Before the season started, most Fantasy Premier League managers faced the dilemma of having to pick between Erling Haaland and Mo Salah for their Gameweek 1 teams.
When the game was launched, Haaland and Salah cost a combined £27.5m in FPL, taking up almost a third of the £100m overall budget. Fitting them both in would require too many compromises to be made elsewhere. At least that was the theory.
Three gameweeks into the season and the case for selecting just one is vanishing fast given how explosively they have started the season.
Now, FPL managers are activating wildcards or using creative accounting to accommodate them together in the same team.
Heading into the international break, Haaland and Salah are tied at the top of the FPL leaderboard on 41 points apiece, nine clear of any other players in the game.
Haaland has scored seven goals – including back-to-back hat-tricks – while Salah has netted three times and provided three assists. In Gameweek 3, they matched each other’s 17-point hauls. They are truly two of the best FPL assets we have and ever will see.
Fortunately, pairing them looks easier to do now than it did a few weeks ago thanks to the emergence of several low-cost but high-upside players in other positions.
i built a 15-player squad that features both Haaland and Salah within the £100m allocation.
Join i’s FPL league and sign up to our Fantasy Football newsletter
If you haven’t already signed up for i’s free Fantasy Football newsletter then what are you waiting for?
Subscribers will receive an email before each deadline this season featuring transfer tips, captaincy picks, up-to-date team news and links to the very best of i’s sports coverage.
Sign up for the newsletter here and join i’s FPL league with the code 1j7499.
The Gameweek 4 deadline is at 11am on Saturday 14 September giving managers plenty of time to figure out their next transfer moves.
Sign up here to receive the newsletter every week this season for our full 11-player team, advice on the best captain and more!
Goalkeepers
Mark Flekken (Brentford)
Spending a combined £9.5m on a starting goalkeeper and their backup is the optimal route here. Mark Flekken makes lots of saves, offers occasional clean sheet potential and has a cheap No 2. All boxes ticked.
Price: £4.5m Points: 10
Hakon Valdimarsson (Brentford)
If Flekken is injured or suspended, Iceland’s No 1 Hakon Valdimarsson will replace him for the Bees and your FPL team.
Price: £4m Points: 0
Defenders
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Having Haaland and Salah doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze in other premium assets elsewhere. Trent Alexander-Arnold is the most expensive defender in the game but is in fine form and tops the rankings for his position with 20 points.
He has been unfortunate not to register at least a couple of attacking returns already. He has created three big chances – a total only bettered by Bryan Mbeumo, Cole Palmer and Salah (all on four) and scored against Manchester United only for it to be ruled out due to a tight offside.
Liverpool’s upcoming schedule significantly boosts his appeal. They face Nottingham Forest (h), Bournemouth (h), Wolves (a), Crystal Palace (a) and Chelsea (h) in their next five fixtures before a tricky trip to the Emirates in Gameweek 9.
Price: £7m Points: 20
Pedro Porro (Spurs)
Tottenham haven’t kept too many clean sheets this year, but Pedro Porro’s relentless attacking intent from right-back makes him a standout choice at the back.
The Spain international is one of only five defenders to have scored so far this season and leads the way for shots with eight, six of which came in Spurs’ last match against Newcastle.
If you have £0.5m spare you could decide to swap Porro for an Arsenal defender for a greater guarantee of clean sheet points.
Price: £5.5m Points: 16
Leif Davis (Ipswich)
We have championed Leif Davis’s credentials ever since FPL launched due to his ludicrous assist numbers for the Tractor Boys.
Davis has set up 33 goals in only 89 league appearances for his team, including a first in the Premier League for Liam Delap in Gameweek 3.
With Ipswich’s fixtures easing up after the international break, Davis is an excellent differential option to consider.
Price: £4.5m Points: 8
Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)
Similarly to Spurs, Aston Villa aren’t particularly reliable with clean sheets but they have favourable fixtures over the next few weeks.
There are a few Villa options in the £4.5m bracket worth considering. Lucas Digne has the highest upside but faces competition from summer signing Ian Maatsen, while Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa offer much the same in terms of goal threat.
Konsa can play at centre-back or right-back and gets the nod due to his greater security of starts with Matty Cash currently injured.
