Promoted Teams Analysis FPL 2017/18 Brighton
I’m writin’ about Brighton.
As Milburn and Rosco combine to give us the canny lowdown on their local heroes at Newcastle and as Brookyboy runs through his beloved Huddersfield Terriers, it fell to me to write about my local side – 469 miles for those curious! I’m actually closer to Killarney than Brighton but that’s not to say I can’t fall in love and adopt them as my little team this season.
So let me give you a quick meet and greet to ‘my’ Albion before we look at the five players I’ve selected who I think could provide the best value for your fantasy squads this season.
Brighton and Hove Albion to give them their full title were founded in 1901 and this season will be their first ever in the Premier League. Their highest ever league finish was in the old First Division was 13th in 1981-82 (the season I was born – we’re just meant to be together). They play at the Falmer Stadium, or the Amex to provide its sponsored title and things have never been better for the Seagulls. In their chequered past they were once one match away from relegation out of the football league, they were homeless and playing 70 miles away from home at Gillingham, they then had to lease an athletics arena from the local council to play on. Their supporters deserve this Premiership season.
They are managed by the hugely-underrated Chris Hughton and famous fans include Des Lynam, Fatboy Slim and . . . . Jamie Theakston? Their biggest match (which they’ll enjoy twice this season) is the M23 Derby against Crystal Palace. It’s an odd one, look it up!
For fantasy though, I have looked at five guys and these are Mat Ryan, Lewis Dunk, Anthony Knockaert, Pascal Gross and Glenn Murray.
Mat Ryan
Position: Goalkeeper
FPL Price: £4.5m
Mat Ryan first came to my attention when he turned down a trial in Scotland with Rangers in 2013 due to the instability at the club at the time but I followed his career since then because I’m kind of a football nerd that way. The Aussie stopper was with Central Coast Mariners at that time and since then he has represented Bruges, Valencia and Genk before Chris Hughton signed him this summer. He undoubtedly has been signed as first choice goalkeeper for the coming season to replace the Birmingham-bound David Stockdale.
This guy would certainly be one for the chalkboard if you are looking at the two £4.5m rotating goalkeepers technique this season. Although Brighton face Manchester City on the first weekend, they have a very favourable fixture list until the end of November and you could pair up Ryan with another goalkeeper for the tough games in weeks one and seven (Arsenal away).
Ryan is a very accomplished goalkeeper with nearly 200 senior professional appearances across three different leagues and supplements this with 35 caps for his country. He will undoubtedly need time to settle but he isn’t shy in communicating with his defenders and is known for being decisive with cross balls and passes and distributes very well.
Lewis Dunk
Position: Defender
FPL Price: £4.5m
Local boy Lewis Dunk was a mainstay in the best defence in the Championship last season – they conceded 40 goals in 46 games shared with Newcastle but with 21 clean sheets to the Magpies’ 19 – and is primed to again marshal the Albion backline despite the rise in class.
I won’t pretend that the central defender is some kind of unearthed gem that I’ve found. You’ll find a lot of FPL players and writers will be tipping him this season and that counts for something. Dunk would have actually led the Clearances, Blocks and Interceptions (CBI) total in the Premier League last season based on his Championship stats last season – these CBI stats count towards Bonus Points remember, as do shots on goal – he had 38 last season of which 26 of these were with his head. This points to a defender who is accomplished at both ends of the pitch (he also won more headers (188) than the Premiership’s best last season).
At £4.5m and with the already mentioned fixtures to open up the season, this is going to be one popular selection I’m sure. I wouldn’t be put off by the 3 out of 5 away matches to begin, they had an almost identical spread of home, 12, and away, 11, clean sheets last season and with this step up in class would surely make them only more cautious and organised.
Anthony Knockaert
Position: Midfielder
FPL price: £6.0m
Anthony Knockaert is the French midfielder who counted 15 league goals, eight assists and 118 successful dribbles (for those that way inclined!) which all combined to lead to the midfielder to be voted the Championship Player of the Year for 2016/17.
The former Leicester player comes in at just £6.0m and is ideal for that fourth or fifth midfielder role in your fantasy squads. To my mind he would be the best attacking coverage for Brighton and could rotate well with a mid-to-cheap priced forward for the tough games when they come along if you fancy a toggle between 3-4-3 and 3-5-2.
