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
Evening folks, been flat out in work the last week or so so I haven’t even looked at my team or been on here in a bit. Hope teams are coming along nicely! Next week is going to be very interesting!!
Regards tonight, great to see Byram keep the LB spot and impress! Feghouli did the same and at 5.5m will be on a lot of radars too and I’ll certainly be trying to get both in.
Aina at 5m in a Chelsea defence is a steal too if he can even start the first 3 games, will have to keep and eye on Ivanovic and their back 4 over the weekend.
Sundays match will be interesting as well and I reckon will shake a lot of teams up too! Looking forward to next week and all the madness, it shall be fun
Expected starters in the West Ham team tonight, Antonio,Reid,Noble, Carroll all the others getting a run out, not guaranteed to start.
I wouldn’t be banking too much on Randolph,Oxford,Byram, Feghouli,Valencia playing a lot outside Europa & cup games.
Hi Tiger,
What do you think about Koyate? He was a certain starter last season and scored twice last night. Value at 5,5.
Just a week away from absolute terror.
Defence A) Shaw – Sagna/Van Dijk – Williams – Souare – Friend
OR
Defence B) Shaw – Sagna – Van Dijk – Souare – Smith
Emoticon fail
There’s a lot of assumptions in both there Tom as to who the players actually end up playing for or indeed play but assuming Williams goes to Everton I’d go for number 1. With a City defender but possibly not Sagna unless it looks like he’s the nailed RB, he may be, I’m not sure.
I will go with A
What do you guys think of the Redmond / Feghouli rotation? Both are playing well in preseason but neither are guaranteed a starting spot it seems.
It’s unlike me to bench a 5.5m player each week but, in the season’s early stages, building team value is important: these attacking-type players are much more likely to gain value than the likes of Fletcher and Hojbjerg surely? That’s my tactical / financial thinking behind it anyway.
Would be good to hear your thoughts on this vs a 4.5m bench player!
Morning James,
In theory it’s a great idea – they rotate well and have both done well in preseason. However, these rotations rarely work out as planned – I remember using Chadli and Downing for this purpose the season before last. They both kept scoring and assisting in the harder fixtures when, you’ve guessed it, they were on the bench!
Because of that, its a 4.5mid for me.
Evening! That’s fair; the 4.5m keeper tend to do a similar job on me.
I am torn though. It’s basically as follows:
1) Courtois + Feghouli + Siggy
vs
2) 4.5m keeper + 4.5m bench mid + Mahrez
The former is my preference at present… looks much sexier all-round and, as mentioned, is more likely to build team value. Mahrez though?!
Can’t wait for the deadline to be honest!
James, i’d be really tempted with the Mahrez option if he plays ok vs United. All these mid priced players make upgrades harder to come by without multiple transfers.
For instance, you may want Arsenal cover in 3/4 weeks – Mahrez to Ozil is an easy transfer, but Siggy to Ozil isn’t, so you’d have to reshuffle or go for a Ramsey or Cazorla etc.
Any thoughts on this draft would be appreciated
I would personally play 2 expensive defenders and downgrade your third one to a 4.5 so that you can get a mid-ranged MF instead as there’s so much value in the 5.5-6.5m range (Redmond, Townsend, Fegouhli etc.).
Not too sure about Chamberlain either so personally I would go from Cech, Terry, Fletcher, Chamberlain to Courtois, 4.5m (check out hot comments for rotation pairs), 2 mid ranged MF.
Hi guys, after some long thoughts I figured that having both Kun and Zlatan in really limits the rest of the team, especially if one of the premium mids does not deliver. Also, even as a MU fan, I am not confident that Zlatan will deliver those big numbers until the midfield is settled and gels.
I see some of you going for Rooney as an alternative, but I have the same concern for him. Could be a victim of rotation as well. I reckon Martial is the one to keep an eye on this season.
So I decided to try an alternative approach, which gives me a wider cover between the top teams. This makes it much easier to bed in a different 9,5 mid or another if I go Musa to a 6,5 striker and upgrade Eriksen.
What are your thoughts? Also the defense – I have a dilemma about Courtois / Shaw or De Gea / Terry.
Needless to say that Fernandez will be replaced by a Stoke/Boro defender after GW2.
Hi xaoc, nothing wrong with a completely different approach. We’ll have to see what Ranieri does with Musa on Sunday. As for Giroud I don’t believe he’s even begun training yet so I’m unsure if he will make the first game and even if he does those fixtures look tough compared to other options at that price.
Thanks Init, I thought that Giroud was back for GW2, but then I need to reconsider. Back to the drawing board!
I don’t know mate, he may be back for GW2, he may yet even make GW1 but either way I wouldn’t be carrying a £9m forward with such doubts and especially not if I had to cover him with Fletcher. Just put in another one at that price and then it’s an easy switch back as and when he’s back and starting.