Price: £4.5m Points: 5
Wout Faes (Leicester)
Wout Faes was our chosen £4m defender before the opening weekend and has already scored a goal after netting against Fulham in Gameweek 2.
The Belgian has since risen to £4.1m in value so if funds are tight you could target another £4m stopper instead. Michael Keane, Jacob Greaves, Luke Woolfenden, Jack Stephens and Yerson Mosquera have all played maximum minutes so far.
Price: £4.1m Points: 9
Midfielders
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
There’s not much need to delve into the merits of owning Salah any more than has been done already. He’s a world-class player in world-class form who is racking up big FPL scores each week. Buying him is a no-brainer.
However, there may be some added nostalgia to picking Salah now after his admission that this is likely to be his last season at Liverpool. Enjoy him (and his points) while you can.
Price: £12.6m Points: 41
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Within this team’s pricing structure there is one space free for another expensive midfielder and the two standout options are Palmer (£10.6m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.1m).
Saka gets the nod due to budget restrictions but also because Palmer has withdrawn from England’s squad for their Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Finland due to a muscle injury.
The Arsenal winger has tougher immediate fixtures than Palmer does with Tottenham (a) followed by Manchester City (a) but is well capable of getting FPL returns against anyone. You’re going to want to have him in position from Gameweek 6 to 8 at least with Arsenal facing Leicester (h), Southampton (h) and Bournemouth (a).
Price: £10.1m Points: 24
Noni Madueke (Chelsea)
There are a few eye-catching assets in the £7.5m to £6.5m price range, including Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m), Eberechi Eze (£6.9m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m).
However, with Palmer omitted and the transfer budget restrictive, Noni Madueke gets the nod. Picking any Chelsea midfielder other than Palmer carries an element of risk given how many options Enzo Maresca has at his disposal, but you’d imagine that Madueke’s minutes are fairly safe for now after his hat-trick in Gameweek 2.
Investing in the Blues in the short term could pay off nicely with matches against Bournemouth (a), West Ham (a), Brighton (h) and Nottingham Forest (h) coming up.
Price: £6.6m Points: 22
Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth)
Antoine Semenyo was earmarked in last week’s FPL tips after providing attacking returns in his first two appearances and he made it three from three by scoring the goal that kickstarted Bournemouth’s improbable comeback win over Everton.
The Ghanaian is emerging as Andoni Iraola’s new talisman following the sale of Dominic Solanke to Spurs and offers great value in FPL. Bournemouth’s schedule is mixed but for his price Semenyo is a great rotation option in midfield.
Price: £5.6m Points: 19
Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
FPL points haven’t been forthcoming for Morgan Rogers so far but his performances for Aston Villa have been absolutely electric.
Rogers has had five shots and created five chances in Villa’s first few games and would have a couple of assists to his name had Ollie Watkins been more clinical in front of goal.
Unai Emery is clearly a massive fan of the 22-year-old, even questioning why he wasn’t called up for England’s senior squad this month. It’s only a matter of time before he gets up and running in FPL.
Price: £5.1m Points: 6
Forwards
Erling Haaland (Man City)
Like Salah, the numbers speak for themselves. Haaland has won consecutive Premier League golden boots and is already racing clear in his pursuit of a hat-trick of trophies with seven goals in just three games.
He costs a fortune in FPL but with good reason. Don’t allow stubbornness to cloud your judgement if you didn’t pick him at the start: he’ll continue to register double-digit hauls throughout the campaign.
Price: £15.2m Points: 41
Joao Pedro (Brighton)
As with Chelsea, there is a danger that Brighton become a rotation nightmare for FPL managers given the impressive array of attacking players that Fabian Hurzeler has at his disposal.
Joao Pedro faces pressure from £40m summer signing Georginio Rutter for the second striker position in Hurzeler’s 4-2-3-1 formation but is in such good form that his starting place is surely secure after big goals and performances against Manchester United and Arsenal.
Price: £5.7m Points: 18
Cameron Archer (Southampton)
Currently the best forward in the £5m and below bracket. Cameron Archer has come on as a substitute in all three of Southampton’s games but was brought on at half-time in their defeat to Brentford, which suggests a start may be forthcoming.
Price: £5m Points:
from Fantasy Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/eQo8DJq
via IFTTT
Post a Comment