Yes there may be a few league-tested choices at the same price as Knockaert – those such as Shaqiri, Chadli, Phillips, Snodgrass etc. would have their own claims but it may not be a bad idea to get on this guy early to benefit from the surprise factor he will bring to the league and inevitably, the price rises as they come. He has the class and we’ve seen so many players from the promoted teams thrive in the league in their first season and I can see no reason why this midfielder can’t follow suit.
Pascal Gross
Position: Midfielder
FPL Price: £5.5m
Pascal Gross is getting a mention here due mainly to one outstanding statistic which almost knocked me over when I researched. The Germany youth cap created more big chances than any other player in last year’s Bundesliga with 95. When you consider the talent in this league and the fact he was with Ingolstadt, then that is quite remarkable. Surely this shows he has the quality to find that pass or create that chance and perhaps better finishers might have saved the Bavarians from relegation.
Interestingly, Chris Hughton, his new manager was quoted as saying “he offers something different to our existing midfielders, as an attacking midfielder in a more advanced position, operating behind the forward line”. Could be one for the watchlist or as a punt should you need to save £0.5m here and there.
Glenn Murray
Position: Striker
FPL Price: £6.0m
The big striker only signed permanently for Brighton in January but this was based on 15 goals in 28 games in the first half of the season during a loan spell from Bournemouth so it was really no surprise to see. The Cumbrian finisher is now 33 years old and although perhaps past his peak, has a record throughout his career of scoring goals on top of goals. He was transferred for £4m between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth in 2015 having had a quite reasonable goal every 2.5 game record. Murray is at home on the South Coast and previously played for Brighton between 2008 and 2011 scoring 53 in 118 appearances.
Again I would mention that Brighton have a list of games where they will fancy their chances of getting early wins on the board and Murray, who I think will retain first choice billing ahead of the Israeli Tomer Hemed, is also the penalty-taker for the newcomers.
I hope this has helped you in some small way.
Up the Albion!
GP
Thanks for reading Promoted Teams Analysis FPL 2017/18 Brighton. This article was written by The Gallant Pioneer
The Fixture Tracker…
Away for the weekend at a festival. Be back to steal all your ideas 😉
Which festival you going to AT ?
Y Not mate
How about this latest draft?
I like it Smash.Not sure about both Ince and Ritchie though.Not tempted to switch one of them to a 4.5m mid and upgrade your defence and play 4-3-3 ?
Nah not going 4-3-3. I’m a 3-4-3 guy. Yeah neither am I. It has been Walters and Tadic at times instead of Ritchie and Ince. Now I’m not sure about going without Kane
Yeah I’m torn on Kane as I have Lukaku but really want a City striker too.Might have to settle for De Bruyne.
Yeah just not sure I can trust Miki to go without Lukaku. Always thought I’d go for a City striker. Just feels wrong going without Kane
Yeah it’s that Kane v Alli + $ in the bank dilemma !
In an FPL Starting 11 with no other Chelsea or Spurs players, would you go for:
1) Eriksen/Alli and Morata
or
2) Fabregas/Willian and Kane
Both options have the same total cost of 19.5m. Which would you pick?
Not much in it but I’d go for Morata and Alli
Actually I might prefer Fabregas and Kane it’s so confusing
Probably Fabregas and Kane as they are both proven in the Premier league.A lot of people going Willian over Fabregas,not sure why ?
I’m not really sure I prefer Fab. Willian has shown some pre season position and it better suited from the left which is because Hazard is injured
I prefer Fab as I think he is a better player and creates more. But all depends on game time. Going to keep my eye on who is starting on/close to the day, then swap if needed.
Fab will start the season. Monaco lad is not fit and will take time to settle.
This is how it’s shaping up… 2 spaces left. 19.5m – who would you pick:
Eriksen and Morata?
or
Fabregas and Kane?
How are we Ian Fab & Kane for me but I wouldn’t start with two 4m def you need to find 0.5m to upgrade one of them
+1. Especially considering that Lindelof is not a nailed on starter.
great article , GP
currently the only BHA player in my watchlist is suttner as he got a couple of assist in pre-season and also involved in the set pieces , so i need ur opinion on him.
after read ur article pascal gross defitnely on my watchlist now , thanks!
