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…
Evening fellas,
Which combo is better?
A. Chicarito and Pogba
B. J.Rod and Salah
Will have Lukaku as United cover in both options any way.
Spread the love, Matt. We’re hardly prolific so wouldnt double up on United attack without seeing how we start the season.
Can’t decide because don’t want J Rod. I do think Pogba and Lukaku is a bit risky as maybe overkill. What’s the rest like?
Cheers lads I was thinking that as well especially as Pogba might be held back a bit similar to last season.
Rest of the team looks like this
Like this 😉
Looks really good. Especially if Aspil starts at wing back. Frustrating to be 0.5 off Alonso though
Yeah I’m literally looking at the team now trying to figure out where to squeeze another 0.5 from somewhere haha
If you wanted Alonso the only real options you’ve got is Salah to Coutinho or Walters out.
How much is J. Rod anyway?
Cedric out and find someone who rotates with Mee. I’m loooking at the 5 million midfielders for myself they ain’t great there’s Milovejevic and Sobdi but both risks there for different reasons
Salah and Cout are the same price. J. Rod is 6 mil
How about Tadic and Firminho instead of Salah and J-Rod?
I personally don’t rate Tadic tbh.
Smash – I’m looking at Cedric to Dunk right now
With the Cedric-not-going-to-start rumours circulating the boards today, did a quick Google and read that apparently Chelski might be in for him an Bertrand. Paper talk, no doubt, but it would be sweet if they went and we got some 4.5m Soton fullbacks!
Did not think of that but yeah would be great if one of them goes
What’s this about Cedric not starting?
He’s not back training yet after confederations cup
Ah right I didn’t realise that.
Is Milovojevic the lad at Palace on all set pieces? I know he’s on pens and scored a free kick the other day but is he on corners as well
I don’t think he takes all the free kicks Puncheon is on free kicks too and when I watched Palace he was taking the corners too
Yeah not really sure how Palace will line up
Puncheon will start as he’s the new captain. It looked like they are going to play 3 at the back with wingbacks
If Puncheon starts maybe RLC don’t make it. Milovejevic will certainly start, you would have thought Cabaye starts as well. We will see
I don’t think RLC will start tbh.
Currently between two selections at the moment been staring at a screen too long to really se what changes i should be making but plenty time before the season starts to tweak either.
And
I think I prefer no.1 there Rogue. Completely different spread in terms of funds to my current one though so difficult to give advise without saying change it all fundamentally! Either model could prove to be better so if that’s where you are at then fine but I’d also maybe say meet me half way and kill 1 mid to a 6.0 or so and improve Mee along with adding a viable option on the bench from those 4.0 guys.
Evening
How are we?
P.S is anyone else still having issues with the comments or is just me?
It’s ok for me Mitro – what problems are you having?
At a guess I’d say he needs to clear his cache / browsing history. Mine is fine since doing so.
cookie
When I click on the latest comment it doesn’t take me to it so I have to go looking for it.
Init
I tried that again this morning and it has made no difference mate! It’s really strange as it didn’t work a few weeks ago then it was fine until last weekend I think!
Mitro, apologies but our IT ‘guru’ hasn’t got 2mins to get on here. Instead he has asked if you’d complete this short error form and post it in a reply to this – hopefully he’ll pick your reply up later.
Device type: (example – iPhone 6s)
Browser type: (example – Safari)
Internet connection (examples – wi-fi / 3g / 4g / ethernet cable)
Time of error: (example – 13:45 UK time)
Type of error: (logged out after trying to comment…)
(Please just flag your error(s) in here. I will paste in updates as and when they have been looked into)
Cookie,
Device type: 6s
Browser type – safari
Internet connection – both wifi and 4g
Time of error: started again last weekend
Type of error – when I click on the comment it doesn’t take me to it, I have to go searching through the article pages to find it!
Cheers
Thanks Mitro, I’ve passed it on
Thanks for passing on the message Cookie. Great team work. Well done.
Mitro – This may be a silly question but are you clicking the red article title at the top or the red ‘Go to comment’ link at the bottom? (Screenshot attached)
I can’t replicate this error myself using the same device / settings just now
Rich
I’m a twat lol!
Cheers mate
Ha, no worries. Let me know if you have any more ‘issues’
Hi? Thoughts? Thanks? Bye? :)?
Or Maybe?
1st one looks good. You prob need a playing defender on bench. I’d personally swap Lacazette for Jesus but really strong side
I feel with KDB in the team allready, and him being least likely to be rotated, It’ll be either laca or morata. That being said I did’nt realise how weak my bench was, thanks.
Morata being eased in very gently so see how that looks in a week or so after more games. Laca easing himself in very gently it seems, so likewise! If it started tomorrow I’d take Jesus.
Jesus or Agueroooooooooooooooo for the extra 1mil, I’d probably take kun tbh, I really have no faith in Jesus :/.