New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Chelsea
Oh how we chuckled last season when Chelsea stumbled from one embarrassing defeat to another. It really was hard to believe that this was the same team who had won the league in the previous season by 8pts losing just three games. It turned out that Jose wasn’t so special after all and he departed in mid-December having lost nine out of 16 league games. Guus Hiddink was appointed manager until the end of the season and he somewhat steadied the ship with the club finishing the season in 10th position. Roman Abramovich didn’t hang about in appointing yet another manager and appointed the then Italian international boss Antonio Conte back in April, with the Italian taking over after the Euro’s. Given his chequered past Conte should fit in well at the Bridge and he’s bound to get on like a house on fire with Roman. Whatever you think about Conte he’s undoubtedly a manager of the highest quality although all of his successes have come with Juventus. He is known to be obsessed with tactics and is not afraid to change his formation until he understands which system best suits his players. Roman has once again been quick to open the cheque book with the signings of Michy Batshuayi and N’Golo Kante for a combined fee in excess of £60m!
For Chelsea’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Chelsea Pre-season info
Michy Batshuayi (£9.0m)
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[/three_fourth]Having scored just 59 goals last season it came as little surprise that Conte’s first signing was a striker. Not only did Chelsea struggle for goals last season they had no backup to Diego Costa with neither Loic Remy nor Radamel Falcao impressing during their limited opportunities. Having scored 26 goals for Marseille over the last two seasons the Belgian had become one of Europe’s hottest properties and had offers from West Ham & Crystal Palace but in the end opted for Chelsea which was hardly a surprise. Standing 6ft tall and weighing in at 78kg he’s no shrinking violet and comparisons have already been drawn with Didier Drogba who also moved to the Bridge from the Stade Velodrome. So is the youngster likely to be a fantasy option? That all depends on Conte and how he sets up his team. Should he decide to play with one up top you would have to assume that Costa will be given first crack. There are however growing rumours that Costa will be on his way back to Atletico and if this happens Batman will become a far more intriguing prospect. Should Costa remain and Conte choose to play two up top it will be hard to pick Batshuayi over Costa as the Spaniard is only £0.5m more expensive and is a proven Premier League striker. For now I’d suggest you take note of how Chelsea line-up in pre-season as well as keeping an eye on the Costa situation.
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N’Golo Kante
Leicester paid just over £5.5m for the French international last summer and he turned out to be one of the signings of the season. Chelsea have in turn paid Leicester a fee reported to be in the region of £32m and once again he could prove to be one of the signings of the season. Last season he scored just the one goal and picked up four assists, and he is highly unlikely to significantly improve upon these returns this coming season. Therefore I wouldn’t see him as a fantasy asset. However he is likely to have a significant bearing on the Chelsea defence. Last season he made more tackles and interceptions than any other midfielder and this saw Leicester keep 15 clean sheets. Chelsea fans and FPL managers alike will be hoping he has a similar impact on the Chelsea defence. Should this prove to be the case Terry & co are likely to become quite appealing. So to speak!!
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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Pls rate my team,any suggestion?
Hi manutd
That looks very good to me. I would cover Chelsea in the back personally and consider Shaw to Terry or Courtois from DDG.
Spurs , Arsenal, & WBA have good Clean Sheet potential first 5 weeks
So could spread the risk around more at the back.
With Hulls dire fixtures, no manager and the thinness of the squad the only player I’m considering from them is Bruce if he is price locked due to injury and so guaranteed to pay back 4.0 when I want to put something better there. Plenty of alternatives who will get diddly squat.
Kop
Thank you for taking a look at Chelsea’s new lads. Brilliant signing in midfield no doubt and it didn’t escape my attention that it might help any investment in Chelsea’s defence. Perfect protection in front of them.
Michy unproven of course so we’ll start off watching him I think.
Musa is in. I’m convinced.
Yeah I’m looking to go down in my def from a 5.5 mill to friend to afford musa
He’s a quality player, just needed to see him start and produce also. I’m much more comfortable spending that extra mil on him now over a 6.5 punt. Feels like a proper front 3 now.
Lovely starting XI Init – do I sense a planned early wildcard?!
Probably a forced one more like!
haha – keep an eye on the Charity Shield to see if Musa starts. I see Vardy played just the first half last night and they shared gametime.
I think Musa is going to make his way into a lot of teams.
I got laughed at last week for suggesting such a thing
It’s how you say it 😉
A good looking team and I like Bojan – not sure about Musa only because I am not sure how they will line up, but I do believe Conte would be happy for Costa to go elsewhere
Think the Conte plan is Costa off to Atleti and Lukaku in but who knows. Not sure that affects Musa that much though
Hi guys, hope we are all feeling well
Great article Kop
I have change Payet to Eriksen and I have 1 mill left. I am unsure where to put that 1mill. I am thinking of putting it on Townsend to a 7.5 but unsure. Can you please help.
Thankyou in advance
Hi Stewy
Perhaps Erksson to Deulofeu ( save you 2m) and then then you can get Ibram ( perhaps need another 0.5m ) I also do not know if Nsui is nailed so Friend may be safer. Another 0.5 then Townsend to Bojan?
Hey Colonial
I am one of those owners that don’t want a Ibram team so my mid should be stack. I was thinking of going Townsend to Ayew to boost up my team…
Hi all,
Started coming to this site last year, love it, so much admiration for the effort and passion that goes in to it, thought I’d throw up a RMT – any feedback greatly appreciated. good luck to everyone this year….
Hey there Johnnie, how you going? Welcome to the site mate.
There is much to like in your squad – Kun, Ibra, Hazard, KdB, Lamela and the defence. On the constructively critical side, I don’t like Rhodes as a pick and Barry should be your 5th midfielder at best, as he offers very little in FPL. The keepers are also a small concern as I imagine you’ll play Heaton all of the time.
On that basis, I would probably recommend cutting KdB to a cheaper mid – Firmino or Mahrez would give you cash to upgrade all the above issues I have raised.
Thanks Cookie, appreciate it. Yeh Barry and the keeper situation wasn’t sitting well with me. Rhodes a shot in the dark i think, hoping he could surprise and come through at this level but probably a wait and see then. Liverpool having their first 3 games away (seems harsh!) making me think Mahrez at the moment then….
Johnnie – up to you on Mahrez / Firmino – I’m a massive Firmino admirer and have him in, to me he is fixture proof, but I’d understand you going with Mahrez initially as he faces Hull in GW1!
Maybe go for Gaston Ramirez at 5.5mln for Barry?
Hey Johnnie, both Mahrez and Firmino would be great. Just to advocate Liverpool a bit more, Arsenal are never great first game of the season so probably best time to play them. Then its a trip to Burnley which could see goals followed by a tough trip to Spurs altough we do have a decent record there of late. Havent seen many liverpool players in teams which is very fair, but could be a great advantage if you got it right. Our scoring form was very decent when Klopp took over.