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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Vote on our Captain Poll Now
Hi all, been fairly busy, so only just completed my first draft..Thoughts please- I’m sure you can all rip it to shreds :winktongue:
Not sure that Hennessey and Payet will start but other than that a solid team. How much money ITB you have?
Thanks Chris, whats the issue with payed? just rested or? (sorry I’m so out of it :smiling: ) nothing left itb
He hasn’t played in pre-season
Hey Haz. To be honest the main thing I’d do is get some united attacking cover so Silva to Martial/Mkhitaryan and downgrade Francis to Smith to get that extra 0.5. Also I don’t believe Hennessey is going to be no.1 so I’d change him until we know the definite no.1
hi matt, fair point about united.. who would be preferred out of those two? also, thoughts on morgan? tempted to do morgan to daniels and find another 4.0 defender..
I think both will play but I’m not sure which will be better. Morgan has good fixtures in the first 3 weeks so might be good to keep him but there are good options at 5 Mil like Williams, Aina, Stones, Gab etc. Only go with one 4.0 Mil defender so Smith could be that one.
ok cool, thanks for your help
No worries
michy looks more worth than costa but who knows conte
should take a look closely
heard that pyet might not played in 1st gw.
fletcher to capoue or feghouli or hojberg maybe?
thanks labyrinth, gonna go with hojberg out of those three…
yeah it feels impossible to tell how chelsea are gonna play this year.. talk about a 4-2-4 formation!!
will replace payet for sure, for gw 1 anyway!!
Make sure you don’t mention ‘Mahrez’ vs Hull as a wk1 special pick.
Don’t want a bandwagon going.
Glass ankles Silva doesn’t do it for me after last seasons on/off with him, so as above switch to Utd or Nolito.
thanks tiger, much appreciated
Presume byram is a steal at 4.5 with cresswell being out?
Probably but West Hams fixtures aren’t the best.
+1, guaranteed starter at one of the top clubs however difficult fixtures and not the usual back four means they probably won’t keep many clean sheets.
Not quite as much as McCauley in the first 5 weeks, but def worth considering for average CS return.
Don’t expect Bilic not to buy in unless he has been super impressed pre-season with Byram tho.
is there a standout 4.5 keeper rotation?? had a look at the top comments but not sure how much i trust palace and sunderland combination :smiling:
No worthwhile rotations for CS I can in the first 5 weeks at less than 5.0 that would rival not rotating.
Which means I’m going for the locked in option . Cech,Walker,Valencia,Shlupp/McCauley + 3xgarbage
Afternoon !! If Elle is about,I sent another E-mail for the code for the regulars league a couple of days ago and still not heard anything ??? Am I barred ???
Yeah Elle’s not letting you in because of your poor ratings in Suicide Squad
They shouldn’t have cut so many of the Jokers scenes then !!!
Actually I’d never heard of it till I googled it !! It looks pretty good,I might check it out !
Haha yeah I haven’t gone to see it yet but it looks alright so lets hope the critics are wrong
Don’t worry Brooky I’ll e-mail you the code later.
Cheers Innit got it !
Just sent to your e-mail you’re registered with on here mate. Not got the H2H one to hand though.
Hey guys, any Palace followers that can give an insight on the striker situation?
With Campbell out, the only option is Wickham and at 6.0 m he gives me a chance to upgrade a midfielder from 7.0 to 7.5, which is massive considering the options. Could Bolasie take his spot? I know Mutch was also used upfront during pre-season and at 4.5 could prove to be a good pick for 5th midfielder.
Why Palace? is a first question
6.0 is probably an overprice for the expected return, might as well go all the way to 4.5 for me.
Dig deep Palace, release the Beast, buy Benteke.
Hi Tiger, because at 6.0 there are not many options that have a guaranteed spot and I really don’t see Caroll, Grey, Negredo etc. outscoring him in the first few weeks by a margin. The difference of 0.5 though gives me the option to get a 3rd semi-premium mid, so this was the decisive factor.
***NEW ARTICLE*** Palace signings
https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/new-signings-fantasy-premier-league-201617-crystal-palace/