Hi all, first post back after the summer- have been catching up on the articles, so thanks to all who’ve put the hours in preparing them– looking good!
I am going with two teams again this year, my regular “anything goes” team and also a limited team. This year the limited team is “only players from Europe”. What do you think of it? (The other team is still under construction…)
Hey Pippin, good to see you back mate! I’d be happy with this team only one I don’t like is Lacazette. He hasn’t performed well in preseason so far.
Hi Matt, how are you pal? Thanks for the input… I’ll take a look at other striker options. Choosing only Europeans (that’s no UK!) I really only have Lukaku and Benteke as decent options beyond Lacazette. What do you think to Lacazette + Pogba > Lukaku + Ramsey?
All good here mate! Just racking my brain with this team haha
Ramsey is UK mate so that’s a no go. Just had a look through the strikers and there are very few that are European!! Lukaku is the only other one so maybe Lukaku and Wiji??
Welcome. back Pippin good solid team but agree with Matt on Lacaz but once the season kicks off he could start playing 😉
Hey Pippin. Probably the last thing you wanna hear is remarks on you bench, but having Pereira on the bench will mean that you cannot add another United player (Lukaku?). Anyway, the normal back up is Romero, so Joel will not get more than one-two games at best. I advise you look for another 4.0M goalie.
Evening fellas, I have done three different teams with three different approaches. Team 1 is more balanced, Team 2 is Big Three Focused & Team 3 is more solid midfield. I basically want to see which of these teams people would prefer.
Team 1
DDG – Elliot
Trippier – Cedric – Alonso – Hunemeier – Yedlin
Couthino – Alli – Walters – Sane – Carroll
Lukaku – Morata – J.Rod
Team 2
DDG – Elliot
Trippier – Cedric – Luiz – Hunemeier – Mee
Willian – Ince – Lanzini – Walters – Carroll
Lukaku – Kane – Aguero
Team 3
Foster – Elliot
Trippier – Cedric – Azpi – Hunemeier – Mee
KDB – Alli – Pogba – Walters – Carroll
Lukaku – Morata – Chicharito
Thoughts?
I like parts of all of them lol
I really hate you sometimes Smash 😉 haha I’m much the same
Lol I quite like all of them to be fair
Haha yeah I think I’ve narrowed it down to Team 1 or Team 3. The Big Three just leaves the midfield too risky for my liking
How’s your team coming along mate?
Seems to be changing all the time. I do like a big 3. I like the fact the strikers will play while there’s not many stand out midfielders and even the likes of Sane might not play. Had been convinced Alli over Kane was the way to go but it seems crazy going without Kane
Yeah the strikers seem more nailed with Kane, Morata and Lukaku kind of the only strikers their teams have. I just think Alli/Eriksen are more likely to score and assist than Kane is. Especially at the start of the season where Kane usually takes a while to start off.
Hey up Matt 3-1-2 in that order 😉
That’s the order I’m thinking aswell actually Silvers.
Team 3 if you do Chicha to J Rod and Pogba to Salah/ Coutinho.
I like that actually Brook!! I didn’t spot that and it’s still pretty similar to Team 1 bar the keeper.
Matt: there’s a brilliant team lurking among these options haha! I like the defence in all three options, and the keepers are fine. Among the striking options, I am not sold on JRod just yet, Aguero is a big rotation risk, Chicharito is a bit of an unknown quantity (I like him, but I don’t rate WHam…). None of the midfields are really making me happy, because the 4th mid is always a bit of a wildcard. Having the same problems myself though.
In team 1, if you go Couts > Ramsey/Fabregas, can you get Firmino in for JRod?
Haha cheers Pip! J. Rod has been very good in preseason even though he is playing in the No.10 role. I’m not sold on Aguero or Chica either mainly do to the two reasons you just mentioned. I think Walters could be amazing this year he has scored or assisted in every one of the friendlies so far!!
I’m 0.5 short of doing that but I can do Alonso to Azpi to make it work.
Hi Matt. Besides the Kun rotation, have in mind also that Chicha starts with 3 away games. I also keep an eye out, but maybe after GW2.
So Team 3 but be wary of Chica? I am thinking I could downgrade Chica to J.Rod and upgrade Pogba to Salah.
3 for me