can secure a regular spot he could be a decent shout at just £6.0m.

A couple of mid-priced midfielders who are worth some consideration are Dusan Tadic of Southampton and Newcastle’s Remy Cabella. Tadic arrives at St Mary’s with a considerable reputation having scored 42 goals in 134 league appearances in Holland over the last four seasons. Now we’ve all heard the argument that the Dutch league is of a poor standard but anyone who averages a goal nearly every three games from midfield warrants some attention and should the Serb hit the ground running he could become quite popular. Just like Tadic, Cabella also has goals in his locker, scoring 21 in 68 games for Montpellier over the last two seasons. With another new signing currently out injured Pardew has given Cabella the no.10 role in recent games and when discussing his performance against Real Sociedad the Shields Gazette said “Cabella looks a player of true class…he always shows for the ball, and the role he was given against the Spaniards ensured he was the man dictating the play for United”. Let’s just hope Pardew can get the best out of him!

Having already dedicated an article to potential bargains we’re not going to spend much time here looking at the cheaper midfielders. However one player who we didn’t include was QPR’s Jordan Mutch as at that stage he was still a Cardiff City player. Mutch impressed in a struggling Cardiff team last season finishing with seven goals & six assists and could very well be handed the no.10 role by Harry Redknapp.

I suppose I can’t move on from the midfielders without at least mentioning a certain Ivorian by the name of Yaya Toure! Remember him? He was the bloke who just kept on scoring last season despite some folk constantly claiming that it wouldn’t continue, but it did. As a result of last season’s exploits he is now priced at £11.0m making him the FPL’s most expensive midfielder but if he picks up from where he left off last season we’ll all want him soon enough…just don’t forget his birthday!

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Forwards
Chelsea haven’t had a striker of note since Didier Drogba left the club back in 2012, but that might now have changed with the purchase of Diego Costa. The Spanish international was one of the summer’s most in-demand strikers following an exceptional season with Atletico Madrid in which he scored 27 league goals in just 35 games and if pre-season is anything to go by it appears as though he has already settled into his new surroundings with four goals including a double on his home debut. Typically we would advise you to exercise a degree of caution with a striker new to the Premier League as there have been countless big money signings from abroad who have flopped over the years but I just don’t see this being the case with Costa, his game appears tailor made for the league. I wouldn’t be at all surprised should he break the 20 goal barrier on his debut season, especially as he will have the likes of Fabregas, Hazard & Oscar creating the chances for him and at £10.5m he could actually turn out to be a bargain.

Towards the end of Fergie’s reign it appeared as though Wayne Rooney was set for the exit door but then along came superman a.k.a. David Moyes who calmed the situation and now Louis van Gaal has made him his captain…obviously Fergie didn’t have a clue! As we have already noted, United’s opening fixtures are simply too attractive to ignore and with LvG hopefully set to reintroduce a brand of attacking football to Old Trafford surely there will be goals. Robin van Persie has not featured in any of United’s pre-season games so it is safe to say that he will at the very least miss the Swansea game which means that Rooney is set to start the season as the focal point of United’s attack, while he will also be on the majority of set pieces.

Luis Suarez grabbed the majority of the headlines around Anfield last season but Daniel Sturridge didn’t fare too badly and finished the season with 22 goals and 8 assists. Many will argue that Sturridge won’t be nearly as effective without his partner in crime and to extent they might be correct, but it’s worth remembering that Sturridge scored in a number of games which Suarez missed last season. With Liverpool intent on buying midfielders Sturridge is currently the only striker of note at Anfield and therefore he is guaranteed to be the focal point of their attack. Granted he is now the 3rd costliest player in the FPL and this may put some folk off but one thing is for sure and that is that Brendan Rodgers won’t change his philosophy, so Suarez might be gone but Liverpool will continue to attack with verve! With the likes of Sterling, Coutinho & Lallana creating the chances for him we suspect we’ll see the dance soon enough.

Having scored 102 goals last season a Manchester City forward warrants a mention and with Sergio Aguero unlikely to start at the weekend I’m going with Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian frustrated many a fantasy manager last season as he missed countless easy chances but he still finished the season with 16 goals. Stevan Jovetic has grabbed the headlines with his goals in pre-season but as Tekno pointed out in his excellent article on City, Dzeko is a safer long-term bet than Jovetic. Olivier Giroud frustrated nearly as many managers as Dzeko last season and coincidentally he also finished the season with 16 goals. There have been suggestions that with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal that Giroud will suffer more rotation this season than last and that might be true, but he will still score goals, to be honest, given the talent Arsenal have in midfield Sean Dundee would score goals in this Arsenal side.

One mid-priced forward who appears to have gone unnoticed is Newcastle’s Emmanuel Riviere who is priced at £7.0m. The French U21 international has never been what you would call a regular goal scorer, but he did manage 10 in 30 games last season and has enjoyed a decent pre-season with the Geordies. Newcastle start the season with a visit from the reigning champions but follow that up with a number of eminently winnable games and if Riviere can get off to a good start he could soon become quite an interesting proposition.

A trio of cheap strikers who for one reason or another were not included in our bargain basement article are Palace’s Fraizer Campbell, Burnley’s Lukas Jutkiewicz and the one and only Bojan ‘Bojangles’ Krkic. Campbell has never been what you would call prolific, but then again what cheap striker has? He did however score a hat-trick on his Palace debut, albeit against Forest Green and looks set to start the season beside Marouane Chamakh. Jutkiewicz has been on fire since joining Burnley from Middlesboro and has scored six in pre-season and looks set to lead the line with Danny Ings until Sam Vokes recovers from a knee injury. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said in these parts about Bojan so I won’t bother at all…’Vive la Revolution’!

So there you have it, our first tips article of the season, I hoped it has helped. I’ll leave you with a note of caution…now is not necessarily the time to be looking for differentials, don’t try and be too smart, pick the best squad and above all else try and enjoy it, after all it’s only a game!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 1 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15. This article was written by Kop Warrior

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